Physics and RoTK??!

[alatar]

Are you saying that the flaws are noted, and that you are to explain why these events contradict the laws of physics? If so, can we have the list?

[Essex]

pity you're not doing the fellowship

on another lotr site many years back now it seems, we had a lot of fun, ganshing of teeth, screaming, cursing etc on how on earth movie Gandalf caught up with 1/ his sword 2/ the balrog on his trip down the unmeasurable drop from the bridge of kazad dum. unfortunately the site seemed to go into decline and vanish a couple of years back (hence why I moved onto here)

[Elmo]

Maybe he used the Force

[Aiwendil]

on another lotr site many years back now it seems, we had a lot of fun, ganshing of teeth, screaming, cursing etc on how on earth movie Gandalf caught up with 1/ his sword 2/ the balrog on his trip down the unmeasurable drop from the bridge of kazad dum. unfortunately the site seemed to go into decline and vanish a couple of years back (hence why I moved onto here)

Maybe his inertial mass was not equal to his gravitational mass. Sure, that would prove general relativity wrong, but hey, we have empirical evidence.

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by Essex

pity you're not doing the fellowship

on another lotr site many years back now it seems, we had a lot of fun, ganshing of teeth, screaming, cursing etc on how on earth movie Gandalf caught up with 1/ his sword 2/ the balrog on his trip down the unmeasurable drop from the bridge of kazad dum. unfortunately the site seemed to go into decline and vanish a couple of years back (hence why I moved onto here)

lol! Yes, my sister and I notice that every time. Very strange, really...

In the book, I guess he kept the sword in his hand? One hand was empty because he had broken his staff and no long held it, the other held his sword...the Balrog's whip got him, he fell, snatched at the edge of the broken bridge, and fell.
In the movie, however, he dropped both his sword and his staff when he got lapped up by the whip. Very careless of him...

As for flaws on the RotK in concerns to Physics...none seem to pop up in my mind at present. Good luck.

-- Folwren

[Elmo]

Surely sliding down the trunk of an oliphaunt or whatever Legolas Bond did must break some law of physics but maybe it just broke the law against crap sequences in films

[Meneltarmacil]

Wasn't there something about how Frodo would have been incinerated in real life if he had been as close to the fire of Mount Doom as he was?

[yavanna II]

Originally Posted by Meneltarmacil

Wasn't there something about how Frodo would have been incinerated in real life if he had been as close to the fire of Mount Doom as he was?

Nice one. I think this has something to do with the thermodynamics thingy.

Originally Posted by hewhoarisesinmight

Surely sliding down the trunk of an oliphaunt or whatever Legolas Bond did must break some law of physics but maybe it just broke the law against crap sequences in films

I thought of this too the first time I watched the film. Gravitation and all that kinda stuff.

Thanks guys for the ideas! I appreciate these.

[Sir Kohran]

In the Middle Ages, trebuchets often had trouble just launching stones the size of a human head, but the (wooden!) trebuchets in ROTK launch rocks the size of houses without any trouble whatsoever.

[Roa_Aoife]

Originally Posted by Meneltarmacil

Wasn't there something about how Frodo would have been incinerated in real life if he had been as close to the fire of Mount Doom as he was?

You know, I pointed this out when I was watching the movie for the first time. (At the premier.) My friends almost strangled me.

I found myself justified when we went to the Episode III premier and watched as Anakin burst into flames. I had to fight the urge to turn around and say, "See? That close to lava and you catch fire!"

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Roa_Aoife

You know, I pointed this out when I was watching the movie for the first time. (At the premier.) My friends almost strangled me.

You have a Balrog, undead creatures, a civilization of supermodels, magic, etc, and you're concerned about a little heat?

I found myself justified when we went to the Episode III premier and watched as Anakin burst into flames. I had to fight the urge to turn around and say, "See? That close to lava and you catch fire!"

Note the lava river and road that runs from Mount Doom to Barad Dur. And doesn't the same lava ring the Fortress? Exactly how does the tower stand?

[Mattius]

Originally Posted by Essex

pity you're not doing the fellowship

on another lotr site many years back now it seems, we had a lot of fun, ganshing of teeth, screaming, cursing etc on how on earth movie Gandalf caught up with 1/ his sword 2/ the balrog on his trip down the unmeasurable drop from the bridge of kazad dum. unfortunately the site seemed to go into decline and vanish a couple of years back (hence why I moved onto here)

I'm so pedantic but thats actually in the Two Towers

Originally Posted by Knight of Gondor

The return-fire from Gondor (using sections of their own wall)

Yes, how the hell did they manage that?! Firstly, did they have chunks of the wall simply sitting around and secondly how did they get the bits of wall on the giant catapults?!

[Knight of Gondor]

Originally Posted by Mattius

I'm so pedantic but thats actually in the Two Towers



Yes, how the hell did they manage that?! Firstly, did they have chunks of the wall simply sitting around and secondly how did they get the bits of wall on the giant catapults?!

I'm not sure if those stones were supposed to be the ones freshly broken. Gondor itself was already falling into disrepair, so instead of expending manpower and time to removing broken sections of the walls, just save on space and load them into the cranes. And a good idea it was, too.

[Mattius]

You may be right there

I'm no physics expert- but would the Eagles have been able to fly that close to a Volcano- there must have been some unagreeable thermals

[Knight of Gondor]

Originally Posted by Mattius

I'm no physics expert- but would the Eagles have been able to fly that close to a Volcano- there must have been some unagreeable thermals

I'm not even half an expert, so I don't know. I expect that number one, we have no gigantic eagles on earth with which we could compare, number two Mt. Doom really hadn't gotten going yet, and number three, birds are very skilled in navigating the skies, and would be able to snatch the hobbits and get out without any trouble.

[Lotrelf]

Originally Posted by Mattius

I'm no physics expert- but would the Eagles have been able to fly that close to a Volcano- there must have been some unagreeable thermals

I don't think you need to be a Physics expert for this. Eagles were Divine creatures; and they wouldn't be affected by the poisonous air, heat, and other harmful stuff caused by the Lava. How do you think Frodo and Survived who were kind of weaker than the Eagles??

[tom the eldest]

How about that the main characters are somehow is so competent that no single enemy are able to scratch them?or what about the good soldiers is so incompetent that even one small orc is what it takes to kill a lot of the good soldiers?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Lotrelf

I don't think you need to be a Physics expert for this. Eagles were Divine creatures; and they wouldn't be affected by the poisonous air, heat, and other harmful stuff caused by the Lava. How do you think Frodo and Survived who were kind of weaker than the Eagles??

I would think the Eagles susceptible to the same things as other truly embodied spirits like the Istari and Ents. The poisonous air of Mordor would have had two sources: smoke from Mt. Doom and the "reek" of whatever industrial or sorcerous activities Sauron had been up to. The pollution would not have been present in all the air, but in layers. The Eagles could find a relatively clean slot in which to do most of their flying, probably. Short term exposure to the fumes when moving through layers shouldn't have been too harmful.