Minor Mistakes

[Nimrodel_9]

I don't know how long this thread will last, but here we go:

Are there any mistakes in LotR that bother you? Such as in the Pelennor Fields, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are all together when Lego "attacks" the Mumak (oliphaunt). The Mumak runs for quite a ways before Lego kills it, and slides down the trunk. When he reaches the bottom, Gimli is already there. "That still only counts as one!" Now maybe the creature turned as it was running, but I don't think so. Dwarves may be natural sprinters, very dangerous over short distances, but that wasn't exactly a short distance.

or

I'm sure this one was rather obvious: Frodo is stung by Shelob's gigantic stinger in the chest. Later when we see him with his shirt of, there is only a little mark there.

Well, I'll let everyone take it from here.

[Faramir]

A mistke I noticed is in Rotk is when Theoden is underneath Snowmane, Snowmane is ontop of the "middle" of theodens body, but yet you can still see his the top of his legs ...that would make his legs like 4 feet tall or something.

[Beanamir of Gondor]

If I really wanted to get picky, I could mention the fact that Kiran's hands look absolutely nothing like Elijah's, and that when Aragorn hands Frodo the Ring in Parth Galen you absolutely know that it's not Elijah because the nails on Frodo's fingers aren't all chewed up... I bite my nails, so I notice stuff like that...

Offhand, I thought that was *sweet* that the scene where Boromir tries to steal the Ring from Frodo... NOT SCALE DOUBLES! That was Elijah and Sean!

*NARF* J'm le fantome!

[Boromir88]

By far the funniest slip ups, were when Aragorn hops over a dead Uruk-hai, to get to Boromir, you can see him lift his head up and recline, or when Karl Urban loses his sword in TTT.

[Faramir]

The funniest part about the Karl Urban "boo boo" is that he looks at it when it falls

[Kitanna]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

By far the funniest slip ups, were when Aragorn hops over a dead Uruk-hai, to get to Boromir, you can see him lift his head up and recline, or when Karl Urban loses his sword in TTT.

He loses his sword and I've gone this long without noticing? Shame on me.

Anywho one of the things I always have to point out when watching FOTR is when Aragorn is looking for kingsfoil to help Frodo. And he's carrying a torch,
in the woods, and then he sents it down on the ground, in the woods, and nothing around it burns.

Then there's the change of Snowmane. And this isn't like when they use two different Shadowfaxs, no these are two completely different horses. In the beginning of ROTK Theoden is riding a brown horse, but when it's time for war he's back on a white one.

[Orominuialwen]

What always bugs me is that the elves use saddles when they ride horses. Gandalf says (sorry, I can't find the exact quote at the moment) that he rides Shadowfax in the manner of the elves, without a saddle &c. For some reason this always bugs me every time I watch the movies...

[Carorëiel]

This has been mentioned before (not in this thread). During Boromir's death scene, Boromir has his right hand on Aragorn's shoulder during Boromir's close-ups, but in Aragorn's close-ups, the hand is no where to be seen. For some reason, this drives me absolutlely out of my tree. Maybe they shouldn't have stopped for lunch between shooting each set of close-ups.

[Nimrodel_9]

There was one in RotK that my friend and I noticed. It's kinda nasty. At the beginning when they are approaching the Tower of Orthanc (when Treebeard is talking) and Bernard Hill's horse, uh, goes potty in the water. I found it funny when Billy Boyd mentioned something about the horses doing that in the commentary.

[King of the North]

Originally posted by Carorëiel
Boromir has his right hand on Aragorn's shoulder during Boromir's close-ups, but in Aragorn's close-ups, the hand is no where to be seen

yes, I noticed that 2 and now I cant watch that scene without noticing it.

[Holbytlass]

Wow...I didn't notice any of that stuff. I'll have to watch it AGAIN! YEA!
What part did Eomer lose his sword?
Hello, Beanamir, fellow nailbiter.

[mormegil]

Some of my favorites are in the battle on Pellenor fields there is a hairy orc (facial hair) that the main orc talks to (don't know his name but pink guy with tumors) anyway he's at the gate then at the Rohirrim charge (obviously killed) then he appears at the landing of the ships when Aragorn arrives.

Another good on is at the black gate, many arrive on horses and in one scene you see them but in the next shot they are gone. I've noticed these and many others (it's kind of a passion of mine to find mistakes) but here's a fun website for those interested enough in it. Link there are most all movies in there. You will find that LoTR ranks high on the most mistakes in a film.

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by mormegil

You will find that LoTR ranks high on the most mistakes in a film.

True. But the films which are ranked highest are those which will tend to be popular with those who make a hobby of spotting mistake in films ...

[mormegil]

It wasn't meant as a slander against the movie. The fact is the larger the movie the more common are the mistakes. I just wanted to point out that it is high up there. While I make it a hobby to find mistakes I don't think it a poor film unless there are plot holes, bad story line, horrible acting etc... Simple, yet fun, mistakes don't make or break a movie to me.

[Mad Baggins]

This drives me absolutely nuts: In FotR, right after they meet Aragorn and begin the journey from Bree to Rivendell, the hobbits are following him through the bush. When Aragorn says "Into the wild," he walks past the camera and bumps it, moving it just a teensy bit. It's barely noticeable, but once I saw it it bothers the heck out of me.

[Eledhewin Ilanora]

I dont if anyone knew this allready..

In FOTR, after the gate of Moria was shut down behind after the watcher's attack, Gandalf light up his staff to enter into the caves darkness..if you watch closely you can see a wire cable was attached to gandalf's staff and he was dragging it along..probably the power supply for the bulb inside his staff....emmm

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by mormegil

It wasn't meant as a slander against the movie.

Oh no, I didn't think it was. My point simply was that most films are probably littered with these kinds of mistakes. It's just that most aren't the kind that tend to pored over obsessively by "mistake spotters". It's probably also fair to say that, the more ambitious the project, the more likely it is to give rise to these kinds of mistakes.

[Lalwendë]

I still can't find the bit where Eomer loses his sword!!!

My favourite mistake was in TT when Pippin had his hands bound, then the horse is rearing above him and miraculously he is able to wave his hands freely in the air. When we go back to the scene, his hands are bound again.

I like looking for these kind of things, it's like Where's Wally? for geeks...

[Eruanna]

This isn't a mistake; but on another site I saw a few people claim that in FotR, in the scene between Saruman and Gandalf, inside Orthanc, when Saruman is speaking of the Eye of Sauron's ability to perceive things. He looks directly at Gandalf and we see that Gandalf is wearing a ring. The posters say that this is a clear nod to Tolkienites, as the ring is meant to be Narya, of course.
Now, I have watched this scene a few times, in close up and freeze frame, but I can't see a ring. I just wondered if any of you eagle-eyed mistake spotters had noticed anything?

[Celebuial]

I've not noticed a ring either, Eruanna.

There are so many simple mistakes in the movies... In FOTR you can see Saraman's bandage when The Fellowship are on Caradhras, In TT the Barrells behind Frodo and Sam dissappear at Henth Annun, and in ROTK when Sam is searching Cirith Ungol there are four orcs on the stairs one min and then the next there are only three! There are many more but I just chose the ones that aren't story related.

[Morsul the Dark]

one mistake that uruks me(uruk instead of urk haha anyway) is the inconsistancy of oliphant size I mentioned this another thread can't think of which on though... but Eowyn's horse barley clears the things ankles yet legolas is up to its knee...also it wasn't exactly a mistake but legolas sliding down the trunk anyone else hear the words "Yabbadabba do"? horrible idea for him to do that in my opinion.

[Ainaserkewen]

Maybe the Mamukil come in vastly different sizes? Or is that too convenient?

[Kath]

Yes! Thank you Lalwendë! I was the only one who noticed Pippin and his hands in the cinema and I had to wait til it came out on DVD to prove it as noone would believe me .

[mormegil]

Another good one is--

In Rivendell when Sam and Frodo are standing near the edge and there's a railing and it's proportionally tall for the Hobbits. Well that seems okay and all but this is a habitat for elves. When we see elves standing near any other thing it's all their size. Minor mistake but highly comical.

I must say I'm glad I'm not a movie editor.

[Knight of Gondor]

Ha ha, the mistakes get on my nerves, too. Be sure to check out Moviemistakes.com for a complete listing. I knew about that site years ago, and contributed one or two myself.

The big ones which annoy: the wad of Dwarven mucous that slides out Gimli's Dwarven nose while he shouts "I will DIE before I see the Ring in the hands of an ELF!"

It's also MEGA-annoying to see TWO Legolas stunt-riders riding out in the Helm's Deep charge. You may not want to watch it, since it might forever shadow your future viewings. But when Theoden leads the charge out the causeway, there are TWO blond-braided graceful figures that look somewhat like Legolas, riding out the ramp. Plus, if you look carefully, the extras playing the soldiers were obviously told to swing their swords and they'll add the creatures in later. Yet while they are swinging their swords, most of the work is done by the horses, plowing into the Uruks and sending them flying off ere one is cut by a blade.

Same thing with the Warg battle. Right after they're finishing up the fight, you can see some riders in the background, looking strikingly goofy, just swinging their blades in the air as if for fun! AUGH, it drives me NUTS!

[Knight of Gondor]

Originally Posted by Eruanna

This isn't a mistake; but on another site I saw a few people claim that in FotR, in the scene between Saruman and Gandalf, inside Orthanc, when Saruman is speaking of the Eye of Sauron's ability to perceive things. He looks directly at Gandalf and we see that Gandalf is wearing a ring. The posters say that this is a clear nod to Tolkienites, as the ring is meant to be Narya, of course.
Now, I have watched this scene a few times, in close up and freeze frame, but I can't see a ring. I just wondered if any of you eagle-eyed mistake spotters had noticed anything?

Actually, although there is no ring there (you can see Narya at the very end of RotK, when Gandalf has also mysteriously recovered the staff shattered by the Witchking) It is just a string, perhaps something to hold his cloak-sleeve in place, or something attached to his staff. Either way, you CAN see it wrapped around or hanging down on, one of Gandalf's fingers, and then the next shot, it's not there and/or it's shifted.

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

Actually, this isn't a mistake but just something I got to thinking while watching RotK. Considering Gollum had only six teeth, he must have had really sharp gums in order to bite someone's finger off.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Pippin's hands.....wow.

Here's one that makes me shake my head. It's quite well known. When Grishnakh is crouching over Merry, ready to slice, and Treebeard squashes the Orc with his foot, Merry has somehow moved several feet away from the beast. Enough space to avoid being crushed by the Ent, funnily enough!

[Orominuialwen]

Actually, this isn't a mistake but just something I got to thinking while watching RotK. Considering Gollum had only six teeth, he must have had really sharp gums in order to bite someone's finger off.

There is a mistake associated with this, though. In the movie, Gollum has more than six teeth. I looked at a picture once and counted. I don't remember the exact number, but I know he had at least eight. What the point of this change is, I have no idea.

[Ainaserkewen]

Cosmetic surgery perhaps?

[Kath]

PJ probably didn't read the book to find out. Though I suppose, it's not something you assume would be mentioned.

[Kitanna]

In the siege of Minas Tirith when Gandalf says "this is no place for a Hobbit" he swings around and hits an Orc with his staff and then with his sword. But when he hits with his sword it had the same effect as when he hit it with his staff. It just kind of whacked the Orc without actually cutting him.

[Knight of Gondor]

Yes, I've observed that many or most of the blows in LotR do not seem to do a lot of damage. I don't WISH for excessive gore, but when Gimli knocks down the Uruk at Helm's Deep, and then hauls back for a massive whomp on the uruk's bare torso, you'd think the axe would penetrate more than it did! Or when Theoden and the rest plunge out of the chamber, notice that most of the attacking uruks step back out of the way of the horses. None of them are sliced. If there IS damage shown, it's really focused on. (i.e., the one uruk's head when Eomer and Gandalf first plunge in among the uruk ranks, Lurtz's head, or Gothmog/Cauliflower head in RotK:EE)

Again, I don't want the blood-spurting, limbs flying violence that Hollywood often delivers, but it WAS noticeable that many of those orcs were clearly not actually wounded.

[Parmawen]

YES! AT LAST A PLACE FOR ME TO POST THIS!!!

This has been driving me crazy for ages: In TTT when they have that montage of Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli running...at one point where they're very zoomed out (it must be a helicopter angle) you can see something black fall off of Gimli's head....it was his hat!!! My mom pointed it out in the theater (the fourth time around) and it drives me crazy now! It's really quite funny too, 'cause they must have had to run sooo much

[Knight of Gondor]

Can we get a DVD time? I'd like to check it out! (Specify EE or regular?)

Also, I suggest you visit moviemistakes.com and look to see if that mistake is included. If it's not, post it!

[Dininziliel]

[I deleted this after first submitting it as it's not about minor errors, but rather what are, to me, major errors. However, I recalled that my two "biggies" were also mentioned by Caroreiel, Lalwende, and 1-2 others. I assume they're still among the dead, so I decided to resubmit this as I'm just as beyond perturbed as I was before I wrote it! ]

I just watched my RotK EE this morning for the first time in about 3 months. When it was done, I had to ask myself, "Why?" Well, because I guess I was hoping the Maia had come and changed all the parts that have rendered it nigh unwatchable for me. It's rather ironic because when I first saw it (1st day, 1st showing in my city), I was so captivated and satisfied that I walked out of the theatre and got in my car, all the while murmuring, "Thank you, Peter Jackson." With each subsequent viewing, I grow to dislike this movie the most of the three. One reason is that it brings all the other gaffes from the previous two movies to mind, and the cumulative weight is impossible for me to bear. (Another reason is that I have grown to cringe too much at the raw fish chomping and the endless Gollum overkill in the first 10 minutes.) And, believe me, I want to love the movies with a desire that just doesn't seem to want to quit.

So, what with my pain and aggrievedness all renewed and stuff, I was happy to see this thread and so have a venting or two! (Thanks, in advance!)

For me, there are two most unforgiveable gaffes. The first is the on & off again Boromir hands during his death scene in FotR. Here's one of the greatest death scenes of all times, and there's me trying to not notice Boromir's hand on and then off Aragorn's shoulder. Poor Sean Bean--I'd be so, well . . . extremely bothered. I was sore amazed when it seemed I was the only one in all LotR moviedom that noticed and/or cared. So it soothes my severely ruffled feathers to hear Caroreiel and one other mention the same thing here. (Barrow Downers are the most astute of all Tolkienites!)

The second biggest gaffe is also mentioned, albeit even more rarely than Boromir's disappearing hands. This also involves hands. (Hmmm . . . I wonder if Jackson was having us on with a running "hands-on/off" gag. I wouldn't put it past him.) I am referring to Pippin's tied/untied hands in TTT. Lalwende saw this and also had difficulty getting people to notice. Again, my feathers are soothed by knowing that I was not alone!

OMG--I never noticed Theoden's Pelennor horse changes color in RotK. Oh well, there's not much that can happen to make watching that movie any worse than it already is. I'm just glad it wasn't in FotR, which is my favorite, despite the thing with (and without ) Boromir's hands . . . (sigh)

As for that car you can see behind the corn field in FotR, I have looked and looked using slow motion on my DVD, and I have never been able to see it!

Here's one nobody has mentioned: Arwen in the last battle scene at Helm's Deep in TTT. When Theoden, et al, ride out and Gandalf, et al, come together and defeat the orcs, you can see Arwen around the upper right of the screen on horseback wielding a sword. You have to slow it down quite a bit to see it, but she's there.

I checked the web site devoted to movie mistakes. It seems too many people either have too much time on their hands or there is a vast difference in the perceptual abilities in many people's brains. It's a common thing to hear that what leaps out at one, remains too subtle for another to see. This is evident in this thread.

The first gaffe I noticed was in the theatrical version of FotR. It wasn't until the Fellowship was on Caradhras and Frodo dropped the Ring in the snow that Boromir's name was mentioned. Until then, he was nameless! The second gaffe I noticed was when I got my DVD version of FotR. Just as the fireworks dragon is flying over the heads of the hobbits, you see a group of anonymous hobbits crowded together on the ground. The woman in the middle changes position the second time the camera shows them. I've managed to get past that one. I guess it's because it's the only one that I see that doesn't mess with the story like the others.

And, my last one. There are many, many more, but I'm sticking to the ones that get me going every single time I see these movies. This last one is not strictly in keeping with the type of mistakes this thread is about, but I'm going to risk it anyway--it's not showing Denethor with his palantir. This is a really big mistake. Without it, he is more a Monty Python character ("Dinothaur" perhaps?) than a credible Denethor.

In the EE RotK commentary, I heard Jackson say, "What? Another continuity error? Oh well . . ." and pass it off as another in a long line of tedious complaints by viewers. I think some of the sting in the continuity gaffes would be more tolerable to me if I knew that he cared more. Why spend all the time, blood, sweat, tears, and $$ only to let beginners' errors pass through all that editing to the final cut--especially in the three movies that would be watched repeatedly more times than any other except, perhaps, Star Wars?

Sigh. And sigh again. It's just because I so much want to be in ME, and these movies come so close so often that I wax so wroth. One gets settled in and is thrilled, enthralled, and captivated, then . . . wham! there's some small or big thing that jars me back into my 7th Age living room. I often dream of coming into possession of the raw stock footage!

Well, thanks again for letting me vent some of my frustration and disappointment. I wish I could be as many seem to be--able to pass off these mighty blunders as entertaining amusements. But I just can't seem to do it! I wonder if it's because I formed my attachment to LotR at 14 and have had over 3 decades to savor the imagined wonders of a finally-done-right movie version. After the Bakshi attempts, I think many of my tribe shrugged it off as being impossible to do (and maybe also thought, "That's probably for the best!") Then, along comes Jackson & Co., and . . . well, I'm about to repeat myself.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

It's good to get it all of your chest.

As for the car, they edited it out of the DVDs. I never got to see it.

[Elianna]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

As for the car, they edited it out of the DVDs.

That's right. I promise you, I will swear in court, I saw it in theatres, but it isn't there in the DVD.

They've changed other things in the DVD, or second runs at the theatre; like some of the subtitles for the Elvish.

[Frodo Baggins]

I do not know if anyone else has noticed this but about my fourth viewing of TTT I noticed that the silver clasp that holds Legolas' quiver straps on keeps moving on his chest. It goes from left, to right, then back again, sometimes all during the same scene!

[Parmawen]

[QUOTE=Knight of Gondor]Can we get a DVD time? I'd like to check it out! (Specify EE or regular?) QUOTE]

Well, it was TTT the EE, but it doesn't really matter...I think it'd be in the regular too...the exactl DVD time is: 17 minutes and 37/38 seconds. Turns out it's not his hat, but it looks like a shoe or something. All I know is that it tumbles off his feet and he gives it a little kick as he runs!!!

As for the car...that is SO annoying. Everyone always would talk about it, but I could never see it...no wonder. I feel almost betrayed they erased it *sighs*.

As for Eomer's sword-dropping accident, can anyone give a specific time?!? It sounds great.

And lastly...Gimli's little dwarven-snot incident at the Council of Elrond before saying "I'd die before I'd see the Ring in the hands of an elf!" looks to be more like spittle that flew up and landed on his nose. I know, very impressive. I was watching it in slow-mo...everyone else left the room after the fifth time