Recalling “The Fellowship Of The Ring” Film
On 1 March I started a Romance in Fantasy post series on the Supernatural Underground by looking at the novel of The Lord Of The Rings, chiefly because it’s influenced fantasy literature and the epic fantasy subgenre so profoundly.
All of which got me thinking about the three The Lord of The Rings(LoTR) films as well. Then last Friday, on an unexpected road trip, I heard a review of music soundtracks and their composers, in this case Howard Shore. The piece of music featured was Evenstar, from the first film in the LoTR trilogy, The Fellowship Of The Ring:
Evenstar
Arwen Evenstar
Evenstar is a beautiful piece of music and I really enjoyed listening to it again. But I was also thinking, “How can it be eighteen years (this year) since The Fellowship Of The Ring was first released?
It really does feel very close to yesterday… “As far away as yesterday and as long ago as forever”, to paraphrase Ursula Le Guin.
I remember waiting for the film to come out with a mix of anticipation and trepidation. Anticipation because I love the story and wanted to see it on the big screen; trepidation because I dreaded that it would be Truly Awful, as so many fantasy films before it had been.
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Meetings in dark places: Aragorn as Strider
The feeling of delight when Fellowship was not awful remains as fresh as if it truly were yesterday that I saw the film. Favourite moments include the first appearance of the Black Riders; the hobbits first encounter with Aragorn in his guise as Strider, the flight to the fords, and waking in Rivendell.
Of the three LoTR films, Fellowship is still my favourite, partly because of those feelings of relief and delight. I also think it works the best because the main characters are together in the fellowship.
Still my favourite…
In the later films, we have to follow three and then four main threads: Frodo and Sam; Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli; Merry and Pippin together, and then Merry and Pippin separately. This made the films longer, which in turn led to some sequences being featured over others, which is always difficult for the avid reader and fan.
Still, it was great to rehear the Evenstar theme again and recall those moments of delight—eighteen years later! 🙂
Oh, I love this post! I love what you say about the dread and anticipation of going to see FOTR for the first time. And while I *think* I agree that Fellowship is my favorite, the music from the whole trilogy is just magnificent. The sad violin of Rohan, the soaring feeling when the beacons are lit– I can (and do) listen to the entire score over and over (having recently discovered the “complete recordings” as well).
FELLOWSHIP was my focus for this post, but I agree re loving the whole musical score (and all the movies, although I’ll admit to a few fannish quibbles with The Two Towers & The Return of the King. ) But the score is a real tribute to Howard Shore.