By the time it was all over, the 55+ people who made it to the final seconds of “Return of the King” could hardly contain their giddiness. For 14.5 hours they had inhabited TORn’s chatroom where they laughed together, cheered together, and cried, together, while watching the entire “Lord of the Rings” Extended Editions trilogy from start to finish.
They began gathering at 10 a.m. EST, impatient and eager. Tar_Gathalion arrived first, a newcomer to the chat room, and was one of the last to leave. Coriaelleth was wide awake and chipper at the start of “Fellowship of the Ring,” despite it being 2 a.m. in Brisbane, Australia, where she was chatting from. She, too, was still going strong at the end, taking energy from the amazing fellowship that had sprung up amongst the chatters.
And what a fellowship it was. Amidst the appreciation and groaning over the films, these people — of all ages and nationalities — shared how they discovered Middle Earth and their love of Tolkien. In doing so, we learned about each other. Teenagers listened as us old-timers recalled seeing Bakshi’s film in the movie theaters. The older chatters smiled as teens spoke of discovering Tolkien through video games and these movies that Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema gave to us.
So we made our way through the films, remembering anew how much we loved the opening sequence and the amazing Sauron, debating whether the Black Riders were scarier than the winged Nazgul, if the film suffered from lack of Tom Bombadil or Glorfindel, marveling at the horses in the flood at the Ford of Bruinen, discussing how the film’s depiction of Boromir rendered him so much more sympathetic than Tolkien’s. So many things to remark upon: The balrog, is he winged? Why is Lorien blue? Why does Celeborn ………. talk ………. like ………. this? The gifts! Just too much.
And that was only the first movie!
I honestly can’t even begin to recount all the people who contributed to the fun of this day from start to finish. There were Alatariel and justine’s witty comments, Lancelot (aka Sir_Capsalot) and CaptainOfGondor’s infectious enthusiasm. Beth and eRIC’s excitement was equally contagious. EcossElf and Ainulaire, omeron and stavros and nicktheoden. Susanita who hung on despite many computer problems. OBSERVER who was able to join us mid-way through. And Adrian, who thought she’d miss the whole thing, but managed to get home from work in time to see the end of “Return of the King.” I just know I’m leaving out so many more.
Movie Chat seems a simple concept — everyone puts a disc in, it plays, you chat — but in reality it takes a lot of orchestration. PAL and NTSC formats run at different speeds, so breaks are required throughout the evening in order to allow people to synch back up. Managing those pauses, wrangling everyone to press “play” at the same time, informing late-comers on how to catch up with everyone else, and generally making sure that everyone has a great time — these things take great moderators, and the night wouldn’t have happened without the many people who pitched in: starlady and caoil, who managed the countdowns and time-keeping for films 2 & 3; Wingfoot and FayWraith who shepherded the mid-film arrivals; Figgy and Elenya who played backstop by greeting people and pointing them in the right direction, plus making sure that everyone chatted nicely. Bravo and thank you!
By the time “Return of the King” launched, the enthusiasm level was at a fever pitch. Quiddler was shouting, Brandalf85 was hooting blowing up Saurons tower, Goblin was eating all the cookies, and Lancelot’s capslock key WAS PERMANENTLY STUCK!!!
And the conversation continued: Bingo_Bolger_Baggins finding Smeagol and Deagol disturbing; Elerwen and Eureka sniffling over Frodo and Sam’s heart wrenching journey; Elanor G, Will, and Spe debating the merits of Saruman’s expanded appearance; everyone complaining about Gimli the comedian; Figgy and all the ladies sighing over Faramir and the Houses of Healing; and myself — joined by Murazor — complaining all along about Denethor, Eowyn vs. the Witch King, “go home Sam,” and our utter disgust with the green Scrubbing Bubble Army of the Dead. (Hey, someone has to nitpick!)
But the best moment of all came with the Ride of the Rohirrim:
(Figgy) this is the BEST SCENE in this movie
(Figgy) ERE THE SUN RISES
(Eureka) DEATH!!!
(Elanor_G) Death!!
(Brandalf85) DEathhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Lancelot) Shields shall be splintered
(CaptainofGondor) ere the sun rises!
(Beth) love this!
(Brandalf85) ~music~
(EcossElf) ruinnnn and the worlds ending
(Elanor_G) DEATH!!!
(CaptainofGondor) Stay with me
(maegwen) DEATH
(Figgy) RIDE NOW
(Stavros) ride now!
(Edendil) death!!!
(Quiddler1) Ride now!
(Brandalf85) Forth EorlingTORNS
(EcossElf) deathhhhhh
(Figgy) RIDE!
(Figgy) FOR RUIN!
(Quiddler1) Ridenow!
(Lancelot) Ride for ruin!
(Figgy) AND THE WORLD’S ENDING
(Spe) death!
(Stavros) DEATH
(Adrian) death!
(Figgy) DEATH!
(Spe) death!
(omeron) Death! Death! Death!
(ZeeWarthog) DDDEEEAAATTTHHH
(Lancelot) And the worlds ending!
(Figgy) DEATH!
(CaptainofGondor) ride for ruin!!!!
(Stavros) DEATH
(Brandalf85) ~gets on horse~
(Lancelot) DEATHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
(Spe) death!
(Figgy) DEATH!
(Adrian) DEATH!!!
(Bingo_Bolger_Baggins) Death!!
(CaptainofGondor) DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Eureka) DEATH!!!
(Elanor_G) DEATH!!!
(ZeeWarthog) death
(Quiddler1) DEEEEEEEEEATH!
(Stavros) DEATH
(Spe) death!
(Figgy) DEATH!
(Lancelot) DEATHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(EcossElf) daethhhhh
(Elanor_G) DEATH!!!
(Spe) death!
(Stavros) DEATH
(CaptainofGondor) Death!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!S
(Adrian) Death!!!
(Pk) death!
(Eureka) Theres that violin again
(Spe) death!
(Stavros) DEATH
(Figgy) DEAAAATH!!!!!!!!!
(Quiddler1) Death!
(omeron) Death!
(CaptainofGondor) Death!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(ZeeWarthog) dddddddeeeeath
(Lancelot) DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Adrian) death!!
(Guest) Death!!!!!
(CaptainofGondor) DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Lancelot) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
(Figgy) CHILLS
(Stavros) DFAETH
(Lancelot) DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH
(Beth) DEATHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
(Bingo_Bolger_Baggins) What’s happening
(Figgy) FORTH EORLINGAS!
(Gondhir) WOO, HORNS
(Beth) death!!!!!!!!!!
(CaptainofGondor) DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTHHHH!!!!!
(Brandalf85) DEATHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Lancelot) FOR EORLIGAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Spe) yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh
(Beth) death!!
(CaptainofGondor) .Forth Eorlingas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(FayWraith) *horns*
(Adrian) Death!
(Stavros) DEAF!!!
(Lancelot) DEATHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(Beth) deaaaaaaaaaath!
(Brandalf85) lol
(Lancelot) DEATHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHD
(CaptainofGondor) Rohan music!!!!!!!!!!!
(Lancelot) DEATHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(Figgy) YEAAAAAAAAH
(Gondhir) the Rohirrim are the best part of the movie
You just can’t do that in a movie theater 😉
As we reached the Grey Havens, we too sensed the enormity of the 14.5-hour road we’d travelled. And, like our beloved Hobbits, the chatters were reluctant to part. But, all good things must come to an end — for a time. I’m sure we’ll all meet again for another LoTR Movie Chat some time in the near future!
If you would like to know the next time we plan a LoTR chat, please e-mail me to be added to the mailing list.
* * *
I’d like to thank all of the chatters who made the Marathon such an enjoyable experience:
Adrian
AinuLaire
Alatariel
Alatriel
Arwen_Legolas
Aurelia
Beth
Bingo_Bolger_Baggins
Brandalf85
Brian_Blessed
Bruce_Wayne
caoil
CaptainofGondor
coinpurse
Coriaelleth
Dalener
Dekota
Demosthenes
Denise
Dillen
Dunedain
EcossElf
Edendil
eeviac
Elanor_G
Elendilking
Elenya
Elerwen
Elfriend
elleth
Elrohir
Elvish-Rose
Emily_M
eowyn
eRiC
Eureka
FayWraith
Fenway
Figgy
George_Clooney
Goblin
Gondhir
Graham
Gwahir_Saves_The_Day
Halduina
James_Bond_of_the_Round_Table
jincey
JK
JPB
justine
Karamia
Karl
King_Elendil
Lancelot
LeekANeet
Lucrecia
Maegnarval
maegwen
middleearthguy
MightyDiggler
MouthOfSauron
MrCere
MrNobody
Murazor
Namadriel
Naz
Nephellim
nicktheoden
OBSERVER
omeron
One_Day
ORDESKY
Pk
Prof_Hojo
Quiddler
Rimbecano
Rob
Rox
samsbestfriend
scott
Shar
Spartacus
Spe
Spide
starlady
stavros
surfy_hobbit
Susanita
Tar_Gathalion
Thas
that_guy
Theodwyn
thewraithling
TolkienRider
Tookish
tree_girl
usef
voodoo
Will
Wingfoot
Wraithlette
Xelloss
Zaakistan
ZeeWarthog
