| Review of LOTR exhibit at Houston Museum [message #82709] |
Sa, 16 Juli 2005 03:24 |
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An exhibit entitled: 'Lord of the Rings, the Motion Picture' is
making the
rounds to a few select museums. I saw it in Houston and want to share a
few thoughts about it. I understand that museums need 'blockbuster' shows
to rake in cash to help pay for the less popular but more on-target things
they do, and this certainly fit the bill, giving HMNS its biggest opening
crowd ever. I can even see a relevance, as the technology of modern
cinema is at least the equal of the oil bidness tech featured elsewhere
in the museum. It still struck me as odd to be seeing movie prop swords
and shields at a museum rather than historical ones.
I was leery of attending, but did so for very good reasons. Comped
ducats,
a parking spot right outside the place, and a chance to show off my
J.R.R. Tolkien themed art car, Frodo's Fordor*. (Nothing is too crassly
commercial as long as I don't have to pay for it) Here is my take on it.
Have you ever wanted to watch the 'making of' bits from your extended
DVD's, while simultaneously doing a Google Image search on "Lord of the
Rings" and gazing at glass box movie costumes ala Planet Hollywood cafe?
It was like that.
Ok. The costumes were absolutely fabulous, and up close one can
appreciate the detail that went into them much more than the quick flashes
on the silver screen. Of particular note was the ranger outfit of
Aragorn, which Viggo, being the nitpicking bastard that he is, insisted
on repairing and cleaning himself during the shoot. It shows, which
makes it much more authentic looking than the others.
The cave troll looked a bit cheesy, but the moria orc climbing the
wall beside him gave an idea of just how scary something like that
scuttling around like a spider could be. The bust of Treebeard was
impressive, but, being a bust, I couldn't help thinking of how a wall
in Saruman's trophy room might have looked if he had won the battle for
Orthanc. The most realistic piece was a silicone effigy of Boromir
laid out in his funeral boat. Must have given Sean Bean a good startle
the first time he saw it. (Sorry for the lack of pictures: exhibit
policy: no cameras inside).
I soon tired of picking out factual errors (Treebeard as the oldest
living thing, of the first race: the Ents) and the strange misspellings
(How do you "dwelve" in LothLorien, as Galadriel was said to do?).
But I did get a nerdy kick checking out the various ways PJ and crew
compensated for the relative sizes of the various races. I particularly
appreciated the quote that, "after a while we found we could get by
in some shots by having someone hunch down a little." Can't CGI
everything, eh? Nancy dropped $10 on a polaroid done with split
screens and differently scaled models that made her appear 2/3 my
size and then vice versa.
One problem with the whole thing is how Tolkien literate do the creators
assume the attendee to be? I was bombarded with stuff I was already
well aware of, while Nancy frequently had to question me to put pieces
into context. Too much explanation for me and not enough for her.
Perhaps the best way to see it would be to take someone who likes the
stories (or even just the movies) but isn't that knowlegable and have them
hire you to go along as a sort of personal docent. On the whole, it may be
worth your while if it is somewhere close, but probably not worth a
road trip to another city to see it.
Oh, by the way, they made no mention at all of the "Uruk-hai;
Isengarders only or not?" controversy. No help there. <grin>
*For those unfamiliar with the whole concept of 'art cars'
as well as those who just want to see the car, I refer you to
my personal page at:
http://users2.ev1.net/~dennisdillow/
The relative sizes polaroids are at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denaldo/
--
Dennis is currently having a passionate, if entirely
imaginary love affair with Susan Sto Helit of Discworld.
If you're looking for the spamtrap, get to the 'POINT'.
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| Re: Review of LOTR exhibit at Houston Museum [message #82716 ] |
Sa, 16 Juli 2005 09:35 |
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denaldo <denaldo [at] ePOINTv1.net> wrote:
> An exhibit entitled: 'Lord of the Rings, the Motion Picture' is
> making the rounds to a few select museums. I saw it in Houston
> and want to share a few thoughts about it.
Is that exhibit _still_ going? I saw it in London over 18 months ago and
had pretty much the same thoughts as you: nice to see close ups, but a
pity they reused all the DVD extras footage. I only found the big orc
scary (Lurtz, I think).
> a chance to show off my
> J.R.R. Tolkien themed art car, Frodo's Fordor*.
Thanks for showing us the pictures. That is incredible. I never even
knew there were such things as 'art cars'. Glad you've done a Tolkien
one!
> Oh, by the way, they made no mention at all of the "Uruk-hai;
> Isengarders only or not?" controversy. No help there. <grin>
Pity! :-)
Christopher
--
---
Reply clue: Saruman welcomes you to Spamgard
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| Re: Review of LOTR exhibit at Houston Museum [message #82728 ] |
Sa, 16 Juli 2005 19:17 |
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"denaldo" <denaldo [at] ePOINTv1.net> wrote
>The most realistic piece was a silicone effigy of Boromir
> laid out in his funeral boat. Must have given Sean Bean a good
startle
> the first time he saw it.
apparently people were fetching it cups of tea on set :-)
--
Jette Goldie
jette [at] blueyonder.co.uk
INTERACTION - the 63rd Worldcon
"A European Worldcon in Glasgow"
http://interaction.worldcon.org.uk/
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| Re: Review of LOTR exhibit at Houston Museum [message #82736 ] |
Sa, 16 Juli 2005 20:41 |
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denaldo wrote:
> An exhibit entitled: 'Lord of the Rings, the Motion Picture' is
> making the
> rounds to a few select museums. I saw it in Houston
<snip>
Thanks for your review, which brought back memories of when I saw the
exhibition in London. Is the cave troll still anatomically correct? <g>
For me, the most stunning item on show was Theoden's armour. I grew up in a
part of England where they were always digging up the real thing but a
thousand years or so underground doesn't do much for the quality so it was
great to see the colours of an authentic looking replica glowing so
beautifully.
--
Speaking Clock
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| Re: Review of LOTR exhibit at Houston Museum [message #82738 ] |
Sa, 16 Juli 2005 22:11 |
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Speaking Clock wrote:
> denaldo wrote:
>
>> An exhibit entitled: 'Lord of the Rings, the Motion Picture' is
>>making the
>>rounds to a few select museums. I saw it in Houston
>
>
> <snip>
>
> Thanks for your review, which brought back memories of when I saw the
> exhibition in London. Is the cave troll still anatomically correct? <g>
> For me, the most stunning item on show was Theoden's armour. I grew up in a
> part of England where they were always digging up the real thing but a
> thousand years or so underground doesn't do much for the quality so it was
> great to see the colours of an authentic looking replica glowing so
> beautifully.
The 'life size' one has a breechcloth, but there is a smaller,
anatomically correct figure elsewhere in the exhibit.
Let's just say that the relative small size of the thing made me
think the cave troll probably drives a Hummer to compensate.
--
Dennis is currently having a passionate, if entirely
imaginary love affair with Susan Sto Helit of Discworld.
If you're looking for the spamtrap, get to the 'POINT'.
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