saturday

[phineasjones]

and here is the story of saturday - the trilogy, meeting other fans and q&a with elijah, sean a, andy, bernard and pj.


saturday

i had been contemplating taking a taxi to lincoln center saturday morning instead of the subway. when i went out to get us some bagels and coffee, and nearly froze the nose off my face, i decided this was definitely the best idea. and i was glad – it was warmer, easier, and i got to see more of the city than i had yet, being underground for most of the traveling. rach came with in the taxi – and then took the subway the rest of the way to her friend R’s house, where she would be staying the night.

at lincoln center, i met up with musesfool, fearlessdiva, camillafarfalla, starbuckle and G – the woman camilla met a the charades thing. everyone was lovely and it was so exciting to meet diva and musesfool especially. ah, fandom.

we didn’t have to wait too long to get in. but while standing in the entrance way to alice tully, they all told me what they had found out the day before. that pj wouldn’t be there. and we could see the sign that said he would be there by satellite only and that elijah, sean, andy, bernard and liv would be there (the liv thing turned out to be false). i was disappointed, yes, particularly about the absence of viggo, but i just decided to get over it instantly. and that worked. it’s not like i was going to run up and try to touch pj, so having him there by satellite would be just fine.

i was most disturbed, actually, but the presence of sean astin. i have very mixed feelings about him, as i have mentioned before. and i didn’t want them in the way of my enjoyment. it turned out well, though, as i’ll go into later.

we got into the theater and milled about aimlessly a bit. our seats for fellowship were the front of the balcony. a pretty good view and lots of leg room. in the lobby, camilla and i bumped into thejennabides and mcee. they looked just like i thought they would look. in fact, i saw them first and recognized them instantly, which is a bit strange as i had never seen them in person before. it was a brief meeting, a bit early in the morning for all of us, i suspect. their seats were on the floor, so we parted ways. they stayed on my mind a bit though… they were some of the first people i added to my flist when i got on lj… and then there they were. the brain took a while to catch up.

sean and elijah introduced the first movie. this is when i discovered the craptastic ghetto-ness of my digital camera. my attempt at a picture of them came out as fuzzy pink darkness with a spot of light reflected off the bellbottoms of elijah’s jeans. which were adorable. they were sort of groggy and low key in their introduction. we did scream wildly when elijah asked whether any of us had done this already for trilogy tuesday. quite a few had. and then sean reminded us to stretch, mentioning he’s just been reading about this in conde nast and he did a little leg stretch demo. very cute.

and then there was the movie. i wasn’t as into the movies as i was for trilogy tuesday. i think there were a bunch of reasons for this – the seats were less comfortable – hence harder to ignore, the sound was excellent but the screen was smaller/farther away and thus not as enveloping, and there were all these people around… yeah, just a bit on the distracting side. like… here! meet a bunch of lj friends!!! for 30 seconds, now watch this movie. brain whiplash.



after the movie, it was picnic in the lobby time. i was extremely grateful to camillafarfalla and company for toting along food for me. i saw musesfool again briefly before she left because she wasn’t feeling well. sad. and then i met sparcck and stell266 when they came over with mcee and thejennabides to picnic with us. i was a little overwhelmed by new people-ness. in a way that’s not totally in character for me. i think it had to do with many of us being new to each other – not just me being new. i didn’t have much of a place in the conversation and felt a little off. it was no one’s fault though, i was just quietly observing everyone’s loveliness. mcee seemed more shy than i expected (though i am often judged as shy on first meeting and thus don’t want to impose that on other people as it really isn’t true for me) and thejennabides was wonderfully outgoing and friendly. i especially enjoyed meeting her.

for the second movie, we sat in orchestra row x. the hall is well constructed though and we had a very good view even from that far back. bernard and andy introduced it. i can’t remember much of what they said… this may have been when andy went off for a while about the way the world changed since they started making the films and the significance they took on as a result and the strange coincidences with things like the title of ‘the two towers.’ (though i may be confusing the specifics with some similar things that bernard said later – though andy’s wasn’t quite as cringeful as bernard’s talk about good and evil in our world. for me.) and yeah, i don’t remember what bernard said just then. but they were cute, as they are. and then the movie, with the same basic feelings as before. though, in fotr and ttt, the same things got me as always get me. boromir’s death… and the rest of the end of fotr. theoden mourning theodred, gandalf and eomer’s arrival and the charge down the hill… sam’s speech, gollum’s added scenes, the denethor-boromir-faramir scenes. jenny pointed out, and i agree, that those scenes really end up being pivotal when the whole trilogy is seen together. they change all three movies – and add depth to them. amazing.

after ttt, we joined up with lifeinwords, whom i hadn’t met yet but others had, and she took us all to her apartment which is walking distance from lincoln center. we hung out there – eating food camilla brought while the other kids ordered pizza. it was nice to have a place to go. and it felt good to walk, even though it was freezing still. we chilled, and got to talk a little more with the others and make a plan for brunch the next day. it was low key and nice to talk to people a little more.

no actors introduced rotk, but we were invited to stick around afterward for q&a with all four of them. we were in the same seats as for ttt. which was fine. the movie was as amazing as it always is. i just really think this is one of the best movies ever. ever ever. and i think that of fellowship too, actually. they’re so different but i think they are both astoundingly brilliant. the thing i noticed most watching the three in a row this time was what i now think of as the ‘not alone’ theme. it’s this recurring issue of characters feeling like they have to take on the evils of the world on their own and then being told or finding out that they are not alone, that others will come to their aid, that others are already striving toward the same goal. frodo tries to go alone and sam goes with him. frodo turning to sam, realizing gollum is there and saying, ‘we’re not alone’ – is sort of a creepy one, but ultimately they needed gollum. and there’s the ttt:ee moment was aragorn says to gandalf, ‘not alone,’ that sam went with him. and gandalf smiles and says good. theoden thinks he’s alone, perilously insists on it, not even asking for help, and then first the elves come, and then eomer and gandalf – and eomer says it, ‘not alone.’ denethor thinks gondor is abandoned, that rohan won’t come, and he gives up, telling everyone to flee. but we know it’s not true, and that help is on the way. there are more places, i’m sure, and i’d love for people to point them out to me. jenny and i talked about this on the way home and she pointed out the contrast between that and what galadriel says to frodo – ‘to bear a ring of power is to be alone.’ and how ultimately that plays out in his need to leave middle earth. the shire is saved, but not for him. and i just have to remember that for a while sam was a ringbearer too, and that he too will go.

so yes. that movie. meow. and then the actors came out for the q&a. and pj appeared by satellite – huge on the screen above the actors. they had some fun with that – pj pretending to grab at them with his enormous screen hands. cute. the mc guy started off the questions. he was well meaning and an appreciator of the films but he kept doing things like mispronouncing character names and such (famamour) which made him annoying.

the questions weren’t very good – most could have been answered by watching any dvd extras from fotr or ttt. but there were sweet answers nonetheless. bernard talking about missing new zealand – about the sadness of leaving there for the last time and the greatness of the rotk premiere and how it felt. someone asked what each of their favorite lines of their characters were. sean answered right away with ‘i can’t carry it for you but i can carry you’ and there was a general gasp of rightness from the audience. and elijah said you can’t really top that and they all nodded. but then bernard said his favorite was ‘i know your face’ and there was another heart-clutching ‘awww’ from the audience. elijah said his was maybe ‘we set out to save the shire and we did, but not for me’ – in conjunction with sean’s. ow, the heartbreak. andy said he couldn’t choose from his own, there were too many, but his favorite overall were gandalf’s lines in moria about not dealing out death and judgment (many who die deserve life, etc), which are some of my favorite as well and so i swooned once again. i think this is where pj said that his favorite moment was just before sam carries frodo, when frodo is desperately climbing, strength visibly failing, and the beautiful, pastoral music plays. which is so right, that moment is so amazing and i love that pj loves it too.

other questions weren’t as interesting. ‘was it hard to be away from home so long?’ duh, watch the frickin extras. [though sean had an extended answer about his love for american civil life and how it was hard to be away from the 2000 election. and then pj and all started joking that he’ll run for president some day. please god, no. and then they laughed about how some people wanted pj to be prime minister of new zealand. hee.] but their answers were always polite and fresh and interesting. it was just as clear as ever how much they loved the films and each other. someone asked if there would be more merry in rotk:ee and said she had wished there were more of his story line in general and there was wild applause in the theater and elijah said he would tell dom about that and that he would be thrilled. heart. pj said yes, probably and that there would likely be another 30 to 45 minutes in the extended edition (and we were all, what? not 5 hours?).

camilla has this all on audio tape, so there will be more details to come. when the mc said they had to stop, bernard said they should take one more question (love) and unfortunately they called on this woman whose question was on the absurd side. something like ‘at the very end when frodo looks back and smiles that beautiful smile, he gives a little nod and i was wondering what the significance of the nod was.’ elijah looked a bit dumbfounded and was like, ‘um, there was nod?’ the woman said that she and her friends had various theories and he said they were probably all right. and we all laughed and cheered. but then they all started answering – that it was ‘thank you’ or ‘you’ll be alright’ and i can’t remember what else but their sweet answers made the woman’s stupid question less annoying.

if i remember more, i’ll post it later, as this is all that’s left in my brain at the moment. diva, jenny, siena and i went back to her apartment and watched elijah on ellen and the daily show. god, he’s cute. so cute. we finally got to sleep around 3 am.

Comments

[randomalia.livejournal.com]

it’s this recurring issue of characters feeling like they have to take on the evils of the world on their own and then being told or finding out that they are not alone, that others will come to their aid, that others are already striving toward the same goal.... have to remember that for a while sam was a ringbearer too, and that he too will go.

Just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading that whole section, I love that whole theme about people doubting others only to have them stand alongside in all the moments that matter. Plus, somehow it hadn't even sunk into my brain that sam was a ringbearer - how much do I love sam?? He was going to go and finish what Frodo started.

Hearing about the interviews was great too!

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

thank you - i'm really glad you enjoyed reading that.

in the books, it's made more clear that sam is a ringbearer - there's more time given to his decision to pick up the ring and carry on when he thinks frodo is dead.

and, as such, sam can go to the grey havens too. and in the appendices of the books, it says that he does go, when he's old and rosie has died. which is the one thing that calms my frodo/sam heart at the end of this story.