On most of the Tolikien related holidays (there are several, btw) I usually make a point of complaining how the movies cheapened the whole Tolkien experience. Back when I was your age, we didn’t have the movies. We had to read Tolkien from falling apart, crumpled up library books that were missing pages, while walking up the hill, in knee deep snow, BOTH WAYS! You young whippersnappers have it made now, with your internet porn an your epic movies based on books. GET OFF MY LAWN!
I figured that I’ll break this tradition today and talk about what was good about the movies. I think that without a doubt, the best thing that came out of them was the DM of the Rings comic. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it. Seriously, Shamus Young is one of my favorite bloggers out there – the man can be hilarious insightful and profound at the same time. He also has a way with words that I could only wish to poorly emulate.
Granted, DM of the Rings is an acquired taste – playing pen and paper RPG games is sort of a prerequisite for understanding most of the jokes. But if you have ever dabbled in D&D or anything similar, you will find it brilliant. If however you have never played any of those games, and you find the comic incomprehensible, here is the second best thing that came out of the LOTR movies:
I know, I know. This is very, very old but oh, so catchy. Seriously, the first time I found this I had it on the loop for hours. I still sometimes respond to “What did you say?” with “The hobbits, the hobbits, the hobbits TO ISENGARD!”. On that note, I am also fond of the “…and my axe!” meme.
On a more serious note though, if you haven’t read the LOTR trilogy, please read it. You don’t have to read it now, but put it on your bucket list or something. It is really worth it. The sad side effect is that it will ruin the Fantasy genre for you for a long time. After you read Tolkien nothing else really compares. In fact, you will quickly start to see that all other fantasy universes are merely poorly designed clones of the epic that is LOTR. It is the quintessential fantasy cycle that gave birth to nearly all the tropes that have since then been perpetuated and embellished by thousands of writers who all aspire to create something as complete and grandiose as Tolkien’s as Middle Earth, but never even come close.
Oh, and in the comments we post LOTR memes. Go!
How it should have ended
Or did you mean this thing?
@ Matt`:
While it’s funny, there is a fundamental flaw in the “How it should have ended” clip. Sauron had a pretty awesome air defenses in the form of the Nazgul. I’m quite confident the fell beasts could easily intercept the great eagles. :P
Oh, and the other thing is not a meme. Memes are viral mind bugs – you know, like rickrolling for example. What you linked to seems to be one of those silly questionnaire things that clueless people post on facebook. I don’t consider these things to be memes.