Comments on: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince http://www.familiar-ground.com/2009/07/24/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince/ An epic fantasy comedy, from a familiar point of view. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:30:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Absafraginlootly http://www.familiar-ground.com/2009/07/24/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince/comment-page-1/#comment-319 Absafraginlootly Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:50:01 +0000 http://www.familiar-ground.com/?p=829#comment-319 Never read the book again before seeing the movie. ALWAYS a bad idea because you remember all the details that got cut and you end up compareing it to the book to much where as if you don't read it its easier to see it as an indivigial movie. Besides if you read the book afterwoods its like your moving up :) Never read the book again before seeing the movie. ALWAYS a bad idea because you remember all the details that got cut and you end up compareing it to the book to much where as if you don’t read it its easier to see it as an indivigial movie. Besides if you read the book afterwoods its like your moving up :)

]]> By: Cedric http://www.familiar-ground.com/2009/07/24/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince/comment-page-1/#comment-291 Cedric Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:35:26 +0000 http://www.familiar-ground.com/?p=829#comment-291 I agree with most of what you've said. A year ago I would've disagreed about the Tom Bombadil part. I would've wanted to see that on screen. Then I played Lord of the Rings Online. That quest line that takes your character to the Old Forest made me hate the little prancing man. Wouldn't stand still. Always dancing and singing. All the while I just want to have a conversation and turn in my quest objective, but he would just gambol off singing his stupid songs. So frustrating. I agree with most of what you’ve said. A year ago I would’ve disagreed about the Tom Bombadil part. I would’ve wanted to see that on screen.

Then I played Lord of the Rings Online. That quest line that takes your character to the Old Forest made me hate the little prancing man. Wouldn’t stand still. Always dancing and singing. All the while I just want to have a conversation and turn in my quest objective, but he would just gambol off singing his stupid songs.

So frustrating.

]]> By: Tony http://www.familiar-ground.com/2009/07/24/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince/comment-page-1/#comment-276 Tony Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:48:01 +0000 http://www.familiar-ground.com/?p=829#comment-276 The Potter novels kept getting bigger -- the last couple were like phone books -- so it shouldn't be a surprise that something has to be cut if you're making a movie rather than a miniseries. (I think I read that the last book will actually be split into two movies.) I haven't seen the last one yet so I can't really comment further on it, but I will share my feelings about the Lord of the Rings. As much fun as, say, the barrow wight and Tom Bombadil chapters were in the book, they weren't essential to the main narrative, so I can accept their absence in the film. The things that really irk me, though, are the things that actually change the story. The Scouring of the Shire is an essential part of the story -- Tolkien specifically said so in his foreward to the Ballentine edition of the book. The hobbits go home after the great events of the war of the ring only to find that their supposedly safe home has been deeply affected by the war. Then, they demonstrate their growth by dealing with the situation themselves without he help of Gandalf or Aragorn or the others -- the hobbits have become capable heroes themselves. Granted, this would have needed a lot of screen time *after* the primary climax of the film. BUT -- there's enough material in the chapter and a nice plot arc that I think it could have been made into an entire film itself, (thereby extending the LotR movie franchise.) Instead, we have a few seconds of the hobbits toodling off to their nice, safe Shire and an integral part of the story has been lost. The Potter novels kept getting bigger — the last couple were like phone books — so it shouldn’t be a surprise that something has to be cut if you’re making a movie rather than a miniseries. (I think I read that the last book will actually be split into two movies.) I haven’t seen the last one yet so I can’t really comment further on it, but I will share my feelings about the Lord of the Rings.

As much fun as, say, the barrow wight and Tom Bombadil chapters were in the book, they weren’t essential to the main narrative, so I can accept their absence in the film. The things that really irk me, though, are the things that actually change the story. The Scouring of the Shire is an essential part of the story — Tolkien specifically said so in his foreward to the Ballentine edition of the book. The hobbits go home after the great events of the war of the ring only to find that their supposedly safe home has been deeply affected by the war. Then, they demonstrate their growth by dealing with the situation themselves without he help of Gandalf or Aragorn or the others — the hobbits have become capable heroes themselves.

Granted, this would have needed a lot of screen time *after* the primary climax of the film. BUT — there’s enough material in the chapter and a nice plot arc that I think it could have been made into an entire film itself, (thereby extending the LotR movie franchise.) Instead, we have a few seconds of the hobbits toodling off to their nice, safe Shire and an integral part of the story has been lost.

]]>