Landscape

[Curufinwe]

Do you think New Zealand was the best place for Lotr to be shot? Tolkien always intended that the Landscape was much more like England than New Zealand.

[Ragnarok]

The Shire was more like England, but there are no mountains like the Misty's in England. I think New Zealand looked like a good ME. Now I want to go there, see if their Shire is still there.

[ReadWryt]

Curufinwe,

You must remember that Tolkien imagined it as being like the England of 1912 or so, the pre-industrialized rural community that he grew up in. There is noplace in all of England that could double for that today...certainly not as expansive as New Zealand...

[Tar-Palantir]

I thought for the most part, New Zealand was perfect. However, did anyone else notice that there were large mountains in the background when Frodo and Sam were walking through the Shire? I never pictured the Shire as having mountains - more rolling hills.

[ReadWryt]

Well for the most part it seemed almost as if the entire scope of distance has been compressed in the movie. I can understand this, but I certainly hope that Mr. Jackson doesn't take liberties with the amount of time the adventure takes and how the seasons change in the story. The bulk of the story takes place between Sept. 22 and March 25 of the following year. I fear that they will make the whole thing seem to have lasted a couple of months. We should start in autumn, pass through winter and end up in the spring, a little over 6 months pass in the most important part of the tale, but it seems as if we are not going to get a chance to see all that lovely and inspiring landscape pass through those changes...well, we can HOPE we get to see it.

[Grond]

Originally posted by Tar-Palantir
I thought for the most part, New Zealand was perfect. However, did anyone else notice that there were large mountains in the background when Frodo and Sam were walking through the Shire? I never pictured the Shire as having mountains - more rolling hills. The Blue Mountains (Ered Luin) were about 50 to 100 miles away. They could be seen by the naked eye from that distance.

All in all, even the purist Grond, thought NZ was an ideal setting but like ReadWryt, I hope he at least keeps the seasons in the proper order.

[Xenith]

I live about 2 - 3 hours from 'The Shire'...

NZ's beauty was well captured in the movie and I feel personally that ME was brought to life because the scenery was used so well by PJ.

And for anyone wondering about whether or not NZ really does look like the way it looked in LOTR - FOTR, the answer is...Yes.



:D

[Earnil]

Well if Xenith lives about 2 - 3 hours away from The Shire then I live about 1 hour away from Minas Tirith. :D

And Xenith is right, New Zealand looks just like Middle Earth.

And since NZ is where it is made it might be interesting to know that a Minister of Middle Earth has been appointed in our government. And also the capital, Wellington, where I live, for the week FOTR premiered had it's name changed to Middle Earth just for the NZ premier.

[Greymantle]

I think much of New Zealand worked very well... I still think, however, that England and Wales might have proved a region more suited to Tolkien's M-e. But there are obviously lots of places where that would not work...

[Xenith]

Hehe.. I read that The Shire was filmed in Cambridge in the North Island? (could be wrong)

I dont live far from that.


Wow thats cool about Wellington being called 'ME' for a week. I originally hail from Wellington.. but havent lived there for a few years now.

[Earnil]

The Shire was infact film on a farm in Matamata.

I'll check TheOneRing.Net for all the locations.

And I'll update this post.

Check this link for some pictures of New Zealand.
http://www.theonering.net/movie/locations/index.html

[Rosie Cotton]

I don't think they could have found a better place to film LOTR. New Zealand was so completely beautiful, and..... raw (I think that's the word I want) looking. It's definately how I've always pictured ME.

[aragil]

I think that I have always associated New Zealand with Middle-Earth because the name Dunedin (sp?) reminds me so much of Dunedain. That being said, I know of more than one person who have moved to the Misty Mountains of Montana because it reminded them of descriptions of Middle-Earth.

[Xenith]

Yep Dunedin is a Major City in the South Island of NZ.


Matamata is about three - four hours drive from me :)


Originally I thought it was filmed in Cambridge but if you go hereHobbiton Info (http://www.hobbiton.info/) you will see that it definitely was filmed in Matamata.

:)

[DGoeij]

I didn't see that, but my girlfriend noticed that the cave-troll was definitely a male one, something I missed too.:D
To me, the settings were great, the vast landscape of New-Zealand is exactly what LOTR on screen deserved. Too bad its on the other side of the globe (almost literally) for me, visiting will be expansive.

[Aldanil]

Hail to Harad's sharp eyes!

I, too, noticed that long shot of mountains in the distance as Frodo and Sam are leaving Hobbiton. It's hard to imagine, and flies in the face of FADish adulation to suggest, that PJ or his editors simply weren't paying careful enough attention to know what they were doing; surely that quick glimpse of the vista wasn't included by accident, or merely for some cheap cinematic effect! Menel forfend! Remember, however, what Bilbo says to the wizard in Bag End before he departs from the Shire: "I want to see mountains again, Gandalf"; if he could see such mountains within an hour's walk of his house, why does he need to bother leaving?

Just another of the movie's thrownaway wonders, I guess...


And a last NPW note: Yes, Harad, I do know your experiment, and it's spelled with two Rs.

[Elven Maiden]

Xenith, you're so lucky to live in the South Island! I've never been myself, but i've heard it's really scenic.

As for me? I live in the busy city of Auckland, north of Wellington which they've now nicknamed "Middle Earth center"

Did you notice that in the movie where Gandalf arrives at Bilbo's house in the background there's a very tall hill (it's not a mountain) and there are sorta like lines running around it?

Wasn't that where the Maori people dug pits for fortification? That was something i noticed.

And Dunedain? Yeah, it does actually remind me of Aragorn and the Rangers.

[Gloer]

Originally posted by DGoeij
I didn't see that, but my girlfriend noticed that the cave-troll was definitely a male one, something I missed too.:D


I see your girl friend has a sharp eye for the landscape.

[DGoeij]

That too. But of the four people I went to the movie with, both females happen to have noticed that. Both the male spectators (including myself) didn't. We laughed at that pretty hard over our beers. :p

To be honest, they (the women) weren't that sure, but I'm intended to go and see for myself asap. I wish to see it again anyway. About those mountains, I'm with Grond on this one:

>>>>>The Blue Mountains (Ered Luin) were about 50 to 100 miles away. They could be seen by the naked eye from that distance. <<<<<<

[DGoeij]

Well. On the north and south side of the Shire lie no mountains in sight, check the maps. So that would explain it, I guess.
But one that doesn't know that could get confused. Maybe it was just a mistake after all, who knows?

[Xenith]

I dont live in the South Island :)


I live in the North Island, not that far from Matamata (well a few hours drive)..

[Elven Maiden]

oops...my bad

[Xenith]

Sweet as Elven Maiden ;)

You live in Auckland right? Which part?

[Elven Maiden]

Which part? Gee...nobody's asked me that before... um? Central Auckland?

[Xenith]

Well in Auckland there are several areas you could live:

North Shore
City
Mangere
Papatoetoe
Ponsonby
St Heliers
Mt Albert
Mt Eden
Henderson

To name but a few :)

Central Auckland? Cool what suburb?

[apan14]

Originally posted by Rosie Cotton
I don't think they could have found a better place to film LOTR. New Zealand was so completely beautiful, and..... raw (I think that's the word I want) looking. It's definately how I've always pictured ME.

I prefer the word "unspoiled" myself

[Snaga]

I guess some good sport for the NPWs would be to check whether in the scene in question, if there are some hills in front with elf towers on.

If it is the blue mountains you should be able to see the Tower Hills somewhat nearer.

That should provoke some outrage, people storming out of cinemas in protest, burning of PJ in effigy etc.!;)

[Mithiril]

If you think about what it would have cost to fly cast and crew to some place different for each "setting" : shire, mountains, marshes, forests...the figures would have been incredible, not to mention a logistical nightmare.

I thought NZ was beautiful, and just like the primer shows said: different enough to most of us non-NZers that it seemed familiar and yet somehow fantastic. Unspoiled beauty is hard to find anymore -- I hope this new popularity doesn't threaten what you have down there!! (Because I'd like a chance to visit!)

No one answered my question in my other NZ thread: is Kiwi a derogatory term or an endearing one?

[Kiwi]

Mithiril,

Kiwi is an endearing term, unless it's an Aussie snearing 'Keewee' and complaining 'cause we beat them at Rugby/Cricket...

If you're interested, NZ's South and North Islands are vastly different landscapes, and unbelievabley beautiful. It was wonderful to see my country through the eyes of LOTR. Did you notice the colour of the lakes and rivers? They are brilliant blues and greens, affected by minerals running off from mountains..you must make the journey and visit us!

[Mithiril]

Actually, I did notice the color of the water, I thought it was "enhanced" ... is that real? There is a lake in northern Michigan in the States that has a brilliant turquoise color too. I've been to see the movie so many times and the last several I started to look around a lot more and appreciate the locations.

I had some friends that lived in NZ for awhile and they always bragged about it...guess I should have listened sooner before all of us LotR fans start clogging up your tourist spots! Count me in, you just moved up on my list of places I have to visit.

I used to work with a bunch of Aussies and I couldn't tell when they said "Kiwi" if it was just a term they used and I wouldn't want to offend...thanks for info!