T w e n t y S i d e d
Today marks the 70th comic (!!!!) in the series. Not bad for something I thought was going to run for a couple of dozen strips as the most, if I didn’t chicken out sooner.
I just realized today that I don’t have a copy of Return of the King. I’ll have to correct this soon, as we’re getting really close to the end of Two Towers. This is kind of frightening to me. I sort of thought I had more movie left than this. But of course I was thinking of the books, where Gandalf has his reckoning with Saruman, and the party joins up with the Hobbits. In the movies, all of this is moved to RotK. Dang. This means I’m closer to the end of the tale than I anticipated. I really covet all of that territory that I skimmed over at the beginning. The trip to Weathertop took one strip? Weathertop itself took one more? Then, poof! We’re in Rivendell. The way I work now, I’d squeeze a half-dozen strips out of that material, easy.
I plan to pick up the extended version of RotK. I had the extended version of Fellowship, and the added scenes were a rich source of screencaps. I don’t know that I actually used any shots from the added scenes, but that’s not the point. For Two Towers I had just the vanilla version, and all this time I’ve been wondering what I was missing. I have a strip coming up later where I couldn’t get needed shots of Aragorn facing Legolas on the parapet at Helm’s Deep, while the sun was still up. This frustrated the conversation I was trying to build, unless I wanted them to converse while Aragorn’s back was turned and he made excited faces at nobody. That wasn’t really an option, so I had to cut some stuff. While this was going on, I had this nagging anxiety that maybe the extended version would have those needed shots. Probably not. But maybe.
LATER: Okay, I ordered the extended RotK. Should be here in a week. I’m excited.
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Does your regret at missing opportunities in FoTR mean we can expect an extra bunch of strips to be released in the DMotR director’s cut ?
I certainly hope so :-)
Why not have a retro series?
A before the DM of the Rings?
Wherein the DM of the “comic” is testing out his new campaign idea on his kid baby brother, his girlfriend and few other oddities?
“I had this nagging anxiety that maybe the extended version would have those needed shots”
Yes. They definitely have them. I distinctly remember Aragorn and the elf chatting on the wall when it’s sunny out and they were making such interesting faces as they conversed, I remember thinking, “Wow. What interesting faces. Someone should capture these images and put word bubbles on them and make comic strips for the enjoyment of millions of people” You should go buy them and watch them and make many comics from them. Go now. Why are you still reading this? Go. Buy. Create.
I cannot imagine why any fan of the LOTR books and movies would own only the basic version of the DVDs. As far as I am concerned, the extended editions are worth every penny.
Yes, the cast themselves considered the extended versions the “official” LoTR movies.
I don’t know if your sense of creative asthetic would approve of adding or extending the original comics, but I’m sure many of your fans (myself included) would love the idea! :D
Another ‘trying to be helpful’ suggestion to alleviate your anxiety over running out of movie, as you’ve already decided to deviate significantly from the plot of the movies (and if I can sneak in a little whine – it seems we’re moving away from plot entirely and into stand-alone rants about players – which are funny as heck just not really very ‘plotty’), why not dive right in and throw in some stuff from FotR or from earlier in tTT… you could do it without comment, or you could even have the DM realize he’d skipped a whole set of encounters that were sitting under his binder and try to go back to them (since he’d spent so much time preparing them). There could even be DM recitation of Gandalf’s lines or of an NPC speaking of ‘the mines they’re apporaching’ before the PCs clue in that Gandalf is not even in the group at the moment, or that they’ve already been through the mines. Hillarity could ensue.
Just a thought – if our beloved characters aren’t even trying to destroy a ring anymore, why bother staying with the movie plot so closely?
Also – I’m thinking that going back to Frodo and Sam would provide absolutely brilliant screen caps for some amazing dialogue… all they did was trudge and converse and trudge and converse – I found their expressions funny the first time I watched the movie.
Anyway, love the strip – you’re a genius and if hobby we all share were a move socially ‘cool’ one, you’d be a millionaire by now.
P.S. Love the tardis shot – looks like it was born there.
I smell an extended version :mrgreen:
Only trouble is how it would work logistically – readers having to bend their minds around skipping back and forward in the story (not a big issue to me)
and whether you make the in-comic dialogue continuous, or skip back and make comics as you would have done, if you had had the material-extracting skill you have now.
and if you went back and made retrospective comics, whether you updated the numbering and put them in the place they would have gone in terms of the forward/back buttons, or just release them with a note saying “would have gone here”
I second Matts idea- just slip some extra comics into the earlier part of the story! :D
Ooh, I know! Start a new campaign using footage from the DnD movies! What? Why is everyone staring at me?
Yeah, you’re almost out of Two Towers material for the Aragorn/Gimli/Legolas stuff…but eventually the “other players” are goign to have to get finished or fed up with their Star Wars RPG game, and the DM will probably have to spend some time with them doing retroactive plot stuff.
You could make a lot of great material out of the Frodo/Sam and Merry/Pippin, stuff, all while the DM grumbles about having to deal with a split party and rewrites, and while the other three sit back, bored, with nothing to do, griping about how they never get to play.
Oh yeah, the extended editions of all three movies were superior to the theatrical releases. You can put that extra half hour of material in on the DVDs, so that people can pause the player if they need to visit the facilities. Three and a half hours would be too long in the theater, especially with a jumbo-sized soft drink!
Shamus sez:
I had the extended version of Fellowship, and the added scenes were a rich source of screencaps. I don't know that I actually used any shots from the added scenes, but that's not the point.
You did. After Celeborn asks to see Gandalf, Gimli’s “hoo boy, this is awkward” shot is from Extended. You can tell by the different makeup, cause it was shot a lot earlier.
Shandrunn: I thought of another one. Midgewater swamp, in one of the first comics. That wasn’t in the original release.
There are GMs out there who run the same campaign over and over with different sets of victims, aren’t there? So, after this campaign, you could have your GM start over with fresh meat.
Alternately, the hobbit players could come back from MechWarrior or whatever, and the GM could insist that we all start over.
I hear there is is a “The Hobbit” in the works.
This comic should be in print. Superb work.
As for stuff you missed from earlier in the movie, how about doing it as DVD extra’s with deleted scenes or out-takes at the end.