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igenlode"Little Gentlemen" has now staggered up to a grand total of five views on AO3 since publication (as opposed to the most recently-updated fic in the fandom, which features "Spanking", "Bratting", "Light Dom/sub", "Boys in Love", "Caning", and "Fluff and Smut", and currently has 1744 hits *sigh*...)
I am still working my way through the BBC "Lord of the Rings" (currently on the mistitled episode 8, "The Voice ofSauronSaruman") for washing-up purposes, and am exceedingly impressed all over again by the way that the 'translation' from page to radio has been done.
The Battle of Helm's Deep is, I think, the one big battle scene that actually works very well in this audio version, mainly because it has been done in the Shakespearian style of having the main fighting going on in the background while characters meet and exchange a few brief words periodically in "a part of the battlefield" followed by "another part of the battlefield" in order to update us on what has been happening ;-)
But things like the whole Isengard sequence are brilliantly done; the actors are of course excellent -- and not just in the line delivery, but in the wordless background murmurings that convey so clearly when a character is embarrassed, or alarmed, or pounding another on the back with excitement or joy -- but for me it is also the *adaptation* as a whole that shines. Comparing it back against the relevant chapters in "The Two Towers" I can see that the material has not just been enormously cut (unsurprising) but actually drastically rearranged in order, presumably with the purpose of conveying all the information necessary to the story (Éomer is alive! Gimli is alive! The Huorns -- the Ents -- the errand to Isengard) as efficiently as possible. But you wouldn't know it. The only section I consciously missed was the comment of Legolas that a busy family of Dwarves with their hammers might do more harm than good in Gimli's wondrous caves :-p
Exposition neatly accomplished:
Here the script-writer has assembled a handful of snippets that can be traced back to the original narrative description (e.g. "wise men that watched the stars"..."a great circle, somewhat hollowed like a vast shallow bowl"... "no green things grew there in the latter days of Saruman"..."instead of trees there marched long lines of pillars, some of marble, some of copper"... "had slowly shaped it to his shifting purposes"... "what he made was naught, only a little copy... of that vast fortress... Barard-dûr, the Dark Tower") and given them to the various members of the cast in-character in order to establish the entire setting while also conveying the journey from Helm's Deep to Isengard. I can't find any version of this last exchange between Gimli and Legolas in Tolkien's original dialogue (unless it originates from another scene altogether), but it fits perfectly with the characterisations that have been established for Elf, Dwarf and Wizard at this point :-)
(I think the earlier speech I have attributed to Éomer may in fact be Aragorn again, which would make sense as the Three Hunters riding together and conferring about what lies ahead; but the voice doesn't sound quite like Aragorn, and I assumed on first hearing that this was the Rohirrim view on what their 'neighbour' had made of Isengard after taking it over...)
And then when we actually get to Isengard there is a little echo added to Gandalf's voice to hint that they are riding through the archway, for example, and Merry talking to Théoden about pipeweed around the mouthpiece of his pipe -- all the usual subtle background effects deployed as usual -- and then the whole scene with Saruman is extremely cleverly done. They have the main sequence with Saruman's voice calling down from above (and it's very difficult to actually show someone with an unbelievably gentle and persuasive voice, but the choice of actor is good, and they have whispers from the cast of "Such gentleness... such benevolence" as he speaks), and then each time he focuses in to apply his persuasive power to a specific character, the sound softens and comes closer as if he is speaking directly into the listener's own ear instead of shouting at a distance, only to snap out again when the 'spell' is broken.
And when it is all over and Gandalf orders "Come back, Saruman!", Théoden strikes in with the observation to those beside him "And he obeys, like a whipped cur" -- *not* in the original, but not only evocative of the action but very much in character for both Tolkien and Théoden in terms of description :-)
"Your staff is broken!" works well, as well (since Tolkien has helpfully specified exactly what is happening!) along with a 'magic' sound-effect and a cry of despair from Saruman.
What doesn't work is the casting-down of the palantir: Wormtongue is given the line "Gallopers of Rohan, go back to your huts" from earlier in Saruman's dialogue, but his voice is not sufficiently distinctive for it to be clear that this *is* the forgotten-about Wormtongue rather than Saruman distorted with rage, and we simply get a "Look out!" followed by the faint rattle of something rolling down the steps, rather than any suggestion that an immensely heavy object has snapped the iron railing, shattered the stone stair and almost pulverised Gandalf :-P
(The suggestion that it also missed Saruman himself by a whisker is completely omitted, in what is presumably an entirely understandable desire to avoid extra complications!)
We simply get the dialogue "A stone ball -- I'll go and get it" and "A passing shot from Master Wormtongue", and if you didn't already know the plot I really don't think you would understand what had just happened; as with so many other 'action' scenes the script needed to be a little less scrupulous about not adding in uncanonical narration. The line about Saruman "obeying like a whipped cur" is entirely invented but works perfectly, for example...
But the scene where Pippin is looking *into* the palantir (here advanced to the background of Gandalf's conversation with Treebeard immediately afterwards) is extremely successful: Sauron's voice is represented via a distort on the young(?) actor playing Pippin (I suspect the performer is actually youthening his voice for the role, and then harshening it in the other direction, so that it's not quite as much artificial distortion as it might seem), so that as in canon we never get to hear Sauron directly but only at one remove... and it is very creepy to hear those words coming out in what is recognisably Pippin's voice, but horribly changed. And the acting of Pippin's breakdown and distress is painfully convincing...
In addition we have the subliminal effect of the music being used: the faint ringing chord that has signified 'distance' and 'magic' and 'vision' before, just as the galloping 'Shadowfax theme' later on conveys perfectly and immediately that Gandalf and Pippin are riding together on Shadowfax and very fast, without any need to set the scene any more explicitly than that :-)
The whole palantir-sequence has thus been abridged to a single scene of dialogue following the confrontation with Saruman, without any of the complications in the book, in which Pippin has to get up at night and actively sneak the Stone away -- he is even given an extra line of dialogue to say that "I didn't know I was doing any harm", which is true here but not nearly so true in canon! -- but it is elegantly done and really doesn't make any difference.
My main issue with the whole thing, apart from the difficulty of conveying action as opposed to dialogue, is that not all the actors seem to have had the same memo about pronouncing the names, which is particularly marked when you have, for example, the crowd of extras at Helm's Deep declaring themselves to be "the fighting Uruk-hai" but pronouncing it differently from Aragorn, who is shouting down to them from the wall... or Théoden referring to his people of "Rowan" when Gandalf pronounces the H :-p In theory one could of course ascribe it to differing local accents in the characters of differing origin (why should Orcs or the Rohirrim pronounce words in the same manner as the Men of Westernesse?) but somehow that isn't what it sounds like.
(There is also what is presumably a simple abridgement error in the script, when it refers to "Minas Anor" and Minas Tirith in a context where it was presumably Minas Ithil/Morgul that was meant...)
I am still working my way through the BBC "Lord of the Rings" (currently on the mistitled episode 8, "The Voice of
The Battle of Helm's Deep is, I think, the one big battle scene that actually works very well in this audio version, mainly because it has been done in the Shakespearian style of having the main fighting going on in the background while characters meet and exchange a few brief words periodically in "a part of the battlefield" followed by "another part of the battlefield" in order to update us on what has been happening ;-)
But things like the whole Isengard sequence are brilliantly done; the actors are of course excellent -- and not just in the line delivery, but in the wordless background murmurings that convey so clearly when a character is embarrassed, or alarmed, or pounding another on the back with excitement or joy -- but for me it is also the *adaptation* as a whole that shines. Comparing it back against the relevant chapters in "The Two Towers" I can see that the material has not just been enormously cut (unsurprising) but actually drastically rearranged in order, presumably with the purpose of conveying all the information necessary to the story (Éomer is alive! Gimli is alive! The Huorns -- the Ents -- the errand to Isengard) as efficiently as possible. But you wouldn't know it. The only section I consciously missed was the comment of Legolas that a busy family of Dwarves with their hammers might do more harm than good in Gimli's wondrous caves :-p
Exposition neatly accomplished:
(FX: the sound of galloping horses and creaking tack. The actors sound breathless, as if they are riding hard and calling across to one another)
GIMLI: I thought we were making for Minas Tirith? What is this 'Isengard'?
LEGOLAS: A fair city once, built in a circle like a vast shallow bowl. Once it was green, and filled with avenues, and groves of fruitful trees.
ÉOMER[?] (grimly): The trees no longer grow in Isengard. Since Saruman took the city it has become dark and hard; marble and copper grow there now. Iron wheels endlessly revolve and plumes of vapour steam from the vents. The fair ring of Isengard is like a graveyard of the unquiet dead.
LEGOLAS: And in the centre stands the citadel of Saruman, the tower of Orthanc: 'Mount Fang'.
ARAGORN: Once wise men watched the skies there. Now Saruman has shaped it to his own shifting purposes, aping the might of Sauron in his dark tower of Barad-dur.
GIMLI (disbelieving): And this... is the iron stronghold... we are making for? A handful of battle-scarred men, on weary horses?
LEGOLAS (merrily): Trust to Gandalf, Gimli! There was laughter in his voice when he spoke of the 'riddle' that would be answered at Isengard.
(FX: the sound of the horses fades ahead into the distance)
Here the script-writer has assembled a handful of snippets that can be traced back to the original narrative description (e.g. "wise men that watched the stars"..."a great circle, somewhat hollowed like a vast shallow bowl"... "no green things grew there in the latter days of Saruman"..."instead of trees there marched long lines of pillars, some of marble, some of copper"... "had slowly shaped it to his shifting purposes"... "what he made was naught, only a little copy... of that vast fortress... Barard-dûr, the Dark Tower") and given them to the various members of the cast in-character in order to establish the entire setting while also conveying the journey from Helm's Deep to Isengard. I can't find any version of this last exchange between Gimli and Legolas in Tolkien's original dialogue (unless it originates from another scene altogether), but it fits perfectly with the characterisations that have been established for Elf, Dwarf and Wizard at this point :-)
(I think the earlier speech I have attributed to Éomer may in fact be Aragorn again, which would make sense as the Three Hunters riding together and conferring about what lies ahead; but the voice doesn't sound quite like Aragorn, and I assumed on first hearing that this was the Rohirrim view on what their 'neighbour' had made of Isengard after taking it over...)
And then when we actually get to Isengard there is a little echo added to Gandalf's voice to hint that they are riding through the archway, for example, and Merry talking to Théoden about pipeweed around the mouthpiece of his pipe -- all the usual subtle background effects deployed as usual -- and then the whole scene with Saruman is extremely cleverly done. They have the main sequence with Saruman's voice calling down from above (and it's very difficult to actually show someone with an unbelievably gentle and persuasive voice, but the choice of actor is good, and they have whispers from the cast of "Such gentleness... such benevolence" as he speaks), and then each time he focuses in to apply his persuasive power to a specific character, the sound softens and comes closer as if he is speaking directly into the listener's own ear instead of shouting at a distance, only to snap out again when the 'spell' is broken.
And when it is all over and Gandalf orders "Come back, Saruman!", Théoden strikes in with the observation to those beside him "And he obeys, like a whipped cur" -- *not* in the original, but not only evocative of the action but very much in character for both Tolkien and Théoden in terms of description :-)
"Your staff is broken!" works well, as well (since Tolkien has helpfully specified exactly what is happening!) along with a 'magic' sound-effect and a cry of despair from Saruman.
What doesn't work is the casting-down of the palantir: Wormtongue is given the line "Gallopers of Rohan, go back to your huts" from earlier in Saruman's dialogue, but his voice is not sufficiently distinctive for it to be clear that this *is* the forgotten-about Wormtongue rather than Saruman distorted with rage, and we simply get a "Look out!" followed by the faint rattle of something rolling down the steps, rather than any suggestion that an immensely heavy object has snapped the iron railing, shattered the stone stair and almost pulverised Gandalf :-P
(The suggestion that it also missed Saruman himself by a whisker is completely omitted, in what is presumably an entirely understandable desire to avoid extra complications!)
We simply get the dialogue "A stone ball -- I'll go and get it" and "A passing shot from Master Wormtongue", and if you didn't already know the plot I really don't think you would understand what had just happened; as with so many other 'action' scenes the script needed to be a little less scrupulous about not adding in uncanonical narration. The line about Saruman "obeying like a whipped cur" is entirely invented but works perfectly, for example...
But the scene where Pippin is looking *into* the palantir (here advanced to the background of Gandalf's conversation with Treebeard immediately afterwards) is extremely successful: Sauron's voice is represented via a distort on the young(?) actor playing Pippin (I suspect the performer is actually youthening his voice for the role, and then harshening it in the other direction, so that it's not quite as much artificial distortion as it might seem), so that as in canon we never get to hear Sauron directly but only at one remove... and it is very creepy to hear those words coming out in what is recognisably Pippin's voice, but horribly changed. And the acting of Pippin's breakdown and distress is painfully convincing...
In addition we have the subliminal effect of the music being used: the faint ringing chord that has signified 'distance' and 'magic' and 'vision' before, just as the galloping 'Shadowfax theme' later on conveys perfectly and immediately that Gandalf and Pippin are riding together on Shadowfax and very fast, without any need to set the scene any more explicitly than that :-)
The whole palantir-sequence has thus been abridged to a single scene of dialogue following the confrontation with Saruman, without any of the complications in the book, in which Pippin has to get up at night and actively sneak the Stone away -- he is even given an extra line of dialogue to say that "I didn't know I was doing any harm", which is true here but not nearly so true in canon! -- but it is elegantly done and really doesn't make any difference.
My main issue with the whole thing, apart from the difficulty of conveying action as opposed to dialogue, is that not all the actors seem to have had the same memo about pronouncing the names, which is particularly marked when you have, for example, the crowd of extras at Helm's Deep declaring themselves to be "the fighting Uruk-hai" but pronouncing it differently from Aragorn, who is shouting down to them from the wall... or Théoden referring to his people of "Rowan" when Gandalf pronounces the H :-p In theory one could of course ascribe it to differing local accents in the characters of differing origin (why should Orcs or the Rohirrim pronounce words in the same manner as the Men of Westernesse?) but somehow that isn't what it sounds like.
(There is also what is presumably a simple abridgement error in the script, when it refers to "Minas Anor" and Minas Tirith in a context where it was presumably Minas Ithil/Morgul that was meant...)