Spoiler Alert! - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Formendacil · 12-19-2015, 08:06 AM

With the new Star Wars movie coming out, spoilers and attempts to avoid them are flying furiously across the face of the Internet and perhaps because Star Wars is one of those franchises I am most nostalgic about (right up there with Harry Potter behind the Lord of the Rings), this has put me in a commemorative mood and I want to talk about spoilers.

N.B. This thread is not about Star Wars, nor about spoiling that or any other movie.

Specifically, I want to see if anyone here can dredge up memories of being spoiled for The Lord of the Rings or Tolkien in general. I suppose I'm thinking more about the movies than the books, since people tend to talk less about spoilers in the context of the written word, but either would apply.

The reason I'm curious is because, in general, I entered Middle-earth completely unspoiled: I discovered the books on my own and read them all before ever finding someone to talk to who knew them, but in other contexts I've run into spoilers and (with some exceptions) I kind of enjoy them--when I get excited about a movie or TV show I haven't seen before, it's using not because I've been unspoiled with generic "it's good" or "it's about this... vague thing," but because I've delved into articles and TvTropes and summaries and more. I tend to be more eager to see a thing if I already know the big Plot Twist than if I go in as a blank slate.

And, actually, it's not QUITE true to say I remember no spoilers for The Lord of the Rings movies. Before FotR came out in 2001, I remember reading all kinds of articles and such about the movie. I was trepidatious as only a 14 year old could be about his favourite book and some of the articles did absolutely nothing to allay my concerns: There's no Glorfindel in the movie! Arwen's getting an expanded part! Are they trashing the story? How will they condense twenty-plus chapters into three hours? (Basically, my mental image of what PJ would do to the story in FotR is what we ended up getting in The Hobbit movies.) So when I went into the theatre, I was already spoiled for Arwen's replacement of Glorfindel and arguably, because I'd had some months to stew and worry over it, I was far more irritated when it actually happened on screen than if I'd gone into the movie only an hour after learning they were making a film adaptation of the book.

Does anyone else remember being spoiled for the movies or books? If so, how did that affect you once you did experience the story?

12-19-2015, 08:06 AM	#1
Formendacil Dead Serious Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Perched on Thangorodrim's towers. Posts: 3,326	Spoiler Alert! With the new Star Wars movie coming out, spoilers and attempts to avoid them are flying furiously across the face of the Internet and perhaps because Star Wars is one of those franchises I am most nostalgic about (right up there with Harry Potter behind the Lord of the Rings), this has put me in a commemorative mood and I want to talk about spoilers. N.B. This thread is not about Star Wars, nor about spoiling that or any other movie. Specifically, I want to see if anyone here can dredge up memories of being spoiled for The Lord of the Rings or Tolkien in general. I suppose I'm thinking more about the movies than the books, since people tend to talk less about spoilers in the context of the written word, but either would apply. The reason I'm curious is because, in general, I entered Middle-earth completely unspoiled: I discovered the books on my own and read them all before ever finding someone to talk to who knew them, but in other contexts I've run into spoilers and (with some exceptions) I kind of enjoy them--when I get excited about a movie or TV show I haven't seen before, it's using not because I've been unspoiled with generic "it's good" or "it's about this... vague thing," but because I've delved into articles and TvTropes and summaries and more. I tend to be more eager to see a thing if I already know the big Plot Twist than if I go in as a blank slate. And, actually, it's not QUITE true to say I remember no spoilers for The Lord of the Rings movies. Before FotR came out in 2001, I remember reading all kinds of articles and such about the movie. I was trepidatious as only a 14 year old could be about his favourite book and some of the articles did absolutely nothing to allay my concerns: There's no Glorfindel in the movie! Arwen's getting an expanded part! Are they trashing the story? How will they condense twenty-plus chapters into three hours? (Basically, my mental image of what PJ would do to the story in FotR is what we ended up getting in The Hobbit movies.) So when I went into the theatre, I was already spoiled for Arwen's replacement of Glorfindel and arguably, because I'd had some months to stew and worry over it, I was far more irritated when it actually happened on screen than if I'd gone into the movie only an hour after learning they were making a film adaptation of the book. Does anyone else remember being spoiled for the movies or books? If so, how did that affect you once you did experience the story? __________________ I prefer history, true or feigned.