Why Peter Jackson is a purist compared to the BBC!

[axordil]

That would depend on whether she's an alpha or beta emitter, wouldn't it?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Mithluin ... when you mention "radioactive Galadriel" is that in a negative sense or a positive sense?

Surely you jest?

[Frelga]

That would depend on whether she's an alpha or beta emitter, wouldn't it?

Geek.

Mithluin ... when you mention "radioactive Galadriel" is that in a negative sense or a positive sense?

Surely you jest?

Not geek.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

And proud of it!

[River]

That would depend on whether she's an alpha or beta emitter, wouldn't it?

Actually, she was fluorescing green, which is an entirely different phenomenon.

[sauronsfinger]

please don't call me Shirley.

To this day I read that section of the book over and over again and I have yet to find one thing out of place when you compare the book to the film.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

"You are wise and fearless and fair, Lady Galadriel," said Frodo. "I will give you the One Ring, if you ask for it. It is too great a matter for me."

Galadriel laughed with a sudden clear laugh. "Wise the Lady Galadriel may be," she said, "yet here she has met her match in courtesy. Gently are you revenged for my testing of your heart at our first meeting. You begin to see with a keen eye. I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many long years I had pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! it was brought within my grasp. The evil that was devised long ago works on in many ways, whether Sauron himself stands or falls. Would not that have been a noble deed to set to the credit of his Ring, if I had taken it by force or fear from my guest?
"And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair! '

She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.
"I pass the test," she said. "I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel."

Where does Tolkien state that Galadriel turns a sickly radioactive green color? Worse, where does it say that her voice turns into that of some weirdly twisted cyborg? The sad thing about that scene is that it really is so close to what it should have been. But Jackson just couldn't resist ramping it up those extra notches.

[Primula Baggins]

I agree. It could have been done more subtly, and I think it would have gained in power thereby. Make her tall and beautiful and bathed in light, for just a moment. No fluorescence, not some kind of metamorphosis into Scary Ugly Galadriel; instead a revelation of the power that is really there, if she chose to claim it.

The terrifying thing about the Ring, for Galadriel and Gandalf and others, is not that it would turn them instantly into radioactive monsters; it's that it would lead them through their own good intentions and their own inherent power, by a road that would seem right and necessary, into performing monstrous acts.

[axordil]

There is, in adaptation, a need not to depict precisely what is printed in the narrative portions of a text, but rather to convey the meaning and feeling those portions convey. Gamma Galadriel was an attempt, I think, to do that. Whether one feels it worked or not, I honestly do not feel a naturalistic interpretation could have sufficed to carry the awe and terror of that moment on screen. The execution may not have pleased everyone, but the instinct was, in this case, spot on.

[MithLuin]

Mithluin ... when you mention "radioactive Galadriel" is that in a negative sense or a positive sense?

It is in the "why is her face a photographic negative and why is she wearing an armored breastplate corset thing?" sense. Whether that is positive or negative I leave up to you to determine.

The way she is portrayed in the movie, there is very little reason for Frodo to trust her (in any sense of the word) with the Ring. That weakens the scene, to me.

[Primula Baggins]

I agree with Mith. And Ax, I honestly do think the feeling (and meaning) of the text could be shown without turning Galadriel into something blatantly and openly terrifying. Tolkien describes an unnatural light; if we also suddenly saw her from Frodo's level, looking tall and powerful, I think Cate Blanchett's performance could have done the rest.

[River]

I was okay with the green and the armor. The vocal distortion was over the top though.

[Pearly Di]

Mithluin ... when you mention "radioactive Galadriel" is that in a negative sense or a positive sense?

It is in the "why is her face a photographic negative and why is she wearing an armored breastplate corset thing?" sense.

Why has she turned into the Lady of the Toilet Paper?



The sentiment of the scene is fine.

The SFX is wildly over the top. Sometimes, PJ, less is more. As Prim says, Cate could have carried off Galadriel's moment of temptation, and the power she exudes, without all that unnecessary SFX. A bit of SFX would have been fine ... as in the scene at Bag End when Gandalf gets all heavy with Bilbo over Bilbo's Ring-obsession, that was excellently done. But in the Mirror scene, the SFX swamps the wonderful Cate.

The way she is portrayed in the movie, there is very little reason for Frodo to trust her (in any sense of the word) with the Ring. That weakens the scene, to me.

I'd not actually thought of that before. But you are right, Mith!

[axordil]

The facial transform, as I recall, wasn't a positive/negative flip, but mostly a contrast and hue compression. Darks got darker and lights got lighter (within an darker and more monochromatic palette overall). Just sayin'.

The best visual comparison within the films is probably that of Gandalf leaning on Bilbo in Bag End to give up the Ring. That WAS done in a naturalistic fashion, via lighting and Ian McKellen's voice and posture. For that scene, it worked, and it fit; Gladys at the Mirror required another level of oomph, since Frodo and she are operating in what can only be described as an altered state of awareness throughout.

[Primula Baggins]

There is a moment in the EE where she's talking to Aragorn, the morning they leave, and she lays out the choice that's before him (paraphrasing because I'm short on time): to become greater than all who came before him; or to turn aside from his fate, and fall into darkness with the rest of his people. In the first part the light on Galadriel's face brightens, and then fades when she goes on to the second. It's noticeable, but it is not in your face, and it works with Blanchett's performance without distracting from it. That's the kind of thing I mean.

[axordil]

Sometimes, you really do need to drop the anvil, though.

[Primula Baggins]

Well, I have never been an advocate for the subtle approach under all circumstances , but in this case I think it was the wrong anvil. It didn't convey that the Ring would not change Galadriel into a powerful, monstrous being, but instead would take the power she had and twist it.

At least, that's not what I saw.

[axordil]

Eh, I just accepted it as a visual metaphor, not an actual depiction of what she'd look like with the Ring. What's a little Mannerism between friends?

Now the real question is, is that scene of a piece with the rest of the films?

[sauronsfinger]

Well I thought it was perfection.

[Dave_LF]

I'm a bit amused that this same group of people is still arguing about this 7 years later.