mountiny middle earth

[Orpheus]

Am I the only one who thinks middle earth in the movies has got way to many mountains?
Like in the fellowship there were mountains in the shire for instance...
And in general most hills are to high to be hills anymore. (by my standards anyway)

[WallRocker]

I'd have to disagree. I don't remeber much about the Geography of ME from the books, but I don't think there are to many mountains in FotR or TTT. Also remember, the LotR movies are just PJ's interepatation of the books, not a re-telling of Tolkiens work.

[Lizra]

I think the mountains are right. Thank Goodness ME doesn't look like my state, Indiana!

[Varda Oiolosseo]

I think that the Mountains were lovely!! I thought that they were right too!

[Shadowfax]

I loved the mountians; there was a good balance between mountainous terrain, and flat desolate places, too, like heading to Mordor.

[Blackboar]

Yeah!! I loved the mountains!! They were great! Towering over you!! And if thats too much mountains go to Nepal!!
I've been there!! Thats all there is! Massive tall mountains!

[Varda Oiolosseo]

cool! I wanna go there now! I love Mountains I think they are wonderful! and Waterfalls but that's completely of the subject!

[Eglantine Banks]

There aren't any mountains close enough to the Shire to show up like the ones in FOTR. That bothered me. Prof. Tolkien was very careful about his geography, and the maps of M-e are very definitive about where mountains, forests and rivers occur, and there just aren't mountains there. There was no reason for this inaccuracy other than a visual that the moviemakers liked.

However, I very much approve of the other mountains we've seen in FOTR and TTT. I think the Misty Mountains are stunning, and just like they were described in the book. I particularly like the way they are, shall we say, misty? (LOL) There are two scenes that are filmed from the perspective of the summit of these mountains (in FOTR, when Gwaihir rescues Gandalf from Orthanc, and in TTT, the beginning shots of the movie that pan over the tops of the mountains), and in these two scenes the lighting is just beautiful.

It's also worth mentioning that Mt. Doom is pretty imposing looking, what we've seen of it so far anyway.

-Eglantine (Pippin's Mom)

[BeardofPants]

Were there mountains in the Shire? I don't remember seeing them...

[Khamûl]

I don't recall any mountains either. There were some large hills, but nothing that I would qualify as a mountain.

[akutach]

There were mountains in the background of the Shire in the movie.
I laughed a little and then moved on. They could have edited them out, but sometimes you just have to ask yourself, "is the movie really going to be better if we work for a month editing the mountain out of every frame?"

[ThorinOakenshield]

To expand on the "Mountains of the Shire", Bilbo himself precious few minutes previously to when these are seen had just spoken about how he wished to again to see "Mountains, Gandalf, mountains!" WELL!
According to the geniuses involved in the movie's production, Bilbo had but to step outside his little Hobbity door and walk up the block abit to spot some might nice peaks. Good job, PJ (um, not really)! Seriously, I spotted this error as well and it does bug me, but not as bad as the other 40+ re-writes and omissions. See my post for a detailed list! And, as always, long live the Dwarves! *ThorinOakenshield*

[Gerbil]

Hmm... NE of Bree was the line of semi-mountains of which weathertop was one?

They weren't epic mountains though by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm not very knowledgable of how mountains are visible in the distance (the UK is not renowned for being mountainous) - is it possible if the mountains were big enough that from the Shire you could see the Misty Mountains? My instinct tells me not - but how about when you get closer - say towards Bree?

It also springs into my mind that since PJ has basically cut down the amount of time spent travelling, necessarily the destinations must be closer together than Tolkien envisaged - making mountain ranges potentially more visible from various places (eg I'm a bit dubious about standing near Helm's Deep and being able to see Mordor).

It doesn't, as you point out, excuse Bilbo from then making a stupid comment if this is the case though.

Speaking of mountains - every time I watch the scene before Caradhras (where they set up camps), it never ceases to amaze me that Caradhras seems to appear in the distance only on cue when Gandalf speaks of it - before that you get glimpses of the (near) mountain tops and lo and behold - there ain't no snowy mountain behind them. It must have just leapt out of hiding for the occasion.