The Lord of the Rings is the 15th episode in Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Andy Signore, Brett Weiner, Dave Child, and Dan Perrault. It is the first Honest Trailer to be narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy, who took over from Gannon Nickell after he was deployed for military duty. It parodies the three films in the epic high fantasy adventure series The Lord of the Rings: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). It also features multiple endings in a parody of the multiple endings of The Return of the King. It was published on December 11, 2012, to coincide with the theatrical release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It is 4 minutes and 27 seconds long. In the 6 years since its initial publication, the trailer has been viewed over 13 million times.
Watch Honest Trailer - The Lord of the Rings on YouTube
"An 11-hour New Zealand tourism commercial, rife with... walking, roaming, hiking, more walking, and strolling." ~ Honest Trailers - The Lord of the Rings
Script[]
From the director (Peter Jackson) of the King Kong Universal Studios ride (King Kong: 360 3-D), comes a film adaptation of the overly dense nerd bibles that employed an entire nation. (The Lord of the Rings)
When an evil vagin-eye awakens, it's up to this Hobbit (Frodo Baggins) and this fantasy boy band (shows a group shot of the Fellowship of the Ring) to destroy its jewelry, prompting these unlikely heroes to embark on an 11-hour New Zealand tourism commercial, rife with... walking (shows Frodo and Sam walking in the Shire), roaming (shows the Hobbits and Aragorn walking up the path to Weathertop), hiking (shows the Fellowship hiking the slopes of Caradhras), more walking (shows the Fellowship leaving Rivendell), and strolling. (shows Frodo and Sam walking on a hill)
Join our heroes as they face ruthless armies of Middle-earth, all vying for the most powerful object in the world: the One Ring to rule them all... which does absolutely nothing besides turn you into an invisible crack addict. (shows Bilbo making a scary face as he tries to grab the One Ring from Frodo)
Behold a quest so long, these Hobbits will need to be... carried by horses (shows Frodo being carried by Arwen and Asfaloth), carried by Orcs (shows Merry and Pippin being captured by an Orc army), carried by trees (shows Treebeard carrying Merry and Pippin), carried by eagles (shows a Great Eagle arriving to carry Frodo and Sam to safety from Mount Doom), and carried by Hobbits.
Sam: (to Frodo) I can't carry it for you... but I can carry you!
Meet characters whose names are so complicated, only a linguist could remember, like...
Elrond: Gandalf...
Bilbo: --Frodo...
Frodo: Bilbo!
Saruman: --Sauron...
Gandalf: --Saruman...
Boromir: --Aragorn.
Legolas: --son of Arathorn.
Aragorn: Boromir.
Denethor: --Faramir...
Théoden: Éowyn.
Elrond: Arwen. / --Gimli, son of Glóin... / Isildur!
Legolas: --Morgoth.
Galadriel: --Galadriel.
Haldir: Caras Galadhon.
Théoden: --Théodred?
Háma: --Gríma Wormtongue.
Haldir: --Legolas Thranduilion. (--Legolas, son of Thranduil.)
Frodo: --Sam.
From the award-winning visual effects team that launched the career of one man (Andy Serkis), who must now wear skin-tight spandex and face dots for the rest of his life, comes a movie bursting with so much manly compassion, you'll think you're watching Brokeback Mount Doom; a tale that will strive to prove that people of all walks of life can work together, as long as they're all white -- Seriously; even when they die, they come back whiter. (shows Gandalf's return as "Gandalf the White") -- and an adventure where every lead character faces constant mortal danger... but only Sean Bean dies. (shows Boromir collapsing to his knees after being riddled with arrows) Gee, haven't seen that before... (shows characters played by Sean Bean dying in Outlaw (2007), Equilibrium, Red Riding 1974, Essex Boys, Patriot Games, Black Death, Game of Thrones, GoldenEye, War Requiem, and The Hitcher (2007))
Starring: Homeless Magneto (Ian McKellen as Gandalf); Vegan Mortenstein (Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn); Gwyneth Paltrow (Orlando Bloom as Legolas); Morning Wood (Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins); Zach Galifianakis (John Rhys-Davies as Gimli); Fat Rudy (Sean Astin as Samwise "Sam" Gamgee); Game of Thrones Reference (Sean Bean as Boromir); Harold & Kumar (Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck and Billy Boyd as Peregrin "Pippin" Took); Clear Eyes (Alan Howard as Sauron); and Lindsay Lohan (Andy Serkis as Gollum).
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
A film that took so much of Peter Jackson's life, he didn't want it to end, prompting five completely separate endings, that go on and on, forever, making it really hard to hold in your pee.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
A film with such fake emotional stakes, Gandalf will sacrifice himself for his friends, only to somehow come back to life, making it not really a sacrifice; and a story where the protagonists can't win their own battles without convenient ghost armies, living trees, and magic eagles.
Pippin: The Eagles are coming!
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Ugh, I can't believe we're only halfway through this Peter Jackson nerdgasm...
Trivia[]
- Screen Junkies also produced individual Honest Trailers for each of the three Hobbit films: An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, and The Battle of the Five Armies.
- Screen Junkies have also produced Honest Trailers for several other fantasy films including Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts 1 and Fantastic Beasts 2, How to Train Your Dragon, The Princess Bride and Labyrinth. They have also produced two Honest Trailers about fantasy series Game of Thrones: Volume 1 and Volume 2. See list of Honest Trailers for more.
- An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.
- The show made its first appearance of the Epic Voice Guy character proper, after briefly mentioning on a few previous Honest Trailers.
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - The Lord of the Rings has an 96.4% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Mashable said the Honest Trailer was "dead on." Geek Tyrant said the Honest Trailer was "very funny." Vulture and Cinema Blend both agreed with the Honest Trailer's comment about the trilogy being an 11-hour New Zealand tourism commercial. Cinema Blend also noted that the Honest Trailer only increases their love for the trilogy, writing "despite all their [Screen Junkies'] attempts to poke fun at the movies by pointing out the intense man-love and what's now become a trope of Sean Bean dying, it only makes me want to see the movies again-- and yes, including the 5 fake endings."
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - The Lord of The Rings
Series Created & Directed by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner
Executive Producer Mitch Rotter
Written by Andy Signore, Brett Weiner, Dave Child, & Dan Perrault
Edited by Christopher Otwell
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
External links[]
- Honest Lord Of The Rings Trailer: It's An 11-Hour New Zealand Tourism Commercial! - Cinema Blend article
- HONEST TRAILERS' THE LORD OF THE RINGS - IGN article
- Watch an Honest Trailer for Lord of the Rings - Vulture article
- Honest Trailer: Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (VIDEO) - Huffington Post article
- This 'Lord of the Rings' Trailer Reveals the Hobbit-Tickling Truth - Mashable article
- Hilarious Honest Trailer for THE LORD OF THE RINGS - Geek Tyrant article
- An Honest Movie Trailer for The Lord of the Rings - Neatorama article