In a pod, in the cloud, the Shuffle Bois and special guest BillBurr Baggins leave the POW camp of life and talk about a hopeful, optimistic, escapist fantasy, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The first entry in Peter Jackson’s masterpiece trilogy, so many things make it great: its fundamentally sincere and positive message, the spectacular worldbuilding and execution of Peter Jackson’s vision, and its perfect pacing (despite its extended runtime).

We also trace the behind-the-scenes making of the film, muse on what the movie would look and sound like if other directors had made it, and discuss the film’s long-lasting impact on culture, whether that be through memes, the attempted cash cow that was the Hobbit trilogy, or the absolute trainwreck debacle that was Amazon’s “The Rings of Power.”

00:00 Intro 

04:16 Actual Topic Intro 

16:00 Plot Walkthrough 

34:00 Themes of LoTR 

41:13 How did the movie get made? 

1:02:00 Echoes in the culture 

1:09:50 It's reception in 2000s Culture