You wait 1000 years for a Beowulf movie...

[Terath Ninir]

Beowulf just isn't the same unless you read it in Middle English.

Ow. My head still hurts just thinking about reading in Middle English.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I haven't read the entire thing in middle english, only a few verses. It
was strangely easy. Probably gets more fatiguing over time, though.

Gotta love that Icelandic.

Still, my favourite is Seamus Heany's translation, though the Icelandic
one is rather good too. Translated by the same guy that translated LotR,
which I find kinda amusing.

 

[Turanil]

.. and then two come along at once
Story here

It's really a great new. I am looking forward for these two movies, and for the subsequent DVDs. The article said 13th Warrior was a flop. A commercial flop maybe, but otherwise it's one of my prefered fantasy movie. I love this film.

 

[talinthas]

why would you read Beowulf in middle english? Why not just go straight to the Anglo-Saxon source? Now there's a fun time =)
i mean, how can you go wrong with
Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,
monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas.

I love me some Old English =)

 

[shilsen]

Looks like neither one of them thought the actual Beowulf story was "good enough" and both took considerable liberties not only the basic plot, but even the basic premise. In some ways, even though the plot also features considerable changes, it looks like The 13^th Warrior may be the most faithful adaptation of the story yet.

Faithful? I'd say it's miles away from the Beowulf story. Which is understandable, since The 13th Warrior is actually based on Michael Crichton's "The Eaters of the Dead" (IIRC), which was an attempt to come up with a 'real' story behind the Beowulf myth. Damn entertaining movie, however.

 

[Viking Bastard]

why would you read Beowulf in middle english? Why not just go straight to the Anglo-Saxon source? Now there's a fun time =)
i mean, how can you go wrong with
Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,
monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas.

I love me some Old English =)

Lets try it:

Hear! We [Danes?] in the old days,
nationkings, thunder [?Power?] heard,
how the [champions/heroes?] did heroic deeds.
Often Scyld Son of Scef, groups of enemies,
from many [mobs?], mead-[eh? seats?] took,
scaring the earls.


If that's correct, in Icelandic it would be:

Hlustið! Við Danir gærdaga,
þjóðkonungar, þrymjum,
hvernig dýrðir hetjur frömdu.
Oft Scyld Scefson óvina þrúgur,
margra múga, mjöðsæti tók,
jarlanna hræðir.

 

[Desdichado]

Faithful? I'd say it's miles away from the Beowulf story. Which is understandable, since The 13th Warrior is actually based on Michael Crichton's "The Eaters of the Dead" (IIRC), which was an attempt to come up with a 'real' story behind the Beowulf myth. Damn entertaining movie, however.

Well, like I said, they took some liberties with the plot. I think the spirit of the story is the same, though.

A Beowulf where he sympathises with Grendel is missing the point, on the other hand.

 

[talinthas]

Lets try it:

Hear! We [Danes?] in the old days,
nationkings, thunder [?Power?] heard,
how the [champions/heroes?] did heroic deeds.
Often Scyld Son of Scef, groups of enemies,
from many [mobs?], mead-[eh? seats?] took,
scaring the earls.


If that's correct, in Icelandic it would be:

Hlustið! Við Danir gærdaga,
þjóðkonungar, þrymjum,
hvernig dýrðir hetjur frömdu.
Oft Scyld Scefson óvina þrúgur,
margra múga, mjöðsæti tók,
jarlanna hræðir.

Is old english really close enough to Icelandic that you can just read it straight? Here's one translation of the above passage, and while it seems like it has been fluffed up a bit, you were pretty dang close =)

[font=Arial, Verdana, sans serif]
LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls.[/font]

 

[Viking Bastard]

Not quite. I wasn't effortless. It takes some training. But I can read Old Norse pretty
easily (and whatever we like foreigners to think, most can't read it like the morning's
paper, but the biggest hurdle is the spelling, the words and grammar are mostly intact)
and Old Norse is only a few steps away from Anglo-Saxan.

As it's spelled, I can't read it easily, but when I sound it out outloud I usually get a
sense of the general meaning. Then it's just a question of finding words that fit into
the context that sound similar and then filling in the remaining blanks with likely
guesses.

 

[Aulayan]

A little backstory as to how Zemeckis' version came to be. can be found here:

http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2005/01/astonishingly-professional-post-for.asp