LoTR film novelization to be published in May, 2001

by Michael Martinez, Friday, March 16, 2001

Yes, the movies will have a novelization. At least, that is what Diamond Previews is saying. Order your copy from Amazon.Com and see what the novelization looks like. The hardback may be ordered here. No cover scans are available at this time. Here is what Diamond Previews has to say: J.R.R. TOLKIEN: LORD OF THE RINGS VOLUME 1 NOVELIZATION by J.R.R. Tolkien What's been called the greatest book of the 20th century, J.R.R. Tolkien's epic adventure The Lord of the Rings is coming to the theaters. This is the official novelization of the story that's a brilliant tale of heroism and hardship, magic and loss, and grace and grandeur. (Houghton Mifflin Company) (CAUT: 4) SC (0-618-12902-2)—5x8, 1,216pg $20.00 HC (0-618-12901-4) —5x8, 1,216pg $38.00 Is someone making a mistake? We don't know. A graphic novelization of The Hobbit will also be published: J.R.R. TOLKIEN: THE HOBBIT TPB by J.R.R. Tolkien; illustrated by David Wenzel First published in the United States more than 60 years ago, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit has become one of the best-loved books of all time. Tolkien's fantasy has now been adapted into a fully-painted graphic novel, which has become a classic in its own right. (Random House) (0-345-44560-0) (CAUT: 4) TPB, 6x10, 144pg, FC $15.00 This may simply be a reissue of the Charles Dixon/David Wenzel graphic novelization published some years ago.

The Over the Bree-hill gang rides again

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, March 14, 2001

The Lord of the Rings is not the kind of book which lends itself to a sequel. J.R.R. Tolkien realized that after making his first attempt to write The New Shadow. Today's fantasy audience has been denied the sense of finality which one experiences upon reading the words, "Well, I'm back". Not that this was the original ending for the story. Tolkien wanted some closure. He wanted to assure the reader that Sam would come out of his blue funk. He wanted the reader to understand that some of the High Elves had stayed behind. But something final had been achieved in the War of the Ring: the last physical incarnation of evil had been overthrown. From that point forward, evil would manifest itself in the petty ambitions of men, not in the physical shapes of Dark Lords. Anyone writing about Middle-earth today would probably have a green hand climbing out of the slime in one of the last scenes. Glowing eyes would maliciously watch the White Ship vanish into the night from the woods. Someone would fail to notice that the King of the Barrow-wights had escaped Bombadil's careful watch. Something would scream out, "Hey! Buy enough books, and we'll be back for more of the same!" Tolkien gave us three fundamental evils which were all, in their own ways, defeated: completely defeated, finally, totally, without hope of eventual resurrection. First came Smaug. He was The Dragon. The ultimate monster. Smaug is not a paean to "Beowulf", he is a statement of what most fascinates us about monsters: they are big, mean, and ugly. Before the Japanese gave us Godzilla and his flying friends, Tolkien gave us Smaug cruising out of the skies, raking the pined slopes of Erebor with fire, and sending masses of screaming Dwarves to their doom. Dale was trashed before Tokyo. Read the full article at Suite101.

Sierra Talks to Middle-earth Stratics...sort of

by Michael Martinez, Monday, March 12, 2001

Middle-earth Stratics got a half-answer from Sierra Online about the status of the Middle-earth Online game. Essentially, Sierra is taking the position that game news watchers should not exclude their company from the snails-paced race to bring a Tolkien online gaming world to the masses of gamers with any desire to play in Middle-earth. Target data once published in various articles about the now-defunct Middle-earth Online game estimated an audience of approximately 100,000 players by the end of 2000. Rumor stipulates that new management at Sierra wanted the game to be less faithful to Tolkien and more appealing to the "mass market" of online gamers. Persistant rumors of a move by Electronic Arts to take on a movie-derived license failed to move into fact by the end of 2000. No official statements have been issued by Sierra Online, New Line Cinema, Tolkien Enterprises, or any other entity since September 22, 1999, when Sierra, which has since become part of Vivendi Universal's media empire through its Havas Interactive subsidiary, fired the development team (which came out of the Yosemite game devlopment company Sierra acquired several years ago). Middle-earth Stratics recently designed its Web site and announced "confirmation" that the Sierra game was still being produced. But the confirmation proved to be nothing more than a reference from the December 2000 issue of PC Gamer, which Xenite.Org had reported on November 13, 2000. In an effort to acquire new information, the Middle-earth Stratics Webmaster contacted Sierra, which despite a widespread reputation for ignoring inquiries responded with obscure answers. A recent inquiry (March 1, 2001) on Sierra's own forums has so far gone unanswered, except for a promise by the forum moderator to ask for more information.

LoTR movie spy answers questions on fan forum

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, March 6, 2001

Tolkien fans have been plying a spy with questions on an EZBoard forum run by Tolkien-Movies.Com. Ask Leo (short for Leonides) is a thread that White Council regular Leonides started on February 13. He invited fans to ask him questions about the movies and he has either passed them on to an unnamed friend associated with the movies or answered them directly based on glimpses he has had of inside material. How reliable are the answers? Only Leonides and Peter Jackson know for sure. Much of the information has been posted on the Web before, but a few of the questions have produced interesting answers. Like any spy report, Leonides' answers cannot be independently verified by reuptable sources. Iron-clad non-disclosure agreements have prevented all people associated with the movies from making public disclosures which have not been previously approved by New Line Cinema. "The Fellowship of the Ring", the first installment of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is due to be released on December 14, 2001. In another message, Leonides says fans should look for another teaser trailer in July (read Tolkien-Movies.Com report here).

Other Hands launches Web archive

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, March 3, 2001

Other Hands, the journal for Middle-earth role-playing, has begun posting content from back issues on the Web. The non-profit journal has a relatively small distribution and has just recently switched to a bi-annual format, but there have been many well-researched articles about Tolkien's Middle-earth through the years. And despite the demise of Iron Crown Enterprises, which formerly published the Middle-earth Role-Playing game (MERP), Other Hands has been working to publish material which never made it into the MERP module library. Issue 13, from April 1996, includes "A Brief History of the Kingdom of Hithlum", by Michael Martinez. The article is, to date, the only portion of Martinez' proposed history book for Middle-earth which has been published to date. Tolkien fans on the Internet now have the opportunity to read a sample of the historical work Martinez still hopes to publish. Issue 28, from January 2000, includes "A Grammar and Dictionary of Silvan Elvish", by David Salo. Salo, a noted Tolkien linguist, constructed the grammar and dictionary on the basis of extensive research into Tolkien's languages. Although the language itself is not "canonical" (i.e., is not wholly composed by J.R.R. Tolkien), Salo claims it is a "true Eldarin language" (meaning it conforms to as much as is known about the rules of development of Eldarin languages as possible). The article has not yet been posted to the archive but the issue is currently indexed. The dictionary includes over 1,000 entries.

New Boromir pic

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, March 3, 2001

Winona Kent of The Complete Sean Bean has found a great scan of Sean as Boromir in a never-before-published picture from Empire Magazine. See the picture here.

Christopher Lee to discuss LOTR with fans

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, March 3, 2001

Well, this is a bit old but not yet out-of-date. Christopher Lee wants to answer fan questions about Tolkien's book (not the movies -- he is still gagged by the confidentiality agreement he signed). His official Web site is still collecting questions. The initial date for the Webcast was cancelled, but he is still eager to set a new one. Keep an eye on http://www.christopherleeweb.com/ for word of when the video Webcast will occur.

First official LoTR movie poster hits theaters, the Web

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, March 3, 2001

You can now see the first poster for "The Fellowship of the Ring" in theaters, or on the Web. The official German site has posted a copy of it. (Well, okay, Tolkien Online grabbed a copy, too.)

A long time ago, in a Middle-earth far, far away...

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, March 3, 2001

In the early 1970s the Charlie Daniels Band hit the pop rock scene with a song called "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". It was common for songs of that period to tell a story, and this one focused on a violin duel between the devil and a good old boy named Johnny. The stakes were a golden fiddle (violin) and Johnny's soul. The devil got his commeuppance, as so often happens in folklore. Scratch, or the devil, is a popular figure in American folklore. He crops up in various places looking for people's souls, tricking people into signing eternity away for usually small stakes. One story has a famous lawyer defending a poor soul before a jury of demons. The lawyer makes such an impassioned plea he reduces the jury to tears and they find in favor of the defense, leaving Scratch scratching his head once again. That may be the only story where lawyers are depicted favorably in American folklore. Middle-earth folklore is a bit tame compared to the tall tales we dreamed up for ourselves. There is no one like Pecos Bill and Catfish Sue in the tales passed around Tolkien's imaginary corner of the past, except perhaps for the Bandobras' Took's invention of the game of golf. Bandobras, called "Bullroarer", led the defense of the Shire in the year 2747 when a band of Orcs from Mount Gram, led by Golfimbul, invaded the Shire from the north. Bandobras met the Orcs in battle near the town of Greenfields and he reportedly knocked the Orc-leader's head off his shoulders with a club. That's not quite on the scale of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Ox raising the Rocky Mountains, but it's a story which provides a glimpse into Hobbit folklore. We get to see a bit of Gondorian folklore in the making, too, in "The Steward and the King". As Aragorn's coronation cermony begins Ioreth, the woman who had worked in the Houses of Healing, lectures her cousin from the countryside on who is whom in the procession. Read the full article here.

Tolkien Estate bars Quenya researcher

by Michael Martinez, Thursday, March 1, 2001

Helge Fauskanger, operator of the popular Ardalambion Web site, is asking his fellow Tolkien fans for help. Through circumstances not of his making, Fauskanger came into possession of copies of two previously unpublished Quenya texts written by J.R.R. Tolkien. One text is a translation of the Lord's Prayer (Pater Noster). The other text is a copy of the Hail Mary (Ave Maria). Asked to provide translations and commentary, Fauskanger complied with the request. But then he realized that his work might be of interest to other Tolkien researchers. So he approached the Tolkien Estate and asked them for permission to publish a copy of the original semi-calligraphic text of the Quenya poems. The poems, totalling no more than 72 words, have nonetheless enabled Fauskanger to produce "more than sixty pages" of analysis. "The Quenya text," he says, "provides considerable insight not only on the invented language, but also on Tolkien's methods of work." Read the full article on Xenite.Org.

E! Online updates for March

by Michael Martinez, Thursday, March 1, 2001

Well, John Forde spoke with Merry and Pippin (Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd), but there were no really Earth-shattering revelations (well, a couple more divergences from the book came out, but nothing major). Check out Force of Hobbit

Guess who's coming to the disaster

by Michael Martinez, Friday, February 23, 2001

Someone recently asked me if there was much appeal in Tolkien for women readers. Curiously, this came at a time when I've found myself discussing Visualizing Middle-earth with a lot of women. What is it about fantasy fiction that gives people the impression certain stories or authors only appeal to men or women? Take a C.J. Cherryh story, for example. She writes a pretty hard and fast science fiction story, but her fantasy can be both deep and moving, sonorous as Tolkien might have put it. A good dip into Cherryh fantasy brings the reader into close quarters with women, men, love, hate, anger, and flashing swords. But I don't believe I've ever heard anyone say, "C.J. Cherryh -- there's a women's author if ever I've read one!" Tolkien for some reason has a reputation for leaving the ladies out of his books, although as near as I can figure he puts a female character into most of the important sub-plots: there is Lobelia Sackville-Baggins and her quest for control over Bag End; Rosie Cotton is an undercurrent of wistful longing for Sam; Goldberry enchants the Hobbits while they visit Bombadil (and she foreshadows Galadriel and Eowyn in curious ways); Arwen graces the feast held in Frodo's honor and later sings a hymn of Valinor which captures Frodo's attention; the Balrog dances a jig with the serving girls in Moria. Well, okay, Tolkien didn't actually say that about the Balrog. Read the full article here.

Ancanar goes to American Film Market

by Michael Martinez, Thursday, February 22, 2001

Elemental Films issued the following press release and graphic showing their new press flyer for the American Film Market. The American Film Market, the "gathering for the global motion picture industry," held annually in Los Angeles, will be the premiere ground for Ancanar's first theatrical trailer. Almost every studio, distributor and exhibitor in the world comes each year to the AFM, eager to see the new innovative films that are made both independently and commercially. In conjunction with this event we've updated a massive portion of Ancanar.com, enhancing navigation, graphics and interface. More stills. More shots from the set. More actors to interact with. We will be posting updates on the further developments at the AFM, including our Media Man's daily journal of events. http://www.ancanar.com/

There are games afoot!

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, February 18, 2001

Chris Seeman, the editor of Other Hands, recently mentioned in an email to his subscribers that New Line Cinema has been talking to a couple of gaming companies about producing a new role-playing game based on the "Lord of the Rings" movies. Tolkien afficianados may tremble at the prospect of yet another role-playing game, with all its modules and histories, being unleashed on an unsuspecting fandom. Iron Crown Enterprises did a good job in producing a game, but through the years they made many departures from Tolkien. Some of the departures were dictated by lack of access to the original material. But some of the departures were also necessary in order to remain consistent with previously published materials. I think my first introduction to the Middle-earth Role-playing Game was an exquisite map a friend of mine showed me back when we were playing Rolemaster. I.C.E. produced Rolemaster, too, and MERP's rules were very similar to Rolemaster's. A lot of the sourcebooks allowed players and Gamemasters to carry ideas over from one game system to the other. The map in question was game designer Peter Fenlon's interpretation of what the entire continent (which most people inappropriately call "Middle-earth", though that name refers to the entire world) on which The Lord of the Rings is set, might look like. As maps go it's an impressive work and I'm sure I still have a copy buried in some box somewhere. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that long before Christopher Tolkien published The Shaping of Middle-earth and all of Fenlon's hard work was immediately invalidated. Many gamers insisted the Fenlon map was the "official" map because it was "authorized", whereas the Tolkien purists insisted that only JRRT's maps were "official", even if they only depicted a world from an earlier phase of Tolkien's writing career. Read the full article here.

Ancanar.com opens up 'Under Bree Hill' game

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, February 17, 2001

Ancanar.com is hosting a free interactive Web game for visitors to their site. The game allows you to visit Bree and interact with characters. Some of the faces may seem familiar to visitors to Ancanar.com, but they claim the site is an unoffcial fan site dedicated by and for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien. Sam Balcomb, writer/producer of the upcoming independent film "Ancanar", is well-known to be a long-time Tolkien fan. Check out "Under Bree Hill". Official disclaimer: Under Bree Hill is a fansite, a non-profit organization owned and operated by the fans of J.R.R. Tolkien. Web space has been generously donated by Ancanar.com. UBH is not associated with New Line Cinemas or Elemental Film & Media Studios.

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