Sam Gamgee arrives in Middle-earth by train

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, January 16, 2001

Donald Nute has found a sculptor to create his Sam Gamgee for the Middle-earth Railroad we mentioned a few months ago. Check out the new pictures posted here. A small group of Tolkien enthusiasts have combined their interests in Tolkien and trains to create their own model railroads set in Middle-earth. Donald Nute's Web site is a splendid example of how the imagination is inspired by Tolkien. The Sam Gamgee sculpture, so far as we know, is a custom job and is not available for sale. Chris Burdett, the artist, also created a dwarf for Nute's railroad.

Look what they've done to the official Web site, Ma

by Michael Martinez, Monday, January 15, 2001

This week's Suite101 article marks a return to Middle-earth by Michael Martinez, who has been ill. The timing couldn't be better. Michael takes a look at the new official Web site for Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movie. Check out "Look what they've done to the official Web site, Ma".

Electronic Arts isn't looking so LOTR-like

by Michael Martinez, Monday, January 15, 2001

The Motley Fool spoke with Stan McKee, Chief Financial Officer of Electronic Arts. Bottom line: they aren't looking for LOTR demographics. Widespread rumors have fingered Electronic Arts as the most likely provider for a massively multiplayer online game based on Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies. And yet, despite more than six months of predictions and premature announcements by various publications, Electronic Arts has failed to confirm the rumors. Now Stan McKee tells the Fool that EA's demographics are the 15-30 year-old male gamer market, but they are shifting more toward the large (and relatively untapped) female market. Approximately half of all online users now are women or girls. Electronic Arts leaves the huge game development projects to one of their partners, McKee says, and they are looking to expand into more "parlor games" among other new territories to address the broader demographic they are pursuing. This just doesn't sound like a company planning to move into the void created by Sierra Online's discontinuation and apparent loss of license for the old Middle-earth Online game. Hobbits and wizards just don't seem to fit in with games like "Hearts" and "Bunny Love".

Look what they've done to the official Web site, Ma

by Michael Martinez, Friday, January 12, 2001

LOTR Web sites come and go. New Line Cinema has launched and discarded a couple of its own Web sites. But now we're finally into the 21st century and the countdown to December whenever is starting to get serious. And the media hype is heating up. New Line's latest offering is a double whammy. They've released a trailer in theaters today and they've revamped their Web site. A select few dozen Tolkien Webmasters were invited to post a banner on their Web sites counting down six days to the unveiling of the new LOTR Web site. We were also asked not to copy any of the new content, but just to link to it. So, there ya go, guys. What's on the new site? Lots of stuff. Gordon Paddison describes it as "the beginning of an evolving online effort dedicated to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy." He adds, "The site will be constantly changing, with content being added and updated on a weekly basis over the next four years. The resulting breadth of materials available will be unlike any other film project to date." Well, that's cool. Four years of official updates from the official movie Web site. We can look forward to furious attempts by various Tolkien Webmasters to be the first to report updates on the official site, I'm sure. You can stay up-to-date with all the latest headlines from TolkienOnline.Com and TheOneRing.Net at Xenite.Org's Lord of the Rings movie news page. And that's my one plug for the site this week. Read the full article here.

Is Mithril next 'Old Licensee' to go?

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, January 10, 2001

In their latest announcement, Mithril suggests that they are having trouble with renewing their license from Tolkien Enterprises. Xenite.Org has long reported on unsubstantiable rumors that Tolkien Enterprises has been using the upcoming Peter Jackson movies as an excuse to renegotiate or cancel contracts in order to pursue more lucrative arrangements with companies that can expect to benefit from the film publicity. All film-related merchandising is controlled by New Line Cinema, which in fact has been signing contracts for merchandising with other companies. Tolkien Enterprises nonetheless has been licensing merchandise based on the "literary license" for more than 20 years. J.R.R. Tolkien sold the film and merchandising rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the 1960s to United Artists. Saul Zaentz eventually acquired the rights and formed Tolkien Enterprises as a division of the Saul Zaentz Company. Zaentz controls the film licensing deals which produced Ralph Bakshi's and Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies, as well as the Rankin/Bass television specials "The Hobbit" and "The Return of the King".

Tolkien family to go into hiding because of films?

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, January 7, 2001

Winona Kent of The Complete Sean Bean has forwarded a disturbing article to various Tolkien Webmasters. According to an article in the Electronic Telegraph's Sunday, January 7, 2001 edition, members of the Tolkien family are looking forward to the upcoming movies with trepidation. Father John Tolkien, Tolkien's eldest son and a retired Catholic priest, is quoted as saying "The Tolkien family is under perpetual abuse of one kind or another. It goes on all the time. I am anticipating endless bother when the film actually comes out." Father Tolkien's brother Christopher has already moved to France after being overwhelmed by fannish attention in the wake of publishing The Silmarillion (1977), Unfinished Tales (1980), and the twelve volumes of The History of Middle-earth series (1984-96). Christopher keeps wild boar in his garden to discourage unwanted visitors. The Tolkien family has already initiated legal action against one Web site which is purportedly selling a book which the retired Tolkien claims makes defamatory allegations about his career as a Catholic priest. Tolkien's father was named one of the top 100 Catholics of the 20th century in honor of his literary achievements and his lifelong participation in the Roman Catholic faith.

Good night, good rhudaur

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, January 6, 2001

Rhudaur is always portrayed as an evil land. Its people betrayed the Dunedain and killed them or drove them out. The Hobbits who settled there fled. Trolls ventured down from the hills and drove everyone away. But when Elendil sailed to Middle-earth and established the Kingdom of Arnor, the Dunedain who settled in Rhudaur must have been members of his own following. They were Faithful Numenoreans who venerated the Valar and lived in friendship with the Eldar of Aman and Middle-earth. These were not evil people. So what happened? Well, in one sense, progress may have happened. That is, the character of the people and their culture must have changed progressively through the centuries. And there were probably several reasons for the change, reflected in different periods and events in Rhudaurian history. The region claimed by the Kings of Rhudaur in the middle Third Age extended eastward from the Weather Hills to the Misty Mountains, and south from the Mitheithel (Hoarwell) where it flowed past the Ettenmoors to the tip of the Angle, the land between the Mitheithel and Bruinen (Loudwater) rivers. The rivers joined together above Eregion and became the Gwathlo (Greyflood), the chief cities of which were Tharbad and Lond Daer Ened (formerly Vinyalonde). When Elendil arrived at Lindon with four ships of Faithful Numenoreans, Eriador was already well-populated by Elves, men of Edainic descent, Numenoreans, men of mixed heritage, and men who are probably best described as "Easterlings". These Easterlings must have dwelt in the foot-hills of the Misty Mountains, mostly north of Imladris (Rivendell). There may have been some clans which lived in the lowlands east of the North Downs and the Weather Hills. The Numenorean peoples must have accepted Elendil as their lord almost immediately. Faithful Numenoreans had been leaving Numenor for years, and most of them came from Andunie, the province of Numenor where Elendil's father had been Lord, until he was removed by Ar-Pharazon. The salvation of a beloved noble family should have encouraged the Numenoreans of Eriador to retain their traditions. Read the full article here

The Downfall of the Lore of the Rings

by Michael Martinez, Monday, January 1, 2001

Some months ago a teacher of English Literature wrote to gently chastize me for not exercising my considerable judgement in seeking the finer aspects of Tolkien's works. i.e., I'm wasting my talents because I'm not examining the symbolism and deeper meaning of Tolkien's works, which is of course where serious scholarship devotes its resources. Well, the compliments are indeed appreciated but the advice was not well received. Not that I have ever called myself a scholar, but I have a real problem with Tolkien scholarship. I find it to be immensely boring and usually not very relevant to Tolkien. Tolkien scholarship takes three forms: literary critcism, linguistic analysis, textual analysis. Literary criticism is pretentious and arrogant, and as everyone knows I'm neither pretentious nor arrogant so I'm hardly suited to the task. Worse, I'm totally dedicated to the literal interpretation of works so my opinions are hardly going to shed light on the deeper meanings of things. Linguistic analysis is more of a delicate art than a science. Perhaps, though, we should call it linguistic extrusion. An attempt is underway to construct the dialects of the Tatyarin Avari, just as David Salo earlier this year constructed a dialect of Silvan Elvish. Perhaps because he is David Salo no one dared cry "Foul!" Or perhaps because the dialect was published in Other Hands few people were even aware of it. Either way, I get into trouble just trying to figure out how to pronounce "Silmarillion" so I'm hardly suited for linguistic analysis. Textual analysis is the sort of thing I associate with translating ancient works into modern languages. It's a sad statement on our educational system, I think, that we cannot agree on the uses of simile and metaphor. I wonder if that's due to the conflict between transformational grammarians and traditionalists, or if it's because most students are too busy doodling in their notebooks to pay attention in class? When I took Advanced Grammmar in college, Dr. Bergeron explained the purpose of the course on the first day of class. Most of my classmates were future teachers. They all literally breathed sighs of relief when the professor got to the part where he said, "You know all those fancy words we use? Gerunds, adverbials, participles? This is the class where you finally learn what they mean and how to use them." Read the entire article here.

Force of Hobbit updates early

by Michael Martinez, Friday, December 29, 2000

E! Online's Force of Hobbit has posted its January update a few days early. Fans can read about the last scenes filmed for the movie. A few questions are answered as usual. A couple of pictures we haven't seen before have been posted. Only about 2% of the dialogue recorded for the films has been deemed useful, so the actors will have to loop their dialogue in 2001. Something you won't read anywhere else but here at SpeculativeVision.Com is that Ioreth will indeed be in the third movie.

British rocker Bob Catley goes to Middle-earth

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, December 27, 2000

Progressive/metal rock artist Bob Catley, formerly of Hard Rain and Magnum, is working on his third solo album, titled 'Middle-earth'. Catley, coming off a successful tour to promote his album Legends, has completed the vocals for the new album. Catley's music has been compared to Kansas', Journey's, Boston, Kiss, Thin Lizzy, and Van Halen (to name a few). Songwriter Gary Hughes has been working with Catley on the new album, due to be released in March 2001. A European tour will follow in April and May. Titles include: The Wraith Of The Rings, (i) The Fields That I Recall, (ii) Emissary (iii), The Fields That I Recall (Reprise), City Walls, Against The Wind, (i) Where You Lead I'll Follow (ii), Stormcrow & Pilgrim (iii), Where You Lead I'll Follow (Reprise), Return Of The Mountain King, The End Of Summer (Galadriel's Theme), This Gallant Band Of Manic Strangers and The Fellowship. Catley's "Legends" CD is available through many online retailers, including Amazon.Co.Uk. The Amazon.Com has five sample tracks visiors may hear. Catley's first solo album, "The Tower", may also be purchased through Amazon.Co.Uk. Thanks to Eugenio for the tip.

All the Harry Knowles reports

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, December 26, 2000

If you hate going to Ain't-It-Cool-News because of the bad design like I do, you may have been following Harry's misadventures through Tolkien Online. If not, well, hie thee over there and read Chapter Ten. If you have missed some of the first nine installments just scroll down to the bottom of the page and right click on the links to bring up the earlier chapters in new browser windows. Knowles' writing is painfully bad, and he wastes a lot of words with nonsense, but there are some interesting things in each chapter of "A Geek's Adventure in Middle-earth".

Irish Times redeems itself with a great Tolkien retrospective

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 24, 2000

We can dish out the complaints, we'd better dish out the compliments, too. The Irish Times blew it back in August when Edward Power obliterated Tolkien factuality with a story about the upcoming movies. But now writer Eileen Battersby has produced one of the best Tolkien retrospectives we've seen in a long time. Battersby is moved by Tolkien's high and low moments, and she shares her joy at seeing children discover Tolkien and eagerly plead with their parents for just the right version of The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas present. The article recounts Tolkien's life and career and it shows that Battersby cared enough to look up her facts. Or maybe she has committed them to heart. A couple of minor foibles are not worth quibbling over. If you have a friend or loved one who cannot decide whether to try out a Tolkien book, print Battersby's article and give it to them.

Salon creates a Tolkien topic page -- oboy!

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 24, 2000

Salon.Com bought out MP3Lit.Com earlier this year, thus scooping up MP3Lit's Tolkien recordings (which were Xenite.Org mentioned a few times) and suddenly the fan community has discovered Salon and Tolkien go hand in hand like Peanut Butter and Beets. Not to be caught napping in the midst of a page-viewing bonanza which can only help their advertising revenues, Salon has now created a Tolkien topic which is a bit sparse but perhaps will eventually include every book review and retrospective that can manage to include J.R.R. Tolkien's name, no matter how glibly. Anime fans will love the fact that a "Princess Monoke" article from October 1999 made the cut. The depth of the Tolkien reporting may not be there ("Frodo lives -- on the big screen" was simply awful) but at least we know the folks at Salon are cool: they like Tolkien (and Xena). So they can't be all bad.

New Line on the financial defensive over film budgets, licensing?

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 24, 2000

Before 'Dungeons and Dragons' was clobbered by 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas', industry analysts were asking if New Line Cinema isn't spending too much money in the wrong places. "Dungeons and Dragons" hasn't shown the box office results New Line hoped for. But at the beginning of December the L.A. Times was suggesting "Little Nicky" may herald the onset of another "darkest hour" for New Line Cinema. New Line has been gambling quite a bit and spreading big money around, but they haven't really been bringing in the hits like industry observer feel they should be. Upcoming big budget projects include Warren Beatty's "Town and Country", Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan in "Rush Hour 2", and Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings". The first two movies don't sound very appetizing. It may come down to "The Fellowship of the Ring" vindicating the judgement of executives like Michael De Luca, whose boss Michael Lynne of Time Warner didn't allow the L.A. Times to interview him. "In this business, you have times when the product works and when it doesn't," Lynne told the L.A. Times by telephone. But the Times article is quick to point out that New Line, despite posting its highest gross earnings ever in 2000, brought several other flops to the big screen this year: "Bamboozled", "Lost Souls", "Price of Glory", and "Turn it Up". More successful films like "The Cell", which grossed $60 million domestically but cost $45 million to produce, helped even the bar but not by much. Due to the length of this article, it cannot be reproduced in its entirety here. Read the full article on Xenite.Org.

Magic by Melkor, no returns accepted

by Michael Martinez, Friday, December 22, 2000

Why gold? I've had that question put to me a few times now. Where on Earth did I get the idea that dragons might draw power from gold, or, more specifically, that there was something special about gold when it came to magic? Well, I neglected to mention one crucial paragraph when I was citing Tolkien's essay (which, by the way, Christopher Tolkien called "Notes on motives in the Silmarillion" -- the Morgoth-element paragraphs were lifted from near the end of section ii). When last we referred to Tolkien's view on how the magic worked for Sauron, he had said: "...Morgoth's power was disseminated throughout Gold, if nowhere absolute (for he did not create Gold) it was nowhere absent. (It was this Morgoth-element in matter, indeed, which was a prerequisite for such 'magic' and other evils as Sauron practised with it and upon it.)" But what follows explains my fascination with gold, and why I think dragons might have been able to sustain themselves upon it: It is quite possible, of course, that certain 'elements' of conditions of matter had attracted Morgoth's special attention (mainly, unless in the remote past, for reasons of his own plans). For example, all gold (in Middle-earth) seems to have had a specially 'evil' trend -- but not silver. Water is represented as being almost entirely free of Morgoth. (This, of course, does not mean that any particular sea, stream, river, well, or even vessel of water could not be poisoned or defiled -- as all things could.) Read the full article here.

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