A Lord of the Rings game from a most unlikely source

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 16, 2001

AtariAge has uncovered a long lost prototype game based on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Designed for the Atari 2600, the game can be played on any PC with the right emulators. The Lord of the Rings: Journey to Rivendell has been the subject of speculation for many years by Atari collectors. Now one of the most sought-after Atari 2600 prototypes is finally available. What's the story, you ask? Way back in 1983 Parker Brothers featured this game in one of their catalogs. Video game and Tolkien fans alike were excited by this announcement, but the wait would be in vain. Lord of the Rings was never released, and Parker Brothers reportedly informed people that called and asked for the game that it was sold out in an attempt to cover up for the fact that it was never published. What's the Game About? According to the 1983 press release, the game features Frodo traveling from his home in the Shire to the door at Mora. While doing so, the player must try to avoid the evil Black Riders as they journey through Middle Earth. Here is the text from the catalog entry: "The Lord of the Rings, Journey to Rivendell is a new adventure game based on the fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. Relive the adventures of Frodo as he travels from his home in the shire to Rivendell. You'll face constant choices as you journey through Middle Earth, trying to avoid the Black Riders. Use the unique map to pinpoint your location as you move through more than 2000 exciting screens. 1 player." Read the full article here Thanks to Alex for the heads up!

Fans queuing up for December 19 LoTR opening

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, December 12, 2001

TheOneRing.Net has created a Line Party database where fans all over the world can organize gatherings for local "Lord of the Rings" openings. I've joined Thenamir's Houston Line Party, scheduled for Tuesday, December 18 at the AMC Gulf Pointe 30 theater. Fans will be admitted to auditorium 15 at 11:00 PM where a costume contest will be held and general fun and mayhem will reign supreme until the lights dim at midnight. Some fans are planning to have dinner at the local Burger King restaurant, where they'll spend gazillions of dollars on goblets and toys (and maybe actually eat some fast food). If Burger King is not to your liking, there are plenty of other restaurants in the area. Some of the prizes include Weta/Sideshow busts of Aragorn and Pippin, AMC Theater passes, autographed copies of Visualizing Middle-earth, and possiblly some stuff from Decipher, who have announced they are sponsoring the line parties.

'Fellowship of the Ring' already pirated

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Cosmiverse is reporting that illegal copies of Peter Jackson's 'The Fellowship of the Ring' were found two days before the London premier. Two days before its worldwide premiere in London, pirate copies of New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring were found for sale on video CD in the United Kingdom, investigators from the Federation Against Copyright Theft told The Hollywood Reporter over the weekend. The film, which goes into general release Dec. 19, premieres Dec. 10 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. Investigators on Dec. 8 raided a market site near the town of Bridgenorth, Shropshire, and seized 5,000 items, including more than 2,000 pirate videos and about 100 copies of the first Lord of the Rings film, the trade paper reported.

TV GUIDE Magazine goes to Middle-earth!

by Michael Martinez, Monday, December 10, 2001

We've got scans of all four covers for the December 15 - 21 issues of TV GUIDE Magazine, which feature characters from the Peter Jackson movie 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. As an added bonus, and a special delight to four very lucky fans, the magazine also happens to feature a sidebar quoting authors Michael Martinez and Jane Chance, as well as librarian Edith Crowe and Webmaster Michael Regina (Xoanon) of TheOneRing.Net, which provides Xenite.Org with one of its news headline feeds. Click on any of these images to bring up a larger version in a separate window. "The Fellowship of the Ring" premiered in London on December 10 and will begin its world-wide run on December 19.

It's official: Tom Shippey likes Peter Jackson's movie

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 9, 2001

The News Gazette reports that Professor Tom Shippey, regarded by many people as the world's leading Tolkien scholar after Christopher Tolkien himself, likes Peter Jackson's 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. Shippey served as a consultant on the movie. (You can see his name in the credits, "but only at the very end, after the carpenters," he joked.) He has seen a private screening in advance and likes it, although he said a lot of Tolkien's story is left out to abridge the more than 1,000 pages for the movies. Read the full article here Professor Shippey is the author of The Road to Middle-earth and J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century.

Lord of the Rings hits #10 on bestseller list

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 9, 2001

The paperback bestsellers list from the Washington Post lists J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings at number 10 for December 9, 2001. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5931-2001Dec6.html.

New Line Cinema Webmaster Gordon Paddison talks to Business 2.0

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 9, 2001

Gordon Paddison gives a rare interview to Business 2.0 about what it's like to be Webmaster for one of the hottest content sites on the Web: the official Lord of the Rings movie Web site. Get Your Buzz to Breed Like Hobbits Rather than closing down unofficial Lord of the Rings fan sites, Gordon Paddison cooperated with them. Thus began a viral marketing saga. By Marc Weingarten, January 2002 Issue Walking into Gordon Paddison's cluttered office at New Line Cinema headquarters in Los Angeles feels like stepping into an amateur film director's home studio. Next to one wall rests a digital camera on a tripod, and along another an enormous fill-light towers over the 40-inch flat-panel color display on Paddison's desk. For New Line's senior vice president for worldwide interactive marketing, this is where the magic happens, the place where he interviews the stars of The Lord of the Rings for the film's official website, LordoftheRings.net. "If any actors come to L.A., they have to sit here and talk to me first," says Paddison, an eight-year New Line vet and self-described "old Net geek." New Line needs any promotional edge it can get. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, one of three Rings movies planned through 2003, is by far the most expensive and ambitious project in New Line's history. (New Line, like Business 2.0, is owned by AOL Time Warner (AOL).) The $90 million production, due in theaters Dec. 19, is not only the most anticipated pop cultural event of 2001 (sorry, Harry Potter); for the legions of fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's 1,200-page literary trilogy, it is simply "the film," the one they've looked forward to for years. Whether or not the film lives up to expectations, fans have already been dazzled by the show Paddison has mounted online. LordoftheRings.net is one of the hottest media properties on the Web. According to Nielsen//Net Ratings, LordoftheRings.net drew 460,000 unique visitors last October and more than 3.4 million visitors since January. But what really has all of Hollywood buzzing -- and taking copious notes -- is Paddison's success in spreading his message virally. By partnering with fan sites and feeding them insider tips, New Line has extended the film's marketing reach to a worldwide audience of tens of millions. Ken Goldstein, executive vice president for Disney Online (DIS), admits that Paddison is "simply one of the best in our business." Read the full article here

More from Christopher Tolkien

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 9, 2001

The Associated Press has release another portion of Christopher Tolkien's statement regarding the upcoming movies. Tolkien's Son OK With 'Rings' Movie By The Associated Press, LONDON (AP) - Breaking his silence over the film "The Lord Of The Rings," the son of fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien says he is not critical of the way film has interpreted his father's classic books. Reports suggested that Christopher Tolkien was so unhappy about how the films of the trilogy had been made that he had fallen out with family members. But in a statement issued Friday, Tolkien said while he had doubts about the viability of the projects, these were personal opinions. Tolkien said his position is that "The Lord Of The Rings" is unsuitable for transformation into visual dramatic form. "On the other hand, I recognize that this is a debatable and complex question of art, and the suggestions that have been made that I 'disapprove' of the films, whatever their cinematic quality, even to the extent of thinking ill of those with whom I may differ, are wholly without foundation," he said. J.R.R. Tolkien sold the film rights to his fantasy books in 1969, leaving his family and those in charge of his estate with no control over the movies. "The Fellowship of the Ring" is the first installment in the trilogy and will have its worldwide premiere on Monday in London.

Sean Bean interview with New Zealand Women's Weekly

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 9, 2001

Winona at The Compleat Sean Bean has brought us to great scans of an article with Sean Bean from New Zealand's Women's Weekly magazine. The Compleat Sean Bean Sean Bean plays Boromir in Peter Jackson's "The Fellowship of the Ring", the first of three movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. "The Fellowship of the Ring" premiers in London on December 10 and begins a world-wide run on December 19.

Lord of the Rings production notes

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, December 9, 2001

The Compleat Sean Bean Web site has scored a coup by posting the production notes for Peter Jackson's "The Fellowship of the Ring".

Life imitating art in The Lord of the Rings

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, December 8, 2001

Through the years I have answered, or tried to answer, many questions from fellow fans of J.R.R. Tolkien. There is one question I have seldom been asked, however: whose opinions on Tolkien and Middle-earth do I value? Many people value my opinion, both in business and privately, and that appreciation is not lost on me. Yet, strange though it may seem to those who seldom if ever see me speak highly of other Tolkien commentators, there are people who -- when they speak or write about Tolkien -- capture my attention, excite my imagination, and arouse my curiosity. Michael Siminski is one of those people. When he proofed a book-length manuscript for me several years ago, I did my utmost best to check all my facts before sending the work off for Michael's review. Inevitably, the chapters were returned with a staccato of corrections and thoughtful comments. There was a time when Michael Siminski freely shared his views and knowledge of Tolkien with other fans on the Internet. Now, he shares his life with the field of Engineering and his lovely wife Leisa in Australia. But the other day he sent the following article to me and asked if I thought anyone would be interested in it. I certainly was, and I hope you will be, too. Something struck me as funny today, though I haven't seen anyone pick up on this yet. Levy [1] writes that "The Ring has been lost for centuries and that powerful forces are now unrelenting in their search for it. Fate, which a major force in the saga, has placed the Ring in the hands of a young Hobbit, Frodo Baggins ..., forcing him to risk his life in order to keep it". To further emphasise the evil of the all-powerful Ring, he then quotes the familiar: "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them". Schwarzbaum [2] notes that "Frodo is the hero-as-average-fellow in Tolkien's tale, the very opposite of a strapping action figure, to whom will fall the saga's great heroic assignment". Null [3] also describes the basis of the Fellowship of the Ring plot, writing that "A hobbit (read: little person with hairy feet) named Frodo Baggins ... is entrusted with a mysterious ring" and that "He finds aid in the form of a band of unlikely henchmen: a few hobbits from home, including his best pal Sam ... Gandalf, a sophisticated elf ... , a mean dwarf ... , and a couple of tough humans". Read the full article here

Hobbit Lore brings the wisdom of Hobbits to the World Wide Web

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, December 8, 2001

A unique Web site has been brought to our attention. Hobbit Lore provides much of the usual content (forums, links, background material, etc.), but its primary feature is The Book of Hobbit Wisdom. Whereas many Web sites will feature favorite quotes, Webmaster Paul Payne has documented 480 proverbs used in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and brought them together in an impressive collection of poetry and citations from Tolkien's story. The content is presented through a floating frame in a book-like format. There are 34 pages plus an introduction to the book. In many cases, Payne adds an observation or explanation of the principle expressed. Some of the proverbs are themselves merely extrapolations (such as: Don't ever sleep against a willow-tree). Still, the index page warns the reader that "This site is an investigation into the fusion between legend and history, myth and reality... an investigation into the wisdom of the Lord of the Rings." Those who seek out the wisdom of hobbits often find themselves wandering into holes and quests. Safe journey! Hobbit Lore

Christopher Tolkien says 'Film won't do justice' but...

by Michael Martinez, Friday, December 7, 2001

In a historic first public comment on the upcoming Peter Jackson trilogy of films based on his father's work, Christopher Tolkien says the movies will not do justice to his father's work. LONDON (Reuters) - The son of J.R.R. Tolkien says the forthcoming Hollywood adaptation of his father's classic "The Lord of the Rings" will not do justice to the magical Middle Earth tale. In a statement to newspapers published on Saturday, Christopher Tolkien, who is literary protector of his father's works, said he did not disapprove of the film but was dubious about the adaptation. "My own position is that 'The Lord Of The Rings' is peculiarly unsuitable to transformation into visual dramatic form," he said. Read the rest of the brief article here. Christopher Tolkien brought his father's life-work, The Silmarillion, to publication in 1977, four years after J.R.R. Tolkien died. In 1980, the younger Tolkien published Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, a collection of stories, story fragments, notes, and essays drawn from the immense archive of material left behind by the elder Tolkien. From 1983 through 1996, Christopher published the twelve volumes of The History of Middle-earth, which followed in painstaking detail the evolutionary development of the stories which eventually gave rise to The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Christopher Tolkien moved his family to an undisclosed location in southern France to escape the intense public scrutiny that his father's fame and his own renown as the world's leading scholar in Tolkien studies brought to bear on him. A veteran of the Second World War who served in the Royal Air Force, the younger Tolkien followed in his father's professional footsteps, pursuing a career in linguistic and literary studies at Oxford. Christopher Tolkien has made only rare public appearances on behalf of his father's work over the past 20 years. "The Fellowship of the Ring", the first of three movies by Peter Jackson based on The Lord of the Rings, premiers in London on December 10, 2001, and begins a world-wide run on December 19.

John Cook presents the LoTR spoof Sunday Cartoon Contest

by Michael Martinez, Friday, December 7, 2001

John Cook, the popular artist/webmaster of http://www.sev.com.au/ has published a special 'Lord of the Rings' cartoon in full Sunday format. Fans are encouraged to participate in the punchline contest by visiting http://www.sev.com.au/toonzone/sunday.asp.

Review of 'Fellowship of the Ring' from Cleveland...

by Michael Martinez, Friday, December 7, 2001

Mark Watt from Hearsay wrote to let us know he has seen Peter Jackson's 'Fellowship of the Rings' and had reviewed the movie. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring To many, J.R.R. Tolkien's epic adventure The Lord of the Rings is the greatest achievement in the history of fantasy writing. For plenty of others, it's perhaps the greatest story ever told. As a reader who happens to agree with the latter statement, it's difficult to explain the mixture of emotions that swirled through my head as I sat in a theater, waiting for The Fellowship of the Ring (the first in a three-part series of filmed adaptations) to begin. On one hand, Tolkien's tale is branded in my memory - I read the book annually for a six-year period, beginning during my freshman year at college - and I felt that with my towering expectations I was bound to be let down. Think about it. When were you last truly pleased by a film adaptation of a book you read and loved? More than that: I felt that, by viewing the film, my Middle Earth - the Middle Earth that exists in my own imagination - risked being replaced, amended or cheapened by someone else's interpretation of Tolkien's written word. Read the full article here. "The Fellowship of the Ring" is the first of three movies by Peter Jackson based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The movie premiers in London on December 10 and begins a worldwide run on December 19. Selected fan Webmasters have received invitations to at least one of the premiers (others are being held in New York, Los Angeles, and Wellington).

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