Christian Science monitor believes allegorical Rings will benefit from Sept. 11

by Michael Martinez, Monday, November 19, 2001

In an article focusing on the impact that the September 11 terrorist attacks may have on the box office, the Christian Science Monitor speculates that 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and 'Harry Potter' will strike resonances with movie-goers. (November 15, 2001 1:58 p.m. EST) - After years of being labeled kiddie fare or languishing at the bottom of the rental bin, fantasy is now the movie genre du jour. And its timing couldn't be better. What started this summer with the successful ogre tale "Shrek" is continuing into the fall with a crop of highly anticipated movies that are proving a welcome distraction for many Americans. Helping them to escape are features like "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," opening on Friday, "The Fellowship of the Ring," arriving next month, and the current hit "Monsters, Inc." Unlike the real world, where uncertainty currently prevails, these stories offer everyman heroes taking on well-defined enemies, which is just what many people want right now. "On the one hand, you can enjoy the feeling of combat without the consequences, and on the other, you can be confident that good is going to triumph over evil," says Lester Friedman, a senior scholar in film at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Good and evil are often at the heart of fantasy books and movies - where both the audience and authors can use an imagined place to grapple with life's big issues. The science fiction/fantasy section in bookstores is one of the two largest, along with mysteries, but fantasy movies have been hit-or-miss over the years, thanks in part to less-than-magical special effects. Both "Harry Potter," and "Fellowship of the Ring" were in production long before Sept. 11, but both will likely attract people who originally hadn't planned to attend. In one early indicator of audience appetite, "Monsters, Inc." and its candy-colored world defied mixed reviews by raking in $122 million in two weeks. People are also snapping up "Harry Potter" books, by British author J.K. Rowling, as a way to keep current events at bay - and perhaps to be part of a community of fans, which observers say many may find comforting after the recent attacks. Read the full article here

LoTR fans to use winning imaginations in Modamag contest

by Michael Martinez, Thursday, November 8, 2001

Modamag is giving away Decipher's collectible card game based on Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings' movies in a fan essay competition. "If you could spend a day as a specific character from LoTR who would you choose and what would you do?" the contest page asks. First prize is 2 starter decks and 20 booster packs for the collectible card game (representing a healthy investment in the gaming system for any player). Rules and guidelines for the contest, as well as a full list of prizes, are available at http://www.modamag.com/lotrcontest. "The Fellowship of the Ring", the first of Jackson's three movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, opens in the United States and other countries on December 19.

Soundtrack.Net posts first review of Fellowship soundtrack -- with CLIPS!

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, November 6, 2001

Soundtrack.Net has gotten an exclusive first peak at the new soundtrack for Peter Jackson's 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. The movie, scheduled to begin world-wide distribution on December 19, 2001, is the first of three films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The soundtrack provides 72 minutes of music, according to Soundtrack.Net's article. Soloists include Edward Ross, Elisabeth Frasur, Mabel Faletou, and -- of course -- Enya. Soundtrack reports that there was close coordination between Enya's music and the regular score. And now here's the real gem in this report: you can hear clips from ALL the pieces on Soundtrack.Net's Web site. What a coup! Powerful and epic in scope, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is not only one of the best soundtracks of the year, but it's also an incredibly nuanced and moving composition in its own right. While it remains to be seen how it all works in the film (look for my review in December when the film is released), for now it is almost undoubtedly safe to say that, as a first impression, Shore's contribution has absolutely nailed it. http://www.soundtrack.net/features/article/?id=88

Scans of LoTR soundtrack album -- special leather edition

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, November 6, 2001

Warner Brothers Records has released scans for the new LoTR soundtrack album, which will be sold in special packaging. It appears that the hobbits are facing the Nazgul on Weathertop in this dramatic image selected for the first soundtrack cover. There will be a limited edition leather-bound CD offered for sale as well. We expect to provide more info here in the future.

New York Times launches multimedia LoTR site

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, November 6, 2001

The New York Times has combined its archive of Tolkien-related articles with multimedia from New Line Cinema. The Tolkien Archives includes behind-the-scenes info on the movies, a trivia quiz, a flash-animated presentation of the trailer, a slide-show of Tolkien cover art, and more. This site promises to be a new step in Web marketing, making the content the advertisement, rather than merely advertising content. LoTR fans will undoubtedly want to peruse the site, although much will be familiar to experienced LoTR Web surfers. Registrations is NOT required. This is a significant change in NYT behavior, which requires free registration for its regular content. "The Fellowship of the Ring", the first of three movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, is scheduled to begin world-wide release on December 19, 2001.

Tolkien hits the best-seller lists again..and again

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, November 4, 2001

Publisher's Weekly is listing J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit at number 4 and The Fellowship of the Ring at number 14 in its list of top 15 mass market books for the week ending November 3. Reuters has published the list here: http://in.news.yahoo.com/011103/14/184qn.html The books became a mass market phenomenon in the mid-1960s after ACE Books published an unauthorized edition. Tolkien scrambled to update both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so that he could secure proper copyright protection in the United States, where Donald Wolheim (then of ACE Books) had taken advantage of a loophole to publish the unauthorized editions. ACE succumbed to public pressure to withdraw the editions and pay Tolkien belated royalties. Sales of Tolkien-related books are zooming as anticipation for "The Fellowship of the Ring", the first of three movies based on The Lord of the Rings filmed by Peter Jackson in New Zealand, builds to a fever pitch. The movie opens in London on December 10 at an invitation-only premier and world-wide distribution begins on December 19. Rumors have been flying about whether a "Hobbit" movie will be filmed. Jackson reportedly filmed some scenes from The Hobbit to relate how Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist for the earlier story, acquired the One Ring from Gollum, one of the chief antagonists in The Lord of the Rings.

LoTR actors to appear at four premiers

by Michael Martinez, Friday, November 2, 2001

New Line Cinema has confirmed that all the principal actors for "The Fellowship of the Ring", except Cate Blanchett (Galadriel -- she is expecting a baby around December 10) will appear at the four scheduled special premiers for the movie in December. The first premier will be held on December 10 in London, England. The second premier will be held in New York City on December 13 and will benefit victims of the World Trade Center. The third premier will be held in Los Angeles. The fourth premier will be held in Wellington, New Zealand on December 19. The movie opens in New Zealand on December 20 (which coincides with December 19 in other parts of the world). The movie opens in the United States and Canada on December 19. Some countries will see the movie soon thereafter, but some will have to wait until early 2002. Attendance at the premiers is by invitation only. A couple of Webmasters who have supported New Line Cinema's publicity campaign may be invited to attend one of the premiers, but we have no advance knowledge of who may be going. Web sites to watch for premier reports include: http://www.aicn.com/ http://www.theonering.net/ http://www.tolkienonline.com/ http://www.ringbearer.org/ These are just guesses, but New Line Cinema has shown particular favoritism to several of these sites in the past. However, although New Line Cinema has fed information to as many as several dozen fan sites over the past few years, they may not invite any Webmasters to attend the premiers (although at least three Webmasters were sent to Cannes).

Amazon now selling Glass Hammer's "Middle-earth" album

by Michael Martinez, Friday, November 2, 2001

"The Middle-earth Album" by Glass Hammer is now available on Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005R0AK/ On "The Middle-earth Album", Glass Hammer departs from it's usual progressive rock bombast, to perform a medieval \ Celtic \ folk set recorded "live at The Prancing Pony Inn". Sing along with the denizens of Bree as you hear tales of Elven maidens and sword-wielding Rangers, Dwarven heroes and bloodthirsty Trolls! For MP3's, RealAudio, and tons of info about "The Middle-earth Album", check out Glass Hammer's website at http://www.glasshammer.com/.

Trick or treat? Spooky Middle-earth

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Most Tolkien fans will immediately recognize September 22 as the birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, but their September 22 was not our September 22. Tolkien's offbeat calendar system for the Shire made the Hobbits' September 22 fall on our September 14 (September 13 in a Leap Year). So, for years, you've been toasting Bilbo and Frodo's good health 8 days too late. Halloween is not an especially important date in the Tolkien calendars, either. Our October 31 (All Hallows' Eve) falls on the Hobbits' November 9. By that time, their harvest is way behind them. But Halloween did not really originate in a harvest festival, as some have told the tale. It began as the Celtic festival called Samhain in Irish Gaelic (pronounced SOW-en, despite the "m" in the middle of the word). According to tradition, Samhain was the time of year when the Celts extinguished their hearth-fires, put on special costumes, and attended bonfires ignited by Druidic priests. The Celts believed this was the time of year, as Summer gave way to Autumn, when the spirits of the dead were most likely to return to the world of the living. These spirits were expected to help the living foretell each other's fortunes (and occasionally get into mischief). The Celts often dressed up in costumes as they celebrated their new year. When the festivities were over, so traditions say, the Druids would give an ember from the bonfire to each family in the community, and they would use that ember to relight their hearthfires for the coming year. The Eldar of Imladris observed their New Year about the Shire's April 6, which would be about our March 29. The Shire's New Year fell on our December 23. And the poor Dwarves, living by a Lunar Calendar for part of their shadowy history, celebrated the last new moon of Autumn as their new year's day, calling it Durin's Day (perhaps commemorating the day Durin I awoke, or the day he died). Read the full article here

See the Sayer Tolkien collection items being auctioned

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Christie's Web site has a section devoted to the Tolkien collection which will soon be auctioned. Of course, we cannot guarantee that this site will stay up for any length of time, but curious Tolkien fans may browse scans of the items for the time being. http://www.christies.com/promos/nov01/9261/promo_gallery.asp?page=2

Sayer's LoTR archive going up for auction

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Reuters is reporting that George Sayer's archive of proofs, first editions, and letters from J.R.R. Tolkien about The Lord of the Rings is being auctioned off. LONDON (Reuters) - An archive showing the development of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy ``The Lord of the Rings'' is expected to fetch up to 35,000 pounds ($50,940) when it goes under the hammer next month. The archive, which was compiled by Tolkien's friend George Sayer and includes proof copies, first editions and letters by the author, will be shown for the first time on Thursday, auction house Christie's said in a statement. Read the full article here.

The Middle-earth Prophecies

by Michael Martinez, Friday, October 26, 2001

Prophecy plays an important role in the Middle-earth stories. In fact, some people argue that Tolkien must have intended Middle-earth to have a predestined fate or timeline, because it seems like every prophecy mentioned comes true in some fashion. Well, false prophecies do occur in the stories, but they are rare. Or, if they are not false, they are at least unfulfilled. The question of whether there is power in prophecy or power behind it is virtually impossible to resolve to anyone's satisfaction. Many people believe that history unfolds according to the Music of the Ainur (which is not true, as it was Iluvatar who gave the Music its meaning through his Vision). Regardless of whether it follows the Music or the Vision, Time certainly unfolds much as the Ainur and Iluvatar wove their themes. But The Silmarillion tells us that each age reveals new wonders to the Valar which they know nothing of, and which are not foretold in the Music or Vision. In fact, much of the history which is foretold doesn't even occur in the Music or the Vision. After Iluvatar stops the Music, he speaks to the Ainur. "And many other things Iluvatar spoke to the Ainur at that time," Tolkien writes in "Ainulindale". "And because of their memory of his words, and the knowledge that each has of the music that he himself made, the Ainur know much of what was, and is, and is to come, and few things are unseen by them. Yet some things there are that they cannot see, neither alone nor taking counsel together; for to none but himself has Iluvatar revealed all that he has in store, and in every age there come forth things that are new and have no foretelling, for they do not proceed from the past." Iluvatar therefore placed many things in the Vision which the Ainur had not sung of, and even after some of the Ainur entered Ea, Iluvatar revealed new things. His freedom to alter Ea as Time unfolds leaves Iluvatar as the final arbiter of foreknowledge. That is, he can (if he so chooses) invalidate the foreknowledge that an individual Ainu may have derived from parts of the Music or Vision. But does Iluvatar negate anything which has been foretold? That's an interesting question, yet one which cannot be answered. We know of several occasions where Iluvatar intervenes. For example, when Aule creates the Dwarves, Iluvatar speaks to him and eventually accepts the Dwarves as his adopted Children. Iluvatar gives them true life and independent thought. There is, of course, no text which says that Aule's impatience and creation of the Dwarves either is or is not foretold or foreshadowed in the Music and Vision. But Aule wrought the Dwarves in secret. He can hardly have worked in secret if the rest of the Ainur knew about them through foreknowledge derived from the Ainulindale. Hence, Aule's creation of the Dwarves, and Iluvatar's intervention, are strongly implied to be new things, unknown to the Valar. Read the full article here

Apple updates 2nd LoTR trailer?

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, October 24, 2001

Dave M. wrote to tell us that Apple has updated its 'Fellowship of the Ring' trailer, which is now available for permanent download in two archive formats. "This is same trailer, but it seems to have been slightly altered," he tells us. "The audio sounds clearer or perhaps it has been re-dubbed, in particular when Gandalf speaks. Some of video of orcs seems altered as well. Gollum's voice, I think, has also been re-dubbed. "At end, rather than a hiss, he kinda gurgles, and some new quick cuts of various things at end." The trailer may now be downloaded in ZIP and SIT format, thus making the viewing experience much easier for many fans who still don't have high-speed Internet access. And obviously copyright concerns which previously led New Line Cinema and its distribution partners to attempt to foil fan efforts to save the trailers permanently (or offer them on other Web sites) have been given a lower priority. We were unable to access the largest screen size version of the trailer when we checked the site, but the medium size trailer was quick to download. The trailer is officially called "Teaser 3". Click on the link below to see Apple's page. "The Fellowship of the Ring", the first of three movies produced by New Zealand writer/director Peter Jackson as an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, will premier in London on December 10. It hits theaters in the United States and Canada on December 19, and will be released in other parts of the world on or after that date. http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/lord_of_the_rings/teaser3.html SV Note: The theatrical (not web teaser) trailer is available at http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/fellowship_of_the_ring/ It can also be downloaded in zip/sit compressed files, and offers both a large and full screen option not available for the web teaser (very large files - broadband connection recommended).

Burger King cancelling Web campaign?

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, October 24, 2001

TheOneRing.Net has reported a rumor that Burger King is cancelling its planned Web-based campaign for Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings". No official confirmation has been received from Burger King.

Press review of 25-minute Cannes Lord of the Rings footage

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, October 24, 2001

Berge over at JoBlo advised us that they have put up a review of the Cannes footage. The reviewer has never read The Lord of the Rings, and saw the footage for the first time at a special press screening. The review is favorable and interesting, and provides a more thoughtful response to the footage than the enthusiastic fan reviews which have been posted elsewhere. Read JoBlo's 'Lord of the Rings Preview: The Fellowship of the Ring'. "The Fellowship of the Ring", the first of three movies by Peter Jackson to bring Tolkien's classic story to the big screen, opens in London on December 10 and in other parts of the world, including the United States and Canada, on December 19.

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