Decipher to do official movie fan club

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, September 30, 2001

On September 26, Decipher announced they had won the license to develop the official movie fan club: The fan club license from New Line Cinema grants Decipher exclusive worldwide rights to develop The Official Lord of the Rings Fan Club, which will include a bi-monthly movie magazine for Fan Club members. Decipher also will be operating a Fan Club web site, which will be linked from New Line Cinema's lordoftherings.net and include an online retail store. The Fan Club store will offer fan club logo merchandise, exclusive collectibles and other Lord of the Rings products. Decipher also is in the process of developing partnerships with businesses outside North America to create local chapters of The Official Lord of the Rings Fan Club (and associated magazines and web sites) in countries around the world. Decipher was granted the rights to develop the Fan Club and related components around the highly-anticipated screen adaptation of the classic fantasy work by J.R.R. Tolkien, including all three motion pictures: The Fellowship of the Ring (December 19, 2001), The Two Towers (December 2002) and The Return of the King (December 2003). The Official Lord of the Rings Fan Club is the first fan club license awarded to Decipher since its January 2001 acquisition of FANtastic Media, Denver, Colorado. "With the addition of the Fan Club license, we couldn't be prouder of our Lord of the Rings product line. Not only will we be introducing an incredible trading card game this November, we now have the rights to a fan club tied to the property that created the entire fantasy genre," said Decipher Chairman & CEO Warren Holland. More info is to be posted at the official movie Web site.

Moviefone's behind-the-scenes look at LoTR

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, September 30, 2001

Moviefone is maintaining a behind-the-scenes look at Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings". Content presently includes an interview with Elijah Wood and a look at how Hobbiton was created. Links to the screensavers and the latest trailer are also available.

New Line Cinema posts new trailer

by Michael Martinez, Monday, September 24, 2001

The official Web site for Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" movies has posted the new trailer, which aired during the season premier of The WB's Angel on Monday, September 24. The official site has also posted a frame-by-frame breakdown of the trailer. It is their hope, Webmaster Gordon Paddison says, "to introduce a new generation of possible LoTR fans into the language and mythology of Tolkien." New Line Cinema is requesting that fan sites not deep-link to the trailer or frame-by-frame breakdown.

All the king's horses and all the king's men...

by Michael Martinez, Sunday, September 23, 2001

"Osanwe-Kenta" is an interesting though somewhat confusing essay. Christopher Tolkien believes it was composed at the same time as "Quendi and Eldar" (circa 1959), most of which was published in The War of the Jewels. "Quendi and Eldar" is a collection of short essays providing the etymological development of certain words the Elves used to name themselves and other peoples, or to refer to individuals in some way. The primary text is laden with historical notes and anecdotes which reveal far more about early Elvish history than some of the passages in The Silmarillion. Unfortunately, the "Quendi and Eldar" material is not wholly compatible with The Silmarillion. And though we understand that Christopher Tolkien's editorial decisions impacted the Silmarillion text considerably, the discrepancies between these two bodies of work go well beyond possible editorial errors. "Quendi and Eldar" is sub-titled "Origins and meanings of the Elvish referring to Elves and their varieties. With Appendices on their names for other Incarnates." "Osanwe-kenta" is sub-titled "Enquiry into the Communication of Thought". And if the stipulated subject matter of these two works is not disparate enough, a third body of writings is also associated with them: the essay on the origin of Orcs, published in Morgoth's Ring, with an introduction on page 415 that mentions both "Quendi and Eldar" and "Osanwe-kenta". Christopher published the essay on Orcs first as part of the "Myths Transformed" collection of his father's later writings, in which the cosmology for Middle-earth was gradually expanded and revised toward excluding some of the oldest traditions dating back to 1916 and 1917. Read the full article.

WETA/Sideshow shipments delayed

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, September 18, 2001

The recent terrorist attacks on the United States have resulted in shipping delays for many companies. Sideshow Toys has announced that their shipments have also been affected.

New LoTR TV trailer to debut on Sept. 24 ANGEL

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, September 18, 2001

The season debut for Angel, airing on September 24, is supposed to have a new television trailer for Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings".

New Weathertop footage on official Web site

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, September 18, 2001

From New Line Cinema: Hello all! Check out the official website for The Lord of the Rings (www.lordoftherings.net) that now features a new video on 'Weathertop' and cool new downloads! Enjoy!

Welcome to the new Middle-earth, pilgrim!

by Michael Martinez, Friday, September 14, 2001

In "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor", J.R.R. Tolkien added new elements to the complex pseudo-history of Middle-earth. He invented whole histories for words which explained their ancientness for no reason other than to give plausible explanations for why certain landmarks in Gondor possessed the names they had been given. Arnach is said to be of pre-Numenorean origin in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, and that assumption is repeated in the "Rivers and Beacon-hills" essay. But a remarkable history is asserted for the name Arnen, and just as quickly a more intuitive explanation is offered as a correction. Arnen, it appears, was a name bestowed upon all the land which Isildur took as his demesne (Ithilien). But it eventually became only associated with the hills that were properly called Emyn Arnen, which the annoymous author of a Gondorion document called Ondonore Nomesseron Minaþurie (the þ symbol is called a "thorn" is associated with a sound similar to "th-" in "thank you"). The Ondonore Nomesseron Minaþurie essay is translated as "Enquiry into the Place-names of Gondor", and is attributed to the period during the reign of Meneldil, since "no events later than that reign are mentioned." The documented is only cited briefly (and may not exist, although the "Rivers and Beacon-hills" text -- as published in Unfinished Tales and Vinyar Tengwar No. 42 -- says nothing about whether Tolkien actually composed such a docunent). The name Arnen, this anonymous Gondorian scholar argues, must have been an erroneous Quenya-Sindarin composite made by the Numenoreans who explored and settled in the region (they were mariners, soldiers, and colonists -- presumably frontier folk from the fringes of Numenorean society). These people, although derived principally from the Faithful Numenoreans of western Numenor, where many Sindarin-speaking Beorians had settled, possessed little skill or knowledge of Sindarin and Quenya. Hence, the author deduces, Arnen probably originally meant "beside the water" (of Anduin), and Emyn Arnen simply meant "the hills rising in Arnen". Because the Faithful Numenoreans, in an apparent act of rebellion against the Adunaic-speaking Kings, bestowed Elvish names upon landmarks in northern Middle-earth, the new rulers (the House of Elendil) accepted the erroneous place-names that "had become current". That is, the rulers and loremasters accepted any place-names which were in widespread use upon the establishment of the kingdom of Gondor. Read the full article here

Jackson on Rings

by The Master, Monday, September 10, 2001

In an interview with Sci-Fi Wire, director Peter Jackson said he conceived of his upcoming Lord of the Rings film trilogy as one single movie. "We really haven't divided the film into three parts that much in our minds," Jackson said. "We obviously have the three parts to release, one a year apart from each other, so in post-production we're differentiating part one [The Fellowship of the Ring], part two [The Two Towers] and part three [The Return of the King] very clearly. But shooting it was 14 months of continuous [production in Jackson's native New Zealand]." Added Jackson, the director of Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners, "Like any movie, we shot out of sequence. One day we would be shooting a scene from part three, and the next day we'd be shooting something from part one. That was just pretty much the way the movie went. It was like shooting one big six-, seven-, eight-hour movie." Why three movies? "How do you adapt The Lord of the Rings? " Jackson asked. "I think one of the reasons why it hasn't happened for 40 years, apart from the cartoon version in the '70s, is [the sheer length of the J.R.R. Tolkien saga]. The key to it is that we've made it three movies. The instinct that Hollywood would have would be to just compress it all into one movie. And I think anybody attempting to do that ... you just can't do it. The story is too well known. The characters are too loved. You'd have to lose so much of what people love about the book that it's never happened. People have just not gone there. The key is that we took the huge risk, which it obviously is, and said, 'Well, we're going to make three movies. We're going to shoot three movies all at the same time. And that's the way this project is going to be done.'" Miramax Films, which had acquired the rights to the Lord of the Rings books, wanted to make only one film. But the studio ultimately sold the rights to New Line Cinema, whose head, Bob Shaye, pointed out that Tolkein wrote three books and reasoned that there should therefore be three films. The studio ultimately invested $270 million in the project, Jackson and his cast--including Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood and Liv Tyler--spent more than a year filming in New Zealand. The Fellowship of the Ring premieres on December 19. The next installments bow in December 2002 and December 2003 respectively.

Tolkien family fears movies will burn out book sales

by Michael Martinez, Saturday, September 8, 2001

Strange as it may seem, David Brawn of Harper Collins says he and the Tolkien family fear that too many copies of Tolkien's books are being sold. He is said to have told the Independent: "We and the Tolkien family are worried that there is a genuine risk of burnout, that at the end of it there will be nobody left to read this book and we'll then suffer. Once every household has a copy of the book, there is nobody else to sell it to." AOL Time Warner is in a position to reap the benefits of that burnout in a massive way. They own both New Line Cinema, which is underwriting Peter Jackson's three "Lord of the Rings" movies, and Warner Bros., which is underwriting the first Harry Potter movie. Writing for Yahoo! News, Paul Majendie says, "The Hobbit is set to go head-to-head with Harry Potter in a battle at the movies that could match their rivalry in the bookstores of the world." Majendie reports that Tolkien's books have sold more than 100 million copies in 60 years, but the Harry Potter books have sold as many in just 4 years. Read the Majendie article here.

The tip of the iceberg: new information about Middle-earth

by Michael Martinez, Friday, September 7, 2001

For about a year now, online discussions about Tolkien's world have been peppered -- in a few places -- with references to an obscure essay called "Osanwe-Kenta". The essay was first published in Vinyar Tengwar No. 39, the July 1998 issue of the official journal of the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, a special interest group of the Mythopoeic Society. "Osanwe-Kenta" ("Enquiry into Communication of Thought") has been regarded as one of the most revealing of the previously unpublished writings of Tolkien to come along in years. I think "Osanwe-Kenta" may now be set aside in favor of a more inteersting text. That is "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor". Both essays are important to Tolkien research, and the linguistic aspects are not necessarily primary. One can glean interesting insights about the philosophies and history of Aman's peoples from "Osanwe-Kenta". "Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" equally provides new information and revelations about Gondor's history and constituent peoples. Given that more people want to know about events in the Third Age than events in Aman's early ages, I think "Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" will ultimately prove to be the more important work. Vinyar Tengwar is primarily concerned with linguistic material, of which there remains an immense body of unpublished essays and notes. Tolkien's linguistic musings, however, usually include asides and often whole essays concerning the histories and philosophies of his principle races. The linguistic material is thus of special interest to researchers who study Tolkien's world construction, pseudo-history, and artificial philosophies. Christopher Tolkien published fragments of the "Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" essay in Unfinished Tales. Regrettably, Vinyar Tengwar also publishes only fragments. Much like the situation with "Narn i Chin Hurin", which was published in pieces in both Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion, we must piece the entire work together. If enough of these lengthy writings are published in two parts like this, it may one day behoove HarperCollins to publish a Completed Works of J.R.R. Tolkien volume which combines the separated texts. Such a book would be a landmark attempt to provide a coherent representation of something written by Tolkien outside of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Read the full article here

Noted Tolkien scholars launch collector resource site

by Michael Martinez, Wednesday, September 5, 2001

Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull, editors of J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, have launched their own collecting resources Web site. http://lanfiles.williams.edu/~whammond/collect.html is the new online home of The Tolkien Collector, an occasional 32-page magazine which documents upcoming editions of Tolkien's books or new merchandising, translations, recordings, etc. Hammond also edited J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography with Douglas Anderson, who is best known as the editor of The Annotated Hobbit and preparer of the "Note on the text" for the most accurately typeset edition of The Lord of the Rings. Hammond and Scull have also edited Farmer Giles of Ham: The Rise and Wonderful Adventures of Farmer Giles, Lord of Tame, Count of Worminghall, and King of the Little Kingdom and Roverandom.

Netscape to handle new official LoTR film forums

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, September 4, 2001

The Washington Post reported in late August that Netscape would be handling the new official forums for New Line Cinema. In an article published on August 21, The Washington Post reported on how Netscape, a division of AOL Time Warner, has been re-engineering itself to provide new services that boost its membership and revenue streams. One of their recent projects consisted of promoting Warner Bros.' Internet toon series, "Toon Marooned" (a spoof of the popular "Survivor" television show). Warner Bros. is another component of the AOL Time Warner media empire. Netscape is doing the same for Time Warner's other movie studio, New Line Cinema. At another staff meeting, Bankoff talked about using Netscape's software technology to support a message board linked to the Web site for "The Lord of the Rings," the upcoming New Line film. The idea would be to require consumers to get a Netscape user name and pass code for access to a message board where notes about the movie are posted. The same user name and code could be used to access other sites. The movie Web site, in turn, could drive traffic back to Netscape. " 'Lord of the Rings' could be a good launchpad," Bankoff said. It's part of a formula for Netscape that seems to be working. Netscape.com had 19.8 million visitors in June, ranking it ninth among all Web sites, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, an Internet audience-measurement service. That's up 6 percent from 18.7 million in June a year ago. The official film site has previously offered communities in conjunction with a Lycos subsidiary. The official community with compete with popular fan Web sites for community, but will have the power of brand and AOL Time Warner's empire behind it to ensure that it quickly becomes the largest online community of Lord of the Rings fans. Tolkien discussion groups have existed for years on news groups and mailing lists. Xenite.Org launched the Web's oldest Tolkien-related forum in 1997. Several hundred Tolkien-related forums have been created on Web sites and through free forum services over the past two years.

It's all in the family: The Finweans

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, September 4, 2001

The central role of Tolkien's mythology is assigned to the family of Finwe, the first King of the Noldor. Unlike the Minyar (Firsts), all of whom migrated to Valinor and became known as the Vanyar, the Tatyar (Seconds) and Nelyar (Thirds) divided themselves into two groups. Those Tatyar who undertook the Great Journey became the Noldor, and Finwe was their leader. Those Nelyar who undertook the Great Journey became the Teleri, and the brethren Elwe and Olwe were their leaders. Hence, Finwe, Elwe, and Olwe were only kings over those members of their clans who followed them on the Great Journey. The remaining Elves, collectively known as the Avari, were ruled by other (unnamed) chieftains. The significance of this distinction is that Finwe's isolation from the Tatyarin Avari reinforces Tolkien's emerging view that Finwe should not be a first generation Elf. Although Tolkien never says so, it would be respectful of Finwe's primacy if all the Tatyar were to accept his decision to go Aman. Since Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe had to persuade their people to undertake the journey, we know that they did not have the autocratic power of Eldarin kings while all the Elves lived in Cuivienen. The social structure of the primitive Elven culture must therefore have been substantially different from that of the Eldarin realms in later ages. Feanor, too, had to persuade the Noldor to follow him into exile, but he was making an emotional appeal during a time of crisis while he was still under the ban of the Valar. His legitimacy as their king was questionable, since Fingolfin was technically still the acting king in Tirion. In Middle-earth, Turgon does not appear to have had to persuade his people to follow him when he moved from Nevrast to Gondolin. He simply made the decision and the entire kingdom moved. It is thus evident that there was a process of evolution for the authority of the Eldarin leaders. It is certainly arguable that a less sophisticated society may not have provided the eldest Elves with the power of monarchs. But if that is the case, then the assumption that Finwe must be identified with Tata, the eldest of the Tatyar, is further weakened. Such identification need not be limited to identification of character with character. It is not apparent that Finwe has to be a descendant of Tata and Tatie. He could have come from any family and risen to prominence through his courage and wisdom. Nonetheless, the Noldor, more than any other Elven people whose culture Tolkien wrote about, maintained a very patriarchal system. The Noldorin kings achieved a near absolute authority over their people, much like the authority Melkor wielded over his own subjects. In a way, the Noldor became a parody of the very thing they despised: Morgoth's realm. Their social structure must have been compelled toward such autocracy by ancient customs more than by experimentation. In fact, it is reasonable to infer from the names of several Avarin groups that the Tatyar were more prone to division than the Nelyar. If that is so, then Finwe's ability to retain the full loyalty of his people in Aman was remarkable. Feanor was far less popular than his father. So, whereas the autocratic authority of the later Noldorin kings implies that they may have inherited a primal authority from Tata, Finwe's personality may have played a greater role in establishing that authority than his heritage. That is, for the Noldor, descent from Finwe would be more important than descent from Tata. Which is not to say that the original chieftains of the Tatyar should not have been descended from Tata. It makes sense that, if Iluvatar selected Tata to awaken first of the Elves, he would have the qualities of a natural leader Iluvatar felt the Tatyar would require. Hence, Tata would (if he were a good father) raise his children to be good leaders, too. Leadership would have become the natural role of the family simply because the family exercised leadership. Hence, if Finwe had brothers or cousins who elected not to go to Valinor, they may have become the leaders of the Tatyarin Avari. Read the full article here.

Wrapup on Dragoncon's Tolkien and Middle-earth track

by Michael Martinez, Tuesday, September 4, 2001

More than two years of planning and preparation have gone into Dragoncon's Tolkien and Middle-earth programming. The 2001 convention experienced its highest level of interest in Tolkien and Middle-earth to date. Originally proposed as a one- or two-year experiment in 1999, the Tolkien and Middle-earth track at Dragoncon has proven to be immensely successful, and word is that the convention is giving serious consideration to making the track a permanent part of the program. Track director Michael Martinez surprised friends and fellow Tolkien fans by announcing he was stepping down as director at this year's convention. "This was always intended to be just a 1- or 2-year project," Martinez explained to a half-filled room at one point during the convention as sessions were changing out. "I am already negotiating with senior management about two new possible projects. I have told them that I think Tolkien and Middle-earth are too big for a fan track, and that this should be handled through main programming." However, it may be that the track will be resumed in 2002 under a new director, possibly Jincey Chambless, a volunteer from TheOneRing.Net who has acted as Martinez' assistant director for the past two years. "I think Jincey can handle the job," Martinez says he informed a senior director. "She has been with me for two years and knows what is involved. Dragoncon could certainly do a lot worse. She would be a good choice, in my opinion, to take on the track." At the track wrapup session, Martinez admitted that not everything ran smoothly this year. He said part of the difficulties seemed to arise from a change in senior management at the convention. "No one can step into the leadership position of an organization this large," he told attendees at the wrapup session, "and take over without any problems. I think we have to concede that the new management needed a shakedown cruise. And people seem to be happy with the convention. That is what we (the directors and volunteer staff) are here to do: to make sure the guests and members have a good time." Martinez added that he was disappointed with turnouts for several sessions provided by gaming companies. "I was expecting people to realize that they would see some neat stuff associated with the movies in these sessions," Martinez told his audience. "I was mistaken. And I thought the large gaming community at Dragoncon would be interested in them. In retrospect, I see I should have coordinated these sessions with the gaming track." Nonetheless, representatives from Decipher, Inc. and Sideshow (an art merchandiser selling busts based on the movies) told Xenite.Org that they were very pleased with their convention experiences. Both companies had large booths in the Dealers Room at the Marriott Marquis and they were mentioned prominently in TheOneRing.Net's presentations. Decipher and Sideshow also donated prizes for various contests. Games Workshop also reported a positive convention experience, expressing satisfaction with the widespread exposure they received through the Tolkien Track and other parts of the convention. Glass Hammer, the popular progressive rock band which has released two CDs inspired by Tolkien's books, cancelled a scheduled performance at the convention due to an injury. Nonetheless, they requested that one of their Tolkien track sessions go through as planned, and about 20 fans listened to cuts from the new Middle-earth CD and talked to musicians Steve Babb and Fred Schendel. Schendel sported a wrist brace but seemed in good spirits. They are already working on a new project, and reported that they have no immediate plans to do any more Middle-earth material. But Babb held forth the prospect of doing something with the story of Beren and Luthien in the future. They also said they have a lot of unreleased material which may be put into a special CD. John Rhys-Davies, despite an exhausting schedule, appeared before a standing room-only audience in the Tolkien Track's room on Monday afternoon. Dozens of people recognized his booming voice and eloquent speech as they passed the Tolkien track room doors, which were blocked by about ten fans who could not gain access to the room. Many people stopped to listen for a while but, unable to see or hear much, moved on. The session was scheduled late in the convention on the assumption that most fans would have had a chance to see the popular actor at other opportunities. When asked if he would sign autographs, Rhys-Davies graciously offered to do so despite his own pressing personal schedule. He signed pictures and posed for photographs for more than 30 minutes. Fans were absolutely thrilled and simply could not say enough good things about the actor. The Tolkien track staff worked to make the impromptu autograph session run as smoothly as possible. Attendees expressed high compliments for Saturday's Hobbit Madness party, in which cup-cakes, cakes, and fruit juice were served to a full room of Tolkien fans. Five Hobbit Packs of goodies, including books, trading cards, and specially designated Sideshow business cards for Gandalf busts were given away as prizes in a trivia contest. One attendee suggested that the trivia contest be repeated in the future, as she especially liked the idea of solving riddles. TheOneRing.Net's second presentation, scheduled for Sunday in the Tolkien's track's room, was moved to a larger venue at the same time. A room with several times the capacity of the Tolkien track room was more than half-filled by devoted Tolkien fans who endured late delivery of equipment and technical delays in setup to watch the full 1-hour presentation by TORN co-founders Calisuri (Chris Pirrotta) and Corvar (William Thomas). The jovial Corvar handled a brief interruption by a nearby track with grace and kept the session running smoothly. Calisuri quickly adapted the presentation to fit the lost time, and members of the audience helped break down the room for the next session to help keep everything running smoothly as Corvar and Calisuri rushed off to keep another commitment. Kris Nelson and Jeff Sherrill gave two presentations on Quenya and Tengwar, answering questions from attendees on various technical aspects of Tolkien linguistics. Nelson led a three-member panel presentation of the history behind Tolkien's languages on Monday. He announced to a disappointed audience that they had had to drop a performance of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Namarie" (the poem Galadriel recites to the Fellowship as they depart from Lothlorien) by a young lady who sings in several languages after she encountered a family difficulty. Nelson chanted the poem for the audience and received an ovation for an almost flawless performance. Michael Martinez read citations from some of his essays for enthusiastic members of his audiences, although turnout for the Sunday session was low due to conflicts with John Rhys-Davies. Friday's session included a reading of "Snoopy versus the Lord of the Nazgul" and selections from "Dear Gandalf" and other essays. Sunday's session included a reading from "Understanding Magic in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth". Martinez also spoke in general terms about an upcoming book project being arranged by Chris Zavisa, author of Satan's Tears: The Art of Alex Nino and A Look Back: The Art of Berni Wrightson. Zavisa, who has worked with writers Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz, and has created characters for Koontz' Oddkins, is putting together a proposal for a new book with Martinez as the principal author. Although neither Martinez nor Zavisa, who attended the convention, would say much about the project, Martinez showed audiences an exquisite black-and-white drawing commissioned specifically for the drawing. Xenite.Org has agreed not to reveal more at this time in order to protect the integrity of the project, but audience members expressed enthusiastic support for the project. Audiences asked more than once what sort of Merchandizing is planned by Burger King. Although no informative answers were provided by panelists or track staff, Martinez pointed out that some Web sites had already reported (perhaps prematurely) Burger King is planing to release a 12-minute video over the Internet in October. Some new pictures came to light at the convention, as well. Darth Caesar of TheOneRing.Net presented a PowerPoint demo of Riot Entertainment's upcoming wireless LoTR entertainment features, including a trivia quiz, a standalone adventure game, and a multiplayer game which was expected to last several minutes per game (Xenite.Org has elected not to usurp TheOneRing.Net's exclusive coverage of the products with further details -- check out The Gaming Havens for more information). Some convention attendees asked when or if Peter Jackson and other significant members of the movie project would visit Dragoncon. Martinez said he felt his presence in the Tolkien track might be an impediment to such relationships, since he had switched from being an ardent supporter of the movies to criticizing Jackson's claim to greater faithfulness to the book in October 2000. "It put me in a bad position," Martinez explained. "For two years I told people, many of whom flamed me for defending the movies, that Jackson wasn't claiming to try to be faithful to the books. He was interpreting the story with exactly the kind of freedom Tolkien himself had said would be required to do it properly. Then, all of a sudden, he did an about-face, stated he was being more faithful than before, and guys in suits of full plate armor were clanking around the set (Martinez insists there are no such armored characters in the book). I looked like a fool. So, I decided to let Peter defend the movies himself. And that is what I told people. But I probably could have been more diplomatic about it." Martinez insists he expects to enjoy the movies fully, and responded to several fans who inquired about changes in the movies that such things were inevitable. "People need to get over it," he said. "You can't make these movies without changing the story. And, yes, there are some changes I personally regret seeing made, but the movies are going to be fantastic. And the books won't be changed in the least. Let's just go and enjoy a great movie and not worry about the changes."

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