Katrelya sent us this link to the magazine Christian History [More] “Explore the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, as a Christian author in a modern time and place, shadowed by war; how his work is a response to the condition of his times. Learn how Tolkien developed creatively through his interaction with his children, often his only audience at times. Imagine first hearing The Hobbit as a father’s bedtime story!”
If you live in Ontario, you can do this amazing course that Janet told us about: There is a Master’s level English course on Tolkien and Jackson being taught at the University of Waterloo in Ontario this fall:
“ENGL 795 – Jackson’s Tolkien: Choices Made in Adapting Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings from book trilogy to movie trilogy Instructor: Dr. Neil Randall This course examines Peter Jackson’s recent film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The purpose of the course is to explore the decisions made by Jackson in adapting the film to the screen, analyzing those decisions (under the auspices of theories of semiotics and social semiotics) to determine the differences caused by the changes. Two of the films – The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Two Towers (2002)-will be available for class viewing throughout the course, and we will examine each scene by scene in conjunction with both the published novel(s) and some of the supplementary material surrounding the novel, as published by Christopher Tolkien after his father’s death. Our analyses will allow us to speculate on the nature of the adaptation of the third novel, The Return of the King, which will be released in December of 2003.
“You will be required to read the entirety of Tolkien’s trilogy, including all introductory material and all appendices. In addition, you will read selections from Tolkien’s other work, including The Silmarillion, The Book of Lost Tales, and the four-volume History of the Lord of the Rings (which shows the writing of the trilogy from its first drafts). Viewing assignments will include Ralph Bakshi’s animated film The Lord of the Rings (1978), the 1991 BBC radio adaptation of the trilogy (okay, this is actually a listening assignment, not a viewing one), as well as all three Jackson films. Please note that the third movie in the Jackson series is indeed part of the course – its viewing and the assignment due the next day will constitute the final exam for the course – unless we have no way of doing so before the end of the Fall 2003 exam period. I will be trying to arrange a special advance viewing through Alliance Atlantis, the Canadian distributors of the film, in case the official release date occurs after this date.”
OK, enough seriousness [like we’re always so serious!]…..these are some of the more weird and funny things that came our way in the past week or so.
Firstly, there’s this site for getting to Mordor using Mapquest [More]
Secondly, this very nice LOTR-inspired music hall – a cosy hobbit-like venue for music. They are located in Bradford, Vermont, USA. [a More]
Now, Sean thought other fans who visit TheOneRing.net might enjoy a short, satirical essay on bad grammar in e-correspondence starring Professor Tolkien. The article asks, how might the Good Professor have responded to the average email, if he’d lived to see the day? [More]
Morwen sent us this weird series from PBS – the Warrior Challenge. One to watch if you’re in the States and have always wondered whether Vikings could beat the Air Force. [More] Would Aragorn make a good Marine?
Ringer Spy Bregedalagos, who is new to us, and therefore cannot yet take everything a red, sends this in. So take this all with a mountainside laden with salt!
I managed to find some very interesting Return of the King spoilers info from a source very close to the film. Mainly, it regards the seige of Gondor, and events closely related to it.
When Denethor is on the pyre, burning, we see a closeup of the palantir that he grasps, and in it, we see a flash-ahead to the destruction of Barad-Dur, and the Nazgul falling in flames. Gandalf is there, as well as Pippin.
Gandalf says to Pippin, “Sauron could not conquer him like Saruman, but he concealed the true hope, and so Denethor was deceived.” In response, Pippin says, “None of us are safe then.” Gandalf’s response is “We cannot be truly safe while Sauron rules.”
Shortly after this, Beregond comes in, and sees Denethor’s body. He simply says, “Such a waste of one so strong against the East.”
Lovely Liv Tyler Website has a picture of her face on the cover of B Magazine, and a link to a really interesting interview with her, where she says that she suffers from nostalgia, from an endless desire to capture the moment and make it last forever, resisting change. [More] What an extraordinary coincidence for an actor who played an Elf. Tolkien wrote of Elves, “The Elvish weakness is…to regret the past, adn to become unwilling to face change….They desired…to arrest change, and keep things always fresh and fair.’ [Letters of JRR Tolkien, #181] For me, the interview showed up weirdly so email me for a transcript if you can’t read it.
Ringer Spy Kevin dropped us a line to tell us that IGN‘s subscriber only channel has some snippets already about EA’s Return of the King film. What’s very interesting is what these snippets may imply as plot spoilers for the film!
Kevin writes:
Now, the best place to find (film) spoilers may not be video game articles, but here’s an excerpt from the IGN E3 preview of EA’s Return of the King (the one based on the movies).
Here’s the excerpt:
Gamers can defend the walls of Minas Tirith in the role of the white wizard Gandalf; lead a noble army of reluctant soldiers through the Dead Swamps and in doing so raise the Army of the Dead in Aragorn‘s, Legolas‘, or Gimli‘s boots; and, using every ounce of constitution left in your body, you’ll deliver the ring to the fiery depths of Mount Doom as Frodo and Sam.
End excerpt.
Kevin writes that this seems to imply that while the “Army of the Dead” is in, the Paths of the Dead may be out; in EA’s game at least.
The conclusion seems correct to me, in the EA game Aragorn will raise the Army of the Dead from the Dead Marshes. But whether that would apply to the movie as well definitely remains to be seen. I, for one, will await corroborating evidence from other sources before I accept that this is going to occur in RoTK the movie.
Update:
Well, I said I was unconvinced by a Gaming report alone, and here’s a counter from a much more credible source. John points out that Brian Sibley’s “The Making of the Movie Trilogy” contains a reference to Paths of the Dead on page 61. It says:
“Time to go on,” says Richard, “time to take the paths of the Dead!”
And we are passing between sculpted rock walls in black styrofoam carved with a riot of ruined buildings — steps, doorways, towers, and turrets — all this way and that, and each numbered with a small yellow sticker and pained a luminous green for the purposes of digital photography.
Additionally, Argo from our Discussion Boards points out this Gamespot review of the same game.
From Gamespot.com, a very good gaming site;
“After the defeat of Saruman and the forces of Isengard, the attention of the broken Fellowship of the Ring has turned collectively toward Mordor and the final destruction of the One Ring. You’ll be able to play as eight different characters in various areas taken directly from the movie, such as Gandalf as he helps defend Minas Tirith during the Battle of the Pellennor Fields; Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli as they traverse the Paths of the Dead; and Frodo and Sam as they strive to reach the fiery cracks of Mount Doom while opposed by the evil hosts of Mordor”
Perhaps IGN was mistaken?
Update 2: Ringer Spy Tar Anaclime sends this scan of a section of a map the NZ Film Commission produced which lists all the set locations from Lord of the Rings. Note it lists Paths of the Dead twice.
Unless something else emerges, I guess we can count the report of the deletion of the Paths of the Dead pretty much debunked … for now.
Glyndwr wrote in: Just seen JRD’s interview on S4C’s entertainment show, “Popcorn”. Talking to the interviewer in the Welsh Black Mountains, JRD looked very relaxed considering his recent accident. Apart from doing a passable impersonation of Gollum (“S4C lovesss us, my precious; no they don’t, they hatesss us!”), and talking once again about the hours spent having Gimli’s prosthetics attached painfully to his face, he said how he had been persuaded by his son to take the role of Gimli in the trilogy after initially being unsure whether it would be a success. As soon as he began work on the project, however, he knew that it would be massive.
“Living in Salisbury,” he said, “my mum and dad found that I was getting mocked by the other kids, and they decided they would only talk to me in English… I don’t speak Welsh any more, but the music of Wales is in my head.”
Today’s Welsh Daily Mirror also reported how JRD’s big ambition was to play rugby in the red shirt of Wales, as his father had been a forward for Pontypool and had a Welsh trial in 1934. “In those days,” he said, “miners would come out of the pit, have a bath, run down to the pitch and then hammer each other.”
Perhaps today’s Welsh team ought to take a leaf out of that book: they might actually win some matches!
