Tag: lord of the rings

  • Bilbo > Frodo.

    Bilbo > Frodo.

    I’ve always preferred The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings. The first book may be silly, but it’s fun. It doesn’t demand a fortnight to read. It doesn’t get bogged down in faux-history. Most importantly, The Hobbit boasts a more interesting main character. Yes, Bilbo is ridiculous and stuck-up and pretentious. But he’s also…

  • Lord of the Re-hash

    Lord of the Re-hash

    Authors often fall victim to their own success.

  • Extra Elrond

    Extra Elrond

    As he did with his Lord of the Rings films, Peter Jackson will soon release an extended edition of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The box set will include “making of” extras, along with a longer cut of the film itself. This past summer, a single scene from the extended version was released to the…

  • Not quite convinced

    Not quite convinced

    For decades, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was considered “unfilmable.” The Professor himself doubted that any director could successfully adapt the work. Chief among the challenges? Middle-Earth’s major races come in all shapes and sizes. Men and elves wouldn’t pose a problem, but how could an actor play a four-foot-tall hobbit? Or a…

  • You got Aragorn in my Bilbo!

    Recently, Daniel Wood suggested that Peter Jackson’s next two Hobbit movies should feature cameos from Aragorn, Gimli, Denethor, Arwen, Merry, Pippin and Sam. This is a terribly dumb idea. First of all, at the time of The Hobbit… Aragorn is 9. Denethor II is 12. Merry, Pippin and Sam are –40, –48 and –38, respectively.…

  • First things first (part 2): why Peter Jackson should have made Lord of the Rings after The Hobbit

    Last time, I explained why, in an ideal world, Peter Jackson would have tackled The Hobbit first (before The Lord of the Rings). But what would this have meant for The Hobbit’s bigger, more serious older brother? Of course, much depends on how well The Hobbit performed at the box office. But let’s assume that…

  • First things first: why Peter Jackson should have made The Hobbit before The Lord of the Rings

    Back in the mid-nineties, Peter Jackson had a problem. He (and his creative partners) had unveiled plans to film J.R.R. Tolkien’s most celebrated novels, using their native New Zealand as a stand-in for Middle-Earth. They hoped to make The Hobbit—chronologically, the series’ initial book—first. But Jackson’s producers failed to secure rights for The Hobbit. Undeterred,…

  • Salvaging Star Wars, Episode II: Cheap Analogues

    Earlier, I bashed the much-hated Star Wars prequel trilogy. How did a franchise so beloved produce something so unwatchable? In the posts to come, I’ll explain how the prequels might have been salvaged. Here’s one way: let the Star Wars universe stand apart. Throughout Episodes I, II, and III, George Lucas tosses out cheap analogues…

  • Ian Holm as Bilbo through the years

    I was thrilled when I learned that Ian Holm would reprise his role as Bilbo for the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. Holm’s quirky, temperamental portrayal in Lord of the Rings was uncannily spot-on.

  • Christopher Tolkien on Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth movies.

    Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?