h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*Feels sense of accomplishment that its now past the 1000 posts mark*

I have a cunning plan.

Whilst the guide entery is very good if your new to lotr, i reckon theres enough information in this one thread to do some really indepth guide enteries of fantastic quality that focus specifically on certain areas.
Imagrey in lotr for instance, lotr as an anglo saxon myth, the language of lotr, is lotr based on war, etc

Whose up for it? Theres only.. what 1000 posts of backlog (some of them fairly long...)

I'm Game Asmodai, where do you suggest we start

Well im going to create an A-page on my personal space so that we have a central hub to work from.

Obviously this could either turn into a giant flop, or into several huge guide enteries (i mean if theres anyone brave enough i see no reason why we couldnt attempt to explain the Elvish language)

Heres the (currently blank) project page A2842265

I think its only fair that every person whose posted here gets some credit for it (if it works)

First things first: Search the Guide and see what has already been written. Check out what people are doing, whether their entries are off to the Edited Guide or whether they are just Guide entries in general.

Check the Flea Market for abandoned LoTR based stuff and, if possible, claim it.

When you've got an idea of what's been done you'll be left with what you can do. Project planning!

If you do get something monsterous together, I volunteer to Sub-Edit the whole lot.

Okay gradient, would you mind posting on the volunteer thread on the A page so i can keep track off you?

That goes for anyone else whos interested

Don't know if anyone reads this at all - haven't been in here myself for what feels like ages - but just thought I'd mention that there's now a 6 minute teaser for ROTK:EE available at the movie website;
http://www.lordoftherings.net/homevideo/frame_special_dvd.html?NoMansExtndCut


cheers
~Bistro

Thanks, Bistroist... I'll have a look.

I knew there was a Lord of the Rings thread somewhere. And it's big, so I'm guessing there are lots of fans of the books and films here. Did you know the Tolkien estate is suing New Line and terminating their rights to make The Hobbit into a film?

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/12022008/5/hobbit-jeopardy-tolkien-estate-sues-new-line-0.html


Damn! I was looking forward to that. Peter Jackson was going to make it and it was going to have Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis in it.

Considering all the trouble poor Peter Jackson has had with them, it seems New Line have a P.R problem at the very least!

It's a pity...

VL

You're right. It is a pity. They should learn to play nicely!

Good on the Tolkiens. The last thing NZ needs is another round of conversion into middleearth

I can see the funny side there

Which bit is funny?

Hi kea. It looks from the article as though the Tolkien estate has good cause. But what did the film makers do in New Zealand to make them so unwelcome? Did they mess up the environment?

Hi TB, there's two issues there. New Line aren't the makers of the film in the sense of was it them that caused problems here in NZ, they're the funders (US based but I don't know who owns them ultimately except I don't think its anyone in NZ) and they appear to be a bunch of greedy bastards so they have this historical conflict with Peter Jackson (he claims they owe him money which I'm sure they do but he appears to have become a greedy bastard too so I'm not sure how much sympathy I have for him), and now they have a similar conflict with the Tolkiens who also claim they owe them money.

The second issue - has NZ been adversely affected? I would say yes, although you can understand this isn't a popular view in NZ. The LotR films boosted tourism to NZ hugely over a number of years. Lots of people are gleeful about this, but afaik no-one has done an environmental impact report. Tourism is one of NZ's main money earners. But the things that come with tourism are massive land price hikes, increased need for infrastructure hence new roads, more hotels, more suburbs. There is also an increase in demands on water and electricity, which means more windfarms in areas of oustanding natural significance (we're shooting ourselves in the foot here unless in the future people are going to do windfarm tourism ) and pressure to build more hydro dams.

There's more rubbish to be produced and cleaned up in a country that can't afford to do its own recycling because it's not big enough (we barely manage a portion of plastic recycling most of which goes to China who don't care if their workers are poisoned by it, and there's been times when there's been no glass recycling at all because it's not been economic to ship the glass overseas to recycle plants).

There's much more demand for access to National Parks and wildlife tours. This means more shit on the side of the road (literally) and more car parks, more toilet blocks, more cafes etc in place where before there was just wilderness.

And local communities have been affected as well, most obviously by the property market going mad and the flow on effects of that.

I could go on...

Can't blame all that on Peter Jackson, but the LotR films and corporate promotion machines have made a significant contribution to that in the last decade.

I can't comment on the impact on NZ - but I can well imagine it's not been a completely brilliant experience. But as an ad for the NZ tourist board you can't deny that LOTR (especially The Two Towers) really slapped everyone in the face with how beautiful the country is.

Anyhooooo... I had been under the impression that due to New Line's dispute with Peter Jackson they had already ruled him out of making The Hobbit.

I'm more in favour of it being done properly as a series for Children's TV. And since I read it last week, I am even more keen than ever.

(this week I'm reading The Fellowship of the Ring. I have the Unwin paperback version printed in 1974. It has a foreward written by JRRT on the 10th anniversary of publication - so around 1964?. Anyway. He said explicitly that despite people's opinions to the contrary he didn't use WWII as a base for the book.)

There are just too many people kea. Last I heard, there were 6.7 billion on the planet. With islands and coast-lines sinking under rising oceans and deserts expanding, that huge and growing population is likely to get more and more concentrated in higher and more temperate zones. I think Tolkien set Lord of the Rings in a sort of idealized England but it's all spattered with big, ugly conurbations now so I suppose New Zealand was the nearest thing they could find to the lovely places he described. I wonder how much longer our species will allow a few bits of the planet to stay lovely. "Greedy bastards" seems to be a fairly common condition. Economies must grow - apparently it's the only way we can prosper Shame about The Hobbit. Perhaps they could do most of it on computers and in studios

Sho, I'm sure you must have to keep replacing your books at the rate you read and reread them. I'd like to see The Hobbit made as a series for children and a film for adults. I've listened to 3 audiobooks of The Hobbit and only liked 2 of them: the one read by Rob Inglis and the one read by Martin Shaw. The BBC did a dramatised version for children and I hope I never have to listen to that again

I remember seeing Tolkien interviewed on TV (a long time ago - in another age of this world) and he said something about loathing allegory and he said very categorically that Lord of the Rings was not about WWII.

I've not had to replace mine yet, but I have had to take the step of covering FOTR with sticky back plastic this year

I have the Martin Shaw version of The Hobbit and I love it. He really does have a beautiful reading voice but... and more importantly for me, he got #2 Gruesome very interested in reading it for herself. She hasn't actually done it yet, but she will this year.

Part of me feels that Tolkien and his dislike of allegory (which is echoed by Philip Pullmann) is partly a sly dig at the Narnia books, though (Pullmann is another who has really spoken out against them)

Each to his own, I say.

Hey, I think I have that same edition of LotR


"greedy bastards"

Yeah, pretty much agree TB. It's heartbreaking to see what is happening here.

Kea, is yours falling apart too?