THERE is a certain amount of creative license that enters into any film adaptation of a book. And history teaches us that no matter how faithful (or unfaithful) a film adaptation is with respect to its original source, someone will complain about the movie’s (un)faithfulness to the books.

For example, I loved the first two “Harry Potter” movies, which I felt were extremely imaginative and creative. I had never seen children’s movies before where the actors were actually called upon to ACT. Compare the lively, engaged performances of the adults in “Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone” with the wooden performances of otherwise perfectly good actors in classic children’s films like “Mio in the Land of Faraway”, “The Witches”, “The Neverending Story”, and so on. You almost have to go back to Edmund Guinn in “Miracle on 34th Street” to see anything like an adult actor taking a children’s story seriously enough to treat it with respect (well, “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” were pretty good).

But I digress from the main point. Movies can be very faithful to the book, and one of the criticisms that my Harry Potter fan friends who had read the books before watching the movies complained about was that the movies were boring and predictable. They followed the books very closely (even while cutting out a bit of material).

But then along came “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, which Alfonso Cuarón directed — totally changing the tone and character of the film franchise — and people complained that his film was too UNLIKE the book. Talk about injecting a Goldilocks Syndrome into a fanbase, you just cannot find people agreeing on when the “Harry Potter” movies are just right even up to the last film (which some people hate for all sorts of reasons — but I loved it).

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Radagast: But what if it is a trap?
Gandalf: It is undoubtedly a trap.

Dol Guldur. What is the PJ plan?

Dol Guldur is, of course, Sauron’s “older and lesser dwelling”, as Gandalf describes it to Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring. In his guise as The Necromancer, it is the place where Sauron secretly rebuilds his power after being overthrown by the Last alliance. Until he finally dares to return to Mordor openly and in strength.

But how will this sequence play out in The Desolation of Smaug?

Will Dol Guldur be a relatively minor affair involving only Gandalf and his fellow wizards? Or will other key actors of The Hobbit be somehow drawn into a gigantic struggle in the south of Mirkwood that culminates in a giant battle for the fortress itself?

And what is the role of Sauron in the wider story? Is he responsible for the survival of Azog, is it Sauron driving Azog to destroy the Beornings and to pursue Thorin?

Join us this Saturday at 6pm EST (New York time) in #thehalloffire on the TORn chat server for what’s sure to be a lively and spoiler-filled discussion!

Suggested reading:

Analysing the role of the Necromancer in The Hobbit

Time zone conversions

Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help. Alternatively, check our handy Event Announcer over on Time and Date for the correct time in your area.

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4.00pm MDT (Denver)
3.00pm PDT (Los Angeles)

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11.00pm CST (Paris)
1.00am EEST (Helsinki)

Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Sydney, Melbourne
10.00am NZST (Sunday) Wellington

How long do your topic chats go for?

Our chats usually last from an hour to ninety minutes, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation! However, our main room, #theonering.net is open 24 hours a day. We don’t always talk Tolkien there, but if you have a burning question, you’ll usually find one or two of “the regulars” up for a chat!

Where — connection details

Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net — the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our embedded Mibbit client that works inside your web browser.

Alternatively, you can install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer and just plug in the following connection details.

Server: irc.theonering.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #thehalloffire

This animated movie–clocking in at right around a lean 90 minutes–introduced me to Middle Earth at the age of 7, for which I will always be grateful. To say the least, that Tolkien magic translated beautifully through my parents old 19″ Zenith radiation machine. And I attribute that to the story as well as a clever, tight script, wonderful voice acting, brilliant score, and some terrific character and creature design.

The Rankin Bass Hobbit has its problems, to be sure — terrible, stilted animation; elves that look like wizened saplings. But the good far outweighs the bad, and the animated film stands the test of time and is still probably the best children’s introduction to Tolkien short of The Hobbit book itself. And for very young children, even more so than the book.

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BOOTNOTE: Just to clarify, this is an extract over on Talkbacker and is written by someone else. I’m just linking it because I felt it was cool and have no vested interest at all. Enjoy!

Martin Freeman’s age today*!

That’s right — today Martin is 42. We reckon that’s pretty awesome seeing as Martin played the role of Arthur Dent in the Hitch Hikers Guide To the Galaxy Movie. Happy birthday, Martin!

Martin is, of course, best known for his portrayal of Tim Canterbury in The Office, Dr. Watson in Sherlock, and our own Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit film trilogy.

Check out our little gallery of photos of Martin below, including a few from Sherlock and plenty from The Hobbit.

Blanchett is sitting in a Sydney hotel room recalling the eight takes required to nail the scene in mid-2012. ”I thought, ‘I’m really not going to last the week’.”

She had watched Robert B. Weide’s Woody Allen: A Documentary during the flight to the US for filming. She knew there would be little small talk on set; that Allen is unforthcoming with direction and likes to do scenes in one take. Perhaps, she thought, he was unhappy with her work.

She need not have worried. Later it emerged Allen hadn’t liked anything about the scene, which he dropped in the final cut. Blanchett, playing the character Jasmine French, was not the source of his worries. In July he told Variety that it was ”like having an atomic weapon or something, to get an actress like that”.

Critics are claiming that 44-year-old Blanchett’s performance as the self-absorbed, Xanax- and alcohol-addled Jasmine, a woman who has lost everything – her philandering white-collar fraudster husband, her status as a New York society princess, and her mind – is her most extraordinary yet. The chatter is that her first major role since stepping away from the position she shared with her husband, Andrew Upton, as artistic director at the Sydney Theatre Company will earn her an Oscar nomination, at the very least, for best actress.

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“To do the job as you put it – what hope is there that we ever shall? And if we do, who knows what will come of that? If the One goes into the Fire, and we are at hand? I ask you, Sam, are we ever likely to need bread again? I think not. If we can nurse our limbs to bring us to Mount Doom, that is all we can do. More than I can, I begin to feel.”

The Two Towers: Book IV, Chapter II: The Passage of the Marshes

Gollum leads the way toward Mordor, but Sam — and Frodo, especially — have trouble keeping pace. The Ring is an increasing burden on for Frodo, weighing him down. Gollum leads them via a track he once used to escape orcs and Frodo has a lucky escape when he becomes ensorcelled by the dead faces that give the marshes their name.

When one of the Nazgul flies overhead, Gollum is overcome with fear. He belives Sauron is aware of the small trio. The impediments increase and the pace slows as they approach the gates of the Black Land. Ever-practical, Sam worries about the state of their food stocks. He also overhears Gollum debating with himself stealing the Ring — is Stinker overcoming the will of Slinker?

Come share your thoughts with us on Saturday in what’s sure to be another great Hall of Fire discussion!

Some suggested reading:

TTT: Bk IV, Ch II: The Passage of the Marshes

Time zone conversions

Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help. Alternatively, check our handy Event Announcer over on Time and Date for the correct time in your area.

America:
6.00pm EDT (New York)
5.00pm CDT (Chicago)
4.00pm MDT (Denver)
3.00pm PDT (Los Angeles)

Europe:
11.00pm BST (London)
11.00pm CST (Paris)
1.00am EEST (Helsinki)

Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Sydney, Melbourne
10.00am NZST (Sunday) Wellington

How long do your topic chats go for?

Our chats usually last from an hour to ninety minutes, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation! However, our main room, #theonering.net is open 24 hours a day. We don’t always talk Tolkien there, but if you have a burning question, you’ll usually find one or two of “the regulars” up for a chat!

Where — connection details

Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net — the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our embedded Mibbit client that works inside your web browser.

Alternatively, you can install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer and just plug in the following connection details.

Server: irc.theonering.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #thehalloffire

Thanks to Ringer Rud the Spud for the link.

The standard-issue Star Trek Into Darkness Blu-ray comes with a mere seven featurettes in the US. But there’s much more content out there! Buy the movie from iTunes and you get the director’s commentary; buy it from BestBuy (or Sainsburys, in the UK) and you get another selection of exclusive extras; buy it from Target and you get a few more.

If you’re a US completist, in other words, you’re going to need quite a few copies. Here in the UK, it appears that we get six featurettes, and if you want the commentary there’s a code for you to download it free from iTunes. People are riled, and on some level one has to wonder: are the studios intentionally throwing Blu-ray under a bus? Have they given up on the format?

This isn’t the first time this has happened with a major release. Avengers had extra bells and whistles at Bestbuy and Walmart, but those were slightly less essential extras than a commentary (the fact that the UK’s still waiting for Whedon’s commentary on that title is another disgrace).

If you’re a film fan and could only choose one feature, chances are it would be the commentary, so this drive to make that a hard-to-get rarity is – frankly – a terrible one. In a very good recent article on the movie Clue, director Jonathan Lynn mentions that he offered to record a commentary for its Blu-ray release and was turned down by the studio.

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Pre-order your copy of the AUJ: EE at Amazon

The New Zealand public has essentially lost access to Wellington’s Town Hall while the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra records the score for the second Hobbit movie.

The orchestra last month cancelled its Heights of Passion tour to free up time to record the score.

In a public notice today, Wellington City Council announced ”strict security” was in place at the Town Hall from now until the end of next month while the orchestra records the film score.

There will be no public access during this time, the notice said.

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Not much that’s new, but it’s certainly more confirmation of divergences from Tolkien’s novel. If you’re trying to remain unaware of these little surprises, don’t read on — here be SPOILERS!

But if you like what you see, you can order your copy of the book from Amazon.

Bilbo’s travels with Thorin and the rest of The Company have taken him far from his home in The Shire. From towering mountains to cavernous depths, the heroes find themselves passing through some truly amazing places.

Beorn’s cabin

When the group are searching for somewhere to rest after their dangerous journey through the Misty Mountains, Gandalf leads them here. But after they are chased by a huge bear, Bilbo thinks that htey might have been safer if they’d stayed up a tree surrounded by Wargs!

However, the Shape-shifter Beorn reveals that he is the bear, and welcomes everyone into his home. They Company are able to rest here in peace before continuing their quest.

Mirkwood

When Gandalf heads south on a quest of his own, The Company are faced with travelling through this weird wood on their own. Blanketed in shadows and filled with decay and evil, Mirkwood has claimed the lives of many an unwary traveller. If the deadly waters of its dark rivers don’t claim you, then one of the horrible creatures lurking in the shadows surely will…

The Hall of the Elvenking

The fortress of Thranduil, the King of the Wood Elves. Thranduil sees Mirkwood as his private realm and has little patience for those who enter it without his premission — especially if they happen to be Dwarves. Built over the swift river that leads to the Long Lake, it is here Thorin and his companions are taken when they are captured by the Elves. Luckily for them, Bilbo has a trick or two up his sleeve.

If you enjoy the work we do here at TheOneRing.net, and would like to see your Tolkien community keep on growing and growing, please consider making a Pledge. Time is fast running out to join the Tale of Honour — there’s only a day or so left on our Pledge Drive!

#1.Sustainable Woodland Home in West Wales

Simon Dale of Wales envisioned a sustainable woodland home in a hill on the countryside, which may be considered “cartoony” enough to match the small hobbit homes from the Lord of the Rings. The project is daring, highly practical and it only cost its owner £3,000 to build. A nice way to escape the hassle of monthly energy bills, wouldn’t you agree?

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If you enjoy the work we do here at TheOneRing.net, and would like to see your Tolkien community keep on growing and growing, please consider making a pledge. Time is fast running out to join the Tale of Honour — there’s only a day or so left on our Pledge Drive!