Peter Klassen writes: On 10th September, the Russian fan-made parody of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy will be released on DVD for purchase worldwide. The project which originated from the Russian LotR website “Henneth-Annun”, was created in three years of work, each part following after Peter Jackson’s theatrical releases of LotR. The project was realised uncommercially, and the total budget of $5000 (for the whole trilogy!) as well as costumes and props were brought up by enthusiasts and supporters from the forum. What did came out, were three movies with 75 minutes running time each: “The Trouble of the Rings: The Fellowship”, “The Trouble of the Rings 2: The Towers” and “The Trouble of the Rings Returns: King-Size”.
The films were shot on various locations of Moscow, which sometimes resemble Peter Jackson’s New Zealand landscapes in an astonishing way. For means of transport in Middle-Earth, some original solutions have been designed. So, the menacing 8 1/2 Nazgul are riding on bicycles; the pony Bill is a scooter; Gandalf’s horse Shadowfax is played by a motorbike, and the Haradrim’s mumakil are…. well, be ready for a surprise. Another topic of the TOTR parody is “restoring the justice” for all the changes which Peter Jackson undertook in his screen version of LOTR. So we get to see, how Arwen came to Asfaloth, why Haldir brings word from Elrond and what Balrog really wants from Gandalf…
The movies premiered in Moscow in December of 2002, 2003 and 2004, and had good success on public screenings on Zilantkon (Russia) and Tolkien-2005 (Birmingham, UK).
Now, this no-budget parody trilogy is hitting the DVD medium. The 4 Disc Collector’s DVD set contains the 3 movie DVDs as well as a bonus DVD full with various extra features. Here are the specs of the set:
“The Trouble of the Rings: Collector’s Edition”
Language: Russian 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: English, German (films and bonus materials)
Picture: 4:3 fullscreen
Color System: PAL
Region Code: 0
Rated: O (Restricted for Orcs)
Bonus material on the Film DVDs (subtitled):
– Audio Commentaries of the makers
– Trailers for each part of the trilogy
– Ring*Con 2004 Trailer
– Behind the Scenes: “How it was”
– On TOTR2 und TOTR3: bilingual end credits (Russian/English)
– Animated menus with music
Bonus Materials on the Bonus DVD (subtitled):
– Making of: “The Trouble of the Rings: The Road Goes Ever On…” (~30 Min)
– “Moscow As Middle-Earth”: Interactive Atlas of Locations
– “Our Fellowship” – Interview Featurette
– “All Of You Are Worthy, All Of You Are Great”: Music Video About the Mass Extras
– TV Report About the Filming (Russian TV)
– TV Interview (NBC EUROPE)
– TOTR1: Premiere Report
– TOTR2: Outtakes – “Theoden’s Kitchen”, “Crow’s Drink”
– TOTR3: Casting Auditions
– Photo Gallery
– Promotion Gallery
– Complete Credits
More information on this DVD release, as well as screenshots, trailers, dialogue quotes and much more can be found at TheHutt’s TOTR page.
The official site of the Fellowship Art Group, the makers of TOTR
