Celebrate the AnniversarySideshow Collectibles is joining in the celebration today:

“This weekend, Sideshow Collectibles.com is proud to join fans of J.R.R. Tolkien world-wide in celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the publication of ‘The Hobbit’! To help add to the celebration, we’ve arranged some special Sideshow mathoms for you! Check out our special LOTR discounts, our new Balrog Legendary Scale bust preview, a brand new LOTR-themed poll, and our ‘Ode to Bilbo’ comment contest, in which you could win a Shelob statue, King of the Dead Statue, a Cave Troll Hammer, or a Crown of the King of the Dead simply for participating. Follow the link to get all the details”

Sideshow Celebrates the Hobbit

Sideshow Collectibles has just revealed their latest edition to The Lord of the Rings Legendary Scale line-up – The Balrog! The item will pre-order next week at SideshowCollectibles.com, but if you’d like a sneak peak, check out the preview. If you are a collector of the Legendary Scale Bust series, you may want to chime in on their frontpage poll, as it is directly related what you’d like to see created. And last but not least, Sideshow has released a new ‘Backstage Pass’ video on their Gandalf the White Premium Format figure page. If you were on the fence about ordering this piece and wanted some additional information, check it out!

Balrog Preview Vote! Gandalf Video Discuss

The History of the HobbitWhile there is no official news on ‘The Hobbit’ movie yet, we can always count on Houghton Mifflin to continue to put out wonderfully crafted publications from Tolkien’s universe. The lastest batch of new books, ‘The History of the Hobbit,’ are coming this Friday to stores new you, just in time for the 70th Anniversary of the publication of ‘The Hobbit!’

“A beautiful boxed set: the definitive examination of how Tolkien came to write his original masterpiece, including the complete unpublished draft and little-known illustrations and unpublished maps, along with a new edition of the classic work itself.”

The books are being sold individually and released on Friday, Sept 21st in bookstores nationwide. However, if you are interested in purchasing the two books together, along with the speciacl Anniversary Edition of ‘The Hobbit,’ you’ll need to wait until October 26th. All are available right now on Amazon.com for pre-order.

History of the Hobbit – Part 1 Part 2 Set

The Hobbit: 70th Anniversary Edition Discuss

Laurelin sends us great news for fans looking to complete their recording collections!

ROTK Complete Recordings“BURBANK, CA–(Marketwire – September 12, 2007) – Howard Shore’s complete Oscar®-winning score for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” from the epic film trilogy “The Lord of the Rings,” will be available for the first time in a deluxe five-disc edition from Reprise/WMG Soundtracks on November 6, 2007.

This historic release contains 3 hours and 50 minutes of music on four CDs, comprising the full score of the 2003 film. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – The Complete Recordings” marks the third and final edition of the three complete recording releases of the film trilogy whose score has been honored with three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. This deluxe set includes exclusive new artwork, packaging, liner notes written by Doug Adams, author of the forthcoming book “The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films,” and features Annie Lennox performing the Oscar®-winning song “Into the West.”” [ Read Full Release]

If you want to start your collections, check out the previously released ‘complete recordings.’ [ Complete TTT Recording ] [ Complete FOTR Recording ]

Discuss this in our Forums!

Kristin Thompson, author of The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood, writes: I am going to be doing a signing event for The Frodo Franchise in New York on September 27. It starts at 7 pm at Barnes & Noble Upper West Side, 2289 Broadway at 82nd Street, tel. 212.362.8835. It should be an exciting evening, since Lord of the Rings co-producer Rick Porras will be joining me for a conversation before the signing! We’ll talk for perhaps half an hour and field questions for fifteen minutes or so.

Rick was one of my interviewees for The Frodo Franchise, and he provided a lot of fascinating information. As most TORN readers know, he was involved in the film in a wide variety of ways, including directing some scenes, helping to coordinate the videogame production, and touring visiting VIPs around the Wellington facilities. [More]