Back in October, New Zealand Post announced that they would mint special-issue gold coins as a tie-in with…
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Back in October, New Zealand Post announced that they would mint special-issue gold coins as a tie-in with Jackson’s The Hobbit. The press release stated:
The rim of each coin is inscribed in both English and Dwarvish with the words “Middle-earth — New Zealand.” Continue reading “Say it right: Middle-earth language usage”
A Fiordland peak could be named Mt Tolkien, after the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, if a Manapouri man’s proposal is accepted by the New Zealand Geographic Board. Aaron Nicholson has applied to name the peak, near Gunns Lake on the Milford Rd, Mt Tolkien, after J R R Tolkien. The 1757-metre unnamed peak is 1.8 kilometres from Consolation Peak, which is 1851 metres. Both lie at the northern end of the Earl Mountains. For the naming to go ahead, Mr Nicholson would have to get enough public support. “It’s got to be wanted. If I just show up saying, ‘Can we do this?’ and nobody else is interested, they’ll just pass on it.” Read more…
In 1911, at the age of 19, J.R.R. Tolkien took a trip to the Swiss Alps. The trip left such an impression on the young man that landscapes and events from the trip served as a basis for places and events in his future books, namely, “The Hobbit.” In October 2013, Swiss touring company, Alpenwild, will be offering “In the Footsteps of Tolkien,” a tour that follows the same path that Tolkien took in 1911. Along for the trip will be Alex Lewis, Chairman of the Tolkien Society of UK from 1988-92, and author of three books of Tolkien studies. The tour, which will also visit the soon-to-be opened Bernd Greisinger Middle Earth Collection museum, is scheduled for October 12-20, 2013. Read More…
In Imagining Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, guest writer Eric M. Van draws together the threads of known facts, and add a dash of logic to speculate on how Peter Jackson and his crew may have imagined their version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
This third part of the series continues to analyse the unique challenges Jackson and his fellow screenwriters face adapting The Hobbit for the screen — and examines how the unusual way J.R.R. Tolkien constructs the fantasy world of The Hobbit introduces its own special set of headaches. Warning: this feature contains spoiler images. Continue reading “Imagining Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: Part Three”
The grandson of JRR Tolkien said he felt ‘suffocated’ by the legacy of his famous relative and feared never being able to emerge from his shadow.
Barrister-turned-novelist Simon Tolkien said the unstoppable success of the film adaptations of his grandfather’s classic Lord of the Rings trilogy caused a bitter feud within his family.
Mr Tolkien said the problems led to an ‘incredibly, dreadfully painful’ feud with his father Christoper.
The 53-year-old author of The Stepmother and the Inspector Trave trilogy said ‘nothing could prepare’ his family for the release of the films, which he said was like being ‘hit by a juggernaut’.
He said the success of the films, which grossed almost $3 billion worldwide, made him feel as if he had ‘disappeared’.
He told The Sunday Times: ‘It was like being hit by a juggernaut. One minute, I was Simon Tolkien, a barrister from London. The next, I was JRR Tolkien’s grandson. This might sound strange, but I began to lose sight of who I was. It was as if I — me, Simon — had disappeared. I felt suffocated.’
It was reported at the time that the family row stemmed from Mr Tolkien’s willingness to cooperate with director Peter Jackson despite opposition from the rest of the estate. However this was later denied.
Mr Tolkien said: ‘Maybe some people assumed it was about money…I don’t know.
‘In hindsight, I think all of my anger was being driven by this feeling that I was trapped. All I ever was going to be was the grandson of a very famous writer. That was the sum total of my achievements.’
He and his father have since managed to reconcile their differences and he even dedicated his latest book to his father. He said: ‘I guess I feel lucky that I got the chance to put things right with my dad.
Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins are suing The Saul Zaentz Company and Warner Bros. Tolkien Estate alleges that the companies are merchandising beyond the bounds of what was agreed in the 1969 deal with the studio and rights holder Saul Zeantz.
“The original contracting parties thus contemplated a limited grant of the right to sell consumer products of the type regularly merchandised at the time (such as figurines, tableware, stationery items, clothing and the like). They did not include any grant of exploitations such as electronic or digital rights, rights in media yet to be devised or other intangibles such as rights in services,” says the 26-page complaint. Continue reading “Tolkien Estate sues WB and Saul Zaentz”
