Thought you might be interested in this little piece that appeared in the Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), in the film reviews section. Looks like the film is being noticed. This is the first time that I have seen something in the reviews section for an unopened film, and I am quite a regular reader.
“A FEW of us were priveleged last week to see some excerpts from one of the most keenly awaited games of all time. I am happy to report that we’ll be in for a treat when this, the first of the trilogy, opens at the end of the year.
It looks magnificent, the special effects are truly special, and the flair with which the actors and director Peter Jackson capture the spirit of the book are a rare event.
In this world of hobbits, wizards, dwarfs, fairies and orcs, it is often hard to pick the actor, but the visual sensation is brilliant and, thankfully, the film preserves not just the mythological atmosphere but a sense of humour as well. Roll on the real thing, the real ring.”
The final programme for WorldCon has been published on the website, and thanks to the hard work of Vincent we have a list of Tolkien events that are happening in the Pennsylvania Convention Center this year.
Thursday11:00pm M401 Tolkien Heads – The Hobbit (Radio Room)
Friday11:00pm M406 Tolkien Heads – Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring (Radio Room)
Friday1:00pm CC204B Growing Up With Us: Children’s Books We Still Love as Adults Some children’s books survive the test of time in more ways than one: not only are they read by new generations of children, but they continue to be read and re-read by those same children when they grow up. The great “children’s books” — Narnia, The Hobbit, Alice, The Golden Compass, Harry Potter — can be read and appreciated by adults as well as children. What differentiates these from the children’s books we lay aside (and which disappoint us when we try to return to them as adults)? Ellen Asher, Tamora Pierce (M), Jo Walton, Andrew Wheeler, Toni Anzetti
Friday5:00pm M5 Grand A-F Jeff Walker Film Presentation Trailer Park — A Worldcon Tradition. Wall-to- wall trailers, teasers, clips and featurettes from upcoming science fiction, fantasy, horror, animated and other genre releases under one roof in one room at one time. You can be pretty sure it’ll include Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone and Lord of the Rings as well as a few you’re not expecting. Gathered for MilPhil by veteran studio genre consultant and long-time Worldcon attendee Jeff Walker. Jeff Walker
Saturday11:00pm M406 Tolkien Heads – Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers (Radio Room)
Sunday1:00pm CC104B And Then It Changed: Fantasy Before and After Tolkien (Academic) Did it change? Why? How? Suggest other reasons/authors. Solomon Davidoff, Gregory Frost, John J. Kessel, Jared Lobdell, Darrell Schweitzer Sunday1:30pmM407 Video: The Hobbit (Animated, 1977)
Sunday3:00pm M407 Video: The Lord of the Rings (animated 1978)
Sunday3:00pm CC201B J. R. R. Tolkien and the Twentieth Century J. R. R. Tolkien looked back to earlier times, yet his great creation is also profoundly a part of the twentieth century. Moreover, Tolkien’s works stand as major influences on other writers. Fantasy changed with Tolkien. And while some maintream critics downplay his place in literature, his works have spoken to millions — surely a sign that they are indeed important. Jeffrey A. Carver (M), George R. R. Martin, Jamil Nasir, William A. S. Sarjeant
Sunday5:00pm M5 Grand G-H Lord of the Rings Presentation
Sunday11:00pm M406 Tolkien Heads – The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King (Radio Room)
When I saw the apparently exhaustively-researched essay on Hollywoodjesus.com I thought ‘great, somebody’s done all the work for me.’ I wish I’d read through to Greg Wright’s concluding essay, because a number of emails have pointed out that it’s rubbish. If you want the real skinny on Tolkien’s faith and the way it’s mirrored in his work, somebody who’s done his homework a whole lot better is Joseph Pearce in his book “Tolkien, Man and Myth.” (It’s out of stock at Amazon and B&N, I notice.) Otherwise a cheaper option is to read Tehanu’s Notes numbers 6, 7 and 10 which might lead you to think (and read) in a number of different directions which go a lot closer to the truth than Mr. Wright did, methinks.
Attention all fans of The Lord of the Rings and fans of the DVD format. I have confirmation from Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits [http://www.thedigitalbits.com] that the original 1978 animated LOTR will be on DVD for the first time ever, yes, but it will NOT be released in the original widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Instead, it will be cramped into an old pan-and-scan version without a new film transfer!
For those who don’t know about movie aspect ratios, this means more than 25% of the full onscreen image cannot be seen because of the cropped frame. If the DVD were in anamorphic widescreen, then the viewer would be able to see the entire image as the artists originally intended. Anything else is unacceptable. If Warner Bros. gets away with this, the video presentation on this DVD will look like mud and much of the image will be missing.
For a great illustration of how dramatically this will affect your experience of a film, CLICK HERE for a special page showing the difference between widescreen and pan-and-scan. Thanks to Bill for this material.
Come on Warner Bros! We are not going to buy sub-standard crappy DVDs.
This movie has long been out-of-print on VHS. We have waited over 23 years for a nice, clean, new digital presentation of this film. And NOW with a new DVD, a medium capable of so much, the studio is taking the cheap way out and not giving the consumer the original version of the film. Even though this Ralph Bakshi film has its flaws, it is still an important watermark in the history of animation and was the first ever adaptation of Tolkien’s work to the silver screen.
This is an important issue. Because the studio thinks “it’s just fantasy” they will dump the film under their “Family Films” label and not produce the DVD properly.
And what about the upcoming new live-action films? Will they suffer this too? Since AOL/Warner Bros. owns New Line Cinema does that also mean Peter Jackson’s films will get the same careless treatment on DVD? It is time for Tolkien fans to speak up!
At the very least Warner Bros. can present the DVD with standard full frame on one side of the disc and anamorphic widescreen on the other side (as they have with most of their films like Beetlejuice and Unforgiven). Just give the consumer a choice!
Click here to sign your name to our online petition, and tell Warner Bros. you will not spend your money on a DVD that is poorly produced. Tell them that you will CANCEL YOUR PRE-ORDERS for this title. There are many many thousands of us – after all we are the core Tolkien fan community online. Speak with your money and don’t buy this disc!
Remember, the DVD release of “Princess Mononoke” was held back for several months because of a highly successful campaign by fans. They wanted Buena Vista Home Video to include the original Japanese language track, and they won in the end!
I will take the entire petition, with all of its signatures printed out, and present it to the Vice-president of Warner Bros. Home Video in Burbank. I will sit down in person with him and state exactly what the consumers expect for this older version of LOTR and the new versions yet to come.
I’ve made up a diagram of the Council, based on the pictures we’ve seen. This is it. No Bilbo, and everyone accounted for.
But I think we may have stumbled upon the first goof in the movie (before it’s even out) – the case of Frodo’s missing chair. It’s in several shots, with him sitting in it, but when he’s approaching the plinth (as seen in the trailer), bingo, it’s missing.
I have only one possible explaination – The scene where Frodo is approaching the plinth is at the very beginning of the Council, and they hadn’t put a chair out for him. After he takes the ring out and puts it on the plinth, they then get him a chair to sit on.
Xoanon here: I have yet another, Frodo is sitting in Gandalf’s chair…no conspiricies or mistakes here folks..a rather simple explination.
We’re really pleased with the results of our two sponsorships this year. We contribute to the “Books in Homes” programme in NZ. “Books in Homes” not only makes books available to schools in poor areas, but fosters a love of books and reading in places where this might not normally be the case. There’s been a lot of anecdotal evidence from the schools involved that BiH makes a big difference to reading levels among children, and this year NZ Council for Educational Research is doing a survey to determine exactly how effective the programme is.
Individual schools have been doing their own surveys, of course. The latest BiH newsletter shares the results of Rawene School’s inclusion in the Books in Homes programme: two years ago, 75% of Rawene’s pupils were the below the national average for readers of their age. Now, after two years with “Books in Homes,” that figure has shrunk to 35%, while 42% are now above the average literacy for their age.
Meanwhile we got mail from the World-Wide Fund for Nature. We sponsor one of their marine conservancy programmes dedicated to saving the endangered Hector’s Dolphin. WWF’s Lynda Murray wrote to say, “We had a win last week – which is great!! The govenrment announced a new management plan for North Island Hector’s Dolphin which is really very good.”
