BlueJeans07 writes: After seeing reports on TORn, I HAD to try to track down the new Lord of the Rings MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) and give it a whirl to see if it’s something I’ll eventually invest in. However, since I didn’t know what company was creating the game, I had an interesting time finding, only to discover it on pure chance when I was walking to join the three hour line for the new Legend of Zelda game. After three hours had passed and I had the Zelda experience, I hurried back to the Turbine booth to try out a demo of the MMOG.
The booth was sectioned off like a cubical and a large poster advertising the game was stuck on a clear window. There were sections of the booth divided for information or for a demonstration of the different games including LOTR, and the new Dungeons and Dragons MMOG. Turbine is company that is completely devoted to producing MMOGs and that’s how they got the recognition to create the LOTR MMOG based on the movies.
When I asked if there was a playable trial, a worker of the booth informed me there wasn’t but he could show me a demo. He created a new character and named him after myself, choosing to play as a human although the player could choose to play as an elf, a dwarf, or as a hobbit. Humans are supposed to be the ‘noob’ characters who someone chooses if they had never played an MMOG before.
The first thing to begin is a trial mission where player learns how to use the controls before setting off into the rest of the world. The trial mission for the human begins when he wakes up inside a cell but is soon set free by a ranger named Andlum. Andlum asks you to find Celadine Brandybuck who was captured by brigands but is supposed to be in the general area. After the human finds Celadine, he had to escape with her with her creating a distraction by lighting a building on fire. After they discover the death of Andlum, Celadine returns the Buckland and the human goes into a town.
The human had overheard the brigands’ plans to sack the town so he immediately tells the captain of the soldiers and is given a mission to help protect it from the brigands’ attack. The player is given a full suit of chain mail, sword, shield and a few other things that will prove useful. The scene changes and it becomes sunset as the human discovers he is too late to save the town. Giant spiders are killing the soldiers, the town is on fire, the brigands are running around rampant and the player must try to restore peace. At that point, the player is supposed to team up with other players to form a plan and put the different fires out. A few players are supposed to try to grab buckets and drag it to the fire to put it out but it’s an incredibly vulnerable position since they can’t defend themselves.
The demo unfortunately had to end there since the Expo was being closed down and the floor was being cleared but I got some great information on the game. At first, the entire game is set in Eriador which includes the Shire, Rivendell, Bree, Fornost and more. Gondor, Arnor, Rohan and other parts of Middle Earth will be available to play later in expansion packs. The entire game takes place during the quest and the player will occasionally see the members of the Fellowship during the quest but will not be allowed to join in or create any kind of difference. The player will also be allowed to take part in the battles such as Helms’ Deep and Pelennor Fields, but basically the player has to form a fellowship with other players and search for missions such as saving a hobbit village or purifying an Elven settlement. The game is also mostly based on the movies, but other characters from the books will be wandering around such as Tom Bombadill.
The interface and the graphics looked great as well. It is a very beautiful game to watch especially in terms of environment. The sunset animation was very well done in rich colors that don’t overwhelm the screen. Interface design was very well thought out, mostly taking up the bottom left hand corner and expanding across the bottom of the screen when the player chooses different options.
The only argument I would really have against this game is that it’s only available for PC! Being a Mac user prevents me from being able to actually play the game when it comes out in 2006. But I would definitely recommend trying out the game especially for Tolkien fans because Turbine is working directly with Tolkien Enterprises to make the game accurate and expand Middle Earth to make the world more interactive and more available to explore.
HOWARD SHORE’S THE LORD OF THE RINGS SYMPHONY TO RECEIVE FIVE PERFORMANCES IN THE U.S. IN MAY 2005 BEFORE BUSY SUMMER SCHEDULE FEATURING ENCORE PERFORMANCES IN HOUSTON, PHILADELPHIA AND PITTSBURGH, AS WELL AS SEVERAL PERFORMANCES IN EUROPE
“[Howard Shore’s] instinct for melody is superb, his integration of legitimate ancient music sources with contemporary-sounding tonal clusters and harmonic invention is terrific, and, most of all, he creates, as both Jackson and Tolkien did before him, an entire imagined universe that is both detailed and consistent.” — Newark Star-Ledger
New York, NY, April 29, 2005 – Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony will receive five performances in the U.S. in May 2005. On Saturday, May 14, the work will be performed in Richmond, Virginia by the Richmond Symphony and in Des Moines, Iowa by the Des Moines Symphony (with a repeat performance in Des Moines on May 15). A short time later the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra will give three performances at George Mason University (May 27, 28, and 29).
Evidence of the Symphony’s surging popularity can be found in the number of orchestras that have signed on for repeat performances. In July, for example, three orchestras that presented the work last summer will give encore performances: The Houston Symphony Orchestra (July 8 and 9), the Philadelphia Orchestra, which will play the work at the Mann Center (July 15), and the Pittsburgh Symphony, which will give two performances at Heinz Hall (July 21 and 22). Other North American engagements in the coming months include three concerts in Toronto (June 4 and 5) with the Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic, and performances by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (July 15 and 16).
Later in the summer, the Lord of the Rings Symphony will return to Europe. On August 8 and 9 it will be performed in Athens, Greece by the State Symphony in the Acropolis’s Odeon Herod Atticus, one of the city’s most famous outdoor theaters. Less than a week later the NDR Philharmonie will present it at the prestigious Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany (August 13). Norway’s acclaimed Oslo Philharmonic will play the Lord of the Rings Symphony in Oslo’s Frognerparken on August 27 for a crowd expected to top ten thousand; the same orchestra will give another performance on September 3 in Bergen. The vocal soloist in the Athens, Oslo and Bergen performances will be the Norwegian pop star Sissel. A list of performances of the Lord of the Rings Symphony scheduled for the 2005/2006 season will be announced in the coming weeks. Since its debut performance in Wellington, New Zealand on November 29, 2003, Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony has been performed to full houses more than 50 times on four continents. Audiences from Sydney and Tokyo to Los Angeles and London have greeted the two-hour work with rousing ovations following performances in some of the world’s most famous venues – including Sydney’s Opera House and London’s Royal Albert Hall. Some of the world’s leading international orchestras – including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the London Philharmonic – have performed the Symphony as well as regional orchestras from Albuquerque and Salt Lake City to Dallas and Hartford. In fall 2004 alone The Lord of the Rings Symphony received 25 performances in America and Europe including a remarkable and historic concert by the National Philharmonic of Russia in Moscow’s Kremlin Palace Theater.
Shore takes particular pride in the fact that performances of The Lord of the Rings Symphony around the world have been given not by a single touring orchestra but almost entirely by local performers: “The symphony has been presented around the world, but regardless of where it has been done the performances have been given by local artists. That’s the real joy of it for me: this work is helping awaken community interest in the symphony orchestra.” In addition to Shore, there are five other conductors performing the piece around the world: John Mauceri, Alexander Mickelthwate, Markus Huber, Alastair Willis and Terry Edwards.
Carl Mancuso, Vice President of Heinz Hall, commented: “We are excited to bring The Lord of the Rings back to Pittsburgh this summer. Not only was last year’s run of three concerts a sell-out, but the concerts attracted a nontraditional and very enthusiastic audience. As we seek to develop audiences of the future, The Lord of the Rings is just the ticket.”
About The Lord of the Rings Symphony
Howard Shore wrote his six-movement The Lord of the Rings Symphony for symphony orchestra, adult and children’s choirs, as well as solo instrumentalists and vocalists, totaling more than 200 musicians on stage. Working with conductor John Mauceri, who first suggested that the music of The Lord of the Rings be preserved as an independent work for the concert hall, Shore created a two-hour symphony drawing from the nearly 12 hours of music he composed for Peter Jackson’s phenomenally successful film trilogy. (Shore received three Oscars and four Grammy awards for the soundtrack recordings). The six movements of the symphony correspond to the progression of the epic story across the six books that comprise the three-volume trilogy, capturing the enormous complexity and limitless imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien’s creation – from the simple, pastoral beauty of the hobbits’ Shire to the magic and mystery of the Elves and the monumental battle scenes – in music by turns explosive, ethereal and, ultimately, transcendent.
As Doug Adams, author of the soon-to-be-published book The Music of the Lord of the Rings, explained in a Chicago Tribune interview, “There’s a different style of music for each culture of characters: hobbit, elf, dwarf. If you go to the symphony performance it’s very much like an abstract version of Tolkien’s story.”
Shore achieves this enormous feat by the ingenious use and juxtaposition of a plethora of recurring motifs – more than 50 in all – associated with the various characters and places in the books. Shore’s employment of some instruments foreign to the traditional Western symphony orchestra and of choral settings in Tolkien’s languages help conjure up the ancient beauty of Middle Earth, its diverse inhabitants, and the harrowing struggle between the forces of good and evil.
Howard Shore is currently working on King Kong, another film project with Peter Jackson. He is also working on an opera, The Fly, based on his film collaboration with David Cronenberg, for Los Angeles Opera. Earlier this year, his score for The Aviator (his third collaboration with director Martin Scorsese) won a Golden Globe as well as a Critics’ Choice award and his soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and the song “Into the West” both won Grammy Awards. His scores for the previous installments of the trilogy – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – each won a Grammy as well.
Shore likens the daunting experience of writing the music for the three Lord of the Rings films to that of the humble hobbit asked to carry the ring. “When I started,” he told the Chicago Tribune, “I was the hobbit with the ring saying, ‘I will do this. I will take the ring to Mordor, although I do not know the way.’” Shore considers his work on The Lord of the Rings to be the culmination of everything he has done in his first 40 years of writing music.
Critical acclaim for Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony
“[Howard Shore’s] instinct for melody is superb, his integration of legitimate ancient music sources with contemporary-sounding tonal clusters and harmonic invention is terrific, and, most of all, he creates, as both Jackson and Tolkien did before him, an entire imagined universe that is both detailed and consistent.” — Newark Star-Ledger
“There’s no denying the sweep and rich texture of the work, with its Celtic-like tunes, moody pop songs, and effective use of choral voices (think Carmina Burana, only darker). And Shore’s nod to Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the very end, with the orchestra reveling in the healing power of a major chord, makes a satisfying coda…When the last notes dissipated, it sounded as if the demonstrative audience would keep the ovation going until long after all signs of Elvish had left the building.” — Baltimore Sun
“Shore’s musical opus is every bit as impressive as Tolkien’s literary one, standing on its own as a sweeping, operatic experience, even when liberated from the majesty of Jackson’s trilogy.” — The Seattle Times
“The ‘Lord of the Rings Symphony’ is still a big success because of the power and appeal of Shore’s themes.” — Columbus Dispatch
Upcoming performances of Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony
May 14: Richmond, Virginia Richmond Symphony Orchestra/Landmark Theater
May 14 and 15: Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines Symphony Orchestra/Civic Center
May 27, 28 and 29: Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax Symphony Orchestra/George Mason University
Jun 4 and 5: Toronto, ON Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic/Raffi Hall, Kitchener (6/4) and Thomson Hall, Toronto (two performances on 6/5)
July 8 and 9: Houston, TX Houston Symphony Orchestra/Jones Hall
July 15: Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia Orchestra/Mann Center
July 15 and 16: Buffalo, NY Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra/Artpark Theater
July 21 and 22: Pittsburgh, PA Pittsburgh Symphony/Heinz Hall
August 8 and 9: Athens, Greece State Symphony/Odeon Herod Atticus
August 13: Schleswig-Holstein, Germany NDR Philharmonie/Schleswig-Holstein Festival
August 27: Oslo, Norway Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Frognerparken
September 3: Bergen, Norway Oslo Philharmonic/Festplassen
It’s been branded ‘unfilmable’ — even by the author himself. Indeed, Tolkien described Lord of the Rings as “a book very unsuitable for dramatic or semi-dramatic representation” (Letter #194). Even, his biographer, Humphrey Carpenter felt that, although Tolkien sold the film rights to LoTR, he had no real expectation that it could be successfully filmed.
Yet it exists in film form, filmed to completion.
Was JRR Tolkien then, wrong, in his estimation?
What, indeed, do we mean by unfilmable, unadaptable and untranslatable? Even, today, and in spite of the efforts of Peter Jackson and his film crew, does Lord of the Rings remain unsuitable for dramatic representation?
If so, why, do you believe so?
Or has technology — combined with extended screentime — put paid to the concerns that made Tolkien automatically write of the chances of a successful film?
Join us on the TORn IRC server this Saturday May 21 in #thehalloffire as we discuss whether or not Lord of the Rings is really unfilmable.
Asia-Pacific: 7.30am (Sunday) Brisbane 7.30am (Sunday) Sydney 9.30am (Sunday) Wellington
Chats usually last 45 mins to an hour, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation!
Where?
Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net – the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our java chat client that works inside your web browser (find it here! ) or choose to install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer.
To find out more about using mIRC to connect to TORn IRC server, check out these instructions.
“Is LoTR unfilmable? Was Tolkien right?” – Saturday May 21 – Sunday May 29
Got a topic? Let us know your idea!
If you have a burning desire to discuss something in Hall of Fire, drop us a line with your topic at halloffire@theonering.net. If we like it, we’ll probably give it a run in the coming weeks – you might even get to guest moderate the session!
Join HoF Announce!
Did you know that Hall of Fire has a mailing list? Join today and get topic announcements and news delivered regularly to your inbox!
Tim Richardson, Director of “The Dork of the Rings” writes: After weeks of mind-numbing preparation, my follow dorks and I descended on Seattle for their annual Tolkien convention May 13-15, 2005.
We appeared as Special Guests and ran two panel discussions on the making of THE DORK OF THE RINGS. We also had a promotional booth where we ran video clips and people could be harassed by characters from the movie including Randolf, Frudo, Martha the Steward and a Nosedrool. We also premiered our finished trailer at their FanFilm Exhibition.
Those who made the trip with me included Ian Strandberg (Art Coordinator), Justus Post (A.D./Audio Engineer), James Pickens (Producer/Technical Director), Michael Kouroubetes (Writer/Producer), Bryce Cone (Frudo), David Kiefer (Randolf) and Kay Eller (Martha the Steward).
We got to hobnob with a variety of fans of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and our Nosedrool’s large proboscis attracted the attention of three lovely young Canadian girls. Randolf also attempted to convince the door woman outside the $50 a plate Feast of Rohan to dump some hobbit stew in his wizard’s hat but to no avail.
There were several Guests of Honor who we got to chat with including Kirin Shah who was Elijah Wood’s scale double throughout the trilogy. It was pretty cool to be able to snap a photo of him chatting it up with our Frudo-words can’t describe it-.it was like some strange real-world/movie-world dimensional overlap where the parody Frodo meets the real life Frodo body double. My head hurts.
Peter Lyon was wonderful to meet and chit chat with. He designed and built many of the “hero swords” for the trilogy and continues to work for the WETA workshop in New Zealand. He got a real kick out of our movie and we gave him an autographed DOTR shirt and promo CD to take back to show Richard Taylor and the gang. So who knows-maybe Peterson Jackson himself will hear about our production. We look forward to the lawsuit
A special “thank you” goes to Rebekah Washington (who arranged our appearance at the event) and all her staff. We enjoyed infesting your terrific event with our lovable dorkness. Hope to see you again next year!
Amatire writes: Hi, I just thought you might be interested in a little info on what the 6th Annual Tolkien festival at The Shire Country Park Birmingham was like.
I think probably the most important thing to tell you about (in case you have not heard yet) was the display talking about the plans for Moseley village centre. To commemorate the life of JRRT and the establishment of the new Shire Country Park, Tim Tolkien (I’m not sure how he’s related, great, great nephew or something?) has designed a huge metal statue of Treebeard which will stand in the central island of the village green. This is really exciting, because until recently there was little to indicate to the public that Tolkien had had anything to do with Birmingham. But this statue and the new Park at Sarehole, both show the City Council is finally giving Tolkien some recognition and that they appreciate the value he can have to tourism in the city. Bizarrely the Council have stated that it must be taller than a lamppost so that it will stand out. So according to the plans it will be between 25-30ft tall, and almost as wide. Treebeard will be carrying two passengers; one in each hand: not Merry and Pippin this time, but JRR and his brother Hilary as they were as children when they were growing up in the area. On the ground will be scattered leaves in silver or green (steel or brass), which will be inscribed with personal dedications and can be bought either by contacting the statue organisation directly (info@moseleystatue.org) or by auction on EBay. There were also plans on display to create a gate for part of the new Tolkien Trail based on Bilbo’s front door, with the doorframe carved to resemble the One Ring.
A number of LOTR characters acted as stewards, including two rather intimidating Nazgûl and the official Tolkien Society Hobbits. Though out of the four of them, I only came across Pippin, trying to answer the infuriatingly difficult quiz questions on the ‘win an Elrond Goblet set’ competition.
The Shire Productions company gave performances of extracts from the Lord of the Rings in the atmospheric setting of Moseley Bog. Vintage busses took people on tours of the local landmarks associated with JRRT, including the Two Towers, (Perrott’s Folly and the ornate Victorian water tower) and St Phillip’s Grammar School.
There were craft tents and poetry tents (the readings from Beowulf there were very interesting because they gave you a chance to compare Tolkien’s epic poems with real Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse). But by far the best place to be in my opinion was the Tolkien Tent, which housed Isengard Smial, the local branch of the Tolkien Society. I joined in one of the lessons in Sindarin by Ranger Zainab Thorp.
She is a local teacher who is hopefully going to be involved in setting up a set of elvish courses for the University of Central England just round the corner from the bog. The one I watched was “How to date an elf”! So we learnt chat up lines, and some things a little more intimate.
“sui aerlin myrn hin lin” = your eyes are like dark pools. “Finnel l’n sui malthen sillen” = your hair is like shining gold. “Ce bainwain” = you are most beautiful “Anirach cenea talan nîn?” = do you want to see my talan?
Or even better:
“Ce! Talann’n, Si!” = You! my talan, now!
And how to put off an over amorous advance.
“lau!” = no way!! (whilst pulling out the pepper spray).
If that doesn’t work, you could always try “gwedithach n’n?” = will you marry me? which will scare off any modern-minded immortal elf who wants to avoid eternal commitments.
It was fun to watch complete novices getting their first taste of Sindarin grammar. Fortunately she skipped most of the letter mutations so it was relatively easy to follow. For me it was useful to get a few tips on pronunciation, seeing as I’ve only had the film as a guide so far and most of the actors were told to pronounce the words however they felt comfortable, for better flow. I did learn a few things I hadn’t known before.
They originally thought there was no word for love in Sindarin. But a year ago a new text was uncovered that may have the answer: ‘Melon’ (as opposed to ‘Mellon’ = friend, in the same way that ‘malen’ = yellow and ‘mallen’ = gold.) She pointed out that because of this, the Moria gate may not have opened at first because Gandalf was being sloppy with his pronunciation. As in the film when he is telling Frodo what the word for ‘friend’ is in elvish he is very careful to say both syllables clearly “mel-lon.” I’m not sure I agree with that idea. After all I’d imagine he translated it into Westron so that Gimli and Boromir (not to mention Merry, Pippin & Sam) could understand.
She also said that the most popular requests the specialists get for translations are along the lines of “Melon gen an-uireb!” (“I will love you forever”) and similar things to carve into a wedding ring. She also told us that elves put wedding rings on the index finger of their right hand, and that Tolkien chose silver rings for engagements and gold for marriage. Far be it from me to criticise the Professor, but I would have thought it would work better the other way round, elves being lovers of the stars and all that… *ahem*
All in all it was a good day, though I wish that I could have stayed longer. Mine was only a flying visit.
Jan from the Houston Symphony writes: Tickets are now on sale for the Houston Symphony’s performances of Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony.
Friday, July 8, 2005, 7:30 PM and Saturday, July 9, 2005 7:30 PM
Jones Hall 615 Louisiana Houston, Texas 77002
Alastair Willis, conductor
Houston Symphony Chorus Charles Hausmann, director
Houston Children’s Chorus Stephen Roddy, founder and director
Kaitlyn Lusk, lyric soprano
Concert ticket prices are $21-$56. Tickets are available at the Houston Symphony Customer Service Center, 615 Louisiana, by phone at (713) 224-7575 and online at here.
The Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Houston Symphony are offering a family package that includes four rear orchestra level tickets to the symphony concert and four passes to the The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: The Exhibition ? all for $189. To purchase this package you must call the Houston Symphony Customer Service Center at (713)224-7575.
To learn more about the Houston Museum of Natural Science The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: The Exhibition please click here: http://www.hmns.org
