Meriadoc Brandybuck is a Hobbit. Enough said, really, according to Peter Jackson’s movies. Despite his importance, bravery, cool head and quick wit in Tolkien’s epic books, his on-screen character is somewhat reduced to [borrowing a line from Cassie Claire’s Very Secret Diaries] ‘indiscernible background hobbit’. Alongside Pippin, Merry stumbles from one adventure (stealing from Farmer […]
For a chance to win a copies of The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth and The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age enter the competition at channel4.com.
The closing date for the competition is 3rd December.
At Empire Online there’s a review of The Return of the King – Extended Edition. They award both the film and the DVD extras 5 stars and RotK is also their DVD of the month.
Contains spoilers
December 2nd is the date of the world premiere of Fellowship! The Musical Parody of The Fellowship of the Ring. The show features tap dancing hobbits, a Balrog performing a sequined studded cabaret number and more. There’s further information at Plays411.
The show will run from 2nd to 18th December at El Portal Theater, North Hollywood, CA.
In 1937 only 1500 first editions of The Hobbit were published. EDP24 report that one of these first editions, complete with dustwrapper designed by Tolkien, was sold at auction today for £6000 ($11,359.23).
Electronic Arts has announced that the Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth has gone gold, meaning that the game is now complete and waiting to be shipped across the globe on December 6th, 2004. If you’d like to read more you can go to IGN.com.
For a chance to win a copy of either The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth for PC or The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age for PS2, enter the competition at guardian.co.uk.
The closing date for the competition is 28th November.
The latest update to the portfolio section of John Howe’s official site includes some new movie trilogy concept art. These include sketches and paintings of Grond, Bag-End and Minas Morgul.
There are also scans of an 8 page article about John Howe, entitled “Right Place, Right Time”, which appeared in a recent edition of The Lord of the Rings Fan Club Official Movie Magazine. You can download these here. Adobe Reader is required to view these.
From 1930 to 1947 JRR Tolkien lived at 26 Northmoor Road, Oxford and it was here that he wrote the Hobbit and the majority of The Lord of the Rings. In recognition of this the house is to be made a Grade II listed building. The UK minister for Heritage, Andrew McIntosh, said, “the decision was made on the basis of Professor Tolkien’s importance.” You can read further details at BBC News.
Gamespot.com has updated their Battle for Middle-earth section some new screencaps. They have also released a new edition of the Designer Diary. This edition features Mark Skaggs discussing some of the things they did to polish up the game.