With the recent success (December 2001) of the box office hit "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" a revived interest in one of the greatest stories that were ever written by anyone (Tolkien is the man!) in particular, and in the fantasy genre in general, is sweeping the nation. According to the Dec. 2 issue of Time Magazine, fantasy is replacing science fiction nowadays as the major genre in mass media. Soon, this month of December 2002, the much expected sequel to the first film, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" will be playing in a theater near you very soon.
I have personally felt that this story should have made it to the big screen. A few film companies have shown interest, but either felt it was too costly to produce or the Tolkien family expected too much control over content. Finally, a man from New Zealand, Peter Jackson, has brought the books to the big screen, and he did it with much reverence and respect to the author and his work. Which is saying a lot in comparison to other attempts at bringing the books to film format. The animated "Lord of the Rings", though novel and inspirational in combining animation with live action, only managed to cram three books into a two hour feature. I was not too pleased with it, personally. Baskin and Rass, the animators who brought us "The Hobbit" and the "Return of the King" was a much better attempt in my view. Unfortunately the previous two books in the series was never attempted by them. It would have been great to own all three if all had been produced. But the movie that Peter Jackson has brought to us has done much justice to the vision of Middle-earth that many of us grew up with and imagined it would be. Mr. Jackson, I tip my hat to you and am looking forward to the second installment of Tolkien's story.
Links To Check Out:
Official Lord of the Rings Website
The Lord of the Rings Video Game
I have just created a few pages honoring the Dune Universe. Please check it out. *S*
"Time is a Wheel, each spoke an Age, one age passes and becomes legend, then legend becomes myth..." Another story that I have enjoyed is the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. His stories is set in a fantasy world where magic is called the One Power and is wielded mainly by women (the female half of the power is called saidin). Men can "channel" the One Power too, but the male half (saidar) of it is tainted by the Dark One, and those men who can use it often go insane and die. There is a prophecy that one day a man shall come who is the Dragon Reborn, wielding great power to reunite the kingdoms, and then destroy the world.
Wheel of Time Links:
Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan Page
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