She said "Tolkien? oh you need to ask (I forgot her name now) she's obsessed with him" so I was introduce to this clerk, whose name escapes me now. She quickly ran about and located all the new arrivals that were not on the shelves. She can back with a hard cover of Roverandom and Tolkien and the Silmarillion. I realise now that asking a clerk should always be my first priority since the books are not always in the same location.
Besides that the new Lego Lord of The Rings are out. They look amazing. I don't think I'm going to buy them for some time, but I will get my hands on the upcoming video game for xbox 360. I find it rather boring that all games based on Tolkien's Middle Earth all follow the movie designs.
Battle For middle Earth I-II, Lord of the Rings Conquest, War in the North all seem to follow the trilogy so close that I am almost wondering if any one's ever going to design their own versions anymore?
Once a beloved book is on the screen it seems people get lazy and just accepts what the film makers came up with. If every troll looks like a cave troll from the films then I don't think game designers are doing their jobs. I on the other hand say, there's more than one way to skin a cat. -bad expression.
Anyways that's my rant for the day. I'm working on maybe starting a video blog to post here soon, maybe by summer or fall.
It is good to see you writing again! This is cool, I didn't know about the Roverandom yet and have not read it. I should definitely check that out.
ReplyDeleteOn you other point: I do agree with you there, but I don't think it's only lazyness that makes designers go down the known movie road. I think they're afraid of loosing an audience when they wouldn't ("hey, this doesn't look like ... from the movies!"), as there are many Lord of the Rings 'fans' who only watched the movies. There is some sort of balance to be sought after, if they do it right.
The current Tolkien-based game I play, Lord of the Rings Online, does this reasonably well. They must have good lore-experts, since the smallest details are included. The 'heroes' of the story do resemble the ones from the movies a bit, though, although their faces and clothes are slightly different. I do think Tolkien would turn in his grave if he would see it, though, being the man he was.
I have seen a bit on Lord of the Rings online, it does look good. I do believe Tolkien had an idea of what he thought the characters should look like, by the description he makes in the books. I just fear the pop culture concept of the movies being the only image people have of all of the late Professor's work. Like I said I love PJ's work, but I also think peopl should still come out with their take on Tolkien. I love Ted Nasmith's work because he does that.Thanks for the kind words Ravanel.
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