Re: The General Tolkien News Thread

[halfwise]

got me dragging out my Hammond and Scull you did - hunted through until I found Gandalf getting the trolls turned to stone. Zoomed in.



Well, I'd say he very possibly doesn't have any nose fluff. Not totally clear, but wouldn't rule it out.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ I remember it seeming quite good when I was about 14 and into D&D and had Frank Frazetta posters on my bedroomon my wall. As I say its an interesitng film, not a good film, if only for it being a chance to see Frazetta's work animated as he drew all the character designs. And it occasionally rises above its material on the animation side, in particular the fight in the fog, the one on one fight with the bad ice guy and the SW trench run rip off climax on the dragons (also love the music in that scene) but the actual plot and characters come across as also written by a 14 year old who is going through a D&D phase and has Frazetta posters on their bedroom wall. }}

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Def no nose hair.



Which interestingly means the Russian illustration of Gandalf is probably closest to Tolkiens own. }}

[chris63]

[halfwise]

I respect his integrity in not talking about the trailer he got a peak at.

[Forest Shepherd]

Isn't that the deal?

Well we'll all be there by this afternoon.

[Mrs Figg]

Interesting news


https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/feb/26/unseen-jrr-tolkien-paintings-photographs-and-video-clips-released

[halfwise]

Hmm, I wonder what filter was applied to produce the stuff we have already.

[chris63]

[New post] Lost scripts for 1950s BBC Lord of the Rings radio drama found.

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2022/03/16/112437-lost-scripts-for-1950s-bbc-lord-of-the-rings-radio-drama-found/

[halfwise]

That's interesting that Tolkien was directly involved with the scripts. I think they would provide some extra insight.

[chris63]

MMB

[halfwise]

I was hoping he'd go into more than the same passage quoted elsewhere, but I suppose everyone is working off the same press release.

[malickfan]

I was hoping he'd go into more than the same passage quoted elsewhere, but I suppose everyone is working off the same press release.

Hammond And Scull cover this radio adaptation and Tolkien's response more in their book(s)The JRR Tolkien Companion And Guide, quoting extensively from various unpublished letters, I don't have my copy to hand right now but I recall Tolkien being extremely critical of the final product, IIRC Fellowship of the ring was alloted 3 hours runtime, but the BBC forced cuts on the other parts leaving just 90 minutes each for TT/ROTK.

[malickfan]

https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/harpercollins-to-publish-new-edition-of-the-silmarillion-illustrated-by-tolkien

You can view some of the possible illustrations on the Tolkien Estate website:

https://www.tolkienestate.com/painting/the-silmarillion/


New edition of The Complete Guide to Middle-earth released later this year, illustrated by Ted Nasmith

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/000853781X

It's been out of print for many years, and I'm kinda tempted to get a copy just for the artwork...

[halfwise]

though his art is gathered elsewhere, it make sense to matcht his art with his books.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ New book on the way from HarperCollins- The Fall of Numenor, due to be published on 10th November.

Its edited by Brian Sibley.



'The book brings many of Tolkien’s writings together, and uses The Tale of Years in the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings in order to present the content in an order and a style that works well for readers. This convenient volume will tell the story from the foundations of Númenor, the forging of the Rings, and the Last Alliance against Sauron that ended the Second Age. Sibley has gone through the entire published works by Tolkien, and provides new introductions and commentaries to bring all the pieces of Tolkien’s original content together.

The book also comes with 11 colour images (10 and the cover), and dozens of pencil sketches by renowned Tolkien artist Alan Lee. Entirely new artwork that has been described as Lee’s “best work yet”. The book, due out in hardback and deluxe on 10th November 2022, is conveniently timed to coincide with Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power which is being released this September, and which is also set in the Second Age.'- Tolkien society

If its contains nothing new and is just a collection of already published materials with commentary chucked in does rather smell of cash-in cash-grab! }}

[halfwise]

It should be noted that the Rings had basically nothing to do with the story of Numenor until the Last Alliance, which was after it fell.

The One Ring may have had something to do with Sauron's seduction of Numenor, but no direct connection is drawn I suppose because so long as it's with him the Ring was just an extension of his native power.

[malickfan]

{{ New book on the way from HarperCollins- The Fall of Numenor, due to be published on 10th November.

Its edited by Brian Sibley.



'The book brings many of Tolkien’s writings together, and uses The Tale of Years in the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings in order to present the content in an order and a style that works well for readers. This convenient volume will tell the story from the foundations of Númenor, the forging of the Rings, and the Last Alliance against Sauron that ended the Second Age. Sibley has gone through the entire published works by Tolkien, and provides new introductions and commentaries to bring all the pieces of Tolkien’s original content together.

The book also comes with 11 colour images (10 and the cover), and dozens of pencil sketches by renowned Tolkien artist Alan Lee. Entirely new artwork that has been described as Lee’s “best work yet”. The book, due out in hardback and deluxe on 10th November 2022, is conveniently timed to coincide with Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power which is being released this September, and which is also set in the Second Age.'- Tolkien society

If its contains nothing new and is just a collection of already published materials with commentary chucked in does rather smell of cash-in cash-grab! }}

Hmm...the collector in me says 'ooh exicting I must buy this!' the cynic is mean agrees with you Petty (and also says this is an attempt to hold onto copyright), it's fairly obvious this is being published to cash in on the TV series (ironic really, given that the TV series isn't really adapting any of this material nor do the screenwriters have wholesale rights to it) and keep the Tolkien publishing craze hot whilst they can.

I think it's unlikely this will contain any unpublished material because A) Tolkien didn't write much about the 2nd Age B) And if he had written something extensive and dramatic we'd have probably seen it published already in The HOMe etc. The remaining unpublished writings about Middle-earth that we know about are largely linguistic in nature (such texts are being gradually published in the journals Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon) or scattered notes/alternate drafts of published material (though this is being published...soon, so you never know:  http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Chronology_of_The_Lord_of_the_Rings ) none of which I think would appeal to the general reader in a short book like this.

That said...there's certainly some interesting texts and nuggets of info in The HOME/Unfinished Tales/Nature Of Middle-earth that more general audiences would probably find more accessible in an stand alone illustrated volume. I'd also argue Numenor's history/downfall is interesting enough in itself to merit a further critical exploration like this i.m.o, Brian Sibley has a very long association with Tolkien Fandom going back decades (amongst other things he wrote the script for the BBC radio version of LOTR, and several 'making of' books about the Jackson films) so from an editorial perspective this is in safe hands at least.


Interestingly The Nature of Middle-Earth did publish some new info on Numenor as recently as last year (I wonder if that will be included?) and we know that book took the editor several years to put together, I wonder if Christopher Tolkien had any involvement or gave the go ahead to this book before his passing?

...But yeah I'd still say its a cash in.

[halfwise]

I was about to say if it's a cash-in they muffed the timing, but now I see it's due out in November, which is probably about right to have non-fans alerted to what Numenor is all about.

[malickfan]

I imagine we'll see further rehashed publications/compilations of existing texts in the future, which is a shame as A) we know some there's still quite a bit of writing by Tolkien (albeit little of it to do with Middle-earth) B) Christopher Tolkien at least seemed to be opposed to such commercialization of his fathers writings C) It makes it harder to complain about David Day releasing essential the same book over and over again under different titles when Tolkien's own publishers now look set to do the same with his actual writings.

[malickfan]

I was about to say if it's a cash-in they muffed the timing, but now I see it's due out in November, which is probably about right to have non-fans alerted to what Numenor is all about.

I imagine they may then be surprised to open up the book and see no trace of Galadriel the warrior princess, the meteor man or multi cultural Hobbit tribes...

A little surprised they didn't go with the title The Downfall of Numenor given it's the title of the relevant chapter from The Silmarillion.

Also I have to say I'd growing a tad bored with Alan Lee's artwork, he's a very talented man but I find the colour palette and style increasingly drab and over exposed.

[Forest Shepherd]

Sometimes one yearns for the bright colours of Nasmith.

[malickfan]

Yeah...I like my fantasy illustrations to look, well fantastical rather than dreary and drab...

Some of the press releases for this new book seem to indicate it has been edited into one continous chronological narrative/timeline which dosen't seem possible if the editor is trying to remain true to Tolkien's writing? I think it's unlikely the estate would give the go ahead to offical 'fan fiction' (then again that's basically what the amazon show will be)

Eldy will know more than me, but from what I recall there's three or four different versions of Numenor's destruction in the HOMe books all of which differ greatly in content and style, and if the book is marketed as easier to follow than HOMe and aimed at more casual readers I'm not convinced the likes of The Lost Road or The Notion Club Papers will be included...in which case it seems a tad pointless to do a compilation of 2nd age material which dosen't even include all of the relevant writing...

On the other hand the press releases for Beren and Luthien and The Fall Of Gondolin seemed to indicate those books would be presented as novel length continuous stand alone narratives (rather than the HOMe-lite strucute they actually followed), time will tell...

I expect if this sells well we could see other similar books published-maybe a book compiling all the info on Gondor or Rohan etc?

I still hold out hope for an expanded edition of The Letters of JRR Tolkien to be released one day...

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Ive got pretty tired of Alan Lee's Tolkien stuff too- its not that its bad, its obviously not its technically brilliant and Ive loved many of his paintings- but they all start to look desaturated, washed out to me these days. And thats not the way images conjured by Tolkiens words appear in my head where they are full of life and vibrance.

2nd the publishing of an expanded Letters. I'd much rather that than just sticking bits from different books together and reselling it.}}

[halfwise]

The funny thing is that LotR felt quite a bit like Alan Lee in my head until the rather lurid films came out. But I wasn't influenced by Alan Lee, it's just that my imagination doesn't work in technicolor.