to any LOTR fan....... there are 30 'secrects' about the upcoming movie on the msn home page. i here that Arwen is going to have a much bigger role in the movie than in the trilogy and im intrested to see how it will work out.

Thanks ;)
If anybody's interested in finding out more, msn "borrowed" that article from a site called Force of Hobbit (http://www.eonline.com/Features/Specials/Lordrings/trivia.html), which offers more in-depth coverage of this soon to be epic movie. BTW Sorcerers place will have 2 brand new sections up soon. One for the LOTR movie, complete with all important links and news, as well as one for the new Dungeons & Dragons movie!!
Stay tuned.....

Thorgal Aegirsson

should have know msn swipped it, a co-worker sent me an email to tell me about it. i'll check out that site you mentioned, and a D&D movie, didn't know about that. Thanks, cant wait to check out both movies.

I'm a definite fan of all the movies, and I love all of Tolkein's work. My question is, have you read the books???

yes all of them, and numerous times, including the Silmarillion ,and even a few that his son Christopher wrote.

His son is awesome, but J.R.R. was the best.

ABSOLUTLY, J.R.R. is still the best.

I have to admit I have never played D&D and never read a fantasy novel, unless you count an extract from Jeffry Archer's biogrophy in a magazine.

[This message has been edited by hooligan_inc (edited July 30, 2000).]

Let's just hope that the new movie is better than the cartoon crap they tried before.

dont get me started, that cartoon was THE worst movie i have ever seen. and you got it right, it is CRAP!

I can only remember little bits of the cartoon, but didn't it combine animation AND live acting?
And it's not the WORST film ever. The worst film ever is total recall.

yes it did combine live acting w/ animation which was kind of cool, but they butchered the story. if i remember correctly that is why the 2nd part was never made.

i guess you got me there. total recall did suck, except for sharron stone of course.

Well, you guys can check out the trailer that's out on the internet at http://www.dndmovie.com/downloads.html
The rumor is the french distributor goofed and leaked the trailer to the net.... The French film magazine Premiere has been asked to take it down so get it while you can...
It's not the official trailer so it's kinda quick, and not the best quality but judge it for yourselves

Lets hope it is better than the cartoon !! I mean they are working with millions of dollars here(The cast is also pretty good with Jeremy Irons, Thora Birch, Robert Miano among others). I really want this movie to do good, it would translate into fantasy RPG's especially D&D being more mainstream, but the truth is I am a little sceptical, and think the LOTR flick(s) show more promise.

BTW The Official D&D site ranks top 20 visited sites in the world, or so they say ;)
Only time will tell if they are successful...

its was pretty quick, but it looks like it might be good.

The cartoons had good voice acting, but LOTR combined real people with cartoons! What kind of bull sh** idea was that?!

I do remember how bad the cartoon was. I don't think the new movies will be that bad. The stuff on their website looks real good. I think their are putting a lot of effort into getting it right. But no matter how good of a job they do I think most real LOTR fans will be a little disappointed. There is no movie that can compare with the readers imagination. But I'll still wait in line to see them.

My thoughts exactly. I just hope that they stay close to the books and don't Hollywoodize the whole thing. By no means is Total Recall the worst movie ever, I've seen plenty that were much, much worse than it. What can be wrong with a movie that features Arnie and women with three ****?

I never liked Total Recall, and the new sequel is twice as bad, but they're both certainly not the worst movie ever. If you want a bad movie, check out any Pokemon or anime japanese movie.

Um, why didn't you guys just go to lordoftherings.net? You can get the trailer there. From what I saw, it should be decent, but it will be impossible to get it exactly right. I'll still see it though.

Hey mr. Egg, don't be dissin japanese anime. It's obviously too inteligent for the likes of you. My personal favorite is Agent Akira.

No, I'm obviously to intelligent for the likes of it. And I don't mean all of it, I mean like DigiMon, or Flint the Time Detective, you know those dumb shows on FOX. I personally love Dragonball Z, and perhaps Sailor Moon.

[This message has been edited by The Fat Egg (edited August 05, 2000).]

Look, I really cannot stand that Anime crap. It makes my head hurt, the characters have the most dense names ever and they are all the same.

Ya have never seen any of the Dirty Pair then have ya? <g> I use to watch Anmie before it was subtitled, or dubbed over.

Greating having a friend that is from japan <g> And that was what? 15 years ago when I got hooked.

Personally, I think that Anime is a get rich quick scam where the characters just flop their mouths open every once in a while, and blink. Oh, and Nazgul, are you a LOTR fan? :)

First off Total Recall wasn't the worst movie ever made that award has to go to one of the Highlander films. As far as I'm concerned there was only one. The rest of too painful. Annie, in general, is cool. Yes, there is some awful stuff but there is also some real cool stuff as well. but wasn't the question about LOTR? I think it's going to be a good movie. There hasn't been a good fantasy (AD&D type)movie in a while. What was your favorite?

Definetly the Hobbit! To qoute from the movie, "I am Gandolf, and Gandolf means ME!" One of the best scripts of any fantasy movie!

Fat Egg its Gandalf w/ an 'a' not an 'o'. wow now i am correcting your spelling. i see the student has become the teacher grasshopper.

Real anime is much better than that Pokemon, childrens crap. I like the real stuff like Gunbuster and Agent Akira.

Highlander yeeaahh, but Waterworld? Ishtar? Delta Force 1/2? Any Chuck Norris movie? I can name loads of lame movies

Wingfoot, you're right!

You're right, it is Gandalf.

Ok, then why don't we limit it to worst fantasy movie ever made? I vote for Beastmaster 2. Gawd does that movie suck!
The first one was cheesy too, but at least it had some cool bad guys in it.

My personal opinion on anime is that it's not my thing, I'm not into any aspect of it, storylines, voice acting, and especially the graphics. Now I will admit I haven't watched that much of it, but what I have seen doesn't make me want to see any more. :rolleyes:
Possible exception: is Heavy Metal (the movie) considered anime? That movie rocked!!

As for LOTR movie, are you insane? Given the depth and comlexity of the novels, there is no way that anyone could ever come close to reproducing that in a movie, even if it was 6 hours long. It will fail miserably.

And that's my $.02 :D

I doubt the movie will fail miserably, simply because it is LOTR. The cartoon version was different because it was a cartoon-real people mix, and it was reeeeeeeeeealy bad. Probably people will go to it like everyone went to see the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. (Is it just me or is The Phantom Menace a pathetic name?) Everyone went just because it was Star Wars. I didn't think that it was anywhere as good as the first movies, but I went anyways. The same thing will probably be true with LOTR.

i hope LOTR is better than The Phantom Menace (that title isnt to bad). i thought The Phantom Menace was cheesier than any of the other Star Wars flicks.

[This message has been edited by Wingfoot (edited August 12, 2000).]

Very true, but let me ask you this, do you think that there are many LOTR fans? No, at least not in my area, I mean our library only has one LOTR book. And not a single person other than myself and two of my friends have ever read fantasy. Not a single bookstore sells it, and half the population does not even have internet access, so that they can shop online! STAR WARS: The Phantom Menace was big because it has millions upon millions of fans, although Phantom Menace was really shi**! LOTR, on the other hand only has a few million, although it may be the best new movie of the year, it will crash and burn, but hey, does that really matter to a true LOTR fan? No, or at least it shouldn't.

[This message has been edited by The Fat Egg (edited August 14, 2000).]

same here, i dont know very many people who are into fantasy, and there are even less LOTR fans around here. i have never really checked the library in my town, but the local book stores have very few D&D and LOTR books. i am @ the stores quite often, and these books seem to never leave the shelves, plus i am usually the only one in the fantasy section.
as for the LOTR movie, as long as it(they) are good, that is all that matters. i really dont care if it rakes in millions of dollars or if it bombs.

Perhaps this is true, but I would think that most people have at least heard of LOTR even if they haven't read all the books.

Yes, I think most people have at least heard of LOTR. And I'm not sure where you're from, but around here (near Pittsburgh), all of the bookstores I've been to have at least a fair-sized fantasy section, with at least 2 or 3 shelves. And quite often a full shelf of D&D books. I see a lot of people on the buses reading fantasy books. So fantasy is alive and well in Pgh.

LOTR movie: Name a good movie that was based on a book. I'm the biggest Tolkien fan there is, no one will ever be able to write epics like that again (although some come close, I think). But I'm afraid it will suck...

Hey, you don't have to be a LOTR fan to go and see the movie. And not all fantasy movies suck. I thought Dragonheart was OK.

A few things. First off Dragonheart was rather bad. Secondly, I agree with Wingfoot that SW1 was much chessier then the other Star Wars movies. A New Hope and Empire were SO MUCH better. Being from the Star Wars generation I would have pushed people down stairs to see the new movie. :) Well almost. But after I saw it I realized that Star Wars has changed and nothing will ever be as good as Empire.

But as far as LOTR being unknown I have to disagree. To start with fantasy books are still rather popular here in New England, but LOTR is so much more than that. Many people who would not read a 'fantasy' book have read LOTR. It is a lot more mainstream than any other fantasy novel. A very large part of the population has heard of or even read the books. During the 1960s LOTR was real big in New York. MOst of those poeple are older now, and may not be still into fantasy, but will still go see the movie. The movie may not do as well as SW1 but as long as it's good and all three movies get released I'll be happy.

[This message has been edited by Voltric (edited August 15, 2000).]

Perhaps, but hey I live in Colorado! No one from the mid west other than myself and maybe 40 other people will see that movie, 1/4 of the country is already out! But perhaps in Pittsburgh there are more fans. Maybe in New England aswell. You never know, but that is my estimate.

Hey, bear in mind I was like circa 9 years old when I saw Dragonheart. Sean Connery was excellent, but that ginger haired bird minged big style

Yeah, okay, SW1 was cheesy, but the effects were awesome. As was Ray Park and the saber fights.

LOTR is much bigger than many people realize. Did you know that there is a tourist business centered on Tolkien's old house? Or that there is an annual trip there by some Fantasy club? My dad has read LOTR 17 times. And that's the whole series. Many people who'll go to the movie will be parents and grandparents, 'cause hey, that was their generations fantasy.

However, I find The Two Towers exceptionally boring and I also think that Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks are just as good if not better than Tolkien.

It's not just the previous generation's literature, it is the origin of current-day fantasy, and maybe the only fantasy book that could be called serious literature. Tolkien was a learned dude, in old english languages and myths.
Not that I'm an expert myself, just a kid mindful of the past and with parents who teach english and english literature at university (*sigh*).

Tolkien started the Fantasy Genre. Every fantasy book alive today owes a lot to him. He "standardized" dwarves, elves, and the like, and created a world that seemed like a living breathing place that you could almost see, unlike many others who give you the impression that their heroes and those they meet are the only people in the world *cough*Terry Brooks*cough*.

I'm sorry but there is no way Terry Brooks would be able to shine J.R.R's shoes. The first Shannara series was 3 books that had almost the exact same plot, the same story, and the same characters. The second series was pretty good, but it again he just recycled the story from the first 3 books, and streched it out a bit. Dave Eddings does this a lot too.

JV Jones (the Bakers Boy series, A Cavern of Black Ice), is in my opinion the best fantasy writer today. Her plots and characters are intelligent and very well written.

Terry Goodkind's first book (Wizards First Rule) was great, but the rest of the series has not been quite as good.

And that's my $.02 :D

I think that currently the best is Piers Anthony. He does a lot of sci-fi, but he dabbles in fantasy, and its pretty good. Although no modern day writer can even compare to the sheer genious of J.R.R. Tolkein.

i dont think anyone can be compared to Tolkien because he created a whole world, and everything in his world has a history. if i had to compare any work to Tolkien i would have to go with Frank Herbert and his Dune series, which i rather enjoyed.

First of all, Piers Anthony sucks Bilbo's little left toe. He has to use sexual imagery and bad puns to get an audience. That shows bad form.

Second, J.R.R. WAS NOT THE FIRST!!! His characters are merely the consolidation of folk lore. Scottish trolls, Irish Halflings, German demons. Not that I'm saying he's a knock-off-half-arsed-tag-along, but his stories are based on others' as well.

Thirdly, C.S. Lewis and his idol (can't remember his name) had been writing fantasy novels for years before J.R.R. was. Lewis' idol was writing about dwarves, elves, talking animals, and demons on Earth since the 1880s.

Sorry, Egg, but in my book Piers Anthony is the low budget Dr. Seuss of the fantasy world.

Eggmen, didn't Piers Anthony write those books about Phase/Proton and the different colored mages? If I remember there were kind of weak. They were fun in a stupid kind of way but no real history or background. I admit I did steal the game matrix idea for a GURPS adventure once, but there are not even in the same league as JRR. There is some good fantasy still being writen but not as much as years ago. Eddings was OK if he stay of the big picture bit. He's OK with people but real bad with gods. And his second series was a TOTAL repeat of the first. Some good fantasy authors are Andre Norton and Ursula Le Guin. Now that's good modern fantasy, not LOTR but still not bad.

[This message has been edited by Voltric (edited August 30, 2000).]

Ursula LeGuin is an excellent writer. I think that Wizard of Earthsea is a classic and should be read by all Fantasy Lovers.

Wanted to respond to Sapiryl's post about Tolkien not being "the first".

Who was it that said there were only six original stories in the world?
Yes, there were other fantasy writers before Tolkien. King Arthur, Robin Hood, the story of St. George and the Dragon, Norse and Greek mythology, those have all been around for quite a while.

BUT, think about any fantasy book you have ever read. Dwarves are, without exeption, short, muscular, somewhat gruff (but fair), hard working people. They usually live in mountains or caves (but sometimes forests). They work with metal and stone, and are master craftsmen.
Elves are tall, thin, lovers of nature and beauty. They always live in a forest, taking great care to fit in with the environment instead of shaping it to fit them. Elves are almost always long lived, but don't reproduce that often.

I could go on for pages, but my point is, if you say "Dwarf" or "Elf", or "Troll", everyone has pretty much the same picture in thier head. Tolkien created that picture. Yes there were a few (very few) fantasy writers before him, but how many of those who came before (or those after) have created a world so vivid, so intruiging, that 50 years later people still regard it as the standard by which all others are judged?

Without Tolkien, there would be no Dragonlance, no Forgotten Realms, no Terry Brooks, or Dave Eddings, etc.

Special bonus section:
Has anyone ever notice that Terry Brooks used the phrase "with red hair flying" at least 4 times in his Shannara books (about 4 different people). Does this guy have a flying red hair fetish?

'Tis true.

All right, lad. Ye've got me there.

But I still stick to my "They-were-there-
before-J.R.R." stint. My great-grandfather, who moved to the U.S.A. from Ireland swore up and down that there were leprechauns(sp?), and elves are very old folk lore. Cinter Clos (Good old Saint Nick) anyone?

But you are right in that J.R.R. did create a lasting image of what he thought elves, dwarves, etc. should be and EVERYONE uses those images now. As well as other copy-cat writers. Oh, but how I do like Robert Jordan's literature.

I'd prefer a tall, fair, bow-wielding elvish maiden to a two foot tall aging toy maker any day. ;)

Hey Vermillion, can you include some fat lazy elves and some foppish dwarves in one of your stories? Just because It's never (to my knowledge) been done before.
:D

Yes, he did write those. And yes he does use sexual imagery. Still, such books as Fractal Mode, Virtual Mode, Battle Circle, Bio of a Space Tyrant Series, and the ever famous Triple Detente are all quite awesome. But I take back that he is the best fantasy author. I'd say the best is Raymond E. Feist. In terms of fantasy obviously. Piers Anthony is one of the best in sci-fi, but still Poul Anderson is better. So it would seem he is good, but not the best.

LOTR is not just a excellent fantasy novel its become one of the littary classic of the 20th century. I think it might do better than the star wars prequels as it has a broader fan base to draw it's audiance from. I wonder if the LOTR movies are a success someone will make a movie based on the Hobbit.

I feel the Hobbit is also an important part of the Middle Earth history and would also make a great film. If the first 3 LOTR movies do well I do see it following.
As far as authors go EggMan, I think your opinion is finally getting better. I really like Feist. I am not sure if he's the best but he's a lot better then Peirs. The magician books were great. I guess there still hope for you. :)


[This message has been edited by Voltric (edited September 15, 2000).]

FatEgg, I hate to say this but, I agree with you on Feist. I haven't read all his books (I think I'm lacking Tear of the Gods and one or two newer releases that the libraries around here just haven't bought yet.)

What's your favorite? Mine's the one with Gorath the Dark Elf (can't remember the title, betrayal something or other.)

Are you talking abou Krondor: the Betrayal? My favorites are any of the Serpent War books.

Yep! That's the one, Egg.

How 'bout your favorite character? Mine's Jimmy the Hand, but hey! Whatever.

I have to agree that the serpent war saga are the the best of Feists books to date. My favourite character is Nicholas, from the kings Buccaneer. Has anyone heard anything about his new series of books the conclave of darkness i think its called, its supposed to continue from the serpent war saga. Anyone like Simon R Greens book's his hawk and Fisher books are excellent.

My favorite character is definetly Locklear.

Er...so like when is the LOTR movie coming out?

The first one is slated to come out a year from now. The others to follow each Dec. after that.

So is it split into 3 parts like the 3 books?

I reckon they should start with the Hobbit