Falconer

Kingdoms Joust + Medieval Market Village. Gorgeous.

Maybe a new Black Falcons castle.

I can’t wait to get the Elrond hairpiece, so I can finally give Legolas the proper haircolor.

Why Isn’t The Silmarillion Being Made Into a Movie or Radio Show?

He does NOT have the rights to UT.

Yes, in Tauriel’s (and/or Legolas’s) arms, no doubt! Spoiler warnings? Sheesh, it’s only been out for 75 years.

Hey, don’t look at me. I wish he wouldn’t do ANY “Hobbit” movie, because he’s going to make a mess of it no matter what. I was just explaining why they are milking the title for as many movies as possible. Because once it’s over, it’s over.

Tolkien only sold the rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, so any Middle-earth movies (or LEGO or any other merchandise, etc.) have to be under one of those two titles. They can’t, for example, do a movie based on The Children of Hurin, or The Disaster of the Gladden Fields. Because the Tolkien Estate will never sell the rights (at least, not as long as Christopher Tolkien is alive).

Back in June of 2009, I predicted that the changes from book to film will include: 1) Taking out the good humor of the original in order to make it “darker”. 2) Nevertheless being fine with inserting plenty of lame Jar-Jar/Gimli-the-Robot “comic relief”. 3) Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarves will all rely on their awesome kewl powers instead of wit, speed, secrecy, morality, and more wit. Expect lots of battles. 4) In the book, Fili and Kili are the only Dwarves who aren’t white-beards (old). In the movie, I expect they will all be young. Some will be female, and all different skin colors will be represented. (Sexual orientation, too, but that will be “left open to interpretation”.) 5) A few obligatory love-interests will be added. 6) Bilbo will be a skinny teen heartthrob type instead of a fat hobbit in his fifties who is fond of tea and handkerchiefs. 7) The Trolls, the Eagles, and the Spiders won’t talk but the Wargs will. 8) Not only the Gandalf-in-Dol Guldur subplot, but also many other made-up Lord of the Rings tie-in plot elements will make it into the movies and take up 25-50% of the screentime. So far, mad-scary-accurate. Except for the lack of female dwarves. That we know of.

Here are my guesses: 1) The first movie will be a pretty straightforward retelling of Chapters 1-9 (“Barrels Out of Bond”) of The Hobbit proper, mostly if not completely told from Bilbo’s point of view, with very little White Council business. Plenty of dwarvish buffoonery, of course. 2) The second movie will be a Gandalf-centric movie that advances the story of The Hobbit proper very little (we probably get our first glimpse of Smaug), and is based mainly on “The Quest of Erebor.” It goes back in time to show Gandalf snooping around Dol Guldur and getting the map and the key from Thrain; meeting with Thorin to convince him to take Bilbo; then back to the present for some Lorien business, and climax with a big “Battle of Dol Guldur.” 3) The third movie finishes up The Hobbit with all the Smaug business, the Battle of Five Armies, and the return journey. Padded with plenty of inner angst for Bard, a love triangle between Legolas, Kili, and Tauriel, etc. Note how this parallels the LOTR movies. Dol Guldur is analogous to Helm’s Deep, etc.

"Bag End" --> "An Unexpected Gathering" (the only actual set we know of) "Mystery of the Ring" --> "Riddles of the Ring" (but it’s a phony, so it doesn’t matter)

I would say Crown Knights, definitely.

Lurtz can be generic, as far as I’m concerned. He’s not in the books, and to me he didn’t even really stand out as a unique character in the movies (I don’t think the name “Lurtz” is even spoken in the movies). Uglúk would be a different story.

I just wish I could use “White Hand” shields and helmets rather than the plain ones for all my Uruk-hai. There’s no reason it should be so expensive to accomplish that. This set would also be a good add-on to Orthanc, assuming there will be such a set someday. Together they could make a more complete Isengard tableau.

That’s interesting. LOTR mentions that Saruman has a white wizard hat (in the scene where he appears to Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli in Fangorn Forest).