- Paperback: 40 pages
- Publisher: Virgin Books; First Edition edition (8 July 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0753508745
- ISBN-13: 978-0753508749
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.2 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,406,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The comprehensive step-by-step guide to The Lord of the Rings in all mediums. Originally just a small part of the life's work of the distinguished Oxford University lecturer and philologist JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings achieved a huge cult following around the world -over 50 million copies of the books and have been sold in 25 languages. It was voted the British public's favourite book of the twentieth century and more recently its favourite book of all time when it triumphed in the BBC's 'Big Read' competition. The phenomenally successful release of New Zealand-based director Peter Jackson's 2001-03 film trilogy brought Tolkien's work new prominence but The Lord of the Rings, and other works by the author, had also previously been adapted by other film makers with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. This guide takes a detailed look at both Jackson's films and some of the previous adaptation attempts - both on screen and on radio - and provides detailed commentary on the particular difficulties of adapting this epic book for the screen.The differing visual approaches of Jackson and his predecessors, such as Fritz The Cat's' Ralph Bakshi and cartoon legend Arthur Rankin, are also discussed, as are the roles played by actors and special effects in trasferring Tolkien's world-building exercise into a performed medium. A detailed examination of the difficulties, decisions, triuphs and mistakes made when moving something beloved from one medium to another, The Lord of the Rings: The Films, The Books, The Radio Series offers new perspectives on theese enormously popular works.
About the Author
Jim Smith is the co-author of the Virgin Film: Bond Films, Tim Burton, and sole author of George Lucas, Gangster Films and The Manhattan Dating Game: The Unauthorised and Unofficial Guide to Sex and the City. He has written about television for a variety of publications and is also a regular film reviewer, also writing features for Film Review. J Clive Matthews was co-author of Virgin Film: Tim Burton
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An interesting book that sheds new light on the history of Tolkien's trilogy (and, in addition, The Hobbit) and the ways in which it has been represented on film and radio. The insights are interesting and, at times, provocative. It is not a difficult book to read by any means and gives all sorts of information about who played which character in which film or radio version of which book - did you know that Anthony Daniels, who plays the voice of Legolas in the Bakshi/Zeantz version of LOTR, was C3PO in the six Star Wars films? Or that Galadriel was Annette Crosbie, none other than the long suffering wife of Victor Meldrew in One Foot In The Grave? Fundamentally useless information but interesting to the Tolkien anoraks out there - if you weren't one, why are you reading this review??
Format:Paperback
If you are bored of the Lord of the Rings, this book, an examination of the difficulties in adapting the trilogy into other media, may strike you as a rather pointless exercise.
If, however, you have even a passing interest in the books or films, this is an engaging and opinionated read which is authoratative without being dry and comprehensive without being overly lengthy.
As it is published under the imprint of "Virgin Films" it should be no surprise that the Peter Jackson films take up most of the authors' attention. Dedicated Tolkein fans may be irritated to read the many instances where, in Smith and Matthew' opinion, Jackson has improved on Tolkein's story. To be fair, however, they do admit Jackson does rather bungle the ending of the story, leaving too many characters dangling without their eventual fate being made clear.
A more in depth analysis of the similarities between the earlier cartoon version of LOTR and Jackson's efforts would have been welcome but the book is wide ranging, examining the BBC Radio version and the truly awful Leonard Nimoy song, for example.
With boxes of text containing extra facts and figures, the book does read a little like an extended magazine article. Also, some illustrations would have been nice, particularly to demonstrate the work of Alan Lee and John Howe. In general, though this is an interesting and enjoyable read.
If, however, you have even a passing interest in the books or films, this is an engaging and opinionated read which is authoratative without being dry and comprehensive without being overly lengthy.
As it is published under the imprint of "Virgin Films" it should be no surprise that the Peter Jackson films take up most of the authors' attention. Dedicated Tolkein fans may be irritated to read the many instances where, in Smith and Matthew' opinion, Jackson has improved on Tolkein's story. To be fair, however, they do admit Jackson does rather bungle the ending of the story, leaving too many characters dangling without their eventual fate being made clear.
A more in depth analysis of the similarities between the earlier cartoon version of LOTR and Jackson's efforts would have been welcome but the book is wide ranging, examining the BBC Radio version and the truly awful Leonard Nimoy song, for example.
With boxes of text containing extra facts and figures, the book does read a little like an extended magazine article. Also, some illustrations would have been nice, particularly to demonstrate the work of Alan Lee and John Howe. In general, though this is an interesting and enjoyable read.
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