The Hobbit and EWTN

Waiting for Godot to Leave ^ | November 21, 2013 | Kevin O'Brien

[NYer]

Joseph Pearce writes ...

I'm at EWTN at the moment and had a sneak preview of the forthcoming Hobbit special on which we worked. It's truly superb and you are as wonderful as ever! It's being aired on December 5th.

Can't wait to see it!

We filmed two specials - one on The Hobbit and one on The Lord of the Rings.  I have not yet heard when the second one will air.  I play Tolkien in both specials and Joseph offers his insightful commentary on the Catholic elements in Tolkien's works.  I'll pass long more info as it's passed along to me.

Here I am with Joseph in the marvelous Hobbit Hole set at EWTN when we filmed last spring ...

[NYer]

Caught an ad last night on EWTN for this upcoming special. Will post more information once I find it.

[Tax-chick]

Last year, our homeschool association had a Hobbit Reading Club, where we went through the book in detail and then watched the Part-one movie last December. (Back in the 80s in Texas, I got drunk with those Dwarves ...)

Those of use who are Cranks about the Text aren't happy with much of what Mr. Jackson has done ... but one can enjoy the good parts, I guess.

I think one has to experience Tolkien in the text. After studying "The Hobbit," I started reading "The Lord of the Rings" to my four youngest boys. We're well into "The Two Towers" now.

[Kip Russell]

I had mixed feelings about the first “Hobbit” film. Parts of it I enjoyed very much; the first 40 minutes or so of setup, and especially the Bilbo & Gollum sequence.

The “action” parts in the middle & end, though...not so much. At points it almost felt like watching a video game, the way those dwarves were hacking their way through the goblins; and they physic-free way the good guys could fall for hundreds or even thousands(!) of feet without so much as a scratch...

[Tax-chick]

Peter Jackson has a thing about falling. I hate it. Get over it. Move on, and give us some dialogue out of the source texts, you egomaniac.

[prisoner6]

Do not read The Silmarillion! An alternative to Creation.

That is where I stopped with Tolkein. I and most of my friends knew The LOTR inside out but had trouble quoting The Bible.

Not saying the works aren’t wonderful and valuable but when we became more aware of fantasy than Scripture it was time to give fantasy up.

[Kip Russell]

Peter Jackson has a thing about falling.

Yup. Just look at the 5 minute long falling sequence in his version of "King Kong".

[metmom]

Parts of The Silmarillion are good but over all, it’s long and tedious reading.

I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as LOTR.

[Kip Russell]

Do not read The Silmarillion! An alternative to Creation.

Um...it's Middle Earth, not our Earth. Middle Earth is one of the most detailed examples of world-building in all of literature, and The Silmarillion is a valuable addition to it. To advise someone not to read it because it will draw them away from The Bible is just...silly.

Now, advising them not to read it because it's boring...that's another matter entirely!

[Tax-chick]

I read "Silmarillion," but not enough times for it to make a difference. (Maybe once all the way though.) There are some neat stories in there.

...when we became more aware of fantasy than Scripture it was time to give fantasy up.

I agree. In retrospect, J.R.R. might have seen that creating a comprehensive mythology risked hooking in wannabe polytheists.

[SevenofNine]

Is that troll from Lord of the Ring show up

[Democrat_media]

haven't seen the Hobbit

but I loved the 3 Lord of the Rings movies

awesome doesn't begin to describe them imo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tgi-j56ueU

[Tax-chick]

I never saw "King Kong," but it's obvious from the Tolkien oeuvre that the falling is like an obsession for Jackson. Sorry, I'd rather see John Ford's repetitive tropes!

The Silmarillion is boring like Ovid's Metamorphoses is boring. We know the parts of the "old stuff" that are important to us right now, and wake me up when I care about something else. In these way, Tolkien's invented mythology is way on track with mythology from millennia earlier.

[GreyFriar]

Thanks for the alert.

[KC_Lion]

For your listening Pleasure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8ymgFyzbDo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXxGCWGKs9M

[GeronL]

thank you

Sam would love Thanksgiving

[vladimir998]

“(Back in the 80s in Texas, I got drunk with those Dwarves ...)”

I can’t help but think there’s an interesting story in there somewhere.

[ottbmare]

Thank you! Just messaged that to my Marine son—he’ll love it.

[zot]

Thanks for the ping.

[GeronL]

It’s not perfect. How in the world they left out the penultimate “Scouring of the Shire” is still something I shake my head about.