4 Days: Ten Minutes of Manflesh Madness

The Lord of the Rings movie franchise has spawned innumerable Youtube videos poking fun of it.  Whether it's  "Boromir's Retarded Idea" or "How the Lord of the Rings should have ended", there are always fans ready to make the rest of us laugh at the expense of our favorite characters.

But today's post is about a special class of parody, one that is simultaneously extremely funny and incredibly annoying.  I'm talking, of course, about people who take a few seconds of one of the Lord of the Rings movies and turn it into something else.

"Ten Minutes of Manflesh Madness" is the same seven-second clip on repeat for 10 minutes -- hilarious!

For the stronger of heart, there's always "They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard", which is secretly really catchy, although I've never met anyone who has made it through all ten hours!

There are buckets more of these silly, sometimes stupid, videos.  If you like this kind of stuff, shoot me a message or leave a comment and I will do another post about them.  But for now, this will have to suffice.

6 Days: The Littlest Orc

There and Back Again: A Little Orc's Tale is a fan-made black-and-white movie about a missing scene in the book.  The movie is adorable, short, and features some old favorites as well as some exciting new characters!

Actually, it's really just a cute little thing where all of the characters are totally OOC (out of character) but somehow it's the better for it.  I won't give you a description because the movie is too short to do so without giving away the whole thing, but I will say that two of our heroes meet and unexpected friend in the woods.

I hope you all enjoy this great short film!

1 Week (Late!): Rankin Bass' "Return of the King"

I have to preface this post by apologizing for putting it up a day late, and qualifying that even though this blog is for fan production only, I'm making an exception today for "The Return of the King," produced by Rankin Bass in 1980.

First, let's take a look at the movie poster:

So there's a dragon... wierd
There are some random dwarves... what?
And two hobbits are riding a horse at the head of an army... ... ...

So it's not a particularly good movie, nor one that is particularly faithful to the book, but it has an absolutely wonderful soundtrack.  Absolutely wonderful.  It features songs like "Where there's a whip, there's a way" that anyone who's ever been to school/had a job can relate to.  Never mind that it's not one of the many wonderful songs that Tolkien wrote.  Nor is this catchy song about the Towers of the Teeth.

Unfortunately, the full movie is no longer available online.  Someone has been systematically taking down every illegally uploaded version of this movie as well as the Ralph Bakshi version of Lord of the Rings.  But I'm sure that you can find it on a torrent, if not at your local library.

Watch this movie if you enjoy some catchy tunes and a kitschy interpretation of the last couple scenes in Lord of the Rings... don't expect a good movie that is faithful to the book!

11 Days: Ranger

Whether you're the hugest Tolkien geek on the planet or one of those "only seen the movie" people, you will definitely have heard the tale of Beren and Luthien.  It's a central aspect of Tolkien's world, and one of his most beautiful stories.  In a quick summary that doesn't even begin to do the tale justice:

Beren is a mortal man of noble birth who comes upon Luthien, the daughter of the Elven king Thingol and the most beautiful woman in the world dancing in the woods.  They fall in love but when her father, who hates men, learns about this romance he tells Beren that he can only marry Luthien if he recovers one of the Silmarils in Morgoth's crown.  Beren and Luthien together manage to  steal the Silmaril, but Beren loses the jewel and the hand that held it to the wolf of Angband, Carcharoth, while they are escaping.  The two return to Thingol who gives them his blessing, but shortly after Beren is slain by the wolf.  Luthien dies of grief not long after, but she is so beautiful and persuasive that the Valar allow her and Beren to return to Arda and live happily for a little while before they both die as mortals for good.

If you want the full tale, Tolkien has a chapter about them in "The Silmarillion", which is available online.

The movie I'm reviewing today is a fan-made spinoff of the tale of Beren and Luthien.  It is charming and well-made, though of necessity it cuts out most of the story.  Unfortunately, this includes some of the best parts.  Huan and Finrod are completely left out, as is Melian, and Luthien doesn't accompany Beren on his quest to redeem the Silmaril, which is in this case a jewel stolen by a dragon.  Nonetheless, it is a fun, short film, and a great look at one of the most important parts of Tolkien's work that is rarely given its due.

Ranger, on Youtube

2 Weeks: Born of Hope & The Hunt for Gollum

These are two fan-made movies produced by Kate Madison; both tell stories that are mentioned in the books, but they take place in the movie-verse.

Born of Hope tells the story of Aragorn's father and the rangers of Arnor. It is a full-length movie, clocking in at 1 hour and 11 minutes! Although the movie can be a bit slow and melodramatic, it's still a great excursion into Middle Earth; some of the fight scenes are particularly good. My favorite part is without a doubt the arrival of Elladan and Elrohir, who are completely neglected in Peter Jackson's movies.

The Hunt for Gollum is a shorter movie (about 40 minutes) that tells the story of Aragorn's search for Gollum. Although the story is mentioned in the books, it is never fully described, and Madison takes many creative liberties with the story. Most notorious among these is the appearance of a Ringwraith and Aragon's solo stand against it. Plausible? No. Entertaining? Rather.

Neither of these movies are as engrossing as the books, but they are incredibly well made for independent films, and they provide welcome relief to Tolkien fans who want more. Both of the movies are available for free on YouTube, and the links are below.

Enjoy!

Born of Hope
The Hunt for Gollum