At last come the first rumblings from the Peter Jackson camp regarding the third and final Lord of the Rings movie. No actual stills or scenes yet, but at least the talk of actual stills and scenes has begun. The DVD release dates were announced last week: August 26 and November 18 for the theatrical and extended editions, respectively. (And pre-orders for the theatrical release start tomorrow.)This is actually later than the same time last year. Then, the theatrical version came out on August 6 and the extended on November 12. Helping bide the time is the release of The Two Towers upgrade pack for the Topps trading cards in August. I’ve been waiting for this, and was pleased to see the announcement. This set not only includes “memorabilia” cards like last year, but also some more autograph cards. (So you’ll probably catch me on eBay spending all my savings.) The upgrade set will also offer a sneak peek at The Return of the King. For now, you can get an idea what our heroes will look like from these action figure photos, courtesy of TheOneRing.net.
Incidentally, I just finished rereading The Hobbit. (I’m more partial to Lord of the Rings, so I hadn’t read The Hobbit in quite a while.) I know there was some debate about Peter Jackson’s choice to include an Elven army defending Helm’s Deep. This is a departure from the book, since the Elves were actually busy defending their own borders at that point in the tale. Others point out that the “Last Alliance” of Elves and Men is clearly depicted at the beginning of the first film, so this new alliance would belie that.
But, as I am reminded by my recent rereading, The Hobbit ends with its own alliance — of Elves, and Men, and even Dwarves! — in defense against an attack by goblins from the Misty Mountains.
Admittedly, The Hobbit does not fit all that comfortably within the history of Middle-earth, and there are some who treat it as somewhat apocryphal. There are many who do the same with Peter Jackson’s alterations. But Tolkien could live with the Battle of Five Armies and let it stand in print, so that’s something to think about when I next see The Two Towers.
