27 Feb, 2008
2008-2-27 10:15:34 PM UTC
Not sure why I've put this in the Collector's Forum; suppose I should have put it in the General Discussion section. Anyway...
The Worlds of Fantasy
BBC4 Wednesday 27th February 9pm
3 part series (? I think)
Tonights 1hr programme dealt with child (hero) characters in Fantasy; C S Lewis was briefly touched upon. Generally poor; but next week deals with the 'giants' of the genre, including Tolkien.
Might be worth tuning into. Although judging by the content of the first programme, it will probably be totally infuriating!
BH
5 Mar, 2008
2008-3-5 10:33:33 PM UTC
Just watched part 2 of this series. This one covered Tolkien and Mervyn Peake.
It covered the same ground as most documentaries on Tolkien, with the usual array of minor inaccuracies and mispronunciations. On the plus side, there were some extracts from interviews with JRRT, one or two of which I haven't seen before, and a series of photos (or stills from a film) showing him socialising over a drink or two.
[On the amusing side, the author A.S. Byatt was (visually) reminiscent of Jack Nicholson as the Joker!]
8 Mar, 2008
2008-3-8 10:02:25 AM UTC
The visual content, including documentary footage of Tolkien, was of great interest; even if the actual content of the programme (as you state) covered 'the same ground' as most documentaries.
The BBC documentary Tolkien in Oxford seemed to provide most of the footage. According to Hammond & Scull in C&G a portion of an interview done on that occasion is included in J.R.R. Tolkien: An Audio Portrait A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien[/b]], and has appeared in other documentaries about Tolkien. However the footage of some of the Tolkien in Oxford documentary, like Tolkien drinking, was new to me too!
In addition to footage from Tolkien in Oxford, there was also (earlier?) footage from The Bookstand. Although Tolkien didn't say much (in the question about the polarisation of characters to good or evil, he literally looks at the guy and says nothing! -quite amusing.) I'd never seen this footage either. In fact I don't see any mention of it in C&G at all in the Recordings entry! Had you seen (or even heard of) this interview Deagol?
Hammond & Scull state that other recordings made by the BBC of Tolkien's voice or image appear not to have been preserved. I'm guessing The Bookstand was also by the BBC(?) though. Footage just seems to keep coming up in the most (generally) worthless programmes!
Well worth watching...
BH
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