The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson
 
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March 8 : 2010

New LOTR bobbleheads!

Celebriel over on TheOneRing.net alerts us to the fact that there are new bobbleheads of LOTR characters coming out, apparently timed to coincide with the Blu-ray release of the theatrical version of the trilogy.

Lots of people don’t like bobbleheads, especially people outside the U.S. who aren’t familiar with the concept. (I discuss the original bobbleheads briefly on p. 196, where I quote Ian McKellen on his destruction of the Gandalf the Grey bobblehead he was sent.)

Celebriel says, “I’m not at all sure that we should encourage this,” but I for one am all in favor of it. I went off to buy one, but they’re hard to find–so far. Turns out they’re not due to be released until April 13. There are five of them announced: Sauron (!), Gollum, Frodo, Legolas, and Gandalf the White. These are a bit more cartoony than the originals, with the heads much larger in proportion to the bodies. And I have to admit that having Gandalf and Sauron in a “Wacky Wobbler” series does seem a bit off-putting. Couldn’t they have found a better name?

I found one dealer on eBay who is taking pre-orders for these items, so if you want to see images of the other four, hurry on over. And I do mean hurry, since there are only three of each figure available. Make that two for Gandalf, since I ordered one to put alongside my bobbleheads of Gandalf the Grey and the White that came out in relation to the original trilogy. But I’m sure more dealers will be offering them soon.

For photos of those two, look here, where I also talk about the Minimates and other figures. Judging from my stats service, which tells me, among other things, which pages are most popular, that entry is one of the most enduringly popular. I assume that’s mainly through image searches. People must be out there googling LOTR minimates and bobbleheads a lot.

Having predicted that the LOTR franchise would go on for a long time, I’m happy to see new items coming out in relation to the Blu-ray discs. There will be more, I presume, when the extended-edition BDs appear. Perhaps by then The Hobbit will be on the way, and the franchise will kick into high gear once more. Predictably, the two Gandalf bobbleheads I already have agree with me. They always do.

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    The Frodo Franchise
    by Kristin Thompson

    US flagbuy at best price

    Canadian flagbuy at best price

    UK flagbuy at best price

    Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
    hardcover 978-0-520-24774-1
    421 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 12 color illustrations; 36 b/w illustrations; 1 map; 1 table

    “Once in a lifetime.”
    The phrase comes up over and over from the people who worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. The film’s 17 Oscars, record-setting earnings, huge fan base, and hundreds of ancillary products attest to its importance and to the fact that Rings is far more than a film. Its makers seized a crucial moment in Hollywood—the special effects digital revolution plus the rise of “infotainment” and the Internet—to satisfy the trilogy’s fans while fostering a huge new international audience. The resulting franchise of franchises has earned billions of dollars to date with no end in sight.

    Kristin Thompson interviewed 76 people to examine the movie’s scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, video games, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson’s Rings as one the most important films ever made.

    The Frodo Franchise

    cover of Penguin Books’ (NZ) edition of The Frodo Franchise, published September 2007. The tiny subtitle reads: “How ‘The Lord of the Rings’ became a Hollywood blockbuster and put New Zealand on the map.”