V is the only one I didn't see in the theater. I saw parts of it in the theater, and that was enough.

Tolkien only really started writing fiction as a vehicle for his invented languages; while not exactly true, the waaaaay-geeky Tolkienophile joke is "at 7, he knew 7 languages; at 21, he knew 21".

Shall we agree that the language bits started to coalesce before the mythology part of his story?

I think I may be getting hot flashes. WTF?

and Star Trek 5 - "Kirk takes on God, and wins!"

Wow, that's worse than Fantasy Island, where Roarke takes on Satan, and wins!

Shall we agree that the language bits started to coalesce before the mythology part of his story?

Oh, yah. :) He had 3 invented "languages" (which he later disavowed as experiments, not "true languages") BEFORE he went to Oxford.

The legendarium was never complete; up until he got too senile to actually work (about 3 years before his death), he was revising and revising and revising. In fact, he was forced by Houghton Mifflin to stop revising LotR so it could be published; he was in the middle of a story-pass having to do with Galadriel's past - and if you know what to look for, you can pick out the discrepancies. (What the Fellowship is told about Lorien while they're in Rivendell is slightly different than what they're told *in* Lorien.)

I delight in finding these little wrinkles. To me, it makes the world more alive. It's the despair of my family, though, that I'm more conversant in Middle-earth's history (and Tolkien's) than I am in the real world's. I just figure - there are 5 billion people in the real world; they've got "reality" covered, I've got Middle-earth (and someone has to, after all.)

"Kirk takes on God, and wins!"

I don't think Kirk ever met another green skinned woman after that, so God may have gotten revenge.

Wow, that's worse than Fantasy Island, where Roarke takes on Satan, and wins!

Did you see the reboot, with Malcolm McDowell? Where is IS the Devil? First thing he does is burn the white suits, and get new black ones.

Whoa. It just occurred to me that if philology can be considered science, LoTR can be considered science fiction. Mind=blown.

The legendarium was never complete; up until he got too senile to actually work (about 3 years before his death), he was revising and revising and revising. In fact, he was forced by Houghton Mifflin to stop revising LotR so it could be published; he was in the middle of a story-pass having to do with Galadriel's past - and if you know what to look for, you can pick out the discrepancies. (What the Fellowship is told about Lorien while they're in Rivendell is slightly different than what they're told *in* Lorien.)

I can't imagine trying to go through his handwritten notebooks, with large sections erased and re-used for different parts of the story. *shudder* He was an editor's nightmare, I suspect.

Did you see the reboot, with Malcolm McDowell? Where is IS the Devil? First thing he does is burn the white suits, and get new black ones.

Heh. Nope, I missed that.

He was an editor's nightmare, I suspect.

And this explains Christopher's (well-known, legendarily WACKY) madness.

(Royd Tolkien was an un-named, nonspeaking Ranger in "Return of the King", and for his trouble Christopher disinhereted him, because Christopher detests the movies so much. He's WACKY. Hates the English so much he moved to Paris. Hates ENGLISH so much he primarily communicates in French - but is best known for being the executor of the estate and works of one of the most significant *English* fantasists. Waaa-aaa-ACKY.)