1066: the Battle for Middle-earth

[davem]

No - its not another computer game!

Channel 4's new two part drama covering the events of the fateful year of 1066 is due out on the 18th of this month (though it has been pushed back twice so far - from February & April)

More here http://www.channel4.com/programmes/1066
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/1066/episode-guide/series-1/episode-1
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/1066/episode-guide/series-1/episode-2

No clips yet but stills look good http://www.channel4.com/programmes/1066/pictures/1066/1066-20090305113144-17

[Rumil]

Hi Davem,

Cheers for posting the links, looking forward to this one!

Hopefully it should be good in its own right and concentrates on a really dramatic period of history that rarely gets on TV. I guess the 'Middle Earth' bit is just a cynical marketing ploy, but it seems to have worked with us;).

From the Tolkien point of view, JRRT says that he envisaged the men of LoTR to look much like the Normans and Saxons of the Bayeaux tapestry, so should give plenty of inspiration for RPG and fanfic.

[Elmo]

They should add elves and orcs to the battle of hastings just to make it live up to the programme name.

[davem]

They should add elves and orcs to the battle of hastings just to make it live up to the programme name.

They have - but they're calling the Elves 'Anglo-Saxons' & the Orcs 'Normans' :p

[Bêthberry]

They have - but they're calling the Elves 'Anglo-Saxons' & the Orcs 'Normans' :p

With an attitude like that towards the Normans, it sounds as if Tolkien was a ghost writer of the script. :D

[Eönwë]

They have - but they're calling the Elves 'Anglo-Saxons' & the Orcs 'Normans' :p

That's how Tolkien would have wanted it. :p

edit: cross-posted with Bêthberry. Funny how we said things to the same effect.

[davem]

Interesting article in the Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6289190.ece which mentions both the series (which was shown to some teenaged schoolchildren) & Tolkien -

The pupils also enjoy spotting references to The Lord of the Rings. While Tolkien’s imagination may have created an entire world of Middle-earth, the film points out that in Anglo-Saxon it meant “land between heaven and hell, where men walk”. None of the pupils knows that Tolkien was a leading expert on Anglo-Saxon literature.

The Saxon characters in the film think that they see elves in the words (sic - I think that should be 'woods'). Then they come face to face with Orcs. Orc meant foreigner or demon; in this case the feared Normans. The battle scenes were consciously modelled on those in The Lord of the Rings films, with a similar level of violence. The narration is by Bilbo Baggins himself, the actor Ian Holm.

Interesting that these pupils spot references to Lord of the Rings in the story of 1066 (& probably in Sigurd & Gudrun if they were to read it), rather than seeing references to history & legend in LotR - but Tolkien (even if only via the movies) is familiar to them, & their history & myth is unknown....... What would Tolkien think?

[Eönwë]

Interesting that these pupils spot references to Lord of the Rings in the story of 1066 (& probably in Sigurd & Gudrun if they were to read it), rather than seeing references to history & legend in LotR - but Tolkien (even if only via the movies) is familiar to them, & their history & myth is unknown....... What would Tolkien think?

Maybe he'd be happy that he would be getting more people interested in history.

[Eönwë]

Hmm... what do people that have seen it think about it?