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New Zealand television company beats Jackson to showing Elves and Goblins - Lord of the Rings news - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

August 02, 2000 at 01:51:14

Sir Walter Scott's classic tale of an Anglo-Saxon knight beset in King Richard's England by Norman foes has stirred the imaginations of millions through the centuries. Now it is evolving into a mixture of modern fantasy with Elves and Goblins and the old classic as a 13-part television series based in New Zealand.

Robert Taylor starred in the classic movie "Ivanhoe" decades ago, and ever since then the story has languished, occasionally making an appearance in comic books. Now a New Zealand production company, Palana Productions, and Dark Knight Productions from the United Kingdom, have joined forces to bring Ivanhoe to the small screen in the United Kingdom and New Zealand (and, no doubt, eventually to other world markets as interest develops).

Ben Pullen stars as Ivanhoe and Charlotte Comer co-stars as Rebecca. The first episode drew more than 1,000,000 viewers in the United Kingdom, 100,000 more than the premier episode of Robin Hood, the show it replaced for the summer broadcast season.

The Otago Daily Times compares the technical wizardry of Dark Knight Productions with the work being done on Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" by WETA Ltd., Jackson's special effects company based in New Zealand.

The show's official Web site says "Dark Knight uses extensive CGI to create a magical world filled with elves and goblins, as well as monsters from the underworld." J.R.R. Tolkien, meet Sir Walter Scott.

A version of the film starring Stephen Waddington and Ciaran Hinds is available at Amazon.Co.Uk. The paperback is also available at Amazon.Co.Uk.

The Waddingtong film can be purchased on VHS format from Amazon.Com.

NOTE: The Web site offers a rich multimedia experience well worth looking at even for people not in either the United Kingdom or New Zealand. 56K modem access is sufficient, and probably also 28K access.