User talk:Carcharoth/Middle-earth in popular culture: Difference between revisions

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	*'']'' was mocked by '']'' alumni ] and ] in an audio commentary for Nelson's ] service. However, Nelson has publicly stated that unlike most of the films featured on the service, he actually likes the film.<ref>RiffTrax.com: </ref>		*'']'' was mocked by '']'' alumni ] and ] in an audio commentary for Nelson's ] service. However, Nelson has publicly stated that unlike most of the films featured on the service, he actually likes the film.<ref>RiffTrax.com: </ref>
	*In the ] episode "Splat!", Carrie is asked to bring a date to a party for a work colleague, Enid (]). Carrie insists that the date, played by ] is very sweet, to which Enid responds furiously "He's a Hobbit!"		*In the ] episode "Splat!", Carrie is asked to bring a date to a party for a work colleague, Enid (]). Carrie insists that the date, played by ] is very sweet, to which Enid responds furiously "He's a Hobbit!"

			===Computer and video games===
			* In the ] ], there is an inn called "The Dancing Donkey", which is a spoof of the Prancing Pony.
			* In the Adventure game ], the character of Crow mentions that he was 'sidekick of the year', he then says he lost next year to 'some fat short guy, all he did was carry someone up a mountain', alluding to Sam carrying Frodo.
			* In ], an item that can be caught in Underwater Fishing is the Two Ring, spoofing the One Ring.
			* In ], the weapon known as "Elven Bow" has the description "A heroic elf used this to return a lost ring."
			* In ], one can fish a ring called "The 1 Ring" from various locations. When read, the description says: "Not quite good as the 2 Ring."

Revision as of 02:38, 6 July 2007

Planned rewrite

Reminding myself what I'm planning:

I feel there should be an article on Middle-earth in popular culture, and I feel that the existing information would be useful in writing that article.
References to books and papers on the impact Tolkien's works have had on popular culture, such as Brian Rosebury's book which includes a chapter ""The Cultural Phenomenon." In this chapter Rosebury examines the "afterlife" of Tolkien's works and attempts to bring Tolkien criticism up to the present moment by considering the "cultural afterlife" of The Lord of the Rings in popular culture."
Work from the existing article and pare it down and rebuild it with references.
Also, this article is actually part of a series of three articles on "after Tolkien". See Template:After Tolkien navbox.
The onus is on me (or whoever writes or rewrites the article) to find the references and sources first.
Restore and then move to my userspace, and then delete the redirect.
I would then carry out a rewrite, adding sources, and then move it back to mainspace when I thought it was ready. I would notify you when I move it back, and if you or anyone thinks I've moved it back too early, or it is still unsuitable, then they could open a new AfD.
Most of the material won't prove very useful.
Some more sources: this book and this research project. There are also several news articles such as this one and there is also the J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, which has several entries devoted to the reception of Tolkien's works in various countries, and in particular an article on Tolkien's cultural impact on the USA in the 1960s.
Quite clearly, there is enough in various sources for an article. The question then becomes how to illustrate the article with examples? Which ones should be chosen and which should be omitted? That would be something that would be discussed on the talk page of the article. Some of the ones I think worth mentioning are The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers, The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, Misty Mountain Hop, and Nightfall in Middle-Earth. The more trivial, one-liners, would be excised from the article.

The above is some notes on what can be done and what needs doing. Carcharoth 02:28, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Excised examples

Movies, television, and radio

In an episode of the sitcom Friends, Ross and Chandler speak about a university friend, called "Gandalf (-the Party Wizard)." When Joey asks why they call him Gandalf, they reply, "Didn't you read The Lord of the Rings in high school?" to which Joey responds, "No, I had sex in high school."
In addition to spoofing elements of The Lord of the Rings, South Park has a nurse with a conjoined twin fetus on her head called Nurse Gollum.
In the movie Spy Kids: Island of Lost Dreams, Junie picks up a necklace. When he needs to return to its pedestal, he says 'My Precious' in a voice like Gollum's.
The TV show Babylon 5 (1993-1998) includes occasional homages to The Lord of the Rings, as well as epic themes drawn from similar mythological roots. See Babylon 5 influences for a more detailed exploration.
In The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy episode Here Thar Be Dwarves, Billy finds his way to the Dwarves stronghold Boringya. There Dwarves leader "Beardbottom" tells him about the on-going Dwarves' war with Elves over the monopoly on the cookie industry, and asks him for an aid in the big final assault on an Elves Cookie Factory. A flashback about the origins of the war is a nod to the Council of Elrond, where the races are shown dividing up a monopol on the fast-food industry.
In an episode of The Venture Bros one of The Monarch's henchmen had a Aragorn toy sword.
The TV show Gilmore Girls often has references to The Lord of the Rings in various episodes.
In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 episode The King one of the warriors says Gandalf's line "You shall not pass!"
In an episode of The Simpsons, the family goes to a dude ranch. While there they are taken on a picnic by Cookie, the ranch owner. After finishing Cookie calls "Cleany" to come clean up. Cleany's movements and mannerisms are modeled precisely after Gollum and he refers to the garbage as his "precious." Cleany was voiced by Andy Serkis.
In Disney's sequel to The Emperor's New Groove, Kronk's New Groove, Yzma causes people in a retirement home to become addicted to a "youth potion" that is actually green water. When Kronk buys out the retirement home, Rudy (the old man that Emperor Kuzco had thrown out the window in the first movie) comes and begs for a spot. When Kronk takes out the "potion," Rudy jumps up and takes it out of his hand and then bends his back, rubbing the potion. Imitating Gollum, he then said, "My precious...Kronk just wants it all for himself!"
In an episode of Family Guy, Stewie is at the park. When he sees another kid at the jungle gym Stewie pushes the kid on the ground and says "Cry, cry like Sauron when he lost his contacts." The scene then shifts to a cutaway showing the Eye of Sauron frantically searching for his lost contact.
On another episode of Family Guy, there is a scene that also parodies the movie Poltergeist as well as The Lord of the Rings. Chris is thrown from his bedroom window into the clutches of a living tree. The scene eventually parodies the epic confrontation between Gandalf and the Balrog as seen in The Lord of the Rings when Herbert the Creepy Old Paedophile shows up to save Chris. Herbert recites the film trilogy Gandalf's line, "You shall not pass!".
In the episode "Whoever Did This" of The Sopranos, two children play with bows and arrows while quoting lines from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. As a result, one of the children (the son of capo Ralphie Cifareto) is fatally wounded by an arrow to the chest.
In the episode "Two Birds of a Feather" of Magnum, P.I., a scene showing Magnum and his friends during the Vietnam War, his team uses the codename "Frodo" while trying to contact "Gandalf" to get air support.
The episode "D & DD" of the animated series Dexter's Laboratory spoofs Dungeons and Dragons in general (even mentioning a warrior called "Gygax"), but inserts references to Middle-earth. Dexter is forced to play as "Hodo the Furry-footed Burrower", a hobbit/halfling whose name is possibly a combination of "Hobbit" and "Frodo".
Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report has made several references to both The Lord of the Rings, and Middle-earth on his show. He has referenced the Eye of Mordor, Sauron, Mount Doom, Balrogs, Melkor, Maiar, and Valar
In the movie Clerks II, A lead character Randal has an argument with supporting character Elias and a customer over the quality of the Star Wars trilogies and The Lord of the Rings. Randal equates the Lord of The Rings movies as being three movies about walking. The first movie is demonstrated by Randal taking an exaggerated step while blank-faced; the second by tripping and looking back and down mid-walk; the third consisting of the same walk, culminating in a gesture to remove the ring from the finger and toss it downward. Before the film was made, director Kevin Smith had done the exact same thing during an appearance on The Tonight Show.
In the movie Bring It On Again one of the girls calls another girl a Hobbit.
Talk show host Rush Limbaugh once described himself as a black smoke from Mordor (as if hindering the Democratic party).
In the Stargate Atlantis episode "Critical Mass", Dr. Bill Lee uses the lighting of the beacons of Gondor to explain his idea of relaying a message to Atlantis.
In the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "Partying is Such Sweet Soiree", when Mac goes on a sugar-high rampage, he pets sugar-related objects and says, "My precious..." imitating Gollum.

Also, in another episode, the foster home is being 'besieged' in a scene that parodies the siege of Helm's Deep.

In the cartoon Squirrel Boy, a Nazgûl comes to the family's house and summons them to 'the Lord of the sing's' in one episode.
In the W.I.T.C.H. episode "G is for Garbage", when Irma and Blunk go to Blunk's hideout, Blunk says, "My precious..." while loving his trash, and he even sounds like Gollum.
In the flim Brick the character called The Pin extols the quality of Tolkien's writing to Brendan.
In the TV series "Bones", FBI Agent Seeley Booth countered Temperance Brennan's suspicions of voodoo: "and then we just toss the ring into the molten river, and blah blah blah" ("The Man in the Morgue").
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was mocked by Mystery Science Theater 3000 alumni Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy in an audio commentary for Nelson's RiffTrax service. However, Nelson has publicly stated that unlike most of the films featured on the service, he actually likes the film.
In the Sex and the City episode "Splat!", Carrie is asked to bring a date to a party for a work colleague, Enid (Candice Bergen). Carrie insists that the date, played by Wallace Shawn is very sweet, to which Enid responds furiously "He's a Hobbit!"

Computer and video games

In the MMORPG RuneScape, there is an inn called "The Dancing Donkey", which is a spoof of the Prancing Pony.
In the Adventure game Dreamfall, the character of Crow mentions that he was 'sidekick of the year', he then says he lost next year to 'some fat short guy, all he did was carry someone up a mountain', alluding to Sam carrying Frodo.
In Neopets, an item that can be caught in Underwater Fishing is the Two Ring, spoofing the One Ring.
In Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, the weapon known as "Elven Bow" has the description "A heroic elf used this to return a lost ring."
In World of WarCraft, one can fish a ring called "The 1 Ring" from various locations. When read, the description says: "Not quite good as the 2 Ring."

RiffTrax.com: The Fellowship of the Ring announcement