Exploring Tolkien

Exploring Tolkien


Latest Episodes

72. Adapting Lord of the Rings, Cutting up the Story, and Dropping the Poetry
October 16, 2023

We jump into the deep end of analyzing Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings as we look at every film change he made!

71. An Interview with Lord of the Rings Screenwriter Philippa Boyens
October 02, 2023

Lord of the Rings screenwriter Philippa Boyens discusses her approach to writing the film.

70. An Interview with Viggo Mortensen
September 25, 2023

Viggo is thoughtful and soft-spoken, but has a driven personality that allows him to inhabit roles like Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings.

69. Music is Escape : An Interview with Jeff Johnson - Musician, Composer, Producer
September 18, 2023

If you haven't listened to Jeff Johnson's music yet, you're missing out.

68. An Interview with Liv Tyler and Orlando Bloom
September 11, 2023

In this episode, Liv Tyler and Orlando Bloom joined us to talk their thoughts about the films, their careers, and the crazy premiere in Wellington for Return of the King.

67. An Interview with Ian McKellen : He Read Tolkien EVERY NIGHT Before Filming
September 04, 2023

Peter Jackson's Gandalf answered our questions earnestly and thoughtfully--particularly when discussing wisdom and fidelity to Tolkien's books.

66. Happily Ever After isn’t Enough - On Fairy Stories, Part 6
August 28, 2023

In this final part of Tolkien's essay, we look at Consolation and Eucatastrophe and how important they are to this literary art.

65. Escape Isn't Possible with "Modern" Storytelling - On Fairy Stories, Part 5
August 21, 2023

What are we supposed to recover from? And why do fairy stories provide it? And why do we need to escape? And how do fairy stories break us out?

64. Movies are NOT Sub-Creation - On Fairy Stories, Part 4
August 14, 2023

When Tolkien talks about Fantasy, he doesn't simply mean fiction stories set in sword-and-sorcery worlds.

63. Kids Ruin Everything - On Fairy Stories, Part 3
August 07, 2023

Tolkien pushes back against the coupling of fairy-stories and children! True fairy-story is where literary belief and subcreation are fully realized.