62. Tolkien Still Matters : with Nick Groom, author of Tolkien in the 21st Century
This week Michael and I talked with Professor Nick Groom, author of Tolkien in the 21st Century: The Meaning of Middle-earth Today, releasing Sept. 5, 2023 (apologies for some some of the echo in the ...
1 Aug 20230s
61. An Interview with Peter Jackson : It’s for the fans!
On December 2, 2003, I was invited to join a few other journalists to interview the actors and crew of The Lord of the Rings. For me (Jonathan), for a “kid” in his mid-20s who turned a website into on...
25 Jul 202328min
60. The Origins of Fantasy – A Soup with Distance and Time: On Fairy Stories, Part 2
Diving into what the origin of fairy stories is, we realize–once again–that Tolkien doesn’t give us an encyclopedic answer, but instead lays out some boundaries that help us better understand where fa...
18 Jul 202346min
59. Talking Tolkien with Renowned Artist Ted Nasmith
Ted Nasmith has been creating visions of Middle-earth since the early 1970s when he decided to send JRR Tolkien one of his early pieces–and the professor responded with encouragement! In addition to ...
11 Jul 202347min
58. Is Star Wars a Fairy Story? – On Fairy Stories, Part 1
This week, Michael, Dan, and I discuss the first part of Tolkien’s seminal essay “On Fairy Stories”, where Tolkien defines what a fairy (aka fantasy) story is. Why is this important? Well, the “fairy ...
4 Jul 20230s
57. This is the (raw) Meat – The Silmarillion – A Final Look – The Silmarillion – 37
In our final episode discussing The Silmarillion, we each get our own “Big Thought” (sorry Dan!)… We look at how Tolkien created “high beauty”, how this book truly shows Tolkien’s “Strong Women”, and ...
27 Jun 20230s
56. Make Tolkien Great Again – Of the Rings of Power, Part 2 – The Silmarillion – 36
** Use the code “GREAT” at https://shop.theonering.com to get $2 off anything! ** It’s hard to believe, but this week we finish “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”–the last chapter of The Silmar...
20 Jun 20230s
55. The Chuck E. Cheese of Middle-earth – Of the Rings of Power, Part 1 – The Silmarillion – 35
Many of us endured Amazon’s Rings of Power show last year… and now we’ve finally reached that part of The Silmarillion. Of course, here we actually talk about the Rings more than they were featured in...
13 Jun 20230s
