title: Robert Smalls

text: In 1875, he opposed the transfer of troops out of the South, fearing the effect of such a move on the safety of Blacks in the South. During consideration of a bill to reduce and restructure the United States Army, Smalls introduced an amendment that "Hereafter in the enlistment of men in the Army...no distinction whatsoever shall be made on account of race or color." However, the amendment was not considered by Congress. He was the last Republican elected from the 5th district until 2010 when Mick Mulvaney took office. He was the second-longest serving African-American member of Congress (behind his contemporary Joseph Rainey) until the mid-20th century.


title: Robert Smalls

text: After the Compromise of 1877, the U.S. government withdrew its remaining forces from South Carolina and other Southern states. Conservative Southern Bourbon Democrats, who called themselves the Redeemers, had resorted to violence and election fraud to regain control of the state legislature. As part of wide-ranging white efforts to reduce African-American political power, Smalls was charged and convicted of taking a bribe five years earlier in connection with the awarding of a printing contract. He was pardoned as part of an agreement by which charges were also dropped against Democrats accused of election fraud.


title: Robert Smalls

text: The scandal took a political toll, and he was defeated by Democrat George D. Tillman in 1878, and again, narrowly, in 1880. He successfully contested the 1880 result and regained the seat in 1882. In 1884, he was elected to fill a seat in a different district. He was nominated for Senate but defeated by Wade Hampton in December 1884. During this period in Congress he supported racial integration legislation, supported a pension for the widow of his former Major General, David Hunter, and advised South Carolina Blacks to refrain from emigrating to the North and Midwest or to Liberia.


title: Robert Smalls

text: In 1890, he was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison as collector of the Port of Beaufort, a position he held until 1913 except during Democrat Grover Cleveland's second term. Smalls was active into the twentieth century. He was "the leading colored delegate" to the 1895 South Carolina constitutional convention. Together with five other Black politicians, he strongly opposed the dominant Democratic white delegates as they implacably wrote disfranchisement of the state's Black citizens into the proposed constitution. Seeking to publicize this blatantly discriminatory clause, they wrote an article for the "New York World". However, they were outnumbered, and the new constitution was adopted, as were similar state constitutions across the South. For many decades, these documents survived legal challenges that reached the US Supreme Court, resulting in both the exclusion of African Americans from political participation and the crippling of the Republican Party throughout the region.


title: Robert Smalls

text: In the late 1890s, he began to suffer from diabetes. He turned down an offer of a colonelcy of a Black regiment in the Spanish–American War and an appointment to the position of minister to Liberia.


title: Robert Smalls

text: Though Smalls was not officially involved with politics on the local level, he had some influence. In 1913, in one of his final actions as community leader, he played an important role in stopping a lynch mob from killing two Black suspects in the murder of a white man. He pressured the mayor, saying that Blacks he had sent throughout the city would burn the town if the mob was not stopped. The mayor and sheriff stopped the mob.


title: Robert Smalls

text: With his first wife Hannah Jones Smalls, whom he married on December 24, 1856, Robert Smalls had three children: Elizabeth Lydia (1858–1959; m. Samuel Jones Bampfield, nine living children); Robert Jr. (1861–1863), who died at age two; and Sarah Voorhies (1863–1920, m. Dr. Jay Williams, no children). Hannah Jones Smalls had two daughters before she met and married Robert Smalls: Charlotte Jones (m. Willie Williams) and Clara Jones (m. James Rider). Smalls and his family were affiliated with the Baptist Church and attended Berean Baptist Church when living in Washington, D.C. Smalls was a Prince Hall mason as a member of Sons of Beaufort Lodge #36.


title: Robert Smalls

text: Hannah Smalls died on July 28, 1883. On April 9, 1890, Robert Smalls married Annie E. Wigg, a Charleston schoolteacher, who bore him one son, William Robert Smalls (1892–1970). Annie Smalls died on November 5, 1895.


title: Robert Smalls

text: Smalls died of malaria and diabetes on February 23, 1915, at the age of 75. He was buried in his family's plot in the churchyard of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in downtown Beaufort. The monument to Smalls in this churchyard is inscribed with his 1895 statement to the South Carolina legislature: "My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life."


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: Brahmo Samaj (, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: It was one of the most influential religious movements in India and made a significant contribution to the making of modern India. It was started at Calcutta on 20 August 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Dwarkanath Tagore as reformation of the prevailing Brahmanism of the time (specifically Kulin practices) and began the Bengal Renaissance of the 19th century pioneering all religious, social and educational advance of the Hindu community in the 19th century. Its Trust Deed was made in 1830 formalising its inception and it was duly and publicly inaugurated in January 1830 by the consecration of the first house of prayer, now known as the Adi Brahmo Samaj. From the "Brahmo Samaj" springs Brahmoism, the most recent of legally recognised religions in India and Bangladesh, reflecting its foundation on reformed spiritual Hinduism with vital elements of Judeo-Islamic faith and practice.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: The Brahmo Samaj literally denotes community () of men who worship Brahman the highest reality. In reality Brahmo Samaj does not discriminate between caste, creed or religion and is an assembly of all sorts and descriptions of people without distinction, meeting publicly for the sober, orderly, religious and devout adoration of ""the (nameless) unsearchable Eternal, Immutable Being who is the Author and Preserver of the Universe"."


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: The following doctrines, as noted in Renaissance of Hinduism, are common to all varieties and offshoots of the "Brahmo Samaj":


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: Anusthanic Brahmos comprise Adi Brahmos, Adi Dharmaites and many Sadharan Brahmos. Anusthanic Brahmos are exclusively adherents of the Brahmo religion and have no other faith.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: The concept of 'soul' is anathema to such Brahmos, being ruled out by the 1861 anusthan and is properly termed as "Being" (life). Every "unmortal" Being is a part of God (Singularity, the Author and Preserver of Existence) which is sent out for a mission ('Kriya') on completion of which it reintegrates (absorbs) with "God". For Anusthanic Brahmos the next step after death on this life (or any life) is reintegration and renewal with 'God'.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: Being is created from Singularity. Being is renewed to Singularity. Being exists to be one again with Loving Singularity.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: Ananusthanic Brahmos (ie. the non-anusthanic Brahmos) on the other hand have a different concept of "immortal" souls being eternally progressive towards God for its doings. This implies a Karmaic and fatalistic belief which is different to kriayic Brahmoism.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: On 20 August 1828 the first assembly of the "Brahmo Sabha" (progenitor of the Brahmo Samaj) was held at the North Calcutta house of "Feringhee" Kamal Bose. This day was celebrated by Brahmos as "Bhadrotsab" (ভাদ্রোৎসব "Bhadrotshôb" "Bhadro celebration"). These meetings were open to all Brahmins and there was no formal organisation or theology as such.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: On 8 January 1830 influential progressive members of the closely related Kulin Brahmin clan scurrilously described as Pirali Brahmin "ie." ostracised for service in the Mughal "Nizaamat" of Bengal) of Tagore ("Thakur") and Roy "zameendar" family mutually executed the Trust deed of Brahmo Sabha for the first Adi Brahmo Samaj (place of worship) on Chitpore Road (now Rabindra Sarani), Kolkata, India with Ram Chandra Vidyabagish as first resident superintendent.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: On 23 January 1830 or 11th "Magh", the "Adi Brahmo" premises were publicly inaugurated (with about 500 Brahmins and 1 Englishman present). This day is celebrated by Brahmos as "Maghotsab" (মাঘোৎসব "Maghotshôb" "Magh celebration").


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: In November 1830 Rammohun Roy left for England. Akbar II had conferred the title of 'Raja' to Rammohun Roy.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: By the time of Rammohun's death in 1833 near Bristol (UK), attendance at the "Sabha" dwindled and the Telugu Brahmins revived idolatry. The "zameendars", being preoccupied in business, had little time for affairs of "Sabha", and flame of "Sabha" was almost extinguished.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: On 6 October 1839, Debendranath Tagore, son of Dwarkanath Tagore, established "Tattvaranjini Sabha" which was shortly thereafter renamed the Tattwabodhini ("Truth-seekers") Sabha. Initially confined to immediate members of the Tagore family, in two years it mustered over 500 members. In 1840, Debendranath published a Bangla translation of "Katha Upanishad". A modern researcher describes the Sabha's philosophy as "modern middle-class (bourgeois) Vedanta.". Among its first members were the "two giants of Hindu reformation and Bengal Renaissance", Akshay Kumar Datta, who in 1839 emerged from the life of an "anonymous squalor-beset individual", and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the "indigenous modernizer".


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: On 7th Pous 1765 Shaka (1843) Debendranath Tagore and twenty other Tattwabodhini stalwarts were formally invited by Pt. Vidyabagish into the Trust of Brahmo Sabha. The Pous Mela at Santiniketan starts on this day. From this day forth, the Tattwabodhini Sabha dedicated itself to promoting Ram Mohan Roy's creed. The other Brahmins who swore the First Covenant of Brahmoism are:-


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: In 1861 the Brahmo "Somaj" (as it was spelled then) was founded at Lahore by Nobin Roy. It included many Bengalis from the Lahore Bar Association. Many branches were opened in the Punjab, at Quetta, Rawalpindi, Amritsar etc.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: Disagreement with the Tattvabodhini came to a head publicly between the period of 1 August 1865 till November 1866 with many tiny splinter groups styling themselves as "Brahmo". The most notable of these groups styled itself "Brahmo Samaj of India". This period is also referred to in the histories of the secessionists as the "First Schism".


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: Swami Vivekananda was influenced by the Brahmo Samaj of India, and visited the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in his youth.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: While the various Calcutta sponsored movements declined after 1920 and faded into obscurity after the Partition of India, the Adi Dharm creed has expanded and is now the 9th largest of India's enumerated religions with 7.83 million adherents, heavily concentrated between the states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. In the Indian census of 2001 only 177 persons declared themselves a "Brahmo", but the number of subscriber members to Brahmo Samaj is somewhat larger at around 20,000 members.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: In matters of social reform the Brahmo samaj attacked many dogmas and superstitions. It condemned the prevailing Hindu prejudice against going abroad (Kala pani). The samaj condemned practice of Sati (burning of widows), discouraged child marriage and polygamy, and crusaded for widow remarriage. The samaj attacked casteism and untouchability, though in these matters it attained only limited success. The influence of the Brahmo samaj however didn't go much beyond Calcutta, at most, Bengal. It didn't have lasting impact.


title: Brahmo Samaj

text: After the controversy of underage marriage of Keshub Chunder Sen's daughter, the "Special Marriages Act of 1872" was enacted to set the minimum age of 14 years for marriage of girls. All Brahmo marriages were thereafter solemnised under this law. Many Indians resented the requirement of the affirmation "I am not Hindu, nor a Mussalman, nor a Christian" for solemnising a marriage under this Act. The requirement of this declaration was imposed by Henry James Sumner Maine, legal member of Governor General's Council appointed by Britain. The 1872 Act was repealed by the Special Marriage Act, 1954 under which any person of any religion could marry. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 applies to all Hindus (including "followers" of the Brahmo Samaj) but not to the adherents of the Brahmo religion.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball", sometimes known as "The River Kwai March", is a World War II British song, the lyrics of which, sung to the tune of the World War I-era "Colonel Bogey March", impugn the masculinity of Nazi leaders by alleging they had missing, deformed, or undersized testicles. Multiple variant lyrics exist, but the most common version refers to rumours that Adolf Hitler had monorchism ("one ball"), and accuses Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler of microorchidism ("two but very small") and Joseph Goebbels of anorchia ("no balls at all"). An alternate version suggests Hitler's missing testicle is displayed as a war trophy in the Royal Albert Hall.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: The author of the lyrics is unknown, though several claims have been made. The song first appeared among British soldiers in 1939 and was quickly taken up by Allied military and civilians. Its familiarity increased after its use in a scene in the 1957 film "The Bridge on the River Kwai". The song has been cited as an example of morally-correct disrespect that used political mockery to boost morale in wartime.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: The opening line is a reference to widespread rumours that Adolf Hitler suffered from monorchism ("one ball" meaning one testicle). The second and third lines similarly attack Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring and SS chief Heinrich Himmler by suggesting they suffered from microorchidism ("very small" testicles).


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: In the fourth line, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels's name is often mispronounced "go-balls" so that it rhymes with the accusation of anorchia ("no balls" meaning no testicles).


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: The lyrics attack Nazi leaders' masculinity by mocking and belittling their alleged testicular deformities.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: University of Kent psychology professor Janet Sayers wrote that the song was a response by the Allies to the use of "male fantasy" in Nazi propaganda.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: According to Brian O. Murdoch, a philologist with the University of Stirling, a notable aspect of the lyrics is that they attack enemy leaders, but not the enemy in general.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: According to Kelley, in claiming that Hitler had only one testicle, the opening line suggests that Hitler had less than the normal amount of sexual prowess and, symbolically, courage.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Mad studies scholar Richard A. Ingram wrote that the accusation of monorchidism in the song alluded to the theory that monorchidism caused Hitler to be insane, in the same way that lone nut' retains the idea of a causal relationship between monotesticularity and madness."


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Jason Lee of De Montfort University wrote, "Just as Shakespeare used a disability based on some fact to construct Richard III's character, in the case of Hitler disability is equated with not just moral weakness but evil."


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: University of Stirling philosophy professor Rowan Cruft describes the song as an example of morally-appropriate disrespect, writing "Hitler's actions made it morally correct to show him disrespect" by singing the song.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: All known versions of the original verse end with "no balls at all". According to Kelley, "in this musical catalogue of testicular disorders, the definitive last entry is always anorchismthe physical signifier of a lack of courage or character."


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville philosophy professor Greg Littmann writes that the song is an example of political mockery used to build a "fighting spirit".


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University lecturer Joanna Jabłońska-Hood describes the song as using comedy to attack the masculinity of Nazi leaders, turning them from symbols of strength to objects of pity. According to Jabłońska-Hood, the apparent contradiction of high-ranking Nazi leaders being pitied mirrors the juxtaposition of the cheerful, upbeat tune of Colonel Bogey March with the "grim subject" of the lyrics.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: University of Nottingham music professor Mervyn Cooke describes the tune as "reflect[ing] the moods of humour in adversity and pride in the resilience of the underdog".


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: In addition to the common reference to Hitler's rumoured monorchidism, these versions suggest he was abused by his mother, and that Hitler's severed testicle ultimately became a war trophy on public display in the Royal Albert Hall.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Variations of the "Albert Hall" lyrics were still sung by schoolchildren in the London neighbourhoods of Finsbury in 1983 and Kensington in 1984.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Regional variations found in other areas of the United Kingdom use (for example) Ulster Hall (Northern Ireland), Kelvin Hall (Glasgow), Free Trade Hall (Manchester), and Leeds Town Hall (Leeds).


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: After Hitler's death at the end of World War II, later versions changed the first line to the past-tense: "Hitler, he only had one ball".


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Other postwar variations of the first line included "only one big ball" and "only one left ball" (which latter folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber calls "a curious description, given that having one left testicle is considered the norm"). Another variation, "only one meat ball", emerged in the mid-1940s after The Andrews Sisters version "One Meat Ball".


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: According to folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber, there is a less common second verse:


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Erwin Rommel, the decorated German field marshal known as the "Desert Fox" and more respected (or at least less hated) than the Nazi officials named in the first verse, is implied to be hypermasculine by virtue of having extra testicles.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: This verse's second line is a reference to the mystery surrounding the capture and imprisonment in 1941 of Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess. Hess secretly flew to Scotland to attempt to negotiate a peace treaty, but was arrested by the British and imprisoned for life.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: The third line is an American addition referencing German boxer Max Schmeling, whose success was touted by Nazi propaganda as evincing Aryan superiority.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Schmeling was defeated in 1938 by African-American boxer Joe Louis, "letting out a high-pitched cry" when Louis landed a decisive punch. This "yell heard around the world" became a symbol of American victory over Nazism.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: An adaptation of the World War I-era "Colonel Bogey March", "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" first appeared among British troops in 1939.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: The exact origins of the lyrics (which are listed as number 10,493 in the Roud Folk Song Index) are unknown, and though there have been several claims of authorship there have apparently been no attempts to claim copyright.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Author Donough O'Brien stated in his autobiography that his father, Toby O'Brien, then a publicist for the British Council, wrote the lyrics in August 1939 to be used as wartime propaganda.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: The version purportedly authored by O'Brien begins "Göring has only got one ball, Hitler had two but very small", while almost all other versions have the order reversed ("Hitler has only got one ball, Göring had two but very small").


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: British composer and broadcaster Hubert Gregg claimed to have written the lyrics and submitted them anonymously to the British War Office to be used as wartime propaganda.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: According to folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber, such claims by O'Brien and Gregg are "dubious"governments rarely use humour as propaganda because such efforts are largely unsuccessful.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: According to Kelley, another possible explanation for the song's origin is that the lyrics developed organically from the difficulty English speakers had pronouncing Goebbels's name (in the song, "Goebbels" is mispronounced "go-balls").


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: In his purportedly factual 2001 BBC radio play "Dear Dr. Goebbels", British screenwriter Neville Smith suggested that an undercover MI6 agent in Germany named Philip Morgenstern wrote the lyrics and used the song as a means to transmit intelligence to Britain concerning private details about Joseph Goebbels (the last line of the adaptation's first verse is "But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all").


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Brian O. Murdoch, a philologist with the University of Stirling, wrote that the adaptation was an oral composition that likely originated in London.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Murdoch stated that the opening line may have originated from various folk sources, such as the Irish ballad Sam Hall (which, in some versions, includes the lyric "Oh my name it is Sam Hall / and I've only got one ball").


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: According to Scottish poet Alan Bold, the last line may have been influenced by an earlier song called "No Balls At All", itself a parody of an Air Force song called "No Bombs At All", which in turn was a parody of a song about women's clothing called "Nothing to Wear".


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Its use in David Lean's 1957 film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" led to the Mitch Miller band recording a best-selling version under the title "The River Kwai March".


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: In Lean's early conception of the film, Allied soldiers in a Japanese prison camp would sing the song as an act of defiance.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: But after the widow of the composer of "Colonel Bogey March" objected to the bawdy lyrics, Lean decided that if the soldiers simply whistled the tune the audience would supply the lyrics mentally.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: Since then the song has been the subject of numerous cultural references, both comedic and controversial.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: When, in 1980, The King's Own Calgary Regiment Band played the "Colonel Bogey March" (its official march) during a visit to Canada by Japan's prime minister, it was perceived as an insult to Japan,


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: A 2003 advertisement for Spitfire ale showed a picture of Hitler in military uniform with the caption "Spot the ball".


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: In 2007, "The Armstrong and Miller Show" aired a comedy sketch mocking theories that the song had originated as a British intelligence report. In the sketch, a military officer reads the incoming report, which an intelligence agent describes as "possibly the single biggest intelligence coup of the war" (brackets in the original):


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: In the 2010s, the video game series "Sniper Elite" alluded to the song by including the ability to shoot off Hitler's single testicle with a rifle.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: At the 2016 Winnipeg Comedy Festival, comedian Lara Rae referenced the song in a joke about the dangers of cats being neutered by non-professionals who might not complete the task: "It might start out okay, but you really have to finish the job. A cat with no balls is mellow; a cat with one ball is Hitler."


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: A 2019 episode of the American television series "The Man in the High Castle" shares its title with the song and features a scene in which it is sung.


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: In Germany, the song has been used in advertisements for the digestif Underberg, and in Japan, where it has been used in game shows and children's shows. Thomas Jefferson School of Law professor Aaron Schwabach described the song's appropriation not just by Britain's allies but also by its former enemies, whom the lyrics attack, as a form of "cultural transformation" that is "an essential tool of cultural survival in a global era".


title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

text: According to folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber, these comedic references have been effective for nearly a century after the war engendering theories of Hitler's actual monorchism in the public consciousness.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: The Legend of the White Snake is a Chinese legend. It has since been presented in a number of major Chinese operas, films, and television series.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: The earliest attempt to fictionalize the story in printed form appears to be "The White Maiden Locked for Eternity in the Leifeng Pagoda" () in Feng Menglong's "Stories to Caution the World", which was written during the Ming dynasty.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: The legend is now counted as one of China's Four Great Folktales, the others being "Lady Meng Jiang", "Butterfly Lovers", and "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl".


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals, disguises himself as a "tangyuan" vendor at the Broken Bridge near the West Lake in Hangzhou. A boy called Xu Xian () buys some "tangyuan" from Lü Dongbin without knowing that they are actually immortality pills. After eating them, he does not feel hungry for the next three days so he goes back to ask the vendor why. Lü Dongbin laughs and carries Xu Xian to the bridge, where he flips him upside-down and causes him to vomit the "tangyuan" into the lake.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: In the lake dwells a white snake spirit who has been practicing Taoist magical arts. She eats the pills and gains 500 years' worth of magical powers. She, therefore, feels grateful to Xu Xian, and their fates become intertwined. There is another terrapin (or tortoise) spirit also training in the lake who did not manage to consume any of the pills; he is very jealous of the white snake. One day, the white snake sees a beggar on the bridge who has caught a green snake and wants to dig out the snake's gall and sell it. The white snake transforms into a woman and buys the green snake from the beggar, thus saving the green snake's life. The green snake is grateful to the white snake and she regards the white snake as an elder sister.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: Eighteen years later, during the Qingming Festival, the white and green snakes transform themselves into two young women called Bai Suzhen () and Xiaoqing (), respectively. They meet Xu Xian at the Broken Bridge in Hangzhou. Xu Xian lends them his umbrella because it is raining. Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen gradually fall in love and are eventually married. They move to Zhenjiang, where they open a medicine shop.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: In the meantime, the terrapin spirit has accumulated enough powers to take on human form, so he transforms into a Buddhist monk called Fahai (). Still angry with Bai Suzhen, Fahai plots to break up her relationship with Xu Xian. He approaches Xu Xian and tells him that during the Duanwu Festival his wife should drink realgar wine, an alcoholic drink commonly consumed during that festival. Bai Suzhen unsuspectingly drinks the wine and reveals her true form as a large white snake. Xu Xian dies of shock after seeing that his wife is not human. Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing travel to Mount Emei, where they brave danger to steal a magical herb that restores Xu Xian to life.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: After coming back to life, Xu Xian still maintains his love for Bai Suzhen despite knowing her true nature. Fahai tries to separate them again by capturing Xu Xian and imprisoning him at the Jinshan Temple. Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing fight with Fahai to rescue Xu Xian. During the battle, Bai Suzhen uses her powers to flood the temple, causing collateral damage and drowning many innocent people in the process. However, her powers are limited because she is already pregnant with Xu Xian's child, so she fails to save her husband. Xu Xian later manages to escape from Jinshan Temple and reunite with his wife in Hangzhou, where Bai Suzhen gives birth to their son, Xu Mengjiao (). Fahai tracks them down, defeats Bai Suzhen and imprisons her in Leifeng Pagoda. Xiaoqing flees, vowing vengeance.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: Twenty years later, Xu Mengjiao earns the position of "zhuangyuan" (top scholar) in the imperial examination and returns home in glory to visit his parents. At the same time, Xiaoqing, who had spent the intervening years refining her powers, goes to the Jinshan Temple to confront Fahai and defeats him. Bai Suzhen is freed from Leifeng Pagoda and reunited with her husband and son, while Fahai flees and hides inside the stomach of a crab. There is a saying that a crab's internal fat is orange because it resembles the color of Fahai's "kasaya".


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: The white snake was simply known as the "White Lady" or "White Maiden" () in the original tale in Feng Menglong's "Stories to Caution the World". The name "Bai Suzhen" was created in a later era.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: The original story was a story of good and evil, with the Buddhist monk Fahai setting out to save Xu Xian's soul from the white snake spirit, who was depicted as an evil demon. Over the centuries, however, the legend has evolved from a horror tale to a romance story, with Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian being genuinely in love with each other even though their relationship is forbidden by the laws of nature.


title: Legend of the White Snake

text: Some adaptations of the legend in theater, film, television and other media have made extensive modifications to the original story, including the following:


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: The motto is French for "God and my right", meaning that the king is "": King of England "by the grace of God". It is used to imply that the monarch of a nation has a God-given (divine) right to rule.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: For the Royal coat of arms of the Kingdom of England to have a French rather than English motto was not unusual, given that Norman French was the primary language of the English Royal Court and ruling class following the rule of William the Conqueror of Normandy and later the Plantagenets. Another Old French phrase also appears in the full achievement of the Royal Arms. The motto of the Order of the Garter, ("Spurned be the one who thinks ill of it"), appears on a representation of a garter behind the shield. Modern French spelling has changed to , but the motto has not been updated.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: has been translated in several ways, including "God and my right", "God and my right hand", "God and my lawful right", and "God and my right shall me defend".


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: The literal translation of is "God and my right". However, "Kearsley's Complete Peerage", published in 1799, translates it to mean "God and my right hand" (in standard French that would be , not ). The Kearsley volume appeared during publication of the 1st edition (1796–1808) of the German , which emphasised the raising of the "right hand" during installations and coronations of German Kings.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: has generally been used as the motto of English monarchs, and later by British monarchs, since being adopted by Henry V. It was first used as a battle cry by King Richard I in 1198 at the Battle of Gisors, when he defeated the forces of Philip II of France and after he made it his motto. The belief in medieval Europe was not that victory automatically went to the side with the better army but that, as with personal trial by combat, to the side that God viewed with favour. Hence Richard wrote after his victory "It is not us who have done it but God and our right through us". So after his victories on the crusades "Richard was speaking what he believed to be the truth when he told the Holy Roman Emperor: '.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: Alternatively, the Royal Arms may depict a monarch's personal motto. For example, Elizabeth I and Queen Anne's often displayed ; Latin for "Always the same", and James I's depicted , Latin for "Blessed are the peacemakers".


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: has been adopted along with the rest of the Royal Coat of Arms by "The Times" as part of its masthead. When it incorporated the Coat of Arms in 1875, half the newspapers in London were also doing so. Since 1982 the paper abandoned the use of the current Royal Coat of Arms and returned to using the Hanoverian coat of arms of 1785.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: Versions of the Coat of Arms, with the motto, is used by various newspapers, including Melbourne's "The Age" in Australia, Christchurch's "The Press" in New Zealand, the UK's "Daily Mail", and Canada's Victoria Times Colonist. It is also used in Hardwick Hall in England on the fireplace of The High Great Chamber, also known as the Presence Chamber, though there it reads , God is my right. instead creating an additional 'ES' monogram. The extra E and S are a superimposition on the original E. This was added at a later date after the original writing was put up; to deface the Royal Arms would have been very dangerous, hence why it was added later.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: It is also found on the official belt buckle of the Jamaica Constabulary Force; the front page of a British passport; the rank slide of a warrant officer in the British and other Commonwealth armed forces; the arms of the Supreme Court of Victoria and Supreme Court of New South Wales; and the crests of Hawthorn Rowing Club in Melbourne, Australia, Nottingham Law School, and Sherborne School.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: The coined phrase was also used by Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch's front gates. The crest on the main gates carried the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom, along with the phrase at the bottom.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: The motto was formerly included in a scroll on the Western Australia Police Force coat of arms, before being replaced with "Protect and Serve" when the organisation changed its name from Western Australia Police Force to Western Australia Police Service.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: It is also found on the Old Customs House in Sydney, Australia. The Royal Coat of Arms is intricately carved in sandstone, located above the main entry pediment.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: The Hearts of Oak, a revolutionary New York militia commanded by Alexander Hamilton, wore badges of red tin hearts on their jackets with the words "God and Our Right".


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: The phrase was the inspiration for a joke motto by The Beatles, "Duit on Mon Dei" ("Do it on Monday") and Harry Nilsson's 1975 album "Duit on Mon Dei".


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as consort of the British monarch, used a similar motto: "God Is My Help".


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: Other people considered the phrase (God is my right) means he was direct sovereign and not vassal of any other king.


title: Dieu et mon droit

text: Another example of is inscribed under the royal coat of arms on the over mantle of the High Great Chamber in Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire.


title: Commission (document)

text: A commission is a formal document issued to appoint a named person to high office or as a commissioned officer in a territory's armed forces. A commission constitutes documentary authority that the person named is vested with the powers of that office and is empowered to execute official acts. A commission often takes the form of letters patent.


title: Commission (document)

text: Commissions are typically issued in the name of or signed by the head of state. In Commonwealth realms, the documentation is referred to a King's Commission or Queen's Commission (depending on the gender of the reigning monarch). However, in Commonwealth realms other than the United Kingdom, they may be signed by the governor-general, the representative of the monarch of that realm.


title: Commission (document)

text: Because the word "commission" can also refer generally to an individual's duty, the more specific terms commissioning parchment or commissioning scroll are often used to specify the commissioning document. However the document is not usually in the form of a scroll and is more often printed on paper instead of parchment. In Canada, there is a differentiation in terminology according to rank; officers are accorded commissioning scripts.


title: Commission (document)

text: Canadian Commissioning Scripts, as they are properly called by NDHQ, are signed by the Governor General of Canada and countersigned by the Minister of National Defence, on behalf of the King of Canada.


title: Commission (document)

text: Officers in the Swedish Armed Forces have not received written commissions since 1982 when a new employment structure was instituted by law. They are nowadays hired on contracts, as in any other civil service position. Prior to 1982 all officers received written certificates of commission, each signed by the King of Sweden.


title: Commission (document)

text: The following is typical of the wording of a British commission, and comes from the Royal Naval Reserve:


title: Commission (document)

text: The above would be signed by the King (although a facsimile signature may be used) and countersigned by two members of the Admiralty Board.


title: Commission (document)

text: Before the Board of Admiralty were merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1964, with the title of Lord High Admiral reverting to the Crown, the naval officer's commission was signed not by the Sovereign but by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, executing the office of Lord High Admiral. The naval officer's commission was worded as follows:


title: Commission (document)

text: It was signed by two Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and a Secretary, i.e. a quorum of the Board of Admiralty.


title: Commission (document)

text: Article II, section 3, of the U.S. Constitution provides that the President "shall Commission all the Officers of the United States," including officers of the uniformed services as well as civilian officers. Commissions of officers in the armed services are issued in the name of the President, although authority to sign on the President's behalf is generally exercised by the secretary of the department in which the officer is being commissioned. This includes not only "commissioned officers" but also "commissioned warrant officers" (warrant officers in the pay grades of W-2 through W-5). Warrant officers at the grade of W-1 are appointed by warrant by the secretary of their respective service, except in the Coast Guard where they are appointed by secretarial commission.


title: Commission (document)

text: At higher grade levels, appointments (including promotions) require Senate confirmation, and the wording of the commission reflects that fact: "... I have nominated and, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, do appoint..."


title: Commission (document)

text: The Constitutional requirement mentioned above, that the President commission all officers of the United States, includes a wide range of civilian officials, including justices of the Supreme Court and other federal judges, the heads of executive departments, subcabinet level officials down to the level of assistant secretary, U.S. attorneys and marshals, diplomatic representatives, and members of the Foreign Service, among others. Commissions are issued in the name of the President, either under his own signature or that of an official delegated to act on his behalf, and under either the Great Seal of the United States or, the seal of the executive department in which the appointment is made.


title: Commission (document)

text: A typical commission for a Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed civilian official in the Executive Branch would read:


title: Commission (document)

text: For heads of executive departments and independent agencies, the Seal of the United States and the signature of the Secretary of State appears, but if the position is subordinate to the head of a different executive department, the seal of said executive department appears instead of the Seal of the United States and the signature of beforementioned head replaces the Secretary of State.


title: Commission (document)

text: For certain positions, other characteristics such as "prudence" (for ambassadors) or "wisdom, uprightness, and learning" (for judges) may be used in addition to or instead of "integrity and ability." If a position is for a fixed term of years or "during good behavior," the appropriate wording replaces the clause beginning "during the pleasure of the President."


title: Commission (document)

text: Commissions of officers in the U.S. Foreign Service are also signed by the President. The commission of a newly commissioned officer reads:


title: Commission (document)

text: The commission is countersigned by the Secretary of State, and the singular Great Seal of the United States, entrusted to the Secretary under the 1789 statute creating the Department of State, is affixed.


title: Commission (document)

text: Similar to the U.S. Constitution's provisions directing the President to commission executive officers of the U.S. Government, the state constitutions and/or laws provide for state (and sometimes local) officers to be commissioned; for example, Texas law directs the Texas governor to commission most state officers and elected county officers.


title: Commission (document)

text: A person applying for a license to be a notary public receives a "commission", generally indicating what political jurisdiction (state or District of Columbia) issued it, when it is valid (usually four years from issue) and the signature of the issuing authorities (usually the Governor and countersigned by the Secretary of State).


title: Middle-earth in film

text: J. R. R. Tolkien's novels "The Hobbit" (1937) and "The Lord of the Rings" (1954–55), set in Middle-earth, have been the subject of various film adaptations, whether for cinema or for television. There were many early failed attempts to bring the fictional universe to life in screen, some even rejected by the author himself, who was skeptical of the prospects of an adaptation. While animated and live-action shorts were made in 1967 and 1971, the first commercial depiction of the book onscreen was in an animated TV special in 1977. In 1978 the first big screen adaptation of the fictional setting was introduced in the animated "The Lord of the Rings".


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The rights to adapt Tolkien's works passed through the hands of several studios, having been briefly leased to Rembrandt films before being sold perpetually to United Artists, who then passed them in part to Saul Zaentz (which did business as Middle-earth Enterprises). During this time, filmmakers who attempted to adapt Tolkien's works include William Snyder, Peter Shaffer, John Boorman, Ralph Bakshi, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro. Other filmmakers and producers who were interested in an adaptation included Walt Disney, Al Brodax, Forrest J Ackerman, Samuel Gelfman, Denis O'Dell (who contacted David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Michelangelo Antonioni to direct), and Heinz Edelmann.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: New Line Cinema released the first part of director Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film series in 2001 as part of a trilogy and several actors and roles were introduced once again in a trilogy in "The Hobbit" film series. In 2017, Amazon co-operated with New Line to acquire the television rights to adapt set in a period glimpsed during a flashback in "The Lord of the Rings" films.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Collectively, the New Line franchise has received a record 37 Academy Award nominations, winning 17, and three special awards, also a record. Along with "The Godfather" film series, it is one of two film series to date to have received three Best Picture nominations. The third film in Peter Jackson's trilogy, "", was the first and, as of 2020, the only high-fantasy film to win Best Picture, as well as the second sequel to do so after "The Godfather Part II". Along with "Titanic" and "Ben-Hur", "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" holds the record for Academy Awards won by a single film (not including the two Technical Achievement Awards given to its crew) and is the only one of the three films to win every category for which it was nominated.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Well-received fan films of Middle-earth include "The Hunt for Gollum" and "Born of Hope", which were uploaded to YouTube on 8 May 2009 and 11 December 2009 respectively.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Tolkien watched films, but always had a mistrust of the medium and of his books' suitability for dramatization. He had received fanmail on the matter, some proposing to adapt the works to film and some encouraging him to refuse such proposals. Tolkien and his publishers, Allen and Unwin, were willing to play along with film proposals, on condition of having a veto on creative decisions or relinquishing those for a sufficient sum of money. Materials pertaining to the treatments of Ackerman, Boorman and Bakshi are stored in the Tolkien papers collection of Marquette University.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1938, just as Tolkien began to work on "The Lord of the Rings," Walt Disney considered adapting "The Hobbit" to animation. An animator of Disney's sent a memo suggesting that elements of "The Hobbit" and Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle could be incorporated into the in-the-making, Academy Award winning animated anthology film, "Fantasia". According to animator Wolfgang Reitherman, Walt Disney wanted to make a "Lord of the Rings" feature in the 1950s, but his storyboard artists deemed it too complex, lengthy and scary for a Disney feature. These attempts were the basis of the rumor (perpetuated later by Ralph Bakshi) that Disney held the rights to Tolkien's works before United Artists, which is untrue. On these rumors it was later said in the "New York Times" that Disney deemed that Tolkien's writings "lacked the kind of humor that audiences expect from Disney animation” and that "any attempt to alter Tolkien's story to inject such humor might result in bad will and vocal resentment among Tolkien devotees."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1972, storyboard artist Vance Gerry pitched an animated adaptation dedicated to "The Hobbit". He illustrated Bilbo, and produced a synopsis of the work, prefacing that the Disney studios had "never done a cartoon with this much story", admitting that "there are far more incidents in the story than we could ever use" and that "many sections are too frightening for our purposes."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In June 1956, animator Al Brodax reached out to Tolkien's publisher's with a proposal for an animated film adaptation of his works. The final volume of "The Lord of the Rings" had only just been published in the US, and did not yet achieve the commercial success it would later find with the counter-culture movement, but Brodax apparently wanted to adapt it to animation. Tolkien, nearing retirement and yet to see substantial commercial success from his writings, was cautiously interested, saying he should "welcome the idea" of a film, "quite apart from the glint of money", but nothing came out of it.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1956, Tolkien was approached by American agent Forrest J. Ackerman about producing an animated film based on Tolkien's work for the amateur screenwriter Morton Grady Zimmerman. Ackerman showed Tolkien artwork by Ron Cobb and pitched Zimmerman's story synopsis, according to which the story would be condensed to a three-hour film with two intermissions. Tolkien said it was described to him as an animated film, but he professed to being ignorant of the process, and it is possible that Ackerman wished to make a primarily live-action film, using animation, stop-motion and miniature photography. Cobb scouted locations around California, impressing Tolkien with pictures of mountains and deserts.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Tolkien already had objections – Lothlórien was described to him as a fairy-castle, and the story had been greatly condensed – but he liked the concept art, which he describes as akin to Arthur Rackham as opposed to Walt Disney, whom he loathed. While Tolkien noted that a film "would be pleasant", he delayed in reviewing the synopsis until urged by Unwin, and once he delivered his initial notes to Ackerman, the agent was granted a six-month option if he could find a producer to finance the project. He intended to make the film with American International Pictures, but president James Nicholson declined, as did other studio heads.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Tolkien was sent a 55-page treatment by Zimmerman, which he greatly disliked. Keeping his publisher's financial interests in mind (and his own, as he neared retirement), Tolkien was polite but largely criticized the script. He complained of divergence from not only the tone of the book (such as a "fairy-tale" depiction of Lothlórien, as well as elements cut "upon which [the book's] characteristic and peculiar tone principally depends") but also the character representation (such as Sam leaving Frodo to Shelob and going on to Mount Doom alone). He took issue with dialogue changes as regards to the "style and sentiment" of characters, and with intercutting between the storylines of Frodo and Aragorn. He suggested eliminating the battle of Helm's Deep to better emphasize the defence of Minas Tirith, and cutting characters out instead of diminishing their roles. Tolkien protested against added "incantations, blue lights, and some irrelevant magic" and "a preference for fights".


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Nevertheless, Tolkien did not wish to kill the project, saying "I think [it] promised well on the pictorial side." Ackerman filed to extend his lease to a year, but he was unable to pay for the extension, and negotiations ended. The treatment was criticised by Ian Nathan, Tom Shippey and others; Kristin Thompson noted the amateur nature of the enterprise, saying that it never represented a serious attempt to make a commercial film. Zimmerman, who avoided filmmaking after this ordeal, donated his script to the Tolkien collection.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1959, Tolkien entered brief negotiations with Robert Gutwillig to adapt "The Lord of the Rings". Tolkien told Gutwillig he had "given a considerable amount of time and thought" to a film adaptation, noting "some ideas concerning what I think would be desirable" as well as the "difficulties" involved. Tolkien spoke with Gutwillig's agent and producer, Samuel W. Gelfman. Their discussion was apparently amicable; Tolkien found Gelfman intelligent and reasonable, and Gelfman later recalled that they talked about the details of an adaptation. Tolkien directed Gelfman to his publishers, but nothing came out of it.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Tolkien later received a suggestion in fan-mail to have "The Hobbit" adapted to a serial in four intervals, which was declined by his publisher Rayner Unwin for its potential to "incarcerate us in the local odeons for nine or ten hours."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1961, William L. Snyder negotiated the rights to adapt "The Hobbit" to animation for his Oscar-winning company, Rembrandt films. He leased "The Hobbit" for five years. Due to a mishap in the publishing of the first edition, the book was public domain in the US; Snyder renegotiated the lease to give Tolkien and Unwin only a $15,000 advance. Tolkien thought Snyder was "sure to perpetrate [...] many objectionable things" but leased the rights to the producer in 1962. Snyder commissioned cartoonist Gene Deitch to write a script for a feature-length "Hobbit" cartoon; this took liberties with the text, inserting a princess of Dale who undertakes the Quest and ends up married to Bilbo. Deitch was unaware of "The Lord of the Rings" until later, when he incorporated the concept of the Ring of Power into the Gollum (or Goloom, as he is called in the piece) episode later in the writing, making a sequel based on "The Lord of the Rings" possible.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: When a deal with 20th Century Fox fell through and the rights were due to expire, Snyder commissioned Deitch to quickly make a condensed film to fulfil the requirements of the contract. The deal was for an animated, colour film but did not specify length; Deitch was told to compress the story into an animated short, screened in New York in 1967 to prolong Snyder's now-valuable lease on the rights.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Deitch's film was the first onscreen depiction of any of Tolkien's works, but it was little more than a narrated picture-book, with a narrator telling the 12-minute short story over a series of animation stills. It was exhibited only once, in a projection room at New York to around twelve spectators who were pulled from the street, provided the admission money by the exhibitors so that they could sign a document stating that they paid to see a colour film based on "The Hobbit".


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Deitch stated that the extended lease included the rights to "The Lord of the Rings", and that the rights to both novels were sold back to Tolkien for a higher price. However, publisher Sir Stanley Unwin maintains that Snyder continued to hold only the rights to "The Hobbit", and that they were then sold directly to United Artists when they secured the rights to "The Lord of the Rings".


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Tolkien negotiated television rights separately. Carole Ward suggested adapting "The Lord of the Rings" for television in 1964, to air on the newly launched BBC2. ITV launched a competing offer, according to which the book would be adapted via puppetry, which Tolkien found contemptuous. Another attempt at purchasing the television rights was made in 1968, which would have put it concurrently with the cinema rights being sold to United Artists.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The idea of live-action fantasy became fashionable in the early 1960s due to the success of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion productions. By 1967, Gelfman established Katzka-Bernie productions with Gabriel Katzka and entered negotiations with Tolkien to adapt "The Lord of the Rings" for United Artists, "with an option for "The Hobbit"." As was the case with Snyder, the emerging contracts would provide United Artists with complete creative freedom over the works, and even offered UA first bidding at the television rights, which were negotiated separately but never sold to them.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Meanwhile, a couple of American teenagers unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the rights to "The Hobbit". Joy Hill, Tolkien's secretary who worked for Allen & Unwin, was said to have contacted Disney for the rights at the time, and it was possible this was done to place United Artists in a competitive position. MGM were also said to have been interested in the rights at the time.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: United Artists were the studio behind several of the lucrative widescreen epics of the decade. In the 1960s, long widescreen epics (presented as a roadshow with an intermission) still proved successful, but few sequels were made in that genre, and therefore Katzka-Bernie commissioned Sir Peter Shaffer to write a treatment for a single, three-hour film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings", which was deemed "elegant", keeping "The Hobbit" in mind as a potential prequel. Merchandising was of little concern at the time, but the rights to make profit from such products were included in the contract.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Negotiations extended until 1969, when the rights were sold off for $250,000 (adjusted for inflation, the modern equivalent is about $1.5 million) and 7.5% of gross receipts, minus expenses, to be paid to Tolkien. Shaffer's script never got off the ground, but the rights were sold to United Artists in perpetuity, including the option to pass the rights to another studio. The singer Arlo Guthrie pitched an animated feature to the studio, but UA were adamant they wanted the film to be live-action, although the contract options an animated film.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Stanley Unwin suggested that Tolkien's inexperience in dealing with movie producers led to the generous conditions of the contract. Now elderly, Tolkien's desire to set up a trust fund for his grandchildren could indicate that he might not have expected to live and see the resulting film, and wanted to use the profits to take care of his ailing wife. The increase in income tax rates at the time decreased Tolkien's profits from book sales, and he expected a fall-off in the sales in years to come. In 1968, Tolkien expressed skepticism about adapting his works to film, saying "it's easier to film the Odyssey".


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The Beatles were on a three-picture deal with United Artists. Their previous two features, "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!", directed by Richard Lester, were successful. When it became clear that the animated "Yellow Submarine" would not count as part of this deal, Denis O'Dell (head of the Beatles' Apple Films) entered negotiations for their third film. He came up with the idea of a "Lord of the Rings" "multimedia musical extravaganza", starring the Beatles as the four Hobbits. He learned that United Artists were in negotiations for the rights.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In conversation with studio heads David and Arnold Picker, it was decided that a "star director" was required. O'Dell shortlisted David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, and Michelangelo Antonioni. Lean declined. O'Dell left to India to visit the Beatles, with the books in his suitcase. At the behest of Donovan, the band examined the books and began to think "seriously" about the idea. According to O'Dell, John Lennon fancied the role of Gandalf, but George Harrison recalled that Lennon then wanted to swap for Frodo. Ringo Starr wanted to play Sam, while Paul McCartney coveted Frodo. He told Jackson that Lennon would have been Gollum, Ringo Sam, and Harrison Gandalf. Donovan was keen on Merry, and they wanted Twiggy for Galadriel.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Kubrick declined, telling O'Dell the books were excellent, but "unfilmable". Kubrick had worked on genre films and had pioneered special effects in "2001: A Space Odyssey", but it proved complex to produce, and he had difficulty depicting the aliens onscreen, which would have made him wary of the prospect of rendering fantasy creatures. He was still promoting that film and it was not making the box-office returns that he had hoped for. Chris Conkling and Peter Jackson later said that making it live-action at the time was inconceivable; Ralph Bakshi said it could have been made, but would have been "very tacky."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Heinz Edelmann, a fan of the book and art director on "Yellow Submarine", pitched his own idea for an adaptation to United Artists. Thinking that a "straight" adaptation of the story was impossible, he wanted to do an animated film in the style of "Fantasia" or "rock opera" with a Kurosawa-like aesthetic. He considered the Rolling Stones to star, but then latched onto the Beatles; however, United Artists wanted a live-action film.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: O'Dell talked to Antonioni, who is said to have been keener, but the project never started. The group argued over their desired parts, and Harrison and McCartney were skeptical. McCartney remembers that Tolkien had reservations. There were false rumors that the Beatles and Kubrick talked about an adaptation in 1965.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: After the rights were secured and John Boorman made his script, the idea of casting the Beatles (as the four Hobbits) was brought back to the table by David Picker, until the band's separation became publicly known in 1970. In retrospect, O'Dell is skeptical of the whole venture. Others involved had since described the project as "inspired showmanship."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1969, John Boorman approached David Picker about an Arthurian epic; Picker instead commissioned him to do "The Lord of the Rings" as a single, three-hour film. Boorman thought it impossible, but allowed himself to be persuaded. The project was announced in 1970, to be co-produced by Gabriel Katzka.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Boorman had wanted Tolkien to have a cameo in his film, and corresponded with Tolkien about the project, telling him he intended to make it with small people playing the Hobbits and in live-action, which Tolkien preferred. He considered having children dressed with facial hair, dubbed by adult actors. Al Pacino was considered for Frodo, and Sauron is described in the script as looking like Mick Jagger. In retrospect, Boorman recognized that it "might have been" a disaster, saying that a trilogy was a wiser choice. Pallenberg was sorry that they never got to revise the script, which exists only as a rough draft; Boorman has described it as "almost unmakeable." Bakshi later exaggerated it as a 700-page screenplay, but at 178 pages, Boorman and Pallenberg wanted to reduce it to around 150.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The script added many new elements and modified others. It downplayed the Catholic aspects of the work in favour of a Jungian, surrealistic, counter-culture interpretation, with carnal elements added. Gimli is put in a hole and beaten so he can retrieve the password to Moria from his ancestral memory; Frodo and Galadriel have sexual intercourse; Arwen is a teenaged spiritual guide, while her role as Aragorn's love interest is transferred to Éowyn; Aragorn's healing of Éowyn takes place on the battlefield and has sexual overtones; the Orcs turn good with Sauron's defeat. To cut costs, all flying steeds were removed. Like Boorman's other genre films, the script takes a surreal approach, and Boorman let his earlier concept of Merlin influence his writing of Gandalf, while Galadriel's emerging from the lake recalls his Arthurian Lady of the Lake.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: By the time Boorman returned to head of production, Mike Medavoy, the studio had suffered a series of commercial failures. David and Arnold Picker were replaced by Arthur B. Krim and Robert Benjamin, who had not read Tolkien's books. They were intrigued, but the script called for more expensive optical effects than was originally conceived and the executives were unsure the audience would be sufficient, thinking the genre mostly appealed to children, and the project stalled. Nevertheless, Boorman tried shopping the project at other studios. Disney were interested, but balked at the violence; no other studio was interested in making a widescreen epic. Boorman remembers that as late as 1975, "all I got was embarrassed smiles".


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In the early 1990s, Boorman again contacted Medavoy about "The Lord of the Rings" using new special effects technologies, but the project fell apart when Zaentz wanted more money, and demanded merchandising rights for himself.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1972, animators Rankin and Bass wanted to adapt Tolkien's works to animation as part of their series of television specials. Rankin thought adapting the whole "Lord of the Rings" was impossible and that the audience "wouldn't sit still for it." He decided "that the Tolkien property that I could handle was 'The Hobbit'," although portions of "The Lord of the Rings" were optioned as a sequel given pressure from the network. At $2 million to produce, the special would prove the costliest made up to that time, and starred John Huston, a fan of the book, as Gandalf.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: They contacted the Tolkien Estate, who declined, but Rankin pointed out that the books were public domain in the US. The Estate, along with Saul Zaentz who had since purchased the film rights, tried to stop the production through a lawsuit, but it instead "became authorized through a series of settlement agreements" which allowed the special to air in Canada, where the books were not public domain.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The making of the special was announced in April 1973 by "Tomorrow Entertainment". The designs were done by Rankin, Bass and several Japanese animators working the United States. Lester Abrams sent Rankin 20 character designs after Rankin and Bass liked his work on an excerpt of Tolkien for "Children's Digest" at the time. He was brought on board again later in the production to help illustrate the Dwarves – basing Thorin on concept art for Disney's Grumpy. He also drew Gollum as a corrupted Hobbit, but Rankin insisted that he be made more ferocious. Romeo Muller, who had written previous teleplays for Rankin, was employed to write the teleplay. His first draft tried to encompass the whole of the story, plus a setup for "The Lord of the Rings" at the end. Rankin had him pare it down, and at one point also wanted to cut out the spiders, but was talked out of it by Lester. Beorn was "sacrificed" to keep the Spiders.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The television special received mixed reactions. In 1978, Romeo Muller won a Peabody Award for his teleplay. The film was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, but lost to "Star Wars". Douglas A. Anderson, a Tolkien scholar, called the adaptation "execrable" in his own introduction to the "Annotated Hobbit", although he did not elaborate. Ian Nathan considers it "regrettable" and "twee."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1957, Ralph Bakshi sought to obtain the rights for an animated version, aiming to make a Tolkienesque fantasy film "in the American idiom"; this led to the 1977 animated film "Wizards". After Tolkien's death in 1973, Bakshi started an "annual trip" to Medavoy, proposing that United Artists produce "The Lord of the Rings" as two or three animated films, with a "Hobbit" prequel. Medavoy offered him Boorman's script, which Bakshi refused, saying that Boorman "didn't understand it" and that his script would have made for a cheap product like "a Roger Corman film". He later called the Rankin-Bass TV special an "awful, sell-out version of "The Hobbit"." Medavoy did not want to produce Bakshi's film, but allowed him to shop it around if he could get another studio to pay for the expenses on Boorman's script.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1976, Bakshi and Dan Melnick, then-president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, made a deal with United Artists to purchase the film rights for $3 million (covering the cost of Boorman's screenwriting), and Bakshi started pre-production and writing, enlisting Chris Conkling to research the script. With $200,000 spent, Dan Melnick was fired from MGM. Bakshi persuaded Saul Zaentz to produce "The Lord of the Rings". Zaentz had recently produced the Academy Award-winning adaptation of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," distributed by United Artists, and agreed to buy the project. UA stayed as the distributors. Zaentz was only able to offer a humble budget of $8 million. Since Bakshi was primarily interested in Tolkien's more adult-oriented novel, Zaentz's Fantasy Films procured the rights to "The Lord of the Rings" as well as the rights to produce "The Hobbit". The rights to distribute the prequel remained with United Artists. Bakshi later clarified that he thought the film could "make some money" to save his studio after his previous film, "Coonskin", failed commercially.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: With Conkling, Bakshi considered how to divide the story. They contemplated a three-film structure, but "we didn't know how that middle film would work". Conkling started writing a single three-and-a-half hour feature of the entire work, but eventually settled on two 150-minute films. At one point, the story was to be told in flashback by Merry and Pippin to Treebeard as a setup for the second film, tentatively set to be released in 1980. Early drafts by Conkling included Farmer Maggot, Tom Bombadil, the Old Forest, Glorfindel, Arwen, and several songs. Conkling's work was deemed unsatisfactory by Bakshi and Zaentz, who brought in Peter S. Beagle to do rewrites. He insisted on a complete overhaul, and wrote a version which began at Bilbo's Farewell Party, and continued until Saruman's death, while Frodo and Sam left Cirith Ungol. This was abbreviated in later revisions to create a two-and-a-half hour movie. The final revisions overlapped with the voice recording in London, and account for inconsistencies like the spelling of "Saruman" (originally changed to Aruman to avoid confusion with Sauron) in the film. Bakshi constantly revised the story at the behest of anxious fans.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Bakshi was approached by Mick Jagger and David Carradine for roles in the film. Carradine even suggested that Bakshi do it in live-action, but Bakshi said it could not be done and that he had "always seen it as animation."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Bakshi went to England to recruit a voice cast from the BBC Drama Repertory Company, including Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, Anthony Daniels, and John Hurt. Bakshi then shot character actors playing to the recording in empty soundstages, and then rotoscoped the performances. Bakshi later regretted his use of the rotoscoping technique, stating that he made a mistake by tracing the source footage rather than using it as a guide. Live-action footage for crowd scenes was shot in Death Valley and in Spain. To cut costs, cinematographer Timothy Galfas suggested solarizing the crowd scenes rather than fully rotoscoping them, to create a pseudo-animated look. The film was animated in the United States by Bakshi's studio. Bakshi had only four weeks to edit the film, of which little was reportedly left on the cutting room floor. The whole project from pitch to release lasted about two years.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Arthur Krim was replaced at United Artists by Andy Albeck, who objected to marketing the film as the first of two parts. After test screenings, it was decided to switch the last two sequences, so that the film would not end on the cliffhanger of Frodo and Sam being led into a trap by Gollum. The film was released without any indication that a second part would follow, over Bakshi's objections. Rated PG, it was the longest animated film made at the time, and cost $8–12 million to produce; it grossed $30.5 million at the box office. However, the sum did not tempt the studio into making a sequel, and merchandise and VHS sales were not promising. The film won the Golden Gryphon at the 1980 Giffoni Film Festival, but critical reaction was mixed; Roger Ebert called Bakshi's effort a "mixed blessing" and "an entirely respectable, occasionally impressive job ... [which] still falls far short of the charm and sweep of the original story." Peter Jackson described the film's second half as "incoherent" and confusing.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Work began on a sequel, and Bakshi and Zaentz tried to stop Rankin and Bass from airing the "Lord of the Rings" television special to avoid overlap with their film, but in fearing a fall-off in revenue from the sequel, the studio would only sign-off on a budget half that of the first film, which led the already disheartened Bakshi to argue with Zaentz and quit. In 2000, Bakshi was still toying with making part two with Zaentz.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The BBC's 1981 radio adaptation recruited veterans of Bakshi's voice cast, Michael Graham Cox and Peter Woodthorpe, to reprise their roles (Boromir and Gollum, respectively) from the film. Sir Ian Holm (later to become Jackson's first choice for Bilbo Baggins) voiced Frodo.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1980, Rankin/Bass more or less completed what Bakshi had started with their own animated adaptation of "The Return of the King", based on their own concepts previously applied to their earlier animated adaptation of "The Hobbit". In fact, contrary to reports that the film was made following the failure of Bakshi's film, it was already in pre-production before Rankin/Bass released "The Hobbit." Zaentz and Bakshi sued Rankin and Bass in an attempt to prevent the television special from airing, but were unsuccessful. Rankin/Bass first titled the film "Frodo: The Hobbit II", but as part of their settlement with Tolkien's estate, it was renamed "The Return of the King", with the subtitle "a story of Hobbits." In retrospect, Rankin expressed regret over the unsuccessful television special, saying "we shouldn't have made it."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Zaentz rejected many proposals for film adaptations in years to come, including from Mark Ordesky and John Boorman. Universal once contacted him for the rights, to no avail. In 1993, European producers commissioned a treatment for two or three live-action films, but terminated the project when it became apparent that Zaentz would not extend the rights to them. In 1997, Alan Lee was sent a script for a twelve-part TV adaptation by ITV Granada, for which they "couldn't get the approval" from Zaentz. Franco Zeffirelli, Jake Kasdan, Sir Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were rumored to have had an interest in the rights in the 1980s and/or 1990s. "The Hobbit" was an influence on Lucas' "Star Wars", and he later entered a lucrative partnership with Spielberg in producing and writing the stories for his "Indiana Jones" films. It was supposedly Lucas' inability to acquire the rights to "The Hobbit" (which would have been split between Zaentz and UA, anyway) that led to the creation of "" and "Willow", both heavily indebted to "The Hobbit". "Willow" was eventually directed by Ron Howard, financed by Lucasfilm and distributed by MGM, and its inability to make substantial profits ended the high-fantasy productions of the 1980s. Nevertheless, Spielberg's DreamWorks Pictures reportedly tried for the rights in the early 1990s.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The first live-action adaptations of Tolkien were European television productions made in the 1970s and early 1990s, mostly unlicensed. In 1971, the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television aired "Sagan om Ringen", a short broadcast in two parts, consisting of live-action actors against animated backgrounds. It was based on "The Fellowship of the Ring", and directed by Bo Hansson, who had previously made a music album based on "The Lord of the Rings," under license from the Tolkien Estate. The short can no longer be viewed outside Sweden.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1985, the Soviet Union aired "The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit" (), a television special based on the events of "The Hobbit". Shot in 1984 as a teleplay and produced in the framework of the children's television series "Tale after Tale" (), it featured actors such as Zinovy Gerdt as Narrator (Tolkien), Mikhail Danilov as Bilbo Baggins, Anatoly Ravikovich as Thorin and Igor Dmitriev as Gollum. Work on a combined animated/stop motion "Hobbit" cartoon, titled "Treasures Under the Mountain", started in 1991, but the production stopped at an early stage, and only a six-minute intro is known to exist.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: A live-action adaptation of "The Fellowship of the Ring", "Khraniteli" ("Keepers" or "Guardians" [of the Ring]) was aired once in the Soviet Union in 1991, and was thought lost, but has been rediscovered and republished on the Web. It includes plot elements such as Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-wight omitted from Jackson's version, but has basic sets and "ludicrous" green-screen effects.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1993, the Finnish broadcaster Yle produced a live-action miniseries called "Hobitit" (""The Hobbits""). Despite the name it was based on "The Lord of the Rings" rather than "The Hobbit"; but it included only the parts of the story that the hobbits had witnessed themselves (hence the title). The nine episodes were aired on Yle TV1. The series was written and directed by Timo Torikka. Toni Edelmann composed the soundtrack. Actors included Pertti Sveholm as Sam, Taneli Mäkelä as Frodo, Martti Suosalo as Bilbo, Matti Pellonpää as Saruman, Vesa Vierikko as Gandalf, Ville Virtanen as Legolas, Kari Väänänen (as both Aragorn and Gollum) and Leif Wager as Elrond. This is the only film adaptation which includes "The Scouring of the Shire", and, before the recovery of the Soviet movie, was the only one known to include Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-wight. It aired again in 1998, but then the rights to broadcast it were revoked.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Jackson brought Middle-earth to the big screen in six live-action feature films released by Warner Bros. The series is due to be expanded with a prequel TV series produced by Amazon Prime Video in cooperation with Warner Bros. Jackson first pitched the idea of adapting "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" to Miramax in 1995. He had seen Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings" in 1978, enjoyed it and "wanted to know more", reading a tie-in version of the book and listening to the 1981 BBC radio adaptation. Assuming that it would be made into a live-action film eventually, he read about previous attempts to adapt the work - by Boorman, Kubrick and Lean - but did not know what was myth and what was not at the time. He also watched and enjoyed (but did not think very highly of) the fantasy films and space operas of the 1980s. He later read Tolkien's letters and learned that Forrest Ackerman, who appeared in Jackson's "Bad Taste", had tried to make a film, as well.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: While he was aware that "three films would obviously be the more natural way to do" "The Lord of the Rings" and that "The Hobbit" would better be split across two films, he made a more modest offer of a trilogy: one film based on "The Hobbit" which, if proven successful, would be followed by two "Lord of the Rings" installments, released six months apart. Although Jackson and Walsh re-read "The Hobbit" and even commissioned their workshop at WETA for some concept art, the rights to "The Hobbit" proved difficult because they were split between Zaentz and United Artists. Harvey Weinstein tried to purchase them from the studio, but was unsuccessful.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: It was decided to move ahead with "The Lord of the Rings", leaving "The Hobbit" as a possible prequel. Jackson insisted on making two films (and even suggested three); the Weinsteins "blanched" but agreed on two films. While filming, Jackson told Elijah Wood he was not interested in directing "The Hobbit", but during post-production on "The Two Towers", spoke more enthusiastically of it with composer Howard Shore. Jackson also later made remarks about potential spinoff films and even half-joking remarks about television spin-off shows.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Eventually, it became clear that the scope of the project was beyond Miramax' ability to finance on its own. An appeal to its parent company of Disney to manufacture additional funding was denied: CEO Michael Eisner later claimed this was because Harvey Weinstein refused to show him the scripts, but his decision to split the percentage evenly with the Weinsteins may speak to a more fundamental mistrust in the project. Harvey looked to co-operate with other studios, but was unsuccessful.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The Weinsteins suggested reducing the project to a single, two-hour film. Jackson was willing to consider this, if the film was to be around four hours in length, but Miramax limited it to two hours, and offered suggestions in order to achieve this, namely amalgamating Gondor and Rohan. They contacted Hossein Amini to rewrite and threatened to get John Madden or Quentin Tarantino to direct. Jackson believes this was an empty threat to get him to concede to the one-film version. He refused, but his agent Ken Kamins convinced Harvey Weinstein that getting another filmmaker to work on the project will result in further delays and costs, at which point Harvey conceded to give Jackson the opportunity to find another studio to take over.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Robert Zemeckis, Universal and DreamWorks declined. Fox were interested, but unwilling to enter a project involving Saul Zaentz, and Sony and Centropolis did not find the scripts to their liking. Harvey Weinstein limited the turnaround to three weeks, hoping that (by rendering it impossible for Jackson to find a studio in time) Jackson would have to come back to him and do the one-film version.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In 1999, New Line Cinema assumed production responsibility (while Miramax executives Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein retained on-screen credits as executive producers). The three films were shot simultaneously. They featured extensive computer-generated imagery, including major battle scenes utilizing the "Massive" software program. The first film, subtitled "", was released on 19 December 2001, the second film, subtitled "", on 18 December 2002 and the third film, subtitled "", worldwide on 17 December 2003.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The films met with both critical and commercial success. With a total of 30 nominations, the trilogy became the most-nominated in the Academy's history, surpassing the "Godfather" series' 28 (with the release of "The Hobbit", the series currently has 36 nominations total). Of these, Jackson's adaptations garnered seventeen Oscar statuettes and three Scientific and Technical awards: four for "The Fellowship of the Ring", two for "The Two Towers", eleven for "The Return of the King" plus two Scientific and Technical Awards"," and one such award for "An Unexpected Journey," "for the development of the Tissue Physically–Based Character Simulation Framework."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: "The Return of the King" won all the eleven awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture; as well as a Technical Achievement Award and the Scientific and Engineering Award. "Titanic" six years earlier and the 1959 version of "Ben-Hur" each won eleven awards overall, an industry record until the release of "The Return of the King". The film also broke the previous "sweep" record, beating "Gigi" and "The Last Emperor," which each took 9 out of 9.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: "The Return of the King" made movie history as the highest-grossing film opening on a Wednesday and was the second film after "Titanic" to earn over US$1 billion worldwide. The "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy is verified to be the currently highest grossing motion picture trilogy worldwide of all time, evidenced by its earning close to $3-billion (US). Critical acclaim has commonly hailed the trilogy as "the greatest films of our era," and "the trilogy will not soon, if ever, find its equal."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The series drew acclaim from within the industry, including from people formerly interested in adapting Tolkien: Ackerman, who appeared on Jackson's "Bad Taste" said his pitch "could never have been given the grand treatment that Peter Jackson afforded it." Deitch thought the films were "serious and great." McCartney said he loved the films, and watched them each Christmas with his family. Boorman was happy about his film's cancellation, as it resulted in Jackson's films.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: On the other hand, Edelmann said he thought it was "badly directed," and "Tolkein wasn't such a great storyteller." Bakshi felt (incorrectly) that the film was derivative of his own without due acknowledgment, and that Jackson "didn't really get it." However, he did praise the effects of "thousands of men in armies attacks each other." Bakshi's writer, Peter Beagle, said Jackson has done it the only way possible, by making three different movies" and one of Bakshi's animators, Michael Ploog, said the trilogy was "brilliantly handled."


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Jackson was unsure if he should direct "The Hobbit", so as to not compete with himself, but he did want to produce and write an adaptation of the book. He considered helming a "Hobbit" film and a "Lord of the Rings" prequel film in 2006, before deciding to produce two films based on "The Hobbit" for a director of his choosing. New Line suggested Sam Raimi to direct, but in 2008, Guillermo Del Toro was chosen to direct a two-film adaptation, produced by Jackson and co-written with Walsh, Boyens and Del Toro. Time constraints caused Del Toro to bow out, and Jackson stepped in to direct. Other directors said to have been considered are Neil Blomkamp, David Yates, David Dobkin and Bret Ratner.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: During principal photography, Jackson looked at assembled footage and decided to split the piece into three instalments, released between 2012 and 2014. The three films are subtitled "", "" and "". As with "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the prequel movies were filmed back to back in New Zealand; principal photography began on 21 March 2011.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: The films star Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield and Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug. Several actors from "The Lord of the Rings" reprised their roles, including Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Also returning were the heads of almost all departments in the production: the only major changes in the staff were of the role of the gaffer (after Brian Bansgrove died) and with stunt co-ordinator Glen Boswall replacing George Marshall Ruge. Editor Jabez Olssen, who worked on the editing of the Rings trilogy, edited all three Hobbit films.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: In June 2021, New Line announced an anime prequel about Helm Hammerhand, a legendary King of Rohan, set some 250 years before the events of "The Lord of the Rings". Kenji Kamiyama will direct the film. The script is by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, with Philippa Boyens consulting.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Amazon bought the television rights for "The Lord of the Rings" for US$250 million in November 2017, making a five-season production commitment worth at least US$1 billion. This would make it the most expensive television series ever made. The series is primarily based on the appendices of "The Lord of the Rings", which include discussion of the Second Age, and it features a large cast from around the world. For legal reasons, it is not a direct continuation of the "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" film trilogies, but the production intended to evoke the films with similar production design and younger versions of characters who appear in them. The season premiered on Prime Video on September 2, 2022.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: "The Hunt for Gollum", a fan film based on elements of the appendices to "The Lord of the Rings", was released on the internet in May 2009. It is set between the events of "The Hobbit" and "The Fellowship of the Ring", and depicts Aragorn's quest to find Gollum. The film's visual style is based on that of the Jackson films. Although unofficial, it has received coverage in major media.


title: Middle-earth in film

text: Another fan made feature film, "Born of Hope", produced and directed by Kate Madison, was released online on 1 December 2009 on Dailymotion and later on YouTube. It is set before the events of "The Hobbit". The film can be streamed freely on its main website. Like "The Hunt for Gollum", this film triggered reviews in various media.


title: Benjamin Burnley

text: Benjamin Jackson Burnley IV (born March 10, 1978) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the founder and frontman of the American rock band Breaking Benjamin. As the sole constant of the group, Burnley has served as its principal songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist since its inception in 1999. Since signing with Hollywood Records in 2002, Burnley has composed six studio albums under the name Breaking Benjamin, three of which have reached platinum and two of which have reached gold in the United States. Outside of Breaking Benjamin, Burnley has also collaborated with acts such as Adam Gontier and Red.


title: Benjamin Burnley

text: Burnley's lyrical content frequently and most recently consists of cryptic, angst-ridden themes that "waffle between being plaintive and aggressive." Burnley has the range of a dramatic tenor and occasionally utilizes death growls and screams in his singing. "IGN" described him as having a "somewhat innocuous voice that is crystal clear... fluctuating between contemplative subjectivity and growling anger." Burnley uses baritone guitars and drop tunings to get a heavier sound in his music.


title: Benjamin Burnley

text: Burnley was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and grew up in Ocean City, New Jersey, before moving with his family at the age of 12 to the Snyder County town of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. At 16, he became home schooled and quickly passed the GED requirement. At 21, he moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he became a roommate of former Breaking Benjamin bass player Jonathan Price. During his early teen years he taught himself to play guitar by listening to Nirvana's "Nevermind" (he cites Nirvana as his biggest influence). Before Breaking Benjamin was formed, Ben Burnley earned money playing cover songs, mixed in with his own in various coffee houses and other all age venues mostly with local neighboring musicians.


title: Benjamin Burnley

text: In 1998, Burnley and former lead guitarist Aaron Fink got together (along with Nick Hoover and Chris Lightcap) and started the band "Breaking Benjamin". Eventually, Ben wanted to try something different and went out to California to try some new material. The other three members went on to form the band Strangers With Candy (later known as Lifer). They recruited old friend Mark Klepaski to play bass and he joined in, and shortly after, Nick Hoover was asked to leave the band.


title: Benjamin Burnley

text: In 1999, Ben Burnley moved back to Pennsylvania, and started a band called "Plan 9" with drummer Jeremy Hummel. Originally, the band was a three-piece. The lineups consisted of Benjamin on vocals and electric guitar, Jeremy on drums, and Jason Davoli on bass. Plan 9 would occasionally open for Lifer at home shows. During one show, Ben said "Thank you, we're Breaking Benjamin," thus reclaiming the name from 1998. Later on, Mark left Lifer and found himself playing bass for Breaking Benjamin. Lifer continued going through struggles, and months later, Aaron Fink sat in for a set with Benjamin. Finally, Aaron left Lifer, and was offered a spot in Ben Burnley's band, and they became a four-piece.


title: Benjamin Burnley

text: Burnley has collaborated and performed with other acts as well. He has performed numerous live duets with fellow alternative metal bands such as Three Days Grace, Evans Blue and Disturbed. He made a guest spot on a special remix of The Drama Club's single "Brand New Day." He also co-wrote the Red hit song "Shadows" and Madam Adam song "Forgotten". Burnley has collaborated with former Three Days Grace singer Adam Gontier on a song titled "The End of the Day" (yet to be released).


title: Benjamin Burnley

text: Burnley has several phobias, a fact that inspired the title of their 2006 album "Phobia". "Phobia"s cover, which depicts a winged man hovering above the ground, represents Burnley's fear of flying, which has prevented Breaking Benjamin from touring outside the United States and Canada in the past. However in May 2016, he and his band members traveled through ferry ship to Europe and made their first musical tour outside of the US and Canada. Breaking Benjamin again toured Europe in 2017 successfully. Burnley also suffers from hypochondria and a fear of the dark. He says that he does not believe in a person's time to die and he wants to put off dying for as long as he possibly can, which is why he does not fly or even ride in a car unless it is necessary. He incorporates his phobias into his music on the album "We Are Not Alone" in the song "Break My Fall", in which a pilot is heard over the music saying, "Mayday, mayday. Request permission to land. I cannot control the plane. We are in danger of crashing."


title: Benjamin Burnley

text: Burnley is an avid video gamer, and conceived of the idea for Breaking Benjamin to write and record the song "Blow Me Away" for the soundtrack to "Halo 2". The song "Polyamorous" is also featured on the games "Run Like Hell", "WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw" and "WWE Day of Reckoning" (along with their song "Firefly"). "The Diary of Jane" appears on "NASCAR 07".


title: Benjamin Burnley

text: Burnley is a recovering alcoholic, admitting in an interview that he wanted to "drink himself to death." He says that he regrets ever drinking a drop of alcohol and suffers from Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome due to his past excessive drinking. "Dear Agony" was reported to be the first ever Breaking Benjamin record to be written by Burnley without the use of alcohol.


title: Taiyaki

text: is made using regular pancake or waffle batter. The batter is poured into a fish-shaped mold for each side. The filling is then put on one side and the mold is closed. It is then cooked on both sides until golden brown.


title: Taiyaki

text: was first sold in Japan in 1909. It is essentially a reshaped form of , an already popular snack made by wrapping bean paste in flour skin.


title: Taiyaki

text: Seijirō Kobe, founder of the store , was having trouble selling his , so he decided to bake the cakes into fish shapes resembling , or red sea bream. are considered a symbol of luck and fortune in Japan, and were an expensive fish only affordable by the higher classes or on special occasions. Masamori Kobe, the fourth owner of the store, stated that Seijirō wanted to give the ordinary people a taste of the expensive fish at low prices.


title: Taiyaki

text: Since its creation, has evolved into many variations, with different ingredients being used for filling and batter, as well as variations in shapes and sizes.


title: Brian Krause

text: Brian Jeffrey Krause (born February 1, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Leo Wyatt on The WB television series "Charmed" (1998–2006) and for portraying the lead role of Charles Brady in the 1992 horror film "Sleepwalkers".


title: Brian Krause

text: Krause was born in El Toro, California, the son of Alice and Jeff Krause. He has a brother named Patrick. Krause was adopted. He grew up in Southern California and took his first acting class at The Actors Workshop while in junior high. In his teens, he studied karate and attended El Toro High School, where he graduated in 1987. He continued his education at Orange Coast College.


title: Brian Krause

text: Krause landed his first role in 1989 as a student in the TV series "TV 101". He then starred in the made-for-TV-movie "Match Point", the "CBS Schoolbreak Special" "American Eyes", and "An American Summer", before landing his first major role as Richard Lestrange, Jr. in the film "Return to the Blue Lagoon" (1991). He was a co-star in the "Bandit" series prior to his most notable role of Leo Wyatt, in The WB Network series "Charmed" (1998–2006). Krause originally auditioned for the role of Andy Trudeau but was cast as Piper's handyman/whitelighter love interest.


title: Brian Krause

text: Due to budget restrictions in the eighth season (2005–06), he only appeared in the first 10 episodes and last two episodes. After "Charmed", he has appeared in made-for-TV-movies and TV shows such as "Mad Men" (episode 2x12 "The Mountain King"), "The Closer ("episode 4x01 "Controlled Burn"), and "Castle" (episode 3x03 "Under the Gun"). He lent his voice and image to portray a minor character (Clem Feeney) in the videogame "L.A. Noire", and he appeared in the YouTube video series "Chad Vader", in Season 4, Episode 4: "The Return of Brian" (uploaded July 10, 2012), as himself, a former employee of Empire Market.


title: Brian Krause

text: He starred as Ben in the 2012 film "Ben and Becca", directed by Victor Alferi, written and produced by Bibi Amos, who also starred as Becca.


title: Incantation (film)

text: Incantation () is a 2022 Taiwanese found footage supernatural horror film directed by Kevin Ko, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Chang Che-wei. The film was released in Taiwan on March 18, 2022, and it became the highest-grossing Taiwanese horror film. It received international distribution from Netflix on July 8, 2022.