Looking beyond Peter Jackson to...J.R.R. Tolkien
© Michael Martinez
I've been involved in science fiction convention management since 1993, when I volunteered to be a warm body at a small convention which was just starting up and fragmenting at the speed of light. I ended up running errands for the convention chairperson and making decisions I didn't know would have to be made and getting caught on the treadmill of being a secret master of fandom (don't ask what that means -- it's a SECRET).
I've been directing fan programming tracks at Dragoncon for three years now, ever since Ed Kramer dropped the Hercules and Xena track in my lap (all I did was ask him if he'd create one -- I didn't realize that was the same as applying for the job of track director).
Generally speaking, the first day of any convention is a "down" day. You don't put your best foot forward on Thursday (if it's a four-day convention -- or Friday if it's a three-day or holiday weekend convention). You put in stuff that gives the weary early arrivals something to do, something to talk about at the inevitable parties in the evening, and something to make them glad they decided to take a day off from work and avoid the long Saturday registration line.
My "something to make them glad..." offering for the Tolkien and Middle-earth track at Dragoncon was a video titled "J.R.R.T.: A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien". Unless you have a lot of money, you won't be able to get this video in the United States and Canada. I got lucky a few years ago and purchased a copy when they were ONLY about 50 pounds (UK). The video has been shown (in edited form, I am told) on both US and Canadian television over the past couple of years. So, virtually no more than a couple hundred Americans have seen the full biography.
As biographies go it's okay. If you had no interest in Tolkien the length would surely put you to sleep (it runs about two hours). Nonetheless, the biography is packed with a Who's Who of Tolkien-related personalities: Christopher, John, and Priscilla Tolkien all appear; Tom Shippey appears; Verlyn Flieger appears; and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
As planning for the convention progressed (or didn't progress), the schedule became so packed I had to turn people away (whom, in retrospect, I wish I hadn't, since another schedule guest didn't appear). Nonetheless, I figured Karl Urban would be the big draw on Thursday and started off the track with the video. Originally we were going to show it twice (the second time on Sunday), but schedule changes forced me to drop the second viewing (each viewing required two sessions).
The copyright of the article Looking beyond Peter Jackson to...J.R.R. Tolkien in J.R.R. Tolkien is owned by Michael Martinez. Permission to republish Looking beyond Peter Jackson to...J.R.R. Tolkien in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
