National Lampoons "Bored of the Rings"

[ddawson]

Read just a couple of yeas after LOTR and the Hobbit. Felt squeamish at the time.

Think they should do a movie of it now though.

 

[HareBrain]

I read it first when I was eighteen, and thought it was hysterical. It took me years to get the origin of most of the names used. (I've only ever come across "Goodgulf" once.)

But I don't think it would translate to film. A lot of the fun is in the narration, such as the echoes of phrases Tolkien used. ("and yet it was not so" etc)

 

[ddawson]

Don't get me wrong, I couldn't stop laughing at about 15, but felt wrong about it because I'd read LOTR at least 5 times by then and was a huge fan.

I think I only referred back to LOTR on a couple of the names. Knew the books too well.

 

[J Riff]

I don't think it would work.... and, NAtLamp has sorta gone down in kwality.... some say.... t'was very silly. *

 

[Narkalui]

I heard it was all just a load of innuendo and double entendres...

I tried reading the Sell A Million. That was rubbish.

 

[HareBrain]

I heard it was all just a load of innuendo and double entendres...

There are actually very few of those. A lot of the humour is based on absurdism and cultural references.

BTW, the book was the work of The Harvard Lampoon, not National Lampoon (which didn't exist then).

 

[ddawson]

I'm so old I forgot about Harvard Lampoon. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Henry Beard and Douglas Kenney, who actually wrote the thing, were founders of the National Lampoon after they left Harvard University.

****

It would certainly be tough to make a 9 hour trilogy out of Bored of the Rings. };-}

Many of the jokes refer to product names and TV ads from the sixties, or Earlier. Serutan (natures spelled backwards) was a laxative product that went defunct (so to speak) in the 60's. Such could be updated, I suppose but it's hard to imagine a modern scriptwriter quite capturing the brilliance of the original.

As Harebrain said, much would be lost without the narrator's asides.

There are certainly no shortage of visual gags. It would probably need to be CGI. It might be tough to convince a herd of Merinos to cooperate as War Steeds.

 

[BAYLOR]

Hilarious book.

 

[ddawson]

Been too long since I've read it (40+/- years), so now I'll have to read it again. Might even have to start writing a script for it, maybe a joint one.

 

[Glen]

What were the names of the fellowship? I seem to recall:

• Legolamb
• Gimlet son of Groin
• ...

That's all I've got. I read it a long time ago.

 

[HareBrain]

Legolam (no "b")
Gimlet (as you've got)
Goodgulf Grayteeth
Arrowroot son of Arrowshirt
Bromosel
Frito Bugger
Spam Gangree
Moxie and Pepsi Dingleberry

 

[BAYLOR]

Recently there was a another spoof called the Soddit.