What can you say about J R R Tolkien and Lord of the Rings that hasn't already been said? There are hundreds, probably thousands of web sites dealing with every aspect of LOTR on the internet, apart from the many hundreds of books and magazine articles published in hard copy. I don't suppose this special issue of Gateway Monthly will have much of an impact on what's already out there, but it has to be done.

LORD OF THE RINGS has been affirmed as the favourite work of fiction in the English language of the twentieth century, and with Peter Jackson's movie trilogy, its popularity is undimmed, even strengthened, renewed, reaffirmed. In this special issue of GM you'll find a gallery of stunning images from Ted Nasmith, the renowned LOTR artist whose work has graced a number of LOTR book covers and calendars; you'll also find a gallery by artists whose work includes LOTR but not exclusively, although, in the case of the Brothers Hildebrandt, their association with LOTR goes back several years. And you'll find fan fiction.

The "unauthorised" Ace Books Inc. set of LOTR published in the 1970s. Ace specialised in bringing the ERB series (other than the Tarzan books, which were published by Ballantyne) back into circulation, with splendid covers by Frank Frazetta, amongst others. This set of LOTR came about because Ace thought that the copyright didn't apply to the USA. The covers are hasty, poor quality, and it shows!

You won't find news about the forthcoming movie release of THE TWO TOWERS, you won't find news about the actors who bring the fantasy to life, you won't find anything at all about Peter Jackson, genius though he is (except he gets a mention in this feature). Those aspects of LOTR are more than adequately covered by a plethora of web sites far better equipped to do the job than I am. This is, essentially, an illustrated literary magazine, the 21st century equivalent of the 1930s and 1940s pulp magazine, and if he'd written LOTR three decades or so earlier, Tolkien would almost certainly have found his way into a literary magazine such as The Strand.

The Ballantyne "authorised" version in response to Ace's clanger! Above are a couple of covers with a distinctly Celtic feel, more in keeping with the spirit of LOTR together with two more contemporary editions, one being the "centenary edition".

It's true, I was thinking of including book reviews in GW, but again, they're covered perfectly by sffworld.com and sfcrowsnest.com - besides, I buy most of my books from the discount bookshop, THE WORKS, which means I tend to discover books a couple of years after they've first hit the bookshelves. So what is the purpose of this special issue, then? I'll tell you. I watched the movie for the fourth time a couple of weeks ago, and then I watched the preview of The Two Towers, and I was struck by the sheer dedication of the people involved in the production.

Okay, I know Fellowship has made an extraordinary amount of money, and has been a runaway success. Towers is going to exceed that, and Return will, too. This magnificent trilogy of movies stands head and shoulders above anything else that has ever been done in the genre. Jackson is quoted as saying that he has not been harbouring a desire to make LOTR since his childhood. He chose to make it because he was inspired by the Ray Harryhausen films, with the stop-motion dinosaurs. Jackson is a LOTR fan, but that seems to be secondary to his fascination with special effects.

But this project isn't just about money. It's about people getting down to it and getting the best out of something that seemed impossible to achieve, right from the start. For a long time we all thought that the dreadful cartoon/live action version was going to be it - all we were going to get. Rumours flew around that Michael Jackson owned the movie rights, then it was Sir Paul McCartney. This isn't the time or place to go into that side of the history of LOTR at the movies - it's sufficient to say that a group of people with the necessary vision to bring it off put their money into one of the biggest movie ventures of all time, and the result has far exceeded my expectations. I know lots of people who go to the cinema - they don't all turn out to be LOTR fans, in fact few of them have read it, which is surprising, given the enormous popularity of the book. And these people are, by and large, in awe of what they have seen. They may find bits of it difficult to understand, but there are always going to be people like that. Just as LOTR: the book was a triumph right from the start, in the 1950s, so the films are a triumph.

Why do we insist on having our favourite books transformed into moving pictures anyway? That's a whole different question, and the answer, I suspect, lies in our inherent love of role-playing. How many of you reading this did not play Cowboys and Indians when you were young children? Escapism from a stressed, everyday existence for those of us in this World privileged enough to have one, is an essential. I choose to read, to listen to classical music (Mahler, chiefly) and to watch films.

Films allow us to imagine that we are taking part in an animated version of our favourite books. We've had a century or so of moving pictures now, and they just keep getting better. You're a LOTR fan, right? You're a man - who's your favourite character? Aragorn? Does Viggenson do it right? I mean, is he really Aragorn? He's right for me. I grew up with the acclaimed BBC Radio version of LOTR, where Robert Stephens (now deceased) played Aragorn, and Michael Hordern (now deceased) played Gandalf. They were consummate artists, and the latter could easily have played the part on the big screen. Not sure about Stephens - I loved his voice, but I could never see him as Aragorn in a motion picture. Our Aragorn, Jackson's Aragorn is brilliant, and he allows me to imagine that I am playing the part, I am in the film, I am Aragorn. I'm nothing like Viggenson in real life, but I can let him take me over, pretend that I am Strider. If you're a girl, you have Arwen and Galadriel to choose from in the first film, and Eowyn in the second. They're all perfect. The whole thing is just perfect.

The Two Towers introduces the characters of Eowyn, played by Miranda Otto, King Theoden, played by Bernard Hill, and Grima Wormtongue, played by Brad Dourif. You'll remember Brad from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and later in Star Trek: Voyager

The nature of films is such that one has always to be changing one's mind about favourites, as there are always new movies coming along. For a long time, after I first saw it in 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey was my favourite film, with Zulu a close second. Then, in the 1970s, it was Star Wars and Star Trek. Then Harrison Ford took us all right out of our seats and back to the pulp fiction days with Indiana Jones. In 2000, Gladiator rocked us, and in 2001 it was Moulin Rouge. But during all this time, at the back of all those favourites, was the knowledge that my favourite book of all time was LOTR. Yes, I know I've wittered on about Stephen King being my favourite author, and it's true, I read IT and The Stand many times over, always finding something new. But LOTR is my favourite book, and the film - the first film, is my favourite film. When The Two Towers is added, and finally The Return of the King, they will blend into one enormous movie for me, and the trilogy will be my favourite film. I can't see it failing. There are several websites devoted to Tolkien and LOTR, far too many for me to mention in this feature.