The Sci Fi network just announced its purchase of
the U.S. rights to a German production, titled Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King, based in part on the Ring of the Nibelungs myth. Never heard of the myth?
Apparently it's been known to have inspired composer Richard Wagner's operas and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
trilogy, so what's one more?The movie stars Benno Furmann, Kristanna Loken, Alicia Witt, Julian Sands and Max Von Sydow. The German version first aired on German TV in 2004, where it was the year's top-rated TV movie.
Honestly though, if Sci Fi's track record is any indication, I have high hopes for this mini-series. Though, the question is, is this mini-series meant to stand on its own, or is it a test precursor to a full-blown series? The movie was top-rated on German TV in 2004, if that's any indication to its success here in the U.S.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-10-2006 @ 4:16PM
Michael Martinez said...
The Lord of the Rings was by no means in any way inspired by the Ring of the Nibelungs. Although Tolkien drew upon many Germanic sources, none of them "inspired" The Lord of the Rings, which he only wrote at the request of his publisher, George Allen & Unwin, after the unexpected success and popularity of The Hobbit led to a public demand for more stories about hobbits.
Some elements of the Nibelung story have been tied to Tolkien's Turin Turambar story, which appeared in abbreviated form in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth.
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1-10-2006 @ 4:49PM
Keith McDuffee said...
Michael -- thanks for clearing that up. I sort-of thought it might be fishy after reading Zap2It's story, though, in their defense, it was the folks at Sci Fi who've been passing the false info to hype up the show.
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1-17-2006 @ 8:54AM
elendur said...
Martinez wrote: >>The Lord of the Rings was by no means in any way inspired by the Ring of the Nibelungs. Although Tolkien drew upon many Germanic sources, none of them "inspired" The Lord of the Rings, which he only wrote at the request of his publisher, George Allen & Unwin, after the unexpected success and popularity of The Hobbit led to a public demand for more stories about hobbits.
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