20 May 2003

Hordes of The Things

I really enjoyed a recording on BBC7 at the weekend of 'Hordes of The Things': a superb Tolkien parody, co-written by John Lloyd, who also co-wrote 'The Meaning of Liff' with Douglas Adams, and produced by Geoffrey Perkins (of 'The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy' fame). With that kind of pedigree you'd expect great writing—and you wouldn't be disappointed. The fruitily-voiced narration is a very affectionate rip-off of the Lord of the Rings, with most of the familiar devices of the 'wizards and elves' genre being subverted.

In one hilarious scene, various individuals with assorted obscure and somewhat impractical gifts (such as the Windcharmer, who literally sweet-talks the winds) pompously introduce each other and argue about job demarcation. Our hero isn't informed about the ferocious serpent which dwells in the carverns because that is the job of the cavern-warner. There's also a minotaur called Stephen. I'd love to get hold of some scripts, but a cursory Google just brought up a lot of information about a Dungeons and Dragons type of game of the same name.

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    Get yourself a copy of "Bored of the Rings" by Harvard Lampoon Staff. "Legolam" is only marginally eclipsed by the irrepressible "Dildo Baggins" ! You clearly have to know/love JRR's version to appreciate.----- Just to point out (a mere 5 months after the event) that the first episode of Hordes of the Things has a large chunk missing near the start. It disapeared after the original 1980 broadcast and they’ve never put it back. Typical BBC….

    by Lee @ 28/10/2003 2:10 am • Permalink

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    Does anyone know where I can get a copy of Hordes of the Things - I remember it as a child and obviously have missed this re-run.

    by Edgerunner @ 30/10/2003 5:11 pm • Permalink

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    I’m afraid I missed the repeat altogether (and I can’t get BBC7 anyway :’-( I do remember the series from it’s original broadcast though, AND I have found it’s possible to get it if you search for it on Peer-to-peer share networks … such as Kazaa or WinMX good luck ps: the BBC ought to archive some of this stuff for internet access - after all, we’re licence payers and it’s our company wink

    by bg @ 11/12/2003 10:13 pm • Permalink

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    I read yesterday that the BBC will be re-broadcasting 'hordes of the things' on BBC7 from 20th December. I hope I can get my satellite receiver up and running before then so I can also hear it... -----

    by Philip Green @ 17/12/2003 8:12 am • Permalink

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