Bored of the Rings
From Freepedia
Image:BoredoftheRingsHarvardLampoon.PNG Bored of the Rings (BOTR) is a short satirical novel by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney parodying The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), a novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was first published in 1969 by Signet for the Harvard Lampoon.
The novel is a fairly close parody in general plot, but is filled with cheap gags (the Palantír as a Magic 8-ball, for example), a lot of bad punning (especially on names), cowardly and unsympathetic characters, and 1960s references.
The Signet first edition cover, which parodies the LOTR paperback cover by artist Barbara Remington [1], was drawn by Michael K. Frith. William S. Donnell's parody map of Lower Middle Earth subsitutes Tüdør for Gondor and Fördør for Mordor.
Characters
| BOTR | Allusion | LOTR |
|---|---|---|
| Goodgulf Greyteeth, the good wizard | "a discredited Rosicrucian" and "a 32nd Degree Mason and Honorary Shriner" (Gulf Oil slogan) | Gandalf Greyhame |
| Boggies | (not for the faint of heart) | Hobbits |
| Dildo; bugger | Bilbo Baggins |
| Fritos, a corn chips brand | Frodo Baggins |
| SPAM, a food brand; gangrene | Sam |
| Moxie, a soft drink brand; see also dingleberry | Merry |
| Pepsi, a soft drink brand | Pippin |
| Stomper, or Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt | Arrowroot, a brand of bland biscuits for babies and the elderly, and
Arrow shirt, a brand of men's dress shirt | Strider or Aragorn, son of Arathorn |
| Gimlet, son of Groin | the tool or cocktail gimlet, groin | Gimli, son of Glóin |
| Legolam | "leg of lamb" | Legolas |
| Bromosel | Bromo-Seltzer, an indigestion-relief product | Boromir |
| Eorache | "ear ache" | Éowyn |
| Tim Benzedrine | Benzedrine—a stimulant drug popular during the 1960s—and former Harvard professor Timothy Leary | Tom Bombadil |
| Goddam | "God damn" | Gollum |
| Sorhed, the evil wizard, ruler of Fordor | "Sore head";
"four door," evil kingdom opposed to "Two-dor" (Tudor) | Sauron |
| Serutan the wizard of Isinglass | Serutan is the name of a laxative product, the name of which is "Natures" spelled backwards;
Isinglass, a substance used in clarifying wine. | Saruman, the wizard of Isengard |
See also
External links
- Amethyst Angel's Bored of the Rings Webpage
- Richard F. Drushel's parody of the LOTR Appendices in the style of BOTR
- Review of BOTR with cover art
- Wilderness Poster
- Bored of the rings radio plays
Bored of the Rings is also the title of a video game, an adventure game, written by Fergus McNeill and first released by Delta 4 Software in 1985 and then later re-released by Silversoft. The game is a parody, but isn't based on the book with the same title. The game is in three parts and was written using The Quill and The Illustrator. It was later followed up with the prequel The Boggit. In these games, Frodo and Bilbo Baggins were renamed Fordo and Bimbo Faggins.
Bored of the Rings is also the running title of MAD Magazine's three parodies of the "Lord of the Rings" films. The first, a satire of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, appeared in the April 2002 issue as "Bored of the Rings: The Feeble Shtick of Ka-Ching!" The second followed in the April 2003 edition of MAD Magazine; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers became Bored of the Rings: The Two+ Hours. The final film of the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, was spoofed in MAD's April 2004 issue as "Bored of the Rings: Rehash of the Thing." All three parodies were illustrated by Hermann Mejia and written by Desmond Devlin.
While a few of the characters have the same parodied names as listed above (notably Legolamb, Sorehead, and Spam Gangrene), the rest have different names. Other characters in these parodies include: Dodo Gaggings, Billboard Gaggings, Gandoof the Gray (or Gandoof the White), Argon, Gimmicki, Golfclub (aka Cheeseball or Jar-Jar Jr.), Baggybuns, Pimple, Peppercorn, Aspercreme, and the Slobbits. The parodies emphasize the films' tortured or illogical plot points and sometimes glacial pacing:
Billboard Gaggings: "Dodo, I want you to have this. It's magic Slobbit chain mail that will protect you from harm!"
Dodo Gaggings: "Nice timing! The only way this gift could matter more to me is if I'd gotten it back in the Shire! You know, like before I got stabbed?"
Bored of the rings is also a radio play from random insanity. It shares very little with the book of the same name, but does draw a certain amount of insperation from there.
