The Unfinished Spelling Errors of Bolkien

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I thought the movies were brilliant, but they would have been so much better if they'd been a musical. If they'd have considered a sort of Baz Luhrman/Peter Jackson collaboration... —Martin Pearson, explaining how he came up with the show.

The Unfinished Spelling Errors of Bolkien is a lovingly irreverent re-telling of The Lord of the Rings, interspersed with songs. The story sections tend to switch among pointing out the logical inconsistencies and plot holes of the story, highlighting the differences between the book and the movie, and sometimes just careening off the rails, depending on what is funniest at the time.

The show is performed by Martin Pearson: comedian, folk singer extraordinaire and all-around nerd.

A live recording of the show has been released on CD. The first half of the show is also up on YouTube.

A sequel, based on the Hobbit movies, has been confirmed for release "after they come out".

Tropes used in The Unfinished Spelling Errors of Bolkien include:

• Audience Participation Song: All of the songs have "a bit in it for" the audience.
• British Accents: Fun is poked at Sam's and Gimli's accents in particular.
• Elfeminate: Almost any time Legolas is mentioned.
• Ending Fatigue: The Loo Break Song.
• Fantastic Racism: "What is this inability to put dwarves on screen?! SPECIESIST, THAT'S WHAT IT IS!"
• I Am X, Son of Y: Mocked repeatedly, especially in Rohan.

Eowyn and Eomer, son of Eomund; Theoden, son of Thengel; and Grima, son of a bitch.

• Incredibly Lame Pun: A couple stand out, even by the standards of the show.

Merry wants them to go to war, but the Ents consider this a moot point. Collective Groan from the audience*

• Musical Pastiche: Most of the songs are parodies or use the tunes of other songs. Sometimes it makes sense, such as "Ghost Riders In The Sky" for "The Nazgul Song"; other times... less so.
• One of Us: Martin says he's read the books every year since he was thirteen, and thought the movies were brilliant.
• Plucky Comic Relief: "Gimli arrives with his introductory pratfall, and we realise that he has drawn the Comic Relief short straw for the movie."
• Precision F-Strike: Perhaps surprisingly, there is only one use of the word "fuck" in the show.
• Running Gag: The second half of the show covers the third movie and has repeated references to Frodo trying to find his way to "Book Three".
• Self-Deprecation: "The Ents are slow and boring, have no social skills, speak a language nobody else understands, and can't remember what women look like. Merry and Pippin immediately grasp the awful truth: he's a folkie!
• Shout-Out: Many, including Dungeons and Dragons, The Sixth Sense, and The Quatermass Experiment.
• Talking to Himself: Mostly averted, as the show is largely in third person, but the songs are first-person, so "The Legolas and Gimli Song" requires Martin to switch between the high, soft Legolas voice and the loud, gruff, Scot-ish Gimli voice.
• Theme Naming: The songs are all called "The [Noun] Song".