I Resisted the Lure of the Ring
Matt deMille

By chance, or perhaps by a power far greater, I got my hands on a pirated copy of a certain 3-hour film about a Ring. All in digital MPEG format, 1.6 gigabytes in size, the complete film, missing only the closing credits and about 2 minutes at hour breaks. Yet even though it's quality was remarkably good, and despite it's Oriental subtitles it was an English-speaking version, I none-the-less resisted the temptation to watch it.

Oh yes, like a nasty little Gollum I held it, and looked at it, and then like Bilbo I had to fight with myself to keep it or I cast it away. In the end, I kept one piece of it--the one second of audio when Bilbo drops the Ring and it hits the floor, the wavefile of which I attached to my recycle bin, where the entire film file went. I heard the words of Elrond: "Cast it into the Recycle Bin! Destroy it!!!" Yes . . .

I did not desire to disrespect the work of PJ and so many others. I have seen this film thus far six times in the theater, and will see it many more times to come, and I will buy the DVD. Yes I, a rabid Tolkien fan, a movie fan and one who watched the internet daily for three and a half years for every scrap of news about this project have destroyed this pirated version. The message here is, I believe that this pirate version will be widespread within a few days, and we should all dismiss it. Let us for once give back to the artists who entertain us. Let us do the right thing and destroy this evil. How could we do anything else?

I know not the URL where this came from. I know not who copied it. I only know that it exists, and if you come upon a website claiming to posses a full-length MPEG of the film with Oriental subtitles, it is probably true, but do not give into temptation. Do the right thing!