The Towers Are the Players

Original Post As It Appeared (December 4, 2003):

Gollum raps. (via Quiddity)

Addendum (May 21, 2013):

The Flash video I linked to was created by Ned Evett, who has since removed the video from his site. I found the link through the blog Quiddity, which I still follow ten years later. But there’s no trace of her original entries. (She has moved to Typepad.) And I have managed to find the old “Towers Are the Players” rap video on YouTube, but I can’t embed it on this page because the user who uploaded prevented this. Furthermore, even though Evett’s video set the precedence for Gollum rapping videos (and is still quite funny), the then groundbreaking visuals are primitive-looking by 2013 standards. And the popularity of Evett’s video has been superseded by a Gollum vs. Smeagol Rap Battle video uploaded on December 30, 2012 and that became quite popular on YouTube (to the tune of 1.6 million views). Nobody has thought to go back to the original Ned Evett video, which is somewhat irksome. I’ve emailed Ned Evett and asked him if I could interview him about these fascinating issues.

Second Addendum (June 19, 2013):

Ned Evett kindly answered my email.

“I’m currently overhauling my YouTube channel to include almost ten years’s worth of video content I’ve let go unmanaged online,” writes Evett. He hopes that the Gollum rap video will be included in this overhaul.

He hasn’t thought to update the video: partly due to time and not having the right idea.

“I tried to strike again but just couldn’t get a funny enough video going.”

Evett has since shifted his filmmaking energies to a series of Roadbot Videos, which ended when Evett directed this video for Joe Satriani in 2008.

He hasn’t had time to work on additional videos because he ended up touring the world with Satch with his band Triple Double. Evett also recorded an album called Treehouse in 2011, produced by Adrian Belew.

He says that he’s working on another Joe Satriani video and an original animated series.

Third Addendum (September 6, 2013):

Ned Evett’s latest animation has just been released. It’s a music video for Joe Satriani’s “Lies and Truths”: