the buzz log

J.R.R. Tolkien in 38 minutes. For free. Online. What are you waiting for?

Actually, many have not waited, as searches have surged for the fan fiction film, "The Hunt for Gollum," which debuted on May 3 online and at the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film free premiere.

Billed as a prequel to "The Lord of the Rings," this new storyline tells a brief tale of Ranger Aragon and wizard Gandolph seeking Gollum, the mutated Hobbit. The filmmakers, who call themselves "a bunch of Tolkien enthusiasts," modestly call their effort "an unofficial home movie," but a contagious enthusiasm is making this a viral favorite. BBC News describes the venture as a "lavish production" that got permission from Tolkien's estate by being a non-profit enterprise.

With a cast of 10s (say, 150) and a $3,000 budget, the mini-epic dips into the beloved Tolkien minutiae of Ranger life and pays high-def homage to the epic standards set by director Peter Jackson's cinematic trilogy. And, even the volunteer actor who plays Aragon looks like he could be an English cousin to big-screen counterpart Viggo Mortensen.

Fan fiction has always had a huge online following, with regular lookups on Yahoo! for "harry potter fanfiction," "twilight fan fiction," "ncis fanfiction," "the l word fanfiction" and "sailor moon fanfiction." By all rights, this latest respectable entry into Rings lore should, as GigaOm and the blogosphere point out, inspire studios and other "content owners to get engaged with their fan bases" by equipping die-hards with the tools to make such amateur creations and keep the mania going. That would be a fantasy fiction come true.