Welcome to the Judge John Hodgman Podcast. I'm Bail of Jesse Thorne. This week,

Mordor in the court. Andrew brings the case against his wife Marie.

Andrew is planning a backyard harvest party

for their family and friends on September 22nd,

which happens to be the date of Bilbo Baggin's birthday in the Lord of the Rings.

Andrew wants to make the party a celebration of Bilbo's big day.

But Marie says, if this ends up being a Hobbit party, she's not going.

Who's right, who's wrong, only one can decide.

Please rise as Judge John Hodgman enters the courtroom

and presents an obscure cultural reference.

While there was still a king at Ribroast, the Boggies remained nominally his subjects.

And to the last battle at Ribroast, with the slumlord of Borax, they sent some snipers, though who they sided with is unclear.

And there the North Kingdom ended, and the Bogies returned to their well-ordered simple lives, eating and drinking, singing and dancing,

and passing bad checks. Bail of Jesse Thorne, please swear the litigants in.

Andrew, Marie, please rise and raise your right hands.

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,

so help you

do you swear to abide by Judge John Hodgman's ruling

despite the fact that he probably only watched the first half of that 12 hour long

Hobbit movie. I do. I do.

I do.

Judge Hodgman, you may proceed. I think I watched the first one of them. How many of them were there? Six. They made three movies out of a short book in order to get, got to get that trilogy.

...