But we wonder whether, at 30 seconds shorter than the last one, this will merely be a cut-down version for different markets — a bit like we saw with the rendition of the AUJ trailer that was attached to Pixar’s Brave last year. In fact, Ringer TheHutt on the messageboards suggests that it might be this version below, which seems to been floating around a while, and contains no new scenes. If anyone has better information, get in touch with us!

Also, this coming weekend (Saturday August 17 at 6pm EDT (New York time)) we’ll be focusing on a movie topic — Beorn. That’s right, the shapeshifter of the Vales of the Anduin and hero of the Battle of the Five Armies. What do you think of Mikael Persbrandt, what are your thoughts on Beorn’s demense and hall so far, and what do you think of the spy image that we revealed last Friday? Those are just a few of the questions we’ll touch on, so don’t miss it!

With Peter Jackson absent from Comic-Con International in San Diego to finish production on The Hobbit trilogy, the duty of bringing Middle-earth to Comic-Con fell to the staff of the TheOneRing.net. Consisting of TheOneRing personalities Alex and Kellie Rice, Josh Rubinstein and Rebecca Perry, with Cliff Broadway and Cathy Udovch driving most of the dialog, the panelists dug deep into the The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second film of The Hobbit trilogy.

Releasing December 13 with limited information currently available from which to draw theories and deduce conclusions, the panelists energetically showed off their expertise of Tolkien lore, analyzing known sequences adapted from the novel. The most fun came when the panelists cut loose theorizing on new scenes and relationships from Smaug, including a larger role for the wizard Radagast, the inclusion of new elf character Tauriel, talking giant spiders, a Jackson-created side story for Gandalf, elven goddess Galadriel seeing combat action and Bilbo’s impending encounter with Smaug the dragon, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Breaking down the structure of Smaug and its parallel with the chronology of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, the panel took the crowd through the film’s outline, beginning with Bilbo Baggins and his dwarven allies meeting the giant bear-man Beorn. This encounter precedes The Company venturing into the dangers of Mirkwood, wherein lie the deadly spiders teased in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

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We also think this makes London a very good bet for the world premiere of There and Back Again in 2014.

The image at right, part of Lee’s analysis, is certainly food for thought.

I know I’m late to this party, but I finally got around to seeing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey after hearing much belly-aching over how the story of a single book is split into three separate movies: it seems like a blatant cash grab by the studios, a cynical move that put franchise movie economics ahead of things like storytelling and pacing.

After seeing the movie, I can definitely sympathize with these complaints. It felt slow at times, particularly during the multiple expository scenes in the first half and the interminably long action sequence in the second half. Most importantly, I felt like the story didn’t advance far enough to justify taking up an entire movie on its own, especially compared to the Lord of the Rings movies.

So me being me, I decided to put this issue into quantitative terms. Specifically, I wanted to compare the length of the Hobbit movie to that of the source text, and run the same analysis for the three Lord of the Rings movies.

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Ringer Rohirrim Rider on the messageboards noted one odd thing about the Netflix version: “opening it up to have a look at it I noticed that it has the MGM logo/animation up first, followed by the Warners/New Line logo. The music is the same although the new order doesn’t fit as well – the Lion now roars right over the opening melody (previously it was in a lull) and the soaring strings suited to flying WB/NL logos much better.”

A land was made for the Edain to dwell in, neither part of Middle-earth nor of Valinor, for it was sundered from either by a wide sea; yet it was nearer to Valinor. It was raised by Ossë out of the depths of the Great Water, and it was established by Aulë and enriched by Yavanna; and the Eldar brought thither flowers and fountains out of Tol Eressëa. Akallbeth, The Silmarillion.

Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor

Documented in The Silmarillion, Akallabêth charts the rise and fall of the Dúnedain of Numenor. Rewarded with a bounteous land of their own for their forefathers’ sacrifices in the dreadful wars against Morgoth, after centuries of peace and propsperity the anscestors of the Númenoreans proceed to throw it all away in a fit of hubris and misplaced envy of the immortality of the elves of Valinor and of the Valar themselves.

Not even the most earnest entreaties of elven emissaries sent by Manwë himself seems able to dissuade the Númenoreans that Valinor itself is the source immortality.

And when the last and mightiest Númenorean king Ar-Pharazôn brings Sauron to the island as his prisoner and hostage, it’s not long before the Dark Lord seduces the majority of the populace to the open worship of Morgoth and has the king plotting war upon the Undying Lands.

Join us this weekend for what is sure to be yet another lively debate.

Some suggested reading:

The Silmarillion: Akallabêth
Unfinished Tales: The Druedain

Time zone conversions

Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help. Alternatively, check our handy Event Announcer over on Time and Date for the correct time in your area.

America:
6.00pm EDT (New York)
5.00pm CDT (Chicago)
4.00pm MDT (Denver)
3.00pm PDT (Los Angeles)

Europe:
11.00pm BST (London)
11.00pm CST (Paris)
1.00am EEST (Helsinki)

Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Sydney, Melbourne
10.00am NZST (Sunday) Wellington

How long do your topic chats go for?

Our chats usually last from an hour to ninety minutes, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation! However, our main room, #theonering.net is open 24 hours a day. We don’t always talk Tolkien there, but if you have a burning question, you’ll usually find one or two of “the regulars” up for a chat!

Where — connection details

Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net — the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our embedded Mibbit client that works inside your web browser.

Alternatively, you can install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer and just plug in the following connection details.

Server: irc.theonering.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #thehalloffire

But first, the image from SD Toys!

Say hello to Beorn!

Well, apparently the image IS real because Warner Bros. has asked us to remove it. Sorry about that, folks. If you were lucky and got in fast, you have seen Beorn in human form. If you weren’t, you might still be able to find it if you dig around the internet a bit.

In the meantime, here’s our detailed description:

Beorn is standing in what appears to be a field, in front of a large wooden chopping block made from the stump of a tree. Hewn logs, presumably intended as firewood, lie in a pile beside him. Beorn himself seems tall and very muscular – very solidly built in the torso, with very broad shoulders and thick biceps. His right upper-arm/shoulder may feature a large dark, tattoo. Or it may be grime. It’s too hard to be certain at this resolution. In fact, his entire torso appears to have dark striations. Could his entire body be tattoed? Is it some natural effect of being a skinchanger?

We view him from behind and to the right, so it’s mostly an image of his back but we do get to see his face and hair in profile. His nose is long and patrician, but the dark mane of hair is the real talking point. Swept backwards, it’s like a cross between a spiky mohawk and a mullet. You could almost imagine David Bowie rocking this look in the late ’70s and early ’80s. He wears brown trousers that have the same look and fit as the concept art we’ve seen from the production blogs. It is belted at the waist, but Beorn is shirtless.

The background is of a green, flat valley with a lake or small body of water off to the left beyond some low bushes. The valley sides rise steadily in the distance in the manner that’s often see throughout the South Island of New Zealand and particularly in the Glenorchy/Paradise area. Beorn appears to keep goats.

What do people think? Well, so far some readers are more than a bit bemused. One says: “Looks like some beauty and the beast guy”. Another: “he looks like some sort of punk rock/redneck hybrid. I half expect him to drop the axe and pick up an electric banjo.”. What do you reckon? Did you catch a glimpse? Let us know your thoughts below!

That’s no orc or goblin

Let me tell you: that’s no orc or goblin. Even if you did see one in such a rustic pastoral scene, would goats hang round near such a creature? No, not likely. I also think we can agree that it’s very different look to the Beorn of the graphic novel (thank-you to Ringer Ross for that link!).

The hair: is it a mohawk or a mullet? Or some peculiar combination of both? There do seem to be similarities with the hue of Bear!Beorn’s pelt as seen below in the original “Scroll” image that was released about 12 months ago. And is that a tattoo or some marking on Persbrandt’s right upper-arm/shoulder, just above the bicep?

It also might be worth making some comparisons to what many long believed (and now looks to pretty much confirmed) original concept art/sculpt for Beorn that was in one of the early production vlogs. The trousers seem almost the same, and both model and actor have around the same bulk. I reckon it’s a match.

The Company will meet Beorn early in the second film.

A concrete link with the old Paradise set?

The other interesting thing about this calendar picture derives from the background. When Ringer Glow provided those superb location spy shots, they also included several of the surrounding countryside.

But in particular, I’m thinking of the one directly below — which reveals a similar slope to the nearby mountains and the presence of water. Certainly we’ve seen snippets of both the interior and exterior of Beorn’s house in stills, the trailer and production blog scenes, but for mine this pretty much nails it — this is the Beorn set and there will be a gate in a thorn wall just like in the book.

After a while they came to a belt of tall and very ancient oaks, and beyond these to a high thorn-hedge through which you could neither see nor scramble.
“You had better wait here,” said the wizard to the dwarves; “and when I call or whistle begin to come after me — you will see the way I go-but only in pairs, mind, about five minutes between each pair of you. Bombur is fattest and will do for two, he had better come alone and last. Come on Mr. Baggins! There is a gate somewhere round this way.” And with that he went off along the hedge taking the frightened hobbit with him. The Hobbit

]]> http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/09/76752-sd-calendar-reveals-a-new-image-of-beorn-in-human-form/feed/ 0 http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/08/76730-the-magical-books-of-the-bodleian/ http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/08/76730-the-magical-books-of-the-bodleian/#comments Thu, 08 Aug 2013 12:06:29 +0000 Demosthenes http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=76730 You push through furs to hide at the back of the wardrobe. Suddenly, fur gives way to twigs, floorboards to snow. A lamp-post glimmers ahead…

Lucy’s entry into Narnia is an exhilarating transition from the mundane to the mysterious, out of confinement and into endless unexplored vistas. This passage transformed me, age 6, from an idle reader of comics into a glutton for books.

Other passages to other worlds have followed. Alan Garner guided me into the hill of his native Alderley Edge, where a king slumbered awaiting Britain’s greatest need. J.R.R. Tolkien led me from the Shire onto the road to Mordor. In her The Dark Is Rising sequence, Susan Cooper opened a window between the modern Home Counties where I grew up and a version of our world which seemed more meaningful, defended against the tyrannical Dark by a circle of wizardly Old Ones. In adulthood,Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials took me from a steampunk Oxford into a whole multiverse of interconnecting worlds.

Now in our own Oxford, Pullman has opened an exhibition at the Bodleian Library which celebrates these authors and the tradition they inherit from medieval times and earlier. Magical Books – From the Middle Ages to Middle-earth recreates a library within a library, and includes artworks and manuscripts of Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Garner which reside at the Bodleian. In a corner dressed as a Narnian snowscape visitors may listen to recordings from their works. A tagline comes from Lyra’s Oxford, on view in Pullman’s manuscript: “Oxford, where the real and the unreal jostle in the streets, where windows open into other worlds.”

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]]> http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/08/76730-the-magical-books-of-the-bodleian/feed/ 0 http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/07/76668-new-tauriel-and-legolas-still-from-ew/ http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/07/76668-new-tauriel-and-legolas-still-from-ew/#comments Thu, 08 Aug 2013 00:10:14 +0000 Demosthenes http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=76668 Entertainment Weekly delivers again with this fabulous new still shot of Tauriel and Legolas from The Desolation of Smaug.

One does note that there’s been a lot of focus on elves in Warner Bros. marketing lately, though. What gives?

Some readers are starting to wonder whether the tale of the hero, Bilbo, is taking a back seat in the Desolation of Smaug. Or is it just that elves are easier for Warner Bros. to market out there in the main-stream media?

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below, or visit our chatroom and see what fellow readers are thinking!

]]> http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/07/76668-new-tauriel-and-legolas-still-from-ew/feed/ 0 http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/07/76582-bodleian-library-free-exhibit-from-the-middle-ages-to-middle-earth/ http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/07/76582-bodleian-library-free-exhibit-from-the-middle-ages-to-middle-earth/#comments Wed, 07 Aug 2013 09:59:09 +0000 Demosthenes http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=76582 If you live in, or in the near future heading to, England here’s a reminder to check out the Bodleian Library summer exhibit From the Middle Ages to Middle-earth.

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The Bodleian’s summer exhibition takes as its theme the work of some of the foremost modern exponents of the genre, members of the group of writers informally known as the ‘Oxford School’: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Susan Cooper, Alan Garner and Philip Pullman.

From its unique holdings of these authors’ papers, the Library is displaying a selection of Tolkien’s original artwork for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; C.S. Lewis’s ‘Lefay notebook’ and his map of Narnia, and manuscripts of novels and poems by Alan Garner, Philip Pullman and Susan Cooper, many of which are exhibited here for the first time.

Also featured in the exhibition are some of the books and manuscripts that contain the myths, legends and magical practices on which these Oxford-educated authors freely drew for inspiration. This historic material is housed in the Bodleian, which as a source of sorcery and arcane learning can be re-imagined as an enchanted location in itself, where the very act of reading is imbued with magical, transformative properties.

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]]> http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/07/76582-bodleian-library-free-exhibit-from-the-middle-ages-to-middle-earth/feed/ 0 http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/04/76390-an-in-depth-first-look-at-the-auj-ee-contents/ http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/04/76390-an-in-depth-first-look-at-the-auj-ee-contents/#comments Mon, 05 Aug 2013 00:00:40 +0000 Demosthenes http://www.theonering.net/torwp/?p=76390 Ringer Alan lets us know that MovieStop, a movie store in Atlanta, Georgia, has this fantastic in-depth look at what we fans can expect from the Extended Editions of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Let’s dive right in and look at the goodies that are going to be on the discs.

The Filmmakers’ Commentary. Director/writer/producer Peter Jackson and writer/co-producer Philippa Boyens provide their perspective and stories on creating the first film.

New Zealand: Home of Middle-Earth. From Matamata to Queenstown, travel with Peter Jackson and his team across the stunning locations of New Zealand, transformed by the filmmakers into Middle-Earth.

The Appendices Part 7: A Long-Expected Journey. A 14-part chronological history of the filming of An Unexpected Journey, covering pre-production in the various departments of the film in the months leading up to the start of principal photography, the boot camp training for the main cast, and the work done on set chronologically through the three shooting blocks and in the world of its digital effects.

The individual chapters (and notice that a lot of them take titles from individual chapter of The Hobbit) include:

* The Journey Back to Middle-Earth
* Riddles in the Dark: Gollum’s Cave
* An Unexpected Party: Bag End
* Roast Mutton: Trollshaws Forest
* Bastion of the Greenwood: Rhosgobel
* A Short Rest: Rivendell and London
* Over Hill: The Misty Mountains
* Under Hill: Goblin Town
* Out of the Frying Pan: The Forest Ledge
* Return to Hobbiton: The Shire
* The Epic of Scene 88: Strath Taieri
* The Battle of Moria: Azanulbizar
* Edge of the Wilderland: Pick-ups and the Carrock
* Home Is Behind, the World Is Ahead

The Appendices Part 8: Return to Middle-Earth. Another selection of documentaries and featurettes await, further detailing the development, design and production of An Unexpected Journey:

The Company of Thorin. Explores the characters and backgrounds of the five families of dwarves and the company of actors chosen to play Thorin’s company on the Quest of the Lonely Mountain. Chapters include:

* Assembling the Dwarves
* Thorin, Fili and Kili
* Balin and Dwalin
* Oin and Gloin
* Dori, Nori and Ori
* Bifur, Bofur and Bombur

Mr. Baggins: The 14th Member. A revealing look at the film’s charismatic and talented lead actor, Martin Freeman.

Durin’s Folk: Creating the Dwarves Reveals the journey and process of designing, conceptualizing and physically realizing the dwarves in The Hobbit.

The Peoples and Denizens of Middle-Earth. Focuses on the realization of new characters and creatures encountered in the first film, from casting to characterization to physical and digital design. Chapters include:

* The Stone Trolls
* Radagast the Brown
* Goblins
* Azog the Defiler

Realms of the Third Age: From Bag End to Goblin Town. Follows the creation of the Middle-Earth locations from conceptual design to set and prop building to fully digital realities. Realms explored include:

* Hobbiton
* Rhosgobel
* The Misty Mountains
* Goblin Town

The Songs of The Hobbit. A look at the realization of Tolkien’s songs in An Unexpected Journey.

Pre-order your copy of the AUJ: EE at Amazon

The AUJ EE is already available for pre-order over on Amazon.com in a few different flavours — the collector’s edition gift set with bonus WETA statue, a Blu-ray 3D version and normal, non-3D Blu-ray edition.

 

[Gift Set] [Blu-Ray 3D + Blu-Ray + Ultraviolet] [Blu-Ray + Ultraviolet]

 

Bootnote: We believe that the numbering of the EE appendices begins from seven because it carries on from the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions, which had six appendices on the extra DVD discs.

Alternative theory is that Tolkien also had six appendices for the LOTR books (labelled from A to F), but that seems much less likely.

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