The day-to-day operation of the website, and the events we host, require a lot more resources than when we first started nearly 15 years ago. We sometimes find it hard to ask our readers for the help we need to keep running, so we began discussing what it is that makes TheOneRing.net worth helping out. It started out as a search for the Top Ten Moments of TORn, but the list got so long because each staff member had their own idea of important moments in TORn history. Here, instead, is something more encompassing: Ten Ways TORn helps serve Tolkien and Lord of the Rings fandom (listed in no specific order).

And, if you enjoy what we do, consider a donation (no amount too small, because every bit does help!) to keep us running!

If you can’t, that’s fine as well — keep reading, commenting and contributing. Because TORn is as much you as it is us!

If you’ve ever sent in an article, submitted a photo or report, posted on our messageboards, visited our chat, or commented on our twitter, facebook or g+, you’re the reason TheOneRing.net is among the largest and most-respected pillars of the Tolkien community on the web.

• Spy Reports

• Spy reports were a big part of our content when the website first started. From casting announcements to secret location pictures to leaked images of important plot points, spy reports were our bread and butter stories. Some of the reports were from random, anonymous sources, while others were official leaks from cast and crew. In fact, there were many production members who said they used TheOneRing.net to keep track of what some of the other filming units were doing. Other spy reports were just someone stumbling upon a film location and sending in a story or images and then we’d all try and guess what location it actually was. Some of our biggest spy reports were of Arwen at Helm’s Deep (which subsequently didn’t happen), Saruman’s prone body on a spiky wheel (which did happen), and TheOneRing.net was given the honor of introducing Thorin to the world. And very soon, we will be seeing stories from MrCere’s visit to the set from his Production Embed last year.

• Hall of Fire Chats and the Message Boards

• Literary discussions on the message boards and Hall of Fire chats – From the very beginning of TheOneRing.net, discussions of the books, chapter by chapter, has been a hallmark. After all, while we waited for news on who would be cast, where filming would take place, and rumors of what might be cut out, we had the books to talk about. Discussions worked by talking about one chapter at a time, and luckily, there are enough books with enough chapters, to keep those discussions going on for a long while. Since the beginning, we’ve looped through the books several times, but luckily, there are always new readers joining the discussion, and new interpretations to be had. And for something a little more dynamic, there are the Hall of Fire chats in Barlimans. Sometimes the talk is about a specific chapter, or a certain character, and sometimes it is about current events, such as new character images or reviews of a recently released trailer. No matter which forum you use, there is always someone to talk to about some aspect of Tolkien, the books or our fandom.

• TORns Live Videos

• We began with TORn Live, which consisted of Red Carpet interviews at premieres, awards ceremonies and special events like Cannes 2001 and SDCC. These would be recorded, edited and released online a few days or weeks later. But technology now allows for live streaming interviews and vlogs and the like. Quickbeam hosts a weekly TORn Tuesday event with interviews and discussions, while he interacts with a live chatroom. The Happy Hobbit ladies record and post their vlogs and post them within a day or two of their recordings, for a much quicker turnaround on video content. And right now we have the Road to DragonCon in full swing with live streaming from across the country.

• Conventions

• Convention appearances – Calisuri and Quickbeam hosted a panel at San Diego Comic Con in 2001, before the release of FOTR, and since then barely a year has gone by that TORn hasn’t had a presence at at least one convention. At many of the conventions we appear at we also have a presence on the exhibit hall floor where we have sold some of our classic TORn shirts. We love it when we get up on stage for a panel and half the people in the audience are wearing some of our older shirts.

•  

  

  Baggins Birthday Party sign

  Line Parties and Fan Events

• Line Parties and other fan hosted events – TheOneRing.net has always been a grass roots type of fan-site and that is no more apparent then looking at the Line Parties of years past. Whether it is just a few friends, or some hundreds of people signing up on the website to attend, fans like you all over the world hosted Line Parties. A few even took place over several days, and included costume contests and trivia games for prizes. Other fan hosted events over the years have been the Hobbit Day/Baggins Birthday Bash events on Sept. 22, the Tolkien Toast on Jan. 3 and the Tolkien Reading Day on March 25. TORn staff in Los Angeles have been hosting a Baggins Birthday Bash party for 11 years now, but there are fan groups around the world that have hosted similar events. Smaller moots happen around the world all the time, there is a very active group in Wellington and one in Croatia. If you are hosting a fan event in the next year or two, please feel free to tell us about it.

• The Oscar Parties

• Originally conceived as a fan event to help raise funds to buy TORn a new server, who could have imagined the Cast and Crew actually showing up to the FOTR oscar party? Even more surprising, who could have imagined the ROTK sweep and all those Oscars on stage at a fan hosted party?

• O.R.C and E.L.F.

• TheOneRing.net hosted conventions – The One Ring Celebration on the West Coast (O.R.C.) and the Eastern Lord of the Rings Festival on the East Coast (E.L.F.) were co-productions with a professional convention company, but they definitely had a TORn stamp on them. The conventions allowed us to combine our love of the films by interacting with cast and crew with our love of the books through academic discussions, the art shows and costume displays. We really did break the mold on how a commercial scifi convention is run and hope everyone who attended had a blast.

• Academic essays and editorials

• TORn has long standing relationships with many in the academic community who have posted guest essays and editorials. Over the year several staffers have posted in depth analysis to fan questions on the site as well. In fact, we have a whole section on the ‘old TORn’ (pre-crash) called Green Books for academic posts. This section had so much good stuff in it, we published a book called “The People’s Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien” and a sequel book as well.

• Driving fan initiatives

• After Return of the King was done and Peter Jackson moved on to do King Kong, the fans waited to see what would happen with The Hobbit afterwards. Months turned to years and still no word while studios went bankrupt, copyrights issues got tangled up and various lawsuits were filed for missing payments. Finally, a few fans decided they had had enough and started a petition to ‘Make the Hobbit Happen’. They brought it to TORn and we got thousands of you to sign so that a big pile of names was delivered to TPTB. A similar thing happened when there was talk that the production would be moved out of New Zealand. The fans could see no where else as Middle-earth, so the ‘Keep the Hobbit in NZ’ campaign was born, but this time on Social Media. And most recently, there was an explosion of Tolkien fan love over the #Votebilbo twitter event prompted by an MTV Audience Award.

• TORn Community

• This list compiles many of the things that TheOneRing.net does to keep you informed, entertained and engaged, but there is really just one thing that makes TheOneRing.net so important to keep around. And that is the community of fans that convene on our message boards, in Barliman’s chat, on Facebook and Twitter.

This site was built by fans getting together to discuss what they hoped for from Peter Jackson long before FOTR ever saw the light of day. The fact that a long existing fan-base gathered here meant engaged and informed discussion began from day one, including analyzing all the spy reports about casting and location details. We didn’t have to wait for the release of the films, or for several episodes of a new show to take off before we could discuss the minutia of every detail because our fan base was already well established.

And what is ‘fandom’ if not a community of like minded people passionate about the same thing. Sure, everyone has their own opinions, so every time a new image was released, or a new trailer appeared, the message boards and chatroom erupted into heated discussions. But as the years wore on friendships were made, some turning into marriage, and we all began meeting up at various moots, conventions, concerts, premiere events, trips to New Zealand or just coffee and a movie. How many of you newer fans were galvanized by the #Votebilbo campaign and now have a wider array of Twitter friends because of it? The fact that TORn was able to continue to exist during all those lean years between film productions is due mostly to you, the readers, sticking around to discuss anything and everything to do with Tolkien, and sometimes other bits of pop culture. We know that after the release of The Hobbit: There and Back Again we will see another decline of readership, but we also know that the community is strong, the friendships have been forged and all of you take that fandom with you where ever you go next.

So again, if you are so inclined to help support us and keep the website going, please do make a pledge or bid on one of the many cool auction items we’ve been posting about the past few days. On behalf of the All Volunteer Staff at TheOneRing.net, you have our deepest gratitude for all the support over the years.

This month we’re asking questions of one of our Four Founders, Calisuri.

Thanks Chris for agreeing to do this

Me: What was your favourite cartoon when you were growing up?

Calisuri: Oddly enough, the first one that pops into my head is Hong Kong Phooey! Though I know I really enjoyed He-Man, Thundercats and Gummy Bears! hah.

Me: You have been gifted a 30 second phone call with Tolkien, what would you say?

Calisuri: I think I would be a bit embarrassed to talk to him. Weird right? But ultimately, I don’t think Tolkien totally understood hardcore fans, and well, that is what I represent via TheOneRing.net. – even more-so today where fandom has escalated to a religious fervour in modern society.

I am also not a scholar in any capacity…as you can tell by my grammar! So I’d be embarrassed to even open my mouth!

But after all of that, I’d ask him about his experience in the war and how that affected his life. I’d love to know how he lived through the horrors of modern warfare with his own life experience.

Me: How do you avoid going mad under the pressure of running the largest and most-popular Tolkien and Lord of the Rings movies fan site in the world?

Calisuri: How do you know I have not gone mad? heh

But more seriously… I can’t claim to be solely running the site. I do handle most ‘business’ decisions and manage as much as possible, but there are so many other contributors to the site whom go unnoticed and unrecognised for their valuable efforts. TORn is blessed to have such an amazing group of volunteers – they are the ones that truly make TORn ‘run.’

For the business side of the site, I guess I can say I handle the pressure by putting things in perspective. I make an active decision to not sweat the small stuff. I know that seems clichéd and implies that I’m saying TheOneRing.net is the ‘small stuff,’ but…well, it is! My priorities in life are my family and my relationship with God. If I can handle those two extremely important aspects of my life, the rest just falls into place. So when something ‘bad’ happens on TORn (Server failure, etc) it never really phases me. It is just another day in the life of a thriving fan community. I have confidence in our team of volunteers to resolve whatever issue has come up and know that it ultimately will be resolved…at some point.

The only real time I get ‘stressed’ about TORn is when someone is attempting to abuse the community. In a nutshell, that means someone comes to us to promote their for-profit venture without appropriate reciprocation to our community. Basically looking to use the good will we’ve built up over many years for their own personal gain. That is the quickest way to get on my ‘bad side.’

Me: Why do you still do it? Why do you go to all the trouble?

Calisuri: I’ve often described TORn to friends and family as ‘my baby.’ Now that I have a real baby (my daughter was born in March 2011), I’m not sure its exactly the same, but close. In the early 2000’s, I aggressively protected TORn as I would my daughter and possibly burnt a few bridges. I’ve since come to a much more ‘calm’ place in my life and don’t let things get personal. So again, as I mention above, I’m not sweating the small stuff anymore and as a result TORn is simply an overall positive force in my life.

And it is a hell of a lot of fun! Where else can you throw a 220k+ party?! (Yea, that is what The Return of the One Party cost in 2004 – and we expect our next parties to be even more!)

Me: Ever been tempted to change the site so that you can hire staff to do the work?

Calisuri: No. If you check out the first wave of fan sites from the late nineties, many of them are no longer run by their original ‘owners.’ Most folks look to cash in and move on. I’m very proud of our ownership (Tehanu, Xoanon, Corvar and myself) for realising that the TORn community is more than just a website for a lot of folks. It represents years of hard work from our volunteers, but also is an outlet for Tolkien fandom worldwide. To move to a for-profit model would destroy us…you could really compare it to The One Ring itself. Yes, money would be awesome to have from our hard work on TORn, but ultimately it’s corrupting powers would overwhelm and turn us into Gollum? lol When people volunteer their time and talents to something, they are doing so because they have a real passion. You can’t pay for passion.

Me: What has been the BEST moment, the minute or day that has been most rewarding for all the years of effort?

Calisuri: Oh wow. Well, my memory is horrible – as many of our staff can tell you – so i can’t give you the minute and day. But I can say with certainty it was being invited to the Cannes Films Festival in 2001 before the release of The Fellowship of the Ring and spending time seeing exclusive footage of the film as well as partying with the cast/crew before the whole thing blew up.

Ha – look, the old page still exists explaining the experience: http://archives.theonering.net/movie/cannes2001.html

I know you asked for only one – but I’d have to put up there the ‘Charwen’ experience and the last Oscar Party.

Me: What’s your favourite thing about the TORn community?

Calisuri: Loaded question! I call foul!

My favourite ‘thing’ about TORn is the diversity of our community and the giving, generous and pleasant nature of Tolkien fans. We truly are the best fan base out there – sorry everyone else

Me: What is the meaning of your TORn nick and why did you choose it?  (“I’ve always wondered about it, but when you google “calisuri”, stuff about Chris Pirrotta is what you get.” Alassea Eruvande)

Calisuri: It is rather unique – and I have to give the credit to my brother Steve. You see, his email password was ‘Calusari’ – in reference to the X-Files episode ‘The Calusari.’ I just didn’t know how to spell it…and ultimately it served as a good nickname for use on the Nightmare LPMud I used to play. So there you have it…Calisuri.

Oddly enough…most people think it is a female name. I’m not sure why.

Me: Invent a word that might be heard in M-e and tell us what it means.

Calisuri: Wow – awesome question! How about Eve

Me: Do you have any irrational fears or phobias?

Calisuri: I have quite a few – I’m thinking the worst of which is I’m a hypochondriac. Just ask my poor wife! The slightest sniffle and I much have the flu or something much more horrible than the common cold.

I lived my whole life with another fear that I only recently overcame. Since I’m on a semi-soap box here, I would like to encourage anyone with an issue or fear that affects them daily to get some help. I only wish I would have addressed this particular topic 20 years ago – my life would have been so much different. I feel so liberated every day thanks to just a few sessions of therapy.

Me: How did you decide on what design to use for TORn? …in fact, how did you (and the other Founders) decide on the very name? (And do you have any comments regarding, ah, Charwen? )

Calisuri: The original concept for TORn was simply a collage of the great Tolkien artists – taking pieces from Naismith, Lee, Howe and others to compose an interesting backdrop. Nothing really that impressive – and ultimately today it is very out-dated. We should have a ‘reskin’ coming soon!

The name was directly inspired by TheForce.net – a Star Wars site that I often mention was my personal inspiration for TheOneRing.net. We thought by keeping a few parts of our name similar to TheForce.net, we could capture a bit of their success. So that is why we have a ‘the’ in our name and used ‘.net.’

Ah Charwen…that will live with me forever. The one thing I took away from that was I’m a HORRIBLY UGLY woman. My daughter takes after my wife fortunately

Thank you, again, Chris for taking the time to talk to us this month.

And as always thanks to all our message board regulars, Ataahua, DanielLB, Alassea Eruvande, SirDennisC, Xanaseb, grammaboodawg and dernwyn, and a special thank you to Senior Staffers MrCere and Demosthenes for this months’ questions.

If you want to ask any questions yourself, head over to our Message Boards, the sign up process is pretty painless. A lead post for questions is made at the beginning of each month.  Or you can just check the boards for this months interviewee and email me your questions at kelvarhin@theonering.net.

Till next time from TORn’s resident Tiger.

Kelvarhin.

1952
August 29 – In response to a letter from Rayner Unwin expressing his interest in The Silmarillion and Tolkien’s other ongoing works, the professor updates him on the status of his writing and reveals his latest dictating project, which he is quite proud of…

Letter #134:

1954
August 26 – Rayner Unwin sends a congratulatory letter to Tolkien on the publication of FOTR, which is already garnering requests for repeat orders and inquiries about the other two installments. “The reviews (with the honourable exception of C.S. Lewis’s magnificent essay in Time and Tide) have been equivocal but on the whole seem to have served their purpose by exciting curiosity about the book…” and with luck, Allen & Unwin will publish TTT in November. (HarperCollins archive)

1957
August 29 – Tolkien is informed by Rayer Unwin that he has won the International Fantasy Award and that an invitation is being sent for him to attend a luncheon on September 10th, at which time he will be presented with the award, which, he is informed, is in the shape of a rocket incorporating a Ronson lighter.

1958

c. August 30 – While staying with C.S. (“Jack”) Lewis and his wife Joy and brother Warren in Oxford, George Sayer spends this evening with Jack, Tolkien and R.E. Havard at Studley Priory, Lewis’s favourite country hotel. While Jack is paying the dinner bill, Sayer engages Tolkien in conversation…

(Jack: A Life of C.S. Lewis, 2nd edition, by George Sayer)

1965
August 24 – Tolkien sends the revised and corrected Hobbit text to Rayner Unwin with a letter…

(HarperCollins archive)

1966
August 29 – Replying to a letter from Donald Swann, Tolkien reveals that neither he nor his wife are very well, health-wise. Both are arthritic, and he is “supposed to be wearing a kind of rubber dog collar”, but rarely does so. They hope to take a cruise on September 15th that will take them from Southampton to as far as the Aegean Sea.

1968
August 28 – William “Billy” Boyd, who played Pippin in Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy, is born on this day in Glasgow, Scotland.

1971
August 26 – Kenneth Sisam, Assistant Secretary and Secretary to the Delegates of Oxford University Press who worked on the Oxford English Dictionary and was Tolkien’s tutor, dies.

1999

August 28 – Rumor has it that WETA is using Steve Buscemi as a model for the CGI-animated Gollum.

August 30 – AICN‘s Harry Knowles reports that Sean Bean is in negotiations to take on the role of Boromir, which, considering the actor’s personal preferred role was that of Aragorn, is not a bad second choice.

–> Michael Deluca shoots down the rumor that Steve Buscemi is Gollum: “Nope, he’s some unknown Brit”, as well as Ben Affleck’s involvement with LOTR and Peter Woodthorpe being considered for Ghan-buri Ghan.

2000
August 24 – The September issue of Cine Live magazine reveals Viggo Mortensen in all his Aragorn glory…

August 30 – A TORn spy sends along pics of the Isengard set… and there’s that spiky wheel again!

2001
August 25 – Sir Ian McKellen discusses his trip to Cannes to promote LOTR in the latest installment of his Grey Book, with some insight on what goes on the film festival, such as film deals, press junkets, reporters’ foot-in-mouth-diseased questions, and how one’s sanity is tested after hours and even days of the “same ol’, same ol” questions. He also expresses what it was like to see the first completed footage from the LOTRtrilogy and provides a couple of pics of himself and the cast at Cannes:

August 25 – The official poster makes its first appearance on the film trilogy’s official site…

2002
August 28 – The popular cartoon Hi and Lois gets Hobbitized…

2004
August 23-29 – Variety bestows its “Showman of the Year” award to Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne of New Line Cinema…

August 26-27-28 – LOTR gets no respect from Get Fuzzy‘s Bucky the cat…

August 28 – In his latest E-post, Sir Ian McKellen shows off his Elvish “Nine” and explains why Gandalf the White’s beard is shorter than the Grey’s.

All info has been collected from Hammond & Scull’s “J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide”; “The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien”, TORn and various sites on the web.

But before I begin, there are some things to note about this latest description. The invitation for the party specifically said this was a time of merrymaking and not business. With this in mind, everything I heard and spoke about was off record with the cast and crew. Yes, yes, I know, it would be nice to report the funny quirks and raunchy behavior, but I’m sworn to my oath. And heck, I’m protected by the ‘off the record’ requirement. I mean, geeze, would you really want to hear about Calisuri getting so wasted he dove head first into the pool in a vain attempt to board Galadriel’s boat? Nah… I didn’t think so…

——

The dream continues. Myself, Amy, Maurice and Leo just finished talking to Bilbo and decided to move into the courtyard. (By the way, I have no idea why Leo and Maurice are in this dream with me. Maybe it’s because they are both about 6 foot 7 inches tall and I looked like I needed body guards or something!)

The crowd in the courtyard seems to represent all the races of Middle-earth. Hobbits are pushing through legs to get to the bar; soldiers are walking around carrying mugs of ale. I pushed through some Gondorian soldiers and found myself standing in front of Claire Raskind, the publicist for Peter Jackson. I ran into Claire earlier in the week when I passed along a hat as a present for Peter. Claire was kind of enough to deliver the present, and express Peter’s appreciation for the gift. We toasted the success of the party and the success of the footage screened days earlier. As the conversation turned to footage discussion, a member of the Middle-earth media asked me for a quote. Boy, am I bad under pressure! I think I said something like, “Peter Jackson shares the same vision as fans of Lord of the Rings. We have nothing to worry about.” Gosh, I might have even made it sound better then what I really said. But anyway, we talked for a few minutes and moved on.

The party seemed to swell every minute as more and more guests arrived in Middle-earth. When we finally squeezed our way down the cobblestone path, there were so many faces that it was hard to make out the Frodos and Sarumans of this world. The media overwhelmed the area—name a big city in the world and they had a reporter there. At one point, I ran into that sly-looking Steve Kmetko guy from E! News Daily. He was hanging near Rivendell/Lothlorien, possibly trying to get a good shot of Galadriel’s boat. Anyway, he seemed rather surprised that a web designer like myself would be so forward as to give him a card! But if they want the real scoop on LOTR, who else but TheOneRing.net to contact?

We walked back towards the chateau and noticed the party had really picked up near the stage. Orcs, hobbits, elves and men were dancing wildly to French versions of “Oh What a Night” and the latest Latin offerings. In the back of the crowd, you could see the flicker of candles as a huge cakes floated towards the front. The band began to play a rather strange/disturbing version of Happy Birthday, and Bilbo’s cake appeared before us. The cake was HUGE: 111 candles and 3 monstrous layers. We all cheered wildly and toasted our favorite hobbit.

I was slightly disappointed there were no fireworks, but Gandalf was nowhere to be seen. I almost half-expected Bilbo to give a speech and then poof! disappear. No such luck. The only thing that disappeared was Leo and Maurice.

After wishing Bilbo our best, we migrated to the back of the crowd and found ourselves standing next to Richard Taylor, the head of WETA Digital! Richard is one of the more honest, inspirational and happy people I have ever met in my life. His passion for his trade and his genuine affection for the efforts of fans like us was encouraging and well received.

While I know this is just a dream, I was disturbed by Richard’s proud display of support for the Dark Lord Sauron! He wore an Eye of Sauron pin on his chest. To think that Sauron’s servants were at this party and disguised as such wonderful people as Mr. Taylor shook me up a bit. Apparently, a lot of people where wearing these pins! Even Tania Rodger, from WETA, had a pin on! Sauron must have had his hands on the entire WETA staff! How else could they create such mastery?

Mr. Taylor offered me an Eye himself. I didn’t want to give myself away, nor did I want to show fear. I accepted the gift and Amy and I walked slowly away.

Just as we were backing off, John Howe showed up again… he had a pin too! EEK!! Run away!!!

We made our way towards the hobbit holes and Bag End. Sitting on a picnic bench talking with some fans was none other then fellow webmaster Harry Knowles from AintitCool.com. I didn’t notice Harry wearing one of these ‘Eye’ pins, so I figured it was safe to say hi. He was also very well dressed. I only met him a few days earlier and I have a feeling that seeing him in a suit was probably pretty unique. A lot of people were flocking to talk to Harry, so we casually made our way towards the Trolls that had been turned to stone.

There were quite a few famous faces hanging around these infamous landmarks from The Hobbit. We spotted Arwen talking casually with a group of important people from Middle-earth’s entertainment business. Like a streak of light, we caught a quick glimpse of Frodo as he bolted by to meet up with Samwise.

However, in this whole crowd, all eyes seem to be focusing on someone in the center. Amy and I pushed our way through the mass to discover just what attracted so much attention. And then, there he was: Peter Jackson. Peter, or should we call him the sculptor of Middle-earth, was beaming as hundreds of people complimented him on his wonderful accomplishment.

He was very approachable as Amy and I introduced ourselves. I guess actually meeting and talking with Peter Jackson in real life, the day before, brought on this part of my dream. We drank a bit, chatting mostly about the footage. Obviously we complimented his mastery in capturing Tolkien’s vision on screen. Everything people say about this man is true. He is grounded. Really and honestly grounded. When you talk to him, he doesn’t act like someone who just spent a small fortune making what will become the largest movie franchise of all time. He acts like a friend you’ve just met in a pub and decided to drink with.

The dream gets a bit hazy at this point. I know we met a lot of other people involved with the Lord of the Rings, and talked a lot about the beautiful footage.

I can really only remember one person specifically. Amy, Maurice and I were standing talking to someone about the prospects of the Lord of the Rings DVD and what will be on it. I remember the words, ‘ground breaking’, ‘extra footage’, ’2 discs,’ ‘summer after the film’ and not much else. You see, I was on my third glass of wine at this point. Could that be why I’m hazy? Specifics are beginning to fade.

One of the biggest highlights of this dream was getting a chance to speak with Gimli and his crew. I think we spent a good hour talking with his wife, Deborah. It was very encouraging to meet someone so honest and ‘real’ in this setting. We chatted a bit about Gimli’s challenges and toils, living in Middle-earth and my second favorite subject, Apple computers! (They have computers in Middle-earth I guess…) I think I was able to provide some quality technical support, but we shall see.

Gimli’s manager (who knew dwarves had managers?!) was also very down to earth and personable. Louisa Springs came up to me during our interviews on Saturday and introduced herself. She was one of a very few ‘talent’ managers to do that. It made my day. In a place where you are next to the Rivendell Times Movie Critic and other such bigwig reporters, it’s nice to have someone recognize you and also recognize the importance of fans.

We talked with Louisa and Deborah a bit more and finally sat down with Gimli. The best thing about Gimli? He treated us like real people. While he is quite a stubborn dwarf, it is tons of fun to talk with him. At one point, he insisted that the Lord of the Rings was about the journey of a dwarf, and that’s it! And after meeting him in person, I believe it! This character was one you don’t argue with.

At this point a rumor is going around that gifts are being given out at Bilbo’s Birthday party. Woo! I bolt to find them. As I’m dragging Amy, Maurice and Leo behind me, we run into Pippin Took!

Pippin is absolutely wonderful! Yet another inhabitant of Middle-earth that has wonderful manners and greets you with the most sincere friendship. Unfortunately, our time was short. The transportation that brought to Middle-earth was leaving VERY shortly, and we didn’t get to speak much. I did get a chance to exchange a cigarette (borrowed from some other person wearing an ‘Eye’) for a signature!

The dream starts to fade now. People are slowly disappearing and the crowd is noticeably smaller.

As I look back on the dream, I think Louisa Springs (Gimli’s manager) sums it up quite well.

“The whole party invoked the spirit of LOTR. More than anything else could have done.”

Here, here, Louisa!

So the ships arrive. Great big ships with soft cushy seating and a short hobbitish man at the helm. We all walk up the ramps to leave this wonderful place, and board what looks like a ship back to the real world. The sadness hasn’t hit yet, but I’m sure it will.

As we pull away from the shore, we look back and catch a glimpse of this wonderful world. Maybe someday we can return.

*!!!!!!!!!!BUZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!*

The alarm goes off, and here I am, in a hotel in Nice. Its noon and I strangely still feel tired. What did I do last night? All I can think of is this wonderful dream and I’m overcome by a deep and utter sadness—the same sadness we all get at the end of LOTR. When the ships for the Grey Havens leave. When the drama, the quest, the story end. We want more, but we know there is no more.

My heart hurts. I almost have a tough time breathing from the sorrow.

But it was only a dream!

I look to my left and there is a black bag sitting next to the nightstand. I pull the strings to open it and find a horde of treasure. A replica of Sting! A pipe with some pipeweed. A special edition of LOTR and a poster!

I hurriedly ring Amy.

“Where were we last night??” I ask.

“I’m having a good dream. Go back to sleep,” she replies.

The medallion under my pillow goes unnoticed.

The first few clips are of a very old and tired looking Gandalf, riding a cart through what is obviously Hobbiton. He rides by the beautiful and innocent landscape of the hobbits. At first I thought I saw Frodo was in the cart with him, but the clips were cut in a way to show him heading towards Bag End. And yes, Bag End is Bag End. It is EXACTLY the Bag End that we have seen from John Howe and Alan Lee. I think this is one of the greatest aspects of the footage and the entire project. Through my discussion with Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor, you really get a sense that both Lee and Howe were the visionaries behind the creation of Middle-earth. And since these two artists, I think, exemplify what Middle-earth should look like, we as fans should be beaming with excitement. After each paragraph, I will be providing links to images that display what I mean. Some are official images and some are Howe or Lee paintings. [Official Image of Gandalf on Cart] [Howe's Hobbiton] [Lee's Bag End] [LA Time's Image of Bag End]

So here we have Gandalf, a very tall and imposing figure approaching Bag End and knocking on the door with the bottom of his staff. It was easier for him to tap the door with the bottom of his staff then to lean over and knock with the top of his staff. The staff is gorgeous. We got to see it at the party on Sunday in more detail. The best way I can describe it is a gnarly stick with roots extending from its knobbish, circular top. There are a few pictures online already that show the staff.[Gandalf's Staff]

Bilbo is perfect. That is the really scary thing about this footage. (I will probably emphasis this throughout this report, but honestly, its true!) Everything is exactly how I imagined it when I first read the books so many years ago. Ian Holm is honestly Bilbo. Even when we met him at the party on Sunday night, and he was out of costume, he still…was Bilbo. Oh and the feet, you honestly did not notice them anymore than you’d notice someone’s shoes on TV. Of course people who don’t know about Hobbits will probably notice them initially, but they are easily accepted as real. [Official Image of Bilbo]

To be honest, I was WAY too into viewing the clip, so I didn’t get to transcribe the dialogue! I repeat, I am a fan like you! Not a reporter! But I do remember it being very close to the book and maybe in fact verbatim. Bilbo calls from within Bag End for his visitor to go away. When he does open the door, they hug like two old friends and Gandalf says, “You haven’t aged a day.”[Lee's Gandalf at Bag End]

After Gandalf leans down dramatically to enter Bag End, Bilbo runs off to get him some tea. Gandalf attempts to straighten out, just a bit, and hits his head on a chandelier hanging from the center of the main hall. Reacting to this, he turns his head quickly to enter another room and ends up hitting his head on a banister. For our first look at the size difference between Men and Hobbits, this was perfectly played out. [Official Image of Inside Bag End]

Gandalf moves into another room where he sees a disorganized pile of old papers on a table, and among them, the map from the Hobbit! We get a close up glimpse of the map. For fans like us, this is really very cool to acknowledge the Hobbit in this way. While Gandalf is walking around the hobbit hole, we see Bilbo running here and there in the background. [Rendering of Bilbo's desk with Map]

We then cut to Bilbo’s Birthday party. We get a chance to see a bunch off hobbits partying and some really nice introductory shots of Frodo. He looks VERY young in these shots. Peter Jackson did a great job really building up the innocence of Hobbiton with this sequence. I’m sure by the end of the movie will we see a much more aged and disheveled Frodo in a sharp contrast to what we see now. There was one part of this clip that disturbed me. And I’m going to write it off to the CG not being completed. But I’m honestly surprised that no one else reported this. The fireworks look very computer generated. One shot showed a few hobbit children letting one off and it swoops over their heads towards the camera. The heads of the firework trailers formed some kind of shape, but I couldn’t make out. Maybe stars. But I do remember thinking it was pretty fake looking. Don’t get me wrong folks, I’m only trying to be honest here. I loved the footage, just saw a few flaws, which surely will be fixed up.[Official Image of Party I ] [Official Image of Party II ] [Official Image of Party III]

In the same scene we have the shot of Bilbo giving the end of his farewell speech. While its not exactly verbatim, it has the same effect. He puts on the ring and disappears. No special tricks or affects here. He just disappears. And it’s completely believable. Perfectly executed in my opinion. The image I list next is an exact shot from what we saw. [Bilbo at the Party]

We next hear Gandalf requesting that Bilbo leave the ring, a quick shot of Bilbo’s disgruntled face, and then the ring falling to the floor. We then watch as Bilbo walks off into the night. The next series of shots show the ring being forged. Pretty cool stuff. Gandalf is saying the Ring poem and we cut to a clip of Frodo who has obviously just learned of the Ring’s true power. He doesn’t seem too upset, until he asks Gandalf if Sauron knows the ring is in the Shire. Gandalf doesn’t have to answer; the look on his face and Frodo’s reaction says it all. This was yet another beautifully shot sequence.

The next shots were meant to build up the intensity, and succeeded in doing so. We see the hobbits under a tree (refer to image below), but this time, there is a Nazgul crouching over the tree roots smelling out the hobbits. (refer to the official .pdf file, page 5) We see the attack at weathertop with Aragorn defending the Hobbits. There is a shot of Strider, in the corner of the Prancing Pony. This shot was perfect. It was almost like Peter had taken that image out of my head and transcribed it to screen. Honestly folks, this is really scary how the man was able to reproduce our imagination. Its also a testament to Tolkien’s genius in providing us all with a descriptive text that we all could create a similar vision in our head. Aragorn/Strider looks very suspicious with his cloak hanging over his face, and we hear Sam telling that to Frodo. We’ve seen an image of this online before, and it works wonderfully on the screen.[Official Image of Hobbits under that Tree] [Official Image of Strider]

The next shot is of Gandalf and Saruman talking. Saruman is sitting on a throne in Orthanc, and Gandalf is directly in the front of the frame. I’ve linked to an image from the same scene, but it must be after Gandalf upsets Saruman. We also have a quick clip of Arwen being chased down by the Nazgûl as she races towards the ford. As a side note, when we interviewed Liv, she did imply that the scene leading up to the flight might be slightly different from the books and involve some kind of ‘fight.’ What that is all about, we’ll have to get back to you on. [Official Trailer Gandalf and Saruman] [Official Image of Saruman]

The next series of shots are of Rivendell and Lothlorien. We skip between shots of the Galadriel mirror scene and the Council of Elrond.

The Council is very impressive. (refer to the official .pdf file, page 16) The tension and emotion of the scene really does come through. Boromir, specifically looks extremely concerned. Now, you might say, “Of course he does!” But honestly, this sequence really shows you how well the movie is cast and filmed. Sean Bean is a quality actor and plays Boromir’s part beautifully, even if it’s just his facial expressions. The rest of the cast holds their own too, with some wonderful close-ups on Frodo, Elrond and Gandalf. We actually get to see the forming of the Fellowship and watch as Merry and Pippin burst into the council insisting on accompanying Frodo. Elrond says (maybe not verbatim), “Nine walkers to combat the nine riders.” [Council Image 1] [Council Image II] [Frodo at the Council]

Galadriel speaks to Frodo of the loneliness in bearing the ring and the great responsibility involved. We get the sense that Frodo has seen the scouring of the shire in the mirror and Galadriel is reassuring him. Once again, the acting is wonderful. I hope I’m not being too repetitive, but the emotion of all these scenes really comes through in the unspoken drama and the quality of the acting. The best examples of this will come later in the shots from The Two Towers and The Return of the King. [Official Image of Galdriel and Frodo] [Galadriel Image from Calendar] [Galadriel and Frodo at the Mirror]

We next see the walking over Caradhras sequence from the teaser trailer. However, we don’t watch the entire Fellowship cross the screen. Instead, we cut to a close-up of the Fellowship on the mountain and zoom out to show the landscape and beauty of the scene. We next see them standing before the infamous doors of Durin; the gates of Moria. The doors are open, and the Fellowship walks into complete darkness. This is the great transition into the second part of the footage: The Mines of Moria. (Oh yeah, and we don’t see the watcher in the water, but its definitely in the film)[The Fellowship Walks Over Caradhras] [Image of Moria Gates]

This part of the footage was 14 minutes of pure film. While PJ later told us that while it was not the complete scene, the majority of it was there.

The Fellowship enters a great cavernous hall. Imagine a room with a ceiling about 10 stories up. Even after Gandalf uses his staff to light the way, you cannot see the end of this huge hall. Pillars are numerous and everywhere in evenly spaced columns across the room. Seeing the Fellowship walking together in this kind of setting was absolutely amazing. Once again, Peter and his team have tapped into the minds of Tolkien fans worldwide to create this vision. As evidence, this is exactly like the Alan Lee’s rendering. [Halls of Moria - Alan Lee]

As they walk through this huge cavern and Gimli notices a chamber off to the side. He runs into the room and falls to his knees before a tomb. The room is littered with Dwarf skeletons.

The rest of the Fellowship walks into the room, lead by Gandalf. Gandalf wipes away some dust on top of the tomb and reads the name of Balin. While looking around the room, Gandalf finds the diary and begins to read from its pages. The entire Fellowship is listening intently as he reads of the last days of Balin and the terror that befell them. We see Pippin backing up slowly towards a well. He is listening to what Gandalf is saying and really not paying attention to where he is going. Just as Gandalf reaches the words he cannot read, Pippin bumps into the well on which a Dwarf skeleton is seated. The skeleton’s head falls backwards down the well making a lot of noise. But the head is not all. Soon the body and some chains follow. The noise is immense. I found myself wanting to laugh, but then I had knowledge that the non-Tolkien fan did not – that this accident by Pippin was going to bring about dire consequences. [Official Image - Boromir, Legolas, Aragorn in Tomb] [Official Image - Merry, Pippin, Gimli in Tomb]

The Fellowship looks around in utter disbelief of what happened. Gandalf storms over to Pippin. “Fool of a Took,” he reprimands. Just as he begins to turn around, a scream is heard. A quick cut to Frodo as he draws Sting and it glows blue. Boromir rushes through the open door and stares into the hall. A slew of arrows just misses his head and he runs back in. Boromir, Legolas and Aragorn rush to close the door, jamming it with axes and other items found on the floor. Gimli stands on top of Balin’s tomb and faces the door. The rest of the Fellowship surrounds the tomb and gets ready to do battle as they stare at the door and listen to the sound of footsteps getting closer. [Sting Replica]

Legolas and Aragorn are at the front. Each has a bow and an arrow ready to fly.

Then it starts. Pieces of the door start to fly off as orcs attempt to bash down the entrance. One axe breaks through and creates a hole wide enough for Legolas to loose an arrow. The arrow hits its mark and we hear a squeal of pain. Another hole opens in the door, and Aragorn follows suit with an arrow. Then the door breaks from its hinges and orcs rush the room. Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, Gandalf and Gimli charge into battle. The four hobbits hover behind the tomb. Aragorn beheads an orc, as Legolas looses a bunch of arrows, each hitting their mark. The hobbits, having initially hesitated at their first taste of real battle, charge head-first into the fray. [Official Image - Legolas aims]

Then the Cave Troll blasts into the room.

I personally have never seen anything like this on the big screen. The Cave Troll is not made of rocks or stone or anything like that. It almost looks like you could squeeze and have your hands slide right off. It has a dull grey thick skin and a huge bulbous head with eyes very spread apart. (refer to the images below) The beast is so big and powerful you immediately realize that there is no way the Fellowship can beat this thing. It’s just that unstoppable. It initially uses a huge hammer to attack. Huge chunks of floor are dislodged as he swings and misses. Legolas leaps up on to a higher ledge and fires arrows into the beast to draw its attention. The troll then grabs a chain and uses it as a whip. Legolas is too fast. Aragorn attempts to attack it and is tossed across the room. The others are still engaged with some orcs. [Preview Trailer - Cave Troll I] [Preview Trailer - Cave Troll II] [Preview Trailer - Cave Troll Face]

We then cut to a shot of Frodo hiding behind a pillar. He is sliding along the circumference as the Troll is searching for him. It’s almost like the classic cat and mouse game. As Frodo slides to the right, the Troll peers to the left and sees nothing. As the Troll peers to the right, Frodo has slid to the left. Then Frodo begins to slide back to the right and without warning the troll catches onto his game. That big bulbous head suddenly appears in front of Frodo and we all jump out of our seats. Frodo stumbles back and begins a feeble attempt to escape the Troll’s attacks. Aragorn at one point runs to Frodo’s defense, only to be knocked out of contention as he is tossed away. The Troll picks up a huge pole and slams it into Frodo. The camera is set up so that it looks like Frodo takes a direct hit in the chest. Everything slows down as Frodo reels in pain and in astonished disbelief. The entire Fellowship looks at what has just happened and scream in agony. Even the Troll has a look of surprise at the affect of what he’s done. Frodo slumps to the floor. Merry and Pippin scream madly and jump on the Troll’s back, stabbing frantically with vengeance. Aragorn picks up the pole and sticks it under the Troll’s upper right rib cage. As the Cave Troll screams in anger, at yet another small nuisance wound in his side, he opens his mouth just enough for Legolas to skillfully shoot an arrow directly into his upper palette. The assumption is that the arrow reaches his brain and kills him. The Troll falls to the crowd with a dramatic thud.

Aragorn rushes to Frodo’s side. He says something about how the pole could have skewered a boar as Frodo begins to stir. Gandalf suggests they look under his shirt, and the mithril is revealed. Gimli stares in awe. Another scream is heard and Gandalf gives the order to flee to the bridge.

The entire Fellowship runs through the doors and into the hall. As they sprint through the cavern thousands of orcs start to amass on their heels. Orcs are coming from everywhere. Even from the ceiling as the climb down, spider man-like on the pillars. Eventually, the Fellowship has no where to go. They are trapped in the middle of the hall with tens of thousands of orcs surrounding them. We get a few great close-ups of the orcs in this scene. One had really cool yellowish cat eyes. It almost seemed like the orcs were taunting them before going in for the final kill. [Preview Trailer - An Orc]

Just as it looks like all is lost, the sound system (specially brought in by PJ) rumbles. Imagine that Jurassic Park T-Rex effect, but 20x better. The orcs begin to look at each other worriedly. The rumble gets louder. The orcs start to panic and begin to flee. Gimli laughs with temporary pride at what he believes is the orcs backing off in fear. He hasn’t seen the large red glow coming from the far end of the hall. Gandalf has. It is the Balrog and Gandalf knows it. He tells the rest of the Fellowship that this foe is too powerful for them to handle and they should all flee.

As they get to the steps, the rumbling is getting louder and louder. So loud that the walls of Moria are shaking and pieces of the hall are beginning to crumble. You get the impression that the Balrog is so huge that it wouldn’t even fit in the hall.

They run for their lives down a very narrow and rather unsafe stairway. It’s rather hard to describe the staircase. The best example I can think of is the MC Escher drawing. (reference the image below, minus all of the people and railings and stuff. Just look at the stairs) These stairs are miraculously standing on the cavern floor that never seems to end. The Fellowship encounters a break in the stairs and must leap across. Some are thrown across (the hobbits) and others jump, until Frodo and Aragorn are the only remaining Fellowship members on the far side. Just then, orcs on a ledge much farther away begin to fire arrows at them. The rumbling continues and a huge stone falls from the ceiling, taking out the stairs behind Aragorn and Frodo. They are now alone on a very unstable piece of staircase, which gets farther and farther away from the others ever second. To make matters worse, this segment begins to sway to the right, then to the left, and then back. And just when it looks like the gap between the two staircase segments will never met again, it leans forward and slams into the other segment. (refer to the official .pdf file, page 23, lower right) Frodo and Aragorn jump across and run down the rest of the stairs. As they near the bottom, they run into a dead end. Boromir almost falls off the ledge. Gandalf points to the bridge in the distance and instructs all to run to it. [M.C. Escher's Relativity]

Later, after some discussions with other people, i found out that its at this point that the footage is cut a bit. We jump to the Fellowship passing over the bridge and Gandalf turns around to face the Balrog. What does the Balrog look like? Well, as we reported earlier, it has wings and well…its John Howe’s Balrog. If you have the recent board game, it looks pretty much just like that! Gandalf says “You shall not pass!” slamming his staff down as the head of the great beast swoops through a wall of fire to reveal itself. Intense! Thats all I can say.[John Howe's Bridge of Khazad-dum]

That ends the Mines of Moria sequence. Whew…(breath…breath…)

Now the montage of the Two Towers and Return of the King begins. Something about this footage made it my favorite. There is something so real and the drama is just so honest, I was taken back. Nothing is really ordered, but we did get our first look at a few of the cast and some critical moments.

The biggest clip that sticks in my mind is a shot of Theoden as an ‘old’ and degenerate man, obviously under the control of Wormtongue. His face is so weathered it almost looks like a virus has attacked him. At first I was questioning the make-up, but after further thought, I think its perfect.

There are two beautiful shots of Miranda Otto as Eowyn. One as she rides a horse and looks back, and one that pulls away to show the landscape.

These clips were going fast, and trust me, it’s hard to remember it all with just one viewing!

Another one of my favorites was watching Wormtongue get tossed out of Edoras. We see him literally thrown down some stairs from a side perspective.

We catch a glimpse of Denethor looking quite mad and possibly looking on his pyre. I’m not real sure though.

There is a section where Sam is hovering over an exhausted and beaten Frodo in Mordor. Their faces are chapped and burned. This is the contrast I was talking about before. In Hobbiton they look so young and healthy. In Mordor they are hideously challenged and decrepit. Sam had some very painful looking sores on his mouth and face.

We have a lot of clips of battles and landscapes. It truly is amazing looking at the New Zealand landscape as Middle-earth. I guarantee we are all going to want to go there next year, if we don’t already want to! Go NZ Tourism Board! Heh…

The last clip shows Frodo at the cracks of doom. It’s that critical point where Frodo chooses not to destroy the ring. Elijah Wood plays the part perfectly as the power of the ring overcomes him and he puts it on. “I will not destroy it! The Ring is mine!”

Cut to the NEW Lord of the Rings logo.

And that’s it folks. That was the footage, and boy was it amazing. The theater erupted in applause. People hung around the place for a long time hoping for more, but were hurriedly lead to the buses for the Chateau and the interviews.

I wiped away the beginnings of tears and just stood in awe. I think I made some sarcastic comment to a New Line rep, “Oh, nah…no one’s going to like this.”

As we walked out of the theater I couldn’t help but be excited. Even though some bits of the story had changed, the changes were good. The way the story was presented on screen still preserved the original intent of Tolkien. And best of all, Peter Jackson had the same vision of Lord of the Rings that I had since I was 12. After talking with the other webmasters, I think Peter got their visions down too.

The only negatives? Well, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the score. But then again, I really didn’t pay much attention to it. The only part that stuck in my mind was the ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ sounding portion. Or was it Xena? It was definitely one of those two. I have read that others seemed to love it. Maybe I was just over sensitive. (Some people have just written to me extremely worried about my commentary on the score. Trust me folks, its not BAD at all. To give you a better idea, here is a link to Xena’s theme song in midi format. After about nine seconds of intro, listen to the main theme. MIDI file. I’m referring to the first 7 notes. Thats the ONLY part that sounded similar to me.)

The CG, while it did need more work, was still better then what I had seen a week before in the ‘Mummy Returns’. And the fact that PJ and the WETA folks are continuously working on the footage makes me really happy.

You want to know what makes this film unique? As I mentioned before, its the realism. Its the grit and grim all over the faces of the Fellowship as they march through Moria. Its the scars and wounds on the faces of our heroes. Its the detail on the armor; The detail on the swords. The details will make the movie the best film of our generation. I know that sounds like a big stretch, but I really do believe it. And from what I’ve just seen, this films will define movie-making for years to come.

———-

Look for Part II of “I dreamed I was in Middle-earth” tomorrow sometime.

Calisuri

Let me give a quick background. Stuart was cast in the role of Aragorn but departed the production a mere 3 days after filming started. Initial reports through our spies had suggested that Stuart was hard to work with and there was a lot of friction on the set.

So why was Stuart replaced?

Well, at the Press Conference last friday, Peter Jackson spoke a bit about the situation. As it turns out, Stuart is an extraordinary actor. Jackson and others were impressed with his abilities, however as time moved on, it became apparent that he was too young for the role. As Peter put it, even Stuart, a big fan of the books, insisted he was too young for the role.

When Viggo Mortensen was cast, both Peter Jackson and Barrie Osborne gave the news to Stuart. They parted on good terms and in agreement.

So basically, Stuart was too young. There was no tension or friction between Townsend and Jackson as was previously reported.

PJ did go on to say that the day Viggo joined the team must have been fate, because there could not have been a better person cast in the role. He is Aragorn.

The sound kind of goes splah in the last minutes, but thanks to Ringer spy Nigel we have a transcript of the last part:

“Reporter: Its said you’ve made the biggest film project ever. How big is big?

Peter Jackson: Well it is the biggest ever. I mean really its 3 movies which is obviously one of the factors. But its 15 months of shooting continuously, nobody has ever shot a movie for 15 months before.

Reporter: This is a huge step, would you have ever dreamt when you were making all those splatter movies like Braindead that one day you would be producing something like this?

Peter Jackson: No. I’m just very lucky because I’m doing what I want to do. Everyday that I’m working on this project I just feel incredibly lucky.

Reporter: You’re a happy man?

Peter Jackson: Yeah. I love directing movies and I’m directing Lord of the Rings. Its the ultimate.

[Cut to Liv Tyler and Orlando Bloom]

Reporter: Liv when they told you were gonna make a blockbuster right at the bottom of the world what was your reaction?

Liv Tyler: I think that more than even anything was my first kind of *high sigh* cause I was incredibly excited about the project and I didn’t have any concerns about being away from my career for a year. But personally being away from my family and stuff I just thought ‘oh my god can I handle that?’ you know. But it was great and I did and I just thought ‘you know what? It’s a year out of my life and I can handle it,’ and it was such a beautiful wonderful place and I tended to get home sick something the boys didn’t as much as me..

Orlando Bloom: We made the most of the surf and bungie, and skydiving.

Reporter: What was Peter like to work with Liv?

Liv Tyler: Peter’s amazing. He cares so much about this book and about this story. I think he’s a Hobbit but there is some part of each character inside of him and I could really see it come alive, his imagination is enormous and just full of so much passion for the project.

[Cut to Sean Aston] Peter Jackson is a great actor . He could do the hobbits to us and I could see him turn and do Aragorn, do the human hero and he changed! I learned a lot about acting just watching him direct.

[Cut to Sir Ian Holme] In a word genius. Forthright, patient, focussed ..a kiwi.

[Cut to Sir Ian McKellan and Christopher Lee]

Sir Ian McKellan: I’ve never worked with a director who has only one pair of shoes *laughter* and doesn’t wear them very often.

Christopher Lee: I’ve never worked with a director myself, for the first time 2 days ago wearing long trousers *more laughter*

[Cut to Dominic Monaghen] We’re all hoping that Peter will now be recognized as one of the greatest film makers alive today and that he will be given the opportunity to make the movies that he wants to make.”

The BBC has a bit more from their arts correspondent, which is quite nice. You can tell that Sir Ian Mckellen wears great scarves (Like the real Gandalf?) and that Liv Tyler looks cute even when caught yawning. [More]

Thanks to Strider for the alert.

The dream begins…

Here I am walking up a cobblestone hill with three of my good friends, Amy, Leo, and Maurice. The sounds of music intermingle with the ear-piercing shrills of a Nazgul in the distance. Leo and Maurice run ahead to talk to some fellow Dutchman, as Amy and I continue up the hill lined with candles. In the haziness ahead, I can make out two giagantic horses with riders dressed in dark black robes. As we get closer, I realize that the Nazgul are approaching us. You haven’t really felt fear until you stare down the nose of a Nazgul’s black steed in full armour. Surpisingly, Amy reaches out and touches this foul beast. We continue on.

Ahead is a bluish light illuminating a gazebo, masterfully hand carved. Inside are two elves, dancing and singing merily to a haunting theme. The lights of the candles dance wildly with the movement of the elves.

Leo and Maurice catch up to us again as we near a gate. Nothing exceptionally special about this gate except the eight or ten strongmen surrounding it. Beyond the gate, we can see a horde of cameras and reporters that seem trapped behind a fence. As we pass through the gate, by benefit of our medallions, the magic really begins.

A red carpet, scattered with rose petals, is laid at our feet. On a hill to our left is a castle. At its gates are two Men of Gondor with pikes double their size. They are dressed in full armour with an emblem of a white tree on their chest. Their helms have plumes of white sprouting out from boths sides of their head. As we look closer, the same emblem seen on the warriors, adorns the castle wall.

To our right is a sea of reporters and tv crews. One by one they pull Samwise and Boromir and others into their web of questions. Behind the sea are a few hobbit holes with rather unique signs on the doors. One looks like a universal symbol for a man, the other, looks to be the universal symbol for woman. Indeed, these are the bathrooms!

As we walk over the carpet, we immediately are greeted by two hobbits inviting us into what looks to be Bag End. These hobbits, with rather realistic looking hairy feet and traditional old english dress, request we duck down as we enter this subterreanian home.

But right before we enter through the round door of the Baggin’s household, guess who comes out the front door! Gandalf himeself! Gandalf was very well dressed, not in his typical costume, and rather happy to be at a party. He was kind enough to talk a few minutes with us and compliment TheOneRing.net. I made doubly sure, that he knew, we ‘the fans’ loved what we saw of the screening.

We said our pleasant goodbyes and entered Bag End. As I look up and around, I see the same hobbit hole that I had seen days earlier in movie footage. Here is the chandelier where Gandalf bumps his head. Oh, look, there is the map from the Hobbit! And yes, of course there are pipes and presents and many other hobbit like things in this hole. This is definitely Bilbo Baggins’ home, but where is he? I was quite surprised when Aragorn walked down the hall with as much interest as I had for this place. We all followed him out the back entrance and were immediately greeted by…

A Troll! It was one of the Trolls that had been turned to stone by the sun so many years ago after attempting to eat Bilbo and company. This hideous creature had one arm resting while the other seemed to be reaching out towards us. Two more hobbits where camping in front of this aboinmation, as if they were tempting fate. It also could have been a result of the fully stocked bar that just so happened to be right next to them.

After escaping the view of the Troll, we walked through a small hobbit market with food and wares for all to enjoy. At the end of this market were stairs to what looked like a hazy pond. The blue glow and the haze made it hard to see what was below, so we decided to descend the staircase and have a look for ourselves.

Behold! Elves were singing and dancing around another gazebo. An arcade of simliar hand crafted construction was on one side of a pool that stretches the entire area. In this pool, you could see the Lady Galadriel’s swan ship floating softly on the water. While Galadriel was not there herself, the ten or so elves more then covered the required atmosphere. At the far end of the pool was a cookery where roast pig, salmon and fish were cooked for all to have. And of course, another bar.

As we climbed out, of what was Rivendell and Lothlorien at the same time, we ran smack into Saruman himself. The man was intimidating and had a large group of people around him. We tried to sneak into the conversation, but failed miserably, as the crowd was too big. The tone and demenor of this man was too attractive for anyone to resist. He managed to demand your gaze and attention with much ease, and we could see how a multi-colored wizard could cause some problems. Thanks to Amy, who wanted to look around more, we managed to pull away and continue on.

We walked passed a live band playing Frank Sinatra and proceeded to near the original entrance. We must have missed these fellows before, but now, standing directly on the side of the castle, were 3 fully garbed orcs. They were VERY ugly. The armour they wore looked extremely disorganized and disheveled, but definitely functional. I approached one and asked if I could touch his shirt. He obliged. I was happy to see that this armour was in fact rubbery to the touch and probably could not withstand a blow from a Gondorian pike.

The orcs were standing next to two sets of pillars. The first set had four sides, each with a vulture skeleton at the top, hideous claws in the middle, and deep gauges at the base. The second set was much more intimidating, with an evil creature’s foul face protruding from the front. The chin jutted out with an wicked gotee, and horns adorned its head. We quickly moved away from this area.

Now it was time to enter Minas Tirith and see what treasures were held inside. As we passed by the two Gondorian guards, I could swear one of them grunted something in French, but I wasn’t sure.

In the main hall were two large cases and a series of chairs, each with a framed image above. As it looked, everyone from Lord of the Rings was pictured above these chairs in beautifully photographed poses. The cases held treasures of middle-earth that anybody would love to get their hands on. There was a Wraith’s blade, Galadriel’s vial, Haldir’s sword, and Gandalf’s staff, just to name a few. Many people crowded around these cases staring at the craftmanship and detail these objects displayed.

Four very well armoured men guarded the next room. To our surprise, we were standing in the Golden Hall! You ask, How can we tell? Intricately designed and decorated horses adorned everything, from horse framed paintings to horse heads atop the room’s pillars. Even the armour of the men in this room had the horse image on it. Our eyes were immediately drawn to the front of the hall where shields and swords surrounded an imposing throne. While Theoden was not seated in the thrown himself, there were two long haired bearded men standing guard at its sides. This time, when I asked to feel the armour, it was real. The chain metal skirt that they wore undearneath the breastplate would be useful in battle. The orcs don’t have a chance.

We exited the great hall and found ourselves in a small courtyard. This area was also decorated with colorful banners and flags, but from what looked to be places all over middle-earth. We stopped at the bar here to get some wine, and moved on down a very unstable cobbelstone walkway that wrapped around the back of the castle. And voila, we were back near the band.

It was at this point, that we finally decided to get something to eat. The roast pig, fish, fresh side dishes, and drink were just too much to resist. To avoid the lines, we travelled back down to Rivendell and Lothlorien to join the shorter lines. I feasted on skewered lamb shesh-ka-bob , scalloped potatoes, and some bread, while Amy ate salmon shese-ka-bob. We both drank some fine wine. Leo and Maurice also shared in the food and we all sat near the arcade of Rivendell.

What happened next is unclear. All at once, I was overcome by a sense that something great was near us. Something that could control the vision and style of middle-earth with a stroke of his hand, and there he was, John Howe. Leo had interviewd Mr. Howe at a conference in the Netherlends, but nothing had prepared us for meeting one of the great Tolkien artists ever, here, in Middle-earth. Equipped with an ‘eye of sauron’ pin and his sketchpad, we politely called out his name and said Hello. John was a great person and very fun to talk to. He loved the footage we had seen as much as we did, and couldn’t wait to see the rest. I mentioned how the Balrog seemed to be similar to the one he drew for the recent board game, and he nodded. He expressed his honor in seeing his creations on paper come to life on the big screen. After talking with John, and finishing our meals, we decided to head back to the castle to look around more.

Just as we walked through the front gates of Minas Tirith again, guess who we saw! Bilbo Baggins and his daughter! Bilbo was much shorter then I had imagined, but seemed genuinely happy to be at this occasion. After all, there was a huge sign hanging on a wall outside wishing him Happy Birthday! He was very pleasant, but had never seen TheOneRing.net. His daughter had, however, and we talked briefly about how wonderful his work was in the footage, and how we can’t wait to see the final product.

We moved again into the courtyard…

——-

Thus ends part one of my Middle-earth dream. The next installment involves meeting a bunch of people from Middle-earth, the visionary behind the entire process, and a wonderful time with the dwarf that the whole movie is based on. Gimli of course. (Or so he likes to say!)

Calisuri