The short film, which appears on the DVD as an extra, features New Zealand director Peter Jackson as well as British stars Sir Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage and James Nesbitt, discussing their experiences filming on location and love of the country’s dramatic landscape.

In the six-minute video, Jackson introduces key areas where The Hobbit was filmed, including Hobbiton in Matamata, on the North Island and Twizel, an alpine village, and Central Otago, a dramatic dry landscape, both on the South Island.

Graham McTavish, who played the dwarf Dwalin, says people couldn’t believe the photo he took in Twizel was real.

“I took a photo to send to some friends and they refused to believe that this was an actual photograph, that I hadn’t photoshopped it.”

“What’s so glorious about those places is you can do a 360 degree shot and not a satellite dish in sight,” added Radagast actor Sylvester McCoy.

Hunter (who plays Bombur in the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) will be at Supanova from April 19-21 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre along with fellow Hobbit cast members Sylvester McCoy (Radagast), Dean O’Gorman (Fili), and Graham McTavish (Dwalin).

[Read More] | [Supanova details]

Supanova attendees will get the chance to see and listen to:

Graham McTavish – Dwalin. Graham McTavish (born in 1961) is a Scottish actor who has played an impressive array of characters in a slew of Pop cultural franchises. He played the character Warden Ackerman in Red Dwarf in five episodes of series 8. McTavish has also had many supporting roles in British dramas and films such as Casualty, Jekyll, The Bill, Taggart and Sisterhood. Recently, McTavish appeared in the 2011 film The Wicker Tree, Robin Hardy’s sequel to his 1973 film, The Wicker Man. He has had an “Unexpected Journey” to International stardom playing Dwalin (Brother of Balin) the Dwarf in Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit films.

Stephen Hunter – Bombur. Stephen is a New Zealand actor and voice over artist, currently based in Sydney, Australia. His film and Television career started with Ladies Night in 1995 and has continued to include stints on All Saints, Love My Way, Spirited and Rescue: Special Ops. It was announced in 2011 that Stephen was to play the role of Bombur: brother of Bofur and one of the company of 13 dwarves who retake the Lonely Mountain in Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy. He has since filmed Field Punishment No.1 in the Role of Aussie Bill which will be released in 2013.

Dean O’Gorman – Fili. Dean O’Gorman is a photographer and artist based in New Zealand. He got his start in the television movie, The Rogue Stallion at the age of fourteen, and Raider of the South Seas, both of which were released in 1990. He then won the role of Nurse Harry Martin in the New Zealand soap opera, Shortland Street and has appeared in both Hercules and Xena multiple times. In April 2011 he was cast as Fili the Dwarf in Sir Peter Jackson’s three-part film adaptation of The Hobbit. Kili and his Brother Fili are the youngest dwarves of the 13 and are Thorin Oakenshield’s nephews!

Sylvester McCoy – Radagast (as a Gold Coast exclusive guest). McCoy was starring at the National Theatre in “The Pied Piper”, a musical play written especially for him, when he learned that the BBC was looking for a new lead actor to replace Colin Baker in “Doctor Who” (1963). He later won the role as the seventh Doctor. Following “Doctor Who,” McCoy continues to work extensively in theatre, radio, opera, television and films. McCoy can be seen in the latest blockbuster film The Hobbit (as Radagast the Brown) and can still be heard playing the Doctor in the Big Finish audio productions of Doctor Who.

The dates for Supanova are:

• Melbourne – April 12-14 at Melbourne Showgrounds
• Gold Coast – April 19-21 at Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre

You can find out more and buy tickets here.

Radagast’s Racing Rhosgobel Rabbits:

A Recreational Musher Looks at the Realities of Bunny Sledding

A TORn Library Feature by Teanne Byerts aka swordwhale
Recreational Musher and Member of TORns Message Boards

For those of us who have “lived in” Middle-earth most of our lives, the inclusion of the wizard Radagast the Brown in the film adaptation of The Hobbit was a cause for celebration.  An obscure character, mentioned a few times in the books, comes to life on the Big Screen… driving a sled pulled by rabbits!  Yes, rabbits!  When I saw the image from the film, was I bemused? Amused? Perhaps weirded out?  No way! Really? I was ROFLMAO all over my sled dog crates!  To quote the Dwarf who has the Goblin King fall on his head: “You’ve got to be joking!”

I have driven several kinds of things in my life (I came into the world at the same time that Lord of the Rings did): cars, trucks, tractors, lawn mowers, a hundred foot pirate ship (as guest crew, they let you drive the boat), ponies pulling carts, ponies pulling sleighs, goats pulling carts, goats pulling snow saucers, dogs pulling bikes, dogs pulling a dog rig and Siberian huskies pulling an actual sled.  I am not Lance Mackey, Karen Ramstead or Aliy Zirkle, who have  all run sixteen dog teams 1100 miles on the Iditarod Trail.  I have four dogs and do this to amuse the dogs ( whose instinct is to run in a pack), and because I can’t run as fast as they can.

After seeing some comments from movie goers/LOTR fans who thought the bunny sled was sort of silly, or implausible, I took a closer look at Radagast’s racing Rhosgobel Rabbit ride.  This is not a dissertation on CG animation (I’d need the DVD to wax eloquent about that), rather a look at the plausibility of a sled pulled by rabbits, how it works, and whether it mostly works on-screen.

Here are some thoughts

Hilarious idea!  The Hobbit has a lighter tone than Lord of the Rings and can handle the humour.

Also, it is kind of a sensible idea if you’re a wizard living in the woodsy wilderness, you might want to travel by dogsled.  The only problem is you can’t feed dogs because you take care of wild animals and are probably a vegetarian, and vegetarian horses are too big and clumsy in the woods, and the Elvenking has already pre-empted the giant megaloceros idea (and his antlers would probably get caught in the branches anyway, which is probably why they’re extinct now), so you get some extra special bunnies to pull your sled.  Better than hedgehogs!  Rabbits are fast, especially Rhosgobel Rabbits.  And a sled makes more sense than wheels, if your wizarding skills include making the runners slippery enough to work on grass and leaf litter. Which doesn’t take much, a good sled with good slick runners will slide over wet grass or frost with an enthusiastic enough team.

A sled is a logical way to move through a forest. Wheels would catch, bog and break, runners slide out over stuff.  We have photos of my Dad’s Pennsylvania German family moving earth and rock with a mule and a stone sledge (how Dwarvish!), not a cart.  I got a reply on one of my posts from someone else whose West Virginian ancestors had used similar sleds. North American did not have the wheel until European settlers arrived.  Native tribes used sleds or travois (poles crossed over the dog’s back, they didn’t have horses either) to haul things.  These are easy to build with a few branches; Radagast’s sled design is wonderfully quirky and branchy.  The brush bow (at the bow or front of the sled) is pronounced like the thing Kili and Legolas shoot.  The bow or front of the sled is pronounced like what Kili and Fili do when they arrive at Bilbo’s.  The bow is designed to shed brush and obstacles; the sled slides or bounces off them.  Or, with an overly enthusiastic team, like my friend’s, the sled crashes into trees and breaks your face… and you end up in the ER with a nurse going, “…did someone hit you?” (“Yeah, an Ent!”)

A sled moving over a bumpy landscape is rather like a small boat moving over bumpy waves.  The kayak and the dogsled have common DNA: ** “Before contact with Russians in 1732, Inupiaq and Yup’ik peoples of the Bering Straits had already adapted their masterfully designed wood latticed and gut-skin covered kayaks into an over-the-snow craft, minus the skin but plus ski-like runners to glide over snow when pulled by dogs.”

Radagast appears to be using a classic gangline to attach his bunnies to the sled. The gangline hitch (like a pinnate leaf; one long line with shorter “tugs” coming off of it) is designed for narrow twisty trails. The gangline goes down the center of the team, dogs (or bunnies) on either side, attached by the tugs. You can find Youtube video of mushers going through woods with large teams; the whole line of dogs snaking through the forest, around and over obstacles, the leaders will be out of sight around a bend. In this environment, a cart with stiff shafts of wood or a wagon with a wooden tongue does not work. In the open reaches of the arctic. Natives use a fan hitch (like a palmate leaf), each dog on its own line attached to the sled. Early Alaskan and Yukon explorers often used a single line of dogs in “horse collars” with traces; lines on each side of each dog.

Epic fail: Radagast has his gangline attached to his brush bow. This is a sure way to have your super-powered Rhosgobel Rabbits pull your sled apart. The gangline is attached by way of a network of rope, called a bridle, to every upright “stanchion” on the sled, spreading out the stress. I have since seen some clearer pictures of the sled; it appears to have a support “keel” down the center, the brush bow attaches to this keel. Perhaps this is enough to strengthen it.

Let us now consider Wizard spit. A good team (say, the average Iditarod team of 16 dogs, weighing 40 to 70 pounds) can pull a sled over grass, turf, tussocks, debris, and that spikey stuff native to the part of New Zealand where they were filming some of those chase scenes. The Farewell Burn, on the Iditarod Trail, Alaska, was nearly impassable after a fire there in 1977. According to Zuma’s Paw Prints, on iditarod.com, “challenges (even today) include areas of glare ice, overflow, open water, wind and lack of snow.” (Yes, lack of snow, in March, in Alaska). The sleds traversing this are loaded for survival and pulled by sixteen dogs or less. A smaller team can pull a sled over frost. I have read accounts of mushers running over gravel and dirt roads with sleds (standing on one runner so you only wear out one runner at a time). I’ve run two medium sized dogs and a sled down a wooded park trail that had most of the snow melted off. I ran between the runners, and hopped on every time we hit a patch of snow or ice. For our bunny sled, let’s assume some sort of non-friction-creating Wizard spit on Radagast’s runners. If you watch a film called Fast Runner (done by a Native Canadian tribe, the Inuktitut), you’ll see, in the beginning of the film, the hero slicking his runners with ice… he is spitting water out of his mouth (warming it) onto a fur to rub on the runners.

The sled dog is the strongest draft animal on earth. One thousand pounds of sleddogs is far more powerful than one thousand pounds of horse. Individual dogs can (in weight pulling contests, which they love) pull ridiculous weights: a forty pound champion pit bull pulled over two thousand pounds. And there is Maddie, the weight pulling poodle (youtube): five pound poodle, pulls six hundred pounds. Don’t know about rabbits, but those are Rhosgobel Rabbits. And they are not weight pulling. They are in the situation the Siberian Husky was bred for: to pull light loads, swiftly, over long distances. I know of at least one woman who ski-jored (where the dogs pull you on skis) with six Jack Russells (considerably smaller than Radagast’s rabbits). Aliy Zirkle (who has run the Iditarod many times) has a few lead dogs who are under thirty pounds. And my three Siberian Huskies share the gangline with one sixteen pound “Hobbit husky”, a Schipperke named Max. (rear to front: Legolas, Max, Denali and Chasseur).

Faster than wargs? Dogs are faster than horses over the long haul, capable of maintaining average speeds of eight to twelve miles an hour for hundreds of miles (including rest stops), and can exceed twenty miles an hour or more on shorter sprints. A good Iditarod team completes the 1100 mile journey in less than nine days. A jackrabbit has giant ears and very long legs, is a powerful jumper and fast runner, alternating leaps with running steps, running fast and close to the ground, at speeds up to 45 mph. A cottontail rabbit has large ears and short legs and moves with a scurrying or scampering gait, they dig their own burrows and make a nest in a depression in the ground. Unlike the jackrabbit, they seek protection in hiding rather than in swift flight, though they can hit 35 mph. African wild dogs, coyotes, foxes and wolves can hit speeds of between 35 and 45 miles per hour. Greyhounds (bred specifically for hunting rabbits) are often called the 45 mph couch potato (for their laid-back temperament); average speeds are closer to 40mph, but 45 has been done. Wargs do not look a bit like greyhounds. More like… hyenas? Or Andrewsarchus. (totally sounds like: Andy Serkis). Andy was a six foot tall (at the shoulder) wolfish looking predator (actually, very much like a warg) of the Eocene (55 – 37 million years ago). Andy was part of the Mesonychid family, and had hooves (three, small, where the claws would be on a canine predator). Andy did not look a bit like a greyhound and was not, apparently, designed for speed (they may have been scavengers), though he would have certainly been big enough to ride.

Rhosgobel Rabbits could easily outrun wargs. And probably modern sprint racing dogs like German Shorthairs. Chasing Radagast’s team might create some new speed records on the ski-joring circuit.

Dogs run long distances as a hunting pack, in the direction you point them (or the trail leads). Rabbits run in zigs and zags to avoid predators. Cats hunt by stealth, and run in short bursts. Hooking up a dozen bunnies and getting them to go in the same direction has to be challenging for Radagast, as they naturally want to run in all directions at once. His bunnies appear to be cottontail types, though a faster hare or jackrabbit might have made more sense. I’ll need to have the DVD to pause and study the species! Oh, wait, those are Rhosgobel Rabbits.

Sled cats would not work well at all. Rabbits? Not sure. While people have done bunny agility and dancing with your bunny (“freestyle”) I haven’t heard of bunny endurance races.
I did try Max’s harness on my one cat, Sindarin and discovered that cats can swear, really well

The danger will ramp up once the Company enters Mirkwood.

Another review from a staffer of TORN long ago, Wee Tanya brings her thoughts to you now.

Warning before you begin: Spoilers abound in this review.  Read it or not, it’s up to you.

Tonight I had the extreme pleasure of watching a press screening of The Hobbit on behalf of TheOneRing.net.  Not only was I ushered into the screening like an honored guest, but TheOneRing.net’s name is still renown, and I was even introduced by the night’s host to the whole crowd as “Wee from TORn”.  Then he grilled me on Tolkien trivia, but don’t worry, I did us proud.

Much like Arathorn I’ve been keeping a low, spoiler-free profile for the past ten years.  Life happened, and I managed to drift far enough away from the ride that when I caught up with Peter Jackson’s video diaries, I spent an entire evening watching every one.  Fine, maybe I’m not totally unspoiled. But there I sat as the theater darkened, not knowing what to expect at all except for two things:  first, that suddenly there were three movies instead of two; and second, that someone actually called the movie boring!

I’d like you all to know that it was not boring, not a jot.  The pace is beautiful, lyrical even, and in the middle of Rivendell it slows to the stately walk of Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel.  But it might seem slow at first because there is a LOT of tale to tell.  Bilbo begins even before “Concerning Hobbits,” back in the dark days of the Silmarillion, and establishes the sacking of Erebor and Dale before we even know what a Hobbit is!  In my opinion this was necessary, because it opens up a wider world to stare at (in awe) before the camera pulls back to the familiarity of Bag End.  I wanted the camera to pause at every detail of Erebor, because it was stunning. It echoes the designs of Moria from the first movies, but amplified, because it is a Dwarven city at the height of its glory instead of one abandoned.

I admit that my eyes started leaking the second I saw Bilbo put pen to paper, and I have to applaud the larger-story continuity of the first scene.  It begins on the very same day as Fellowship of the Ring, and shows Bilbo writing in the Red Book, expanding upon his story (which we all know he finishes up in retirement in Rivendell, so it’s even more touching to see this flow).  Ian Holm is the first Bilbo that we see, and he’s perfect, of course. Elijah Wood’s Frodo wanders through, giving the scene even more continuity as we see Bilbo watch him leave — little does Bilbo know, Frodo is off to his own adventure.  And then Gandalf shows up, and after that come dwarves and more dwarves, and the story is up and running.

But whose story? I’d like to posit that this movie is actually Gandalf’s story.  Ian McKellen’s expressive eyes hold the heart of the plot, which for this movie boils down to, “Did Gandalf do well in choosing this particular burglar for the company?” McKellen must have some kind of meticulous timeline of Gandalf’s life in his head, because he can step back into the role of a younger, less secure, less shiny Gandalf with exquisite ease. Gandalf’s growth as a wizard is what’s tested here, and that stately-walking scene in Rivendel (which might be slow to some) is a fine moment in which we see Gandalf squirming in his seat, while his peers probe him: is this decision to help the dwarves really a good one?  Can he back Radagast’s claim that the Necromancer is back, against the (slightly less Palantir-addled) Saruman?  We’re not sure, and neither is he.

There are a few set pieces in this movie that all true fans expected, and all of them deliver.  I was pleased to hear many songs meandering through Bilbo’s larder (That’s what Bilbo Baggins hates!), and while the cut was more like a fan’s extended version than Hollywood might want, in short: F*** ‘em.  Peter Jackson gave me the story that I would’ve bought and watched in an extended version anyway, and I’m overjoyed that a third movie gave him the space to spread out and tell the tale as it was told in the books. Did the set piece with the trolls feel the way it did in the book?  Of course.  And I even squinted at them to make sure they were in the same position that Frodo finds them in, in Fellowship of the Ring. (SEE, Peter Jackson?  You knew we’d keep track.)

As for Smaug, we saw some beautifully filmed teasing, but the Big Bad (ok, Medium Bad; the Big Bad is the Necromancer) is being saved for the final film.  In a nice visual paeon to a certain Dark Lord, the movie ends with a thinly-slit reptilian eye.  Symbolism, I get it!  Other beautiful moments for Tolkien fans abound.  Watch for:  That Moment when Bilbo stays his hand instead of slaying Gollum. Watch for: The intricately designed beauty of each and every domain, including the goblin kingdom above Gollum’s layer. Watch for: FIGWIT.

I won’t discuss Riddles in the Dark, because it’s perfectly done.

What did I dislike?  Well.  Radagast was saved from being cute by his Peter Jackson-grossness (is that BIRD POO ON HIS FACE? Oh God of course it is), his plot explicated neatly from the Silmarillion. Radagast was necessary for getting information about Mirkwood over to the rest of the world.  It’s a fan’s retelling of how it happened, and I’ll pretend that Fran and Phillipa heard it from local lore, the kind of stories that might appear at the Prancing Pony.

In short, I loved this movie, and I want more.  Two more.  Fine, take my money, and show me as many movies as you want!

Some old-school SPOILER space…
.
.
.
.
.
.

11 years ago I sat in a dark movie theater watching a “small” film called The Fellowship Of The Ring. As the first images of the Shire started to appear onscreen, a large smile came to my face and tears came to my eyes at the same time. That was it.

11 years later here I was, there and back again, at a preliminary screening of The Hobbit Un Unexpected Journey. As the familiar titles appeared, the beloved soundtrack started playing, and as Ian Holm’s voice as old Bilbo started to tell the tale of the fall of Erebor, a large smile came to my face and tears came to my eyes, just like that very first time watching Peter Jackson’s first installment of his Rings trilogy. Yes, I was back in this wonderful place created by the brilliant mind of J.R.R. Tolkien and illustrated for the screen by the visionary Peter Jackson… Middle-earth.

While some reviewers/critics have complained as Frodo would say that it “feels strangely familiar” I believe fans worldwide will cherish this amazing chance at revisiting Middle-earth. We have been waiting for this ever since we saw the last frame of Return of The King. We didn’t want the journey to end. It took over 10 years but eventually we got our wish and now the worldwide moviegoing audience is set to discover what happened 60 years before Gandalf showed up at Bilbo’s door to celebrate his 111th birthday.

Some people also had issues with the fact that the tone of the film is “lighter”. Well, it’s supposed to be that way! This is an adaptation of a children’s book, and the mood in this book is very different from the “end of the world” feel found in LOTR.

I saw the movie in the “regular” 24 fps format so I can’t comment on the criticisms that have been made of the 3D HFR format. I’ll see how it feels when I see the movie again on opening night. I can’t wait!

While the filmmakers have made some alterations to the original material the majority of the film remains very faithful to the book. Most of the beloved scenes from the novel are found almost verbatim in the movie.

The cinematography is gorgeous. The only main new theme added to the soundtrack is the “Misty Mountains”

theme which was heard in the trailer. Otherwise Howard Shore brings back all of the famous and beloved Middle-earth musical themes – the Shire, the Ring, Rivendell. Galadriel etc.

The acting in the movie is top notch. Martin Freeman shines and is the perfect Bilbo, body, character and soul. We totally identify with him – he’s us in the movie.
Richard Armitage creates a powerful, flawed and conflicted Thorin.
Each of the dwarves is impersonated to perfection by each actor.
Sir Ian McKellen once again IS Gandalf. There’s no other way to describe his brilliant performance.

There’s a great deal of humor in the film, as was the case in the book.

Overall, this is a very good adaptation of Tolkien’s book and a very welcome revisiting of the visual world Peter Jackson introduced us to a decade ago. I think fans and non-fans alike will love it and cherish it for many years to come. As for myself I will want to see it and enjoy it several times!

Thank you PJ, Wingnut Films and WB. We can’t wait for the next installment to this new adventure.

Namarie

Arwen

Richard Armitage listens to a question during a press conference before the World Premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand.

Only hours before the stars walked the red carpet in front of 100,000 fans on the street of Wellington, nearly the entire cast gathered at Te Papa Museum for a pair of press conferences.

Peter Jackson and stars Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman attended both press events while most of the rest of the principal cast and screenwriter Philippa Boyens attended one event or the other.

Media was invited by Warner Bros., the studio that was handling press from around the world during the week. TheOneRing.net was included in the press invite, not the only online fan site to get the call, as our friends from herr-der-ringe were also there. MGM and New Line were also announced as presenting the press conferences.

John Callen sits with his “Team Oin” jacket on during the press conference at Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. Each actor choose a unique approach to wardrobe, just as in the movie, showing their personality when there was little dialog to go around.

Te Papa, a world-class museum, arranged a long table for the events and switched name cards in front of native Maori art. Called a Marae, translated as “big house” but serving as the symbolic center of Maori tradition, the event started with singing and then a forehead-to-forehead welcome to the participants. With the unique and beautiful colors behind, each of the question and answer sessions lasted about 40 minutes and was moderated.

Flash photography was not allowed, although clearly TheOneRing took quite a few stills. In the back of the room rows of cameras shot video, including for TORn. We audio recorded the event as well and hope to present a transcript of it in a day or two. Meanwhile enjoy some of the best handful of photos. The participants included: Cate Blanchette, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Mark Hadlow, Stephen Hunter, Peter Hambleton William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Graham McTavish, Andy Serkis and Elijah Wood.

NB: Many people sent us links to these clips earlier. Until now, we have held off posting at the behest of the filmmaker. These clips, hosted on EW.com are official, posted with permission of the filmmakers themselves. Go ahead and freely enjoy.

The goblin chase

Swords are named for the great deeds they do

Who did you tell about your quest?

There is nobody home!

I wasn’t talking to you!

Give him the contract