Most of this past week’s action has been on The Hobbit Message Board where the speculations are flying!  Could we have seen a picture of Beorn?  Some say yes, some say no (very Elven!); but we’d like to hear what you think!

 So the Hobbit Message Board is wondering about the new Favourite Elven Couple.  Join in the conversation here.

And we can’t help but wonder about The Desolation of Smaug spoilers.  Is there a battle?  And there’s more in a recent article on the film?  We’d love to hear from you!

We’ll share more topics next week and hope you join in on the conversation!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net Message Boards have over 9,936 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

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

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

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

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Everyone gather round for our weekly live webcast TORnTUESDAY! We have some great footage from our livestream at San Diego Comic-Con and above all we have coverage of the final days of shooting THE HOBBIT films down in New Zealand.  They just completed all their photography a couple of days ago.

We will have lots of mischief today — so please bring your questions and comments to the chat!

We launch TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “I Make Damn Good Shirts” Sewell — Our innovative live show includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week as we broadcast *live* from Meltdown Comics in the heart of Hollywood, U.S.A.!

And yes our YouTube channel will have this archived later.  You can find us on www.youtube.com/the1nering

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Follow us on Twitter:  @theoneringnet

Follow Cliff Broadway:  @quickbeam2000

Like us on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/theoneringnet

Let’s have a closer look at what brings such huge interest and different fandoms together at this amazing show — and prep you for what we will reveal during our presentation! Bring your questions and comments to the chat!

We launch TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “I Make Excellent T-shirts” Sewell — Our innovative live show includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week as we broadcast *live* from Meltdown Comics in the heart of Hollywood, U.S.A.!

WE APOLOGIZE that there is no available archive of this particular installment on our YouTube channel —- it was a “sneak preview” after all!

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Follow us on Twitter:  @theoneringnet

Follow Cliff Broadway:  @quickbeam2000

Like us on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/theoneringnet

We launch TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “I Promised Royd I Would Read It” Sewell — we will even have special guest Larry Curtis (“MrCere” on TheOneRing.net) join us, the man who was stationed on the New Zealand sets with Peter Jackson, WETA, and all the creative forces behind the camera! Our innovative live show includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week as we broadcast *live* from Meltdown Comics in the heart of Hollywood, U.S.A.!

After the show has completed broadcast you can always watch the archive later at TheOneRing.net’s official YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePUq7nOnUxw

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Follow Cliff ‘Quickbeam’ Broadway on Twitter: @quickbeam2000

Our anonymous tipster’s news seems to be reinforced by this story that popped up just a couple hours earlier on The Lebanese Cinema Movie Guide. The key part:

The first trailer from The Desolation Of Smaug, will be be attached to all of Man Of Steel prints. And it’s not a teaser trailer, but it’s a full 2 min 30 sec theatrical trailer. The trailer is set to debut online on June 12, 10 am PDT.

The eagle-eyed will note that the claimed 2 minute 30 seconds length conflicts with that listed in the approved listing on the British Board of Film Classification that we reported earlier today. So what gives? We don’t know, but for what it’s worth our source mentioned nothing except the date and the location.

UPDATE: We now hear that Alberta Film Classification has given the trailer a PG rating and has listed it with a running time of 2 minutes and 1 second. You can check it yourself here. Thanks to Ringer Jeremey for the heads-up!

Join us for TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “I Love Ham” Sewell — as we learn how this magnificent Dwarf suffered and struggled to change his family’s future — and what Peter Jackson & WETA did to help us distinguish his rough and tumble companions from each other (using more than just colored hoods). Our innovative live show includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week as we broadcast *live* from Meltdown Comics in the heart of Hollywood, U.S.A.!

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Follow Cliff ‘Quickbeam’ Broadway on Twitter: @quickbeam2000

But in the midst of these familiar images was what looked like a brand new scene of an army of orcs laying siege to a castle with very striking dragon-shaped prominences on the ramparts. Could this be something we hadn’t yet seen from The Desolation of Smaug? Were we getting a sneak peek at some flashback to Carn Dûm or Minas Ithil?

Nope. It turns out it’s a scene from the 2011 film Sucker Punch from director Zach Snyder.

Keen detective and TORn staffer Magpie matched up the images and found the scene, one of several in Sucker Punch that are overt homages to other genre films. So, alas, as TORn staffer Justin said, “These aren’t the orcs you’re looking for. Move along.”

Misleading clips aside, we’re still looking forward to Google’s “Chrome Experiment,” which will “bring Middle-earth to life in the browser with 3D Trolls, interactive musical experiences, and more.” It’s currently in beta testing to be released to the public later this year. And as for Configura Equipos… ¡Estamos vigilando!

Watch the misleading video here.

Read about Google Chrome’s “A Journey Through Middle-earth” here.

Tonight will be ‘The Desolation of Smaug: Sneak Peek’ panel from TheOneRing.net in room 122ABC, join us if you are attending comicon. And if you are not going to be able to make the panel, or even make the convention, there is going to be an AZ Ringer Moot on Sunday evening after the end of the convention at the Greenhouse Grill on Adams street right across the street from the convention center and the Hyatt hotel. We will be gathering at 7pm on Sunday night and talking Tolkien and Middle-earth and The Hobbit and whatever else strikes your fancy (for this reporter, that may well be the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Playoffs). The restaurant closes at 9pm, but if there are enough Mooters, we can always take the party over to one of the hotel bars. If you wish to attend on Sunday evening, please email me at Garfeimao@TheOneRing.net so I can give the restaurant an approximate attendance by Sunday morning.

Join us for TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “I Haven’t Read The Books Yet” Sewell — as we discuss the unique characteristics of each Dwarf. We shall learn how they fit into the larger history of Tolkien’s legends — and what Peter Jackson & WETA did to help us distinguish these rough and tumble travelers from each other (using more than just colored hoods). Our innovative live show includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week as we broadcast *live* from Meltdown Comics in the heart of Hollywood, U.S.A.!

NEXT WEEK:  Bifur, Bofur…..  and Bombur, for real this time!

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Follow Cliff ‘Quickbeam’ Broadway on Twitter: @quickbeam2000

This reporter, Garfeimao, will be at the convention all weekend long, but will only be participating in the one panel. The rest of the time, I can be found at one of the many Babylon 5 20th anniversary panels and events, a show that has a definite thematic tie to The Lord of the Rings. For Scifi and Fantasy fans in Phoenix and around Arizona, this is one of the biggest genre events of the year for you, and now you can add Tolkien to the mix.

There is one other Hobbit related panel, on Thursday, May 23 at 6pm there will be a Fan Panel for The Hobbit discussing the current and upcoming films, as well as mentioning previous attempts around the globe. No panelists are listed yet, but this sounds like a lot of fun since it’s more or less a ‘talk back’ session. For information regarding other guests, panels and how to attend, go to Phoenix Comicon. If any of you AZ Ringers want to meet up, feel free to email me at Garfeimao@TheOneRing.net so we can set up a little Moot.

Of course, the question we’re all pondering is: what scenes will be slated for this period of filming?  We already know that 3 foot 7 were looking to cast extras with ‘character faces’, as described in their ad, here.   Spanish Tolkien site elanillounico.com and French site Tolkiendrim.com both report that, apparently, these extras are sought for scenes which will take place in Bree; which of course does seem to fit with a need for character faces.

And this is where the wild speculation begins – get ready, because we’re guessing outside the box here!  What scenes for The Hobbit movies might be set in Bree?   Surely there is no need for An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition material to take us back to Bree on the journey of Bilbo and the dwarves? More interestingly, perhaps it could be a flashback to Gandalf and Thorin’s first meeting on the road, when they passed a night at Bree, as described in The Quest for Erebor? What important information  might the film makers wish to disclose in such a scene – more about the back story of Azanulbizar and the disappearance of Thorin’s father, Thrain?

In their article, our French friends go even further and speculate that this may be a chance for some of the oft discussed ’bridge’ material between the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.  Perhaps we will get to see Aragorn and Gandalf meeting in Bree, during Aragorn’s ranging days in the North, before the beginning of the hunt for Gollum.  Viggo Mortensen only recently stated again, this time to Total Film magazine, that he would be keen to play a role in The Hobbit trilogy.  He is reported here as having said, ‘Would I play Aragorn again? Sure, if it seemed sensible to do so.  He’s not in the book of The Hobbit, but if they’re working with the appendices they may be intending to bridge the 60-year Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings gap.’  Mortensen went on to say, ‘I think I would have heard by now so I have to assume [not]… But Peter Jackson is famous for his reshoots, so you never know!’

Now that is something exciting to think about.  Total idle speculation of course; we don’t even know for sure that scenes ARE being filmed in Bree. But it’s fun to dream of a little glimpse of Strider….

Thanks to our friends at Tolkiendrim.com for their report!