John Rhys-Davies is Welsh and a screen actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the dwarf Gimli and Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films. He also played Agent Michael Malone in the 1993 remake of the 1950s television series The Untouchables, Pilot Vasco Rodrigues in the mini-series Shōgun, Professor Maximillian Arturo in Sliders, King Richard I in Robin of Sherwood, General Leonid Pushkin in the James Bond film The Living Daylights, and Macro in I, Claudius. Additionally, he provided the voices of Cassim in Disney’s Aladdin and the King of Thieves.

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

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

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

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

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This item is the stunning Arwen mini-statue from The Return of the King. Sculpted by the artists at Weta Workshop, this piece is going to be one you want to add to your collection and for only $75 it’s quite affordable.

The Arwen mini-statue isn’t the only new item to go up for order, too. If you’d like a great looking bookmark for the next time you read The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit then Weta has something for you. From The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Weta has a beautiful red leather bookmark with Thorin and Company on it while from The Lord of the Rings you have The Fellowship worked in stunning brown leather. These two bookmarks can be had for $10 a-piece and are in-stock and ready to ship.

As many of you know Weta comes every year to the United States during the month of July for Comic-Con in San Diego. Now the Workshop will attend its second U.S. show, this one in Salt Lake City, where TheOneRing.net will also be! Sept. 5 – 7 is the first ever Salt Lake Comic Con. TORn will present a panel about “The Desolation of Smaug,” and will also participate on other panels and host a booth during the event. If you happen to be planning on attending Salt Lake Comic-Con or can get there from the surrounding western states, this is a chance to go to a show that isn’t sold out and where you can get a hotel room. Salt Lake has a rail line as well so you can stay immediately by the convention or in one of the suburbs and still travel relatively easily to the event. Weta will be attending this show in September with its booth, which looks significant on the retailer map. (Although they are listed as Weta Digital, we think an error.) If you haven’t gotten your ticket to the show yet then now is the time. Salt Lake Comic-Con runs from Thursday, September 5th through to Saturday, September 7th.

You can read the full press release from Weta here.

In the ever popular Reading Room, Lightfoot is re-reading LOTR and asked us this, “I was re-reading the Lord of The Rings today and noticed something new in the chapter “The Council of Elrond” Two quotes mention Saruman having/making his one rings. I am intrigued as I have never noticed this before. Does this mean that he actually forged his own ring of power?? Your thoughts…”

On LOTR Movie Board, Radagast-Aiwendil wants to know if you cried when Gandalf fell in The Fellowship of the Ring?

All the talk on Hobbit Movie Board has been about the announcement of the Extended Editions release and speculating on what the extended scenes will be.  Add your voice here.

We’ll share more topics next week. We hope you’ll come and join in the conversations!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s message boards have over 9,900 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

Voting is now open and will remain open till 11:59pm Monday (UK time).  Click here to register your vote!

Weta also had a major announcement at the Weta/Shadow and Flame party during Comic-Con this year. You will hear me mention it towards the end of the video. The announcement is that Weta Workshop will once again be doing 1:6th statues from The Lord of the Rings. So not only will we be getting great statues from The Hobbit Trilogy fans can now also get great statues with the Middle-earth map base we know and love from The Lord of the Rings.

Tim Launder who is the General Manager of Weta Limited has this for fans about this announcement:

It’s been several years since Weta last released a figure from our extensive range of 1/6th scale LOTR statues. For the last year and a half, we have been busy creating a new range for The Hobbit. But we think it is now time to also return to The Lord of The Rings and fill a few gaps. What do you think ?

Cheers

Tim

It was jaw dropping piece after jaw dropping piece for this ringer as I viewed the booth over the course of the 5 days of Comic-Con 2013. Azog on Warg is going to be one of those pieces fans will find a way to fit into their budget with the amazing detail on the Warg and Azog himself. It’s also a huge statue and the biggest in the rider series of statues that Weta has been a part of. Radagast the Brown was another piece that I think based on what I saw fans are going to add to their collection. There was such detail and great color in this statue. Thranduil and Tauriel were mesmerizing! There was such grace and beauty within these two statues that they just pull you in over and over. If the characters can match these two statues fans are going to fall in love with these two characters. Another beautiful Elven item is the White Council Chamber. This stunning item is going to go great with the Rivendell environment allowing fans to expand more of the beauty of this stunning place on Middle-earth. A hidden detail about this piece is the top of the chamber comes off revealing even more detail. Finally, fans can order the three Trolls Tom, William, and Bert. The great thing about these statues is they’re similar in size to the original Stone Troll Environment. This will allow fans to get all three of these for $75 a piece.

Here’s the rundown of the latest Weta Workshop news going into Comic-Con:

*Evangeline Lilly will be at the Weta Booth signing her book The Squickerwonkers done with Weta Artist Johnny Fraser Allen.

• Thursday, July 18th: 11am – 12pm and 4pm – 5pm
  Friday, July 19th: 11am – 12pm and 4pm – 5pm
  Sunday, July 21th: 11am – 12pm

*Richard Taylor will be signing autographs

• Thursday-Sunday 2-3pm everyday

*Meet The Hobbit Artists Nick Keller, Paul Tobin, Lindsey Crummett, Andrew Baker, Johnny Fraser-Allen and Daniel Falconer

• Thursday 18th
  10-11am (DF, NK, JFA, PT)
  5-7pm (DF, NK, AB, LC)
  Friday 19th
  10-11am (DF, NK, JFA, PT)
  5-7pm (DF, NK, AB, LC)
  Saturday 20th
  10-12 (DF, NK, JFA, PT)
  5-7pm (DF, NK, AB, LC)
  Sunday 21st
  10-11 (DF, NK, JFA, PT)

*A new barrel rider in the mini-barrel rider statue series

*Weta Comic-Con Exclusive The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug T-Shirt $29

*Fans can get the Bilbo Baggins statue for $99, Gollum Enraged for $199, Dwalin’s Axes for $150 off, $50 off Balin’s Mace, and much more.

Man sí minna? Man ammen toltha i dann hen Amarth?
I anann darthant dam morn, si dannatha.

A little more than a decade ago, these very words drew us into the world of Middle-earth even as a woman in her deep voice began narrating the tale of its history with the unforgettable words “The world has changed. I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air…”

Voiced by Miriam Stockley, a vocalist hailing from Johannesburg, South Africa, the text entitled “The Footsteps Of Doom” speaks to the theme of Galadriel facing her ultimate temptation and her choice that would determine the eventual fate of Lothlórien, and Middle-earth:

Who enters here? Who brings to us this token of Doom?
That which has stood so long against the darkness will now fall.

QUESTION I

It’s been said that when Peter Jackson set out to work with Howard Shore on the music for The Lord of the Rings, he desired to have a cast of featured vocalists for the songs that would be sung during significant events in the films.

How did you get involved in The Fellowship of the Ring?

MIRIAM STOCKLEY 

I was originally booked by the leader of The London Voices, Jenny O’Grady, to sing soprano’s / mezzo soprano’s as part of the chorus. I have known Jenny for many years and had worked with her on many films in the past. We were told that the Tolkien series Lord of the Rings was being filmed and that was all we knew. As I recall, there were multiple choral sessions booked at Air Lyndhurst Studios.

QUESTION II

The lyrics of “The Footsteps of Doom” were adapted by Philippa Boyens and translated into Sindarin by David Salo. Did you have any interaction with Philippa or with any language coaches while working on the song?

MIRIAM STOCKLEY

It was all pretty mysterious. I was asked to come back to the studios to sing a solo part – I had no idea what they wanted me to do.

I was given some sheet music – probably written by Howard Shore, and I was told that I was going to sing in Elvish. I practiced the pronunciation a few times, I was corrected a couple of times by a voice in the control room, I recorded my bit, came into the control room to hear the playback, and then left the studio.

QUESTION III

The melody used for “The Footsteps of Doom” is the “Lothlorien” theme, a motif that Howard Shore imbued with an Eastern flavour and backed with exotic African instruments.

Did your South African roots influence the way you approached this piece?

MIRIAM STOCKLEY

No, not really. I sang in more of a Celtic, ethereal style as opposed to my African chanting style (that is also synonymous with my Adiemus recordings). I believe that Howard was familiar with my solo work and he thought that my sound would suit the piece.

QUESTION IV

You were joined with The London Voices on this song. How did this collaboration work?

MIRIAM STOCKLEY

As I’d mentioned earlier, I had, as part of the London Voices choir, previously laid down all the choral tracks. I was asked to come back to the studio to sing a solo.

QUESTION V

Could you tell us a bit about the process of rehearsing and recording the song?

MIRIAM STOCKLEY

As I had been a professional session singer for many years, I was used to coming into a studio, picking up a piece of music, singing it through once or twice, then going for a take. This was no real exception, except for the fact that it was a foreign language – and one with which I was not familiar.

I had sung in French, German, Spanish, Afrikaans, Zulu and even Mandarin, but this was a very flowing language, very easy to pronounce and to sing to music, so it did not take me very long to record.

QUESTION VI

Besides your solo piece for The Fellowship of the Ring, you also sang as part of The London Voices on the score for all three films.

What was your experience like working on The Lord of the Rings films?

MIRIAM STOCKLEY

I was fortunate enough during my long career as a British session singer, to sing on many film scores such as Braveheart, Evita, Moulin Rouge and the Star Wars Trilogy – to name but a few.

I used to be one of the contractors who booked choirs for these big films and I also worked for other contractors purely as a singer – ether in a solo capacity or as part of the choir.

I got to work with some pretty amazing producers and arrangers and Howard Shore was one of my favorite composers. His scores were a dream to sing and the choir sounded phenomenal during the Lord of the Rings sessions, which were recorded at Air Lyndhurst studios. Howard was lovely to work for and extremely appreciative and complimentary.

We all knew that the Fellowship of the Ring was going to smash all box office records and we were a part of this history in the making.

Thanks to Miriam for sharing her experience of working on these films even after the passing of so many years.

For sound clips of Miriam’s solo piece and other related soundtrack information, visit The Miriam Stockley Interview.