As the excitement of the wonderful weekend many of us shared in New York City for the Radio City Fellowship of the Ring concerts winds down, TORn would like to officially thank the generous businesses that donated prizes for various events held throughout the weekend. Follow the links to check out their great merchandise: Royal Selangor – pewter Frodo goblet, pewter Galadriel goblet; Jens Hansen – silver chain from their LOTR collection; Impact Books – “Forging Dragons” book of dragon artwork by John Howe; author Ethan Gilsdorf – copies of his book “Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks”; Fantasy Flight Games – Lord of the Rings – the Confrontation board games; artist Colleen Doran – “Gimli’s Gift” prints; Design Toscano – $25 gift certificate; Alpha Video – Christopher Lee oldies DVDs; Weta Workshop – key chains; Mythology Body – soaps; Vampirathemovie.com – temporary tattoos designed by Daniel Reeve; Shop New Zeeland – manuka honey samples; Connolly’s Pub – pens; Idaho Potato Commission – various ‘tater’ related prizes. Thank you all!

From highdefdigest.com: New Line/Warner has delayed ‘The Lord of the Rings Trilogy’ originally slated to hit Blu-ray this November. The 7-disc set scheduled for November 3 has been removed from the slate and will now be released sometime in 2010 (likely in the Spring). Warner has not provided any reasons for the delay, however there is some speculation that the studio doesn’t want the title to “get lost in the crowd” from their other high profile releases according to reports from The Digital Bits. You can find the latest specs for ‘The Lord of the Rings Trilogy’ linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it’s now indexed under PENDING. More..

ZeldaMaster8472 writes: I found this article on bluray.com this morning. Apparently, Peter Jackson himself is saying that the Blu-Ray Extended Editions will be coming out NEXT year, as opposed to 2011, the year of “The Hobbit,” as was rumored in the past. Good news, if you ask me! More..

Ho Jai writes: I just wanted to share some information I have had today from -snip- who works for an advertising agency exclusively for Warner Bros in the UK. I tried to pump him for any information he may be able to obtain about the Trilogy release on Blu Ray. From their website, it appears Warner Bros in the US are releasing the Blu Ray Trilogy in November (this we already knew -Xo).

As far as UK release, Entertainment Film Distributors are still under contract to release New Line movies on home video until 2010, so Warner Bros won’t be involved in the UK release therefore no exact inside news. But I have been reliably informed that it will be a Q4 release around a similar time though.

Steven from www.Collider.com sends us this article by Matt Goldberg: Steve just gave me a call from the Warner Bros. “Watchmen” and “300″ Blu-Ray event (he says both films look amazing) and he spoke with a source at Warner Bros. who gave him a VERY interesting piece of news:

In a few weeks, Warner Bros. is planning to make an announcement about their plans for a Blu-Ray release of BOTH the Theatrical and Extended Editions of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. You may now begin cheering or cursing depending on whether or not you own a Blu-Ray player. More..

jstanife: The release date for the LOTR trilogy on Blu-Ray has been announced, and they are confirming that these are the theatrical editions. They will also come with digital copies of the films.

From blu-ray.com: New Line Home Home Entertainment, in conjunction with Warner Home Video, has finally revealed the release date and first details for the Blu-ray edition of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy’. This title will come out on November 3. It will contain the original theatrical versions, and also digital copies for all three films.

Other bonus features are still pending confirmation so stay tuned.

Pre-Order ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Theatrical Editions) [Blu-ray]‘ on Amazon.com

How does one begin when speaking of someone as dynamic as David Carradine? The man stood out as a powerful presence, known as an avid fan of J.R.R. Tolkien among his friends and fellow film artists. I am struck by his passing.

We originally met David among the crowds of Dragon*Con in Atlanta. I believe it was 2001, but the memory is not an exact science these days. The team of us were putting together a list of luminaries and Tolkien supporters that we thought would like to speak on camera for a project we had called RINGERS: Lord of the Fans, and we walked up to David just as any other engaged fan would come to an autograph table — slightly nervous yet pleased to have a handshake with a performer of such stature. Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to being a world renowned author, Peter S. Beagle wrote the screenplay for the 1978 animated LORD OF THE RINGS, directed by Ralph Bakshi. Conlan Press has acquired what Warner Brothers insists is the *very last* available DVD stock of the movie. There are exactly 573 copies in this stash, and according to the distributor there are no current plans to re-release the title.

The normal Conlan Press price for a personalized signed copy of this DVD would be $30. To celebrate TORN’s anniversary, however, they are dropping the price to $20 from now through midnight (Pacific time) this Sunday, April 29th. If you want to get one before the price goes back up, go to www.conlanpress.com click on the bright blue ORDER button at the left of the screen, and scroll down to select this special title. Please note: more than half the purchase price goes directly to benefit Peter.

Thank you Peter, and Connor at Conlan Press, for this very special offer.

Joel writes: Check out these review comments from people on Amazon regarding the blu-ray release of the theatrical editions. There’s a story there how, in this economy, people are angry at New Line for doing the ‘double dipping’ by releasing the theatrical first, and the extended later. It has forced the trilogy down to a 2-star average rating. I’ve not seen something quite like this before – love of the film, but such anger over a release/marketing policy. There’s 34 pages of >90% bitter reviews.

Xoanon here: I’m not too sure how much of ‘New Line Cinema’ exists, so venting to them may not help. LOTR is now a property of Warner Bros., and I assume the release schedule is of their doing. One sure fire way to get their attention is to visit this link and send them a kindly worded email expressing your disappointment. You never know, fans made LOTR a hit, and perhaps we can make a difference here as well.

Jordy sends along word that Amazon.com has the Blu-ray LOTR DVD collection available for pre-Order. The pre-order page also has a great image of the box art!

Pre-Order ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Theatrical Editions) [Blu-ray]‘ on Amazon.com