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.

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  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.

With Peter Jackson’s astonishing announcement that The Hobbit will now be THREE FILMS… you know there is a lot of excitement on The Hobbit Discussion Board!  We thrive on these moments!!  It all started when poster Lily Brambleburr of Bindbale Wood discovered Jackson’s facebook announcement.  Check out the seismic reaction here.  As of today, there have been over 7,700 hits on this post!

It’s safe to say that the debate and excitement continues as evidenced in Black Breathalizer’s post, “Three Films” News will have No Effect on Film One.  Check out the fascinating thoughts and forecasts here.  What do you think?

The 3-film announcement also launched this inspired post by Thomas Monteath.  Here’s a taste of this insightful offering:  ”I want to make the case here that a Hobbit trilogy should not only work, but could redefine what we think is possible in cinema, and do Tolkien’s world (beyond just his individual books) true justice.”  Check it out here and share your thoughts.

Never fear!  Even with all of the excitement, we still do investigate other pertinent issues, such as poster nobofthepony’s question that we’ve all wondered at one time or another… How will they handle Bilbo’s invisibility?  Please join in the speculation and let us know what you think.

We’ll share more topics next week and hope you can join in on the conversation!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s Message Boards have over 8,000 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

Visit YouTube now to see an exclusive clip of the “Looking Back” featurette!

Jackson, will be directing a Tintin sequel if the December film performs well at the boxoffice. Jackson told audiences the decision to do the films with Spielberg was easy. “I took two or three seconds to decide to work with him,” he said.

Jackson first appeared on screen interacting with a CGI Snowy (a little white dog from the story) in an apparent screen test. As the lights came up in the 6,000 seat hall, Peter Jackson was on stage to raucous cheers after a few moments of confusion or disbelief.

“You guys pirated the screen test,” he joked. “I thought we had agreed to destroy it.”

Spielberg’s first visit to the convention started with a montage of his cinematic history and then vocal adoration from gathered masses, many who had been waiting for hours to have a chance to see the director speak. They were treated to the pair who showcased two or three action heavy minutes from the film.

Each director has a fondness for the property. Jackson read it as a kid while Spielberg was exposed as an adult after hearing comparisons to his landmark Raiders of the Lost Ark films.

Jackson said he has no new interests since the age of 17 and those interests still inform his decisions about what films to make. Spielberg thanked attendees for remaining young at heart.

“Supporting these movies, staying kids no matter what your age. I’m not ready to grow up. When I grow up that is when I’ll stop making movies, which I don’t intend to do,” Spielberg said.

“He makes movies for the kid I was and still am,” Jackson said.

Jackson was influenced by Spielberg and realized after watching Jurassic Park that computers would play a big part of his future in movies. His Weta Digital has become one of the leaders in the world with films like Avatar and now Tintin.

“If not for Jurassic Park, none of that would exist,” Jackson said.

He also spoke about The Hobbit, explaining that the break the production is currently on (although work continued in London recently) was largely to accommodate Martin Freeman, who was always the first choice to play Bilbo Baggins. His current work on Sherlock Holmes (along with Benedict Cumberbatch voicing Smaug) meant that the production must wait for the television schedule.

Jackson felt the break was healthy for everybody involved in the production.

“It is great,” he said speaking of the film. “I’m having a hell of a time. I’m enjoying it way more than I ever thought I would.”

Andy Serkis, Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and in the coming two Hobbit was on hand and was the first person in line to ask the directors a question. Disguised in sunglasses and with an accent, he wasn’t immediately recognizable.
More updates soon!

TORn staffers Suvi and Garfeiamo contributed to this report.

Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join in the fun!

What movie do you nominate for PJ to direct after he’s finished The Hobbit? On the Off Topic Board, we’re already planning Peter’s life for him after he’s finished the 2 installments of The Hobbit!  What would you like to see him do?

And if you are in Los Angeles soon, don’t forget to take the Universal Studios backlot tour to see KING KONG 3-D for yourself! [Learn More]

We received more images and video of a very large animal trekking its way to Universal Studios! This time, it is leaving a path of destruction through Los Angeles’s famous Santa Monica Pier. Check out the video above, and we’ve got a few great photos posted after the break. (Obviously this is a promotion for Peter Jackson’s KING KONG 360 3-D Ride that will be opening at Universal Studios Hollywood very soon – and since it is such a fun promotion, we just have to share it with you all!)

Surfers, tourists, and local Los Angelenos alike were stunned yesterday morning by a rather HUGE mystery: the discovery of 15 foot long footprints in the sand at Santa Monica Pier!

A local fisherman was perhaps the only person who caught a glimpse of the creature responsible. “Everything started shaking,” he said. “Then I saw this thing. Bigger than any whale…eyes dark and menacing, teeth as big as the poles under the pier here.” Police are cautioning people not to panic, and to be careful not to fall into the deep footprints on the beach. Residents and tourists are wondering what kind of monster could be responsible for footprints so massive.

Some people are suggesting that the footprints belong to none other than King Kong, who has been making his way through Los Angeles en route to his new home at Universal Studios Hollywood. Last week, Kong wreaked havoc at Dodgers Stadium by marking up the baseball field with his gigantic footprints, similar to the ones found at Santa Monica Pier. King Kong will be headlining King Kong 360 3-D, the brand new, revolutionarily interactive attraction designed by esteemed director Peter Jackson, and it’s possible that Santa Monica Pier was just his latest stop on his journey to Universal Studios Hollywood.

Do you think King Kong is accountable for this giant mystery at Santa Monica Pier?

For more information on Peter Jackson’s KING KONG 360 3-D Ride at Universal Studios, visit the Official Website.

After getting over the shock and feeling the loss of our message board member’s departure, and wishing him all the best, the question now becomes: Who will direct “The Hobbit”? We have some ideas and maybe even some insights.

Peter Jackson: Current Hobbit co-writer and producer, he says he will not let the project fall apart but he told the Dominion Post: “If that’s what I have to do to protect Warner Bros’ investment, then obviously that’s one angle which I’ll explore.” It sounds like Jackson is reassuring Warners and fans not to despair. Conversations with the studios and Jackson on a replacement have already started and it isn’t as though there aren’t talented directors who would want to tackle these films. For example . . .

Neil Blomkamp: His “District 9″ came from the ashes of the failed “Halo” film, with Peter Jackson producing and earned an Academy Award nomination for “Best Picture.” Jackson thought the young director could handle the giant, special-effects-heavy video game film and then he made the independently-financed Wikus Van De Merwe film with down-on-their-luck aliens who crave cat food in Johannesburg. It earned over $200 million worldwide. Imagine what he could do with Weta and a budget. (And, we note, little or no studio interference!)

Sam Raimi: This man is a true geek (in a good way) and before del Toro was signed, we kept hearing his name as a strong possibility for “The Hobbit”. He has made action-oriented films with lighthearted moments and has nailed genre characters while producing big-time profits for studios. Fans who haven’t forgiven him for “Emo” Peter Parker need to have a guffaw with him for “Drag Me to Hell”. He gets it. Would he direct after not being the first choice? Bruce Campbell as Bard the Bowman?

Alfonso Cuaron: A lot of fans (and one would assume studio types) would love to see GDT’s friend step in to fill the gap. The director of a book-adapted Harry Potter film that runs circles around the rest in the series and especially the transcendent “Children of Men,” would be welcome. But unless this MGM situation gets settled soon (and we maintain from whispers that it might), what advice do you think he would hear from his pal Guillermo?

Andrew Adamson: It seems almost impossible that Adamson could direct and produce Narnia movies and Shrek movies and then fly under the radar as well as he has. Like Jackson, he calls New Zealand home and is based just a short flight up the island in Auckland. He already has extensive experience with Weta (LOTR’s, Narnia’s and the Hobbit’s special effects house) and might make the smoothest transition to helm the films. He may lack the “edge” that del Toro and Jackson and even Raimi and Blomkamp have shown in their bodies of work or it may be that he just hasn’t had the opportunities. Still, it seems impossible not to have him in the conversation.

Steven Spielberg and James Cameron are unlikely candidates despite what some fans wish for. Jackson’s circle of friends is pretty interesting though and Cameron raves about working in New Zealand and with Weta but there is nothing to suggest either of these busy guys are an actual possibility. Other names are being thrown around the internet wildly. Some are guesses, some are speculation and some are completely absurd. Hey! Why not Woody Allen? He directs movies after all!

Remember, Jackson wasn’t a proven big-budget commodity when New Line took a chance on “The Lord of the Rings,” more than 10 years ago. He had directed some splatter films, “Heavenly Creatures,” and “The Frighteners,” before New Line handed over the reigns. He appreciates and develops unheralded talent and may pull a director out of his hat. Imagine the size and scope of what “Halo,” would have been and he was perfectly willing to let the unknown Blomkamp have a go. Remember too that the project fell apart because the studios couldn’t come to terms on how to divide the (probably) billions with each other and it had nothing at all to do with the rookie director.

To be clear, the project lives on, Guillermo’s and Jackson’s influence remain and “The Hobbit” will go forward with a new director. Who? When? Stay tuned and you will know when we do.

Agents, directors and spies around the world feel free to send information to Spymaster@theonering.net or contact me directly at MrCere@TheOneRing.net.

Wellington Chamber of Commerce has said that the film is worth “many millions of dollars” to Wellington’s economy and further delays may mean the film does not start shooting until next year.

Del Toro announced yesterday he had quit the The Lord of the Rings prequel over frustration with repeated delays. He had commitments to other films and said his resignation was “the hardest decision I’ve ever taken”. Read more