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.

This month, in the lead up to ComicCon, we’re asking questions of the other stripey TORn Kitty and intrepid traveller, Garfeimao.

Thanks for joining us this month Garf.

Me: What, in your opinion, are the best places to visit in California?

Garfeimao: Hah, that’s funny, since I’m at just about the most touristy spot in all of California, Disneyland, right now. In fact, if you put these answers up pretty quickly, you may well get a bit of a scoop, since I’m at the Press Preview of the new Cars Land at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim, California. The’ve added Radiator Springs, a 12 acre park with 3 full rides and loads of shops and restaurants and new entertainment options, and it’s just adorable. They built up the background to look like the desert mesas and mountains you see if the film, including the waterfall and bridge sequence from the film. It’s really cool and very immersive, and the opening night party tonight was awesome. I ran into Andy Garcia, twice, Larry the Cable Guy (who voices Mater in the Cars movies) and I ran into Scott Hamilton, the Olympic Figure skater, among several other celebrities that were here.

But on to some other things to see and do in California. Of course, I don’t think most people realize just how big California is, so this question can be a bit hard to answer, but I’ll give it a go since I’ve driven through most of the state.

Of the bigger cities you should see, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego all are good places to go, but for very different reasons.

San Francisco is one of the older cities in the state and because it was built on a peninsula and is rather crowded in, it has always had an East Coast feel to me. But there is lots to do there from live theater, the Golden Gate, a drive up through Napa Valley to visit the wineries, a trip to Alcatraz to see the famous prison, and some of the best restaurants you could ever hope to find.

Santa Barbara is utterly charming. It’s on the smaller side, by design, and is right on the coast about 90 minutes North of LA. It has one of the California Missions and a lot of the architecture in town evokes the Mission aesthetic. They have a wonderful film festival in February or so, and one of the best little Taqueria Stands in the state called Super-Rica. Google it, people make special trips just to eat there.

Los Angeles, you can’t skip the Entertainment Capital of the World, even if it does have a lot of traffic. But aside from Hollywood, LA has some amazing beaches, three really cool places to get a view of the whole city, from different vantage points (Griffith Observatory, the parking lot outside Dodger Stadium, and from the Getty Museum), and loads of hiking trails in the hills surrounding the city. And since LA is one of the most Diverse cities in the country, you can eat top notch foods from Ethiopia, Armenia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Mexico, China, and dozens of other ethnicities in sections of towns named after all these groups. Or you can shop with the Glitterati on Melrose or Rodea Drive, or any of a dozen other high end shopping centers. And don’t forget our museums, we have some really amazing museums in the Getty Center, LACMA, the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, the Huntington Library and Gardens and the Norton Simon Museum, just to name a few. And last but not least, LA is still one of the only places where in the Winter months, you can Ski in the morning and Surf in the afternoon, or vice versa, depending on your mood.

Anaheim, the home of the original Disneyland and California Adventure (now the home of Lightening McQueen and Mater and the rest from Radiator Springs in Cars Land, opening on June 15). Anaheim is in Orange County, so this is a great jumping off point to other beaches such as Huntington Beach, also known as Surf City, and Laguna Beach, home to the Pageant of the Masters and the Sawdust Festival (Laguna Beach is an artist colony).

And finally, there is San Diego, which is considered the Playground of California. They have one of the top zoos in the world, as well as Sea World, just in case you like your animals wet. They are the home of Comic Con, but they are also the home to a huge Naval fleet and Marine base. They are the last big city on the way South to Mexico, but also home of a quaint little town on Coronado Island that still has that Small Town USA vibe to it.

Away from the cities, we have some amazing National Parks, such as Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia National Park, and Muir Woods. And if you drive way up North towards the border with Oregon, you may get to see the giant Redwoods, just know that while big, they don’t quite match the Giant Sequoias you see in the middle of the state in Kings Canyon. These trees always remind me of the Waterboys song “Church not made by Hands”, and a must see for anyone who is driving through the state. Just know that LA to San Francisco is about 7 hours, and then it’s at least another 8 hours to the Oregon border, and from LA, it’s a good 2-3 hours south to Mexico. Add to that the 4 hours or so that it takes to drive to either Phoenix or Las Vegas, and you realize just how big this state is. And when I say you can ski in the morning and surf in the afternoon, it is because of all those mountain ranges we have, which are many and vast, with the highest being the Sierra Nevadas, home of Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the Continental United States (everyone thinks the tallest peak must be in Colorado or Utah as part of the Rockies, but nope, it’s in California as part of the Sierras. Anyhow, you can see Mt. Whitney on your way up through the High Desert on the way to Mammoth Mountain to go skiing, and along the way, see the remnants of volcanic cinder cones. Or you could go to Death Valley and see the lowest point on the continent, a desert that is below sea level.

So there you go, California in a very large nutshell.

Me: You’ve been going to ComicCon for many years, why did you first start going and what keeps you going back?  What do you particularly enjoy about it?

Garfeimao: I must have started going sometime in the early 1990′s, whenever Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Babylon 5 were on the air. I had previously been to Star Trek conventions, which were smaller and focused on just the one show. But a friend and I were big fans of Buffy and B5 and had heard about San Diego Comic Con and thought we would drive down and give a try one year. Back then, you could get tickets on the day of the show, and get in fairly quickly, so we just commuted down from LA. We got to meet a good chunk of the Buffy cast and Joss Whedon (that guy who directed the Avengers movie to perfection) and then we got to meet JMS, who created Babylon 5. I also got to see a panel with Ray Bradbury, which was thrilling for me as a long time fan of the genre in books, TV and film.

We had gone directly to the panels and autograph sessions, and after that, decided to take a turn around the Dealers room. And this is when we realized this was not your small, local scifi convention. Even in the early 1990′s the dealers room was huge, with hundreds upon hundreds of vendors all selling comics, posters, books, artwork, toys, games, videos (at the time), dolls, shirts, etc. The combination of vendors and cool things you could buy, the panels with writers, producers, actors and artist you could see, the sneak peeks of new films and TV shows you could watch, and the people you could meet in person is what kept me coming back. One year there was a 20 foot statue of Blade in the upstairs concourse, another year there were hundred foot blow up Giant Robots on the streets, video game companies bring out the games to play down at one end of the giant dealers hall (which now holds more than a 1000 vendors easily), and the Syfy channel turns a restaurant in the nearby Hard Rock Hotel into Cafe Diem, a themed restaurant from their show Eureka. Comic Con is a fully immersive Scifi/Fantasy/Anime/Steampunk/Comic Book extravaganza that is like a Theme Park for genre fans, but without the rides.

It’s all this time spent attending conventions, and at times volunteering for security at them, that put me in the perfect position to help organize our TORn conventions, ORC and ELF.

Me: What is your most favourite memory from ComicCon? Why?

Garfeimao: Well now, I’ve been going for a long time, so there are many great moments, such as seeing the Heroes pilot for the first time, or meeting the cast of Battlestar Galactica before their miniseries aired, when no one knew if they would do well or be hated. Of course, the Lord of the Rings years were great fun, hanging out with my TORn buddies and the WETA crowd and all the fans. And I’ve entered the Masquerade a few times, nothing cooler than displaying your costume in front of 4000 people at a time, thank goodness the spotlights keep them all out of your visual range.

But for  favorite moment, I am going to have to go with a series of events that happened in 2009. I attended with my sister, who has Down Syndrome and is now pretty much a fixture at comic con. While walking around on the floor, she got stepped on by someone in the crowd, and when I stopped to check on her, I discovered that someone to be James Purefoy. He portrayed Marc Antony in the Rome series and who was at comic con to promote Solomon Kane. Wow, he’s a cutey in person, but also really nice and we chatted a bit, that is part of the completely random nature of comic con, you just never know who you will run into. We actually ran into him 2 more times that same day, one of which was while we were sitting in the front row of a big panel with Peter Jackson and James Cameron. Once the panel began, though, lo and behold, we found that our neighbors were none other than Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan. Next day, we got to chat with Guillermo Del Toro, who is still one of my favorite people in Hollywood right now. This was right after he’d announced he was stepping down from The Hobbit, so it was a bittersweet visit. On the last day, my sister won a car, a Nissan Cube that NBC was giving away to promote Heroes. Kinda hard to beat that for best moments ever at the con, to be sure.

Me: If you were invited to The Hobbit set, what would you pack for lunch?

Garfeimao: Probably a good italian sandwich like Salami, Mortadella, and Provolone on a nice French Roll. Add and Apple and some Ice Tea and I’m all set. Travels well, doesn’t need to be kept cool (I don’t like condiments on my sandwiches), and you can nosh all afternoon.

Me: Which creature in any of Tolkien’s work would you be, and why? (Just to clarify, any creature, excluding humanoids.)

Garfeimao: I think I’d like to be one of the Great Eagles, because I could fly around from some really terrific heights, see all that is going on, and pitch in when I felt like helping, or just pass news along, or mind my own business, whatever I felt like on the day.

Me: What was your favourite cartoon when you were a child?

Garfeimao: I was always very fond of the Looney Tunes cartoons with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, but I must say the cartoons that ran home to see were Speed Racer and Kimba the While Lion. Both were on PBS (public broadcasting system), and both were early examples of anime making it to America. I always felt that Disney’s Lion King, with the story of the young Simba having to learn to become an adult Lion in the wake of his father’s death was directly taken from Kimba (check out the name similarity). But Kimba was a young lion throughout the show, who’s mother had been taken and the father was dead, and being a White Lion, there was always the threat of poachers. It was so long ago I don’t remember too many other story arcs, but it did seem to be emotionally resonant at the time, and showed a lot of nature in Africa and the like. And Speed Racer was just fun, kind of a cartoon soap opera combined with an action flick, much like the movie was that came out a few years ago.

Me: What extreme sport would you like to try?

Garfeimao: I don’t think there is a single ‘so called’ extreme sport I would like to participate in. I actually consider most sports, played at a professional level, to be extreme. Take platform divers for example, who dive from a 10 meter platform and do extraordinary acrobatic moves on the way down to the water. If that’s not extreme, I don’t know what is. I’ve competed in Gymnastics and Tae Kwon Do, where I am a third degree black belt, so I do have some sporting background.

But if I were to choose one sport I’d love to give a try, one that is completely outside my normal experience and skill set, that would be Ice Hockey. I’ve been a fan for decades, but a few years ago women’s teams came to the forefront in the Olympics and it’s just so cool to see women more than capable of doing something that had been the domain of men for so long. The fact that our local team and my favorite for a few decades now, the Los Angeles Kings, just won Lord’s Stanley Cup, which is the Championship for the National Hockey Team is just icing on the cake right now and probably why I’ve got hockey on the brain at the moment.

Of course, if you had asked me this same question in August, the answer might be different based on whatever sport I was watching in the Olympics at the time. I do love my spectator sports.

Me: What is your most exciting memory from a Cruise to Middle-earth? And most horrifying?

Garfeimao: Pretty sure you don’t want a ‘horrifying’ travel story, because I do have one that was not on the Cruise to Middle-earth and involved a murder-suicide in our travel group, but that was a different cruise many years before our trip to NZ. My guess is you just want the good and bad of the trip, so here it is.

I think the highlight of the Cruise to Middle-earth (I was only on the first one, not the second one that I organized) was our trip to WETA. We did to expect to get a full presentation from both Daniel Falconer and Gino Acevedo, as well as a full luncheon with Daniel and Richard Taylor, and we most certainly did not expect the full tour of the workshop. There were a few areas they could not take us to, because they were just in the early stages of developing The Hobbit, way too early to let any designs out yet. And then we were surprised by a visit from Guillermo Del Toro, who had only just arrived into New Zealand to begin work on the script (this was late 2008).

The worse thing, for me at least, was some of the planning stages. Currency fluctuations are the bane of any Travel Agent’s existence, because it makes pricing and planning particularly difficult. Planning itineraries and hoping to appeal to the widest number of people without boring some of them, is also a real challenge. But the most difficult hiccup to overcome on the first Cruise to Middle-earth was probably our Cocktail party on the ship. I’d arranged for 2 hours with complimentary drinks and hors ‘d oeuvres to be served, and they came out with pretzels and peanuts. I had to talk to the servers, and then the group coordinator and finally the chef, and they all had the light snacks instead on their orders. I pulled out my paperwork (thank goodness I’m a bit anal and print everything) and showed them that it said heavy Hors ‘d oeuvres. But they take time to prepare, so they didn’t know what to do and I suggested they go to the public buffet, that was going on for all passengers at the back end of the ship, bring up some of the free pizzas and snacks type foods from there, as well as a few of the cookies and desserts, and serve them to our group. So sure, it was exactly what they could get from the buffet as opposed to something cute and fancy made especially by the chef, but our group was gathered altogether, mostly in costumes, hanging out by ourselves in the bar having a great time. Not a horrible event, just something a group planner has to be prepared to deal with when they would rather just be laughing and having a great time with everyone else.

Thank you again, Garf, for agreeing to speak to us this month. If you’d like to catch up with Garfeimao or any of the rest of our TORn Staffers (deej, maegwen, entmaiden, MrCere, Sarumann, Quickbeam, Arwen and Justin), they’ll be presenting a Hobbit panel again this year at ComicCon in San Diego, we’d love to see you there.

Once again thanks to all our message board regulars, Ataahua, DanielLB, Rosie-with-the-ribbons,  SirDennisC, grammaboodawg, MrCere and dernwyn, for this months’ questions.

If you want to ask any questions yourself, head over to our Message Boards, the sign up process is pretty painless.  A lead post for questions is made at the beginning of each month.

Till next time from TORn’s resident Tiger.

Kelvarhin.

A Letter of Thanks to a Red-Haired Lady: A Tale of Two Sisters Comic Con Adventure

Herein is the account of Sarah and Rachel, and their strange comic-con adventure, and nearly in-expressible gratitude to an anyomous lady with red hair, bright eyes, and an exceedingly considerate nature. You see my sister and I were given the opportunity to meet highly esteemed actors, David Wenham and Billy Boyd last Saturday. That opportunity was provided to us by a lady who works for New Line Cinema, who hosted the panel the previous Friday afternoon, and who helped to create the Return of the King Extended Edition DVD. To this lady we are both indebted, and although I must have shook her hand and thanked her at least a half a dozen times at the event, I do not know her name, because it could not be found anywhere within our event program. So my hope is that this article will serve two functions, to give fellow Tolkienites a glance inside the experience we had, and also as an acknowledgement that we owe it all our mystery benefactor with red hair-who as you will see, appears to take on the role of fairy godmother to us throughout.

We had already been two days at comic con-and had attended both the screening of scenes from the Ringers: Lord of the Fans documentary and the discussion panel held by New Line Cinema for the Extended ROTK DVD. We had excellent seats at both, with thanks to fellow San Diego Ringers, Raquel and Christine, who stood with us in line for three hours on Friday.

I would like to say that the Ringers documentary exceeded my expectations even though they were set quite high to begin with; for if there is anything that fans have learned from Tolkien and these films it is to take the time to bring a high standard of quality to anything that you create. The folks producing this documentary have done that, and the teaser scenes that fans present were treated to speak of a really excellent film. I would encourage you dear readers to do as I did and help support this documentary’s further promotion via T-shirt purchase and to check it all out yourselves at www.lordofthefans.net. As for the extended edition, I could not be more pleased with the scenes that I saw, of which I am sure others will recount in detail at this website. Yes, as an avid fan of the books I would have to say that Peter has done right by us and by Tolkien once again, which is hardly a surprise.

Now to the adventure-on Friday morning we arrived at the New Line Cinema booth at the LOTR Pavilion on the main floor, which was home to so many other Ringers at comic con this year. We had heard about a possible autograph signing by the two actors at the panel we had previously attended, but we were also keeping an eye out for Richard Taylor who we both had the good satisfaction of meeting last year, and who was advertised to appear this year. I asked the red-haired lady at the table, whom we both recognized from her outstanding job hosting the panel and Q&A session the day before, and asked her if Richard Taylor was around. She told us the sad news that he had been forced to cancel due to his work on both the live action Narnia films, and King Kong. Although he was sorely missed, our disappointment was tempered with understanding; a sentiment shared by most fans, after all there is nothing most of us would like better than for Mr. Taylor and all of WETA than for them to continue their incredible work on other projects.

In lieu of his presence Mr. Taylor and WETA sent the next best possible things-gorgeous actual costumes from ROTK which were so amazing many a fan could not help returning to stare a second or fifth time throughout the day at their splendor. I relayed the message to this red-haired lady, that friends of Narnia have both great excitement and great faith in Mr. Taylor and all his fellow creators-a message she promised to relay to him.

The autographs were to be at noon, and where the line was going to begin was not being released to fans. So of course we did what any loyal fan might be expected to do, we loitered illegally as long as possible around various parts of the LOTR Pavilion, and moved good naturedly when we were told to leave. In the meantime we watched FOTR and ROTK on the conveniently provided large screens, and mused among ourselves over the fact that TTT had been skipped.
We gazed upon the costumes the more, and some at each other. There were elves and men, and hobbits and plain clothes fans who can hardly be described as plain, so covered were they in pins, and T-shirts of all kinds expressing their eternal devotion to the lands of Middle Earth, and all things or persons related to it. Some were more relaxed than others, I overheard a group of hobbits singing Afternoon Delight in an attempt at four-part harmony; an odd sight to witness, but then it was just one of many that makes you think, “Only at Comic-Con.”

We were nervous, we were friendly, we were unhappy not to know where we ought to stand, and we all respected each other for our shared goal-to get autographs. I was one of the nervous ones, but I am also a Christian, so I was praying. “Lord whatever You want-maybe You want us to get autographs, maybe you don’t-Your will be done,” that was all I kept repeating within my head and heart, as my sister took more picture of the amazing costumes.

It was around eleven thirty, and I was standing by one of the goodies stations, when the red-haired lady came up to me. I had already watched her flying all over, making arrangements with the other New Line booth workers for something, and they had roped off one area of the booth, but we didn’t know what for.

“Could you…?” she began, and I thought that she either was going to ask me to move, or two tell other fans something, but whatever it was that she wanted I knew that I would say yes, because she had been so kind to offer to pass on my message to Mr. Taylor.

She looked me in the eyes, and presented me with what suddenly became a pretty intense moment. “If you could ask Billy and David one question, what would it be?” My brain was racing, and I knew that this very minute was the minute I would have to swing for the bleachers or it was all over.

“Um, huh,” intense concentration took my face and I hesitated a moment. “Well I know the books have a huge following-everyone has their own interpretations of the characters, I know a lot of fans were unhappy over the changes to Faramir in the Two Towers, and some have complained that Pippin is too cheerful…” I knew I was reaching here but I was also buying time to come up with a question that could be directed at both-so I was recalling complaints I had heard from a disgruntled minority once or twice. “And then Peter has his own interpretations, so I guess I would ask how it is that they arrive at-that they find their character’s essence-how do you find your character’s center?” I gave her a hap-hazard look that fully acknowledged that I was uncertain if this long rambling thing I had just spilled out were a question that she could like, but then she had put me on deck, and that was what I had come up with.

She looked as though she were considering my question’s merits, or lack thereof, but she said, “ Okay…good. Come with me,” and brought me under the taped off area to two young men who were standing there, one prepping a video camera.
“Tell me if you like this question,” she said, and I repeated it for the two guys, whose expressions towards me were both friendly and full of serious evaluation.

“Yes, that will work great, I’m Bryan,” they both shook my hands and asked me to sign and date a release form that allowed them to use the footage of my person asking the question in the interview. They were both very disarming and professional, so I conducted myself likewise, other than shaking their hands repeated times throughout and thanking them for this incredible opportunity.
For those of you whose patience cannot endure the longer to see David and Billy, (I can hardly blame you for I would do the same in one of these articles) you can go and check out the interview with both the actors at ugo.com although I am not certain if it is posted yet-I was assured that it will be.

Here I became slightly distressed-because my sister was still out in the crowd-in fact un-aware that I was gone. I wanted to have her with me-but as it is in such circumstances, I didn’t want to cause any trouble and blow my chance either. I was working out what I might do-perhaps asking for an extra autograph was the best that I could hope for-when once again the red-haired lady somehow knew just what was going on without my saying a word-and came to my rescue.

“You had someone with you,” she asked “your friend?”

“My sister,” I quickly replied. She nodded with understanding.

“Why don’t you go ahead and get her, and bring her back here.”
I managed an affirmative nod with a serious expression, but I was beaming straight through it. I found Rachel nearby.

“I get to ask them a question,” I told her.

“What?” She stared at me in disbelief, as I grabbed her hand. I could see by her dubious expression and because she told me so later, that she was thinking

“Them? You mean them?”

“Yes, come-on,” and we climbed together back under the rope to where the interview was set up.

Of course then I had to tell her everything that had happened to make this situation that was so beyond even our wildest hopes possible. We stood just staring back at each other in disbelief at our own circumstances. It was then that David Wenham and Billy Boyd came into the area, although we had already been altered to their presence by the number of growing screams and cheers issuing from the crowd on one side of the pavilion.

Ah and now comes the part everyone has been reading for, what were they like?
Handsome, well yes that is a pretty obvious given, but more importantly they were kind, friendly, and very ordinary guys. They sat down, and were given cold bottled water (it was very hot on the floor of the convention, even in this cleared space). Billy’s chair was closest to where we were standing, and he wiped his hands on his jeans, remarking that he was a “a bit damp” from the moisture on the outside of the bottle, the effect of which with his scotch accent, was very charming.

I looked over at David Wenham, who looked then at me, so I said “Hello,” and he said “Hello,” back, very warmly, so that Billy looked up, and then the interviewer from UGO that they had just met, and the wonderful red-haired lady introduced me as a fan that would be asking them a question. They both said, “Hello Sarah,” in their unique and yet surprisingly complimentary accents, and I introduced my sister, who they also greeted by name.

They sat a little while waiting for the interview to begin, and Rachel and I stood by the glass to the right of the camera, out of its sight and out of way, doing our best to be the helpfully silent and obedient fans that we felt we ought to be. The interviewers from ugo.com told my sister that she could take some pictures as long as she didn’t use her flash, but she ended up taking less because when the actors are right there, you are kind of content to just be right nearby and watch.

Mr. Boyd made faces at the nearby crowd, who cheered all the more for him. Some of their statements were “We love you Billy!” and “We love Scotland!” to which the very extraverted Mr. Boyd replied, “I love your country too- America!” and gave an approving head gesture and a thumbs up. Meanwhile, Mr. Wenham seemed to be observing the whole scene quietly from his chair, carefully taking it all in with a look of pleasant composure on his face. How either of the two actors were able to appear so relaxed when they are in a tiny roped off area, surrounded on all sides by security and pressing fans, surrounded by an even larger convention floor filled with thousands of people is a wonder to me, and perhaps a credit to their theatrical skills, for I couldn’t imagine either of them to be ill at ease based on their manners and faces.

We just stood around watching. Rachel took a few pictures, and once Billy caught her and made a face right into her camera-quite obliging really. Mr. Wenham was using his own camera to take a few picture of the surrounding crowd, and we were reminded that it was his first time at comic-con.

The interview, which I will not recount to you-lest you not investigate for yourselves a UGO.COM included such questions as what scenes would be on the extended ROTK DVD and if the actors were keen for Peter Jackson to make the Hobbit (If you want this to happen-please check out the “Make the Hobbit Happen” movement on this site’s main page to see what you can do to help).

When it came time for me, I stepped up to the side of the camera, said “Hi Billy, Hi David…” and delivered my question. Billy answered first, and David second-once again –please check out the interview for their excellent answers-each of them looked right at me while answering.

What I found most interesting-that is what I really wanted to know was if they developed the connection to their characters as actors based mostly on their own interpretations of the book and Peter’s direction or if they allowed others in to the process. Obviously each actor works differently, but for all of the performances in these movies to be so universally identified as “real” or “just right,” by millions upon millions of fans who know the books like the back of their own hands, is still miraculous to me. That’s why what I found most interesting in both their answers, was the fact that they talked with others for weeks about how others saw their characters, and they allowed themselves to be influenced by what others had to say. Then to take into account all that feedback, and multiple interpretations and to hone it all in-to know what to do with it and how to translate it into a performance-that is truly a gift.

When the interview was over I stepped forward again and said to both of them, “Thank you, it was lovely of you,” meaning the interview, their presence at comic con, answering my question so well- everything. It was an odd statement, but it was all I could manage to convey my gratitude that was different than the sincere but overly repeated thank you I had given so many times already. They both looked a little surprised but seemed to understand what I meant, and replied “Oh sure,” and “You’re welcome,” with amused smiles.

Earlier the red-haired lady had told us we would get autographed pictures from Mr. Wenham and Mr. Boyd, which she now appeared with for them to sign. David was kind enough to check and see how each of our names were spelt, Sarah with an “h”, Rachel with or without a second “a.” They handed them to us, and shook both our hands as we thanked them very much yet again.

Billy had a cell phone, that apparently had Dominic Monaghan on the other end of it, and they agreed to get together later on that day. It was then I went over for the cameraman to shoot me asking the question again, so that they could cut my face and the faces of the actors listening to the question together for the interview. I did very well, except that I said “Hi Billy, Hi Dom,” instead of “Hi David,” obviously still influenced by the partially overheard phone conversation.

“Ah, I’m sorry, crazed fan on autopilot,” I muttered, and tried it a second time-where I asked the question perfectly. But can I really be blamed dear readers? As my sister pointed out to me later, “those names just go together.”

When they were done greeting the other fans, and Mr. Boyd and Mr. Wenham were gradually drifting over towards the autograph side of the pavilion, I plucked up nerve and asked Mr. Boyd if I could take a picture of him with my sister because I knew it was something she would like. Once again, the red-haired lady magically came to our aide, asking if I would like a picture of the four of us together, which is what I wanted most of all but was too bashful to ask for.
Billy Boyd came and stood between us, and David Wenham hesitated a little, as if to ask if we wanted him in the picture too, since I had only asked Billy, but I motioned and said, “yes please,” with a sincere earnestness that I felt.

We weren’t sure if the camera had taken the shot or not, and so Rachel went forward to check since it was her camera. My arms still behind the two actors, and their arms still on my shoulders, I felt far too shy to look at David Wenham within such close proximity to him, so I turned instead to Billy. He turned to me, only about an inch or two taller (you know that all the hobbits are short-but you don’t really know it until one is standing next to you), and his eyes widened in a very Pippin-esc way as if to say to me “My-isn’t this an interesting situation taking a picture with me;” an observation with which I quite agreed. Standing there with my sister and two gentlemen who I admire so much, let’s just say I have rarely found it easier to smile for a camera.

Then the actors went over to greet other fans who were brought behind the rope with equal consideration and enthusiasm as they had shown towards us. My sister and I just remained standing where we were, watching. Every now and then we would look at each other, the same incredulous expression reflected on both of our faces that said how we still could not believe all of this. A little while later they started to come towards the autographs station, though they weren’t quite ready for them yet. Billy was standing close to us and so I said:

“We’re just hanging around until somebody tells us that we have to leave.”

“Oh yeah-of course.” He said with appreciation of our logic, nodding.

“What I wanted to say before, but I didn’t get a chance too,” I began, as he continued to give us his attention, and to wave to nearby fans, “Was that we were so pleased with your interpretations of the characters having read the books. In fact, I am entering my senior year (of college) and I plan to be an English teacher-and to work these books into the curriculum-now that they are movies I will be more able to do that-as sad as that makes our educational system.”

“Well, anything that helps!” Billy responded agreeably.

“I just wanted to say that your accent is my favorite in the entire world,” said Rachel, who is actually learning several scotch dialects from a tape (though Americans, we are both Scottish by blood).

“Oh, thank you,” replied Billy, his scotch as pleasing as always.

“The Glasgow accent is just fabulous,” she added, and gave him a thumb up and he smiled back before he made his way over to smile at other fans. It was then that Mr. Wenham came over to us.

“I was just telling Billy, what I wanted to say before was that we were both so pleased with your interpretation of Faramir” I began again, amazed that I was actually saying what I wanted most to say, and had rehearsed saying time and again in my head in case we made it to the autograph table. “I know that there was a lot of flak over the changes that were made to the second movie but I really felt like you held on to him.” David looked relieved at what I had to say, and humbly pleased by it as well, which was startling to me. “I’m also so glad that the houses of healing made it back in to the extended version-because as much as I love the theatrical version I felt that there really needed to be a rest, and some kind of peace…”

“Yes, peace,” David said with me, as though he exactly understood and agreed with the thought.

“…for both the characters of Eowyn and Faramir- so I am really pleased with the scene-thrilled to death.”

“That’s great-I’ll tell Peter that-he always likes to hear these things,” Mr. Wenham smiled, obviously very pleased that we were so satisfied with the scene. That statement kind of hit me hard-he knows Peter Jackson-he has access to Peter Jackson. Well, I mean of course he does dear readers, but I was kind of just like “whoa…” awed by reality of it all the same. It took me a minute, but then I added:

“We are all really hoping that he will do The Hobbit, but we understand how attached he is to Hong Kong,” this was my second verbal slip of the day-but I looked a little confused at myself when I caught it and recovered quickly- “King Kong.”

He nodded and took a drink of his water.

“It’s hot in here isn’t it?” David asked, looking at us and then around him.

“It’s even hotter out there,” said Rachel, referencing the exhibition floor.

“There’s so many people,” I added, thinking of a few of my more claustrophobic moments earlier, I can only take so many other people touching me at one time.

“How many people are hear today, do you know?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” I offered.

“This is the biggest day, Saturday. I read somewhere last year that there were about 65, 000 people,” said Rachel. Later she said that she thought that this might have been the total for the whole convention though, that she had the presence of mind to sight a statistic was beyond me at this point. David expressed some amazement to this figure.

“Just try not to think about it too much,” I advised; I know I try not to.

Then they moved on to the autograph area, and my sister and I waited for the crowd to thin around the edge just a little bit so that we could go. We spent the rest of the day with our family and every now and then we two would look at each other, and one or both of us would just start laughing in astonishment of the whole thing. I think it’s a pretty good thing that we have photographic proof; otherwise we still might not believe it ourselves.

So in conclusion, as the road goes ever on, and we have gone back home, my thoughts and thanks remain with all those who made our adventure what it was.
Particularly I am indebted to the mysterious lady from New Line Cinema who orchestrated it all. Our thanks madam, and I can sincerely assure you that any red-haired heroine that I encounter from now on, be it on page or silver screen, will be a reminder to me of you-

Yours truly, a grateful ringer-

Sarah F

Click for more images

MrCere writes:

Since 2000 TheOneRing.net has been publishing reports of the biggest, brightest and some say best pop-culture fan gathering in the United States if not the world, and to not keep up the tradition would be just plain wrong! This was the Con’s 35th year in existence, where it has grown from a couple of hundred people talking comic shop into 80,000 (according to un-official reports) people celebrating all things “genre” while still keeping comic books as its base.

New Line Cinema, along with almost every other motion picture studio and most of the free world, has realized that this convention is the place to launch event and genre movie promotional campaigns. What Sundance is to independent films and Cannes is to Oscar nominations, Comic-Con is to blockbuster cinema. Marketing directors and publicists know that getting on stage at the Con vastly improves a film or actor’s chances of being embraced by the enthusiastic or even fanatical core audience. A film can still fail on its own merits after making a Con promotion (Halle Berry talked Catwoman last year and it had a disastrous opening last weekend) but if the right people spread the word about something positive, it can ride the momentum all the way to profitability; and yet there is so much more to the event than just a few movie promotions.

With TheOneRing.net not having a booth or table (due to committing its resources to the Oscar party back in February) it was left to documentarions “Ringers” to hold court. They featured temp tattoos and t-shirts along with footage of the documentary “Ringers: Lord of the Fans.” They presented a Thursday evening panel for the convention detailing their film (in post-production) along with author Peter S. Beagle and actor Sala Baker on hand, but more on all this later!

On the dealer’s floor, New Line, along with Sideshow Collectibles and Decipher promoted from the prominent “Tolkien Pavilion” in the center of the almost 500,000 square foot dealer’s room. (Yes, you read that right, it’s a cavernous place.) New Line also trotted out its most prestigious and profitable film franchise “The Lord of the Rings” as part of a two-hour presentation that owned Friday night’s schedule.

Many of you have read reports of this, but not with some of the details about to be shared. There are spoilers ahead, so stop reading NOW if you wish not to know. The footage available on-line doesn’t have all this; it seems to have started late.

Many studios would have delivered safe promotional footage, but not PJ and not New Line. Instead they showcased many of the key moments from the Extended Edition. Who gets the credit? Either New Line trusted PJ completely and didn’t screen this before it was shown or it was smart on its own. Either way a tasty treat was delivered. The clips were brief but they were crystal clear in many instances. This is your last chance to bail out and some personal interpretations will be peppered amongst the pure reporting.

Footage summary:

PJ talks to Comic Con, saying the extended footage will be 50-minutes long and we are the first people to see the preview. It opens with, to great cheers, the Voice of Saruman uttering a threat. (It is a different section than the one that starts the currently available bootleg version of the footage.) There is a money shot of a long camera sweep up Minas Tirith. I believe the White City will be made even grander in the EE.

Frodo and Sam are in Orc gear and they are marching in formation in an Orc company. They were NOT singing “Where There is a Whip, There is a Way.” Frodo stumbles, threatening to ruin the disguise. Sam helps him.

Legolas and Gimli engage in a post-Orthanc drinking game. This footage is actually available on the web if you search hard enough. Or if you know where I live, stop by. Next Aragorn is shown holding a palantir, and not just holding it but using it, with his sword drawn, showing him the same weapon that cut the One Ring from his finger thousands of years and three movies ago. He is casting doubt and fear into Sauron. He is without a doubt contending with the Great Eye.

The statue head wreathed with flowers at the Crossroads is shown next. A photo is also available on the web and has been for months. Next my favorite segment shows up. We witness a Peter Jackson style tight shot on a mouth with jagged yellow teeth and lips and gums that are rotted and in desperate need of Chap Stick. Just like in the Houghton-Mifflin movie tie-in book, this is the very Mouth of Sauron. Further confirming the design, Sideshow Collectibles puts its MoS bust up for pre-order over the weekend along with some shots of the figure.

Anyway, we see a long shot of Mouth riding his horse from between the Black Gates, presumably after Aragorn has called for the Lord of Mordor to come forth and have justice done upon him. We see another shot of the mouth say, and I quote,

“I have a token I was bidden to show thee.” Then we have a shot from behind The Mouth and then he holds up Frodo’s mithril shirt. I believe there was a shot of Merry or Pippin despairing but I don’t know that it was related and the cuts were coming quick as lightning at times – faster than a writing pen at least.

We cut back to Gandalf and friends vs. Saruman, where the video starts and PJ cuts in to say, “Lets face it, Return of the King was always a little short.” This is where he repeats the “50 minutes of extra footage.” He also explains that for that footage there are about 300 special effects shots, bigger than many entire movies.

With some more footage PJ explains that like the book there are appendices that chronicle everything and then there is a cut to a crowd in Wellington at the premier of the film. I have it on VERY good authority from two separate sources that one of the film crews at TORn’s last Oscar Party was also contracted by the New Line Home Entertainment division and was shooting footage for the DVD and there is a pretty good chance some of it will end up on the DVD. But I digress…

There is a section then of the actors, mostly hobbits, talking about the legacy of the films. Billy Boyd sitting by Dominic Monaghan says in his fantastic accent, “And when we have keds, and I don’t mean together of course…” which got a giant laugh. He looked forward to seeing the film in 25 years.

Sam sees beauty in the clouds with Mister Frodo and says, “Mister Frodo, there is light, beauty in the clouds that no shadow can diminish.” very near the end and finally, at last, at long, long last the ancient footage of Merry swearing allegiance to Théoden and Rohan will make the cut. In the first trailer of “Fellowship” (and I think in the first Comic Con footage) we saw this but finally it is good for something besides promotion.

There is a scene of Orcs crashing the gate at Minas Tirith with a good old normal sized battering ram like the one used at Helm’s Deep during Théoden’s last stand. This is a day-time shot and will make the siege and the coming of Grond later that night ring with more significance; we have more fighting it seems, for good or ill.

Aragorn is back agonizing over the fallen Éowyn, obviously in the Houses of Healing and we cut to Frodo agonizing in Orc gear as Merry’s voiceover recounts how he can’t save Middle-earth but he hopes to see his friends again. Then some exterior shots of Minas Tirith (I think) and next Aragorn stands over the sleeping Éowyn quite obviously NOT in the House of Healing but likely back in Rohan. She grabs his hand as he turns to leave.

Then we get a brief glimpse of the Armies of the Dead surging past the three hunters, Saruman striking Grima Wormtounge, Éowyn and Gothmog facing off, lots more fighting around and on Minas Tirith, and finally Gandalf confronting the Witch King and his suddenly flaming sword. There was dialog between them but my pen was too slow, although I believe WK said, “This is my power” or “This is my time.”

It was in effect the best commercial for the EE ROTK that will ever be made. It was better than some movies in fact with its perfect pacing, character development and amazing effects. It was just lovely.

However, the footage wasn’t over, just the initial preview. The panel talked at length (if you haven’t heard) and consisted of Billy Boyd, David Wenham, producer Rick Porras, DVD producer Michael Pellerin and a New Line publicity representative whose name was not recorded in the official TORn notebook.

Before summarizing the content of the panel, indulge TORn with a brief account of what is so vastly different between any of the Lord of the Rings previews at this and previous Cons and the all-too often seen standard promotions for other films.

Have you noticed the difference between the quality of features on the LOTR DVDs (particularly the extended editions) and some other DVDs? Chances are if you thought a “behind the scenes” look at a film was standard, boring or if it felt too commercialized or fake, it was part of an EPK or Electronic Press Kit. Studios hire epk productions to visit the set of a film for a day, film whatever happens to be going on, conduct short interviews with those concerned and then pass off the production to HBO or another electronic outlet who calls the commercial an “HBO First Look” which is actually a 30-minute commercial for a film. In some cases these commercials end up as “documentaries” on DVDs or are shown at Comic-Con. Actors or directors use words like, “brilliant” “genuine” “visionary” and “organic” to talk about their films or co-workers; consumer beware.

In contrast to that, Peter Jackson has put together, for several years now, a special reel for Comic-Con that is unlike everything the previous paragraph talks about. This writer will never forget sitting next to Tookish and Quickbeam at Comic Con 2000 (before I was a TORn staffer) and seeing genuine footage for the first time from Fellowship. This was no EPK, this was a few guys in a far away land laboring on something special and sending a message directly to those in the room saying, in effect, “We hope you like what we have done. We know you are invested emotionally in this project and we hope we don’t let you down. Here is some footage.”

The Wizards, Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee were in chairs along with Jackson on set saying “hellos” to the Con. Lee’s resonant bass voice sent a chill down my spine, confirming for me how obvious and right he was to portray “the voice.” In the years since, Jackson hasn’t let us down with his powerful footage. Actors aren’t paraded in front of the camera to spout off caned quotes for an epk company, they just talk genuinely to a camera and footage that matters gets shown.

Back at Con 2004, during the conversation between actors and producers, more clips were shown – actual segments from the extended edition. The first involved Faramir and Éowyn (Miranda Otto) in the Houses of Healing. Éowyn is depressed by the oppressive darkness and Faramir comes to comfort her saying, “I do not believe this darkness will endure.”

Slyly the two end up holding hands and then she falls into his embrace. Wenham revealed in the chat after, that the two actors worked together previously on an Australian radio play. In the play the two of them were supposed to be making love in a bath and they found everything so funny that the director apparently became quite annoyed when they kept laughing during dialog.

The second clip, shown after Boyd said, “And now I get to be in a scene with David Wenham,” involved the self-doubting Faramir and the self-doubting Pippin. Pippin is heard talking to himself and the two try to help each other feel better. Pip supports Faramir with, “You have strength too (like Boromir and Denethor) but of a different kind. Your father will see it in the end.”

Pippin, doubting himself for swearing loyalty to Denethor, is told, “Generous deeds should not be chaffed by cold council,” and Faramir loans him his own childhood armor. From the discussion, it seems that Boyd filmed the scene with Wenham present but than had to go film his absolute final frames of film (directed by Rick Porras) while Wenham filmed his portion of the film with a memory of Boyd’s work and a body double. There was a segment, either here or back in the preview where Faramir says, “I would not take the ring,” which should help fanatics relax a bit. Boyd also cracked on Porras for filming Pippin looking around a corner so thoroughly. “There are only so many ways you can look around a corner,” Boyd quipped.

Boyd shared a story of a prank being reversed on Monaghan and himself just before shooting the initial Treebeard work. The night before the pair took a five-hour drive to the location, new scripts were delivered for the next day’s work. The version they received (made 100 percent believable with watermarks and other official presentation) was quite different and unusual in that it called for the pair to climb Treebeard only to fall and be snagged on branches as they fell.

Surviving the fall, the pair discovered in the exchange of Hobbits and tree, they had lost all their clothes and were now cold. “Hold me Pippin,” were to be Merry’s words in the faux script. Dom was sporting a fat suit at that point in filming and they wondered how it could possibly work.

The final official clip, with a Jackson intro describing it as “a bit of fun”, was of the three hunters traversing the paths of the dead. After Aragorn shouts, “What say you” the army dissipates and there is a minor earthquake. Following the tremor a few skulls start pushing out of the walls, and they gradually increase until the heroes are fighting to stay out of the Niagara Falls of skulls. Billy Boyd kept one of these for his own collection until recently when he tossed it away on a cleaning day. He regrets the loss now.

Several times during the DVD discussion, Pellerin was characterized as the final authority on the shooting of The Lord of the Rings. He knows and remembers more than the actors do. Boyd and Wenham explained that during lengthy interviews for the DVD (12-15 hours) Pellerin would remind them of anecdotes and experiences they had themselves forgotten about. While 7 million feet of LOTR footage was shot, Pellerin’s crews shot perhaps 12 million feet, documenting the experience.

One final clip was shown that will never be on the DVD apparently, as Pellerin and his co-workers knew this particular interview was a joke. Monaghan related a fictional story where he invited Viggo Mortensen over to his own home for a pre-Oscar celebration but Viggo never returned his calls. Eventually Monaghan found that Mortensen was having his own Oscar Jell-O party with casts of the Oscar statuette in gelatin. Those attending the party were required to smack Mortensen with the Jell-O while saying, “You ARE the King,” “You ARE the King,” “You ARE the King.” A Mortensen reaction with much laughter was also filmed.

Perhaps shooting less footage but no less passionately was TORn’s own film crew the Ringers crew. Technical difficulties delayed their presentations’ video opening but the director Carlene Cordova, producer Cliff Broadway, director of photography Josh Mandel and author of “The Last Unicorn” Peter Beagle entertained while filling time until technical problems could be resolved.

When the glitches were fixed – after Beagle’s favorite joke which drew laughter and simultaneous groans – the crew launched into coverage of their movies. Eventually five separate segments were shown on the screen, with actors, fans and others, all talking about the different meanings and influences of Tolkien. Faces ranged from leather spiked patrons of last year’s Con to Andy Serkis to Ian McKellen. Footage was gathered from all over the world in places like Wellington’s premier for Return of the King and Salt Lake City’s 1,200 people party at the 12:01 a.m. screening.

Anecdotes were shared but most importantly, fans had a glimpse of themselves talking about the book by J.R.R. Tolkien and the films that were a result of it. The film talks with fans who are common and unrecognizable as well as those who have attained fame and often have injected a bit of their Tolkien influence into their work. The list of more famous fans includes several of the “Rings” actors as well as Clive Barker, David Carradine, Cameron Crowe, Terry Brooks, Forest J. Ackerman, Colleen Doran, Geddy Lee, Terry Pratchett, Brian Sibley and Royd Tolkien among others.

The film is hopeful about being shown in a film festivals starting early next year and then perhaps it will be picked up by a major distributor so that it can go into wide release.

(In the spirit of full disclosure I am a credited second-unit director on the film.)

SAN DIEGO – The Best In Show award at the 2003 Comic-Con Masquerade went to the One Ring Circus, a group of devoted Tolkien fans and costumers that wowed judges and audience alike. [More]