MrCere writes: SAN DIEGO – TORn friends, there is yet so much of Comic-Con 2003 that many of you would be interested in that I feel almost powerless to deliver it all. I lack a laptop of my own and so each and every report I filled from there was on a borrowed machine, which made it difficult for both borrower and computer owner. Excuse #2 is that since returning, I have been catching up on the rest of my life which goes on without me when I am gone and demands attention. [More]
Month: July 2003
MrCere writes:
SAN DIEGO – TORn friends, there is yet so much of Comic-Con 2003 that many of you would be interested in that I feel almost powerless to deliver it all. I lack a laptop of my own and so each and every report I filled from there was on a borrowed machine, which made it difficult for both borrower and computer owner. Excuse #2 is that since returning, I have been catching up on the rest of my life which goes on without me when I am gone and demands attention.
So, Con 2003 was an amazing experience, both Tolkien related and not. If you haven’t been to CC, you simply must make plans now for next year. (http://www.comic-con.org/Pages/CCIWhatsNew.html) I receive no financial remuneration from the Con (which is non-profit) but I am a big supporter of the event because it shines a brighter light on popular culture, including fantasy of all kinds, and the still undiscovered medium of comic books. It is a pop-culture holy land that every geek and true fan must visit at least once. The five-day event is gigantic but to me it always feels intimate because while many there do not share your most specific passions – others do. These people, TORnados for instance, are a joy to meet with and get to know. I have made friends each and every year and deepened those relationships each subsequent year. In behalf of all the TORn staffers in attendance, thank you all for your support and interest, both at Con and on the live web cam and even for reading our reports. But on to the all important details!
Sunday, Day Five of the con, is a bit of a slowdown after the massive Hollywood Day Four. It was a perfect time to host a TORn panel because it allowed us time to sit down and open warm discussions with fans again. We followed the ever-popular Neil Gaimen (book and comic book author), and the CC staff who understood that our core audience would want to sit and chat a spell, told us to carry on as long as needed. Ian Smith had already returned to England or the amazing man might have a complete transcript of every spoken word, assuming he found the panel of interest. I will simply bring you some highlights.
The gregarious and gracious Quickbeam joined TORn founder, designer and workhorse Calisuri and the wise and thoughtful Tookish at the podium to start the discussion. Tookish stalled for a few pre-panel minutes with some groan inducing jokes including some about Uruk-Hai and crossing roads and top ten lists. (If you haven’t delved into the Tookish’s Ticklers section of TORn, what are you waiting for?)
Calisuri, with his ever-ready laptop projecting to the big screen, marched through some TORn statistics including its approximately 95,000 unique visitors per day, ranking it among the top 2,000 most popular web sites in existence – and all without porn!. The stats drew “oohs” and “ahhs” from the audience but it was the audience itself and anybody reading this sentence that deserves the accolades for those impressive numbers. The devotion and contributions of the fans – including the TORn staff – is what drives what has become a powerful internet machine.
Yours truly, MrCere, was then invited onto the podium to speak briefly about line parties which are a true passion of mine and give me an outlet where I can direct my Tolkien energy. I wondered if the wiley old vets of TORn were worried about what I might say in my first public words in TORn’s behalf. I can’t quote myself exactly but I hope I conveyed a desire to help make all the line parties everywhere a way for fans to celebrate this final film in the Tolkien movie trilogy. As somebody who would have loved to be involved in the film in any way, the line parties provide me, a fan, an way to be involved. I hope each fan takes that same opportunity.
I also stated, and deliberately mention here again, that we collectively have made The Lord of the Rings films a great success. The film-makers understand that their core audience, both on and off TORn (but mostly on), fueled the cultural phenomenon by publicly loving these films, by seeing them over and over and over (many of you so many times that it scares me frankly!) and verbally advertised them in a way that media marketing can never match.
With this in mind, New Line does have a very good as yet unveiled idea regarding these Rings movies and its December monster-movie Return Of The King, but alas I must keep it secret and keep it safe so as not to endanger it.
In my line-party dreamland I wish they would ship enough ROTK mini-posters for every line party participant to receive one at their respective line. Keep your eyes peeled at TORn for a potentially amazing announcement from New Line and TORn…eventually. 8) (That was fun but the announcement IS big enough to warrant that type of tease. Stay tuned.)
We then watched about three minutes of the Salt Lake City 2002 Towers video which away from CC seems amazing but in the midst of 80,000 geeks a nine-foot Ent seems like business as usual.
Calisuri then trotted out a presentation about the many and fun potential spoilers in ROTK. I couldn’t write fast enough to keep up with the speculation and I think most or all of it has crossed TORn many times, but to see it all presented together was really a treat. To be perfectly honest I tried not to let too much of it sink in because I want to enjoy ROTK as much as possible. The highlight of the presentation however wasn’t pictures or text on screen but the commentary from the panel that went along with it. Quickbeam, having stood for the full measure of a day atop the ramparts of Minis Tirith during actual filming, was able to lend some flavor to certain set-pictures and speculations. Between the three experts, a lot of theories were presented, all fascinating and maybe some of the true! Weeks of re-shoots has made everything we know about the film suspect.
One big cat that somebody let out of the bag, that should many a TORnado’s broken heart are some Faramir details. Our spy reported that among the 42-minutes of footage to be released on The Two Towers Extended Edition disc will be a lovely section that features Faramir watching his brother glide past in a boat, cloven horn and all.
Then, the very man who is the focus for much of TORn’s fandom freak-out will flashback to a scene with Faramir, Boromir and Denathor which will put the memorable line about Faramir’s quality into a deeper, more meaningful context. Much of the anguish over characterization will be gone as we become privy to his deepest motivations. David Wenham’s, will I suspect, be powerfully enriched as it becomes clearly understood. This is all just a rumor but I think you can absolutely bank on it being true. Imagine if New Line someday decides to release the Extended Editions of these films back to theaters! Were I King of anything, I would plan a simultaneous release of the EE and a shorter theatrical version of ROTK this December. It would be a logistical nightmare, but a fanboy is allowed to dream isn’t he? While we are at it, anybody have Liv Tyler’s phone number? 8)
The spiky wheel came out again, a long mainstay of spoiler debate. One poor woman in the audience, obviously not familiar with TORn, wailed when it was mentioned that “obviously there will not be a scouring of the Shire.” In short, there was basically a spoiler parade with TORn serving as the grandmaster, all the floats, a few marching bands, a police motorcycle brigade and television commentators all at the same time. Good, clean geeky fun.
Have I mentioned that TORn also whipped out LOTR footage that was shown at a gaming trade show a few weeks back? I didn’t? Well, it was poor quality, it was smallish and it was RETURN OF THE FREAKING KING FOOTAGE! In short, it was awesome – I bet. It was a montage of images that somebody filmed (no, NOT us – no really) of gaming footage. Not a bad way to spend Sunday afternoon. You want every detail? I am afraid I mostly didn’t watch, trying to keep myself virginal for ROTK in December. I will only see the film for the first time once. I do recall a regal looking king fellow, a fighting-mad Elf and a whitish tinted wizard standing on ramparts looking off into the distance with great emotion playing across his face. I can only guess at what he was looking, but that Sir Ian can emote without a single syllable of sound. Just so you don’t mail everybody at TORn begging, we are not allowed to post this footage. The handcuffs of copyright have been used and honestly, I strongly advise ya’ll to wait as impatiently as I am waiting and let the movie wash over you unspoiled and filled with surprise.
Well, reading all this so far may have taken longer than real-life events and finally TORn turned its time over to the fans. There were scads and scads of prizes to be given out for appropriate questions and the question came in great doses. I must credit the askers because they were intelligent and appropriate. Sometimes, the panel would have a whole lot to say. The passionate Quickbeam for example responded to an honest query about Tolkien and racism (check the greenbooks if you haven’t already) with an honest and informative answer. After a bit it became obvious that there would not be time for what could have been a fascinating panel on its own and the asker and the answerer decided to chat afterwords for an even better exchange. I am sure boat-loads of prizes didn’t hurt the motivations for prizes, but folks seemed awfully sincere for the most part.
One young lad who had the great misfortune of losing his backpack, or rather of having it lifted, hauled in a lovely and completely sold out Aragorn statue from Sideshow/WETA that elicited gasps and squeals from those attending. Hopefully the statue will leave him with some good memories to go along with the grim wish for revenge that comes with being robbed. Eventually the CC officials came forward to cut us off, despite their earlier invitation, and break down the chairs in the room. I watched the faces of those bucking to ask final questions before the curtain fell on the panel, and for most, on the whole weekend. There was some real angst as the last few folks were squeezed in. TORn and some of the dedicated Tolkien fans could have gone on all day.
There is yet more to tell regarding *TORN’S CLEAN-UP* and my *OVERVIEW* of the entire CC.
SAN DIEGO – The little booth that TORn called home for a week became an edearing little feature of our life at Comic-Con 2003. Calisuri put the thing together with some help of course and the idea was that it should look like a Gondorian tent, which it did.
Our humble, low-budget booth with less than comfortable camping chairs had its own charm.
When CC finally came to a close on Sunday, the mysterious voice asked everybody without an exhibitor badge to leave immediately. Unlike most days, people split willingly.
The days have blurred together now but one evening when the main convention floor was shutting down, Andy Serkis stopped by our booth for a moment. He was a BUSY guy during the convention and despite being willing to accomodate fans, he was looking a bit tired. (This might have had something to do with the rumours from very reliable sources that he danced the night away with the WETA guys until 4 a.m. and made a 7 a.m. television appearance with Richard Taylor the next day but who knows for sure.) Anyway, he was a guest of CC and doesn’t wear an “exhibitor” badge around the floor so the good-intentioned security folks pestered him to leave.
Our own Saruman passed him a badge as I tried to explain to the security person that she ought to be a bit more careful about who she is kicking out. It was honestly embarassing for CC. Anyway, she pretty much got in my face and tried to blame me somehow which really started to tick me off and then she thought he was “Wolverine or somebody?”
Serkis then went and posed with the Sideshow/WETA Gollum which was a great photo op (brought to you by yours truely for TORn and also on Serkis’ own website, liked by TORn). When the camera were not on him, just moments after a group snapped the friendly pose, he started french kissing Gollum and probably deliberately managed to stop doing it everytime I almost got a picture.
Anyway, to make a long story short (too late I know) Sunday finally came and it was time to tear down the TORn booth. Strangely, there was a bit of meloncholy in the air as our tented haven and hell folded up nicely for its trip back to TORn storage. We found various items like carefully stowed garbage, peanut shells, a few items staff had scored from the CC dealer’s floor and even an extra “Don’t Make Me Get My Ring” t-shirt.
The CC folks were busy tearing down sponsor banners (including the sweet new TheOneRing.net two-sided red one), “street” signs inside the giant cavern, rolling up carpet and driving forklifts all over the joint.
Our humble tent suddenly looked pretty inviting compared with Sideshow’s elaborate ringwraith, Uruk-Hai, cave troll and Gollum, not to mention hundreds of pieces of sculpted art. Worse was New Lines Mount Movie which may have been the most elaborate set on the floor, although that could be argued.
While helping Calisuri load up his car I witnessed Lou Ferigno signing an autograph for the worlds oldest living security guard and two gothic looking youngsters (late teens maybe?) with full sized beheaded army soldiers on their backs.
We sat again in our wildly uncomfortable fold-up camping chairs, chatted and eventually said our goodbyes. Chances are good the tent will be making an appearance at a TORn event near you, still saturated with the spirit of Comic-Con 2003.
CONVENTION NOTES:
ASTIN’S LEGACY: Quickbeam sat in on a round table discussion with LOTR actors and took great notes that I never found the idea place for in a story and actually can’t find now at all! (So sorry Quickbeam!). Sean Astin spoke with Quickbeam about his own legacy in movies and talked specificly about his wife’s thought that when Astin is gone these Lord Of The RIngs films will be watched by his kids and grandkids. Astin was emotionally moved while relating the tale and was close to tears in the interview room. A rare and precious moment.
MORE ASTIN: During a busy signing day in which fans showered him with gifts: “It has been awesome. Sometimes you forget how passionate the fans are. In the last half hour I find myself marveling at them. They have reminded me.”
SALA BAKER ON RETURNING TO CON: “This is crazy! It absolutely rocks. Fans are amazing and fans are the reason (he was at Con.) We have these little cults of fans and it is just amazing.”
ANDY SERKIS ON CON: “This is my first Con and it is an absolute blast. No time for sleep. No sleep…no sleep.”
RICHARD TAYLOR ON CON: “The fans coming to Comic-Con have the same passion and enthusiasm that we tried to put into the films.”
There is yet more to tell regarding my *OVERVIEW* of the entire CC.
SAN DIEGO – We at TORn would be remiss if we didn’t report on a few of the amazing events at the con. It is no secret that I, MrCere, am a serious comic book geek. Even if TORn and Tolkien didn’t exist, I would be here walking the floor, waiting in lines, attending geek-intensive panels and ogling $5,000 issues of “Daredevil.” I even thought about doing the credit card thing for all of about…15 seconds.
Still, the noise of Saturday is created by movies and with today’s marriage of Hollywood’s budgets and comic’s characters, the excitement reaches fever pitch early in the day and never lets up. Literally minutes into Saturday thousands of fans were disappointed while thousands of others were seated and waiting for Halle Berry. We at TORn, while big…uh…supports of Berry’s work were a bit too busy to even think of attending her “Gothika” preview. (Aintitcoolnews.com had a decent report which indicates she will not be doing an X3 and at another story there is even some great Tolkien related stuff as well – but watch the language.)
We did have some help bringing you some images and words of the New Line presentation (thanks New Line!) and while I planned to stay to watch “Hellboy” and “Van Helsing” there were reports to be typed and just plain stuff to do. I did linger long enough to watch the nervous Kate Beckinsale talk briefly about “Underworld.” I need to report that yes, she IS the world’s most beautiful woman. Berry finishes a close second. The panel moderator didn’t like my question and wouldn’t let me ask it so I left with better things to worry about.
So, all this “Hollywood South” as San Diego becomes on Saturday, while real fun, has a real dark side as well. This year in particular, there was a lot of chaos and a lot of unhappy folks. I had a brief chat with two of CC’s higher-ups and they commented on the amazing growth of the Con. Last year about 65,000 people showed up and attendance was up more than 30 percent through Saturday. Con unofficially anticipated needing a new ballroom every two years. Suddenly they are needing two new ballrooms every one year. Despite the unbelievably big convention center, this Con has outgrown it. They must do something different with ticketing or line-waiting because people were furious this year amid all the disappointment and bad information. Some folks traveled from across great oceans to see a star and then are crushed when they cannot. Tales of folks crying at the TORn booth because they couldn’t get into something are not fables.
Lost in the glitz are some of the very best things CC can offer. Ray Bradbury was on hand with friends and co-workers Forrest J. Ackerman and Julius Schwartz. I heard Bradbury and Schwartz last year talk about the early days of comics and sci-fi and it was warm, funny and captivating. This year I missed out but so did a lot of folks who were busy waiting in a foolish line. Too bad. Bradbury is a treasure that will not be around for ever but whose works will live long beyond “Laura Croft: Tomb Raider.”
I did attend two after-hours events that I really want to mention for two reasons. One, they were amazing. Two, most readers who want to find these non-LOTR items have a decent chance to do so.
The first was a Thursday night event that might be of interest to TORnados: “The Star Wars Fan Film Awards.” As the title suggests, these are fan-made films that take place in or mostly spoof the world that George Lucas created. Despite a TORn staffer’s warning that they would all suck, I went anyway, alone (a geek among geeks) and had a hell of a time. These films were funny, sometimes looked professionally polished and were really better than I expected. Somewhere, someday they will be on line or in a DVD store. One of the winners, the 25-year-old “Hardware Wars” was available on its own on video in the ’80s.
I can’t wait for the day when our own fandom will produce similar bits of humor and cleverness in a film format. I do believe our fandom will stand the test of time and produce, approved or not, short bits of brilliance. Get to it fan boys and girls.
Anyway for those who wish to pursue this Star Wars thing further.
We were told before and after the program of films that we should stick around and watch a 30-minute stage production of all three of the original Star Wars trilogy. I couldn’t think of anything less appealing but since I was alone anyway with no computer to type a TORn report on, just what else was I going to do? I could always walk out…right?
Brilliance. This show, three movies in 30 minutes, was brilliant! The cast of less than a dozen delivered the lines, physically played the parts and used minimalist props to deliver a show that I am convinced must tour around the country. Stormtroopers wore white bike helmets while Chewbacca switched to Darth Vader by pulling his black cape over his brown chest carpet and slipping on a pair of sunglasses. Main characters like Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Leia Skywalker mostly were one-character actors but there supporting cast switched roles lighting fast for lighting fast delivery of movie dialog. The plot moved briskly, the props use was fantastic and hilarious and all the classic lines and events were there including space battles.
Luke hanging from the bottom of Cloud City, the death of Vader and Yoda, Luke training on Dagobah and the death of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were so funny I couldn’t stop laughing. Jabba the Hut and Admiral Akbar and Han jumping on top of an actor-played Taun Tuan literally forced tears to jump and roll down my cheeks and I was far from alone. This troupe played in Los Angeles for several months and I am unsure of their future but if they tour or if you visit L.A. this is absolutely a cannot miss production. One supporting actor is a big TORn supporter. I hope she gets in touch with me and provides updates!
The second event that literally caused me to laugh tears was during “Spike & Mike’s Sick And Twisted Animation Festival.” The con enforced a no-under-18 rule but this was more tame than South Park to be sure.
Anyway, some of these short cartoons are funny while others are not. The audience is free to boo or applaud as they see fit and Spike and Mike take the show out on the road and tour around the country. I would recommend it most years for those who like such things but because of one little feature called “The Return Of Dr. Tran,” the 2003 show is also a cannot miss.
The cartoon is actually a trailer for a non-existent movie and it starts out with a little chuckle. The humor builds gradually, joke after joke, but eventually, when it climaxed with some things I wouldn’t dare spoil and of an adult nature, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The rest of the festival’s cartoons were ruined because Dr. Tran set a standard that cannot be approached. Overall, production values were much higher than usual and let me state again in case it wasn’t clear: DO NOT MISS A CHANCE TO VIEW THE DR. TRAN CARTOON.
Okay, so the beauty of CC is that I missed a whole bunch of things I wanted to go to. While that is too bad for me, the wealth of available stuff is too good to miss. In addition to all of that, you get free TORn buttons. Has anybody spotted them on Ebay yet?
Maria writes: I just found out that on December 16th the UFA Theater in Dresden, Germany will show all three parts of LotR for 14 Euro!
Ostadan writes: Rob Daviau from Hasbro, who is involved in the design of several Hasbro games including their Trivial Pursuit line, slipped the following interesting tidbit about LOTR in the USENET rec.games.board newsgroup. [More]