Elrond’s heart forbade him going with the Fellowship; Gandalf encouraged him to throw himself down a well as a preventative measure against stupidity.
Tomorrow, in the Hall of Fire, we discuss Pippin Took: Bold, hard halfling or piece of luggage?
Pippin, as Peregrin Took was universally known, was the youngest (and perhaps most reluctantly accepted) of the Fellowship. He was only twenty-eight when he set out with Frodo and Sam from Bag End on the first part of their great journey — quite young for a Hobbit.
What does this say about the character of Peregrin Took?
New Expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online™ Launching Fall 2012
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment unveiled today The Lord of the Rings Online™: Riders of Rohan™, the latest expansion to the award-winning free-to-play massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) developed by Turbine. Riders of Rohan expands the online world of Middle-earth where players join forces to ride into the Plains of Rohan. Riders of Rohan launches in the Fall of 2012 with an increased level cap, the vast plains of Rohan including iconic locations such as Amon Hen and Fangorn Forest, the new Mounted Combat system and much more!
“2011 was another banner year for The Lord of the Rings Online with consistent growth for the game, a successful unification of our European and North American services and the success of Rise of Isengard, our best selling expansion to date.” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “This is going to be another outstanding year as we celebrate our fifth anniversary and introduce a wealth of new content throughout the year, ending with our arrival in Rohan. One of our largest expansions ever, Rohan is expected to be twice the size of the recent Rise of Isengard expansion and includes the most new game systems and technology we’ve introduced since 2008’s Mines of Moria.” Continue reading “Warner bros. Interactive Entertainment and Turbine Unveil LOTRO: RIDERS OF ROHAN™”
Filming for Peter Jackson’s latest movie The Hobbit took to the Aratiatia rapids near Taupo for a scene using spill gates from a dam. Publicist Melissa Booth said the film crew dropped 20 to 25 barrels down the rapids at a time yesterday for the scene. “We shot the scene every time there was a dam release which was at 10, 12, 2 and 4.”
She said no actors or stunt crew were forced into the barrels to venture into the extreme conditions.
“I think we would have had some issues with OSH if that were the case.” The scene was the only part of The Hobbit to be filmed in the area. Mrs Booth said the rapids were an ideal setting for the scene because the spillway turned the otherwise dry gorge into a fast flowing waterfall. More..
Many people wouldn’t recognize Andy Serkis if they met him in person, yet they’re sure to remember many of the characters he’s portrayed onscreen, via the assistance of performance-capture technology.
Be it the raspy voiced bag of skin and bones that is Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the eponymous building-sized “monster” from King Kong, the genetically-altered chimp Caesar from Rise of the Planet of the Apes – or, most recently, the burly alcoholic Captain Haddock from The Adventures of Tintin, Serkis has served as the heart and soul of many a memorable digitally-rendered character. Hence, the previous studio-backed pushes for him to receive an Oscar nod for his work in both the Rings trilogy and the Apes franchise reboot/prequel.
Despite the especially-massive push for Serkis to receive recognition for his performance as Caesar, the actor’s name was absent from the list of official 84th Academy Award nominations announced earlier this morning (at the time of writing this). Arguably, part of the reason behind both the Serkis snub and Tintin‘s being denied a Best Animated Feature nod is because many an Academy member is said to be wary of the mo-cap approach to character creation. More..
For a good long while, there has been talk of a feature film based on Wendy and Richard Pini’s Elfquest comics, which they’ve self-published since the ’70s. Warner Bros announced it was making one back in 2008. Four years later, it’s deader than Denethor. And you can blame Peter Jackson.
Well, sort of. See, Warner Bros. feels that three films with elves is one too many and, with the sure-to-be-a-massive-hit-twofer The Hobbit coming this December, they pulled the plug on Elfquest. Or, at least, that’s how Wendy Pini put it on the official Elfquest Facebook page:
“After close to four years of suspense—and longer than four years of your much-appreciated interest and support—the word has come down from Warner Bros. And the word is ‘no.’ Their simple explanation is that they don’t want to compete with The Hobbit. This was a possibility, among several, that we were prepared for. It is a relief, at last, to know.”
Entertainment Weekly’s John Young recently caught up with Evangeline Lilly to discuss “Real Steel” which has arrived on Blu-Ray and DVD. While there are many fans of that movie, Tolkien devotees want to hear more about her upcoming role in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
EW turned the conversation to that very topic and asked if her new character Tauriel would be a type of elf warrior, which Lilly confirmed. “Yes, she is a warrior. She’s actually the head of the Elven guard. She’s the big shot in the army. So she knows how to wield any weapon, but the primary weapons that she uses are a bow and arrow and two daggers. And she’s lethal and deadly. You definitely wouldn’t want to be caught in a dark alley next to Tauriel.”
Lilly went on to say her role has expanded from her original expectation and has only a small part at the end of the first Hobbit film, leaving the bulk of her participation for 2013’s The Hobbit: There And Back Again. However, she could not confirm any involvement in the Battle of Five Armies, a highlight fans are looking forward to in the second film. She did mentioned a return to New Zealand for five more months of filming.
You can read the entire article here at Entertainment Weekly. And I know TORN fans will be discussing this on the message boards!
