This afternoon the “Return of the Ring” event, held by the Tolkien Society at the University of Loughborough from 16 to 20 August, ended. In programming it, the organizers sought to bring together academic studies of “the Professor,” fan activities, and figures from entertainment—the latter being represented by Brian Sibley and others active in various adaptations of Tolkien’s work. With as many as seven separate panels and activities competing with each other in some time slots, there was something for all interests and some tough decisions about which ones to attend. Continue reading “Celebrating The Professor in Loughborough”

Benedict Cumberbatch who plays Smaug and the voice of the necromancer seems to be doing the interviews rounds and dropping some Hobbit spoilers this time to Anne Richardson from CumberbatchWeb: highlight text below for spoilers:

There has been a lot of debate of when “An Unexpected Journey” will split for film two “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” Cumberbatch teased with this hinter on when to expect to see Smaug it appears that it could be as early as the end of the first film:

“I think my eye might open at the end of the first film and then you’ll get the rest of me in the second,” he said.

This would lead credence to the fact the second film could be called The Hobbit:The Desolation of Smaug. The quote however was revealed before it was announced before the announcement of the third Hobbit movie. [Read more]

In 2011, fan volunteers MrCere, Quickbeam, Grimlock and Justin embarked on the first ever road trip across America streaming live from a TheOneRing.net themed truck the entire time and meeting fans at every stop. It was amazing to meet fans from all walks of life and was unforgettable to talk about how Tolkien impacts their daily lives. Fans at home came along for the ride day and night with live streaming video, Barliman’s chat room, and TheOneRing.net mobile phone to share stories, recommend local Tolkien landmarks, and win prizes from our sponsors. Over 3,000 fans met us in person and 250,000 fans watched online… which inspires us to do it again. But this year, we don’t have any corporate sponsors and we are leaning heavily on YOU the fans to make this year’s trip happen. As you know, not just gas is expensive these days. We have set up a GoFundMe.com page with levels of sponsorship starting at just $5! If you are willing to donate more, we have set up a series of perks (yea, just like PBS!) for each donation. For example, you can get an exclusive ‘Road to DragonCon’ t-shirt, or if you are insanely generous, you can snag an early ticket to our February 2013 Oscar Party! But wait…there’s more! We are going to be producing a short documentary available for free online after the trip in which we will highlight the supporters of our trip. We hope you will consider supporting us! Follow the link for complete details on the sponsorship levels. [Donate Today!]

Continue reading “Support our Journey on the ‘Road to DragonCon’ 2012!”

Doug Adams, author of the book “The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films“, announced early this morning via his blog that today, August 20, 2012, marks the beginning of the recording sessions for The Hobbit in London.

Fans of Howard Shore‘s scores for the Lord of the Rings films and Doug’s monumental companion book to them will also find much excitement in the news that Doug has also signed on to write another companion book titled “The Music of The Hobbit Films”.

Today the musical world of Middle-earth begins expanding once again. Today, you can no longer say that you know every note of Shore’s music for Tolkien’s world. In fact, you only know about half of it. (This is a ballpark figure; I have no idea how long the three Hobbit films will be!) Today the subject of The Music of the Hobbit Films exists not just in concept, but in reality. Today a new journey begins …

Read Doug’s entire story here. And hop in to our boards to speculate about the songs, recurring themes, and new themes that we might expect in the upcoming films.

Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join in the fun!
Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – August 19, 2012”

and this is our leader, Thorin Oakenshield.”

            -Gandalf to Bilbo as he introduces the Dwarves entering Bag End

 Comic-Con 2012 brought us the first look at many things for this December’s release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected JourneyThis was the first time fans have gotten a chance to see the tip of the ice berg of products we will get to buy starting in October. Companies like Weta even got to have exclusives to the show for the movie. The exclusive from Weta was the first statue in the 1:6th range of statues from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The character chosen to lead off the line up is the leader of the Dwarven Party Thorin Oakenshield himself.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Thorin Oakenshield Statue Review”