October madness has landed and Weta Workshop has unleashed the first wave of collectibles for The Hobbit: An Unexpectd Journey. Weta released 19 items today with several of them being in-stock so that collectors can start the path to a hoard of their own Dragon’s gold. A few of the things you can order right now are: Art Of The Hobbit (Special Edition) Bilbo Baggins statue, Gandalf The Grey statue (change out hat), Thorin Oakenshield statue, two versions of Thorin’s Map, The Hobbit Art Print, The Key To Erebor and more. Some of these items will go fast so make sure you jump on them now before they vanish! Full List of items released today and pictures after the break:
THEONERING.net CONTEST: Thanks to our great friends at Weta Workshop, we’ll be giving away two separate items to two lucky fans of Middle-Earth: The Key to Erebor and Thorin’s Map Parchment Art Print. Starting today through next Saturday, October 8th, we’ll be taking entries sent to Elessar@theonering.net with the subject line Key to Erebor Contest for the Key, and Thorin’s Map Contest if you would like to win the map. Please send separate emails for each contest. One entry per contest per person please. In the body of your email, please tell us your name, email contact and shipping information. The contest is open to fans of all ages worldwide. The winner will be chosen at random – one winner per item. Good luck!
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop releases 19 Hobbit collectibles. TORn offers contest to win a few!”
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 – September 30, 2012”
The Tolkien Society has unveiled a lovely new ‘blue plaque,’ (a.k.a. historical marker), at 2 Darnley Road, West Park, Leeds, commemorating the time J.R.R. Tolkien lived there. Tolkien became Reader in English language at the University of Leeds and went on to be Professor of the English Language at the university. In 1924 Tolkien bought the semi-detached property on Darnley Road and the family lived there for over a year before Tolkien’s election to the Rawlinson and Bosworth chair of Anglo-Saxon saw them return to Oxford in 1926.
Dr. Kersten Hall, graduate of St. Anne’s College, Oxford and Visiting Fellow to the Faculty of Arts at the University of Leeds, unveiled the plaque on the 1st of October 2012 at 11:30 a.m. local time.
Watchful visitors to the U.K. are sure to have seen a similar plaque on the house at 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford, where Tolkien lived and wrote LOTR during his tenure. There is a featured shot of this plaque in the documentary film, RINGERS: Lord of the Fans, which was co-produced by TheOneRing.net.
Talented actor Sylvester McCoy is, of course, playing the wizard Radaghast in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies. Apparently, there is no lack of Sylvester McCoys out in the ethernet, so he recently declared himself the ‘real McCoy.’ This grin-inspiring comic is a play on that. Enjoy! Read more…
Our friends at Total Film have interviewed Benedict Cumberbatch regarding doing motion capture for his role as Smaug in the Hobbit movies. From the interview: ““It’s very freeing, once you put the suit on and the sensors. I’ve never felt less encumbered, actually. And you have to be. You have to be free.” Just how does one move like a dragon? There certainly aren’t many real life examples one can observe. (Here’s putting in an early vote for a Benedict/Smaug mocap extra on the DVD set). Benedict also revealed to Total Film that: “I think my eye will open at the end of the first film, and then you’ll get the rest of me in the second.” Read more…
Jerry Vanderstelt is known by many fans of The Lord of the Rings for creating beautiful works of art capturing some of the coolest moments in the trilogy. Soonl, fans around the world will get a chance to start capturing his amazing art work for the trilogy of films for The Hobbit. That’s right! Jerry will be creating art for the trilogy starting with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey this December. If you want to see more on Jerry’s work and get to know more about him you can check out his official site and his official Facebook page.
Jerry also has a statement he wanted to pass on to fans of Middle-Earth:
“Hello fellow Middle Earth fans, Jerry VanderStelt here. As some of you know, I am a Licensed artist with New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers studios in the creation of the Lord of the Rings art reproductions. Now, I have expanded my fine art program to include The Hobbit!
My first Hobbit art piece is a montage that encapsulates key moments, characters and locations seen in the first film. After that, I plan to continue exploring new pieces that focus on either beautiful landscape scenery, character-centric pieces, or specific characters or groups of characters in various environments.
I hope to have my first Hobbit piece out of the gate by the Dec.14 in time for the film’s release. Soon, I’ll be announcing the pricing and sizing as well as the different edition options I plan to offer here in this thread. Feel free to ask any questions that may come up as we go along!”
