HAPPY EASTER and welcome to WonderCon! Join us today as we bring amazing Hobbity goodness to all the attendees waiting for a real insider’s scoop! Today, March 31st, join TORn Staffers Garfeimao and Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway at WonderCon in Anaheim, California, for our special panel presentation at 12:00pm PDT in Room 207. The panel is titled TheOneRing.net’s Unauthorized Sneak Peek: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. This will be a wildly fun discussion regarding all things Hobbit… with special insights from those who have been on the New Zealand sets!
WonderCon is one of three conventions hosted by Comic Con International, the others being APE (Alternative Press Expo) and San Diego Comic-Con. Wondercon follows the same general format as San Diego Comic Con, but on a much smaller size, making it easier to attend the panels you wish and still have time to shop. It is returning to the Anahim Convention Center for the second year while the Moscone Center in San Francisco is getting a major renovation. If you have had problems getting into San Diego Comic Con the last few years, this is a really great alternative. See you all on Sunday.
We’ve reached the Elite 8 line-up for Middle-earth March Madness 2013! 68,000 votes were cast in our last round which eliminated some big names in Middle-earth: Sauron, Gollum, Gwaihir, Beorn, Pippin and more! Our list of eight remaining combatants contain three members of the white council, two unlikely romantics, an inanimate object, and two of the main characters from The Hobbit.
Here are your Elite Eight Match-ups…
The Shire Division
So after all is said and done in The Shire, the battle comes down to (1) Galadriel vs. (6) Luthien. While Galadriel may be the more popularly known character, Luthien will give her a run for her money. This is a match-up of some of Middle-earth’s most powerful female characters!
The Erebor Division
Luthien’s lover (4) Beren, a mortal man, has his hands full facing battle-tested (6) Elrond. Elrond is hot off a significant victory over another star-crossed elf lover, Aragorn. But can Beren pull out the victory to give us one of the most memorable semi-finals of all time?!?
The Mordor Division
That gold hungry worm, (1) Smaug, managed to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron and will now face the flawed stubbornness of (3) Thorin Oakenshield. As this played out in ‘The Hobbit,’ Smaug handled the dwarves with ease, but will it happen again?!
The Angmar Division
As this reporter predicted, the number one seed (1) The One Ring has made it to the divisional final with a resounding victory. This inanimate object however has its hands full (wait, it has no hands…) as it faces off against one of Middle-earth’s most popular characters, (2) Gandalf the Grey. In this round we’ll finally see just who would conquer whom in this epic battle.
Voting starts right now and will run until April 1 at 10pm ET.
On today’s very exciting *live* webcast TORn TUESDAY at 5:00pm PDT — all Ringer fandom had their eyes on THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG live preview from this weekend — but if you missed it or saw only part of it, we are going to carefully review and analyze every little nook and cranny of it today! Peter Jackson and Jed Brophy have certainly given us much to talk about! What was that stuff on the walls of Thranduil’s underground kingdom while Bilbo was pushing some sort of barrel-releasing lever? What was that place Radagast and Gandalf were investigating? Why does Bard the Bowman look like a new-fangled Errol Flynn ready to swash a buckle at a moment’s notice? Join your host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and co-host Justin “I Love Jar-Jar” Sewell on the Live Event page here, which will provide the video playback of our show, broadcast from the heart of Hollywood at Meltdown Comics, and will also let you access our wonderful Barliman’s Chatroom! There you can join hundreds of fans from around the world and bring your questions and comments to the live show! It all starts in about 10 minutes! Huzzah!
The Round of 32 is over and we have the Sweet Sixteen line-up for Middle-earth March Madness 2013! 22,000 votes were cast, and if you expected this year’s competition to progress based solely on ‘film’ character popularity, you are mistaken! Many non-film characters have made their way into the final 16 combatants!
Here are your Round 3 Match-ups…
The Shire Division
Looks like we have a high chance the winner out of The Shire Division will be an elf! The Lady of the Light, and number one seed, (1) Galadriel has a match-up of mind-blowing proportions as she faces the definitive antagonist of Arda, (4) Morgoth. Helped a bit by his prevalence in Peter Jackson’s Desolation of Smaug tease, (7) Thranduil now has a significant challenge as he faces J.R.R. Tolkien’s favored elf princess (6) Luthien.
The Erebor Division
The Cinderella story continues as (16) Pippin has made it past Dwarven favorite Fili. But will that journey come to a dramatic end as he faces fourth seed (4) Beren? But far more interesting is the match-up between (6) Elrond and (7) Aragorn. The soon to be King Elessar better not underestimate the Lord of Rivendell.
The Mordor Division
The two baddies from Tolkien’s most popular works (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings respectively) will face off in Round 3! (1) Smaug the Magnificent hopes to defeat the all seeing eye of (4) Sauron! (Someone make up a cool graphic for this one and we’ll post it on FB) In the other match-up, two popular characters from The Hobbit butt heads as (3) Thorin Oakenshield, most likely helped by his RA army, will face everyone’s favorite mysterious shape-shifter, (2) Beorn.
The Angmar Division
Could this division be any more exciting? (1) The One Ring has made it past Frodo Baggins, but will it defeat the King of Arda (12) Manwe, in hopes to have a potential re-match with (3) Gollum?! Gollum shouldn’t count those eggses before they hatch though. He needs to make it by (2) Gandalf the Grey. Will Gandalf’s sympathy for the wretched creature be his downfall? We shall see!
Voting starts right now and will run until March 28th at 10pm ET.
Rather comic version of Smaug on a computer screen (psych)
the T-Rex with wings look a bit like Pete’s Dragon
Rivendell library is rather cool looking, even if never used
Jed loves Goldfinger
And then we enter the Editing room with Jabez Olssen
One Million years B.C was the poster over PJ’s bed as a kid
Now to see editing happening
Bard is taking the Dwarves and their barrels across the river, in a boat.
Bilbo – I should never come along, we have a saying in the Shire “never venture east”.
He seems rather miserable
“I should never have left Bagend. We have a saying in the Shire, we learn it from birth, Never Venture East.”
Peter and Jed agree that Aidan is one of the Hot Dwarves (Lisa)
Jed looks very waterlogged
We get the final cut – and it’s Bard saying “So Master Hobbit, why did you venture East?”
Yeah Luke, sends a little message to say hello to the fans. The One Ringer, that’s us!
Jed teases that Bard is out of the film but Peter says that Bard is one of the cool things about the next film
Here come the video questions.
Chris asks about problems with a middle film?
PJ answers – middle films are complicated, but with multiple story lines different character arcs and plot lines take over.
Thranduil on his throne, awesome.
elf troop, with Legolas and Tauriel, fighting orcs
Laketown and the Master looking smarmy, and his manservant looks a bit like Grima.
Stephen Fry says he’s taking over from Orlando as the most desirable man in the films
Stephen sends a video, and mentions that England is decimating NZ in Cricket
Chinese girls ask questions about Legolas and Orlando and why he was cast and whether or not he’s similar to his Elf
Orlando sends a video to ask PJ a question – he wants to know what image he is most excited to see onscreen.
PJ says fans are most excited to see Smaug and Bilbo together and so is he.
Stephen’s video has been running in the background because he’s so wordy, but he says he has no idea if he’s in the last film
Marina in Canada – asks about new characters
PJ answers – Thranduil, Bard (part of the family now), They’ve made Bard like Robin Hood, is he good or bad. And of course, Tauriel is new, a new creation. Yay for her costume, finally getting to really see it.
Tauriel wears a leather
Brazilian kids asking questions, call it LOTR and pronounce it as a word
The kids ask about PJ’s favorite weapons, theirs is Gimli’s and Gloin’s axe.
PJ loves Theoden’s sword, with the horse motifs.
And back to London and Stephen Fry’s video still running 😉
PJ was punishing Stephen about his comments about the NZ Cricket team
Twitter question about how difficult it is to stay on track or schedule
They mention the Flood in Nelson as one thing that messed up shooting
Surprise question with from Stephen Colbert – asks about the Sindar Elves and the Avari elves? PJ says yes about the Elves
So PJ rags on Stephen Colbert about two different sizes of mugs on his show, and how the quality of the printing on the mugs is poor quality
Twitter question – does he edit barefoot? Yes, he can be barefoot.
Lee Pace, woohoo, looking rather fab, as usual. Lee is looking forward to seeing the animosity of Dwarves and Elves in his own halls.
Twitter question – would Jed like to inflict any dwarf torture on PJ?
Jed says maybe, but has to say no because he wants to continue to work with him.
Great story about the Dwarves on the spit, and how Mark Hadlow got sick and asked to take a break and no one heard him. Poor thing
Billy Boyd sends a video question – In FOTR, they went as far as the Misty Mountains, but he knows in The Hobbit they go further East. Billy wants to know about any new Wildlands.
PJ answers about Mirkwood, and shows artwork the darkness and foreboding nature of Mirkwood. Misty and mirky and hard to walk through, to be sure.
Evangeline sends a question – What will Thranduil’s realm be like?
PJ mentions that Green Screens is why she does not know what the realm looks like. The artwork shows a bridge over a raging river to a structure like Rivendell, but inside the forest. The realm looks like Rivendell and Lorien mixed together, but underground.
Dom Monaghan asks a question, he is holding the camera himself.
What is the best PJ rumor you’ve heard that is not true?
What are you happiest about in transferring book to film?
PJ answers about the craziest rumor – people asked him if he was going to move his family to a ship off the coast to avoid paying Taxes. He gets too seasick to do that.
Twitter question – will the Necromancer play a bigger part, and PJ says yes and nothing else.
Here comes a look at the movie, but the Trailer is not ready yet.
PJ says that Gandalf goes to see the tombs of the Witch-king
Gandalf in a cavern, showing a dark doorway that appears to be blown open from within. He then goes inside, and sees a bird flies out of broken stonework, and then sees Radagast. The Nine tombs were broken open from the inside.
The vlogs will be starting up again, even though this is very much like one.
Sequence of action from throughout the film concluding with ‘We are the Dwarves of Erebor, we have come to reclaim our homeland’
Ran for about 55 minutes
Remember, if you missed the Peter Jackson hosted first look at “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” or just want to watch it over again, a modified version will be archived on the Trilogy’s official website www.thehobbit.com/sneak. To access the footage, use your UltraViolet code on your copy “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack or 2-Disc Special Edition DVD.
Also, be sure to stay tuned to TheOneRing.net for a detailed analysis. Coming soon!
Middle-earth March Madness moves to the round of 32 with a bit of controversy and surprise. With some victories settled by a single vote (Beorn vs. Faramir) and others knocking out favorites, the competition is really heating up!
Here are some Round 2 Highlights…
The Shire Division
(8) Huan had a major push against his first round opponent, but can he keep up the momentum against fan favorite and number one seeded (1) Galadriel? Can the most powerful of the Ainur (4) Morgoth take out the eldest ent (5) Treebeard? The story of (6) Luthien, considered by many to be one of the greatest told in Middle-earth, is profound and impactful, but can she overcome the recent Billion dollar box-office success of (3) Bilbo Baggins? And finally, can the elvenking of Mirkwood (7) Thranduil take out the head of the White Council (2) Saruman?
The Erebor Division
There are some very interesting match-ups in Erebor this round. Cinderella seed (16) Pippin takes on recent dwarven heart-throb (9) Fili. Last year’s champ (12) Sam is up against (4) Beren in what will most likely come down to a battle of familiarity with the stories of Middle-earth. (6) Elrond faces off against (14) Eowyn, one who continues to long to win renown in battle. Can she make this her next big victory!? And finally in a battle man vs. beast, (7) Aragorn faces off against the windlord (2) Gwaihir.
The Mordor Division
The Mordor division has some very powerful characters with some very intriguing competitions. (9) Gil-galad, the high kind of Noldor, has his hands full with the number one seed (1) Smaug. The Dark Lord (4) Sauron faces off against a worthy dwarven opponent (5) Dain Ironfoot. (11) Fingolfin could take on the likes of Morgoth, but can he handle the stout and stubborn (3) Thorin Oakenshield? Hot of this shape-shifter’s victory by a single vote, can (2) Beorn continue past her magnificence (7) Shelob?
The Angmar Division
The Angmare division looks like it has the most interesting match-up of Round 2. In a rematch of sorts, (1) The One Ring goes up against (8) Frodo Baggins. It can be said that The One Ring won out last time, but will Frodo accomplish the task this time?? The Eldar King (12) Manwe, an Ainur, faces off against a simple man, (4) Bard. Can Bard overccome insurmountable odds to win this match? Will the quickness and general sneakiness of (3) Gollum lead him past imposing dwarf (6) Dwalin? And last but not least, will (10) Merry finally get back at (2) Gandalf for making him wash all those dishes!
Voting starts right now and will run until March 25th at 10pm ET.
HAPPY EASTER and welcome to WonderCon! Join us today as we bring amazing Hobbity goodness to all the attendees waiting for a real insider’s scoop! Today, March 31st, join TORn Staffers Garfeimao and Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway at WonderCon in Anaheim, California, for our special panel presentation at 12:00pm PDT in Room 207. The panel is titled TheOneRing.net’s Unauthorized Sneak Peek: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. This will be a wildly fun discussion regarding all things Hobbit… with special insights from those who have been on the New Zealand sets!
Middle-earth March Madness moves to the round of 32 with a bit of controversy and surprise. With some victories settled by a single vote (Beorn vs. Faramir) and others knocking out favorites, the competition is really heating up!