Last night was indeed a night of special magnificence here in Calgary! Calgary EXPO threw the event ‘Middle-earth EXPOsed’ – and what an extraordinary event it was. Sir Richard Taylor turned one lucky fan into an orc, applying his make-up on stage whilst the rest of the event took place. Host Mark Ferguson (Gil-galad) led conversations with actors Billy Boyd, Sean Astin, Craig Parker, Jed Brophy, Sadwyn Brophy (Eldarion), Dean O’Gorman, Mark Hadlow and Manu Bennett; special video messages came from Sir Peter Jackson and Richard Armitage; swordmaster Steven McMichael appeared on stage to fight with the gathered cast; songs were sung, hilarious improv acted out, and the audience were treated to two and a half hours of entertainment and laughter.
The fun continues in Calgary today and tomorrow! Don’t forget to stop by booth 2007 to say hi to the folks from TheOneRing.net, or to buy one of our con exclusive shirts. Staffer deej hosts a panel today in the Boyce Theatre, at 11.45, with Billy Boyd and Sean Astin; greendragon hosts panels on Sunday at 12noon and 2pm, with Sean Astin and later with the Hobbit cast members. Hope to see you there!
Recovered from HobbitCon and/or WonderCon yet? Ready to do it all again? We’re about to get the party started here in Calgary, where the Calgary EXPO takes place this weekend!
The exhibition floor is open Thursday 4-8pm, Friday 12noon-8pm, Saturday 10am-7pm, and Sunday 10am-5pm. TheOneRing.net will be at Booth 2007 (which is in Halls DE); we’re just a few booths down from our good friends at WETA, who will be at Booth 2000. Come by and play trivia, meet some TORn staff, buy a tshirt or a button, and support the website! Our EXCLUSIVE shirt for this convention is ‘Keep Calm and Read Tolkien’. Movie titles may be changing all around us, but Tolkien remains constant, and a refuge from the storm of Real Life!
Those of you who were in Bonn, Germany for HobbitCon 2 already know what a spectacular weekend it was. Those of you who didn’t attend (a much bigger group) may be wondering what all the fuss is about. Well, TheOneRing.net staff who did attend and lecture and photograph, will have a roundup and collection of photos soon. But we wanted to say right away, to both fellow fans, friends and founders of the Con: Thanks! It was a special event and we are honored to have participated and look forward to next year’s event! Guests included Richard Taylor, Royd Tolkien, Adam Brown, Graham McTavish, Jed Brophy, John Callen, Ken Stott, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter and William Kircher.
Today, our favorite master of motion capture performance – Andy Serkis – turns 50!
Born on April 20, 1964, Mr. Serkis has long held a special place in all our hearts. The extraordinarily talented actor was originally brought in to supply the voice of Gollum in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, Andy became a much more integral part of Gollum’s creation than he could probably have ever imagined. Re-imagined through the use of motion capture technology, Gollum became much more than a digital creation. Those of us who sat in theaters on December 18, 2002, witnessed the birth of a new form of performance. What we saw was Andy, transformed into Tolkien’s iconic character. Continue reading “Happy Birthday to Andy Serkis!”
And so is TORn. Wondercon runs all three days of the Easter weekend here in Anaheim, California, just across the street from Disneyland. In fact, everyone outside was treated to Disneyland’s nightly fireworks celebration, Gandalf would have been proud. If you are coming to Anaheim this weekend for Wondercon, please remember to stop by our booth #1504, we nearly sold out of today’s supply of our Exclusive WonderCon Dragon shirt. More are coming on Saturday, don’t miss out, these shirts will never be sold anywhere else.
There have been some very last minute surprise guests announced from the big studios, three of which are of much interest to TheOneRing.net.
Sean Bean was the first announced a few days ago to promote his new show “Legends” coming to TNT for a 10 episode run this summer. The panel will be at 2:30pm in room 300DE where they will show clips and have a Q&A with cast and creative team members. This looks like a really good spy-thriller series, so if you are attending Wondercon on Saturday, make sure to stop by. There is no indication if there will be a signing anywhere, but we will tweet @theoneringnet if that news becomes available.
Twentieth Century Fox just announced that “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” will be featured in their panel in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena on Saturday at 12:45pm. Andy Serkis will be a part of that presentation, followed directly afterwards with an Autograph signing session at the Boom! Studios booth #319. You have to buy the limited-edition Wondercon exclusive “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” print illustrated by Garry Brown. The autograph session begins at 2:30pm, but since this will be a ticketed event, stop by the booth in the morning.
And finally the Warner Brothers presentation, also in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena starting at 11am, will feature Richard Armitage as part of the cast presenting “Into the Storm” Not sure if he will drop in any references to “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” or not, but it would not be surprising if someone asked him a question about it. This looks like one heck of a natural disaster flick, should be a good panel. There is no indication if any of the films in the Warner Brothers track will be doing autographs, so again, watch our twitter feed at @theoneringnet.
And finally, at the end of the day at 5:30pm, TheOneRing.net will be hosting a panel of our own in room 300DE to talk about all things The Hobbit and Tolkien. This is the same room hosting Sean Bean’s presentation on “Legends”, and our own panel is sandwiched between the TV Guide’s Showrunners panel and the TV Writers Room panel, arrive early to guarantee you get a seat. We will try to post about the other panels mentioned here, but as you can see from the timing, it might be a wrap up post at the end of the night, since all of these run one right after the other. Please do remember to come visit us at our booth #1504 and get your WonderCon Dragon shirt, the Free Bard shirt of the TORn Book club shirt, along with a Tauriel poster. We do have a few random bits of swag tucked away too, just to make things fun, especially for families (Hobbit activity books for the kids).
On Sunday, Sarumann will be hosting a special episode of the TORn Book Club from our booth, and then taking it out onto the exhibit hall floor. Barring any technical glitches, this will be taking place on Sunday at Noon, Pacific Time. It may be loud, mad and chaotic, but for those of you who have stuck through our SDCC live feeds already understands that. Hope to see many of you at the booth over the next two days, even if it’s just to drop by to say hello.
BONN — HobbitCon 2, in Bonn, Germany is just hours away from starting with a hotel packed full of special guests, lecturers, and fans from around the world.
The Maritim Hotel in Bonn hosts the entire event, which takes over the whole property for the weekend. A full slate of lectures and presentations are scheduled starting just a few hours from now. All of the 13 dwarves from The Hobbit movies are present save Richard Armitage, who is at WonderCon, James Nesbitt who was scheduled but had to cancel and Aiden Turner. That means Adam Brown, Jed Brophy, John Callen, Ken Stott, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, Dean O’Gorman, Graham McTavish and William Kircher are all involved. (That means three trolls are here as well!) The gentlemen were present and were rumored to have been observed hanging around the hotel last night talking together and to each other. Reportedly, 26 countries are represented at the event.
The first HobbitConRichard Taylor and Royd Tolkien were also in the house as was Mark Atkin — Thorin Oakenshiled in scale size. TheOneRing.net has three panels scheduled for the weekend, including one tomorrow evening, speculating on the third film in Peter Jackson’s adaptation. With the entire event scheduled in one place, it gives the whole affair a remarkable, intimate feeling that is a little challenging to explain. Its one of those things where you have to be there.
In fact, European fans can still make that happen, buying tickets by walking up to the hotel. Details can be found RIGHT HERE. TORn would love to see you in person around the hotel and at the first panel at 5 p.m.!
Last night was indeed a night of special magnificence here in Calgary! Calgary EXPO threw the event ‘Middle-earth EXPOsed’ – and what an extraordinary event it was. Sir Richard Taylor turned one lucky fan into an orc, applying his make-up on stage whilst the rest of the event took place. Host Mark Ferguson (Gil-galad) led conversations with actors Billy Boyd, Sean Astin, Craig Parker, Jed Brophy, Sadwyn Brophy (Eldarion), Dean O’Gorman, Mark Hadlow and Manu Bennett; special video messages came from Sir Peter Jackson and Richard Armitage; swordmaster Steven McMichael appeared on stage to fight with the gathered cast; songs were sung, hilarious improv acted out, and the audience were treated to two and a half hours of entertainment and laughter.
