Tolkien fans in Southern California will have an embarrassment of events to attend to share their love of all things Tolkien. From conventions and film screenings to enjoying the source material, here is a little rundown of events to attend and enjoy in the month of March.
First up is a Literary based Science Fiction convention in San Diego called Condor, taking place this weekend. TheOneRing.net will be hosting several discussions on Saturday and Sunday about The Hobbit, TheOneRing.net and Middle-earth. This weekend will be full of lots of interactive programming, so come on down and join in the fun.
On the following weekend, the American Cinematheque will be hosting a screening of The Hobbit and the LOTR Trilogy in a full day and night Middle-earth Marathon. This will be on Saturday, March 16 at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. TheOneRing.net will be there to talk Tolkien, run trivia contests and play a game or two. And to help some lucky Tolkien fan to OD on Middle-earth, we have a pair of tickets to give away. Go to our Event Page on Facebook, RSVP to attend the screening and leave a message stating how you plan to survive the 15 hours or so that this marathon will take, and we’ll randomly award a pair of tickets to one lucky person. Hurry, this contest will close on Saturday at Midnight.
Just a week later, on March 23, Tolkien Forever will be hosting their annual Tolkien Reading Day event. This event is typically held on March 25, the Middle-earth New Year after the Destruction of the Ring. But March 25 is a Monday, so the event in Los Angeles was moved to the Saturday before, and is going to be at what looks to be a wicked cool used bookstore in Downtown LA called The Last Bookstore. Selections of Tolkien’s wide range of works will be read to any and all who show up, spreading the love for his written word. Visit the Facebook Event Page to see more details.
The final event for So Cal Tolkien fans to attend and enjoy will be Wondercon in Anaheim at the end of the month. This convention is typically held in San Francisco, but moved to Anaheim last year and this year because Moscone Center in San Fran has been undergoing renovations. Wondercon is a spin off from San Diego Comic Con and is run in a similar manner, but on a much smaller scale, making it more accessible for fans to enjoy all that the con has to offer. TheOneRing.net will have a panel at Wondercon, but the schedule is still pending, we will announce when and where you can find as soon as we know.
And there you have it, 4 weekends of Tolkien fandom, fun and friendship. What more could wee little Hobbits hope for?
He’s a little guy with a HUGE resume: actor and stunt double Kiran Shah has starred in every one of the biggest fantasy / science-fiction films you can remember for the past 30 years! Ringer fans know him as the scale double for all 5 Hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Bilbo) in the LOTR Trilogy, and he currently appears in THE HOBBIT: AUJ as scale double for Bilbo and also the memorable Goblin Scribe in the basket, capping off a terrific career working with Peter Jackson in Middle-earth. Kiran joins host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway for an exclusive live chat on our innovative weekly webcast TORn TUESDAY! We talk with Kiran about his stunning list of film credits and the biggest names in Cinema Fantastique that he has worked with — James Cameron (ALIENS), Ridley Scott (LEGEND), Jim Henson (THE DARK CRYSTAL), Steven Spielberg & George Lucas (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and STAR WARS), and he shares wonderful memories of working on the NARNIA and LOTR films in New Zealand with Richard Taylor, P.J., et al. Come join the chat on our Live Event Page here at 5:00pm today Pacific Time! You can join the Barliman’s chat room and enjoy a unique show experience with your fellow fans! Follow Kiran Shah on Twitter @LittleKiranShah and your host Clifford @Quickbeam2000. See you on today’s show!
“Then at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-Dûr, Fortress of Sauron. All hope left him.”
—The Fellowship of the Ring
How do you follow-up one of the coolest environments you’ve ever produced? Well, you go ahead and produce one of the next most coolest environments of course! Shortly after Comic-Con 2011 senior model maker David Tremont began the momentous task of transforming the original model of Barad-Dûr for The Lord of the Rings into a collectible we could all own. Finally, after a year of slaving, fans of Middle-earth got to see the result at Comic-Con 2012 when Barad-Dûr was unveiled to the world.
Sauron began work on Barad-Dûr during Middle-earth’s Second Age, when he chose Mordor as the place his dominion over Middle-earth would begin. Barad-Dûr was finished in the year 1600 of the Second Age and during that period Sauron would go on to create The One Ring, which would only help to make the fortress even stronger. During the War of the Last Alliance fortress was destroyed with the exception of the foundations as they could not be destroyed as long as The Ring was around. In 2951 of the Third Age Barad-Dûr’s reconstruction was started, but it would not last when Gollum fell into the lava of Mt. Doom destroying the Ring and the fortress.
PACKAGING
The graphics on the front of the box for Barad-Dûr have kept virtually the same design we’ve seen with previous environments from Weta. On the front of the box a screencap of Mordor with an image of Barad-Dûr completes the scene. Of course, you also have the beautiful The Lord of the Rings logo in the upper right-hand corner with the name of the environment under the picture of Barad-Dûr. One side of the box contains images of Barad-Dûr while the other side features images of other Weta Workshop products. The back of the box contains a great picture of the environment along with a background story about the collectible.
SCULPTING
Over 1,500 hours were put into Barad-Dûr to ensure the collectible on your shelf matches what you saw during The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I believe fans, once they have a chance to see the detail in this piece, will agree all of those hours paid off in spades. David Tremont and his team made very sure every window, spike, tower, ledge, bridge, and rock is included on this piece. Gazing upon this collectible, you can almost imagine Sauron or any number of his minions looking out upon Mordor from any of the many ledges and balconies. It truly is a great representation of the model we saw on film. What’s even more amazing is because of the material used it allowed these details to be captured and safely arrive to our homes. Rivendell had its beautiful river running through it and Barad-Dûr has something similar with its lava river flowing from Mt. Doom into the cavern surrounding the fortress. Even the rock areas of Barad-Dûr are exceptionally realized with the plains of Gorgoth looking like a place you don’t ever want to visit. Like Rivendell, this collectible is an achievement for Weta in showing off the amazing talent of their artists.
PAINT
The paintwork on Barad-Dûr is fairly simple compared to say Rivendell, and much more in-line with that of Orthanc. It’s all black and the shading for the different levels in different places are all really well done. The color of the tower does not match the color of the rock within the piece. That was going to be the toughest part of the paint I think and they were able to create the proper level of separation. The lava looks really good and stands out like lava would with an all-black world of Mordor.
Overall
Barad-Dûr costs $700 but the level of detail you get and the size of this piece allows you to truly get value for money. This piece is a limited edition piece with only 1,000 of the fortress being produced. Barad-Dûr does not come with a flaming eye but if that is a potential issue for you all you have to do is download the iPhone or iPad app. Then you will have the eye of Sauron. Finally, I cannot implore you enough if you are a The Lord of the Rings collector to find a way to get this piece into your collection.
Also, if you’re truly interested in what it took to bring this collectible to life check out the three articles by David Tremont. In these articles he explains the ups and downs of making sure we got one of the best environments ever created.
Today marks the final contest in the ‘contest extravaganza’ brought to us by our friends at The Noble Collection. The final collectible giveaway is a sterling silver version of The One Ring from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The ring has been laser inscribed with the elvish writing that only fire can tell. The ring comes in a beautiful wooden box and sports a 20″ chain that will allow you to show it off as a proud fan of Middle-earth. You can grab this ring now from The Noble Collection for a stellar price of only $129, or you can enter the contest and try your luck. This final contest starts today and will run through December 28th at midnight PST.
It is widely known that the novel called The Hobbit is supposed to be the journal, or autobiography of Bilbo Baggins, and his recollections of his adventures with Gandalf and the Company of Dwarves. In the beginning of both The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo is seen writing his story. That book is then passed along to Frodo to include his grand adventure, The Lord of the Rings, and then finally given to Sam to finish. But where does this love of storytelling come from?
Again, in the FOTR in the chapter called “Concerning Hobbits” not only does Bilbo describe every little detail of just what is a Hobbit, but he mentions their love of genealogy, biographies, nature studies and maps. And while it is made clear Hobbits do not like going on Adventures, they are not opposed to listening to stories of adventure. Later on in FOTR, in Rivendell, there is a Hall of Fire, where songs are sung and stories told and thus, it becomes clear that Elves love storytelling as well. And finally, in The Hobbit during the Unexpected Party, the Dwarves sing their own songs tell some tales of their own history. It is clear that while Professor Tolkien is telling us a tale, to make each culture richer and seem more real, he is giving them individualized stories of their own within his greater story.
Tomorrow, December 8, many theaters in the U.S. and elsewhere will be hosting Lord of the Rings movie marathons: all three extended editions of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in one glorious day! If you don’t have your tickets, you can still get them in the U.S. at AMC, Cinemark and Regal cinemas. If you do have your tickets, you’re probably getting ready for the big day. Like you, some of our discussion board members are also going and have been sharing tips and tricks to prepare for, and survive, the big day. Read some of their recommendations below, and share one or two of your own here. (Thanks to member Chopsta123 for getting the ball rolling).
– some caffeine might help if you’re not used to staying up late, but too much caffeine might make you fidgety. (zarabia)
– bring something you can drape on your chair to ‘claim’ it during breaks but you won’t mind losing if some loser steals it. (Magpie)
– a set of earplugs or tissue to periodically stuff in your ears might be useful. You might say, “It would interfere with the experience” (which it does to some extent), but after years of being in control of the volume on the TV to watch them, it was like an assault on my eardrums when the orcs, wargs, and Nazgul showed up in the theatre again (Lissuin)
– plan something to do afterwards to help you process/unwind — like walking under the stars, if you can manage that. It’s like eating a very fine and heavy meal — you need time to digest it when you get up from the table! (weaver)
– be prepared for the theater to be cold. Many are. But layer so you can adapt if it gets too warm. (Magpie)
– bring outside food (of the healthier sort) if your theater allows it. (lyndomiel)
– get up, move around and stretch between films. (zarabia).
– don’t buy the jumbo drinks. Unless you have scenes in the movies that you don’t mind running to the bathroom for. (Magpie)
– don’t snore to loudly as it bothers the Elves! (Kangi Ska)
Tolkien fans in Southern California will have an embarrassment of events to attend to share their love of all things Tolkien. From conventions and film screenings to enjoying the source material, here is a little rundown of events to attend and enjoy in the month of March.
