From the folks at inretrospectpodcast.com: Strider continues his epic journey through the varying layers of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, examining the journey from book to game, this time focusing on The Two Towers. What connects a certain Scottish play to Fangorn Forest?

In part two Strider’s journey takes him from Fangorn Forest to the plains of Rohan and beyondexploring how the books, films, games and real life locations portray this expansive environment.

Watch Part 1 here.

Ian McKellen blogs that Martin Freeman, who stars as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, has gone on hiatus in order to fulfill his previous commitment to shoot three more Sherlock telefilms. (Freeman, in case you didn’t know, plays Dr. Watson in the show.) He’ll return to the Hobbit production upon completion of Sherlock.

“The rest of the cast remains on duty for another few weeks, working on hobbit-less sections of the film. These involve dwarves of course but also elves, with Hugo Weaving back for a stretch as Lord Elrond,” wrote McKellen. More..

It’s been more than a month since Sir Ian McKellen posted an entry on his blog “Notes From Imladris” dedicated to his adventures filming The Hobbit. But the wait seems to have been worth it.

His latest blog entry “THE HOBBIT, 2 Elves, and another Wizard” is replete with a picture of Hugo Weaving, who’ll be returning as Lord Elrond, a screencap from ROTK of Bret McKenzie as the Elf Lindir, and a picture of  Sylvester McCoy who’s been cast in the role of Radagast the Brown.

Threads of interest follow:

  • Martin Freeman has left The Hobbit. No worries: he’ll be back in Middle Earth after our first hiatus… The rest of the cast remains on duty for another few weeks, working on hobbit-less sections of the film.  These involve dwarves of course but also elves, with Hugo Weaving back for a stretch as Lord Elrond.
  • Another slim-line elf returning from LOTR, is a local: New Zealand’s actor/comedian/singer Bret McKenzie. Now he is briefly back in Rivendell as a senior official at Elrond’s Court and he has a name “Lindir”, which means “singer”.
  • And there’s another wizard in town, preparing to make his appearance as Radagast the Brown, the eccentric friend of Gandalf’s, played by Sylvester McCoy. This week he has been trying out his make-up and costume.

The blog post makes for an amazing read, so be sure to click that link above and read the Grey Wizard’s notes in his own hand.

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 – May 8 2011”

The BBC America Blog has an interesting interview with Orlando Bloom where his words seem to imply he’s going to be a part of The Hobbit (as, of course, the Elf Legolas).

Here’s one of the statements he makes:

I can’t really discuss it too much at this point, but I’m very excited at the prospect of being a part of it again. I think it will be wonderful to get back there.

Read the rest of the interview for Orlando’s thoughts on Peter Jackson as a director, and the themes of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

What do you think? Is Orlando Bloom pretty much going to be in these movies at this point? Follow the “Discuss” link to share your thoughts with fellow fans on our message boards.

On this episode of Hobbit in 5 we talk about Saoirse Ronan not taking part in The Hobbit, Hugo Weaving’s return, do a character study on Kili, and more!

May 6th, 2011 – Episode 16

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