Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield
Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield
LOS ANGELES – TheOneRing.net will sit down (and stand up) with stars of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” tomorrow and since we are representing fans, it seemed only appropriate to let fans submit some questions.

Interviews will play later in the week via video but we need your questions right away, in the next 12 hours.

So, in the comment section at the end of this story, its your chance to submit a question. We will take the best one for each of the actors we interview and ask!

Please specify below which of these actors your question is for, in no particular order:

Aidan Turner
Dean O’Gorman
Dan Hennah (Academy Award nominee for ‘Hobbit’ production designer)
Martin Freeman
Richard Armitage
Evangeline Lilly
Luke Evans
Benedict Cumberbatch

Unexpected PartyIn expanding on Professor Tolkien’s text in his film adaptation, director Peter Jackson allows us to follow Gandalf the Grey into areas that remain secret to us within the text of The Hobbit. As we look forward seeing these events unfold before our eyes next month, this essay by Tedoras examines Gandalf’s journey into the dark fortress of Dol Guldur, what he found there, and the impact that this event had on the fate of Middle-earth. Continue reading “On the Finding of Thror’s Map and the Key to the Lonely Mountain”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

desolation of smaug posterThe British Board of Film Classification has given The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug a 12A rating and revealed a running time of 2 hours and 41 minutes. This is in line with Philippa Boyens’ assertion, after the release of An Unexpected Journey, that the next film would run shorter than the first installment.

Continue reading “BBFC announces 12A rating and 161 minute runtime for The Desolation of Smaug”

Lake-Town_TORn

Its always nice to hear from Weta Workshop, but its especially nice when they drop something beautiful in our mailbox. This time it is concept art work from “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Chronicles: Art & Design,” book. Written by Daniel Falconer, this is likely to be an amazing book. TORn got its first look at a similar book by Falconer for the previous movie and it turned out to be as stunning as we imagined it might be. Those who have had occasion to meet the author, who does extensive design work for Weta, know that he is gracious and smart and passionate about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Click for much larger version
Click for larger version
While the masses in the U.S. are out shopping, you can order one of these now and during the pre-order phase, your book gets signed by the concept artists and comes with a “Dragon’s Gold” for Weta discounts and prizes. As you can see above, the image we received is of Lake-Town, from the desks of Alan Lee (who writes the book’s introduction) and John Howe. And please click for the larger version, it is definitely worth

They also included some previously released Elf concept art which you can see below. You can order the book RIGHT HERE. Expect this art to pop up in other places soon and more will be released as Weta and HarperCollins see fit, but for Hobbit fans, this may be among the very best of seasonal gifts.

Elven_TORn

Fiveish DoctorsThis video will most definitely appeal to those of you who are big
Doctor Who fans, but I’d wager the rest of you will find this immensely entertaining as well.

The short film – titled The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot – was shot to coincide with the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special – The Day of the Doctor. It involves former “Doctors” Peter Davison, Colin Baker,
and Sylvester McCoy doing anything and everything Continue reading “Sylvester McCoy appears in ‘Doctor Who’ Short Film, with Peter Jackson and Ian McKellen cameos”