radLate last night our friends at Weta Workshop sent out a special email with information regarding the details on the final new collectible from Comic-Con 2013. The last of the characters fans will be able to get their hands on is the loveable Wizard himself Radagast the Brown. Radagast was sculpted by the amazing Steven Saunders who has already turned out multiple winners from both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The Wizard comes in with a price of $275 and an edition size of only 1,000 pieces worldwide, with expected shipping in February 2014. Having seen this in person at Comic-Con this past July I really think fans are going to love having this in their collections. Its a superb looking statue.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Radagast the Brown Pre-Order Information”

Bilbo and Smaug A new day, a new TV spot for The Desolation of Smaug. This one features some previously unseen footage of Bilbo making his way down into the depths of Erebor towards the lair of Smaug. Appropriately, Warner Bros. have titled it Dragon.

Movie spoilers, of course!

Thanks to Ringers Xpayne, Sander and Huan for the heads-up. Continue reading “The Desolation of Smaug TV Spot #9 “Dragon” is here!”

Richard Armitage from ONTD photoshootAs readers will know from this post last week, Richard Armitage recently took the time to chat with TORn staffer greendragon. As ever, Armitage was gracious and erudite. His respect for his fans is evident, and he seems always ready to acknowledge their support, and share some time with them if possible.

The interview covered the topic of getting ready for the upcoming release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and whether there might be even MORE pick ups next year in New Zealand. Also discussed at length was Armitage’s theatre training, and his approaches to the craft of acting. His first love, it seems, is classical theatre; and fans can expect to see him back treading the boards sometime in the not too distant future. Here are the highlights of what he had to say.

Continue reading “Shakespeare, performance capture and getting back on stage – Richard Armitage talks to TheOneRing.net”

Desolation of Smaug standard edition soundtrack Six notes transform Howard Shore’s Desolation of Smaug soundtrack from adequate to awesome. That might sound a big call, but they could just form the tensest, eeriest leitmotif that you’ll hear this year.

A lot of folks noted (or if you prefer, complained about) the lack of new motifs in An Unexpected Journey. “Give us a hook, just something new to whistle!”, the people seemed to cry. Continue reading “First review: Howard Shore’s soundtrack for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”

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thdos-trailer01-052 This evening saw the release of the latest TV Spot for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug! Tonight we get a spot focused primarily on the Elven warrior Tauriel, though we also get a couple new shots of our main characters as well (keep an eye out especially for the shot right at the end!).

Having a character devoted TV Spot reminds me of the original ads for The Fellowship of the Ring (there were ones focused on Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn & Arwen). I very much hope that we see this trend continue in the coming weeks. Continue reading “The Desolation of Smaug TV Spot #8 is here!”