SDCC Hobbit BOTFAPeter Jackson just dropped a fireball from his Facebook page. A movie poster for “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” Like it? He included a single line of text: “Anyone else excited about San Diego Comic Con?”

That is of course Bard staring down the killing machine of Smaug on the shores of Laketown. Editorializing just slightly: THAT IS AMAZING!

TheOneRing.net staff is in San Diego in force this year and will bring as much of the fun and excitement as possible via TORn, Twitter and Facebook. Enjoy!

smaug_bard_split_a_lSome of the coolest things you’ll see at Comic-Con are the Lego built characters either at their booth, other booths, and even outside of the convention center itself.

This year if you happen to make it to the Warner Bros. booth (#4545) you will get to see a Lego Smaug standing over six feet tall and weighing 411 pounds. Smaug took 625 hours to complete and includes 83,433 pieces. The folks at Lego also have some surprises for fans showing off new sets for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as well as an exclusive Bard figure. Continue reading “Lego Smaug coming to Comic-Con 2014”

 

On July 22nd, Warner Bros. will be reissuing remastered, deluxe editions of the Rankin/Bass animated classics ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Return of the King’.

 

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The Hobbit Deluxe Edition Synopsis: [Amazon.com]

The place is Middle Earth. The time is long ago, when humans shared their days with elves, wizards, goblins, dragons, heroes…and hobbits. Bilbo Baggins is a hero and a hobbit, a roundish, peaceable homebody going on a dangerous quest – even though adventures make hobbits late for dinner!

In this enchanting adaptation of the first installment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Bilbo the hobbit is asked to recover a fabulous treasure stolen from friendly dwarfs. All he must do is brave dark forests, towering mountains, hobbit-eating trolls, huge spiders, a fiery dragon and more. Fun and amazement await – so join the quest!

 

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Special Features:

  • J.R.R. Tolkien Facts & Trivia
  • Cast & Crew credits
  • From the Vault: 3 WB classic cartoons: ‘Knight-mare Hare’, ‘Knighty Knight Bugs’, and ‘Rabbit Hood’
  • Trailers: ‘Tom and Jerry & The Lost Dragon’, ‘LEGO: Legends of Chima’, ‘LEGO: Hobbit’, ‘Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy’

Format: Multiple Formats, Animated, Color, Full Screen, NTSC, Original recording remastered

Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Run Time: 78 minutes
[Buy on Amazon.com]

My Thoughts:  It’s been many years since I last saw this, and I had forgotten how much I loved the voice talent: Orson Bean as Bilbo, John Huston as Gandalf, Otto Preminger as a very German Thranduil/Elvenking, and (my favorite) 1960’s Surrealist comic Brother Theodore as Gollum.  Picture and sound are both superb.  A great soundtrack by Glen Yarbrough.

‘The greatest adventure is what lies ahead
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said
The chances the changes are all yours to make
The mold of your life is in your hands to break”

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The Return of the King Deluxe Edition Synopsis: [Amazon.com]

Frodo the Hobbit, the remarkable hero of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, battles more evil forces plaguing Middle Earth in The Return of the King.

The Magic Ring of The Hobbit has now become the Ring of Doom – and to restore peace it must be destroyed in the raging fires in which it was made. Chosen for the task, Frodo and faithful servant Samwise face grave perils – the worst of which is the ring’s terrible power to possess its wearer. Will Frodo give in to the madness of the ring….or will he fulfill his quest?

 

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Special Features:

  • J.R.R. Tolkien Facts & Trivia
  • Cast & Crew Credits
  • From the Vault: WB cartoon shorts ‘Good Knight Droppy’ and ‘Jerry Hood & His Merry Meeses’
  • Trailers: ‘LEGO: Hobbit’, ‘Tom and Jerry & the Lost Dragon’, ‘LEGO: Legends of Chima’, ‘Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy’

Format: Multiple Formats, Animated, Color, Full Screen, NTSC, Original recording remastered

Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Run Time: 98 minutes
[Buy on Amazon.com]

My Thoughts:  It’s a shame Rankin/Bass didn’t have the chance to do ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ and ‘The Two Towers’, as ‘The Return of the King’ doesn’t do a great job of filling in the story for those that may be unfamiliar with the first two books. The mispronunciations are a little annoying, too.  Still, the film is a lot of fun to watch; the Ringwraiths are fantastic, as is Eowyn’s confrontation with the Witch King of Angmar.  As with ‘The Hobbit’, the picture, sound, and voice talent are all top-notch.  Orson Bean, John Huston, Otto Preminger, and Brother Theodore reprise their roles; new additions include the great Roddy McDowell as Samwise Gamgee, and Casey Kasem as Merry.  Best of all,  ‘The Return of the King’ includes (in this writer’s humble opinion) one of the greatest Tolkien-inspired songs of all time:

“Where there’s a whip, there’s a way.
Where there’s a whip, there’s a way.
We don’t wanna go to war today,
But the lord of the lash says nay, nay, nay!
We’re gonna march all day, all day, all day,
Cause where there’s a whip, there’s a way.”

gandalf If you’re going to be at Comic-Con this year we have a couple of items you will want to add to your shopping list of exclusives. Our Comic-Con exclusive T-Shirt follows the War Effort we started last year with the our Tauriel poster.

This year Gandalf the Grey himself is asking you to join the Battle of the Five Armies! Gandalf is created by our friend and artist David Powell who as you know created Tauriel for us last year. You will be able to grab Gandalf on a T-Shirt as well as poster, and even be able to get both together for a special price. Continue reading “TheOneRing.net San Diego Comic-Con 2014 exclusive poster and t-shirt”

sdcc-logoIt only makes sense, with the last of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit Trilogy coming out this December, to have some kind of presence from Middle-earth at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. You will get that and more to keep you happy, if you are a fan of Middle-earth! You have some of the actors who have been in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit Trilogy there for various projects, our awesome Laketown Luau sponsors Weta Workshop and Badali Jewlery, and of course the Laketown Luau. So with just eight days left before Comic-Con 2014, we wanted to list for you all the Middle-earth presence you will find at this year’s event.

Continue reading “Middle-earth’s huge presence at San Diego Comic-Con 2014”

Peter-Jackson-Doctor-Who In this 50-minute lecture at at Swarthmore College, Professor Tom Shippey, the author of J.R.R. Tolkien, Author of the Century, charts the creative reshaping of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings into Peter Jackson’s award-winning trilogy of films. Continue reading “Tolkien book to Jackson script: the medium and the message”

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.