Kaiser Mike writes: At Dragoncon, there is going to be a showing of the fan-produced parody movie entitled “Inu Yasha: Lord of the Jewel”. This film takes animation from the popular anime “Inu Yasha: A Feudal Fairytale” (as seen on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim lineup) and hijacks the plot of the Tolkien Trilogy to forge a comedy of epic epicness! Showing in the Vinings room Saturday night, it is currently scheduled to start around 9:00 pm. Catering to both Ringer and Otaku tastes, this is a must-see for any Dragoncon goer with a sense of humor and a half hour to kill! [www.neobattlepeasant.com]
Additional Notes: This is a “Fan-dub-parody” which is an anime culture custom. These are made by splicing clips of existing shows, and re-doing the dialogue and soundtrack. They are best viewed in group settings, and are made for one purpose: to make people laugh.
Were it to be rated it would probably have a PG-13 rating, mostly for language and suggestive dialogue.
The plot of “Inu Yasha” is very similar to the scenario of LotR. In it, a group of travelers are on a quest to neutralize the evil of a small mystical jewel.
DME Partnership DiscoverMiddleEarth.co.uk launches the UK’s only Middle-Earth tour. A coach Tour from London will visit locations that inspired JRR Tolkien when writing Lord of the Rings including Sauron’s Temple in Oxford and the original Two Towers and Shire in Birmingham.
It’s nearly three year since the Lord of the Ring’s movie trilogy hit our cinema screens and New Zealand became known as Middle-Earth.
Dozens of New Zealand companies of all different sizes jumped on the opportunity the film presented to them and created a huge boost the tourist industry with thousands of people from all over the world visiting the “Middle-Earth” of New Zealand.
While Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy was shot in New Zealand, the trilogies author, JRR Tolkien never visited the country and spent most of his life in England. Tolkien drew inspiration from locations in English cities such as Birmingham and Oxford for parts of Middle-Earth including the Shire, The Two Towers and Saurons Temple. Realising little had been done by these cities to capitalise on the renewed interest in Tolkien, two brothers, Richard (24) and Tom Greenwood (22), both recent graduates, set up the DME Partnership to highlight the places in England that inspired Middle-Earth.
Originally the partnership set up a website called www.discovermiddleearth.co.uk which charts Tolkiens life in England and the locations that provided inspiration for The Lord of the Rings. Using original photography DME also produced a 2005 Wall Calendar entitled “Discover England’s Two Towers”. Following the success of this calendar in early sales online and at Lord of the Rings events, DME have now taken it a step further with the announcement of England’s first Middle-Earth coach tour – Destination Middle-Earth.
The first full day coach tour is scheduled for Saturday September 25th and will depart from Central London before heading off to Oxford, the Barrow Downs in Warwickshire and Birmingham. Passengers will be kept amused and informed by Tolkien expert guides and video clips from each location. More dates are set to be announced soon. Booking can be made online at www.discovermiddleearth.co.uk/tour
The tour costs #35 for the full day tour which departs at 9.00am from Central London and returns at 8pm.
Before now there have been occasional small scale tours around individual key Tolkien sites but this will be the only tour to truly take passengers on a journey into England’s Middle-Earth by combining many different locations in one tour. The tour will be suitable for people of all ages and is designed to be interesting to anyone who enjoyed the films, books or is simply looking for a day out with a difference.
TheOneRing.net will offer four new shirt styles for the fall, three of which will be available to buy at Dragon Con in Atlanta September 3 – 6.
We don’t want to give away everything at once but the three shirts available at the fantasy convention (with its own heavy-duty Tolkien tract of programming) will have new sayings and will be in colors slightly different from what TORn has offered previously.
One has a “pretty Elf-man” joke on the back for people who have never read Tolkien’s books while another returns to TORn’s name sake and has a reference about a ring, or at least something precious.
The final shirt, which features a full seven color front and the likeness of a top-notch idol of millions is a “Thank you” note to Peter Jackson.
The fourth shirt that will be available on the web site is a polo-style collared shirt with an embroidered TheOneRing.net logo. It will be available in four colors. This shirt, because of its extra cost on TORn’s end will be ordered from the production company as it is ordered from TORn and will take longer to get to TORNados but will be well worth the wait.
The t-shirts each feature text from the recent fan-made “Aniron” font used by express permission from its creator. Restricted from commercial use, the font is available for fan use on his web site found here.
TORn still has a few of our old style shirts available but sizes and color choices are limited. Any shirts orders that cannot be filled will be refunded. We do still have a healthy stock of our “Return of the One Party” shirts available.
All our current merchandise and the new items are or will be available at our T-Shirt Store: [Click Here]
And of course buying our items not only gets you great stuff, it helps keep TheOneRing.net on line.
‘Why, Sam,’ [Frodo] said, ‘to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story was already written. But you’ve left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted.’ “I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn’t they put in more of his talk, dad? That’s what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam, would he, dad?”
One of the most beloved characters in Tolkien’s trilogy is without question, Samwise Gamgee. That ordinary hobbit, representative of all that’s sound and sane against a background of darkness and despair, who was able to do the extraordinary, even the impossible, and live to tell the tale.
Do you see Sam as a faithful friend and kind hearted companion, or the dim-witted klutz and comic-relief, sort of Sancho Panza to Frodo’s Don Quixote? Or is he the “everyman” of Middle Earth, the character Tolkien himself said he most related to? Or is Sam the true, courageous hero of Lord of the Rings? Was Sam just an ordinary hobbit? Was he tempted by the Ring? Was he the cause of Gollum’s ultimate damnation? These questions and more will be explored as we look at this amusing, confusing and delightful character.
Come join us and our special guest moderator, SamGamgee7, this week in #thehalloffire as we discuss “Samwise Gamgee, Hobbit Hero”.
Upcoming Topics: Sept 4-5: The Hobbit: Chapter 13: Not At Home Sept 11-12: Middle Earth’s Greatest Hero Sept 18-19: The Hobbit: Chapter 14: Fire and Water Sept 25-26: The Downfall of Numenor Oct 2-3: The Hobbit: Chapter 14: The Gathering of the Clouds
Place: #thehalloffire on theonering.net IRC server. Need instructions? Go here: [here]
Chat Times: Saturday Chat: 5:30pm EST (17:30) [also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 7:30am Sunday morning AEST]
Sunday Chat: 8:00 pm (20:00) CET [also 2:00pm (14:00) EST and 4:00am Monday morning AEST]
EST = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast CET = Central European Time, Central Europe AEST = Australian East Coast
Two New Zealand projects are to benefit from an international fundraising project by fans of The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) films.
The fundraising has helped kick off Wellington City Council’s commemorative tree scheme, and will also provide more than US$800 to the organ donation awareness group GiveLife.
Coordinator Stephanie Blevins, in the United States, says the fundraising was a way for LOTR fans on the website TheOneRing.net (TORN) to say thank you to Peter Jackson for creating such a successful film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book.
“We just wanted to thank Peter Jackson so much for making these films. The fans are such wonderful and giving people and they saw this as a great opportunity to show their appreciation in a tangible way.
“The response has been incredible. Fans from around the world have contributed to the fundraising, which shows you just how widely the films have touched people,” says Stephanie.
Wellington City Council’s commemorative tree scheme was chosen as one of the beneficiaries of the fundraising as a salute to Professor Tolkien, who was an avowed environmentalist. Eleven kauri trees will be planted in Willowbank Park in Tawa, at 2pm on September 2 – the 11 trees comprise nine for the ‘Fellowship of the cast and crew’ of the films, and one each for Peter Jackson and Professor Tolkien (while also honouring the 11-Oscar sweep of The Return of the King).
The GiveLife foundation was chosen as Peter Jackson has publicly supported the issue of organ donation in New Zealand.
Erica Challis, the Kiwi co-founder of TORN, says the fundraising is an example of how the Internet can enable people who are widely separated by distance to collaborate on projects that are dear to their hearts, and she congratulates the fans for their initiative.
“As a Tolkien website, we’re aware of the Professor’s love of trees and his distress at the way urban development comes so often at the expense of many beautiful old trees. So there’s no question he would have approved of a tree-planting effort in his honour.
“As for organ donation, Peter Jackson has known a number of people to whom this is a life or death issue, and we applaud his efforts to help publicise the problem with low donor rates in New Zealand. It’s a problem that doesn’t need to exist, and wouldn’t exist if there were more awareness of the organ donation process.”
Says Andy Tookey of GiveLife: “I’m extremely grateful for the support and generosity that LOTR fans have contributed to the cause of helping save lives in New Zealand. With their support we have been able to advance the cause quite significantly in recent times.”
Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast says she is delighted that Wellington City Council’s commemorative tree programme was chosen as a beneficiary of the LOTR international fundraising project.
“This is a very generous gesture and we thank the fans for it. As this is the very first commemorative tree planting it is very special. It is honouring one of Wellington’s most loved sons, Peter Jackson, while at the same time commemorating Professor Tolkien. We, in Wellington, are very proud of our association with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The trees will be planted at Willowbank Park and I am sure this park will become another very popular LOTR site for tourists and residents to visit,” she says.
Since the release of the LOTR movies, fans have travelled to New Zealand to see for themselves the places where key scenes were filmed. Both Stephanie and Erica expect the kauri trees in Willowbank Park to attract fans from TORN who wish to see what their fundraising efforts have achieved.
Says Erica: “The way Tolkien wrote, the way Peter Jackson’s team made the movies, the way Lord of the Rings fandom developed, and the way TheOneRing.net was developed by enthusiasts: these are all things that were done out of a sense of fun and sheer delight in being creative. All things that people did from following their own inclinations – and yet they’ve given an enormous amount of benefit and pleasure to millions of people. One should never underestimate the power of creative joy.”
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Anyone wanting to support the commemorative tree scheme should contact WCC’s Visitor Services and Events Coordinator for Parks and Gardens, Amanda White, on +64 4 472 5684 or amanda.white@wcc.govt.nz. Donations to GiveLife can be made via the website www.givelife.org.nz
This weekend all things LOTR will gather around Alexandra Palace in London, UK for what promises to be a weekend of great fun and exciting events. If you haven’t done so already: get your tickets now! If you need some more convincing, check out the latest update from the organisers and head over to www.aaaevents.co.uk! See you there!
There are only two days to go to The Fellowship Festival and while it is pretty hectic here at Festival Towers, we just wanted to give you a quick update.
We have just been informed by Karl Urban’s agent that Karl has recently won a new film role which means that Karl will only be appearing at The Fellowship Festival this year so alongside Bernard Hill, Karl is now a worldwide event exclusive. We are very honoured to have both gentlemen join us at the show both have told us that they can’t wait to meet you all.
The event schedule has now been finalised. Due to last minute changes the full programme will be available when you arrive. We have organised question and answer sessions with the cast and crew that are held throughout the day and are repeated every day so you won’t miss out on a thing.
Some of the cast will be showcasing their special talents, check the schedule for times. Come and watch them strut their stuff; they have worked really hard to offer you a really new experience, a chance for you to see them in a new light.
The Tolkien Society have worked incredibly hard to give us many workshops and seminars where you can appreciate the works of Tolkien and Peter Jackson, huge thanks go to Ian and the team for all their hard work.
We are honoured to announce that Sarah McLeod will be singing “Into the West” exclusively at The Fellowship Feast. If you haven’t already got your ticket for the most memorable night of the year, you can buy it at the show from our stand.
Gino Acevedo from Weta Workshop will be transforming a lucky visitor into an orc before your very eyes every single day. We can’t wait to see the results.
The final touches to Mark Ferguson’s new comedy play “The Lord of The Rings 4: Return of The Towering Fellowship” have been finalised and we are looking forward to seeing Mark and some of the other cast members have us in fits of laughter.
EA GAMES are bringing one of their producers to The Festival who will talk to you about how they went about making the films into a game. Essential attendance for those of you who enjoy gaming. Don’t forget that they will also be demonstrating for the very first time, their brand new LOTR games, which are not being released until November.
For those of you who enjoy collecting, you can purchase exclusive items only available at the show and no-where else in the world brought to you by our friends at Cards Inc. You can also purchase official merchandise from our many exhibitors onsite.
Don’t forget, every Festival Ticket holder will be entered into a prize draw to win a holiday for two to New Zealand courtesy of our friends at Red Carpet Tours.
There is so much more that you can do at The Fellowship Festival, we sincerely hope that you make the most of the weekend, you enjoy all the activities that have been organised and have a wonderful time. We are very proud to be involved in such an amazing experience and look forward to seeing you all.
That’s not all folks, we still have some surprises up our sleeves…
