Over on the boards, I have organized a movie awards event decided entirely by TORnsibs via e-mail. The process, which involved a nomination and winner selection round, has been going on since February 2004 and has finally concluded today with the announcement of the winners of the 2004 TORNsib Awards. The trophy depicts, “the ultimate pixelated trophy of the highest geek honour” and is called the TORNie. 52 votes were counted for the nomination round and an impressive 92 votes were counted for the winner selection round. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Here is the official image I created for the awards:
Here is the trophy:
Here are the winners, in bold:
1. Favourite Scene in FOTR a. Boromir’s death b. Breaking of the fellowship c. Bridge of Khazad-dum d. Council of Elrond e. Flight to the ford f. Opening/establishing shots of Shire
2. Favourite Extended Scene in FOTR EE a. Concerning hobbits b. At the Green Dragon c. Lothlorien gift giving d. Midgewater marshes e. Passing of the elves
3. Best Performance in FOTR a. Sean Bean b. Ian McKellen c. Elijah Wood
4. Favourite Scene in TTT a. Ents storm Isengard b. Fate of Arwen c. Gandalf’s return charge d. Riders of Rohan e. Sam’s speech
5. Best Performance in TTT a. Bernard Hill b. Viggo Mortensen c. Andy Serkis
6. Favourite Extended Scene in TTT EE a. Elvish rope b. Ent draught c. The Huorns d. One of the Dunedain e. Sons of the Steward
7. Best Performance in ROTK a. Sean Astin b. Billy Boyd c. Elijah Wood
8. Favourite Scene in ROTK a. The beacons b. Charge of the Rohirrim c. The coronation d. Faramir’s suicide mission e. The Grey Havens
9. Favourite Track in Entire LOTR Score a. F#17: Breaking of the Fellowship b. F#2: Concerning Hobbits c. R#19: Into the West d. R#3: Minas Tirith e. R#5: The Steward of Gondor
10. Favourite Line in Trilogy a. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” Gandalf, FOTR b. “I’m glad to be here with you Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things.” Frodo, ROTK c. “I am no man!” Eowyn, ROTK d. “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!” Sam, ROTK e. “Well, I’m back.” Sam, ROTK
11. Favourite Visual Effects Piece a. The balrog b. Helm’s Deep c. Battle of Pelennor Fields d. Gollum e. Minas Tirith miniature
12. Favourite Costume a. Aragorn b. Arwen (red dress) c. Boromir d. Eowyn (white dress) e. Galadriel (beaded dress)
13. Favourite Set a. Bag End b. Edoras c. Hobbiton d. Minas Tirith e. Rivendell
14. Favourite Prop a. Anduril (Narsil) b. Gandalf the White’s staff c. The One Ring d. Legolas’s quiver and bow e. Sting (Frodo’s sword)
15. Favourite Geek Moment (Mentioning of History of Middle-earth in films) a. Prologue, FOTR b. Lay of Luthien, FOTR EE c. One of the Dunedain, TTT EE
16. Favourite Score Theme/Leitmotif a. Fellowship theme b. Gondor theme c. Lothlorien theme d. Rohan theme e. Shire/hobbit theme
17. Favourite Creature (Besides Gollum) a. The balrog b. The fell beasts c. Treebeard (ents) d. Oliphaunts e. Cave troll
18. Favourite Gollum Moment a. Gollum/Smeagol debate, TTT b. Forbidden pool, TTT c. Of herbs and stewed rabbit, TTT d. Gollum/Smeagol reflection debate, ROTK e. Reunited with the ring, ROTK
19. Favourite Emotional Scene a. Boromir’s death, FOTR b. Coronation scene, ROTK c. End of all things, ROTK d. Gandalf’s “death,” FOTR e. The Grey Havens, ROTK
20. Favourite EE Documentary (FOTR or TTT EEs) a. A day in the life of a hobbit, FOTR EE b. Cameras in Middle-earth, FOTR EE c. The fellowship of the cast, FOTR EE d. The taming of Smeagol, TTT EE e. Warriors of the third age, TTT EE
I am one of the editors of one of the leading German internet-magazines for speculative fiction, Phantastik.de.
Phantastik.de hosts one of the three important German awards (“Preis”) for our field (SF/Fantasy etc.) and opposite to the “Kurd-Lasswitz-Preis” and the “Deutsche Science-Fiction-Preis”, which are awarded by a jury, the “Deutsche Phantastik Preis” is voted for by the public, i.e. the online community.
The German word “Phantastik” has a broader meaning than the Enligsh word “Fantasy” and encompasses all kinds of speculative and supernatural fiction, including SF, Fantasy, Horror and everything which is not so easily classified, but “belongs in there”. That’s why all kinds of speculative fiction can make it onto this list.
We are proud that this award has gained some importance over the years. Starting from a small online ballot, it has now several hundreds (for the nominations) and thousands (for the winners) of voters every year, is used as a marketing-tool by the big German publishing-houses if one of their publications wins it, and has been covered on many platforms, including Locus.
Why is this of interest to you? Well, many LOTR-related nominees appear on this list, including several actresses and actors from Return of the King (and the film itself, of course), and in the category “Best Homepage (International)” you’ll find lordoftherings.net and your site, while Peter Jackson receives a mention in “Honorary Award”.
For your convenience, I took the liberty and translated the list into English, when possible.
Here are the nominations for the “Deutsche Phantasik Preis”. The voting-phase for the winner starts today and ends on 8/31, the winners will be announced on the “Buchmessecon” (bookfair-convention) near Frankfurt on 10/9.
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Nominations shortlist of the “Deutsche Phantastik-Preis” 2004:
Novel (German) Anam Cara – Seelenfreund, Nicole Rensmann (Atlantis) Der letzte seiner Art, Andreas Eschbach (Luebbe) Somniferus, Michael Siefener (KBV) Das Weltennetz – Die Gezeitenwelt 3, Thomas Finn (Piper) Die Zwerge, Markus Heitz (Heyne)
First Novel (German) Anam Cara – Seelenfreund, Nicole Rensmann (Atlantis) Demonwright – Der eiserne Thron, Heidrun Jaenchen, Christian Savoy & Andrea Tillmanns (Story-Olympiade) Der Gyt, Timo Bader (Go) Jenseits des Waechtersteins, Heike Reiter (DuesselArt) Im Bann des Fluchtraegers, Nina Blazon (Ueberreuther)
Novel (International) American Gods, Neil Gaiman (Heyne) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling (Carlsen) Angels & Demons, Dan Brown (Luebbe) King Rat, China Mieville (Luebbe) The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, Stephen King (Heyne)
Short-Story Bildschirmarbeitsplatz, Bjoern Jagnow (in der “C’T 26/2003”) Geisterkleister, Linda Budinger (in “Die Nacht der Masken”) Die korrektive Kunststoffkroete, Robert Kerber (in “Pandaimonion 2”) Der Schlafgaenger, Markus K. Korb (in “Grausame Staedte”) Die weissen Schmetterlinge, Frank W. Haubold (in “Nova 3”)
Anthology/Collection Grausame Staedte (Blitz) Jakob Rubinstein, Andreas Gruber (Basilisk) Die Nacht der Masken (Bastei) andaimonion 2 (Story-Olympiade) World of Fantasy (Intrag-Publishing)
Printed Series Bad Earth (Bastei) Stephen King’s The Dark Tower (Heyne) Dust (KayDesign/Atlantis) Maddrax (Bastei) Perry Rhodan (VPM)
Writer (German) Andreas Eschbach Marcus Heitz Wolfgang Hohlbein Martin Kay Markus K. Korb
Writer (International) Dan Brown Andreas Gruber Stephen King Thomas Ligotti China Mieville
Motion Picture Dreamcatcher Finding Nemo Identity The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
TV-Show Alias Buffy, the Vampire Slayer Charmed Smallville Stargate SG-1
Actress Jennifer Garner, Alias Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer Alyson Hannigan, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer Angelina Jolie, Tomb Raider 2: The Cradle of Life Liv Tyler, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Actor Richard Dean Anderson, Stargate SG-1 Sean Astin, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Hugh Jackman, X2: X-Men United Viggo Mortensen, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
DVD-Edition Alien Quadrilogy (Fox) Babylon 5 (Warner) Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (Fox) Dracula – Prince of Darkness (Anolis) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Extended Edition (Warner)
Audioplay/Audiobook Edgar Allan Poe-Reihe (Luebbe) Gabriel Burns (Universal) John Sinclair (WordArt) ecrophobia 1 (LPL Records) Der Schatten ueber Insmouth (LPL Records)
In his most recent review of ‘The Chronicles of Riddick,’ Roger Ebert has apologized for his comments earlier that LOTR fans need to ‘Get A life.’
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Films like “The Chronicles of Riddick” gather about them cadres of fans who obsess about every smallest detail, but somehow I don’t think “Riddick” will make as many converts as “The Matrix.” In fact, I owe an apology to fans of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
When Richard Roeper reviewed the current two-disc DVD of “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” on TV, I noted that a four-disc set of the movie was coming out later this year. He observed that the complete trilogy will come out on “an accordion size set that will take up the next six years of your life.” I observed that “LOTR” fans should “get a life.” I meant this as an affectionate ironic throwaway, but have received dozens of wounded e-mails from Ring devotees who believe “LOTR” has, indeed, given them a life, and after seeing “The Chronicles of Riddick,” I agree. They have a life. The prospect of become an expert on “Riddick,” in contrast, is too depressing to contemplate.
Galadriel/Nerwen Artanis: Ring-bearer and the Lady of the Golden Wood :
Raised in Valinor as Galadriel, one of the Noldor’s highest, wisest and most powerful children, she leaves the Blessed Realm to seek a kingdom of her own.
Noble and proud, the motivations behind her actions are complicated and mysterious — Tolkien himself never settled on a single, definitive version of her story.
Why did she leave Valinor? What was her role in the kinslaying? What was her true role and purpose in Middle Earth? How important was her relationship to Celebrimbor?
How important was she in the unfolding of Middle Earth’s history and significant events?
And why was she so sympathetic to Gimli?
Join us this weekend in #thehalloffire as we discuss one of Tolkien’s most bewitching characters.
=== Suggested reading:
Unfinished Tales: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn. The Silmarillion: various sections. The Fellowship of the Ring: Lothlorien, The Mirror of Galadriel, Farewell to Lorien.
=== Upcoming topics:
June 19 and 20: Themes in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies.
Now, if you have a topic you’d love to see in Hall of Fire, drop us a line! Or maybe you’d like to see one of the topics we’ve done in the past revisited.
Either way, we’d love to hear from you, and though we might not always reply, all the suggestions we receive go into the topic melting pot. E-mail us at halloffire@theonering.net today!
=== Past topics update:
If you haven’t visited the Hall of Fire page for a while, you might be surprised to see that we recently updated the logs for the last six months. Wander over and check out what everyone had to say for topics such as ‘Little Engimas of LoTR’, ‘Villains in RoTK’ or our fiery ‘Denethor’ chat of late last year.
http://www.theonering.net/barlimans/hall.html
=== Chat Times:
Saturday Chat: 5:30pm ET (17:30) [also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 9:30am Sunday (07:30) AET]
Sunday Chat: 7:00 pm (19:00) CET [also 1:00pm (13:00) ET and 5:00am (03:00) Monday morning AET]
ET = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast CET = Central European Time, Central Europe AET = Australian East Coast
Ringer Marysia wrote this excellent report about Billy Boyd’s Q&A at the SFX Awards.
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Billy Boyd was a very last minute addition to the SFX Awards Event lineup after several major guests dropped out at the last minute. He was also the only LotR guest, the other guests being Dominic Keating from Enterprise, Chris Barrie from Red Dwarf, Dean Haguland from X-Files, David Palffy from Stargate, Kristen Dalton from The Dead Zone and SuAnn Braun from Stargate. Andy Serkis appeared at the Awards ceremony only.
Billy made a flying visit in between filming in Glasgow for his new movie On A Clear Day, arriving in London in the afternoon on Saturday and departing half way through the awards ceremony on Sunday evening.
He did two question and answer sessions of about 45 mins in length to an audience of about 150 at the extremely under-attended event as well as signing autographs and posing for photos. The low numbers meant he could really take his time in the autograph sessions and everyone who wanted to got to have a nice chat and some extremely lengthy personalisations. Among the presents he was given at the session were two diving toys (referring to the script he and Dom are working on), 4 plastic dinosaurs (see the Q&A info below) and a framed sketch of he, Dom and Elijah at the SAG Awards.
The Q&A was a little awkward at first, there can’t have been more than about 150 people there (far fewer than the room could hold) and the audience was a little reticent on the asking questions front. As a result Billy decided to ask the audience questions. He started off asking trivia questions about the cast and including Dom’s birthday and Elijah’s sisters name.
He answered a few questions about Master & Commander and then told us about “Instant Credit”, the short film he has just completed work on. It will be screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August and also on ITV (though I suspect Scottish ITV only). The plot concerns a Scottish chef who meets an obnoxious rich man and accidentally ends up with his credit card. Knowing the man will be in transit for the next day he takes advantage of his good luck. The film was shot in Glasgow and Paris and is made by the same people behind Sniper 470.
Billy has no theatre work planned at the moment and when asked about pantomime said that he had done a lot of it before he became well known and hadn’t forgotten how tiring it was yet. So maybe in the future but not this year.
His current interest is computers and as well as trying to learn how to use them properly he also hopes to make his official site the worlds first smell-o-vision website. He plans to start with the smells of different cheeses. Another personal project is to sail round the west coast of Scotland with friends on a surfing tour of the islands.
When asked what the most extreme thing a fan had done to get his attention was he replied that hadn’t always used false names at hotels, but he found people would phone him at 7am and ask him to come down into the lobby and sign stuff. He thought it was weird how some people didn’t consider that you might have something else to do, like sleep, rather than sit and wait for their call. Someone then asked if he’d ever been flashed as a followup. He said no but if the girls on the phone had proferred that he might have gone downstairs.
When asked about his music he said he was getting distracted a lot by trying to learn more about computers, but he was hoping to arrange a gig soon with the musicians he’s been working with. The gig will most likely be in Glasgow and the band are currently doing cover songs. The gig may be announced on his website but he’s not sure yet. In a related question he said the most star-struck he’s ever been was meeting Prince as he is a huge fan of his music.
When asked what his most embarassing moment on set was he couldn’t think of one, but then remembered something from primary school and decided to use that instead. At assembly when he was about seven, the headmaster/mistress (I forget which) was telling the girls off for not flushing the toilets and he started wonder if the boys should flush them or not since she just seemed to be singling out the girls. He didn’t actually put up his hand and ask but he came incredibly close to doing it and still feels embarassed today thinking about what would have happened if he had asked.
He would love to see Crime and Punishment, a favourite book of his, as a movie and said there was an adaptation floating about he’d like to be in.
At his second Q&A on Sunday he talked a little about how much he liked Robert Burns and that he wouldn’t mind playing Burns, unfortunately the role has already gone to Gerard Butler (a fellow Glaswegian). He then proceeded to lead the audience in a complex discssion of the functioning of light sabres, having them vote on whether they worked using the force, or by a button, or by pressing a button using the force and whether the colour was dependant on the morality of the user or pre-programmed.
when asked about his current movie, On a Clear Day (directed by Gaby Dellal) he gave us two possible options as to the plot. Either it was about a couple of young guys who want to swim the English Channel or it was about a dinosaur detective trying to teach another dinosaur how to use the internet. I suspect the truth may be that it’s about a dinosaur who wants to swim the English Channel.
When asked about the script he and and Domhave been working on he seemed a little frustrated that it wasn’t proceeding as fast as he liked, but he said they were still working on it and it would get made.
At the Awards ceremony he arranged for the organisers to move him to the same table as Andy Serkis so they could have some more time to talk before Billy left. The ceremony was hosted by Chris Barrie and LotR won several awards including Best Director and Best Film. Billy and Andy went up together to accept the Best Director Award and claimed that together they weighed the same as Peter Jackson. Andy accepted the Best Film award alone as Billy had already left.
Ringer Rosie wrote this excellent review of the Mythic Journeys conference.
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What more could a Lord of the Rings fan ask for than to meet Alan Lee and Howard Shore in the same day?
A dear friend and I attended the Mythic Journeys conference for the specific reason of seeing Alan Lee. Saturday we attended his workshop, and it was everything I could have wanted. He spent about an hour showing slides of his artwork and photos of behind the scenes of LOTR, talking about what was on the screen as he clicked through them all. He showed quite a few drawings from his book, Castles (making me kick myself for leaving it in the car when I decided that the poor man couldn’t possibly autograph everything I’d brought with me), and he showed quite a few drawings from LOTR that I had not seen before – mostly sketches, which he explained were sometimes the beginnings of ideas of how they wanted things to look, drawings in the planning stages of things.
He seemed not to want to leave when his talk was over and asked if anyone had any questions. Of course, there were several of us who did. While answering, he hopped down off the stage and came to stand right in front of the audience (which was surprisingly small, though that made autographs easier for us later). I confess that I don’t remember a lot of the questions and answers (including one of my own!) because I was awestruck by having Alan Lee standing five feet away from me. I do remember that he said his preferred work is in books, that he enjoyed doing the movies but felt that books were what he enjoyed most. I asked him where his Oscar was, and he said it was on his mantel and he felt that he might build a little shrine to it – a very cute answer given with a shy smile.
Finally a woman asked if he could sign her book so she wouldn’t be late to the Howard Shore concert, and we all got in a vague line to get autographs. He was so gracious, listening to each person as they told him what they wanted him to know about how much they loved him and his work. He signed my first edition Faeries for my daughter, and he signed my copy of Fellowship (the one illustrated by him) for me, all the while listening and thanking me as I told him that we had come to the conference specifically to see him. He seemed touched by that, and gave both of us kisses and hugs.
To us, every penny of that $275 each that we spent was worth it. Alan Lee is a charming, lovely man, and I feel truly honored to have been able to speak to him and be in his presence.
So, on to the concert! Others have already given the information about what was played, and I am too unfamiliar with musical instruments or terms to do a proper review of all that, but I can say that it was one of the most moving experiences of my life. Howard Shore received a standing ovation when he first appeared on stage, an ovation that was loud and enthusiastic. All of the singers were wonderful, with the possible exception of the gentleman who sang Aragorn’s song from the Coronation – he did it well, but his voice was not what I expected since he didn’t sound in the least like Viggo. Sissel was very compelling, she has a beautiful voice that seems perfect for this music. The young boy who sang was also as close to perfect as you could want.
But, of course, the main reason I was there was to watch Howard Shore. I was sitting in the first row of the balcony and from my viewpoint, he almost appeared to dance with his music. It could be seen that he was completely engrossed in what he was doing, and was very energetic. This was my first symphony experience but I’ve seen conductors on tv, and I’ve never seen one who so wholly dramatized the music in his movements as Mr. Shore. Even with just the view of his back, it was easy to see that he was doing something he loved passionately.
There were, I believe, three curtain calls for him. He brought back Sissel, of course, and he also brought out Alan Lee whose art was shown during the concert. He gestured to all of the orchestra and singers so that they had their share of the applause, and did this several times.
And then it was over and we left the building, hoping to find where Mr. Shore might come out so that we could meet him. Luckily, we found a group of people who were waiting where he had signed the night before, and we were eventually rewarded with his coming up the steps. Everyone applauded when he appeared. He seemed to be in great spirits, joking with the crowd about what they wanted. He, too, was gracious and friendly. My friend and I were able to get autographs on our ROTK cd booklets, which made our day complete…one of the most magnificent days we’ve ever had, thanks to these two lovely gentlemen who have already given us all so much.
One other side note: During the intermission at the concert, we spotted Mr. Lee in the lobby below. It appeared that he was in line, possibly for something to drink. He was approached by several people while we watched, and signed for a few people. It impressed me because he was not surrounded by assistants (or anyone at all) to protect him – he was standing there alone, as if he were an unknown nobody. [Ringer On Stage adds: Actually, there were two of us acting as Alan Lee’s escorts at the concert. We were from Mythic Journeys and attended the concert with him.] You just have to love these men for their approachability and gentle graciousness to the fans.
