Australian Ringers will be excited to learn that a giant SF/Anime convention that’s kicking off at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane next weekend will have a distinct LoTR theme to it.
Pop-culture convention Supanova is making its first venture into Queensland, and LoTR fans will enjoy the chance to meet Bruce Hopkins (Gamling) and Gino Acevedo, (award-winning senior prosthetics expert from WETA who helped give Lord of the Rings’ characters their super-real look). Both Gino and Bruce will be giving presentations on each day.
Additionally, Brisbanites will get Australia’s very first look at EA’s forthcoming Return of the King game. Since EA have been known to slip film teasers into their cutscene sequences, we may even see some new film footage. Here’s hoping, anyway.
There’ll also be heaps of Trading Card Game stuff, as well as piles of collectibles from Sideshow and Hasbro to ogle and paw. And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the non-LoTR guests and attractions.
TORn will be there to report on the event, and maybe we’ll even score an interview or two. Stay tuned. In the meantime, check out the full list of guests and attractions here.
The Supanova Pop Culture Expo 2003 Brisbane
RNA Showgrounds, (Commerce Building) Gregory Terrace, Brisbane. Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September 10.00am – 6.00pm
Tickets: Two-day Pass (only available from Ticketek) Adult: $25.00 Child*: $15.00 (under 5 free)
Single-day Pass (through Ticketek or at the door) Adult: $15.00 Child*: $10.00
Family Pass (2 Adults, 2 Children aged 5-12) At the door: $40.00
Xoanon here with some rather cool news for folks living in and around Montreal. Folks from Sithclan and I are working on getting special screenings of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING: EXTENDED EDITION, THE TWO TOWERS: EXTENDED EDITION & THE RETURN OF THE KING on the silver screen!
Plans are being worked out at the moment, we have yet to work out a venue or even showtimes. This is where YOU come in. IF you plan on attending or are seriously interested we need you to answer this important question on a poll website we’ve created.
The question we want you to answer is this; how would you like to view these screenings? Currently the options we have are
All 3 in one night!
3 Days in a row!
1 Movie a week for 3 weeks!
A ton of people have asked for more information on the Montreal Triple-Screening that I am working on in conjunction with some local fan clubs and other groups. We have yet to determine the format, dates, or locations just yet. But if you want to be kept in the loop sign up for the Line Party page I made for the event. More details to come soon!
Whatever you choose, the event will likely culminate in a large party for the RETURN OF THE KING premiere on December 17th. There will be the usual give-aways, free food and pool, and of course…many other surprises!
Feanor, the mightiest of the children of Illuvatar. Blessed with unequalled talent, but also marred by a spirit that burned too hotly. Feanor created the greatest works of elven craftsmanship, but he also caused the greatest tragedies of the elves.
Feanor was the eldest son of Finwe, and half-brother to Fingolfin and Finarfin. In the blessed realm he captured the light of the Two Trees of Valinor to make the Silmarils, those greatest of jewels. When Melkor stole these and murdered his father, Feanor swore a terrible oath with his seven sons that he would pursue anyone that came between him and the Great Jewels. The first evil seed of that oath was the kinslaying at Alqualonde, and the ensuing doom of the Noldor.
Feanor and his followers pursued Morgoth to Middle-earth and drove towards Angband at once. In a fey charge Feanor was slain by Gothmog the Lord of the balrogs, his like never to be seen again in Middle-earth.
It is hard, if not impossible, to find a character that makes a greater impact in Tolkiens mythology. The oath of Feanor shapes the destinies of elves and men from the First Age to the end of the Third Age. Who is he really this spirit of fire? What shaped him and drove him? How important were his mothers premature death and his following estrangement of his fathers new family? What good came of his deeds and what evils?
Join us in #thehalloffire as we debate this enigmatic and fascinating Noldo.
Upcoming Topics: September 13-14: RoTK Book 6, Ch 3: Mount Doom September 20-21: The relevancy of Tolkien to the 21st century. September 27-28: RoTK Book 6, Ch 4: The Field of Cormallen October 4-5: Leaf by Niggle
Times: Saturday Chat: 5:30pm ET (17:30) [also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 7:30am Sunday (07:30) AET]
Sunday Chat: 7:00 pm (19:00) CET [also 1:00pm (13:00) ET and 3:00am (03:00) Monday morning AET]
ET = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast CET = Central European Time, Central Europe AET = Australian East Coast
Do you have a possible topic for Hall of Fire? Drop us a line at halloffire@theonering.net.
Evan Onstot writes: I am co-anchor for the weekday 6&10pm news for NewsChannel 6 in Billings, Montana. (The ABC affiliate) I’ve been an avid fan of the LOTR books and movies for a long time, and your site has just been terrific. It’s so great, that everybody that I work with in the newsroom knows about TORN, and many check the site regularly.
I saw that you were asking people to send in their pictures of themselves with their new DVD. Well…I figured we could do better than that. So we turned our studio set into a picturesque Rivendell and took a couple photos. I just wanted all of you to know that the media in Big Sky Country is crazy about Lord of the Rings, and very appreciative of your site.
The people with me in one of the pictures are my friends Dan (our graphic artist who transformed our set) and Marc (our web producer).
This is White Lady Eowyn, from the TORN message boards.
I wanted to let everyone know what a wonderfully nice man that Brad Dourif is!
I had the wonderful pleasure of seeing Mr. Dourif at two panels; not just his Lord of the Rings panel, but also the one from the XFiles guest stars. For those unfamiliar with his appeaance on that show, he played condemned serial killer Luther Lee Boggs, a man who channeled the thoughts of another killer. He also channeled the spirit of Scully’s recently deceased father.
The XFiles room, by far, was the better one to see him at, due to the smaller size of the room. It held only about 50-75 people, whereas the Centennial Ballroom holds upwards of 1500, I’m sure. It was closer and more intimate, and this allowed for more observation of the man, closeup.
For lack of a better word, the man actually looked like a normal human being, not the strange and unusual characters he has played not only in Lord of the Rings and the XFiles, but a myriad of other television shows, over the years. The long, Wyatt-Earp looking mustache that he is sporting is due to the fact that he is filming a Western series for HBO entitled “Deadwood”, in which he plays a doctor.
During the Lord of the Rings panel, someone asked him if he remembered the last “normal” person that he played in the movies or onscreen. And he honestly could not remember. Mr. Dourif was personable and humorous during the whole panel.
Someone ( Goldilocks Took I believe, from TORN’s message boards) asked him what he thought the motivation was behind Wormtongue’s tear, during the sequence at Isengard from “The Two Towers”. While he was answering about Grima’s possible traumatic childhood, a loud rumble of thunder from an approaching storm shook the room. Without missing a beat, he looked up to the ceiling and stated something like, “Or maybe there were -other-motivations.” Everyone in the room laughed. The loud sound of the rain a few minutes later also caused him to pause and ask what the sound was, reminding all of us after we answered that he had been living in LA, and they didn’t get rain like that there!
One point that stirred the Tolkien fans that were present in the XFiles panel was Fellowship of the Ring, and its lack of major Oscars. A fellow attendee asked him what he thought of this. While trying to be diplomatic, and reminding us that he really does enjoy the films so far, he stated that he believed that the version that went into the theaters did not deserve an Oscar. Mr. Dourif said he enjoyed the Extended Edition much better, and he felt the longer version of The Two Towers would be a much better film, as well.
When asked sort of the same question in the Lord of the Rings panel, he (wisely, I believe) did not directly answer the question, but basically said, “Forget the Oscars”, much to the crowd’s delight.
After the panel, he very graciously allowed people to take pictures and speak to him, and he even complimented my Eowyn replica dress that I wore to the Con for the whole weekend. Sunday night, while most of the Lord of the Rings fans were in the lobby of the Hyatt in their costumes for picture opportunities, he stopped by and chatted with the fans and others, allowing anyone and everyone to get their pictures made with him. Unfortunately, I missed this, due to entering the Masquerade.
Overall, I was very impressed with him, both as an actor and as a person (despite his jetlag, that left him fumbling for words at times somewhat).
The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers Platinum Series Special Extended DVD Edition
Discs 1-2: The Feature
FEATURE (208 mins)- A new version of the second installment in the epic trilogy! The film includes over 40 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film, made especially for this video release:
Widescreen (2.35:1) version of the Special Extended Edition
Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound
DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound
Four audio commentaries by director and writers, the design team, the production team and the cast featuring more than 30 participants including Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom and Academy Award winners Richard Taylor, Howard Shore, Randy Cook and many more.
Discs 3-4: The Appendices
Two discs with hours of original content including multiple documentaries and design/photo galleries with thousands of images to give viewers an in depth behind-the-scenes look at The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers:
Disc 3
Adapting the book into a screenplay & planning the film
Designing and inspiration for locations in Middle-earth
Storyboards to pre-visualization
Weta Workship visit- see sculptors in action as they create the weapons, armor, creatures and miniatures from the film
Atlas of Middle earth: Tracing the journey of the Fellowship
An interactive map of New Zealand highlighting the location scouting process
Galleries of art and slideshows with commentaries by the artists
And much more!
Disc 4
Sending actors to battle- preparation for sword fighting
Principal photography: stories from the set
Digital effects including motion capture and “Massive” (a program to create armies of Orcs)
“Bigatures”- a close-up look at the detailed miniatures used in the film
Galleries of behind-the-scenes photographs and personal cast photos
Post-production- editing it all together
Sound design demonstration
And much more!
The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers Collector’s DVD Gift Set
The following contents will be presented in packaging illustrated by famed artist, Alan Lee:
4-disc Platinum Series Special Extended DVD Edition of The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
Collectible Gollum polystone statue created by Sideshow Weta
“The Evolution of Gollum” exclusive:
Bonus DVD on the Weta Workshop and how the Gollum statue was created, featuring interviews with Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, the cast and more!
A printed companion piece showing how Gollum evolved from pencil sketch to sculpted maquette to digital character
The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers Special Extended VHS Edition
2 Cassettes
FEATURE (208 mins)- A new version of the second installment in the epic trilogy! The film includes over 40 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film, made especially for this video release:
