DoS poster prizeAs part of our fifteenth birthday celebrations this weekend, we have an exciting competition for you all — and a stunning prize!

We will be awarding one clever, imaginative Ringer, a The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug poster — signed by Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Luke Evans, Martin Freeman and Evangeline Lilly (see the photo of it just to the right). Continue reading “Enter our Where’s Bilbo? Contest and win a signed The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug poster”

The-Hobbit-The-Desolation-of-Smaug-FX-046 SciFiNow spoke to Daniel Falconer, Weta Workshop designer and author of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon (order it here if you haven’t already) about the process of creating what he describes as “the grand-daddy” of fantasy dragons.

He also reveals what Benedict Cumberbatch brought to the role, and why he feels Peter Jackson understands exactly what is required from a fantasy epic.

Don’t forget to click the link to read the entire interview.

Continue reading “Daniel Falconer: Smaug is the grand-daddy of dragons”

The Hobbit Bag End Door Originally, Peter Jackson intended his adaptation of The Hobbit to be a two-film effort — a duology.

We’ll never know for certain how it would have turned out, but in this feature TORn writer Captain Salt brings together the known facts to give us some idea of just how it might have shaped up.

Continue reading “How would have Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit looked as a duology?”

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.

DOS good luck pinWhat do you get people who have everything? The extremely talented folks in front of and behind the camera in the film industry typically have very nice jobs. They get to travel all over the world, they make a decent salary, they are beloved by millions, and they get to create great art. Come awards season, if their work has been deemed excellent by their peers, they are nominated in their respective fields. And then they are wined and dined and gifted until their houses are full of chochkis, or sometimes really cool stuff. So I ask again, what do you get these people?

Well, if you are TheOneRing.net, you simply get them a little Luck, in the form of a pin they can wear at the ceremony, or not, as they see fit. Most of them wait to put their pins on until they get to one of our parties. It always sort of acts as an automatic pass to get in, we don’t have to look their names up on the list.

We wouldn’t have these pins to give if it weren’t for our wonderfully geeky and talented friends at Badali Jewelry, who began this tradition with the Fellowship of the Ring, and above you see the 5th installment of the Good Luck pin. Today several of these pins were delivered to current nominees, through torrential rain in case anyone was wondering. If you find that you are a nominee and you don’t have one of these waiting for you at your hotel, feel free to ping us at Oscarparty@TheOneRing.net so we can rectify the situation.

peter-jackson piinTo the right you see Peter Jackson winning one of his 3 Oscars on February 29, 2004 while wearing the ROTK Good Luck pin. So that might just be a hint that wearing the pin during the ceremony is Good Luck.

Here at TheOneRing.net we would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations and wish you the best of luck to everyone listed below. While you are all sitting at the Dolby trying not to bite all of your nails off, we will be over at the Cat & Fiddle cheering you on, and drinking a toast to you, as we always do come Oscar night.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug nominees

Sound Editing – Brent Burge and Chris Ward

Sound Mixing – Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson

Visual Effects – Joe Lettery, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds

 

Middle-earth nominees in other projects

Best Actress – Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine

Short: Live Action – The Voorman Problem, which stars Martin Freeman

Middle-earth personage as a Presenter

Benedict Cumberbatch

Good Luck one and All!

The-Hobbit-The-Desolation-of-Smaug-FX-046 Digital Trends takes a look at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and the way director Peter Jackson brought the film’s fearsome, fire-breathing dragon to life.


Building a better dragon in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

From the moment that plans were first announced for a live-action adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, fans of the 1937 novel began pondering the ways in which the mighty dragon Smaug could be brought to life on the big screen with all the majesty of his literary counterpart. Continue reading “Building a better dragon in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”