Rumors are flying as far as the Great Eagle’s sight that our newest wizard, Radagast the Brown, will have a more prominent role in the first installment of THE HOBBIT: ‘An Unexpected Journey.’ I am very excited by what Sylvester McCoy may bring to the role. The rumors are strongly suggesting Radagast’s rustic home on the eaves of Mirkwood Forest — Rhosgobel — will be more heavily featured than first suspected.
Color me intrigued! This kind of “newly added” material in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation is not canonical, strictly speaking, within the pages of “The Hobbit.” Yet it is canon from another Tolkien book! This stuff comes from the Appendices in the hinter-lands of “The Return of the King,” and therefore the most intriguing as to how it’ll play out in the new films. Among purists it might be cause for alarm.
Let’s investigate what we know from Tolkien — keeping in mind what the Professor seemed to be confused about himself may leave us with a minor mystery. Let’s also speculate on how P.J. is going to make Rhosgobel fit into the narrative of his first HOBBIT installment.
Public Road access to The Hobbit set on the South Island.
Ringer Spy Glow sends us this EXCLUSIVE follow-up set of pictures from the mysterious Hobbit set on the South Island of New Zealand.
What’s there to see? Well, we close get a look at the set itself, and some fascinating detail work that has already gone the construction, plus some stunning wide shots. But what do they look like and what does it all mean? Is it Radagast’s Rhosgobel, or Beorn’s Hall?
To find out you’ll have to join us beyond the cut in SPOILER COUNTRY!
Moahunter, our New Zealand message board member, has informed us that Sylvester McCoy was interviewed on TVNZ this morning and, among other things, was asked about his role as Radagast the Brown in The Hobbit.
Concerning his schedule, McCoy states he was down in Wellington, New Zealand earlier this year for about 8 weeks, shooting in the studio, and now he’s back there again for a couple of weeks for location shooting. In addition, he’ll be returning again in February 2012 for a couple of days.
The man couldn’t say much about his role though (apparently he’s been programmed by Weta to gag himself the moment his mouth utters the word “Hobbit”), though he could reveal that the main character he’s interacting with is Ian McKellen’s Gandalf the Grey.
ATLANTA — DragonCon 2011 marks the 11th year of involvement with the Atlanta based convention, where it has grown dramatically and yet remains true to its fan-based roots. (We dug up the earliest reports we could find, well worth a look here and featuring Karl Urban, Corvar and Calisuri.)
But this DragonCon had significant differences as well. With an over 2,500 mile journey from Los Angeles to Atlanta sponsored by War In The North, this convention featured the Fellowship of Drivers on The Road to DragonCon. They not only went there but back again with the help of Badali Jewelry and Anglotopia.net.
And on content partner Stickam.com, TORn was the most watched event for the week and the month. A special thanks to those who supported the trip with personal meetings, donations, texts, phone calls and other help.
Sylvester McCoy, Radagast the Brown in the two upcoming films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, has been added as a guest to the annual celebration of popular culture known as DragonCon. Ralph Bakshi is also a guest and of course TheOneRing.net is also attending as it has for the last decade and we will make every effort to catch a chat with McCoy.
He is best known as the seventh Doctor Who but has worked extensively on the stage and in television. It is not yet known if he will appear as part of the Tolkien Track of programming (but he is more than welcome to take the stage during either of the two TORn panels on The Hobbit) but he will doubtless be asked a few Middle-earth questions even if he is involved with Doctor Who content.
Expect a lot more DragonCon content from TORn through the conclusion of the convention including the TORn road trip to DragonCon. Continue reading “Sylvester McCoy added as DragonCon guest”
Greetings all, Quickbeam here.
