Just a week or so back Graham McTavish (Dwalin), William Kircher (Bifur), Dean O’Gorman (Fili), and Peter Hambleton (Gloin) went on Canadian breakfast telly to talk about their experiences on the set of The Hobbit in the lead-up to their appearance at the C4 Central Canada Comic Con over the weekend.
We know many of our readers consider the Extended Edition of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies the definitive editions, but what many of our staff really love are the extras on the home editions. Filmmaker Michael Pellerin is the architect and creative force behind the features that give us insight into the movie-making team and experience. In fact his team’s work is absolutely essential viewing.
When TORn’s new book, Middle-earth Madness, came out last month for Kindle and Nook, some fans were delighted, like Elizabeth Trogden who gives the books five stars at Amazon saying, “Just as the movies led me to the books, TheOneRing.net informed me of the many fans and their activities. This book wonderfully complements all of them.”
But there were others lit up Facebook and message boards with a clear request: “We want a printed version!” As Ithilwen commented, “I hope for printed version as well, it just seems way more fitting to read about Middle-earth from a paper book. Or maybe I’m just a bit old fashioned.”
Well, here it is. Real pages packed with hobbity goodness for you to hold in your hand and set on the shelf with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies the book is all about. It’s a little piece of TORn you can keep as a collector’s item and look back on as the years go by.
– Which creature design in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey the filmmakers weren’t satisfied with and secretly changed for the extended edition DVD
– Which Hobbit movie includes an item with J.R.R. Tolkien’s name written on it
– Which item Bilbo takes from Beorn’s house and takes home
– How Peter Jackson could make an adaptation of The Silmarillion without obtaining the rights from the Tolkien Estate
– and lots more, including interviews with Richard Armitage (Thorin), Sylvester McCoy (Radagast), Richard Taylor (Weta Workshop), Mark Ordesky (LOTR Exec) and many more of your favorites.
Want to read a sample chapter and see what all the fuss is about? Here you go!
Update: thanks to DanielLB on our discussion boards for pointing out that the book is also available on some Amazon sites for countries other than the U.S. (amazon.uk, amazon.fr). So check out your country’s site in case you can save on some shipping.
Fantasy-Con’s official mascot!These dwarves aren’t afraid of Smaug!
The first annual FantasyCon was an amazing weekend! Tens of thousands of fans from around the country and many actors from around the world traveled to beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah for an engagingly fun weekend of group panels, signings, photo ops and fireside chats. Here is a recap of some of the fun from several TheOneRing.net staff members who made the journey there.
Elijah Wood Hosts Kickoff Party
Starting off the week was an amazing dance night hosted by Frodo himself DJ ElWood!
Elijah Wood is on the right in the center of the stage. Frodo has some groovy tunes!Official Fantasy-Con photographers got better shots than we did 😉
Middle-earth Kick-Off!
To start FantasyCon with a celebrity blast, an all-star group of Tolkien guests took the stage including:
Sean Astin (Samwise)
Adam Brown (Ori)
Billy Boyd (Pippin)
Jed Brophy (Nori)
John Callen (Óin)
Peter Hambleton (Glóin)
William Kircher (Bifur)
Sylvester McCoy (Radagast)
Graham McTavish (Dwalin)
Mark Ordesky (Executive Producer LOTR)
John Rhys-Davies (Gimli)
Ken Stott (Balin)
author Doug Adams (‘The Music of The Lord of the Rings’)
The Official Day 1 of FantasyCon was yesterday, July 3 and was filled with cosplay, LARPing, music and heraldry. A few awesome Middle-earth costumers visited our booth, and we even had a Dwarf in a Barrel. The barrel and the 4 Hobbits standee proved to be quite popular with those holding a camera, especially the children.
At 11am TheOneRing.net hosted their first panel at the convention with the Preview of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies to an enthusiastic crowd. We fully expect that the trailer will be out by the time San Diego Comic Con rolls around in a few weeks, at which point our Preview panel will be dramatically updated.
Near the end of the day, the entirety of the Tolkien programming track was introduced on stage at the Middle-earth kickoff party. Artists, musicians, writers and TheOneRing.net staff on hand, plus an Avalanche of Dwarves, as John Rhys-Davies put it, a Wizard and a pair of Hobbits converged on the Main Ballroom stage to thunderous applause. Moments later, the entire room went silent, you could almost hear a pin drop, along with one wee Hobbit singing his heart out.
During the panel, numerous questions were asked of many Dwarves, Hobbits and a Wizard, but none were handled with quite so much originality as the one about the Dwarven prosthetics.
The day ended with the Red Party, a less bloody affair than the Red Wedding. Costumed denizens of Westeros and many other realms all danced the night away.
