11-17-99

Amazing Quarry Pics! (Helms Deep?) Dwane Dipply @ 9:12 am EST Super Ringer Spy Sam has scores some amazing pictures from the quarry set! Think of Lord of the Rings. Think of The Two Towers. Think somewhere in the middle. Think Helms Deep. What images does it conjure into your mind? To me, it conjures images of resiliance, honor, bravery, strength and plain old good. And that is what was radiating from The Dry Creek Quarry, Upper Hutt, one night. Having my evenings activities unexpectedly postponed for the night, my friend and I decided to take a chance. We got out the map and searched for the Quarry. We drove up there and parked opposite, beside another car. Thinking it probably belonged to a security guard, we had to shiver as we crossed the road towards the Quarry and the lone light that emitted from a building at the front. Or maybe it was the cold Wellington night... ...whilst marvelling at the bulking shadows in the distance (Helm2.jpg - taken from Site 1). We moved on up to Site 2 (Helm3.jpg) which seems to be a couple of towers on a wooden platform (one tower is out of sight, to the right of the photo. They're about 8 feet high. Site Three (Helm4.jpg) is next door, and up a gravel bank. It consists of two walls, with gaps in between. This is from the rear and (Helm9.jpg) is from the front. Talk about huge! As of yet it's mostly scaffolding, except the front. Site Four is further up the hill - (Helm7.jpg). So far, from the bottom,it consists of a curved wall and a doorway, with steps carved from the gravel leading up through it. It leads up to (Helm8.jpg). There were two other windows to the right. It can be seen in (Helm6.jpg), (Helm5.jpg) shows the wall in front of the stairs leadingup, as well as a wall to the doorway's left. It sure was exciting to know that *this* was where John-Rhys Davies would stand, *this* is where the orcs would charge.. Also attached are some photos from a while back of Bree, in Seatoun, from various angles.

11-16-99

"...and with a rush like the sudden onset of a great wind the last host of Rohan rode thundering into the West." Tehanu @ 2:08 pm EST Ya, boo, Balrogs. What I can't wait to see on the big screen is the Riders of Rohan. I know they've been mustering horses and riders in the far South on NZ to train for the movie, but a friend of mine got into a conversation with some racehorse-owners in a pub here in Auckland. They were saying that they'd had to move their horses from their usual place in the Waikato (remember, those very green plains near Hobbiton?) because the landowner or trainer had taken up a contract to work with horses for Peter Jackson. Lots of horses, they said. About 500. Further questioning around the horsey community seems to clear things up slightly: a small number of higly-trained horses will be bought ( a friend who was hoping to achieve a highly-trained horse for nothing found this out...) and they will have starring roles in the films; in addition to that, a large number of extras with their own horses will train up in cavalry manouevres. People weren't sure that this was in fact in the Waikato. Either way, some place must be needed with a great deal of space, privacy and the ability to cater for hundreds of horses and riders, all getting used to working with weapons and so on. Whether the two cavalry groups from the North and South Islands will ever meet up for some huge battle scenes remains to be seen. Because that area is so much greener than the South Island film locations, I'm beginning to wonder whether some of Rohan will be filmed in the North. Plus the Waikato is where some of the fastest horses in the world are bred, and the whole area is swarming with them.

11-15-99

Wellington Exclusive! Xtem @ 12:42 am EST Do you live in Wellington? Do you know hardly anything about WETA Workshop? Would you like to learn more? Do you, or a friend, subscribe the cable TV Saturn? If the answers were yes to all the above questions, then you are in luck. Saturn is currently previewing a short documentary on WETA. This is on channel 18 (OnTV), and the last time they showed the story was at about 7:20pm. I'm not too sure when the next repeat will be, but it will be later on in the evening. You can contact them (to ask when the next showing is on) at 0800 299 300. Although from what I saw they didn't show any "spoilers" on Lord of the Rings, it was just an interesting insight into the people behind the camera.

11-13-99

Media Watch (with pics): The Waikato Times Dwane Dipply @ 11:38 am EST A little note from Xoanon here under Dwane's permission. Sigh...don't you hate it when the media really screws things up? This report is mildly accurate, but what upsets me is that he (or she) throws 'star' names in his article, obviously to get people excited, BUT HE'S WRONG! Liv and Cate will be nowhere NEAR the hobbiton set. Geez..They're supposted to be REPORTers right? And you know what's even worse? I'll get about 50 emails saying 'What are Ewoyn and Arwen doing in Hobbiton? Man this movie sucks now!' ah..Rant ends..read on. From the"Waikato Times", Thursday, November 11th 1999. Peter Jackson's world of hobbits and goblins, built in the Waikato, has been exposed - but, shhh... it's supposed to be a secret. Hobbiton village, which is nestled in rolling hills of remote farmland, 8km south of Matamata is a set for Peter Jackson's Lord of the rings, where filming begins next month. This is a first look at the Waikato set. Construction began under secrecy in April and the set has been under 24-hour guard since it was finsihed. Small hobbit holes, with gardens and picket fences, are set into the hillside. Sheep are still grazing near the set. About 200 Waikato people will be recruited as hobbit extras for filming, which could last at the hinuera set until mid-January. Some of Hollywood's biggest names including Cate Blanchett and Liv Tyler will also be on set. Set in the mythical world of Middle Earth, the Lord of the Rings is the story of the epic battle by the forces of good including the hobbits - creatures about 1m tall - to preserve their land from Dark Lors Sauron, his orcs and goblins. Filming of the first part of the movie began in Wellington last month.

11-11-99

Pics From The Sydney Morning Herald Dwane Dipply @ 7:28 pm EST These pictures are from the Sydney Morning Herald, and are of the Hobbit stageplay going on in Aussie land :)

AICN Hobbiton Pic Dwane Dipply @ 8:45 am EST

11-10-99

NEW Hobbiton pic from Scoop Dwane Dipply @ 10:35 pm EST Thanks to the cool guys at Scoop (www.scoop.co.nz) for the tip! The pic on the bottom is the one from the batch we have. So we know it's no CGI!

11-09-99

The Dominion beat us to it! Dwane Dipply @ 10:28 pm EST Oh well, as they say, all's fair in love and newsgathering! Our good pals at Scoop (www.scoop.co.nz) sent us some news in a rather roundabout way. They sent me a letter thanking me for proving that this new pic from the UK paper The Dominion was a fake. But in fact it's the real deal! I'm not to sure about that infamous 'farmer' pic. But this one is certainly the real deal. Look at it compared to the one we were about to post up! The top is the dominion pic, the bottom is ours! So there you have it, another scoop brought to you by Scoop and TheOneRing.net!