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 One Ring Celebration January 14th - 17th, 2005
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| Well, where to begin? So much to talk about and so many things to recount. How about the weather? That's always good for a start. After natioinally publicized storms of unrelenting rain pounded southern California for literally a week, the skies cleared up suddenly and stunningly before the weeked of January 14th, most fortunate for attendees of the first ever One Ring Celebration in lovely Pasadena, California. I suppose a quick overview of the dazzling guest line-up will be good at this point and save some confusion later: |
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Before I go any further I should mention too that the bulk of my photos are here at ORC 2005 photo gallery, which is filled with photos from the entire event. Probably a good thing to click through while reading this.
When ORC was initially announced, there wasn't much programming info to speak of, and the guest lineup quite thin. I was not ecstatic about the admission price, but I bit the bullet anyway for a couple of reasons. One being that it was ridiculously close to where I live and that there were a good two or three cast members listed from the get-go whom I've still yet to meet. Eventually the lineup grew and became significantly better, especially including the two hobbits (Wood and Boyd) who've always eluded me. So there you go, I had my top shelf "Wizard's Circle" pass for all 3 days and I was ready to go. 
Day 1: Dominic Monaghan, Bruce Hopkins, Peter Tait, Jarl and Jorn Benson, Sandro Kopp Now before I start this section, I will say that the crowds here were to my estimation, 90% female. The estrogen levels were through the roof, the type of crowd that was prone to giddly applause and yelps at every opportunity. Now don't read that as a complaint, I expected this, and it was fine, the fans were there to be fans, and this comes with the territory of female fandom. The main programming on stage had the stars come out and basically take questions for an hour and half. Dom Monaghan showed up a little late, and to be honest I don't remember much of anything he said. The crowd was asking predictable questions, an example of one of which was along the lines of "who has impacted your life the most from LOTR/who did you like the best", which surprised no one when he answered......"probably Billy"! Much of the talk revolved around "Lost", in which I had no interest so I left midway through to catch Daniel Falconer's design presentation. Since I've already met Dominic a couple of times before and that it was not included in the Wizard Circle tickets, I did not attend his autograph session. The Kiwi group of Peter Tait, the Benson brothers, and Sandro Kopp were on stage together. A slight introduction to who they are, as you probably haven't got much of an idea. Peter Tait was Shagrat, the mithril loving Uruk at Cirith Ungol, as well as one of the Corsair captains. Jarl and Jorn Benson are two very slim elvish looking guys, and they've done tons of work as background Elves, Uruks, and Rohirrim. Jarl gets some face time as one of the elves at Aragorn's coronation and is very recognizable as Weta's version of "Glorfindel". Sandro Kopp can very easily be spotted at Aragorn's coronation as an Elf right behind Elrond. They were all real nice guys but as they were not included in the wizard ticket for autographs, I elected not to pay the extra fee. Bruce Hopkins of course portrayed Gamling in the films, and is actually one of the background characters who gets a great deal of screen time. He took some questions including "which character would you have liked to play?" and his answer was Theoden, giving great praise to Bernard Hill's portrayal at the same time. The second half of his chat revolved around his involvement with the ProLiteracy program which was very touching. His was the first autograph session I attended all weekend and the staff was strict on the idea of "NO PHOTOGRAPHS!" to the point that the worker lady blocked the way when someone behind me was trying to take a pic from about twenty people back. Supposedly these rules were being enforced at the 'request of the stars', which I somehow doubt as Bruce was about all weekend taking pictures with everyone. So it was no photos, not from a distance, not just while they sign, not without flash, none, period. I always get photos of most people signing things, but when they are that adamant about it, there's not much you can do. Anyway I got over it pretty quickly, it certainly was not a surprise to me when this rule was enforced for the next two days as well. Day 2: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd Billy Boyd took the stage first on Day 2 by himself, and the topics ranged from theatre experience, to surfing, to kilts, which greatly delighted the feminine masses. He also sang "Happy Birthday" to an audience member. On the whole he was entertaining and just a very charming guy. He ended his program on a high note when some chap asked if he could perform the Green Dragon drinking song with him and he obliged! A very funny moment that I captured entirely with the movie mode on my camera. It seems when you mix hobbits and young girls, a Happy Birthday song is bound to break out somewhere. Except in Elijah Wood and Sean Astin's case, it was their suggestion, asking the crowd for birthdays. How surprising was it then that a ton of pre-pubescent (and a great many adult) females just happened to all have their birthdays that day? They ended up dueting 2 birthday songs, perhaps to measure up to Billy Boyd? Elijah mentioned a couple of times that he was uncomfortable sitting down because Billy was walking about the whole time, and ditched his chair. Sean didn't really seem to fussed about the whole deal. Before they left the stage, Elijah spotted a young girl crying and motioned her on stage for a comforting hug- of course a big draw of "awwww" from his adoring female fans. For the autograph sessions on this day, all three of the appearing hobbits were lined up at the same table. No photos, as before. And I wonder how I could've possibly taken photos anyway with all the stuff I was carrying, juggling all the different items and fumbling with the tickets was quite an uneasy task. I thanked Billy for being here, and after I got my autograph from him, he and his handlers were trying to decide whether he should take a bathroom break at this time. During this I was looking at the table cloth on which Billy had scribbled a drawing all over using the black, gold, silver, and blue sharpies they had there. He gave his artwork another lookover, patting the table cloth approvingly and gave me a nodding smile of satisfaction, and at that moment I think he made up his mind that, yes, he would indeed head to the john at this time. It's that whimsical childlike quality that everyone talks about, how perfect that this guy was cast as Peregrin Took. I hear next day that the same table cloth was apparently auctioned for $600(or more?) for tsunami charity, how cool is that? Elijah was the next chap down the line, I thank him too for being here and I told him that I was very much looking forward to seeing him in Sin City! His giant eyes lit up a bit, "me too!" Maybe a bit delighted that someone was there talking to him about something other than The Lord of the Rings. Friendly, friendly guy. Elijah and Billy both signed my good ol' book, while I had Sean sign something for a friend because I had already met him before. I'm relieved to finally have all four hobbits now on my book! Day 3: John Rhys-Davies, Royd Tolkien Royd Tolkien appeared first on stage for Day 3. He was joined by the Kiwi group of Tait, Bensons, and Kopp. It was a casual chat, again mostly on the experiences of being in the film. Royd was on set for a day or two if I remember correctly, as a Gondorian ranger. He was recounting on how he was snapping photos on set with his camera and they didn't seem too fussed about it, one Benson brother chimed in then with "well yeah, they're not going to say anything to you!" which I and the crowd had a laugh about.(the Kiwi group on day 1 had mentioned that taking photos on set was a no-no) Royd also spelled out his family tree at the request of an audience member which I found to be quite interesting. A humble and nice fellow! John Rhys-Davies is a charming man. I knew this prior to ORC having met the man a few times before, so I fully expected he would charm the pants off the crowd- and he did just that! The topics were varied, with him often weaving in and out with the voice of Treebeard and Gimli. In particular he said about his voicing of Treebeard, that he was quite 'unsure' about it. Meaning he doesn't know if he nailed the voice just right or that it couldn't have been done a different way, perhaps better. Gimli though, he reckoned, was pretty good! On his thoughts about the movies prior filming(he was originally interested in playing Denethor)- he was certain it would be a flop and a failure! Thought he'd get a nice little trip down to New Zealand, the film be released and forgotten about and that he would be that. He did not think Peter Jackson had the skill to manage such an overwhelming project, and he was happy to have been wrong! One lady (prefacing her question with that John's troubles with the prosthetics were well known) asked might he still consider a part in The Hobbit, that she thought he would be magnificent as the voice of Smaug. After the applause subsided, he answered that he was so indebted to Peter Jackson that he would do anything for him. For the autograph sessions that day, Royd Tolkien signed my book which at this point I admit is getting quite crowded. John Rhys-Davies spent some extra time meeting everone in line, and made quite a few more fans during this event I'm sure. Again, I had him sign something for a friend as I had met him before.
Peter Jackson I was shocked to see that Peter Jackson himself had recorded a special message specially for ORC! In the video he apologizes for not being there, how he is jealous that the stars were up there having fun while he's forced to work down there wrestling with a certain big gorilla. And he talks directly about The Hobbit! This was great as I have never seen him really address the subject dead on. He hopes that it will all work out, as he will be ready to make it. Finally he recounts how the stars of LOTR promised that they would come back to New Zealand and be squashed by King Kong, and that he is still waiting for them!
Sideshow Weta Their participation was one of those things not announced until a few weeks into the ticket ordering phase. Being a huge Sideshow fan and collector, needless to say I was ecstatic about this news! Even though I had no idea what they would be doing there besides the usual product exhibit, this news raised the 'value' significantly for my ticket. You can bet when I got to the show, Sideshow was the first place I made a beeline for. And what a display they had- if I'm not mistaken, every single Sideshow Weta piece ever done was on display, along with a few that had never been shown! It was literally a museum, a shrine for Sideshow Weta geeks like me. I was not expecting a showing of this scale! |
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Sauron was the massive centerpiece, naturually garnering attention from every passing show attendee. There is no denying it, this two foot tall behemoth is just astounding to see in person.
The unveiling of the brand new Peregrin Took, Guard of the Citadel statue generated a ton of buzz at the booth as well after its introduction on Day 2. I must say it was a kind of a refreshing pleasure to actually see the debut of a statue with your own eyes rather than in the form of a few press photos that you will stare at for months and months before actual shipment. All of the old no-longer-available favorites were there of course, the Balrog, Cave Troll, Witchking- they were all present, seemingly tantalizing all passing gawkers. "Aren't we beautiful? woulda coulda shoulda!" |
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Major kudos to Sideshow's display arrangements- gone was the old massive Cave Troll shelf that has been at the two or three past Comic-Con shows. Although that loveable troll was remarkable, that display left many pieces out of range for the attendee. This time around the majority of the pieces were placed into big acrylic cases encircling the booth which was brilliant! Although there is a piece of acrylic glass separating you from the statues, the benefits of being able to examine a statues inches from your face as opposed to 3 to 5 feet away are obvious. You could really get up close and personal and see every little detail, which is of course a major aspect of what makes
the Weta collectibles so phenomenal. And everything was at eye level, making it easier to take pictures than when something is high on a shelf. Finally the lighting here was much superior to Comic-Con, helped tremendously by natual light seeping through ceiling windows of the venue. I don't know how it could've been done better really, perfect ten on the booth layout. This was Sideshow on full 100% Weta tilt being that this was a LOTR convention, and I recognize that even at this year's Comic-Con their display will not be nearly as comprehensive LOTR-wise because they have tons of other licenses that will rightly be competing for the spotlight. So assuming Sideshow Weta returns for ORC 2006, Sideshow freaks, you now have a new mecca.
I've gone on and on and I've not even mention the swag! Way over and beyond what I was expecting. I got 4 different busts from this weekend! Eomer, Grima Wormtongue, Smeagol, Orc Overseer, Sideshow Keychains, glossy Weta Sauron statue postcards- the spoils were plentiful and wonderful. All throughout the weekend, Sideshow was handing out smiles. Despite what they said originally about 500 or 250 busts given/raffled away, I think just about every attendee came away with a free bust or two. For me, Sideshow was one of the true highlights of the event, between the big events on the main stage, I lived at the booth! Had they not been there, ORC would've been truthfully only half as enjoyable, thanks again Sideshow, well done!
Daniel Falconer THE absolute highlight of the show for me. Being one of my heroes from Weta Workshop, I was very eager to meet with the man and talk some art. On day 1, I caught up with Daniel quite early in the day at the Sideshow booth and expressed what a big fan I was of him and Weta Workshop. Possibly be one of the friendliest guys in the world. I told him my dream would be to work at Weta and asked him about what they would look for in a portfolio, he gave me some supremely valuable feedback. I had taken two of my paintings with me over the weekend because some online have expressed to desire see some of my work at the show, so I figured why not? Daniel would get a kick out of seeing them so I showed him. I'll keep the specifics of that conversation private to keep this brief, but he was beyond encouraging about my work and we chatted for a bit more during which he was kind enough to do a sketch for me! A Treebeard sketch, fittingly enough, as the appearance of Treebeard in the film was based on his design. This is my most prized and memorable memento from this entire weekend, and sit alongside my Alan Lee Treebeard sketch as treasures that I will never part with! He signs in a most elegant and unique script which you can see below(and I overheard this sentiment echoed from many other fans who had met him throughout the weekend) I thanked him quickly after this so that the eager fans who were starting to line up behind me could get in and have a chat! A super talented person who impresses with his complete lack of ego. |
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> Read other reports > ORC 2005 photo gallery < Back to The Art of Charlie Song |
  
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