The Flying Gribble

A large birthday card for my daughters 10th birthday, signed and personalised by: Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Billy Boyd, Alan Lee, John Howe (with picture!), Richard Taylor, Tania Rodgers, Craig Parker, Mark Ferguson, Thomas Robins, Kiran Shah, Jed Brophy, Royd Tolkien, Daniel Falconer and about 15 other LOTR folks.

Thanks for the update Jason. I was at C4 and yes it was an exciting (although chaotic!) day - kinda like beatlemania, but in a shopping mall :) I hope this comes off.... I've been to many SM events for the LOTR stars, beginning at C3. I had an awesome time at FF2, due to it being my daughters 10th birthday, and have been looking forward to an SM attempt at that style of event ever since it was mooted. Even if it doesn't happen, thanks for all you've done over the years. It's certainly made my life that little bit brighter. Just to summarise my stance on the guests talked about so far: AS+JRD+DW = 2 days tickets should they become available AS+JRD+DW+(??? e.g tall fellowship members or some who went to FF1 - Karl Urban, Bernard Hill) = 1 silver and 1 day ticket. Get one of the big female stars and perhaps make that silver a gold :) I'll await further info with baited breath. TFG

I'd probably go, although I've met all three before - Andy three times. If day tickets became available I'd also bring my daughter for 1 day, since she's desparate to meet JRD. I'd need somebody I haven't met in order to make the probably a definite for the weekend. 2 day tickets would be a definite.

Peek a boo.

I've just tried to pre-book a spot in the car park using the number in the FAQ, and was told by the NCP guy at the other end that they don't take pre-bookings. Just a heads-up for those travelling by car.

Another vote for Brighton from me!

As well as the Costume Competition, the Art Competition was fun and interesting. Some of them were amazing! The people running it (The Spirit Lives On) were also really nice :)

presumably, the answer would be yes - if both of you have your own VT ticket. can't see a reason not to allow them, but to provide an area for kids to wait... there's a lot of regulations to adhere to, and training of staff et cetera. hard to do everything in the last few days. there might be leeway, i dunno. but i can't see it bein the case if its summat mr lee has requested himself, that theres only one auto per person It's not the 'one auto per person' that's the problem, it's the bit at the end of this (from the the opening post in the thread) That's slightly different from the normal VT rules, where you just need an additional VT as long as you're accompanying somebody getting an auto.

I really want to get this, but can't leave my young daughter on her own and don't think I can stretch to 2 autographs given the others we're getting. Is there any leeway on this at all? (Excuse the pun ) TFG

Yes, we partly agree - it's one VT per person. I also agree that you *do* have to get a VT if you queue. I never mentioned anything about an open queue. But according to the FAQ, VT ticket's are free and if you are accompanying somebody who is getting an autograph then you queue up with them - see below. The link between VT ticket and autograph payment *is* the opposite of the photo shoot. This is not difficult to grasp when you read the FAQ. Of course, the FAQ could be wrong, but that's a different kind of problem.

I heard that the costume was really tight in the groin area, which pushed his voice up 5 octaves - making him sound like a dolphin.

Didn't he play Flipper? After that make-up call every day, the rubber hobbit feet were easy!

Actually it's the total opposite of the VT - you can get a ticket and queue up in the VT without having to buy an additional autograph. See the FAQ : Like I said, it doesn't really matter in the end, I just wanted some clarity since the original wording seemed to have a contradiction which worked in my favour.

Thanks for authoritative reply. I think you'd better reword or take out the 'One ticket means one picture developed' sentence then. In the end it won't matter. I managed to get some photo's with Elijah at C4 anyway, so I'll just send my daughter in.

Yes, but the key phrase in the main post was: One ticket means one picture developed We only want one picture developed - one print, therefore only one ticket purchased. If two friends were in the picture, then they'd likely both want a copy. We won't want that.

OK, what about my scenario, with my daughter and I. We only want 1 picture developed although 2 people are in it - that's 1 ticket, right?

I think you're missing the point. It's for people going in groups - for example my daughter and I are going and we would like a photo together for £20, not 2 separate ones for £40 or 1 photo with the two of us for £40. Cheers, TFG

On the Ain't It Cool News website, they quote an email from Peter Jackson which says: "We have decided to save the Saruman sequence for the DVD. It's a great little scene. 7 mins long. Chris is wonderful, as usual. Brad is in about 6 shots. It was a film maker decision - nothing to do with the studio. The problem is that the sequence was originally shot for The Two Towers, as it is in the book. Since The Two Towers couldn't sustain a 7 min "wrap" after Helm's Deep, we thought it would be a good idea to save it for the beginning of the Return of the King. The trouble is, when we viewed various ROTK cuts over the last few weeks, it feels like the first scenes are wrapping last year's movie, instead of starting the new one. We felt it got ROTK off to an uncertain beginning, since Saruman plays no role in the events of ROTK (we don't have the Scouring later, as the book does), yet we dwell in Isengard for quite a long time before our new story kicks off. We reluctantly made the decision to save this sequence for the DVD. The choice was made on the basis that most people will assume that Saruman was vanquished by the Helm's Deep events, and Ent attack. We can now crack straight into setting up the narrative tension of ROTK, which features Sauron as the villian. It was a very similar situation to last year when we decided to take a nice Boromir/Denethor flashback out of The Two Towers, and put it in the DVD. It was causing us pacing problems in the theatrical version, but with the Extended Cut just coming out now, fans can see this great little scene. Thank God for DVD, since it does mean that a version of the movie, which has different pacing requirements, can be released later. The Saruman sequence will definately be a highlight of the Extended ROTK DVD." So there you go - from the horses mouth. It's long been known that the Scouring wasn't in the films, although the Grey Havens is. Cheers, TFG

Hmm. I was just about to leap to Ians defence, but on second thoughts he's quite capable of looking after himself! Seconds out .....

Thanks for the reply. I'll take it easy on Sunday then. Cheers, TFG

... but with Hobbit Monday being a late addition with only the LOTR guests available, will all of the dealer stalls actually be there on Monday as well? Just want to know if I've got to rush round the stalls on Sunday. Cheers, TFG

I just want somebody tall from the Fellowship! I'm getting my Fan Club Fellowship Lithograph signed and with Dom, Billy and JRD it's getting a bit crowded down the bottom Cheers, TFG