Tuesday, May 30, 2006
We've seen Frodo's ring
Oh please, stop the sniggering! You're just being smutty. It's true though, we have seen Frodo's ring but we weren't allowed to touch it. Let me explain...We left the South Island on Monday and took the 3 hour ferry across the Cook Strait to Wellington. A friend of ours had recommended that when we were there we go to see the Lord of the Rings exhibition at the Te Papa museum. I was slightly sceptical as I have neither read the books nor seen the films but having spent the last 3 weeks in the country where Lord of the Rings was filmed I was intrigued.
It felt a bit weird at first, like we were entering a cult meeting. I felt a fraud reading all the information like I knew what was going on! It was amazing though and we ended up spending about 3 hours in there. We got to see costumes worn in the film, artwork from the original books, maquettes of creatures and small scale models of various sets. There were numerous video clips of interviews with the stars and director as well where we learnt that some guy had to endure 11 hours of make up before shooting and the two guys responsible for linking the millions of chainmail now have worn the fingerprints off their fingers! The highlight however was the room containing THE ring. All slightly strange. It is suspended in a perspex cylindrical tube and is essentially just a gold band with very little detail. All very cool though.
I found out that this exhibition has been seen by over 1 million people and has travelled around the world. I can see why. I must make an effort to see the films now. Rhod is currently halfway through the first book but only because it was the cheapest book in the shop - the whole trilogy for 3 quid! He now calls himself a literary genius.
# posted by Rhodri @ 8:20 am 
