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DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of Ian Smith (this IS a personal web site and a PERSONAL report!) and do not reflect the views and opinions of any other organisations or clubs that Ian Smith belongs to or may be involved with. Specifically this article does not purport to represent in any shape or form the views or opinions of TheOneRing.net, the Official Lord of the Rings Movie Fan Club or any of its members or of the organisers and workers behind Ring*Con 2004.
The opening ceremony seemed longer this year - a friend who'd gone last year said he thought this was simply because last year's show was better but I'm not sure I agree. The convention crowd were up for anything and the excitement rose as video footage of the movie was played to well-known songs.
Queen's "We Will Rock You" was humorously played over movie scenes of the pounding of Minas Tirith. And I thought the use of the 'Birth of the Uruk Hai' footage to the lines of 'You've got mud on your face, a big disgrace' were particularly inspired. But for me the excitement one could sense in the air dropped during an overlong amateur dramatics -styled Middle-earth re-enactment. Peter Jackson can get away with 'he's dead. Oh no he isn't' repeated multiple times but I'm not sure 'Sword fight. He's dead. Let's have another sword fight' repeated four times with accompanying portentious narration does. Although the crowd applauded loudly the thought going through my mind was 'They had everyone worked up to fever pitch before the guests came on and now they've lost it'. Fortunately the traditional 'big villain' dry ice and lights segment of the opening ceremony quickly got things back on track - this was pretty much an enhanced version of previous years' shows, with Sauron and the Black Riders being joined on stage this time around by an impressive Witch King figure. Great stuff!
		Any worries that there may ba a sudden appearance of 'squealy fan girls' once the appearance of 'a hobbit actor' had been made quickly vanished when the main guests were introduced as part of the opening ceremony: Bernard Hill got a clearly heart-felt standing ovation. Photographs of John Rhys-Davies from last year's event projected earlier in the show had earned similar credit with volumes of applause increasing as his picture replaced that of one of the younger actors. Clearly these fans recognise quality acting work when they see it, irrespective of the sex appeal of the actor concerned. After the guests had been introduced, Billy's panel started, a little later than advertised, but only by a matter of a few minutes. It turned out his flight had arrived late and his luggage had been lost. With no time to be properly briefed he arrived on stage direct from the airport, confused as to what was expected of him. Although he appeared to handle the whole thing with his usual giggly humour, at least as perceived from front-of-stage, this was the first time I've seen Billy at an event like this and felt he was 'acting' good humour rather than feeling it. I'll be posting Billy's panel transcripts and photographs here over the next few days and you'll see that it was a very good panel. But I'm used to sensational rather than very good from this actor, and even the next day when stress over delayed flights and missing luggage should have gone, I felt that the actor was 'out of sorts' compared with previous fan event appearances. I found myself thinking 'He's got to the stage where he's done too many of these things and this is now more like work than play for him' (Boy, do I know that feeling!). I just didn't feel he was really enjoying himself, the way he has done at other events. A request to sing was met with a Bernard Hill -like response of 'No' - polite but firm, but somewhat surprising given previous appearances where he's been more than happy to just go along with whatever's asked of him. Billy had some new stories ('I'd forgotten that. I've never told this story before...') and the quirky humour he has carried him through some rather odd questions (the worst being 'How do I get my poem to you?' followed by a refusal to just read it out - a weak attempt to get to the actor that was rightly booed by sections of the audience). A transcript and photo's will follow when I get time. It goes without saying that irrespective of my thoughts on his two panels, they were very well received and no doubt the big highlight of this year's convention for his large legion of fans. Lawrence Makaore followed Billy and kept people entertained for an hour. Admittedly there wasn't much new here for those of us that have heard the actor answering questions about his roles in the movie before, but it's good to see Lawrence getting more and more polished with each con talk he gives, and to see him introducing more and more of his natural humour into his responses. His ability to give witty, instant retorts to unplanned things happening around him showed off his natural talent as an entertainer. He worked hard again this year and is seemingly perfectly at ease with the fans - I caught him Sunday night in the bar, when the convention was officially over, teaching a group of fans a dance. It's not hard to see why he has such a loyal following. Craig Parker and Mark Ferguson did their usual fantastic job of improvised comedy on their panel. It was one of those things where you had to be there to understand. Suffice to say that for many fans this was a highlight, if not THE highlight, of all the panels on the main stage. Good stuff, as usual, from them! It was only on passing Craig and Mark in the hotel corridors, on the way back to my hotel room after their last panel, that I sensed the main difference between this Ring*Con and previous ones. The first year the fans were more inhibited and the actors could walk or sit in the bars without being totally besieged by fans requesting autographs or photographs or clinging to them with some sort of delusion that because they'd attended a prior event they were friends. Thomas Robins did a wonderful parody of the problems this attention can cause when he re-enacted a trip from the main stage to the toilet in his panel the next day and I have to say it's a great shame that fans can't just be grateful for the photo opportunities, signings and panels they've already had and insist on asking for more. The net result of all this behaviour is that the the guests spend more time in their hotel rooms away from the madness rather than feeling they can relax in the more public areas, which is what made the first two Ring*Cons such a talking point for so many of the fans. Some of the guests did mingle, particularly in the small hours of the morning when things were a bit quieter, but the 'herd' mentality has definitely set in now to an extent that, as one attendee put it, this year's event 'didn't make me feel special'. If this is a problem (and it wasn't for me, because I already know I'm special :-P) I frankly don't see any way of fixing it - the mob that formed around Bruce Hopkins and Lawrence Makaore at TheOneRing.net party in New Zealand back at the tail end of last year convinced me that the 'good old days' of cast and crew being able to hang out with fans without being mobbed have long gone. A pleasant night in the bar, with an 'early night' (early for Ring*Con anyway!) at 1am signalled the end of the first day. Back to Page 1 of this report Day 2 of the report will be posted when I get time - probably not until Sunday as I have gone down with a stinker of a cold after all the excesses of the weekend and 'the real job' will take over the next few days.
Don't forget you can check out reports of lots of other Lord of the Rings -themed events in the Web Logs section

Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk