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After a record-breaking five months in New Zealand's Te Papa museum in Wellington, The Lord of the Ring Movie Trilogy Exhibition has arrived in Europe. London's Science Museum is the venue for the only scheduled European display and the exhibit will be moving on to Singapore in early January next year. In my capacity as "contributing writer" for Decipher's Official Movie fan club magazine, I was lucky enough to get an early view of the exhibition at its press launch, the day before the exhibition went on display to the public.
This web log is different from previous ones, in that I will not be posting the photo's that are going to be appearing in my Decipher magazine report. Therefore if you want the BEST photo's, and a far less opinionated (some might say "more professional" ;-)) write-up of the exhibition itself with more "behind the scenes" quotes you're going to have to subscribe to the official fan club magazine! With six full-colour 80-page issues a year filled with Lord of the Rings movie goodness how could you not subscribe? Yes, I'm biased in that I write for the magazine, but I do pay for my own copies - so there's a recommendation right there! Full details of the magazine and how to subscribe are available at www.lotrfanclub.com. OK, I can hear shouts of "enough already with the sales/marketing blurb", so let's move on...
		I've been to a few press shindigs in my time, but I think this must rate as the best-organised of them all. There were a lot of staff on hand to give directions and background information on the exhibition and all seemed knowledgeable and enthusiastic. On the odd occasion where someone couldn't answer a question they were invariably able to point me to someone who could. The entrance to the main exhibition area is preceded by the exhibition store, which was spacious and roomy on launch day, but may well be packed and claustrophobic when open to the public (he wrote, trying to cover his backside just in case things change!). The store sold the usual Weta sculpture goodies (Can I just recommend Jamie Beswarick's full-figure stone troll - one of my favourites in the whole Weta series of sculptures so far?!) and also some new, classy items I haven't seen elsewhere. Some crystal pieces impressed, as did the New Zealand 'Stansborough' scarves and cardigans from the makers of the magic cloaks in the movie - although the mark-up when compared with original New Zealand prices seemed rather high - £100 for the scarf! I know I'm biased (because the author, Brian Sibley, is a mate) but I felt the exhibition store really missed an opportunity in not having any copies of the Harper Collins' "The Making of the Movie Trilogy" book on sale. There is no official programme souvenir, no postcards of the exhibits, and no cameras or mobile phones allowed inside the exhibition. As a result the "Making of..." book is the best companion/souvenir to this exhibition you're going to be able to get - indeed, I noticed that some of the exhibits appeared to have taken their titles directly from Brian's book chapter titles!. I spent some time trying to get to the bottom of the 'no photography' rule that, to their credit, The Science Museum have always been very upfront about - you can't order a ticket without being warned that cameras and mobile phones will be taken away from you before entering the exhibit. Getting to the bottom of why this should be proved somewhat elusive and contradictory. The "higher ups" at the press conference implied it was because of the 'secret' nature of the technology and material on display. I'm afraid I didn't swallow this - after all it's not as if we're talking about the source code for "Massive" (the software used to intelligently create thousands of battle-ready soldiers) here! The reasons given appeared to contradict the fact that the press were given free rein when it came to photographing the exhibits! Inside the exhibit museum staff could only murmer rather awkwardly that it was "a stipulation for holding the exhibition" that no photography be allowed, and for me this less precise explanation has the 'ring' of truth to it. Reading the New Zealand Herald and taking other comments made at the press conference as pointers, my guess would be that this 'no photography' rule has been introduced by The Tolkien Estate as part of their Terms and Conditions for allowing the exhibition to go on tour, and that someone has 'bent the rules' to allow the press exemption on the grounds that it's needed to help promote the event. Whatever the reasons, it's a shame for the fans (my in-box tells me just how disappointed most of you are), but as some recompense there's a very complete set of pictures that can be viewed by those wanting some memories of their visit to the exhibition, linked to from the main Exhibition report provided by the folks at TheOneRing.net. Incidentally the New Zealand Herald report is by far and away the best press report of the London opening that I've read. Journalists fared better than the public, even without cameras, because at the press launch the Science Museum had an official photographer present - which may explain why the same photo's have appeared on so many of the web reports published so far. My own photo's have left me with the slight dilemma of not being quite sure legally where I stand (journalists wanting to use the official photographs were told they had to issue a credit to New Line Cinema alongside them - something most seem to have ignored!), so I've erred on the side of caution and credited New Line Cinema on the larger copies of photo's that prominently feature exhibits rather than the press launch itself. I'm not going to review the exhibition itself in detail here (the magazine article will do that - are you geting the message about how you really SHOULD subscribe yet? ;-)), all I will say is that the statement, from exhibition manager James Rudoni, that "the films don't do justice to the costumes, armour, prosthetics and props because film can't show all the detail" is NOT hype, and if you're a fan of the movies you would be crazy to pass up this fantastic opportunity to see what you've seen on celluloid up close and personal. In fact even if you're not a fan of the movies you can't fail to be impressed by the exhibit. The Two Towers movie may disappoint at times, thanks to a series of choppy edits, crass dialogue and some frankly inexcusable lapses in continuity (Pippin's tied/untied waving in the air/tied hands anyone?!), but thankfully none of that matters here. Suffice to say, I've already bought my ticket for a return visit so that I can have more time to browse what's on display! In the past I've been critical of the time and money 'wasted' in experimenting and putting too much detail into things that can never be seen on screen, where I think that time and effort would have been better spent trying to polish the script and ensure the theatrical releases came in at a reasonable running time and in a more coherent form, but have to admit that this exhibition vindicates the great care and attention to detail that Richard Taylor and his team took. OK, so onto the specifics of the Press launch. For the UK, this was scheduled for a 10.30am start, with a 'photo call' for photographers scheduled earlier for 10.00am. In fact this was running late as the story changed from 'Andy Serkis is going to be late' to 'Andy Serkis has cancelled his car so we don't think he's coming'. No disrespect to Andy or any other members of the main cast, but the presence of 'name' celebrities (Billy Boyd had also been a 'possible show' at one stage) really wasn't needed. Weta's Richard Taylor was on hand to answer the most important (ie serious) questions and Lawrence Makaore, beautifully made up as Lurtz, was available to give the press the shots they needed to run a story that would be of interest in attracting more than the hard core fan base. As it was, even with all the 'is he coming or isn't he?' shenanigans the photo call eventually started about 40 minutes late (less of a delay than most I've experienced at this sort of event!) with staff keeping us informed at all times - great job! For those 'celebrity' spotters amongst you I should add that there was some excitement from my press colleagues at the fact that Jon Tickle from Big Brother was present for the photo call (no pictures here, but you can see my picture of him being arm-locked by Lurtz over at TheOneRing.net). For me, the highlight of the photo call came when one of the staff's young kids, a four year old called 'Max', charged out the crowd to attack Lurtz with a plastic sword. The boy had the time of his life (read Richard and Lawrence's comments in the press conference transcript if you don't believe me) and happily spent 15 minutes growling and hamming it up with Lurtz. I suppose I should be amused, rather than appalled, at the extensive web usage of the photo of the young lad shouting, but given with the implication he was bawling with terror, and The Sun's report on the event makes me wonder if I should ever believe anything I read in the press again. "Never let truth get in the way of a good story!" seems to be the attitude of most of our home-grown press. If you're interested in reading other 'light' but fun reports check out the two reports at the BBC web site: here, and here or The Yahoo story here. German speakers can also read a short report at herr-derr-ring-film.de At the press conference the first question concerned 'dumbing down', with an accusation that putting on this exhibition was 'outside the remit of the Science Museum'. I felt the Science Museum were a little defensive where they didn't need to be, but it was nevertheless depressing to read the next day's rather contrived story in The Independent which used the exhibition launch as a soapbox to complain about the government forcing museums to 'dumb down' with attractions that earnt them money. They pretty much ignored the fact that this exhibition is really pulling people into The Science Museum who wouldn't normally go there and, as such, is really helping promote the Science Museum itself, quite aside from providing an exhibit that people are quite desperate to see (regardless of where it's hosted). I don't think I've visited the Science Museum since I was a kid, but with free admittance to the rest of the museum, and with the Lord of the Rings exhibition taking up less than 5% of the total space, I don't see where the problem is. I know I'm popping back for a trip to the non-Lord of the Rings parts in a few weeks time, and that the Exhibit itself actually reminded me of the fun trip I'd had to the museum and its 'push button' exhibits as a kid over 35 years ago!
For the most part the Press Conference was a lot of 'talking up' of the exhibition, with the 'higher ups' at the museum and from Te Papa in New Zealand revealing the background to the exhibits. That being said, unless these people are professional actors (and I don't think they are!), their enthusiasm was genuine, and it's not hard to see why! Kudos to Te Papa for having the sheer determination to push past all the barriers and overcome all the objections that they faced in making this exhibition a reality. Yet again I was impressed with Richard Taylor (maybe I'm gullible, but it's the way he always takes the time to name and credit his people that makes me think he's the genuine deal where all those 'the boss you'd most like to work for' fan plaudits are concerned). Richard not only spoke well at the press conference but seemed to be working hard 'in the background' all day long, despite quite clearly suffering from illness (I suspect a combination of jet lag and sheer exhaustion). I was also impressed with Lawrence Makaore who had to suffer seemingly endless hours in heavy make-up and prosthetics in hot halls and exhibition areas, keeping people amused. It was interesting to hear Lawrence comment about the irony of coming to London to see the exhibition because he'd never had an opportunity to see it in his native New Zealand. Collectormania 4 fans will be pleased to hear that I overheard him talking several times about how much he was looking forward to going to Milton Keynes in a week or so's time. Most of what you need to know about the exhibition is buried in the Press Kit information given out at the event or at the Press Conference and Q&A session - all of which I've posted here with this report. If you want the exhibition to be a surprise I would avoid these areas (and this page too - doh! too late!) as they reveal a lot about what's on display. Please note the warnings in the transcript about ticket demand being high and the need to book in advance using the booking line number of 0870 870 4868. Note that the exhibition leaves these shores on January 12th so you need to book up quickly! You can find more information on the exhibition at The Science Museum Exhibition web site. The exhibition moves on to Singapore and Boston Science Museum, USA next year, and The Powerhouse in Sydney, Australia the year after but there are no firm opening dates for these venues yet. It remains only for me to thank Leo at TheOneRing.net and James Kearney at the BBC for alerting me to the existence of this press launch and giving me contact information, together with Ben Ayers at the Science Museum press office who responded to my enquiries promptly and efficiently. Without their help neither this report nor the Decipher magazine coverage would have been possible.
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