Xenite.Org News

Wrapup on Dragoncon's Tolkien and Middle-earth track

September 03, 2001 at 23:17:11

More than two years of planning and preparation have gone into Dragoncon's Tolkien and Middle-earth programming. The 2001 convention experienced its highest level of interest in Tolkien and Middle-earth to date.

Originally proposed as a one- or two-year experiment in 1999, the Tolkien and Middle-earth track at Dragoncon has proven to be immensely successful, and word is that the convention is giving serious consideration to making the track a permanent part of the program. Track director Michael Martinez surprised friends and fellow Tolkien fans by announcing he was stepping down as director at this year's convention.

"This was always intended to be just a 1- or 2-year project," Martinez explained to a half-filled room at one point during the convention as sessions were changing out. "I am already negotiating with senior management about two new possible projects. I have told them that I think Tolkien and Middle-earth are too big for a fan track, and that this should be handled through main programming."

However, it may be that the track will be resumed in 2002 under a new director, possibly Jincey Chambless, a volunteer from TheOneRing.Net who has acted as Martinez' assistant director for the past two years. "I think Jincey can handle the job," Martinez says he informed a senior director. "She has been with me for two years and knows what is involved. Dragoncon could certainly do a lot worse. She would be a good choice, in my opinion, to take on the track."

At the track wrapup session, Martinez admitted that not everything ran smoothly this year. He said part of the difficulties seemed to arise from a change in senior management at the convention. "No one can step into the leadership position of an organization this large," he told attendees at the wrapup session, "and take over without any problems. I think we have to concede that the new management needed a shakedown cruise. And people seem to be happy with the convention. That is what we (the directors and volunteer staff) are here to do: to make sure the guests and members have a good time."

Martinez added that he was disappointed with turnouts for several sessions provided by gaming companies. "I was expecting people to realize that they would see some neat stuff associated with the movies in these sessions," Martinez told his audience. "I was mistaken. And I thought the large gaming community at Dragoncon would be interested in them. In retrospect, I see I should have coordinated these sessions with the gaming track."

Nonetheless, representatives from Decipher, Inc. and Sideshow (an art merchandiser selling busts based on the movies) told Xenite.Org that they were very pleased with their convention experiences. Both companies had large booths in the Dealers Room at the Marriott Marquis and they were mentioned prominently in TheOneRing.Net's presentations. Decipher and Sideshow also donated prizes for various contests. Games Workshop also reported a positive convention experience, expressing satisfaction with the widespread exposure they received through the Tolkien Track and other parts of the convention.

Glass Hammer, the popular progressive rock band which has released two CDs inspired by Tolkien's books, cancelled a scheduled performance at the convention due to an injury. Nonetheless, they requested that one of their Tolkien track sessions go through as planned, and about 20 fans listened to cuts from the new Middle-earth CD and talked to musicians Steve Babb and Fred Schendel. Schendel sported a wrist brace but seemed in good spirits. They are already working on a new project, and reported that they have no immediate plans to do any more Middle-earth material. But Babb held forth the prospect of doing something with the story of Beren and Luthien in the future. They also said they have a lot of unreleased material which may be put into a special CD.

John Rhys-Davies, despite an exhausting schedule, appeared before a standing room-only audience in the Tolkien Track's room on Monday afternoon. Dozens of people recognized his booming voice and eloquent speech as they passed the Tolkien track room doors, which were blocked by about ten fans who could not gain access to the room. Many people stopped to listen for a while but, unable to see or hear much, moved on. The session was scheduled late in the convention on the assumption that most fans would have had a chance to see the popular actor at other opportunities.

When asked if he would sign autographs, Rhys-Davies graciously offered to do so despite his own pressing personal schedule. He signed pictures and posed for photographs for more than 30 minutes. Fans were absolutely thrilled and simply could not say enough good things about the actor. The Tolkien track staff worked to make the impromptu autograph session run as smoothly as possible.

Attendees expressed high compliments for Saturday's Hobbit Madness party, in which cup-cakes, cakes, and fruit juice were served to a full room of Tolkien fans. Five Hobbit Packs of goodies, including books, trading cards, and specially designated Sideshow business cards for Gandalf busts were given away as prizes in a trivia contest. One attendee suggested that the trivia contest be repeated in the future, as she especially liked the idea of solving riddles.

TheOneRing.Net's second presentation, scheduled for Sunday in the Tolkien's track's room, was moved to a larger venue at the same time. A room with several times the capacity of the Tolkien track room was more than half-filled by devoted Tolkien fans who endured late delivery of equipment and technical delays in setup to watch the full 1-hour presentation by TORN co-founders Calisuri (Chris Pirrotta) and Corvar (William Thomas). The jovial Corvar handled a brief interruption by a nearby track with grace and kept the session running smoothly. Calisuri quickly adapted the presentation to fit the lost time, and members of the audience helped break down the room for the next session to help keep everything running smoothly as Corvar and Calisuri rushed off to keep another commitment.

Kris Nelson and Jeff Sherrill gave two presentations on Quenya and Tengwar, answering questions from attendees on various technical aspects of Tolkien linguistics. Nelson led a three-member panel presentation of the history behind Tolkien's languages on Monday. He announced to a disappointed audience that they had had to drop a performance of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Namarie" (the poem Galadriel recites to the Fellowship as they depart from Lothlorien) by a young lady who sings in several languages after she encountered a family difficulty. Nelson chanted the poem for the audience and received an ovation for an almost flawless performance.

Michael Martinez read citations from some of his essays for enthusiastic members of his audiences, although turnout for the Sunday session was low due to conflicts with John Rhys-Davies. Friday's session included a reading of "Snoopy versus the Lord of the Nazgul" and selections from "Dear Gandalf" and other essays. Sunday's session included a reading from "Understanding Magic in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth". Martinez also spoke in general terms about an upcoming book project being arranged by Chris Zavisa, author of Satan's Tears: The Art of Alex Nino and A Look Back: The Art of Berni Wrightson.

Zavisa, who has worked with writers Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz, and has created characters for Koontz' Oddkins, is putting together a proposal for a new book with Martinez as the principal author. Although neither Martinez nor Zavisa, who attended the convention, would say much about the project, Martinez showed audiences an exquisite black-and-white drawing commissioned specifically for the drawing. Xenite.Org has agreed not to reveal more at this time in order to protect the integrity of the project, but audience members expressed enthusiastic support for the project.

Audiences asked more than once what sort of Merchandizing is planned by Burger King. Although no informative answers were provided by panelists or track staff, Martinez pointed out that some Web sites had already reported (perhaps prematurely) Burger King is planing to release a 12-minute video over the Internet in October.

Some new pictures came to light at the convention, as well. Darth Caesar of TheOneRing.Net presented a PowerPoint demo of Riot Entertainment's upcoming wireless LoTR entertainment features, including a trivia quiz, a standalone adventure game, and a multiplayer game which was expected to last several minutes per game (Xenite.Org has elected not to usurp TheOneRing.Net's exclusive coverage of the products with further details -- check out The Gaming Havens for more information).

Some convention attendees asked when or if Peter Jackson and other significant members of the movie project would visit Dragoncon. Martinez said he felt his presence in the Tolkien track might be an impediment to such relationships, since he had switched from being an ardent supporter of the movies to criticizing Jackson's claim to greater faithfulness to the book in October 2000.

"It put me in a bad position," Martinez explained. "For two years I told people, many of whom flamed me for defending the movies, that Jackson wasn't claiming to try to be faithful to the books. He was interpreting the story with exactly the kind of freedom Tolkien himself had said would be required to do it properly. Then, all of a sudden, he did an about-face, stated he was being more faithful than before, and guys in suits of full plate armor were clanking around the set (Martinez insists there are no such armored characters in the book). I looked like a fool. So, I decided to let Peter defend the movies himself. And that is what I told people. But I probably could have been more diplomatic about it."

Martinez insists he expects to enjoy the movies fully, and responded to several fans who inquired about changes in the movies that such things were inevitable. "People need to get over it," he said. "You can't make these movies without changing the story. And, yes, there are some changes I personally regret seeing made, but the movies are going to be fantastic. And the books won't be changed in the least. Let's just go and enjoy a great movie and not worry about the changes."