That was one successful marathon!

It's finished. It's done. We came, we watched, we survived (most of us). All six extended Middle-earth movies in a row, in a single sitting. Truly, the end of all things.


I hope everyone enjoyed the event as much as we did! Everything went right, from the chosen date of Good Friday, March 25th (which won't happen again until the year 2157!), to the fantastic venue The Roxy Cinema. Thank you again for hosting this for us, you were marvelous!

In fact, a few thank you's are in order.

Thank you first and most importantly of all, to the Roxy Cinema for all their support, and in particular to Alice, who helped so much the whole way through; to Phil and Valentina for supporting it throughout the planning and preparation stages; and to Richard for keeping things flowing at the event itself! And of course to the other, invisible, behind-the-scenes staff who set up, cooked, and cleaned up afterwards for us. You all did a great job!

Thank you to the Roxy also for the amazing prizepacks both before as well as during the event. And of course congratulations to the prizewinners!

Anna receives her prize.

Thank you to the Miramar Events Trust, for you support, and assistance talking to the media.

Thank you to the Weta Workshop, and in particular to Tania Rodger, for setting up the venue in true Weta style.

Thanks to Daniel Tararo and Kris McMeans who blogged, tweeted, facebook, and most importantly, periscoped their way through the event, with live interviews for the world to watch.

Thanks to Erica, Wilson and Luke for recording the event for your documentary. Let me know when it's available to watch somewhere!

Thank you to Chewy from Wellington Rover Tours for supplying the courtesy shuttle, for getting people There And Back Again, and also for printing the much appreciated Survivor's Certificates. They will make great reminders of this mega event.

We lived!

Also thank you to Mojo Coffee for making sure there was enough caffeine to go around for the fans!


A HUGE thank you to all the special guests who came and honoured us with their presence - Jamie Selkirk (with Oscar!), Daniel Reeve, Daniel Falconer, Peter Hambleton, Sanit Klamchanuan, Kim and Warren Beaton, and Sadwyn Brophy. You made yourself so very available to the fans, with conversation, photos, autographs, and (to Daniel Reeve in particular) with your amazing skills.

A special thank you to Jed Brophy for being there right throughout the event, and getting just as tired as the rest of us! Your dedication is amazing!

A HUGE thank you from me (Jack) to the rest of the Welly-moot committee - Cinnamon, Alex, and Kris. Cinnamon, I forgot to mention you in the speech before the first movie - but I couldn't have done it without you. Alex, you were always by my side. And Kris, my costume looks amazing, thanks to you!

And last, but not least, thank you so much to the amazing fans we managed to convince to part with a not-insignificant amount of money, some who came dressed up, some who flew from halfway across the world, and at least one who walked about 40kms to get to the cinema on time. Your dedication to these films is always amazing, and knowing that support existed made the efforts to organise this so much easier.


Thank you all - I for one, enjoyed this event immensely! I trust everyone else did also!

   - Jack Machiela
 

Tomorrow's the big day! One last FANTASTIC announcement!

The event starts at 12:30pm, Thursday. That's less than 15 hours away!

Apart from the best series of movies ever, the Roxy cinema has been completely redecorated by Weta Workshop's very own Tania Rodger. Unfortunately she won't be present during the event but there will be some other very cool people there.

I can now confirm that the MC of the event will be none other than JED BROPHY himself!

But there's more! Jed will not only be there to greet us at the start, but will be there throughout the event! This man is not only more characters in the two trilogies than anyone else, but he's also obviously the actor most dedicated to the fans!


I probably won't make any other announcements, but there are more surprises happening throughout the event, so be ready!

See you all there. My costume is ready - is yours?

  - Jack

Marathon Event Timings

Here is a complete timeline of the events planned for this mega-marathon.

Thursday March 24th:

• 12:00 – Rover Courtesy Bus leaves from iSite (20 seats)
• 12:30 – Daniel Reeve at Roxy, Calligraphy Demonstration
• 13:00 – Welly-moot competition prize handover
• 14:00 – HOBBIT 1: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
• 17:03 – Break
• 17:15 – HOBBIT 2: DESOLATION OF SMAUG
• 20:22 – Dinner Break with Daniel Falconer
• 21:15 – HOBBIT 3: BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

Friday March 25th:

• 00:00 – Midnight Break
• 00:15 – LOTR 1: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
• 04:03 – Break
• 04:15 – LOTR 2: THE TWO TOWERS
• 08:11 – Breakfast with Kim and Warren Beaton
• 09:00 – LOTR 3: RETURN OF THE KING
• 13:24 – Survivor's Lunch - Handout of Souvenir Certificates
• 14:30 – Rover Courtesy Bus returns to iSite

Note that the movie start-times will be exact; some of the other times may be approximate.

As you can see we have some amazing VIPs coming, and there is one other special guest expected, who will be MC-ing throughout the event; I will announce him VERY soon!


  - Jack

Additional excitement for the event...

Will and Erica, two of our longtime Welly-mooters are currently making a documentary on the power of myths, and will be on hand to ask the Marathonners' a few questions.

Wilson Sze and Erica Brooks, producers of "An Underground Odyssey" - an educational documentary that explores the power and applicability of myth and fantasy in people's lives - will be present during the Middle-Earth Marathon to document the event. As Tolkien fans themselves, they will be interviewing attendees with questions such as, “What do you love about the LOTR/The Hobbit stories?”, “Where did you travel from to attend this event?”, “What is it about Tolkien’s Middle-Earth that you love so much?”, “Who is your favourite character in Middle-Earth?”, “Which character can you most relate to and why?”, “How has Middle-Earth impacted your life?” The interviews will be featured in the documentary, along with footage of fans in their costumes, capturing the warmth and passion of Middle-Earth fandom. If you would like to be interviewed and share your story, they would love to hear from you during the breaks and mealtimes!

 They'll be there during some of the breaks; if you feel like being record for all eternity, pop up to them and volunteer your services! The more the better!



Also: There are still a few places left on the FREE shuttle, so please don't be shy - drop me an email if you want to be picked up from (and dropped back to) town for the event. Contact me at jack@welly-moot.com.

  - Jack

We have a winner! Congratulations to Anna from Masterton!

Our competition for the best fan story attracted a good number of entries, and the Welly-moot committee spent most of the end of last week reading through them.

One story came out on top though; the prize was eventually won by Anna from Masterton, for her story about how she first met Jed Brophy and William Kircher a few years ago, at the Wellington Armageddon (now renamed to Comic-con NZ).


Anna, you can pick up your prize on the day; we'll be in touch via email with further details!

Also, another HUGE thank you to the Roxy Cinema, who donated this prizepack!

Anna, your prize includes a ticket to the event, as well as ALL of the following:

• LOTR postcard set (10)
• Hobbit postcard set (10)
• Middle-earth teatowel (Thorin’s Map)
• Middle-earth key-ring
• Red eye of Sauron pin/badge
• Hobbit Hole collectible
• Middle-earth Location Guidebook (hardcover – Ian Brodie)
• 2 x 1 litre bottles of Hobbiton Gingerbeer
• 1 x Box of Scorched Almonds
• 1 x Bar Whittakers Chocolate
• 1 x Pkt Popcorn
• 1 x Roxy Cap
• 1 x Roxy Notebook
• 1 x Roxy Pin

I hope you have enough space to display your new Middle-earth collection!


Also a big thank you to all the others who sent in stories - the standards were very high, and we enjoyed reading them all!

  - Jack

Wellington Rover Tours is providing a courtesy bus with driver, to and from the event!

Scott from Wellington Rover Tours (Wellington's biggest LOTR touring company, and oft sponsor of the Welly-moot) has kindly donated the use of a 20-seater bus (with driver Chewie), to take a limited number of people from Wellington central to the Roxy, and afterwards bring them back again.

If you don't have any way to get to the event and don't want to use public transport while you're in LOTR costume, then let me know at jack@welly-moot.com, so I can put you on the list.

Although this transport option is 100% FREE, there is a STRICTLY limited number of seats available, so please let me know AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! First in, first served. You snooze, you lose. Early bird gets the worm. Etc.


The bus will leave from the iSite at 12:01pm, lunchtime on Thursday the 24th, and will make its way to the Roxy. Since there's plenty of time before the movies begin, you may be able to convince Chewie to take you all to the very first LOTR filming location on top of Mount Victoria first... :)  I'll leave that open!

A full event itinerary will be posted in the next few days. It'll have a number of other surprises on it! VIP's you say? Muahahaha!

  - Jack

Competition is now closed!

The deadline has passed, and we've got a good amount of entries into our competition for a free Marathon ticket plus Hobbit Prize pack, so we're currently judging the best stories. The Welly-moot comittee is reading and voting today and tomorrow, and on Friday night we will announce a winner!

I have my favourite, but I won't tell anyone yet until all the results are in. :)

Some great stories from everyone!

  - Jack

Ultra Marathon - one free ticket to give away!

Heya everyone, I'm not sure if you saw this on TheOneRing.Net, but the Roxy Cinema has donated an amazing prizepack including a ticket to the full event, to give away to one lucky winner!

All you have to do to win it is to send an email to ‘competition@welly-moot.com’ with your best fan-story. It could be anything – the day you met one of the actors; your worst hard-luck story; what got you into Tolkien; – anything. Make it good, in less than 300 words! You’ve got until Wednesday the 16th, midnight (Wellington time). The Welly-moot committee will judge the best story, and they’ll be in touch with the winning entry!

The prizepack includes the following:

• LOTR postcard set (10)
• Hobbit postcard set (10)
• Middle-earth teatowel (Thorin’s Map)
• Middle-earth key-ring
• Red eye of Sauron pin/badge
• Hobbit Hole collectible
• Middle-earth Location Guidebook (hardcover – Ian Brodie)
• 2 x 1 litre bottles of Hobbiton Gingerbeer
• 1 x Box of Scorched Almonds
• 1 x Bar Whittakers Chocolate
• 1 x Pkt Popcorn
• 1 x Roxy Cap
• 1 x Roxy Notebook
• 1 x Roxy Pin
• 1 x Middle-earth Marathon ticket

So tell us your best story, as soon as you can, the deadline is in the next four days!

Also, please share this one far and wide on your favourite social media.

Finally, keep watching this space - there's still a few more announcements and surprises to come for this event!
 

Ultra-marathon update - LOTR-only tickets available as well now.

Quick event update - there are now also LOTR-only tickets available, for those who can't get Thursday 24th off, or aren't up to a 24 hour marathon (weaklings!).

The tickets get you all three LOTR (Extended Editions) at the Roxy Cinema, with breakfast and lunch as well. This starts from midnight (straight after The Hobbit Trrilogy) and is $150 for all three LOTR films plus breakfast and lunch.

You may purchase here: http://www.roxycinema.co.nz/movies/10770.php

Or call the Roxy, or visit them. As always, no refunds or unpaid bookings.

Shoutout to our Japanese followers!

As lots of you have already discovered, the tickets to the Ultra-Marathon are now on sale!  Check the Roxy's ticket office website,

A quick message from Alex to any Japanese LOTR fans who are interested in joining the movie marathon on the Welly-moot website: http://www.roxycinema.co.nz/page-event-3.php

Dear Japanese friends ー 日本のみなさんへ

今回のこのイベントー Movie Marathon にご興味がある方で、日本語で質問や問い合わせをされたいは方は、是非私Alex Ishikawaに直接メールして下さい。メールアドレスはalex@welly-moot.comです。できるだけお手伝いさせて頂きます。いつでも気楽にメールして下さいね！

(English translation)

Dear Japanese friends - to Japanese people - If you are interested in joining us for this event - Movie Marathon - and wish to talk or send any enquiries in Japanese, please contact me, Alex Ishikawa, directly. My email address is alex@welly-moot.com. I will try to help you as much as I can. Please feel free to contact me anytime!

Can I ask our Japanese friends to share this on your social media please, as much as you can?




And obviously this message applies to any other nationalities as well, but the communications will have to be in English I'm afraid. :)

Welly-moot #5.1 Report - ("Faramir & Eowyn")

The Welly-moot group met today at the Embassy Cinema, to discuss another aspect of Tolkien's world - the relationship between Faramir and Eowyn.

It was a lively discussion, with all sorts of wonderful points being raised. Did Faramir think he would be the reigning Steward (until Aragorn showed up), and how far was Eowyn from taking up the mantel thrust upon her by King Theoden, before they both met?

The group, which consisted of thirteen committed members, had a great cultural variety amongst us - New Zealand, England, Scandinavia, USA, Japan, Germany, Polynesia, to name a few backgrounds. We talked about child-naming traditions for Middle-earth, and how they relate to the real world, as well as the stranglehold that misogyny has over Eowyn, and how it affected her life choices. From there we somehow covered the subject of hair-cutting traditions on Rarotonga, and how that was also reflected in some ways in the reverence Gimli held over the locks of Galadriel's hair. From the real world to Middle-earth, and straight back again indeed.

In the group today were a number of members who return to us after long absences, including Ryan, Jennifer, and Hawk - welcome back guys! One particularly long absence was from Jens Goetz from the German Tolkien group. Jens has been to the moot once before, way back in 2012, dressed as our German Gandalf! As before, he brought a song for us!

"What really happened in the Green Dragon" -by Jens Goetz

Today he was in "normal" clothes, but tomorrow I have the honour of driving him around the Middle-earth locations of Wellington in my other job as a LOTR tourguide. Looking forward to it, Jens!


Apart from the theme of the day, we also of course had a big excited discussion about our huge event, The End Of All Things; the Ultimate Middle-earth Marathon. Since we have the green light, we know that tickets are selling rapidly, so if you're thinking of attending, please buy tickets as soon as possible. If you leave things too late, you may end up missing out. Please get in touch with either Cinnamon or myself if you need any assistance in any way. We're on facebook, email, blog messages, texts, phones, etc, so no excuses! :)

It very much looks like this event will be an awesome one. Every announcement today was exciting. We're getting sponsored by Mojo Coffee, who will be providing bottomless brewed coffee throughout the event. There will be VIP guests - one has been confirmed, and possible more as well. I will be announcing things as soon as they firm up 100%. It looks very much like Weta is dressing up the Roxy Cinema, possibly with original props. We're doing it in style!


More information to come soon. In the meantime, to book a ticket, please go to...:

         http://www.roxycinema.co.nz/page-event-3.php

Roxy Cinema Events booking

  - Jack

The End Of All Things - The ultimate Middle-earth Marathon is ON!

So, it looks like we're all go, the event is live, and tickets have gone on sale!

We got ours - how about you?

Over the last few days, we've had confirmation that the Roxy Cinema is helping us celebrate the completion of Sir Peter Jackson's in style.

Together with Welly-moot they have arranged for all six of the EXTENDED versions of the movies to be shown in a single extremely long session, starting at 2:00pm on March 24th (Thursday before Easter), and ending around the same time the next day (Good Friday March 25th).

A few weeks ago, we asked people to "like" the facebook event page - now we're asking you to put your money where your mouths are, and go and buy the tickets.

Tickets are on sale online through the Roxy's own website at the follwiong address:

http://www.roxycinema.co.nz/page-event-3.php

...so go and get yourself a ticket to a history event. Tickets are $250, and costumes are compulsory encouraged! Welly-moot will be providing some cool spot-prizes for the best or funnest costumes!

There WILL be further announcements, so keep watching this space!

If anyone has any questions, send them to me or to the Roxy (through their link above).

And see you all there!

Welly-moot #5.1 Theme - Faramir & Eowyn (January 31st)

If it's not too late to mention it, happy new year, everyone! Get ready for another geeky nerdfest of Tolkien Trivia!


This month we will explore the relationship between Faramir and Eowyn. It's a curious one; they meet, get engaged, and marry despite (or perhaps due to) all the troubles around them.

Both had high hopes for the future, which was dashed on the rocks for both of them by Aragorn (although for different reasons).



So, dig out the books one more time, and make sure to watch the Extended Edition of the Return Of The King (their meeting in the Houses of Healing is fleshed out a lot there), and come and discuss your findings with us at the Embassy Cinema, at 2:00pm, on Sunday January 31st, the first Welly-moot meeting of 2016.


Also at the moot, there will be further announcements relating to our BIG event, The End Of All Things. It looks very much like we've got the green light on it - I heard on the grapevine today that tickets will be on sale via the Roxy Cinema in the next few days. Get ready with your credit cards!

Tickets will be strictly limited, and those who followed the instructions given earlier will be given first preferences to the tickets, so please DO send that email to events@welly-moot.com as soon as you can - I fully expect the tickets to go VERY quickly.

For more information, check out the facebook event page as well.


Meanwhile, see you on Sunday January 31st, for the bi-monthly moot!

  - Jack