Lord of the Rings Exhibition in Texas

[Guest guest]

This is a report from an email friend on the LOTR exhibition. Sounds like something I would really enjoy, but I bet it won't come here.

 

Jo

 

What can I say except that it was AWESOME!!

 

Lots of artist's sketches, several videos to watch, but the best parts - for me, at least - were the actual movie pieces. Several of the costumes - Aragorn (FOTR outfit), Legolas, Arwen (dress in ROTK), Galadriel, Gimli, Gandalf (the brown cloak and hat), Ring Wraiths, Saruman, armor from all of the races, swords, bows and knives.

 

The Rohirrim are lightly armored but heavy on armament, and everything revolves around horses, from helmet and shield designs to decorations in the buildings. They used over 300 horses and riders - and several were women with beards!

 

They made three different types of swords for each hero - one was aluminum, one was steel, and I can't remember the other but much lighter. This was for looks and actual fighting, depending on the scene.

 

The chain mail was authentic for the heroes and main characters. Most everything of this nature was made just like they did in the middle ages, because they were going for authenticity.

 

They also showed how they were able to make the hobbits look smaller next to everyone else. There was also a place you could take a picture like the early scene in FOTR with Frodo and Gandalf in the cart. They created two of everything in two different sizes for the hobbits.

 

All of the weapons were gleaming, except the orcs weapons were all rusty. Creepy!! The orcs armor was also very wicked looking, with sharp bits all over.

 

They had crowns from all the races as well, from the beautiful, flowing, glittery elven crowns to the sharp and pointy crowns of the Ring Wraiths.

 

They had a lifesized Boromir in his funeral canoe. I didn't think it looked like Sean Bean, but everyone else in my family thought it looked too eerily like him.

 

A lifesized Lurtz stood there in a case, as well. Man, that guy's got HUGE feet!

 

SEVERAL of the prosthetic pieces, from hobbit ears and feet to orc teeth filled up one case. It took 11 hours to do Lurtz's makeup. He would show up at 10 pm and literally sleep thru the makeup process!

 

They had many of the rings of power to see, too. Other jewelry, as well.

 

A lifesized Sauron stood in one display. Wow, very creepy armor on that one, too! You could buy his hand with the ring on it in the gift shop for $748!!

 

The One Ring had its own room. The walls glowed with fire, and the ring was inside a liquid filled tube.

 

They had a number of interactives, from face scans to see how your face would look carved in stone, to being front of a green screen to act out fighting, to another where you could move like Gollum in front of the blue screen.

 

To demonstrate the differences between elves and dwarves, they used different designs. The dwarves were modelled more after northern Europeans, with darker colors and straight lines. The elves were modelled more from an Asian perspective, and the use of art nouveau with its flowing designs.

 

Oh, and we saw Treebeard! A huge bust of him, and a smaller version which was used, as well.

 

The huge cave troll was on display, too.

 

A miniature model (well, about 8 feet high!) of Isengard and Sauron's tower.

 

When they showed the clothes, they also told you what they were made of. Legolas' outfit was made of silk and leather and velvet and several other very soft materials. I'm sure it was marvelously comfortable! They talked about how Viggo wore his costume continuously, and made his own repairs to it, as well. He also forged such a bond with Brego that he bought him after the filming.

 

I didn't see anything of Faramir's tho! And I can't recall much on Gondor, really.

 

I think that's it! I'm sure I'll remember something later! It was the best, by far, of the special exhibits I've seen. The others that I've seen have been the Titanic and a Vatican display.