LORD OF THE RINGS - "Masterpieces II" - COMPLETE BASE SET (72 cards) Topps 2008

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Seller: Top-Rated Seller jamesmacintyre51 ✉️ (6,498) 100%, Location: Hexham, GB, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 326058370881 LORD OF THE RINGS - "Masterpieces II" - COMPLETE BASE SET (72 cards) Topps 2008. The Lord Of The Rings - "Masterpieces II" - COMPLETE BASE SET of 72 trading cards - Topps 2008.

The Lord of the Rings is a film series consisting of three high fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson. They are based on the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). They were distributed by New Line Cinema.

Considered to be one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, with an overall budget of $281 million (some sources say $310-$330 million),the entire project took eight years, with the filming for all three films done simultaneously and entirely in New Zealand, Jackson's native country. Each film in the series also had special extended editions released on DVD a year after their respective theatrical releases. While the films follow the book's general storyline, they do omit some of the novel's plot elements and include some additions to and deviations from the source material.

Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) as he and a Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring, and thus ensure the destruction of its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron (Sala Baker). The Fellowship eventually splits up and Frodo continues the quest together with his loyal companion Sam (Sean Astin) and the treacherous Gollum (Andy Serkis). Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin, and the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) unite to rally the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in the War of the Ring.

The series was received with overwhelming praise and was a major financial success, with the films collectively being among the highest-grossing film series of all time. The films were critically acclaimed and heavily awarded, winning 17 out of 30 total Academy Award nominations. The final film in the series, The Return of the King , won all of its 11 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, which also tied it with Ben-Hur and Titanic for most Academy Awards received for a film. The series received wide praise for its innovative special and visual effects.

Development

Director Peter Jackson first came into contact with The Lord of the Rings when he saw Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film The Lord of the Rings . Jackson "enjoyed the film and wanted to know more." Afterwards, he read a tie-in edition of the book during a twelve-hour train journey from Wellington to Auckland when he was seventeen.

In 1995, Jackson was finishing The Frighteners and considered The Lord of the Rings as a new project, wondering "why nobody else seemed to be doing anything about it". With the new developments in computer-generated imagery following Jurassic Park , Jackson set about planning a fantasy film that would be relatively serious and feel real. By October, he and his partner Fran Walsh teamed up with Miramax Films boss Harvey Weinstein to negotiate with Saul Zaentz who had held the rights to the book since the early 1970s, pitching an adaptation of The Hobbit and two films based on The Lord of the Rings . Negotiations then stalled when Universal Studios offered Jackson a remake of King Kong . Weinstein was furious, and further problems arose when it turned out Zaentz did not have distribution rights to The Hobbit ; United Artists, which was in the market, did. By April 1996, the rights question was still not resolved.

Jackson decided to move ahead with King Kong before filming The Lord of the Rings , prompting Universal to enter a deal with Miramax to receive foreign earnings from The Lord of the Rings while Miramax received foreign earnings from King Kong . It was also revealed that Jackson originally wanted to finish King Kong before The Lord of the Rings began. But due to location problems, he decided to start with The Lord of the Rings franchise instead.

When Universal cancelled King Kong in 1997, Jackson and Walsh immediately received support from Weinstein and began a six-week process of sorting out the rights. Jackson and Walsh asked Costa Botes to write a synopsis of the book and they began to re-read the book. Two to three months later, they had written their treatment. The first film would have dealt with what would become The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers , and the beginning of The Return of the King , ending with Saruman's death, and Gandalf and Pippin going to Minas Tirith. In this treatment, Gwaihir and Gandalf visit Edoras after escaping Saruman, Gollum attacks Frodo when the Fellowship is still united, and Farmer Maggot, Glorfindel, Radagast, Elladan and Elrohir are present. Bilbo attends the Council of Elrond, Sam looks into Galadriel's mirror, Saruman is redeemed before he dies and the Nazgûl just make it into Mount Doom before they fall. They presented their treatment to Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the latter of whom they focused on impressing with their screenwriting as he had not read the book. They agreed upon two films and a total budget of $75 million.

During mid-1997, Jackson and Walsh began writing with Stephen Sinclair. Sinclair's partner, Philippa Boyens, was a major fan of the book and joined the writing team after reading their treatment. It took 13–14 months to write the two film scripts, which were 147 and 144 pages respectively. Sinclair left the project due to theatrical obligations. Amongst their revisions, Sam is caught eavesdropping and forced to go along with Frodo, instead of Sam, Merry, and Pippin figuring out about the One Ring themselves and voluntarily going along after confronting Frodo about it, as occurs in the original novel. Gandalf's account of his time at Orthanc was pulled out of flashback and Lothlórien was cut, with Galadriel doing what she does in the story at Rivendell. Denethor attends the Council with his son. Other changes included having Arwen rescue Frodo, and the action sequence involving the cave troll. The writers also considered having Arwen absorb Éowyn's role entirely by having her kill the Witch-king.

Trouble struck when Marty Katz was sent to New Zealand. Spending four months there, he told Miramax that the films were more likely to cost $150 million, and with Miramax unable to finance this, and with $15 million already spent, they decided to merge the two films into one. On 17 June 1998, Bob Weinstein presented a treatment of a single two-hour film version of the book. He suggested cutting Bree and the Battle of Helm's Deep, "losing or using" Saruman, merging Rohan and Gondor with Éowyn as Boromir's sister, shortening Rivendell and Moria as well as having Ents prevent the Uruk-hai from kidnapping Merry and Pippin. Upset by the idea of "cutting out half the good stuff" Jackson balked, and Miramax declared that any script or work completed by Weta Workshop was theirs. Jackson went around Hollywood for four weeks, showing a thirty-five-minute video of their work, before meeting with New Line Cinema's Mark Ordesky. At New Line Cinema, Robert Shaye viewed the video, and then asked why they were making two films when the book was published as three volumes (this was later corrected: New Line only made this choice out of economical reasons); he wanted to make a film trilogy. Now Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens had to write three new scripts.

The expansion to three films allowed much more creative freedom, although Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens had to restructure their script accordingly. The three films do not correspond exactly to the trilogy's three volumes, but rather represent a three-part adaptation. Jackson takes a more chronological approach to the story than did Tolkien. Frodo's quest is the main focus, and Aragorn is the main sub-plot, and many sequences (such as Tom Bombadil) that do not contribute directly to those two plots were left out. Much effort was put into creating satisfactory conclusions and making sure exposition did not bog down the pacing. Amongst new sequences, there are also expansions on elements Tolkien kept ambiguous, such as the battles and the creatures. During shooting, the screenplays continued to evolve, in part due to contributions from cast members looking to further explore their characters. Most notable amongst these rewrites was the character Arwen, who was originally planned as a warrior princess, but reverted to her book counterpart, who remains physically inactive in the story (though she sends moral and military support).

To develop fight and sword choreography for the series, the filmmakers employed Hollywood sword-master Bob Anderson. Anderson worked directly with the talent including Viggo Mortensen and Karl Urban to develop the film's many sword fights and stunts. Bob Anderson's role in The Lord of the Rings series was highlighted in the film Reclaiming the Blade . This documentary on sword martial arts also featured Weta Workshop and Richard Taylor, The Lord of the Rings illustrator John Howe and actors Viggo Mortensen and Karl Urban. All discussed their roles and work on the series as related to the sword.

Production design

Jackson began storyboarding the series with Christian Rivers in August 1997 and assigned his crew to begin designing Middle-earth at the same time. Jackson hired long-time collaborator Richard Taylor to lead Weta Workshop on five major design elements: armour, weapons, prosthetics/make-up, creatures, and miniatures. In November 1997, famed Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe joined the project. Most of the imagery in the films is based on their various illustrations. Production designer Grant Major was charged with the task of converting Lee and Howe's designs into architecture, creating models of the sets, while Dan Hennah worked as art director, scouting locations and organising the building of sets.

Jackson's vision of Middle-earth was described as being "Ray Harryhausen meets David Lean" by Randy Cook. Jackson wanted a gritty realism and historical regard for the fantasy, and attempted to make the world rational and believable. For example, the New Zealand Army helped build Hobbiton months before filming began so the plants could really grow. Creatures were designed to be biologically believable, such as the enormous wings of the fell beast to help it fly. In total, 48,000 pieces of armour, 500 bows, and 10,000 arrows were created by Weta Workshop. They also created many prosthetics, such as 1,800 pairs of Hobbit feet for the lead actors, as well as many ears, noses, and heads for the cast, and around 19,000 costumes were woven and aged. Every prop was specially designed by the Art Department, taking the different scales into account.

Filming

Principal photography for all three films was conducted concurrently in many locations within New Zealand's conservation areas and national parks between 11 October 1999, and 22 December 2000, a period of 438 days. Pick-up shoots were conducted annually from 2001 to 2004. The series was shot at over 150 different locations, with seven different units shooting, as well as soundstages around Wellington and Queenstown. Along with Jackson directing the whole production, other unit directors included John Mahaffie, Geoff Murphy, Fran Walsh, Barrie Osbourne, Rick Porras, and any other assistant director, producer, or writer available. Jackson monitored these units with live satellite feeds, and with the added pressure of constant script re-writes and the multiple units interpreting his envisioned result, he only got around four hours of sleep a night. Due to the remoteness of some of the locations, the crew would also bring survival kits in case helicopters could not reach the location to bring them home in time. The New Zealand Department of Conservation was criticised for approving the filming within national parks without adequate consideration of the adverse environmental effects and without public notification. The adverse effects of filming battle scenes in Tongariro National Park meant that the park later required restoration work.

Cast

The following is a list of cast members who voiced or portrayed characters appearing in the extended version of The Lord of the Rings film series.

Character

Film

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Two Towers

The Return of the King

2001

2002

2003

The Fellowship of the Ring

Frodo Baggins

Elijah Wood

Aragorn

Viggo Mortensen

Boromir

Sean Bean

Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck

Dominic Monaghan

Samwise Gamgee

Sean Astin

Gandalf

Ian McKellen

Gimli

John Rhys-Davies

Legolas

Orlando Bloom

Peregrin "Pippin" Took

Billy Boyd

The Shire and Bree

Bilbo Baggins

Ian Holm

 

Ian Holm

Mrs. Bracegirdle

Lori Dungey

 

Barliman Butterbur

David Weatherley

 

Rosie Cotton

Sarah McLeod

 

Sarah McLeod

Gaffer Gamgee

Norman Forsey

 

Norman Forsey

Elanor Gamgee

 

Alexandra Astin

Bree Gate-Keeper

Martyn Sanderson

 

Farmer Maggot

Cameron Rhodes

 

Old Noakes

Bill Johnson

 

Everard Proudfoot

Noel Appleby

 

Noel Appleby

Mrs. Proudfoot

Megan Edwards

 

Otho Sackville

Peter Corrigan

 

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

Elizabeth Moody

 

Ted Sandyman

Brian Sergent

 

Rivendell and Lothlórien

Arwen

Liv Tyler

Elf escort (a.k.a. Figwit)

Bret McKenzie

 

Bret McKenzie

Lord Celeborn

Marton Csokas

 

Marton Csokas

Lord Elrond

Hugo Weaving

Lady Galadriel

Cate Blanchett

Haldir

Craig Parker

Rúmil

Jørn Benzon

 

Rohan and Gondor

Damrod

 

Alistair Browning

Denethor

 

John Noble

Éomer

 

Karl Urban

Éothain

 

Sam Comery

 

Éowyn

 

Miranda Otto

Faramir

 

David Wenham

Freda

 

Olivia Tennet

 

Gamling

 

Bruce Hopkins

Grimbold

 

Bruce Phillips

Háma

 

John Leigh

 

Haleth

 

Calum Gittins

 

Irolas

 

Ian Hughes

King of the Dead

 

Paul Norell

Madril

 

John Bach

Morwen

 

Robyn Malcolm

 

King Théoden

 

Bernard Hill

Théodred

 

Paris Howe Strewe

 

Treebeard

 

John Rhys-Davies (voice)

Isengard and Mordor

Sméagol/Gollum

Andy Serkis

Gorbag

 

Stephen Ure

Gothmog

 

Lawrence Makoare Craig Parker (voice)

Gríma Wormtongue

 

Brad Dourif

Grishnákh

 

Stephen Ure

 

Lurtz

Lawrence Makoare

 

Mauhúr

 

Robbie Magasiva Andy Serkis (voice)

 

Mouth of Sauron

 

Bruce Spence

The One Ring

Alan Howard (voice)

 

Alan Howard (voice)

Saruman

Christopher Lee

Sauron

Sala Baker Alan Howard (voice)

 

Sala Baker Alan Howard (voice)

Shagrat

 

Peter Tait

Sharku

 

Jed Brophy

 

Snaga

 

Jed Brophy Andy Serkis (voice)

 

Uglúk

 

Nathaniel Lees

 

Witch-king of Angmar

Brent McIntyre Andy Serkis (voice)

 

Lawrence Makoare

Historical figures

Déagol

 

Thomas Robins

Elendil

Peter McKenzie

 

Gil-galad

Mark Ferguson

 

Isildur

Harry Sinclair

 

Harry Sinclair

  • Condition: New
  • Subject Type: TV & Movies
  • Card Size: Standard
  • Autographed: No
  • Set: Lord of the Rings Masterpieces II, The Lord of the Rings - Masterpieces II
  • Film: Lord of The Rings
  • Number of Cards: 72
  • Custom Bundle: No
  • Material: Card Stock
  • Year Manufactured: 2008
  • Franchise: Lord of the Rings
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • Type: Non-Sport Trading Card
  • Language: English
  • Manufacturer: Topps
  • Features: Base Set
  • Genre: J R R Tolkein, Lord Of The Rings, Action, Adventure, Fantasy
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States

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