Greetings! I am the player of Fergus, who you may have seen wandering around mume from time to time. Over the past year or more I have been closely following the development of the movie trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" (LOTR for short). I have accumulated much information and images of the movie and its making over this period and would love to share some of it with you...

"The fate of the world will soon be decided. The dominion of evil grows even stronger, there is a union now between the two towers: Barad-dur, fortress of the dark lord Sauron, and Orthanc, stronghold of the wizard Saruman. The peril of the ringbearer deepens. An unseen danger draws closer, for there is another who hunts the ring."
- the voice of Galadriel, played by Cate Blanchett, narrating the Two Towers trailer

What a magnificent splendour awaits us this Christmas! After enjoying the near three hours of Fellowship of the Ring (soon to become 3 and a HALF hours in November when the special edition DVD/video is released), we have another instalment awaiting us in a few months. It promises much for the movie-goer, but if you did not like Fellowship of the Ring due to some plot embellishments, you may not like the Two Towers.

There is plenty of minor changes to the script to make a visually appealing movie that may not sit well with the Tolkien purists. For instance, there are elves in Helm's Deep, we see Eowyn sparring with Aragorn and it is rumoured that we will see the full fight of Gandalf and the Balrog (for me I certainly hope we do!!!).

The Two Towers offers us what may become one of the greatest battles in cinema history, the Battle of Helm's Deep. Unlike the prologue to the Fellowship of the Ring, this battle is fought by thousands of real people. In such a grand battle we see Aragorn in his regal, commanding best, Legolas displaying the grace and prowess that endeared him in the first movie (despite his obvious lack of acting experience), elven archers in full flight, Uruk-hai attacking and grim Riders of Rohan defending their homeland.

The Two Towers trailer has been cleverly written to show us a glimpse of Faramir, Eowyn, Theoden, Wormtongue and Eomer but not tell us anything of what is going to happen. All we find out is that the 'Battle for Middle-earth' is about to begin and that a now white, straight haired (like Saruman) old friend has returned.

If you have not seen the trailer yet, log on to the official movie site (www.lordoftherings.net) and thoroughly enjoy yourself. As I have said before, and will probably say again, it is great that the new characters (ie Eomer, Faramir, Eowyn, etc..) are mainly little known actors hailing mostly from New Zealand and Australian television. Rather than saying 'that is the actor from..' you will come to know the face as Faramir or Eowyn.

'I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.'

- Gandalf, the Two Towers trailer  

Did you know....

• that the little hobbit girl sitting down gasping at Bilbo's story in Fellowship of the Ring is actually Peter Jackson's daughter? Now that is cost cutting!
• that "The Two Towers" is actually Minas Morgul and Orthanc? This minor detail seems to slip most readers so it is little surprise that they used poetic licence in the movie too...