Recently I had trouble inserting a photo into one of my blog entries. Given that adding illustrations to my blogs is about the height of my technological expertise, this worried me—especially with Comic-Con coming up. I hope to bring you many photos of LOTR- and Hobbit-related events there.

So I figured I should put up a test entry to make sure I can cope with photos. What photo to use, though? For some reason I thought of some pics I took of the big Gollum model that for all too short a time loomed above one of the wings of the Wellington airport.

From that I began to ponder doing a little history of the airport’s participation in trilogy promotion using mainly LOTR images I have seen there during my three visits when I was researching The Frodo Franchise. I’ll bet quite a few of you have seen at least some of these as well and will feel a bit nostalgic

I think it was on my first arrival (September 28, 2003) that I walked from the plane to the terminal in corridors lined with advertisements for Telecom, the national telephone company. Note here the little picture of Barrie Osborne in the middle and the Telecom logo. Telecom helped out with LOTR by devising a satellite system to allow Peter Jackson to monitor units filming all over New Zealand, as well as the “Fatpipe,” a secure broadband connection that allowed the filmmakers to share files and converse via streaming video from as far apart as Wellington and London.

After a wonderful four weeks of interviews and tours, I departed on October 25. I just missed the erection of the head and arm of Gollum, reaching for the Ring, on the roof. It’s the same giant model that in 2002 had rested atop the Empire Theatre marquee during the local premiere of The Two Towners. It was created by Weta Workshop, of course.

The airport installation took place overnight, on November 9-10, with the idea that visitors arriving by air for the December 1 premiere of The Return of the King would see him directly after they arrived. What’s more, sets (mainly miniature), costumes, and props from the trilogy were also on display inside the airport, starting on November 14. Part of that display appears in the accompanying photo of Théoden’s throne (the only photo here not taken by me, since, alas, I had departed three weeks earlier).

By the way, only the month before I had encountered that chair, up close and personal. On one of my first days of research, Judy Alley, merchandising coordinator and archivist, gave me a tour of the giant prop-storage area behind the art department. Among many rough, ordinary-looking barrels and chairs and ropes (ordinary, that is, apart from the fact that all had been made in hobbit and regular sizes), there was the throne, glowing like the piece of fine, hand-crafted, solid-wood furniture it is. It’s just as gorgeous as it appears in the photos, and it looks better the closer you get.

For a list of what was on display, see the Wellington International Airport’s archive of press releases and scroll down to November 11, 2003. For some small photos of the exhibition, see Ian Smith’s website.

Well, I may have missed those decorations, but there were less spectacular reminders of the trilogy in the check-in hall of the airport as I departed. Air New Zealand was one of New Line’s brand partners, as I describe in Chapter 4 of the book, providing advertising simultaneously for itself and for the upcoming release of the third part.

Even though I missed Gollum on that trip, he—but not the exhibition—was still there during both my 2004 visits, in June/July and November/December. I’m told he withstood some pretty rough gales, despite the fact that he had originally been designed only for the Empire Theatre display. Part of this was due to the airport personnel’s installation, as described by the airport CEO in a press release:

Wellington Airport has spent more than 200 hours constructing a new foundation on which Gollum’s head, hands and, of course, The Ring, will be secured by 21 concrete plinths and more than 100 bolts. The preparations have been undertaken mainly after hours to coincide with airport operations.

He added, “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was made by a Wellington director, a Wellington company and is the pride of Wellingtonians. It is only fitting that our city, our airport and our people feel they are part of such an important international showcase.”

The airport did not put out a press release when Gollum was taken down, but two tourists who happened to arrive while he was still up and depart after he disappeared noted the fact on their blog on January 24, 2005. The removal had taken place at some point during the previous two weeks.

By the way, a cartoon view of Wellington gracing the 2004 Telecom phone book for the city included the airport and its rooftop Gollum.

A new bit of Rings-related art was created by Kiwi artist Maurice “The Toastman” Bennett in August, 2004. Made from thousands of pieces of toast done to varying degrees of darkness, it was hanging on a wall in the main departure hall of the airport when I left after my third and final research trip in early December, 2004. But of course this was a more general tribute to Peter for having contributed so much to Wellington.

I have a suspicion that history will repeat itself in a few years, when Hobbit fever hits, and one will see similar images and objects all over the airport and Wellington. I hope to see many of them!

In the meantime, I’m off to pack for Comic-Con!