2016 A Journey Through Middle-earth.

        This issue was rejected by Allan, the owner of this blog, as being just a collectable, having nothing to do with the true objective of stamps. He said the main purpose of stamps were to show postage had been paid on mail travelling through the postal system. While I agree with him I also want to point out that NZ Post clearly stated that this was a product aimed at the collector market. We argued that this issue should have a place in this blog and in the end he agreed to allow it saying "You can do this post if you like. I want nothing to do with it." So here it is a joint post by Kim and myself (Asami). 
          (In the end Allan did help but don't tell him I told you. LOL!)

See my complete collection of Lord of the Ring / The Hobbit stamps.
 

         Here is the opening paragraph and banner on the NZ Post page. (Allan please notice the use of the word "collectable." They are not trying to pass this off as a postage stamp. They are presenting an amazing stamp with a lovely book to go with it.)

"Whether you’re a fan of Hobbits, Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, Men or Wizards,

there’s something for everyone in our brand new Middle-earth collectable!"

One Stamp To Rule Them All!

In the depths of Mount NZ Post, designers were secretly at work crafting the master stamp,

the one stamp that would rule all other Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit stamps.

"One Stamp to rule them all,

One Stamp to find them,

One Stamp to bring them all and

on this blog page bind them."

2004 - Landscapes of Middle-Earth.

         Following the success of three Lord of the Rings stamp issues celebrating the three movies, NZ Post decided to issue one further series in 2004 featuring landscapes of Middle-Earth. The set of eight stamps depicted 4 different landscapes each as they appeared in the trilogy and as they appear today.  The locations are given below the stamps.

        Three movies filmed at the same time then edited and released over the space of three years, This was an amazing achievement for New Zealand. Even more so was the exposure it gave our country. Many people saw scenes of New Zealand for the first time. Many saw how beautiful the country was and decided to see it for themselves. A sub-tourism industry has grown up around has grown up around locations where the filming took place. Of course, everyone immediately thinks of Hobbiton near Matamata but there are many other locations around New Zealand as well. These stamps only show four of them which hardly does justice to the subject.  

2014 - The Hobbit III

The Battle Of Five Armies.

See my complete collection of Lord of the Ring / The Hobbit stamps.

For a collection of all the miniature sheets released with this issue,

view our post 2016 A Journey Through Middle-earth.

          'The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies' brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. To commemorate the final film in this thrilling trilogy, New Zealand Post has created official stamps and legal tender coins from Middle-earth.
         The writers of this blog first considered waiting until we had seen the movie before publishing a post on it but recently we decided to release this simple view of the stamps with further details and items being added later.

                                     

     80c – Smaug.                                                             $1.40 – Bilbo Baggins.

2014 - The Hobbit Personalised Stamps

        New Zealand Post wrote on their web site, "Join the mighty race of Dwarves with a brand new range of personalised stamps made especially for the final film in Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies."

         For Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit fans this is another interesting and unusual stamp issue. It was released on the 15th October and consists of two parts. First is the collectors part which features a miniature sheet and its First Day Cover. Included on this sheet are the two stamp which can be seen to the right. Since these two stamps will be only sold in miniature sheets it is not expected that many will be used for postage.

        The second part is where a person can up-load their photo and make personal stamps for their own use. The idea here is that a person selects the dwarf of their choice whose hair and other features will be applied to their own photo. (See the pictures further down this post.)  The photo is then used to create a personalised stamp that is purchased in a sheet of 20 for $25.90.  

2013 The Hobbet II

The Desolation of Smaug.

See my complete collection of Lord of the Ring / The Hobbit stamps.

For a collection of all the miniature sheets released with this issue,

view our post 2016 A Journey Through Middle-earth.



         In Dec 2013 the long awaited second movie of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy was released. Created by New Zealand's famous director, Peter Jackson this movie was one of a series of three based on J.R.R. Tolkien's book 'The Hobbit.'
        Set in the same Middle Earth as the Lord of the Rings but some 40 years before, this story tells of the adventures of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins as he journeys with the Wizard Gandalf and thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield, on an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor.
        In the first movie they survived the beginning of their unexpected journey. This second movie pick up the story as the Company continues East, encountering along the way the skin-changer Beorn and a swarm of giant Spiders in the treacherous Mirkwood Forest. After escaping capture by the dangerous Woodland Elves, the Dwarves journey to Lake-town, and finally to the Lonely Mountain itself. Here they must face the greatest danger of all – a creature more terrifying than any before, which will test not only the depth of their courage but the limits of their friendship and the wisdom of the journey itself – the Dragon Smaug.

2003 Lord of the Rings III

The Return of the King.

See my complete collection of Lord of the Ring / The Hobbit stamps.

For a collection of all the miniature sheets released with this issue,

view our post: - 2016 A Journey Through Middle-earth.



         The third and final movie was released in December 2003. It had been a massive effort filming and producing three great movies like that. Peter Jackson, with his team, had done an amazing job. He was looked upon as a hero in this small country of New Zealand.       
          The films showed the world what New Zealand was capable of doing. They also promoted the country by displaying some of our beautiful scenery and attracting tourists to come here. In 2017, the movie set Hobbiton, is still a major tourist attraction.

2002 Lord of the Rings II

The Two Towers.

See my complete collection of Lord of the Ring / The Hobbit stamps.

For a collection of all the miniature sheets released with this issue,

view our post: - 2016 A Journey Through Middle-earth.

       

        Almost exactly one year after the release of Fellowship of the Ring, the first Lord of the Rings movie, Peter Jackson released the second of J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy, The Two Towers. NZ Post marked the release of this movie with the second issue of six stamps along with six miniature sheets. I have included both the stamps and the sheets in this post. It is too much to write about the whole movie so I will just give some background on the scenes shown on the stamps. Want to know more, go watch the movie.

2001 Lord of the Rings I

The Fellowship of the Ring.

See my complete collection of Lord of the Ring / The Hobbit stamps.

For a collection of all the miniature sheets released with this issue,

view our post: - 2016 A Journey Through Middle-earth.

         When New Zealand producer Peter Jackson took on making a movie of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings many in the film industry were amazed. It had always been considered that a film of this story would be impossible to make. What Peter Jackson proposed to do was to create three movies, one of each book of the trilogy, all filmed at the same time, then made into movies over three years. Truly a massive and impossible task but it was done. Making full use of camera tricks, special effects and advanced computer animation, the series of three movies began to come together. Finally, at the end of 2001 the first movie, The Fellowship of the Ring was ready for release.   

2008 The Chronicles of Narnia II

 Prince Caspian.

       The second movie of the Chronicles of Narnia was Prince Caspian, another of the brilliant stories by CE Lewis. NZ Post released this issue of four values, again showing key scenes from the movie.

        Stamp issues on movies filmed in New Zealand have become popular with both stamp collectors and movie buffs. This issue prove no exception.

 

50c – The Pevensies.

 A year has passed since the amazing events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the four Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, are back living in London. Their lives change in an instant when they are catapulted from an English railway station back to Narnia, where their help is desperately needed by a prince in trouble.

The picture on the 50c value shows the four children, back in Narnia, playing in the water.

2005 The Chronicles of Narnia I

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

        This movie is based on the second book of The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. I don't know why they didn't start with the first book telling of how Narnia was created by Aslan the Lion. Anyway the movie vividly brings to life this popular children's story using stunning graphics and visual effects.
        The story opens as World War II brings the carnage and terror of the Blitz to London. The four Pevensie children - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - are sent away to stay with Professor Kirke in his ancient mansion. It is a strange house fill of many apparently unused rooms. It one stand this wardrobe by itself.





                       Lucy and the Wardrobe - 45c

         In a game of hide-and-seek Lucy decides to duck into what looks like an old wardrobe, only it turns out to be a doorway to the strange and mysterious world of Narnia. She meets the faun Mr. Tumnus, who takes her to his house and tells her more about this extraordinary yet dangerous place ruled by the cruel White Witch. Narnia is under her spell and locked in an endless winter.

2005 King Kong

       In 2005 Peter Jackson released his version of the classic story King Kong. Jackson said he had always been inspired by the King Kong movies and always wanted to try do it himself. After making the three Lord of the Rings movies he decided to build on this success and tackle King Kong using many new visual effects he had developed.

        Principal photography started on September 6, 2004 at Camperdown Studios in Miramar, New Zealand with most of the movie being shot in locations and studios around Wellington.  Directed, co-written and produced by Peter Jackson, the film stars Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow, Jack Black as Carl Denham, Adrien Brody as Jack Driscoll and, through motion capture, Andy Serkis as the title character. Serkis also played Lumpy, the galley chef on the SS Venture.

        The film's budget climbed from an initial US$150 million to a record-breaking $207 million. The film was released on December 14, 2005, and made an opening of $50.1 million. While the film performed lower than expectations, King Kong made domestic and worldwide grosses that eventually added up to $550 million, becoming the fourth-highest grossing film in Universal Pictures history. It also generated $100 million in DVD sales upon its home video release.

1996 Centenary of New Zealand Cinema

          The first public screening of motion pictures in New Zealand took place at the Opera House, Auckland on 13 October 1896. This issue was created to mark that event. What is of interest to me is the subject on the stamps. I have already completed posts on other films made in New Zealand and over the next few months I plan to do more so I decided to feature this set of four stamps depicting early New Zealand films.

Hinemoa - 40c 

        "The first big dramatic work filmed and acted in the land of the Moa," was Hinemoa (1914), New Zealand's first feature.
        On a budget of £50, George Tarr directed Hinemoa over eight hectic days in Rotorua. Hera Tawhai and her husband Rua starred along with the Rev. Bennett's Maori Choir Party. With the film almost complete but the budget gone, George Tarr headed to Auckland to show it to his investors and distributor Mr Hayward. They loved it. The film was completed and Hinemoa premiered in the first week of World War 1 and did big business. Sadly there are no remaining prints of the movie, but this promotional image has survived.   
  

          The Movie is based on the famous Maori love story where Hinemoa a beautiful girl of high-born status fell in love with a man of low-born status of another tribe. Her family were strongly against the relation and prevented her from seeing him.  
          Each night she would sit by the shore and listen to the music of his flute as he played to her across the water. One day she decided she must be with him so casting her cloak aside, naked she entered the cold dark water in the night and swum to him. He found her resting, recovering from the cold in one of the warm pools on the Island.         
          There are various versions of this story from tribes around the country but the movie appears to have been based on the version from Rotorua where Hinemoa swum from the shore to the island in the middle of the lake.    

          The Legend of Hinemoa. - Rotorua's famous romance story of forbidden love.

2012 The Hobbit I - An Unexpected Journey

   

   
         To mark the release of the first movie of J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' NZ Post issued a set of six stamps depicting six of the characters from the movie. The set was accompanied by a set of six miniature sheets including one of the stamps. Below I have included both the miniature sheets and the separate stamps. The stamps, issued on November 1st, also included the usual first day covers and presentation packs.
         See my Lord of the Rings stamp collection.

For a collection of all the miniature sheets released with these issues,

view our post 2016 A Journey Through Middle-earth.