January 3, 2011 - Weta Caves - wizardry of special effects in movies... Lord of the Rings, Avatar, Narnia, District 9, just to name a few big blockbuster movies...
Weta Caves, the worlds renown special effects company has a visitor's center in Wellington, it is a small shop with a screening room chronicling the creators and artist who work the magic of special effects, costumes, props, sets, sceneries, etc.
The entrance is FREE, you are greeted at the door by perhaps Weta's most famous resident, Gollum of Lord of the Rings, you can actually touch and feel the material and fabrics used to create this haracter out of the book...
Gollum telling me to go away, 'Precious'...
Sandy can almost taste that sashimi on Gollum's hand...'PPPreeciouss'
My sister posing with Gollum, she didn't even see the movie....
Hub-nubbing with Hollywood's most mis-understood villain, Gollum...
This was Sarum's armor and Headdress, this is almost 12 feet tall, the actor who actually wore it was this tall...
Sandy and my sister posing with Saruman's Ohlog-hai Troll, known to be 12 feet in height, cross between orcs and trolls, they are the fiercest warriors of the middle earth...
I'm just up to his waist, thats how tall this Ohlog-hai troll was, actual suit worn by actors of the original Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Who can resist posing with Gandalf's Grey cloak? Not me, yep yep yep... I was there...
Actual props and swords used for the movies...
The hand was created to be chopped off in one of the many scenes in LOTR movie...
Here is an Orcs, said to be able to climb walls with bare hands, eats flesh and formidable warriors and archers...
This were the alien weapons in the newly released 2009 Movie, District 9...
Weta not only caters to mature audiences, they have created Australia & New Zealand's beloved children character (guess she is like a Pippi Longstocking character in their animated movies.)
As we say goodbye to the magic of Special Effects and Weta Cave's wondrous collections..
