Lord of the Rings Exhibition

Finally got round to seeing the Lord of the Rings Exhibition at the Science Museum yesterday, which features costumes, weapons, props (Gandalf’s toffee pouch!) and techy gubbins from the film trilogy. Ten quid to get in is perhaps a little steep, but I’m glad I went really as there were some fantastic pieces on display, like the genuinely scary Sauron’s armour and realistic Boromir dummy lying in the boat. In some ways it was more like wandering around the British Museum or V&A, what with all the ornately crafted armour and beautiful fabrics and costumes.

My main criticism would be that for a science museum exhibition, it was rather lacking in real hands-on interactive science. There was the opportunity to be reduced to hobbit size, using a ‘green screen’ to recreate the scene from The Fellowship Of The Ring where Frodo joins Gandalf on his cart (photo of giant Badger and mini Rob to come shortly), but that was about it. Surely they could have done more with the whole size/perspective optical illusion thing? And where was Gollum? Still, maybe I’m being picky; after all I did get to see The One Ring, and discovered that the cave troll is anatomically accurate underneath his loin-cloth.

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