Welcome to this Te Karere special,
which is of course all about The Hobbit.
The stars have arrived
and so too have the fans.
The final touches are complete for the world premiere
of the hotly anticipated film 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'.
Peata Melbourne is in amongst it all in Wellington,
which has been renamed the Middle of Middle Earth, Peata.
We first met Bilbo Baggins the uncle of Frodo
in the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy.
Now, The Hobbit is the prequel to LOTR
where Bilbo Baggins tells the story
of his journey to a sacred mountain guarded by vicious monsters.
This is part one of a three-part movie.
You may recognise some of the LOTR characters
played by Hugo Weaving and horror icon Christopher Lee.
Makoare featured in all three parts of the LOTR trilogy,
and knows all about the long hours spent working on the film.
Weeks on end are spent rehearsing sword scenes.
Makoare says the bond formed between actors and crew
is unique to filming in NZ,
and the team are nothing less than professional.
The Hobbit is the prequel to Lord of the Rings,
so you can expect to see familiar fighting scenes, gloomy mountains,
and more gruesome characters.
You won't see Makoare in The Hobbit,
but he assures us that we can expect nothing less
than something bigger and better than before.
Now, beside me is one of the biggest supporters of the movie trilogy,
Brian Morris.
Tena koe, Brian.
So you've read the books -
I understand you read it while you were at primary school?
What are your memories of the Hobbit?
When I was 9 years old,
our teacher of the time
read it out loud to our class.
We loved the story.
So when I grew up and became a teacher,
that's what I did as well - I would read it to my students.
So that teacher instilled the seed within me
to do the same as I was teaching.
What do you think about NZ's involvement in the movie?
It's important.
There are many countries who are jealous of us at the moment
because we have this fabulous event to show the world how great we are.
So Peter Jackson and his crew should be commended and congratulated
for bringing this amazing film to our country.
It's a privilege to celebrate this with him.
So this is just fantastic.
The film has had its fair share of controversy
with tax breaks and staff issues.
Do you think the government needs to make it
easier for overseas film-makers to produce films here?
Well, they say that feathers are what makes the bird fly:
if the government didn't support the industry,
then the industry wouldn't have come here.
So despite those issues,
if the government had not done that then,
we wouldn't be here right now.
Thank you for joining us, Brian Morris on the red carpet.
Scotty, as you can see the crowds are gathering,
the bands are playing, and it's just amazing here.
Peata, take us through the plans for this afternoon.
As far as I know, Peter Jackson is expected soon
and a few more stars as well
before the movie is expected to start at 6:30pm.
Thank you Peata.
That was Peata Melbourne from Middle Earth in Wellington.