Mines of Moria Card Proofs

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On or about 2 January, 2002, Decipher submitted final card images for the Mines of Moria expansion to New Line Cinema for approval. New Line approved of the majority of these cards, with only minor adjustments required for some. Some cards ended up having their portraits further adjusted by Decipher artists, and these were also sent in later for late approval.

These faxes were fortunately included within the New Line Fax Proofs dump courtesy of Kreg Miller, and are presented below with commentary.

The opening salvo of the Mines of Moria approval process.
Standard Product Approval Form provided to New Line.
Another cover letter. Apparently this was faxed to two separate IP owners, in this case Tolkien Enterprises to get the lore itself proofed.
Standard Product Approval Form provided to New Line.
Beta versions of the following cards:

The only notable change here besides a typo in Fror's lore is that the Ring of Power shown in the Dwarven Bracers (2U3) portrait has been photoshopped out.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Flurry of Blows (2C5) , What Are We Waiting For? (2R15) , and Great Works Begun There (2C9) all saw their portraits getting zoomed in slightly. What Are We Waiting For? (2R15) also had an erroneous word in its lore and had the line break in its title removed.

Beta versions of the following cards:

No changes here except for quote formatting typos.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Jarnsmid saw a rewording (likely to prevent Shadow possessions from also being discounted), and Wielder of the Flame (2U28) has a portrait that was later reworked. A similar (tho not exact) version of this portrait was later used in Glamdring, Foe-hammer (11R35)

Beta versions of the following cards:

Uruk Scout (2C47) and Too Much Attention (2R45) had their portraits slightly zoomed/panned, and Valley of the Silverlode (2U120) had a completely new portrait applied.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Beyond the Height of Men (2R39) apparently had its lore rejected by one of the IP watchdogs, and it ultimately had its portrait changed. Demands of the Sackville-Bagginses (2C40) had a very minor pan/zoom for the portrait.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Ripples in the Pool had its portrait rejected by New Line for using a shot of the size doubles for the Hobbits rather than the main actors. Rather than selecting a new one, the card was apparently scrapped.

Final Cry (2R57) had its wording adjusted for brevity and clarity.

The Balrog, Durin's Bane (2C51) does not show here because it was involved in a prior fax conversation when that card was approved for promotional purposes as The Balrog, Durin's Bane (0P10) . See Balrog Promo Proof.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Minor typos were fixed in Goblin Spearman (2C65) and Old Differences (2C69) (and an uncaught space in the strength bonus of Cave Troll's Chain (2R53) ).

Goblin Spearman (2C65) , Foul Things (2U59) , Fill With Fear (2U56) , Dark Fire (2U54) , and Cave Troll's Chain (2R53) all had minor adjustments to the framing/zoom of their portrait.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Goblin Pursuer (2C62) had its text altered, as did Throw Yourself in Next Time (2U71) (although its beta wording was the structure embraced more fully later).

Foul Tentacle (2C58) and The Eye of Sauron (2U87) later had different portraits applied, and Goblin Reinforcements (2C63) was panned to make it more about the troop than the central orc.

Troubled Mountains (2U72) apparently might have gotten its portrait rejected depending on whether the shot displayed the body doubles on a close inspection.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Interestingly, Southern Spies (2C91) was apparently originally a fully splashable anti-mill card. However, its usage was eventually recycled into Old Noakes, Purveyor of Wisdoms (3C111) while Spies itself was reworked into a very situational milling card itself.

Beta versions of the following cards:


Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow (2R75) 's text had a minor when -> if alteration, It Wants to be Found (2U78) had a minor space typo, and Helpless (2U76) placed the "Plays on Sam" sentence onto its own line.

Wraith-world (2R86) and Helpless (2U76) both had their portraits zoomed slightly.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Striken Dumb had minor formatting adjustments to the lore spacing.

The Witch-king, Lord of the Nazgul (2R85) and Úlairë Attëa, The Easterling (2U82) both had their portraits swapped to different Nazgul within that scene for unknown reasons. Enquea was left untouched. A Blended Race (2U16) was zoomed in a little bit, presumably to cut out the distracting corpse in the foreground.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Someone apparently objected to Merry's subtitle of "Mr. Meriadoc Brandybuck". Presumably it was New Line, as Tolkien Enterprises would have little reason to object to accurate lore. Perhaps it was to preserve "brand identity" and avoid usage of Meriadoc due to hardly being used in the movie?

Of Very Little Importance appears to have been approved, but was cut for other unknown reasons.

Sam, Proper Poet (2C114) had a minor text format change.

Mithril-coat (2R105) , Dear Friends (2U98) , Bilbo, Well-spoken Gentlehobbit (2U96) , and Deft in Their Movements (2C99) all had minor zoom/pan adjustments to their portraits. Mr-Not-Meriadoc-In-This-Film also had a vignette effect applied.

Beta versions of the following cards:


"Invited to the Party" was renamed to Practically Everyone Was Invited (2U111) . Pippin, Mr. Peregrin Took, apparently ran into the same issue that Mr. Meriadoc Brandybuck did above. The fact that the final version was simply "Mr. Took" lends credence to the theory that the objection was to the use of Meriadoc and Peregrin.

Fortune of Fate was approved but apparently cut for unknown reasons. Similarly, although Old Noakes, Purveyor of Wisdoms (3C111) was approved, it was pushed back to the release of Realms of the Elf-lords for unknown reasons.

Pippin, Mr. Took (2C110) also had its lore rejected, although both parties would potentially have reason. The quote "How do we know Strider's a friend of Gandalf's?" is almost a line from the movie, which is "How do we know this Strider is a friend of Gandalf's?" as spoken by Merry, which is itself a paraphrase of "How do we know you are the Strider that Gandalf speaks about?", spoken by Sam. Perhaps the objection was that it wasn't spoken by Pippin? If it's not that, then the fact that it's not a strictly accurate quote of either source could potentially have been the issue.

Old Noakes, Purveyor of Wisdoms (3C111) had a minor folks -> folk typo in its lore.

O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! (2R108) and Old Noakes, Purveyor of Wisdoms (3C111) had a minor pan/zoom on their portrait. Practically Everyone Was Invited (2U111) had a completely new portrait chosen (see other fax pages below).

Beta versions of the following cards:


"Prepared for the Worst" was renamed to Fearing the Worst (2R100) .

Sentinels of Númenor (2C37) interestingly received feedback to photoshop the background out of the actual film shot, presumably for how the hand blends into the background (which isn't a problem in the actual moving film).

Consorting With Wizards (2R97) , Fearing the Worst (2R100) , Blood of Númenor (2U31) , and Flee in Terror (2U33) all had their portraits slightly zoom/panned.

Beta versions of the following cards:

Always a Baggins in Bag End and Maiden of the Golden Ale were both approved yet cut for unknown reasons.

No other alterations were made to the beta cards here as submitted.

The response to the above submissions.

It's unclear what class of change needed re-approval. Typo fixes seem too petty to resubmit, but things like the title, portrait, and lore changes seem reasonable. Regardless, the resubmission appears to be missing from the record, as the faxes below are for a future iteration that was art-only (and in the case of Beyond the Height of Men (2R39) , the lore fix was already applied and presumably approved beforehand).









Resubmission form
cards 1
cards 2


LOTR-TCG Product
Card Product
Booster Packs
The Fellowship of the Ring • Mines of Moria • Realms of the Elf-lords
The Two Towers • Battle of Helm's Deep • Ents of Fangorn
Return of the King • Siege of Gondor • Mount Doom
Reflections
Shadows • Black Rider • Bloodlines
The Hunters • Rise of Saruman • Treachery & Deceit
Starter Decks The Fellowship of the Ring • Mines of Moria • Realms of the Elf-lords
The Two Towers • Battle of Helm's Deep • Ents of Fangorn
Return of the King • Siege of Gondor • Mount Doom
Shadows • Black Rider • Bloodlines
The Hunters • Rise of Saruman
Deluxe Starter Sets The Fellowship of the Ring • The Two Towers
Draft Packs Fellowship Draft Pack • Towers Draft Pack • Expanded Middle-earth

King Draft Pack • Hunters Draft Pack

Tengwar Anthologies The Fellowship of the Ring Anthology • The Two Towers Anthology • The Return of the King Anthology • The War of the Ring Anthology
Complete Packs The Nine Riders Collection • The Wraith Collection • Age's End
Card Details & Distribution
Card Variants Foil • Legends (RF) • Legends Masterworks • Reprints • Tengwar
Card Production Details Print Runs (First Edition, A Revision, B Revision, Duplicate Version) • Product Box Counts • Reprints • Spacer Cards • Uncut Sheets • Weta Book Cards
League Kits / Race to Mount Doom Spring 2002 League Kit • Race to Mount Doom League Kit (TTT Edition) • Race to Mount Doom League Kit (ROTK Edition)
Prizes DGMA Prizes • Tournament Prize Support • Tournament Foils
Promo Distribution DVD Inserts • Event Promos • LOTRO Promos • Magazine Inserts • Oversized Cards • Retail Reward Incentives • Tournament Schedule • The Countdown Collection • The Weta Collection
Other Customizable League Cards • Deck Design Cards • Hunters Design-a-Card Contest
Unreleased Beta Cards Of Very Little Importance (Beta) • Fortune of Fate (Beta) • Always a Baggins in Bag End (Beta) • Maiden of the Golden Ale (Beta) • Ripples in the Pool (Beta) • Of Very Little Importance (Beta) • It's the Beard (Beta) • There are NO Dwarven Women! (Beta)
Non-Card Products
Merchandise Hats • T-shirts • Pins • Posters • Postcards • Binders • Ad Spots • Dice
Magazines Scrye Magazine • InQuest Magazine • Fan Club Official Movie Magazine

Scrye TTT Player's Guide • Scrye ROTK Player's Guide

Unreleased Merch 2002 Toy Fair Calendar • Film Cell Cards • Official Signed Cards
New Line Fax Proofs Lithograph Proofs • Balrog Promo Proof • Mines of Moria Booster Pack Proofs • Mines of Moria Card Proofs • Mines of Moria Packaging Proofs • Mines of Moria Poster Proof • Toy Fair Calendar Proposal • Mines of Moria Sell Sheet Proof • Realms of the Elf-lords Promo Proofs • Film Cell Card Proposal


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