I'm David Ferrier, in New Zealand are accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.

Now when I took my trip back to New Zealand in December last year, I looked around the plane like I usually do just to see what people

were watching on that in-flight entertainment. Usually it's a variety of things.

We've all done this. Some people are watching Rom coms, others are deep in a thriller, the occasional awkward man watching a sex scene, or plenty of people are just watching Big Bang Theory.

But I noticed something truly remarkable on this flight to my homeland.

Nearly everyone seemed to be watching the same thing.

Legend tells of a ring, created by an ancient evil that gave its way. That thing was Lord of the Rings. So many people on this flight to enslave the

world. That thing was Lord of the Rings. So many people on this flight to New Zealand were watching Lord of the Rings,

and it reminded me that a lot of people, a lot of Americans from what I could tell,

still come to New Zealand in part because they're fueled by Peter Jackson's famous trilogy released in the early 2000s.

Here we were, I thought to myself, over two decades later, still thinking about Hobbits and Orks, Frodo and Gandolf.

You shall not pass!

I guess it's not surprising.

Those three films got 30 Oscar nominations between them in 117.

It's fair to say they left a pretty big cultural footprint.

I'm restless. And as I watched all those people watching Gollum on their tiny airplane screens,

I realized that when I landed I'd have to do something very important for flightless bird.

I'd need to do an episode on Lord of the Rings.

I would go to Hobberton, the set left over from the movies that's still going strong today.

The Shire is one of New Zealand's biggest tourist attractions, visited by hundreds of thousands

of fans every year.

So, get those hairy feet, precious rings and Alfie is ready,

...