Goodnight David (and Atticus).

This Week is off the air, Atticus has left the courtroom, Ahab has gone down with the ship, and the guns of Navarone have fallen silent. Rest in Peace David Brinkley (1920-2003), one of television’s pioneering newsmen, and many condolences to his family. The same goes out to the family and friends of Gregory Peck (1915-2003), one of the big screen’s enduring heroes. They will both be missed.

Sons of Gondor.

USA Today takes a peek at the Two Towers extended edition, and it sounds like Boromir, Denethor, Theodred and Treebeard benefit the most. Also, we’re apparently granted a fuller picture of Faramir’s backstory, which may help to dispel some of the fanboy negativity about his gruff portrayal in the film. Is it November yet?

Elves and Agents.

Still no word on when the trailer arrives (I had assumed New Line would’ve used it to prop up Dumb and Dumberer‘s opening weekend, and the next high-profile studio project isn’t until Freddy Vs. Jason on August 15), but some minor RotK news has leaked out recently involving Agent Smith at the Pelennor Fields. Very minor spoilers for non-trilogy readers. Update: Speaking of agents, Dark Horizons is reporting that the Wachowskis will write a V for Vendetta screenplay. Interesting…although I think I’d rather see their King Conan project with John Milius go through first.

Send in the Clone.

The first goofy Episode 3 rumor making the rounds (Remember when Christopher Walken, Gabriel Byrne, and Jimmy Smits were all supposed to be in Attack of the Clones? Ok, the last one actually happened.) has Scott Glenn boarding the Death Star for the final installment. I’ll believe it when I see it. In other Ep. 3 news, is this drawing of a staff-wielding warrior Chewbacca what we can expect in 2005? All I gotta say is Lucas will have to knock this movie out of the park to erase the bad taste of the past two prequels and Yoda’s speech last night, which was as stilted and embarrassing as Gollum’s was funny.