Tag: Fanboy

Fruits of the Palantiri.

Several choice clips from the RotK: Extended Edition materialize online, including more from the Gandalf-Witch King fracas, a longer Paths of the Dead, and a quiet moment between Faramir and Pippin. (Also, the Merry-Pippin post-Pelennor sequence has gone from day to dusk, thanks to the magic of digital grading.)

Frellin’ A.

It’s finally here…at 9pm tonight and tomorrow, Sci-Fi will air Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, the long-awaited and warmly reviewed conclusion to what TV Guide long ago correctly deemed “the best science-fiction series on TV.” Apparently, it’s still fun even if you don’t know the continuity, so come on aboard…there’s lots of room on this here interstellar bandwagon.

If you never saw Blake’s 7, which is ‘Scape‘s immediate ancestor, then here’s the basic gist: Smart-ass, gung-ho astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) was inadvertently sent through a wormhole to the far corner of space several years ago, whereupon he fell in with a bunch of rag-tag aliens aboard the living prison ship Moya. For the past four years or so, Crichton has been battling the nefarious Peacekeepers (Think Star Trek‘s Federation gone bad) while falling in love with one of their number, Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), refining his knowledge of wormhole tech in order to get back home, and annoying all manner of extraterrestrial species with his inveterate pop culture referencing. (He’s already made it back to Earth a few times now…don’t worry, this ain’t Quantum Leap, and the show never takes quite the tack you expect.) In recent seasons, however, Crichton and his band of cranky shipmates have discovered that there’s a much bigger danger lurking in the far regions of space than the Peacekeepers…the reptilian, take-no-guff Scarrans. There’s obviously been a lot of twists and turns along the way, which I highly suggest you check out on DVD, but basically the Moya crew has had to align with some of their most dangerous past enemies (namely, the Scarran half-breed Scorpius) in order to outwit, outfox, and outlast the new Big Bads. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess…but if you’re a fan of either quality sci-fi or smart, funny, sexy television in general (I’m looking at you, B5’ers, Buffyites, and Whedoniacs), you owe it to yourself to check Farscape out. Update: Brief, spoiler-filled thoughts in the comments.

Behold the Sword of Elendil!

“Long have you hunted me, long have I eluded you…No more!” Finally, the official LotR site posts an extended edition preview, with new scenes involving Aragorn and the Palantir, Eowyn and Faramir, Saruman and Gandalf, and our best look yet at the Mouth of Sauron. “I do not believe this darkness will endure.” Update: Bigger version here.

Once Merry, Now Lost.

You’ll have to sit through a clip from ABC’s Lost (which I tried to get into on account of Monaghan, JJ Abrams, and Party of Five‘s Charlie, but it didn’t grab me) and some morning-show chatter with Dominic Monaghan on his post-LotR ups and downs, but buried in this Good Day interview is our first look at Merry pledging fealty to Theoden in the RotK:EE, a scene which was glimpsed in the pre-Thirteen Days teaser way back in early 2001 and now finally sees the light of day.

The Movie Elrond doesn’t want you to see.

“On a bright sunny day at the end of the Third Age of Middle Earth, a new unelected king was crowned. His name? Aragorn, son of Arathorn. How did it all happen? Was it all just a dream? I mean, it looked real enough. The guys with the pointed ears were there, the short guys with beards were there, even those weird little hobbit guys were there. Who were these people, this elitist group of carnival freaks who wanted to control the fate of Middle Earth?” I can’t say I much agree with its politics, and the same basic joke was made in this McSweeney’s piece last year. Still, the Michael Moore parody Fellowship 9/11 is for the most part pretty clever, and worth watching…if nothing else than to see a mean Brad Dourif impression and to hear Gandalf the Grey croon “Let the Eagle Soar.”