Sent to me by a friend who said “Someone’s going to suffer for this…”
This, of course, is satire, poking fun at the character Star Wars fans love to hate.
That’s pretty funny. But I have to admit, I came in this thread to say, I like your name, Archergal. 
I was PLANNING on doing a drive-by post to this reportedly serious topic, to the effect of “Yeah, but i’ll walk out of the theater when they bring in Jar Jareägol”
goes to show, twisted minds think alike
You know, I’ve been hearing all the purists whine about this change or that change and all I have to say is, being a Star Wars fan, I wish I could limit my complaints to a handful of scenes and one character. Do you Tolkeinites know how LUCKY you have it? Or will you not be satisfied until the movie consists of a guy holding up the book to the camera and turning the page every so often?
Achernar, thanks much!
Yes folks, I knew this was satire – and I thought it was hilarious and wanted to share.
I love that picture.
Legomancer,
I am only one Tolkien fan, but I’m answering you anyway.
I am so happy with how well Peter Jackson has done I was literally in tears. I admit it and don’t care what people think.
Believe me I am utterly grateful.
And I am a Star Wars fan too. I feel your pain.
Good one, Legomancer. Amen.
Funny stuff.
While looking at the IMDB for ROTK to see who plays Denethor (the mention of a “new character” inspired me) I noticed that the person playing Sauron, Sala Baker, has the same birthday as Frodo and Bilbo in the books, September 22. Strange coincedence. I sense a conspiracy.
As a certified whiner[sup]TM[/sup] I’ve gotta say it’s harder on Tolkienites, who have the canon of the novels, as opposed to Star Wars fans who have no canon to compare Lucas’s newest drek to. It’s not as if there was a fantastic story and some jerk is cutting/seriously changing your favorite parts. You HOPE to get a fantastic story and some jerk produces drek.
Also, a great many Tolkienites HAVE been ok with a LOT of changes. There’s a breaking point for each of us and occasionally a lot of us will break at once and you’ll be in for an earful, but for the most part I think we’ve been extremely forgiving. The books had sold an estimated 100 million copies. The ticket sales(at 7 bucks a head) so far are less than the books have earned at 6.95 a book(the paperback price back in the 70s, probably a reasonable average across eras/printings). As of now the books still have far more exposure than the movies. Still the public has welcomed the movies. Given the number and scope of some of the changes I think it’s fairly unreasonable to characterize Tolkien fans as so demanding that they won’t be satisfied until the actually film the book on a per-page basis. Surely there are some who meet such a description, but there is a huge spectrum of reactions to the films. Overall it’s been pretty positive. That doesn’t mean we relenquish our right to whine and bitch though.
As a fellow Star Wars fan as well I also sympathize with your views on Lucas’s “masterpiece”.
Enjoy,
Steven
Does anybody know who gets to play Shagrat in Return of the King. Where did JJR get that name?
Here, take a look at the first 12 official stills from Return of the King. Denethor is portrayed in the lower left. John Noble plays him.
http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/2/1041895042
There are some minor spoilers in there, but nothing major. Mostly battle shots and charachter moments.
Couple other things. Did you know Peter Jackson visited ILM during the making of Attack of the Clones.
http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/imageattack/2002/12/img/ep2-1a-4056.jpg
I remember hearing Jackson later talking about the difference between the final battle of Attack of the Clones and the battle of Helm’s Deep. Both have intense CGI, but the models in TTT allow for the people to interact with their enviroment. He said he learned a lot from meetings with ILM.
By the way, here are some other stills from The Return of the King, these involving Gollum.
http://www.theonering.net/movie/scrapbook/source/Ringer_Spy_Kristoffer
Didn’t the Riders of the Mark kill Shagrat in TTT?
You’re probably thinking of Uglúk, Cisco. Oddly, I’ve confused the two of them as well.
Shagrat is the Captain of Cirith Ungol and Gorbag is a Captain of orcs sent there. The two have a discussion about the “good old days” which may date them back to the second age. My guess is they’ll be comic foils in the movie.
IMDB - RoTK doesn’t show anyone playing Gorbag yet - although presumably those scenes have been shot.
I could swear I recently stumbled across the name ‘Shagrat’ from an unlikely source (not an Icelandic or Norse saga) and wondered if that was the origin. Googling only shows a (dubious) similar spelling of a warrior-princess type in Egypt long ago.
Who were Daniel’s three friends that got tossed in the oven in the bible? Wasn’t one of them Shagrat or very close?
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Regarding the link to the stills Mahaloth posted:
Check out the image of Sam cradling Frodo. It’s going to get grim, folks. PJ is originally a horror director, after all. Remember to bring your handkerchiefs to this one.
D’oh. Five minutes before I read this thread I could’ve told you that but once I saw ‘Shagrat’ that’s all I could think of. :smack: