To Come: Shadow of the Past, Another New Movie Set in Middle-earth

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The news has been our for a while that Tolkien mega fan Stephen Colbert is working on a Middle-earth-themed movie script. The working title is The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, and it will be written by Stephen Colbert, Peter McGee (Colbert’s son), and Philippa Boyens.

The project was confirmed well before April 01, which is good—I’ve seen some comments that it sounds like an April Fool’s prank.

The story is set 14 years after the passing of Frodo and has “Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.”

Unsplash T L Dark Hobbiton Movie Set Sm

Apparently Colbert has said that the plot is “basically the chapter ‘Three is Company’ through ‘Fog on the Barrow-Downs'” and wondered whether “that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story? Could we make something that was completely faithful to the books while also being completely faithful to the movies that you guys [Peter Jackson et al.] had already made?'”

Hmm…! If the writing team is allowed to write (and capable of producing) a script faithful enough to the book, it might be really interesting. I’m looking forward to hearing more, at the least.

Image: dark Hobbiton movie set by T L via Unsplash

Trailers for The Other Bennet Sister

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Apparently, The Other Bennet Sister is out already! The series is a tweak on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the dowdy middle sister, Mary, based on Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel.

The teasers and trailers give you a rough idea of the production, from the short clips…

Your first look at The Other Bennet Sister | OFFICIAL TEASER – BBC on YouTube

The Other Bennet Sister | BritBox Original Teaser by BritBix on YouTube

…to one with a little more length:

The Other Bennet Sister | BritBox Original Trailer by BritBox on YouTube

Okay, then! Lydia is as horrible thoughtless as ever, Jane as thoughtful and kind. I’m having the darnest time telling who’s Lizzy on the basis of these clips; very obviously, the focus is elsewhere.

I remember reading The Other Bennett Sister and liking it; I hope the script is as good. The cast looks wonderful as far as I can tell: Ella Bruccoleri as Mary, Richard E. Grant as Mr. Bennett, Indira Varma as Mrs. Gardiner, and Tanya Reynolds as the shudder-inducing Caroline Bingley. Production values and locations look lovely as well. According to Wikipedia, location shots were pricipally done in Bristol and Wales, so refreshingly new scenery should be in store. I’ll have to look up how to get access!

Have you seen The Other Bennett Sister yet? Any thoughts?

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Quotes: Illogical Does not Mean Inexplicable

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The old Star Trek novel How Much for Just the Planet? is an odd book: an original-series Star Trek musical comedy farce in novel form. It concerns a planet called Direidi, where the eccentric local population reacts to the arrival of a Federation diplomatic mission and a rival Klingon deputation by putting both delegations through a series of increasingly wacky and nonsensical dramatic adventures (wacky and nonsensical even by the standards of original-series Star Trek, which is saying something).

In the midst of the general absurdity, though, the book delivers a poignant observation on life:

Spock sat alone on the bridge, contemplating the Direidi situation. He had been following the movements of the Enterprise crew to the best of his ability, given the effects of the background radiation. Terribly illogical things were happening on the planetary surface.

Spock had known for a long time, however, that when reasoning beings were involved, “illogical” by no means meant “inexplicable.” In fact, a great number of societal explanations required the suspension of logic, and sometimes working entirely outside its strictures.

– How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford

What’s true of a planet of theatrical interstellar weirdos is true of life in general. Things don’t always make sense in the way we think they ought to make sense, but they always make sense in some way. There is wisdom in learning to respect other people’s sense, even when it seems like nonsense to us.

Ford, John M. How Much for Just the Planet? New York: Pocket Books, 1987, 172.

Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.

Plant Jams, as in Music

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Bionic and the Wires is an art project by Jon Ross and Andy Kidd that combines art, nature, and tech. They say they want to “celebrat[e] the inherent rhythms of non-human life forms”.

To create music, electrical fluctuations in the plants trigger bionic arms to play instruments. In other words, the plant essentially generates mallet strikes that, when appropriately placed, hit keyboard keys, cymbals, or the like to make sounds.

Three Plants Having a Jam by BionicandtheWires on YouTube

You can even plug mushrooms into the same setup:

Mushroom and Plant Jamming by BionicandtheWires on YouTube

The resulting music is quite hypnotic in a way and truly fascinating.

I wonder what it would sound like if the plants were plugged into traditional instruments like hardanger fiddles or zithers. This is definitely a feature I’d love to see in a SFFnal story, especially if there already are sentient plants or fungi.

An occasional feature on music and sound-related notions.

The Hunt for Gollum Update

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By all appearances, the Tolkien adaptation project The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is chugging steadily along. As publicized earlier, Andy Serkis directs. The writing team consists of Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou.

The latest big news are threefold: the casting of Kate Winslet, the recasting of Aragorn, and the return of Lee Pace as Thranduil. (Please share if you have other tidbits!)

IMDB Winslet A Little Chaos

At this writing, according to IMDB, returning to their previous Middle-earth roles are Elijah Wood (Frodo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Lee Pace (Thranduil), and Andy Serkis (Gollum); new actors and/or roles include Kate Winslet as Marigol, Jamie Dornan as Strider, and Leo Woodall as Halvard.

It’s not surprising that a new role was created for Winslet, since female characters are few and far between in that section of Tolkien’s writing. However, there’s as of yet no indication what kinds of characters Marigol and Halvard might be or even which cultures or races they might come from.

Neither does it surprise me that Viggo Mortensen isn’t returning as Aragorn, as he’s getting on in years (and computer-aided de-aging is never very good anyway). Once the recasting was confirmed, there were a lot of speculation and rumors flying around. Apparently Dornan doesn’t yet have many big-name roles under his belt. I did see somewhere that the production was looking for someone who looks like a younger Viggo Mortensen; whether that’s true I have no idea, but it at least appears plausible.

IMDB Dornan New Worlds Cropped

Casting Lee Pace as Thranduil is nice; he did a fantastic job earlier and he’s still young enough to plausibly appear in the role. And, of course, seeing his character would be completely logical given Tolkien’s original references to Mirkwood and Mirkwood Elves around this plot element.

Apparently the start of production is happening this month. Actual progress! Reactor Mag also reports that filming will continue until October, and that HfG is the first planned movie in a duology. The production just might turn out to be more interesting than I thought earlier.

The release has been pushed forwards by a year (earlier info mentioned 2026). At this writing, HfG is slated to hit the theaters on Dec 17, 2027.

Images: Winslet in A Little Chaos, photo by Alex Bailey via IMDB. Dornan in New Worlds via IMDB (cropped).

Pompeii Reconstructed

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Here’s a fascinating project: a digital reconstruction of the Roman city of Pompeii that lets us walk through the streets and wander the houses of the ancient city when it was still a living town. This video shows some highlights of the work produced by Altair 4.

Pompei Then and now [sic] by Altair4 Multimedia Archaeo3D Production via Youtube

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New Pride and Prejudice Teaser Trailer

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Aha! The new Pride and Prejudice adaptation by Netflix is far enough along to have released a first trailer:

Pride and Prejudice | Official Teaser by Netflix on YouTube

Oh, boy… that really wasn’t much, was it?

The editing of the trailer does remind me of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights trailers—and not necessarily in a good way. (I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve gotten the impression that Fennell foregrounded the characters’ passions at the expense of the plot.) While people in Regency England has strong feelings, of course, the polite society was all about controlling them, and that’s a part of Jane Austen’s writing. Furthermore, at its core P&P is about a meeting of the minds, not looking for a romp in the hay. In this trailer, touch and intimate gaze feature heavily, making it appear the story is about the bodies more than the brains.

And why on earth is Elizabeth Bennett sitting up on the roof in the first place? To highlight her rebellious spirit even to the slowest of viewers???

I am fervently hoping any future trailer(s) will be more illuminating.

At this writing, IMDB doesn’t list a release date, but Deadline claims “launching in fall 2026”.

The Sheep Detectives Trailers

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The Sheep Detectives is almost out, and I can’t believe I haven’t come across this production before—it looks absolutely hilarious!

Before some comments, here are the two trailers:

The Sheep Detectives | Official Trailer by Amazon MGM Studios on YouTube

The Sheep Detectives | Official Trailer 2 by Amazon MGM Studios on YouTube

Hugh Jackman’s shepherd George—who turns out much more than a simple farmer—is murdered. He had a habit of reading murder mysteries to his flock, who take it upon themselves to solve his killing. It involves crossing a road—gasp!—to leave their beloved pasture, conducting investigations, and attempting to point the poor hapless local bobby in the right direction.

The supporting cast sounds incredible. We have for instance Emma Thompson and Patrick Stewart, Tosin Cole and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brett Goldstein and Nicholas Galitzine (who is going to be He-Man in the upcoming reboot of Masters of the Universe).

The script is by Craig Mazin and Leonie Swann, based on Swann’s book; Kyle Balda directs. I know some of Mazin’s work from the series Chernobyl (which was great) and Balda’s from Minions (ditto), so here’s hoping that the plot works.

Can’t wait! 😀

The Sheep Detectives is set to open next Friday, May 08, 2026.

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A Highlands Set

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Using some of the transmog pieces from last year’s Brewfest, I put together a highlands set for my Kul Tiran warrior. Now she’s ready for anything from caber-tossing to haggis-tasting. (Or possibly caber-tasting and haggis-tossing, depending on her mood.)

Here’s the pieces that went into the set.

Images: World of Warcraft screencap

Of Dice and Dragons talks about games and gaming.

Second Trailer for Masters of the Universe Reboot

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Here’s the second Masters of The Universe trailer:

Masters of The Universe – Official Trailer by Amazon MGM Studios on YouTube

We see a little more in this version—like Adam starting to re-gather his team from jail—but how much more can there really be in an origin story? The fight scenes don’t seem to contain anything interesting, either. (I’m really not the prime target audience for this reboot, since it doesn’t seem to do anything new and inventive, merely new as in ‘an updated version’.) Adam’s relationships with his friend(s) on Earth show some comedic promise, at least.

I do wonder how they got such a cast to sign up for what appears a rather uninspired reboot? Unless the trailers lie again?

As MotU really was more my younger siblings’ cup of tea, I think for me it’ll be a movie to get from the library.

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