Tailkinker

Answer: Nope. Had Legolas been present, they would undoubtedly have given his character greater prominence than just one closeup. Tolkien never gave Legolas a specific date of birth, but the implication is that he was not born at the time. Peter Jackson has also mentioned an assumed age for Legolas that backs this up.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Easterlings are men, and Khamul was presumably one of their kings. Simple.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: I can see who you mean, but I'm pretty certain that it's not Peter Jackson - the resemblance isn't really that close. Besides, I strongly suspect that the studio would be dead set against anything that put their director (scriptwriter/producer/etc) on a horse in the middle of a charge - I've never read anything to indicate that Jackson is an experienced rider, and there are risks in what's being portrayed in that scene.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: It's quite common for male friends of the family to be referred to as "uncle" by the children, even if they're not actually related in any way - I have at least three old friends of my parents who I refer to in these terms. Rimmer may be stretching the point with the 'friend' thing, but that's what he's referring to.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: The lead orc is Gothmog, a briefly mentioned character in the books (mentioned precisely once) - it's not even clear in the books which race he belongs to. The second orc, with the skulls, doesn't seem to have a name.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Not necessarily - the precise command hierarchy isn't established in the books and we don't know where the various Nazgul stand. Gothmog is the Witch-King's leftenant, so it would make sense that he would be second-in-command of any army led by his master.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Not as simple a question as it sounds, as, while Faramir and Aragorn are both described as Rangers, they're actually different types of Ranger. Faramir is one of the Rangers of Ithilien, a Gondorian group who specialise in using guerrilla tactics against the forces of Sauron in the land of Ithilien, between the Anduin river (which runs through Osgiliath) and the Mountains of Shadow that form the western border of Mordor. Aragorn is the current chieftain of the Rangers of the North, who came into being after the fall of the northern kingdom of Arthedain, ruled over by Isildur's descendants. After the loss of Arthedain, the people survived in the wild as the loose-knit organisation known as the Rangers. The two groups are related - both originate from the Dunedain, the long-lived descendants of the survivors of Numenor - but have been seperated for around 3000 years.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Smeagol was believed to have been a Stoor, a branch of the hobbits known for being quite large and strong (by hobbit standards). His mutation is because of the Ring - precise reason unclear, but almost certainly related to the fact that it has prolonged his life far beyond a normal hobbit span (Gollum is around 580 years old when he dies, easily five times the normal lifespan)- note that Bilbo, who, while old, is still within a normal hobbit lifespan, looks physically normal. Smeagol, through use of the Ring, has been influenced by the wraithworld, in exactly the same manner that the kings of men who were given the nine rings ultimately became the Nazgul - in time, he would presumably have become a wraith-like being like them. Gollum's current appearance may be some intermediate stage.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: He says it specifically - he's offering his service in payment of what he sees as a debt to Denethor, in that Boromir gave his life to protect Pippin and Merry.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: He wished to return to live in England with his family, so made an agreement that he would take a reduced role in the series.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: It's possible that the songs written for the character simply didn't suit his singing voice. There was an additional song written for the film, to be sung by Mufasa (called "To Be King") - this was eventually cut completely for a similar reason, namely that it didn't suit James Earl Jones' (very good) singing voice.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: This would be the episode "Darla", and, yes, it's exactly the same moment - I'm pretty sure that the same shot is used. In a nice bit of coordination, Darla is Angel episode 2.7, which corresponds exactly to Fool For Love, which is Buffy episode 5.7. - at the time, I think, the two series were shown on the same night, one after the other, making the two episodes, in effect, a double-length history lesson on the vampires of this particular bloodline. In an even nicer bit of coordination, this particular scene occurs at about the same point in each episode (around the 15-minute mark).

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: I don't think they're thinking along that sort of lines - I think it's more that this is the first test of the tour systems with a 'real' tour group and they're concerned about technical difficulties. Hammond is complaining because it didn't all go perfectly - Arnold is merely reminding him that they had a lot of technical systems that worked fine. If they'd had problems as well, the tour could have been appalling. At this point, they wouldn't even be considering the possibility of a dinosaur breakout or security problem - they're worried about the technical aspects of the tour working properly.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: He says "Hannon le" - it means "Thank you".

Tailkinker ★

Answer: It's a computer-generated Legolas. While experienced riders are capable of some pretty amazing stuff, I'd imagine that what's seen would be impossible to do in reality - certainly not without throwing the horse off a lot more than seen here. But then, Legolas is an elf, so all bets are off on what he's capable of doing.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Which trailer? There have been two. The teaser used some original music scored by Robert Etoll, plus bits from Danny Elfman's score for the first film. The full trailer uses, in order, tracks called "Burn the Clock" (Adam Freeland), "Lacrimosa" and "Orch and Choir Rise" (both Immediate Music), "Switchback Instrumental" (Celldweller), a bit from "The Last Samurai" by Hans Zimmer (referred to as the "Ronin" cue), and finally a bit from "Plunkett & Macleane" by Craig Armstrong (referred to as the "Hanging" cue).

Tailkinker ★

Answer: That does appear to be the most likely interpretation of events, yes. The only other possibility, which seems considerably less probable, is that Lecter does know some way of disabling handcuffs with a hard strike - one that still caused significant damage to his wrist, resulting in the need to wear the sling.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Hannibal being an accomplished surgeon could have wielded the cleaver to remove a finger or two thus enabling the handcuffs to be removed. He does mention "above the wrist or below" in the scene, thus below the wrist could mean fingers only.

Chosen answer: Sam ultimately marries Rosie and has thirteen children. Unless your friends still regard that as "keeping up appearances", in which case it's the most heroic case ever recorded, they're wrong. His love for Frodo is merely great loyalty and friendship, nothing more.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Galadriel and Gimli? Bizarre mental image. Um, no, there's nothing going on there. Gimli does fall for her beauty, true, and she's flattered, but there's nothing else there. Do bear in mind that Celeborn, her husband, is around as well. No, she doesn't have an infatuation with Frodo either - her initial rapport with him would be down to them both being Ringbearers. Come-hither looks at the Grey Havens? I don't really see those - what I see is that she's excited about returning to Valinor, the land where she was born, and that she hasn't seen for seven thousand years. Nothing to do with Frodo going along, or any desire for hobbit lurve...

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: The Corsairs of Umbar are a piratical group, originally of Gondorian origin, whose founder, Castamir, was ousted as ruler of that land (he usurped the throne and had a vicious and cruel reign lasting ten years) some 1500 years before the events of the film. Since that time, they've held a great hatred for Gondor, fighting against them as much as possible. As a trivia note, forty years prior to the films, the Corsair fleets were all but destroyed by a devastating Gondorian attack led by a man named Thorongil. Thorongil was, in fact, Aragorn - he used this alias during his early life and his service to the lords of both Gondor and Rohan (as mentioned in the extended Two Towers film).

Tailkinker ★