To the cinema TWICE today...The Hobbit at 12:20 and Kajaki at 18:10

[JasonPratt]

Which one is the Jar Jar character you're talking about?

the sidekick from Laketown.  Lickspittle

Right. I think his name was Alfred? (The other being the town's nickname for him.)

He spends all of H2 being a total but fairly effective asshat; and all of H3 being a painfully unfunny ineffective comic relief asshat; radically endangering people with his cowardice and selfishness by the way; and toward the end of the fight in H3, Bard basically lets him run off with as much of the town's small supply of money as he can carry -- this being quite literally why they came to Dale in the first place because they needed money to rebuild and were willing to murder the dwarves with an elven army if necessary to get what the dwarves fairly promised and owed them! But Bard sends him on his way with kind of a fond farewell. While the fight is still going on. There are literally orcs running into view in the background generally where Alfred is running to, but it doesn't seem like Bard thinks he'll be rightfully killed or something by taking the town's meager possessions that way.

I legitimately look forward to the docs on the expanded edition for hints or statements on what the utter hell the writers were thinking about how he's used in H3. Because I am baffled.

[bayonetbrant]

11 Times 'The Hobbit' Is Just Like a Game of 'Dungeons & Dragons'

[BanzaiCat]

I watched the first two Hobbit movies this week, finally. Not bad at all. Thinking of going and seeing the third one at the theatre tomorrow or Saturday, but I highly, HIGHLY doubt the wife will want to see that. (It's either that or Big Hero 6, as there's shite locally right now. Just about everything playing at the nearby theatre has crap ratings with a few exceptions.)

[MetalDog]

11 Times 'The Hobbit' Is Just Like a Game of 'Dungeons & Dragons'

SPOT ON!!!

[Martok]

Caught a matinee showing of The Battle of Five Armies this afternoon.  Having already accepted I wouldn't like it as much as I did the LotR films, I will say I enjoyed this one more than the previous two Hobbit movies. 

I suffer from being a purist, I think.  No matter how hard I try, I can never entirely divorce the movies from the books in my mind.  Thus, I'm always comparing the former to the latter...and finding the former wanting, to a greater or lesser degree.  The Hobbit films deviate to a far greater extent from their source material than even the Lord of the Rings movies do, and so I find more to criticize. 

All that being said, I'm still glad I went.  Despite the warts, be they both numerous and massive, it was fun to visit Middle-Earth again. 

11 Times 'The Hobbit' Is Just Like a Game of 'Dungeons & Dragons'

Ha!  Nice. 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I went today.  Not a good sign when I checked my watch at least half a dozen times during the film.  There's a scene near the end when the band of dwarves are all lined up to wish Bilbo a farewell and I could only match one of them to their name from the books. 

[JasonPratt]

Compare with the now-classic DM of the Rings: if LotR had been invented/written by a D&D Dungeonmaster wanting to railroad his players through this epic story he's created for his enjoyment.




WARNING: UNLESS YOU HAVE SEVERAL HOURS TO SPEND, DO NOT FOLLOW THE LINK!! 144 parts plus appendices.

(The still-running Darth and Droids homage, where the six movies are invented by a group of rollplayers over many years, passed its 1000th chapter long ago, and is nearing the climax of Episode V. Definitely not a railroad scenario; arguably the best alt-variation of Star Wars ever made. ;) )

[bayonetbrant]

(The still-running Darth and Droids homage, where the six movies are invented by a group of rollplayers over many years, passed its 1000th chapter long ago, and is nearing the climax of Episode V. Definitely not a railroad scenario; arguably the best alt-variation of Star Wars ever made. ;) )

HOLY SHIT - I'M ABOUT TO LOSE AN ENTIRE WEEK OF WORK TO THIS

It's awesomely hilarious, too

R2-D2: Guys, just brainstorming here, but how about I go out and fix the ship?
GM: That's incredibly dangerous... Besides, other droids are already on that.
R2-D2: I'm totally hardcore. Bring it on.
GM: The droid working next to you gets hit and blown into space.
R2-D2: Don't hold back, man.
GM: The droid working on the other side of you gets hit and blown into space.
R2-D2: No problem. I have Mechanic at max. I roll 01101.
GM: What?
R2-D2: Custom dice.
GM: Are they really labelled in binary? Let me see.
R2-D2: Of course. I got this set especially for playing robot characters.
GM: Are they chrome??
R2-D2: Titanium.

[bayonetbrant]

(The still-running Darth and Droids homage, where the six movies are invented by a group of rollplayers over many years, passed its 1000th chapter long ago, and is nearing the climax of Episode V. Definitely not a railroad scenario; arguably the best alt-variation of Star Wars ever made. ;) )

This might seriously be the funniest thing I have read in 2 decades.

[JasonPratt]

It is truly a work of art. I dropped out after they finished Ep 3, not because I didn't care but because I had gotten used to binging the work all at once and I wanted to plow through the final (first) three movies that way, too.

That being said, the DM of the Rings ranks up there, too. And it's only 144 chapters!  :)) That's like a day of work, tops.

(...possibly I know that from past experience...)

[BanzaiCat]

(Sigh) sorry for the double post yesterday...I didn't see this here.  :-[

[JasonPratt]

 ??? I don't recall seeing your impressions of H3 anywhere, B_C.

Also, I can't figure out what kind of Ascii emoticon B_C should represent, but now that the idea has occurred to me my brain WILL NOT LET IT GO!! 

[Staggerwing]

Also, I can't figure out what kind of Ascii emoticon B_C should represent, but now that the idea has occurred to me my brain WILL NOT LET IT GO!! 

Actually, turn your head left and it looks like a bow-legged hombre in glasses about to draw his shootin' iron.

[JasonPratt]

??? I don't recall seeing your impressions of H3 anywhere, B_C.

Oh, he meant the DM of the Rings and Dr&Dr. No prob, I thought they should have a separate thread, too. :)

Also, Stagger's interp of the Ascii emoticon of your nickname's initials has now become canon in my mind!  O0