Saruman Completely Cut from 'Return of the King'

Dolemite_the_Wiz writes "Multiple News Sources report that Christopher Lee's Character Saruman will not appear in the LOTR: ROTK at all. From what I've been reading, the scenes total seven minutes and is a vital component of the whole storyline that the 'masses' should see in the theatrical cut of ROTK. Of course these scenes will be included in the DVD 'Special Edition' of ROTK. I've got tremendous faith in Peter Jackson's talents as a filmmaker. I've been a fan since his first movie but haven't read the LOTR trilogy books...yet. (I'm waiting for ROTK to hit the theaters) Given the fact that I haven't read the books but am a huge movie snob, how can you not have any sort of resolution of a character that has played a key component in the three movies? Articles on this story can be found at BBC, Christopher Lee Web, and theonering.net."

Snob????

[Anonymous Coward]

Given the fact that I haven't read the books but am a huge movie snob,

Well, I am a reading snob who can't fathom how someone who doesn't like to read can qualify as a snob of any sort. The books have been out for 50 years, fucktard! How 'bout I whap you upside the head with a clue-by-four just like you deserve?

WTF!

[REDNOROCK]

How the hell can they cut out Saurumon? (sp)

Key component?

[freeweed]

how can you not have any sort of resolution of a character that has played a key component in the three movies?

I'd say he was only been a key compnent in two movies, now :)

Given the fact

[Anonymous Coward]

That you haven't read Lord of the Rings, I demand you get off Slashdot now. Next you'll be saying "Star Trek? What's that?"

Maybe this is because . . .

[EmCeeHawking]

. . . SCO threatened to sue New Line Cinema over unlicensed depictions of their proprietary method of using evil to dominate the world.

Sources

[Equuleus42]

Multiple News Sources report that Christopher Lee's Character Saurman will not appear in the LOTR: ROTK at all.

Would one of these "multiple sources" be the latest movie leak on Kazaa? :^)

His action figure didn't sell well...

[Denver_80203]

bummer

Oh, I thought you said Sauron

[raider_red]

When I first read the headline, my dislexia kicked in and I thought they said that Sauron had been cut from the third movie. My first thought was that he was being replaced by a little white rabbit with very sharp teeth.

Re:I never expected to see anything from book 6

[Bame Flait]

scenes total seven minutes and is a vital component

I think the real story here is that subject-verb agreement, a vital component of the English language, has been cut from slashdot posts.

Re:Oh, I thought you said Sauron

[Altima(BoB)]

"That's no ordinary Dark Lord! It's a viscious eyeball Dark Lord with big pointy teeth..."

And upon Gandalf's return, he shall introduce himself as "Tim."

Gandalf: "You shall not pass! Until you answer me these questions three, what is your name?"
Balrog: "I am a demon of the old gods, the balrog."
Gandalf: "What is your quest?"
Balrog: "I seek to crush your fellowship and burn them.
Gandalf: "What is your favorite color?"
Balrog: "Flame orange! No, blue - AAAEEEIIIII!!!!!!"

There are lots of possibilities, I could go on but then I'd just drive it into the ground.

I'm a pleb I guess

[eamonman]

Oh well, I'm going to be a little pleb and buy the Super-Hyper-Extended-Platinum-Zero-Limited Edition LOTR 15 Disc Box Set when it comes out and pay whatever they want me to pay. Sure, you could buy all the other versions and little parts of the whole, but I think it's best if you just wait and get everything in one massive, matching box set that injures your mailman.

You haven't heard the worst of it yet...

[ayjay29]

I'm not too worried about Saruman being cut, it's the addition of this character [bbspot.com] that scares me.

Re:Nonsense...

[Stormie]

Are they going to completely erase the Shire portion? That would be madness indeed.

Yes, they are going to completely erase the scouring of the Shire, as they have said in every goddamn interview for the last three goddamn years. Christ, Slashdot today is like the Young Ones. "Oh, have we got a video!?"

Re:What would they have done with him anyhow?

[desau]

Nah -- I'm sure that sauron, being pure evil, would use MSN Instant Messenger.

Just a hunch though.

Re:Maybe this is because . . .

[Blue Master]

I thought Microsoft had prior art on that one...

Here's how to show 'em!

[HardCase]

Boycott the movie! That's right, show your displeasure by NOT GOING!

That way I'll get the best seat...and I won't have to wait in line!

-h-

Re:I never expected to see anything from book 6

[cens0r]

I have to agree. I always thought the two most important parts of the series are tom bombadil and the scouring of the shire. On the surface they seem like they are there for no reason, but on further examination I think Tolkien meant them to be the most important.

Re:Jackson will likely pull it off

[banzai75]

Think about it - do you believe more or fewer people are reading the books now that the first 2 films are out?

I stopped reading after the elves never showed up at Helm's Deep. Who is the Tolkien guy and how dare he mess with a Peter Jackson classic film?

Re:I never expected to see anything from book 6

[WatertonMan]

a) ROTK, the book, is a bit shorter than the others

No, no, no. It just has endless appendices (sp?) that no one reads.

I hear that the SSE (super-super-extended) version has these, the scouring of the shire, and Bombadil in. Yes, the endless genealogy tables are there, read by Ian McKellan. So for those of you who tremble when you hear your preacher read the genealogies in the Book of Numbers, now you can be relieved to know that the full edition of Lord of the Rings is here. Yeah it drags in a few places and putting every damn song in a foreign language back in seems an odd directorial choice. But it's there.

Be happy.

This just in!

[ThisIsFred]

Multiple news sources just confirmed that Aragorn has been completely cut from `Return of the King'. Now, I have complete faith in Peter Jackson as filmmaker, and the 60 minutes of deleted footage will return in next year's RotK special edition DVD release. But, this does bring the theatrical release running time down to a more manageable 241 minutes. Rumour has it that the film contains 78 minutes of scenes not in the book involving Liv Tyler, some of which detail a surprising romantic relationship between the she-elf and Sauron. (Oops! Sorry about the spoiler!)

Re:Key component?

[Anonymous Coward]

after watching what the humans were up to in the animatrix and putting up with the dry, wooden acting in reloaded, I was rooting for the machines, actually.

FYI

[dmatos]

Symphonie Fantastique was composed by Berlioz, based on an opium-induced nightmare. It's successes like that which convince me I need to take more drugs.

Re:Key component?

[IWannaBeAnAC]

I've never read the book, only seen the movie. What happens in the last chapter?

Re:meh

[jemenake]

Spider, yes. Demon, no.

She's going to be in the ROTK movie. You'd know this, had you not been living under a rock.

First off, the spider is "Shelob".

Next, I'd pretty much figured that they'd put her in the third film, since they were pretty much locked into it once Gollum did his soliloqy/agrument-with-self about giving the hobbits to "her".

The problem I have with that is that, to put Shelob in ROTK, they'll have to leave out even more stuff from the actual ROTK *book* than they would have left out otherwise. It's like they're running a deficit and they're borrowing film frames from the next movie.

I don't know how they're going to fix this without spilling into *another* movie. Good heavens... if we get ROTK:Reloaded and ROTK:Revolutions I'm gonna hurt somebody. :)

And... for the record, I'm pretty miffed that they left out Tom Bombadill. If I had read the book in print, I probably would have gotten pretty bored. Instead, I listened to the unabridged audiobook with Robert Inglis, and I think he really made Tom a pretty fun character to imagine.

But... oh well. Based on how badly most films stray from their original books, I figure we should just be thankful they left in that Gandalf guy.... and that sub-plot about that "one ring" and all. :)

Re:Key component?

[the_mad_poster]

A trolling AC posted:

And you are from which country now? I'm sure I can dig up something...

JonMartin posted:

Okay, I'll bite: Canada.

Ouch.... that's easy. Canada's to blame for EVERYTHING. Cripes... you nuts can't even tell bacon from ham and you eat snails and live in igloos.

Crazy penguins.

Re:Key component?

[Disoculated]

Brave man. You do have to get props for Canada though, they're a pretty decent country. They did, of course, send troops to Afghanistan (right or wrong). They've also been involved in just about every conflict that the UK has been involved in for a few hundred years (again, right or wrong).

It's not like we've forgotten that you once burned Washington :)

Fifty Four Forty or Fight!

Re:7200 Series Only!

[YetAnotherDave]

>>It's not like we've forgotten that you once burned Washington :)

really? I didn't think they taught that in american schools...

Re:MAJOR SPOILER

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually that is not true. Peter Jackson has decided that the third book is too long so he didn't read it and will make up a better ending. I can't wait!

Re:Key component?

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Ouch.... that's easy. Canada's to blame for EVERYTHING.

Yeah, and those bastards killed Kenny, too.

Oh...