[Kransha]

Well, well, it's been more'n week since I've even posted on the Downs! Dreadful! I must recoup my losses...The holiday season obviously has its downsides (O accursed St. Nicholas, how dare you distract me with baubles and gift wrap!)

Since I made vehement points about the EE on other occasions, I thought it'd be fitting for me to return, in good spirits, with my newly purchased copy of the Extended Edition, and report.

Many of you may know that Saruman and Grima Wormtongue are two of my favorite characters in The Lord of the Rings, nay, in all of Tolkien's works.

You may be surprised, then, to learn that I loved the added "Voice of Saruman" sequence.

Christopher Lee is magnificent as usual, and I have only two minor gripes. Far more good points to make then bad. The editing was sketchy, for one. Saruman popping up worked, because he is supposed to be crafty, and that implies a certain wizardly stealth, but when Saruman was dead and the camera cut back to Treebeard, it didn't work as well. Also, Saruman's actual "fall" was melodromatic with the amount of spinning that plummeting Maia carcass did. Would've been a bit more realistic if he just fell, and more weighty as well. Those are my only annoyances about the scene. The whispering of characters seemed reasonable to me. Firstly, it is explained that none of the actors realized how high up Saruman was, so their confusion is understandable.

Saruman's voice was perfectly melodious and sinister. When I heard Lee utter those fabulous words ("Gibbets and crows! Dotard!") I felt a surge of joy. I knew the whole speech would not be there, but I knew that its feeling was, and that was good enough. It is the feeling of that near-multiple-personality tirade of Saruman's that is essential. The voice was sickeningly sweet and tempting, tantalizing, and Theoden, despite other comments, seemed momentarily tempted by the prospect of alliance. Also as an added bonus, Grima was well-killed: swift arrow, a gasp or two, silence. And, finally, I found a bit of amusement and interest in hearing about Saruman's accurate delivery of his post-mortem grunt (C. Lee explains, in the 'Cameras in M-E' Documentary, that he had some clandestine knowledge of what sound a person made when a person was stabbed in the back multiple times).

The additions contributed to Legolas and Gimli were also interesting, considering the fact that, as is revealed, John Rhys-Davies actually ad-libbed all those corny/cheesy lines of Gimli's. This, I think, is a redeeming trait. It's not easy to create a line in context that is funny enough to still cause a chorus of laughter in global theaters. Kudos to the Dwarf! Similarly, I found little wrong with the drinking game, although it did not strike my humerus, as did some other Dwarven prodigies. I liked the Corsair bit, although the corsair captain's lines sounded even more modern than most of Legolas and Gimli's pop-culture jokes (do people in Middle-Earth really say "You and what army"?).

Denethor was not redeemed, he was explored, and I liked that - a lot. I thought that the EE added quite a bit to Denethor. His conversation with Faramir was average, but the single addition of his few lines during "The Pyre of Denethor" were enlightening in some respect. In the moment before he casts the torch, to sow his own doom, upon the fire, he did give some insight into his reasons and his madness (in essence, summing up a lot of thoughts that the book-verse palantir shoved into his weakened mind). John Noble, during the commentaries and documentaries, does speak about the palantir at length, which means that it was not forgotten...nor was it, really, left out of Denethor's character. I still think that the movie's depiction of him is slanderous to a great character, but I smile to know that some of my love for Denethor as a character is shared, and that PJ did understand that this was not a villain, not an abusive cad, but a fallen monarch...