It would seem George Lucas has set a precedent on doing things in the galaxy far far away backwards, because the latest Old Republic cinematic takes place before the previous two. Satele Shan is not a master yet nor is Darth Malgus. Also the Sith Empire has not returned yet…until the cinematic kicks off of course.
Darth Malgus and Satele Shan in their second duel on Alderaan
The trailers have showed us just about every character class that you can use in the MMORPG and this one introduces us to the smuggler class, portrayed by a smart mouth human Cad Bane wannabe, who also likes to check out Twi’lek behinds. Check out the trailer below to enjoy the goodness. And be good to yourself by watching it in 720p:
Let’s touch on some interesting points: Malgus and Satele certainly end up having quite a history, fighting for the first time here and Satele being the one to injure him so badly on Alderaan that he needs Darth Vader style life support. I can’t wait to see their next confrontation which will no doubt occur during the Old Republic game. (If it ever finally releases.)
Satele’s master
Malgus himself shows that he is quite the skilled fighter, as if that wasn’t apparent with his destruction of the Jedi Temple and concurrent conquering of Coruscant later. (That was a lot of c’s.) He also proves to be a true sith after striking down his wounded master after their fight against the Jedi. It was interesting to see a Sith Lord of the same species of Naga Sadow in action, something I can’t recall seeing before in any video. The red skinned Sith claim to be pure blooded Sith because they share the bloodline of the initially conquered Sith species.
Satele’s master also proved to be quite formidable, taking on both Malgus and his own master with plenty of finesse as he wielded his own lightsaber with Satele’s own double bladed weapon. It’s a shame that he bit the dust because he seemed interesting enough. Given Star Wars penchant for prequel material perhaps we will see him in something in future media.
I’ve told myself and told myself not to waste time playing the MMORPG when it finally does release but the more I see of it the more I know that just won’t happen. From all of the trailers, gameplay and books this portion of the Star Wars expanded universe has shown us so far, the Old Republic era still has plenty for us. Either way I need a new Star Wars game to play because I’m still reeling from the disappointment that was The Force Unleashed 2.
The Game of Thrones finale picks up right after last week’s shocking conclusion of Ned Stark losing his head and Arya holding close to Yoren afterwards. Yoren then takes Arya and cuts her hair to make her look like a boy as they intend to head North. The rest of the Starks soon find out one after another of Ned’s execution. Robb takes out his frustration on a tree until his mother consoles and eerily promises that once they get back Sansa and Arya that they will kill them all.
Afterwards the Northmen have a meeting trying to determine whether to recognize Lord Renly or Lord Stannis as king until Greatjon Umber has an epiphany: make Robb the King of the North and rule themselves which the rest of the Northmen quickly join in on. Catelyn pays a visit to Jaime Lannister afterward, smashing him in the face with a rock after he inquires if she is there to bed him due to the loss of her husband. Catelyn thinks better of it, knowing they need Jaime alive in order to get her daughters back.
Lord Tywin in the meanwhile is infuriated that his better son has been captured, and he shockingly speaks with Tyrion in private to appoint as Hand of The King to Joffrey in his stead while he deals with the River Lords and Robb Stark. He does however tell Tyrion not to bring the ‘whore’ Shae with him to King’s Landing but Tyrion loving his good father so much decides to disregard that memo.
Joffrey on the other hand is having his sadistic fun at King’s Landing, forcing the singer who was on the road with Tyrion and Catelyn to play a song poking fun at King Robert in front of the assembled court. He commands the singer to choose between his fingers or his tongue before leaving the throne room for the day. The singer inadvertently chooses his tongue and we are treated to a zoomed out Ser Ilyn Payne removing the tongue with pliers and a hot dagger. Joffrey then further slides into asshole mode by showing Sansa her father’s head on a spike upon the battlements and having one of his Kingsguard’s slap her for talking back. He is a very manly king I gotta tell ya.
There was also a very interesting scene with Grand Maester Pycelle going on about how many Kings he has served over the years to the whore he just finished with, then after she leaves he stands up like a spring chicken stretching. Then after getting dressed he resumes his stooped and elderly demeanor as he exits the room. This old fart isn’t all he seems to be.
Arya ends up leaving King’s Landing with Yoren, heading North to the Wall in the company of a bunch of dungeon recruits. Before she leaves she has a run in with Robert’s bastard Gendry when he helps her further dissuade two bullies who wanted her sword Needle.
Jon Snow also finds out about his father’s death in King’s Landing, and even after Maester Aemon’s pep talk he makes the decision to abandon his post with the Night’s Watch and join up with Robb to avenge Ned. As he and Ghost race through the forest in the night he is followed by Sam, Pip and Grenn and they remind him of his vows and he returns to Castle Black with them. Lord Commander Mormont even lets him know that he tried to run off, but forgives him his temporary insanity and tells him that he will be coming with him and many other brothers to go beyond the Wall to find his uncle Benjen dead or alive. Mormont is sick and tired of waiting for anything to come and attack them so he becomes a little proactive. Too bad we won’t get to see anymore of the Night’s Watch until next season. DAMN!
Now let’s get to the biggest part of the episode. Last week the sorceress Miri Maz Duur was supposed to bring Drogo back with the offering of the life of another. It turns out that Dany gets Drogo back, but at the cost of her unborn son. And even worse, Drogo may still be alive but he is a husk of a person who just stares off into the distance. Miri let’s Dany know that Khal Drogo should not have razed her village to the ground and that now her son will not become the Stallion who mounts the world and cannot cause death and destruction like her village suffered. Harsh world I suppose.
Dany realizes as she lays with Drogo that he is beyond help and she smothers him with a pillow and prepares his body and the supposedly fossilized dragon eggs to be burned. Dany also throws Miri into the package of to be burned items and Miri declares she will not hear her screams. She was wrong as the funeral pyre is lit and Miri cooks for a bit before succumbing to the screams. Dany then walks through the fire unfazed towards Drogo and the eggs as the scene then cuts to the next morning. Jorah walks towards the ashes of the pyre, and everyone beholds Dany rising up unburned and holding three baby dragons who will come to be known as Rhaegal (Green and bronze), Viserion (Cream and Gold) and Drogon (Black and Red) who gave tiny but ear-piercing roars to end the episode as the remaining khalasar knelt before her. The whole scene gave me goosebumps and could not have been done better. I was a little wary of what the dragons would look like but they were very well done and a true testament to the quality of this show.
I give the episode a four out of five bears because the ending with the dragons was one of the best scenes of the whole series and there was plenty of great set up for the next season. It was heart breaking to see the various reactions to Ned’s death and you can’t help but want to strangle Joff for his treatment of Sansa.
I can’t wait by the way and Spring 2012 is gonna be a loooong wait. So let me know what you thought of the episode because I was digging it and have very high hopes for season 2 which follows book 2: A Clash of Kings. I can’t imagine many viewers feel too bad that the people of Westeros will soon be roasting in dragon fire.
I love Game of Thrones. It has a great story, awesome actors along with the characters they play, and the set pieces and production value on the show are staggering. But if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty, and talk about some of the more primitive likings of the show, then look no further than the gory, and most times inventive ways of people getting killed. From beheadings to burnings, and bludgeoning to maulings, Game of Thrones has a pretty impressive list of ways certain characters died a horrible death. Some made us cry, but the majority of them made us go –“AWWW SWEET!” So without further adieu let’s take a look at the top ten…
Hey everyone! Percy Jackson is having another movie! This is so awesome because the Lightning Thief was so darn good! Hello? Anyone still listening? Probably not. I doubt that even Percy Jackson fans care about the latest on the movie adaptations of their beloved book series. Not to mention Fox studio’s intentions to rush the film out for a 2012 release, this movie has bad written all over it. Check out a little more info from IGN below:
Well, we’re getting a Percy Jackson sequel, like it or not. The Los Angeles Times reports that Fox 2000 has “exercised the option” on star Logan Lerman — in other words, he’s coming back for the sequel whether he likes it or not too. And director Thor Freudenthal (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) has been hired to replace the first film’s Chris Columbus.
Hopefully Logan Lerman isn’t going to half ass it because he has no choice in the matter but honestly, in the age of sequels not happening because of lackluster first round box office outings, I can’t figure out why this one is happening. The first film grossed 88 million domestically with a budget of 95 million. That spells flop to me. But worldwide it had a gross of 226 million bucks so maybe they’re depending on the foreign market. To me the film was just “ok”, it didn’t really move or wow me in any way and it definitely was not the next Harry Potter. My 54 year old dad actually liked it better than me, which I still can’t figure out to this day. He simply states “that he has better movie taste than Doc Kronner and myself.” I hate to break it to him on this father’s day weekend that he is mistaken, but he probably won’t care since there is another Percy Jackson movie coming out.
The movie will not only follow the second book of the Jackson series, ‘Sea of Monsters’, but it is said to borrow elements from the other books as well. Purists of the series better prepare their diapers for this one.
So we’ve already had a teaser and a trailer, as well as a slew of posters for the new Conan the Barbarian, coming out this August. But we had not yet gotten a Red Band Trailer to show us all of the violent glory this flick is all about. Luckily we now have one to show you.
Looks excellent to me. I’m not looking for some deep movie about a barbarian’s feelings and how life gets him down. I want to see Conan fighting monsters, killing people and getting the gal! By the looks of this trailer that is what we’re gonna get!
Well this is it boys and girls. This episode is either going to make you throw up, crap your pants, cry, or punch something. Whether it’s from hatred of King Joffrey, love of Ned Stark or the ravages of unpredictability. Whether or not you read the books, or you’re a first timer for Game of Thrones, you’ll still be impacted. I told Dr. Kronner I didn’t even want to watch the episode because of what happens in it. Even having read the book and knowing the outcome, it’s completely different watching it on-screen.
Keep reading to find out what could possibly have happened in the episode to make me open the review like this. In the last episode you have a couple major things happening. Ned is now a prisoner of the Lannisters as is Sansa just not in a dungeon in chains. Arya is missing and Robb has called all of the banners of the North to march on King’s Landing to free his father and now is running headlong into a clash with Tywin Lannister’s forces. On the Lannister side, Jaime is commanding his forces against the River Lords of Riverrun whom are the kin to Catelyn Tully Stark and Tyrion has found himself in the predicament of fighting alongside the Hill Tribesmen he enticed to guide him out of the Vale of Arryn with promises of steel.
SPOILERS AHEAD>>>>
The episode starts with Ned still in the dungeon with Varys all but pleading with Ned to make peace and keep Joffrey’s birth a secret and put the realm before his honor. Ned all but refuses and Varys leaves him in the dungeons.
The Twins
Robb and his forces are at an impasse: they need to cross the river using the bridge system at the two keeps known as the Twins. The Twins are held by the House of Frey, their Lord being Walder Frey who is an lecherous piss pot. I actually expected him to be a hell of a lot older looking but he was masterfully played by Harry Potter alum David Bradley, the second one on the show so far.
Lord Walder is met by Catelyn Stark to negotiate terms for crossing at the Twins and Walder makes it abundantly clear that he knows how Catelyn’s father Lord Hoster Tully has always disliked and avoided him, as have the other great houses. But Catelyn is able to convince him by offering to marry one of his sons to Arya and Robb to one of Lord Walder’s many daughters. Robb gives his consent to the arrangements and the Northmen move across the river unhindered.
For Tyrion, life just keeps getting better and better because now his dear old dad has ordered him to not only fight in the upcoming battle, but he will be in the vanguard of the force. The vanguard being the people to move in first for those of you who don’t know. So in preparation for what may be the end, Tyrion has Bronn find him a whore in the camp tp travel with him and we are introduced to Shae, who becomes something of an important character in the coming episodes.
In the scenes with Shae we get to learn more of Tyrion’s relationship with his father and the story of Tysha. Then it is off to battle for Tyrion and the Hill Tribes, but after a rousing speech to his men Tyrion gets knocked out and trampled by their excitement.
By the time he wakes up they have won, but it was only two thousand of Robbs men as he had divided his forces with the other 18 thousand riding off to stop Jaime Lannister in the Riverlands, and stop him they do with the sister-layer’s capture. Jaime tries to challenge Robb to a fight that would decide the war, but Robb isn’t stupid in knowing that he would lose. He refuses and sends the Kingslayer off to be put into a nice set of chains.
Way up North on the Wall, Jon is the talk of Castle Black, even receiving Lord Commander Mormont’s Valaryian steel blade known as Long Claw in lieu of his efforts in saving Mormont from the wight that attacked him. (A wight is a person who is reanimated after being killed by a White Walker.)
Not much else happens with Snow except the conversation with Maester Aemon at the rookery. It turns out that Aemon is the uncle to the Mad King Aerys and he tries to point out to Snow that even though his family was killed by the Lannisters and their bannermen, he stayed true to his oath as a Maester of the Citadel and Jon should do the same instead of rushing off to rescue Ned and fight alongside Robb.
Daenerys has some major problems going on across the Narrow Sea, as Drogo’s wound is becoming worse and he is literally falling out of the saddle. His blood riders are distrustful of Daenerys using Mirri Maz Duur to try and nurse Drogo back to health, one of them pointing out to her that once Drogo dies that she is nothing.
Jorah urges Daenerys to flee with him to Asshai before Drogo does pass but Daenerys refuses to lose her husband and authorizes Mirri to use ‘Blood Magic’ to heal Drogo, which many of the Dothraki are not too keen on. She leaves her husband, his sacrificed horse and Miri to complete a ritual which honestly sounds creepy as hell. We finally get to see Jorah in action as he fights one of Drogo’s blood riders to stop him from interrupting the ritual. The blood rider gets a joker smile from Jorah to end the fight. Daenerys is about ready to give birth as Jorah carries her into the tent where the ritual is still happening.
Now to the biggest part of the episode, where I’m sure many viewers might stop watching the show or realize what a fantastic writer George Martin is. As Arya is trying to survive in the streets of King’s Landing, some kids inform her that the Hand of the King is being brought to the Sept of Baelor. At the sept, Ned is brought before the masses and the King and his cohorts. He spots Arya and in passing tells the Night’s Watchman Yoren where she is and Sansa also stands at Cersei’s side to watch her father… as he confesses to attempting to murder Joffery and betraying the realm to take the throne for himself.
*Warming Glow
All lies of course, but Ned wanted to save his daughters and was content to serve on the Wall as Cersei planned. Joffrey however has other plans as he order Ser Ilyn Payne to behead Stark on the spot with his own sword ‘Ice’. The scene was beautifully shot, following the book pretty much exactly from what I can remember in reading the book. Like I said above though, seeing the scene on film even had an emotional impact on me knowing what was going to happen so I am curious as to what first timers of the series thought of the moment when Ned Stark met his tragic end. I know people say he made terrible and stupid decisions but Ned was truly doing the right thing and acting honorably as every knight and lord in the realm is supposed to, but unfortunately no one else out there is honorable enough. As Robert said, it’s all about backstabbing, money-grubbing and ass licking. No one cares about the good of the realm or honor. I’ll admit that the scene with Ned dying did cause me to tear up and it could not have been portrayed any better.
I give this episode a 4.5 out of 5 bears. It was a little slow but still managed to fit everything in without feeling bloated or rushed. The finale next week will have some great moments in it, though it might not be as memorable as this one. This episode should remind everyone who watches the show that no character is safe and that there aren’t always happy endings. George R.R. Martin is a genius and the show will only get better in the coming seasons, so get ready everyone! Season Finale next week!
Grizzly Bomb 