The Hobbit – I have seen the film. (no spoilers)

[Hammers]

Radagast the Brown - well, for an Istari (Which I equate to an Archangel) that went over to Middle Earth and got lost int he flora and fauna (Nature Hippie?) and thus abandoned the primary mission I buy the interpretation.  Yes Earth power seems likely (I see Gandalf as Fire, Saruman as Air, and possibly the two unnamed Blue Istari as Water.)  As for his being unequal to the Necromancer - well it took the whole White Council (Galadriel, Elrond, Gandalf, and Saruman at the least) to evict him in the book.  Assuming he didn't just leave Dol Gulder "early" because he was ready and wanted to cloak his pending return to Mordor.

[self proclaimed Tolkien scholar pain in the arse]
Hrmm-hrmm... *sucks on pipe* Well, ACTUALLY... The Blue Wizards were called Alatar and Pallando. Alatar was a maia of Orome (a deity akin to Pan, Artemis or Oberon). Pallando was either a maia of Mandos (a deity like Osiris, Charon, Hades a valkyria if you like) or like Alatar of Orome.
[/self proclaimed Tolkien scholar pain in the arse]

[Conquistador]

[self proclaimed Tolkien scholar pain in the arse]
Hrmm-hrmm... *sucks on pipe* Well, ACTUALLY... The Blue Wizards were called Alatar and Pallando. Alatar was a maia of Orome (a deity akin to Pan, Artemis or Oberon). Pallando was either a maia of Mandos (a deity like Osiris, Charon, Hades a valkyria if you like) or like Alatar of Orome.
[/self proclaimed Tolkien scholar pain in the arse]

I accept your self-proclaimed status.      

Please tell me the source of the names.     I couldn't think of where that might be found.   

Gracias,

Glenn

[Conquistador]

Saruman in his heyday. 

Superb!

Gracias,

Glenn

[Dolmot]

Please tell me the source of the names.     I couldn't think of where that might be found.

Why, Wikipedia. It makes you a scholar of everything.

I can proudly declare knowing that they're from Unfinished Tales. Pretty impressive, huh?

[Plynkes]

Are WorkerBee and Conquistador the same person? Seems highly unlikely that two completely different people would sign all their posts "Gracias, Glenn."

How queer.

[Hammers]

The Book of Lost Tales I believe. Collection of JRR scripts edited by his son Christopher.

[Dolmot]

Looks like fairly vague and speculative scraping to me...

http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/wiki.cgi?FAQ/What__are__the__names__of__the__BlueWizards

[thebinmann]

Being a huge fan of The Office didn't exactly help me either. Especially as Freeman plays a lot like his old character in some scenes.  

Really, how's that? Should be interesting

It's amazing how far he's come sice then, he is good in everything I've seen him in so hoping it will be true for The Hobbit...

[thebinmann]

"Dwarves - good, but not enough characterisation"

I think they tend to blend together in the book as well, with a few exceptions. Mind you, haven't read it in  long time and I might be misremembering.  I think developing personalities in an ensemble film is important, but very hard to do.

I agree, plus with 13 it is hard to characterise them quickly enough in a film...

[Captain Blood]

Are WorkerBee and Conquistador the same person? Seems highly unlikely that two completely different people would sign all their posts "Gracias, Glenn."

Perhaps, like Jackson's Gollum, it's a split personality... 

Either that, or Workerbee is a Conquistador tribute act 

[Conquistador]

Are WorkerBee and Conquistador the same person? Seems highly unlikely that two completely different people would sign all their posts "Gracias, Glenn."

How queer.

Ah, an explanation is requested.  Or at least a request for clarification is implied.

Please excuse the digression.

My agency has declared Yahoo and all the other normal ways I can link to LAM as a security or counter-intelligence risk.  To access LAF I created a persona at work (WorkerBee) and - bingo - I can access LAF while "other stuff" is er, um... "processing."

Where there is a will there is a way.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Hammers]

Looks like fairly vague and speculative scraping to me...

http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/wiki.cgi?FAQ/What__are__the__names__of__the__BlueWizards

Well, their names and background are apocryphal, to be sure, but there are huge amounts of scripts by JRRT detailing Middle Earth beside the books he published himself. So I am not sure what you mean by speculative. *I* certainly did not make those names up but if you prefer the cannon as defined by what books were published by JRRT, then no more is known than that they were called the Blue Wizards and travelled off the known map(as mentioned in the appendix). The posthumously published Silmarillion was not the version JRRT had put together but a version his son Christopher wrote. There was even the embryo to a sequel to tLotR. Letters written to various fans, friends and family also expand a bit on that universe.

Wikipedia has this to say:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Wizards

I made this diorama about ten years ago, based on a Mithril Miniature release of Alatar:

[Conquistador]

I agree, plus with 13 it is hard to characterise them quickly enough in a film...

An additional burden with the media change, fer sure.

Though I had trouble the first time I read The Hobbit through to keep some of the less developed dwarf characters from blurring. 

Gracias,

Glenn

(The original one)   

Not that it matters...   

[Blackwolf]

Had a look at the film last week,it was okay in part; as an JRRT 'fan' I found the fiddling around with story annoying (such as Dol Guldur* only being recently inhabited,when in fact Gandalf managed to get the key for the secret door from Thrain who was in Dol Guldur ! ). And the idea that Mirkwood had only just gone bad was just silly,buggers up all those maps and changes the whole context of the story amongst other things. And the script..."If you need me,I will come..." Need I say more. Oh yes I do Why was Azog in it? It could of at least been Bolg,and Elves,vegetarians... ! Rant over.
   However the Troll and the Gollum scenes were very good,so maybe I'll see the next film,maybe? Most people seem to have thought it pretty good,so I guess that makes me in the minority and an bit of a tragic

 * It was in fact taken over in 1050,Thorin's company passed through Mirkwood in 2941, a period of 1891 years between events
    

[thebinmann]

An additional burden with the media change, fer sure.

Though I had trouble the first time I read The Hobbit through to keep some of the less developed dwarf characters from blurring. 

Gracias,

Glenn

(The original one)   

Not that it matters...   

Quite, but I thought that was part of Mr T's plan esp considering the similarity in the names - the idea of the Dwarven unit working together selflessly with one leader... an effcient team.