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A few days ago we posted this gallery of 35 geeky valentines, and, as is inevitable, we then found several more cards we missed (technically more than 40, but we like nice round numbers). Those start on the next page.

It’s not too late to buy some of these on Etsy or make them yourself for people you care enough about to burn through precious, precious printer ink. And, if you happen to know Justin Bartha, we demand you make the valentine above and slide it under his door anonymously. I’m pretty sure a dollar bill wants me to tell you that. The dollar bill is trying to tell me something.

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Dainty, posh Englishman Benedict Cumberbatch — Is it redundant to refer to someone named “Benedict Cumberbatch” as dainty, posh, and English? — was just cast as the villain in Star Trek 2, and he’s also voicing two characters in The Hobbit. Everything’s coming up Cumberbatch. In the two Hobbit films, Cumberbatch will play Smaug the Dragon and the Necromancer who became Sauron (this part shouldn’t require a spoiler alert).

Cumberbatch (I am compelled to type this as often as possible) spoke to Empire about The Hobbit, dropping what looks like a spoiler:

“I’m playing Smaug through motion-capture and voicing the Necromancer, which is a character in the Five Legions War or something which I’m meant to understand. He’s not actually in the original Hobbit. It’s something [Peter Jackson]‘s taken from Lord Of The Rings that he wants to put in there.”

If he’s talking about the Battle of The Five Armies, that would help explain why they split up the relatively short book into two movies and brought back several characters not in The Hobbit, including Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, and Orlando Bloom. Bringing the Battle of The Five Armies into The Hobbit could also be used to combine two storylines that were separate in the books:

Gandalf disappears halfway through (the book of) The Hobbit to lead a coalition force and drive the Necromancer out of his Mirkwood stronghold. But in the book they dispatch the Necromancer back to (as it turns out) Mordor well before the Battle of Five Armies. Here, however, it looks like he’s going to turn up to the finale in person, presumably at the head of the goblin and Warg army, and face Gandalf’s team there. If that is the case, it’s a narratively neat way to combine the two story threads, that of Bilbo and the dwarves and the other following Gandalf and his team. It also gives the goblins a stronger motivation to suddenly turn up: in the book, they’re avenging the earlier death of one of their leaders and (like all the other armies present) hoping to get their grubby hands on the dragon’s hoard. If they’re incited or led by Sauron, however, their actions will hang more coherently with their behaviour later in Lord Of The Rings.

That’s the nerdiest thing I’ve cut-and-pasted lately, and I regret nothing. Also, did Cumberbatch say he’s doing motion capture for the dragon’s movements but not for the Necromancer’s? Strange. I guess someone has to be the dragon since Macho Man Randy Savage Dragon is no longer available. R.I.P. brother. *extends pinky while pouring out some malt liquor*

We can only hope our names will someday be followed by the title of SWORDMASTER.

Bob Anderson, swordmaster and fight choreographer on some really great films, has died at the age of 89. You may remember him as the guy under the Darth Vader mask in all the swordplay scenes in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, even though David Prowse was credited with those scenes until Mark Hamill spoke up for Anderson in a 1983 interview. At the time, Hamill told Starlog magazine, “Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader’s fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George [Lucas] I didn’t think it was fair any more. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It’s ridiculous to preserve the myth that it’s all done by one man.”

In addition to his work in Star Wars, Anderson also did sword fighting choreography for The Princess Bride, Highlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, two Bond movies, two Zorro movies, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The clip below is related to his work on Lord of the Rings. Taken from the 2009 documentary Reclaiming the Blade, the clip includes Viggo Mortensen discussing being coached by Anderson and Anderson himself talking about his swordmastery.

Anderson joined the Royal Marines before WWII and taught fencing aboard warships, which sounds totally badass. His first foray into film was coaching Errol Flynn for The Master of Ballantrae (1952). Yeah, he taught Errol Flynn how to have more swagger. He also represented England at the Olympics and coached their national fencing team for two decades. He was cooler than you.

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Peter Jackson has released (via his Facebook page) the fifth production video from the set of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (trailer here).

This production diary focuses on the ordeal of moving the entire set from one location of New Zealand to another. Yeah, well, try carrying all that craft service and help Mister Frodo carry the ring to Mount Doom, lightweights.

A few of the previous videos are available here, here, and here. For the other two, I guess you’ll just have to join a company of thirteen dwarves and travel through goblin tunnels and fight giant spiders and face a dragon named Smaug. Them’s the breaks, kid.

[Hat tip to io9 and AICN]

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Warner has released the first trailer and poster for Peter Jackson’s first of two Hobbit films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This one opens December 14, 2012 and the other (The Hobbit: There and Back Again) will open December 13, 2013. The trailer, some screencaps, and the poster can all be found below. There’s so much going on in this, although I almost missed some of it because I was so excited when Gandalf said, “I’m looking for someone to share in an adventure.” I bet he says that to all the boys. (I wish he would say it to me.)

Here’s a synopsis, which should be a spoiler because this book was released seventy-four freakin’ years ago:

“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever… Gollum. [ComingSoon]

Oh man, I can’t wait to plunge right into these Hobbit holes! And also watch a movie.

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Around midnight last night, Peter Jackson released a fourth production diary video from the Pinewood Studios (England) set of both Hobbit films, The Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again (coming out December 14th of 2012 and December 13th of 2013). We’ve posted a couple of the previous videos here and here.

This production diary video focuses on how much they want us to know it’s a 3D film shot at 48 frames per second instead of the standard 24 fps. They even did the concept art in 3D on this go around. Jackson also shows off his collection of twenty-four 3D Red EPIC cameras named after his relatives, pets, and The Beatles. Interesting coincidence: I have twenty-four hair dolls named after Peter Jackson’s relatives and pets. And a restraining order.

The production video is below, along with some set photos from New Zealand, including a couple of Elijah Wood as Frodo (also pictured at the right, for reference. We keep it relevant.)

[Sources: Peter Jackson, AICN, Scotchtrooper]

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