Tough decision! I went with the Game of Thrones guys, since that includes Jason Momoa.

Check out both BBC series: The Office & Sherlock both feature Young Bilbo....

Except the Tolkien purists are in this thread to explain what was going on while the Hobbit & Dwarves were adventuring....

Beorn is played by Mikael Persbrandt. With two movies, they won't be cutting anything.

Benedict Cumberbatch just finished Parade's End—a BBC/HBO 5-parter based on an excellent tetralogy by Ford Madox Ford, with a script by Tom Stoppard. He'll be heading to New Zealand in the new year to voice Smaug & do the motion-capture thing....

In October, PBS's Nova showed "The Iceman Murder Mystery"—with information on recent forensic investigations. They actually let him thaw a bit, temporarily, so they could take some samples. Watch it here: [www.pbs.org]

And I'm only a liberal arts dropout who took one archaeology course from the dullest woman in the world. (How was I to know that the Anthro department at the University of Houston had undergone an academic purge before my arrival, leaving only the lady who was married to a Rice professor of Archaeology.) But I've…

The Maya did not have One Unified Empire. Their city-states influenced large areas, sometimes fought each other—then rose & fell at different times. Since the language has been deciphered, we now know quite a bit of Mayan history. Check out Chronicling the Maya Kings & Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the…

In the basement, no less! I wonder if there's an Alt.Alamo with a basement....

I share your admiration for Other-In-Law's maps; they show great skill & a touch of whimsy.

I just checked BBCamerica's site. We'll see the Doctor's Christmas special on Christmas over here, as well. 9pm/8pm central! [www.bbcamerica.com]

Yes, indeed! Exactly the tasty treat I came here to recommend. Although I'd find it hard to have much of an appetite for anything during my work day at the Trout Farm...

Do you mean the Buffy reboot in which Joss Whedon got to make a TV show that fulfilled the promise of his screenplay that was turned into a mediocre movie? Or the Whedon-free reboot in which everything Joss added to the story is stripped away & the Blonde Vampire Slayer's story is continued by the clueless? The…

S M Stirling did just that in his Alternate Solar System series—The Lords of Creation. Only two books so far—"The Sky People" shows a Venus inhabited by dinosaurs, saber tooth cats, brutish ape men & beautiful warrior princesses. From the Acknowledgements: Thanks to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett, Otis…

Or naked GRR Martin?

Prove it. If your story is true, your aunt is a monster for taking money to cover up the truth.

So, let's take a count of those prompted to buy Lachlan's book!

I was subjected to Great Expectations in High School & in a College course—alas. Used Cliff Notes both times to avoid reading it; got A's. Someday I'll give Dickens another chance; A Christmas Carol is fine but surely it's "kitsch."

And Lachlan lets us know that he writes "mainstream" work, too, under his real name. So he can try to sell fantasy, yet stay above it all.

Have you read Anno Dracula? [titanbooks.com] It's the first of a series by Kim Stanley Robinson, in which all the vampires of lurid fiction appear. Along with characters from other genres & real historical characters—some turned & some still "warm."