Burning Question

Posted on by Chad Orzel

Gandalf or Magneto?

(Look, it’s the ninth week of our ten-week Spring term, and including the Winter term, we’ve been in session since January with only a one-week break. I’m getting a little punchy, all right?)

22 thoughts on “Burning Question”

  3. Gandalf. Even though he was Magneto first, in recent years I associate the face and voice much more with Gandalf. Of course, it may also be that I’ve seen each of the LOTR movies at least twice, but the X movies only once each.

    And, just in case you ask the next question, Sarumann, not Dooku, although a case could be made that they are the same character. (There is no case for Gandalf and Magneto being the same character.)

    But: Storm, not Catwoman. I didn’t even need to see the latter movie to be able to answer that one.

  5. “Storm, not Catwoman. I didn’t even need to see the latter movie to be able to answer that one.”

    I had no idea that Pfeiffer played Storm, or that she was capable of outdoing her Batman Returns performance. Meow!

  7. Can I get a clarification? Are we talking about Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White?

  8. My votes:

    Gandalf (the white)
    Lord Tyrannus
    Storm
    Pfeiffer
    V (from V for Vendetta)

  9. Gandalf. Magneto’s sense of humor is too bitchy for me.

    (Elrond or Agent Smith? Gimli or Sallah? Galadriel or Elizabeth? Boromir or the “boathouse at Hereford” guy in _Ronin_? Legolas or Will Turner? Etc.

    (Okay, I’ll stop now.)

  10. The Agent Smith v Elrond v V question is good, and I agree that V is the best, though we never see Hugo Weaving’s face in the movie.

  11. Can I get a clarification? Are we talking about Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White?

    See, even here in ScienceBlog land, the culture isn’t nerdy enough for some people…

  12. I have tickets for X-3 tonight, but unless Magneto really pulls off an upset, it’s Gandalf in a walk.

    Before anyone gets any more confused by the comments made, Halley Berry (black girl) plays Storm in X-men and Catwoman in the unloved (and unseen by me) recent movie of the same name. Michelle Pfeiffer (white girl) played catwoman in the old Batman movie (Batman returns?).

  13. One question we don’t have to ask is “Charlie or Merry?”, because the are the same character, and that explains a lot about Lost.

    (Disclaimer: I’ve only seen the first season of Lost.)

  14. Oh, and, while I’m at it, I’m working on a theory that Frodo and Elijah Wood’s character from “Sin City” are one and the same, but I’m kinda having a hard time making it work out….

  15. Magneto’s sense of humor is too bitchy for me.

    Yeah, I seem to remember this line from X2:

    “Oh, Rogue, we just love what you’ve done with your hair. Giggle!”

    … slightly ridiculous…

    never see Hugo Weaving’s face in the movie.

    Hugo Weaving, for me, isn’t made by his face but by his voice and the strength and assuredness in it. It was totally at its height in V for Vendetta and was very good in the Matrix Trilogy, but I can’t speak to it being impressive in LOTR.

  16. Clark,

    I think Danil was joking. But, enjoy X-Men 3… in fact, I have a suggestion for you.

    Watch this video just as a primer for this evening. If you can’t get through it, it’s ok, but you should know it exists.

  19. I was limiting it to things I’d seen and so could answer.

    (Agent Smith, Sallah, Elizabeth, Boromir, and . . . neither? Will Turner, I guess.)

  20. I would say:
    Gandalf, Grey or White, no question. McKellan was made for that role, more than any other actor in the trilogy was for theirs. (of course, it doesn’t help that some emphatically weren’t made for their role… Ms. Tyler, I’m lookin’ at *you*).

    Also,
    Agent Smith,
    Gimli,
    Elizabeth,
    Boromir,
    Legolas

  21. Gandalf, for sure. His range of emotions are far wider than Magneto’s.

    The Berry Catwoman movie was awful, but I was willing to excuse the awful plot for the sights of Halle Berry in a catsuit. But Storm wins hands down, with her Bond girl gig a close second.

    (Dating myself, I would say that Eartha Kitt was the best Catwoman by far, if only for her “meowrrr.”)

    Agent Smith. I wish I could make my voice sound that continously menacing. It might keep my students in line.

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