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Iran Tries To Pacify Protesters With Lord of The Rings Marathon

Iranian state television's Channel Two is playing a Lord of the Rings marathon in an attempt to keep people inside watching hobbits and not protesting in the streets. Normally, people in Tehran are treated to one or two Hollywood movies a week, but with recent events the government hopes that sitting through a nine-hour trilogy will take the fight out of most of the protesters. Perhaps this was not the best choice in films if you want your people not to believe that "even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

35 of 419 comments (clear)

  1. Drivel by oneirophrenos · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bah, I didn't like those movies at all. If I was in Iran, I'd probably be so pissed off that they're showing me such garbage that I'd take to the streets and wreck at least a couple of cars.

    1. Re:Drivel by Loadmaster · · Score: 3, Funny

      If this movie doesn't work they'll have to give them the newest Hollywood movie: Bruno. That should fly well over there.

    2. Re:Drivel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Only sometimes? May I suggest a marriage counselor?

    3. Re:Drivel by Tolkien · · Score: 4, Funny

      Naw, I'm agnostic. :)

  2. Hmmmm. by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, speaking for myself, I wanted to kill people on the exit from 2 out 3 of those movies, so this may not achieve the intended effect.

    --
    ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  3. Wonderful! by voss · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lord of the rings in the original farsi! Can someone tape it for me?

    1. Re:Wonderful! by conspirator57 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Everyone knows that Tolkien was Klingon. Just like Shakespeare.

      --
      "If still these truths be held to be
      Self evident."
      -Edna St. Vincent Millay
  4. No TV and Beer make Homer Something Something by ZirbMonkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    Since beer is already off the list for Iranians, that leaves only one option.

  5. This may not be a bad thing. by dilip · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe the Iranian censor board will be able to cut out anything unneeded and make the movies more compact and watchable. I love the movies, but they can induce numbness to the posterior if watched more than one at a time.

  6. Freedom! by mcvos · · Score: 4, Funny

    Where is my vo... Ooh! Legolas!

    1. Re:Freedom! by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 4, Funny

      But they don't have elves in Iran. Achmandinnerjacket said so at the university talk. It was elves, right? Something like that.

    2. Re:Freedom! by tzjanii · · Score: 4, Funny

      No no, they have elves, it's the fairies that they're missing. :-P

      --
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  7. Re:No Extended Version? by Megane · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's probably in pan-n-scan too.

    JIHAD!

    --
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  8. What will happen by pudge · · Score: 5, Funny

    "A day may come when the courage of men fails ... But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of ... Iran! Allahu Akbar!"

    1. Re:What will happen by Loadmaster · · Score: 5, Funny

      Either way It's a Trap!

    2. Re:What will happen by ajs · · Score: 3, Funny

      They're probably redubbed that bit to:

      "The filthy British and American orcs have us pinned down with their green-hued protests, but we must rise up and smite them all, even if it means our deaths!"

  9. Wrong movie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should have showed 300 instead.

  10. Sex sells... by denzacar · · Score: 5, Funny

    and scantily clad women.

    You've said it!
    You should see some of the new burqas and chadors they are shipping to the stores. Sexy as hell.

    You can almost see the eyebrows.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  11. A little trick they learned from us by transporter_ii · · Score: 4, Funny

    After they saw how they lost sleeper cell after sleeper cell here in the US:

    http://www.theonion.com/content/news/after_5_years_in_u_s_terrorist
    .
    .

    --
    Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
  12. Eagles? by Carl_Stawicki · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe the Iranians can figure out why Frodo didn't just ride the eagles to Mt. Doom in the first place.

    --
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    Any questions?
    1. Re:Eagles? by Experiment+626 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Frodo is not level 70, and is thus unable to use a flying mount.

    2. Re:Eagles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      The Eagles didn't want to get involved because it didn't directly effect them at first. Once they saw that the Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Ents and Hobbits had done most of the hard work and it looked like Orcs would probably be after their eggs pretty shortly they turned up to help out. Oh sure they helped out in a non-combat way up till that point, saving Gandalf and providing equipment. However they demanded a hefty price that set back the Shire years technology wise and really helped boost their own post war economy putting them in a very favorable position while the rest of Middle Earth tried to rebuild. They really fell out of favour with the rest of Middle Earth in the years after Sauron was defeated because they just wouldn't shut up about how they defeated Sauron all by themselves.

      That wasn't very subtle was it?

    3. Re:Eagles? by mike260 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Would those be African or European eagles?

  13. Iran hopefully welcomes ... by galego · · Score: 4, Funny

    their new hobbit overlord.

    Oh wait! That's North Korea ... my bad!

    --

    Que Deus te de em dobro o que me desejas

    [May God give you double that which you wish for me]

  14. Re:American meddling huh? by H0p313ss · · Score: 3, Funny

    So the tyrants of Iran are blaming this whole mess on the American media, then they're tying to placate the protesters with American media? A movie trilogy about a bunch of people banding together to overthrow an evil tyrant no less. Nobody could draw parallels between things like the dark riders and the police riding motorcycles beating people with clubs.

    The sense of irony is weak with the Iranian dictatorship...

    Or the Iranian leftist media just managed to *WHOOSH* the evil overlord.

    --
    XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
  15. This will cause trouble... by MiniMike · · Score: 5, Funny

    From what I've heard, most people voted for a Star Trek marathon, not LOTR. The Guardian Council denies anything is wrong with the vote count, despite the official count being 17 billion votes for LOTR vs -8 for Star Trek.

    I wonder if this is going to cause any trouble...

  16. Another movie perhaps? by mtmra70 · · Score: 3, Funny

    How about Star Wars then....

  17. Re:No Extended Version? by BetterSense · · Score: 5, Funny

    One does not simply Jihad into Mordor.

  18. Re:Can't have it both ways by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Funny

    Every observer called the election rigged, even some of the internal ones.

    Russia has recognized the elections as fair.

    In completely unrelated news, Russians have been campaigning for a return to the methods of Stalin. Not a joke.

    --
    Qxe4
  19. Re:Link by maxume · · Score: 5, Funny

    Calling it optimized is a bit much. Maybe it accidentally works better there, or something like that.

    --
    Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  20. Play them in reverse order by spookymonster · · Score: 3, Funny

    That way, Frodo starts out near-death from exposure to the outside world, but ends up happy at home, blissfully ignorant of what's going on outside the shire, while his ancient and powerful Supreme Leader takes care of all that messy 'freedom' stuff....

    --
    - Despite popular opinion, I am not perfect.
  21. Re:American meddling huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    So... this would be the "dictator's cut" that they're watching...

  22. nitpicking by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Come on; it doesn't matter which U.S. state the film was made in; the point is it's all American media.

    1. Re:nitpicking by don.g · · Score: 4, Funny

      Typical American lack of geography. Everyone knows that New Zealand is a state of Australia.

      --
      Pretend that something especially witty is here. Thanks.
  23. Re:The Grotesquely Ugly Truth by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Funny

    No country operates in a vaccuum. Period.

    Well, except for Moonistan.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are