There are times when the epic seems to belong to the Norse. Perhaps it's because Beowulf looms so large in the Anglophile culture that gropes backward in time toward its misty Anglo-Saxon roots, perhaps because the mythology created for the English (and others) by J.R.R. Tolkien owes such a great debt to the men of the North.

So it's not at all surprising that science fiction's greatest filmed space opera, the Star Wars saga, has been retold as an Icelandic epic.

The effort is courtesy of Old Norse scholar Jackson Crawford, a doctoral candidate studying the historical linguistics of the West Norse languages at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Crawford mused upon, and fleshed out, a hypothetical Old Norse manuscript tradition lying behind the "German" version of the story that George Lucas eventually adapted to the screen.

What's fascinating about this process is the positing of how the story would have been told differently from a Norse perspective, conditioned by both prevailing social structures and the requirements of northern epic poetry. Read more...

The live plus same day ratings for last week's broadcast network series continued to show good numbers for for the three series airing new episodes.

• Chuck 3.8/6 (Mon 3/10, NBC)
• Ghost Whisperer 4.7/9 (Fri 3/10, CBS)
• Medium 4.9/9 (Fri 3/10, CBS)
• Smallville [r] 0.9/2 (Fri 3/10, CW)
• Supernatural [r] 0.9/1 (Thu 3/10, CW)
• Vampire Diaries [r] 0.9/2 (Thu 3/10, CW)

The top-rated regular program, American Idol, garnered a 12.8/20.

Nielsen ratings are expressed as "ratings points/share". Given an estimated 114.9 million television households in the United States, a ratings point represents one percent of the total number, or 1,149,000 households. Share is the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the program.

MOVIES—Opening this week:

• Repo Men (2010). This science fiction action thriller is the feature directorial debut of Miguel Sapochnik, starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker in an adaptation of the story Repossession Mambo by Eric Garcia (Matchstick Men). It's been brewing for years, which meant it has unfortunately come out after the much more bizarre Repo: The Genetic Opera—though the plot borrows more from Logan's Run. Still: Jude Law, right? More details below the jump.
   Trailers, clips, and video.  Image Gallery.

HOME VIDEO—Out on DVD this week:

• The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009). More supernatural navel-gazing, but this time without Catherine Hardwicke's smart direction. Almost worth seeing for Taylor Lautner—not for the reason you're thinking, but because Jacob's the only likable character with interesting motivations in the movie. The friends, who leavened things beautifully last time, are cameos—or, in the case of Mike (Michael Welch), pathetic jokes, while the stunt casting of Dakota Fanning sabotages the intended horror of the final scenes. More details below the jump.
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• The Princess and the Frog (2009). A Disney princess movie, but filtered through New Orleans voodoo magic. Lots and lots of video clipds, interviews, featurettes, etc. on the video page. More details below the jump.
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Read more...

New episodes this week from:

• Chuck,
• FlashForward (return),
• Caprica,
• Legend of the Seeker, and
• Survivors (season finale).

Guest stars this week include Robert Patrick on Chuck; Leah Gibson (The Devil's Ground) beginning a recurring role on Caprica.

Synopses below the jump. For details see the listings (regular or alphabetical). Read more...