A what if question
 

This has been nagging on my mind for some time now. What would good old Ronald have said if he was able to see PJ's LotR series?
Now for my opinion. If one looks at the life of this great author, there are many possibilities. 1st off, no matter what Tolkien's opinions would be of the film, he would still appreciate and respect the extremely hard work put into these movies by everyone associated with them. Tolkien's opinion of these films greatly depends on these two factors, among others, that we must guess at. 1: he understands the limitations and difficulties of visual FX used by WETA, and 2: he is sympathetic with the fact that translating book into film, requires making some changes ( in fact many changes). Being an English gentlemen, I believe he would be considerate in understanding why PJ and crew made the changes they did. But he would most likely not approve of the simplification of his works to allow audiences who have not read the book(s) to comprehend the events before them. For the visual aspect of the LotR films I believe he would be greatly pleased by the quality. His only problem might be that some things are not what he envisioned them to be, but being an intelligent man he would know that PJ's interpretation of things would be than different than his own in some places. Concerning the musical aspect of the LotR films, Tolkien would be greatly pleased. When he came out with the LotR, he intended for others to come in with song and dance. I think Howard Shore created an orchestral masterpiece for the LotR movies and the professor would think of it the same way. Tolkien once said that LotR is an unfilmable book. I am fairly sure though that these movies would change his mind. In fact I think that he would be blown away by them. Professor Tolken would be thankful towards PJ and crew for helping enhance his world of Middle Earth.

I think he would have been bewildered by the films, and not in a particularly good way. He would probably have been disgusted that the whole phenomenon became a great show of money and razzmatazz.

Frank Herbert, author of the Dune books, and IMO on the same level as that of JRRT, included a preface in one of his later books regarding his experience regarding the making of the first Dune (1984) movie.

He was on the set, and yet the story still went astray. FH wrote about all of the things that he learned during the experience, meaning that he found something positive to say about a process that hacked away at his works. I think that JRRT would be as polite.

Surely some changes have to be made for adaptation to the medium, yet what changes are made due to the director's/writer's/producer's pride in 'knowing better?'

Had a writing class many ages ago, and periodically we students would have to present our work to the rest of the class for critique, and would be forced to remain silent during the same. Talk about pain (and I'm no author)! You can never imagine what people will see in what you thought was obvious.

JRRT must be rolling a bit, but thankful for the renewed interest.

good points. I forgot to mention that Tolkien would be disgusted by his works of literature becoming all moneyfied.

If you watch the various appendixes on the DVDS there are many instances where Fran Walsh says things like, "Professor Tolkien would roll over in his grave if he saw _____, but..." I think the writers were nothing if not brutal in their editing and writing of the script and I think they attributed many of the percieved objections which Tolkien would have had if he were alive as being attributed to his pedantic nature. Aside from the precious details that werre lost, his objections would probably have had to do with the fact that long scenes not in the book were added in at the expense of events that he actually wrote. No marketable film would have been able to satisfy JRRT, partially because I think LotR was for him an exercise in language which could not survive the transfer to another medium.

Short and Sweet.. He would hate it...

I tend to think he'd be more sympathetic then CT, even though
he'd be aggravated by many of the pointless additions and/or
changes. Recall the 1950s view of JRRt and his publishers to
go for "cash or kudos". PJs movies presentations certainly
brought in the cash, and there are significant elements of
"kudos" in the creation of the world of Middle-earth.

Also, I don't think he would have disassociated himself from the
production (like CT) and therefore would have had some positive
input (for example, ameliorating the ridiculous movie Denethor
and the foolish rewriting of Gollum's character in the movie ROTK.

We should point out that he certainly would not have danced a merry jig just because the films were extremely popular. His book was extremely popular during his lifetime and the excessive adulation was, if not a nuisance, at least fairly odd and perhaps rankling.