[Kalimac]

Hey, I like that! Though I'm not sure why you think it wouldn't be visual enough - I'm sure you could get in enough good shots of the interior of Brandy Hall to keep the viewer interested (at least if it's anything like Bag End in the decorations department). And it might just be possible to pull off having Frodo and Sam encountering a Black Rider by themselves - it's true that having Pippin The Oblivious along is what really lightens that scene up ("Do you think we shall see any Black Riders today?" as if they were some kind of wild onion). But Sam at the beginning is still a fairly comic character, even in the books, so you could probably give him a few of Pippin's comments (in slightly more respectful language) and still keep the flavor of it. This might even make the change in Sam, and his growing seriousness and understanding, seem more deep later on, especially after Weathertop (let alone what we'll see in the next two movies). <P>And for the scene where they arrive at Merry's (Pippin is presumably staying over anyway since they spend all their time together): working on the principle of "mornings are wiser than evenings" have the dismal discussion in the evening, maybe taking a few lines from "A Conspiracy Unmasked" or even the Farmer Maggot scene - something along the lines of <P>Merry: "Really, Frodo, do you think we can't understand what's going on? Stories of those Black Folk all over, looking for a Baggins - why, I saw a Rider myself only the other evening, when I was crossing the Brandywine. Then you and old Sam turn up here, shaking like leaves and you more close-mouthed than old Gandalf, even." <P>Pippin: "Merry, I thought it was old Bilbo they were looking for! After all he's the one who went traveling that time, he's the one likely to know queer foreigners like that, not Frodo, who doesn't even come to Tookland!"<P>Sam: "They weren't looking for Mr. Bilbo, Master Pippin, leastways I don't think they were, but if you ask my opinion they were after his Ri-" [stops, blushes. Oops].<P>Frodo: "Sam!"<P>Merry: "His Ring, you mean? Don't look like that, Frodo. Bilbo wasn't as good at keeping secrets as he thought..." Riff over to "Conspiracy Unmasked" conversation, where Merry tells the story of seeing Bilbo disappear and catching a glimpse of the Ring, and ending with him and Pippin giving each other a silent look for a moment, and then saying that they're coming with, of course; they couldn't let him go with just Sam, knowing what he's heading into. <P>Then the next morning, with the sun up and everything looking much more sanguine, have a scene like you described with maybe a few good shots of them packing in haste (Come on, Pippin's going to be bringing all the food he can carry). <P>Whew. OK, that's enough - sorry about that. More later, I promise I'll be constructive about other scenes as well .