[Ringfenwen]

I am a huge fan of fotr, and have the utmost respect for pj and all the cast and crew. When I went 2 see fotr in the cinema for the first time I was blown away, it was the best film i had ever seen, but whilst leaving i heard several people complaining loudly about the 'spoilers' caused by the deviations from the books. <P>At that moment I decided not to read the books until I had seen every one of the movies, in that way i could avoid this sort of dissapointment, and could judge the movie by its own merits. I have faithfully stayed true to this.<P>I have not yet seen TTT, and am going tonight, but all the comments made along the lines of: If you don't make a movie for the fans, whom do you make it for?<BR>irritated me extremely. I may not be a huge fan of the books (yet ) but that does not mean that I should suffer as a audience member because of the fanaticism shown by some to the absolute faithfulness to JRRT's books. Movies and books are totally seperate anomally's, and can only be linked and compared to a certain extent.<P>The plot would have to be changed somewhat so that it could be shown visually, if pj had tried to incorporate every detail of the books each movie would probably have ended up about 9 hours long, it just isn't practical.<P>It is ridiculous to believe that a film can ever provide the same levels of characterisation as a book, it's just not possible, this has been proven throughout the life of cinema.<P>And I found the suggestion that the films are purely for fans of the books downright insulting. Two of my greatest friends have since watching the film read lotr, the silmarillion, learnt basic elvish, redecorated and designed their whole style of life to include the genius of JRRT (every piece of furniture or jewellery bought by them must look elvish ) <BR>If it hadn't been for the films they may have never discovered this whole world. Yet your whole attitude suggests that they are of no importance, since they have not been lifelong fans. <P>Sorry if this seems an overly strong reaction, and I am perfectly happy to respect other peoples opinions, but I have found the greater part of this thread extremely insulting.<BR>