#1 I think Sauce Pan Man (what kind of alias <I>is</I> that?) hit it right on the spot. And though there are some merits to the idea of a TV-series, it would never had the economy to bring Middle Earth to live in the way PJ did.<P>#2 About the original plans... PJ originally had a deal with Miramax to do LotR as <I>two</I> movies. But after a lot of the preparing work had been done, Miramax came back & asked if he could do it as only one. PJ refused & was given a very short time (I believe less than a month) to find another investor who would finance this. And it was actually the new investor, New Line Cinema, or rather one of their executives (forgot the guy's name) that said "This is not 2 movies, it's 3". And then it was settled... The New Line Cinema guy who suggested it said that he rather liked the idea of making 3 movies at one time from a pure business point of view! A lot cheaper than making 3 seperately
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