[Aratlithiel]

littlemanpoet - was that a tirade? LOL. I didn't know I had it in me. But here goes again...<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>By telling Saucepan Man, Tar-Palantir and others that they "don't get it" you are forcing your opinion on them and telling them there is something wrong with them. Just what you said you don't do.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Diamond, I expected to really get flamed for this post so I appreciate the "slight singe" you sent my way. However, you are again missing my point. My point was simply that littlemanpoet (or rather his brother) expressed a very well thought out line of reasoning - an opinion based on research and fact and everyone spent paragraphs and paragraphs telling him how wrong he was. Not that his logic was faulty or his facts incorrect - he's just wrong for thinking so. Now, he's certainly capable of defending his own opinion if he felt the need and that's not what I attempted to do then, nor is it what I'm doing now. It just so happens that I agreed with most of what he said and so voiced my own support and opinion. And I don't know whether I agree that those who were disappointed with the film are the vast majority, but I do know that anytime anyone attempts to discuss what they DIDN'T like about TTT, there are at least ten people who point out time constraints or some such and tell us to go back and read our books if we're so in love with them. I know nobody's trying to take my book away from me and I know I can read it whenever I want to so please stop telling me!<P>I don't claim to know if the changes that were made should or should not have been done (although I do feel that several of them were unnecessary) - I'm not in the movie business and it wasn't my $270 million so what does my opinion matter anyway? I don't really care if they were necessary. Even if the changes had to be made under pain of death, I still wouldn't like them. You can give me all the valid budget, time-constraint, flow-of-action reasons you want and I will listen and accept them as valid - that doesn't mean I have to like them.<P>Now, I'm certainly not blaming anyone for defending these movies. There are some movies I'll go to the mat for too (but never for book-to-film movies - I almost always dislike them). But the fact is that this is a 52 chapter novel (not including the appendices) of which only 12 chapters (plus or minus) are devoted to battles. I say plus or minus because some portions of those 12 chapters are devoted not to the battles themselves, but to the build-up to them. Now, if the battles are what you enjoyed from the books (and Diamond, I'm not directing this toward you, or anyone else in particular) then I have no doubt you can be nothing less than thrilled with the movies. And that's great. I wish I could be more like you.<P>However, in my OPINION, this is a character-driven novel and unfortunately, character is exactly what's missing from these movies. These are not Tolkien's characters. That's not just my opinion, that's fact. I'll spare you the chapter-and-verse because I THINK most everyone realizes this. Look, Frodo went down swinging on Weathertop - that's the only reason he was stabbed in the shoulder rather than the heart. He also made a bold stand at Bruinen while clinging to the last of his life. Is this the Frodo you see in the films? And time constraints or not, I don't see the point for this change.<P>I'm asking a serious question, here because I really want to know...can anyone tell me why it was necessary to turn Frodo into a wimp? If I ever had the opportunity to ask Jackson one question, that would be it. But still, even if the reason were that his mother was being held hostage by terrorists and threatened by death unless Frodo turned into a jellyfish, I wouldn't like the change. I'd understand it...but I still wouldn't like it. (Now please re-read the last two sentences so no one misunderstands and thinks I'm wishing death on Peter Jackson's mother!)<P>As I told Saucepan Man on another thread, I actually envy those of you can watch these films and not be distracted by the differences to the novel. You can enjoy them as their own entities and separate them from the books - I simply can't do it. I don't know if it's because I've read them too many times, because the characters are too special to me or if I simply live in my own little world and am entirely hopeless. Whatever the reason, it's a problem I share with others and when I get an opportunity to commiserate with like-minded people, I seize it. And yes, I'm fully aware that it's a problem in my own personal make-up and that no movie director is responsible for it - it's MY problem. But it's nice to know that others have it too - kinda like my own little support group. <P>I hope I'm making this more clear. I respect all the opinions expressed here and each and every one of them has been thought through and written intelligently. I agree with some and don't agree with others...perhaps some of you agree with mine and some of you don't. I can agree to disagree. Well, most of the time. LOL<P>And Tar-Palantir - that wasn't you sitting next me in the theater, was it? LOL. Sorry, I had to do it - you left yourself wide open for that one!