[The Saucepan Man]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> hmm how about the legitamate Faramir scenes and speeches in Ithilien? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Scant, if any, tension.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> How about a muster or at least a regrouping in ROhan [too anti-climatic for PJ and co I am sure] or how about Aragorn taking off on the Paths of the Dead? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Didn't involve Frodo and Sam.<P>I have not watched the interview yet, but I imagine that the point that she is making is that there had to be some tense climax to Frodo and Sam's journey in the film, parallel to that provided by the Battle of the Hornburg. And that, for me, is a valid point.<P>I agree, as a fan of Tolkien's works, that the extended version is infinately better than the theatrical release. But clearly a film of this length would not have been commercially viable as a cinema release, and many of these additional scenes will be of little or passing interest to the majority of film audiences. I would have swapped some of these additional scenes for some of those that were included in the theatrical release. But I can understand most of the choices Jackson made in his editing of the theatrical release, bearing in mind the <I>entirety</I> of the prospective audience, and not just the minority who get angry about things like the portrayal of Faramir. And believe me, we are in a minority. Most of the audience will never previously have read the book and, even of those who have, not many hold it in quite such a high regard as us for it to really get to them. <P>I find it interesting that the extended edition scores such a hit with those whose quarrel with TTT was that it failed to reflect Tolkien's story, given that it is still a different story to that told in the book. Film Faramir, for example, is still a very different character from book Faramir. Book Faramir hardly hesitates in rejecting the Ring, despite knowing its worth to his father, whereas film Faramir still takes some time to reach the same point. What the extended edition does do, however, is make this alternative Faramir more likeable by more clearly depicting the rationale behind his initial decision to take the Hobbits and the Ring to his father, while at the same time making his ultimate decision to let them go far more believable.<P>Yes, it is nice to see the inclusion of more material from the book and touches that greater reflect the spirit of the book, but, for me, the best thing about most of the additional scenes is that they improve on the story told in the film, rather than that they bring it closer to that told in the book.<p>[ November 21, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]