FoTR was in my opinion the most fateful adaptation of the original work. Aside from some minor changes for drama, the overall script followed the original book quite well. The other two installments were more loose based and there were several deviations from the fundamentals of the book. Some of the changes that were debatable were;
1. Theoden's on-screen persona
2. Denethor's on-screen persona
3. The manipulation of the AoD by Aragon (which, in term reflects on Aragon's on screen persona)
4. Elrond's on-screen persona
5. Omission of the scouring of the Shire.
It is very easy to attribute the debatable changes to PJ's and PB's combined ego and that was exactly the notion I held when I first saw the two movies. I was abit disappointed with the final cuts and even the EE did no justice for me. However with time I have learned to accept what the two sequels were - darn good films and even learned to like them base on their own merits.
Recently, I read an article based on an interview with the incomparable Ghassan Massoud who played the great Saladin in
Kingdom of Heaven and this is what he had to say on drama and fidelity;
Quote:
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"Who said drama had to be historically accurate? Who said that drama’s role was to recreate history? If you want history, go to a bookstore. Drama is drama. Drama’s role is to create a story that has a central conflict; and the story doesn’t have to be constrained to historical factuality; so it is any innovator’s right to grab a portion of history and recreate a sample of what life may have been like,"
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That was perhaps the fairest and most truthful statement ever spoken on the need be fateful in adaption whilst creating drama. The same idea can be applied here by substituting history with original literature. The dramatics were needed in TTT and RoTK for the films to succeed in conveying its theme. And though these changes might have altered some of the fundamentals, they were instrumental in taking the casual audience into ME and introducing the vision of Tolkien with the rest of humanity a way the books can never achieve.
P.S:
Ainaserkewen - How did you come up with such a title for this thread? It brought a smile to my lips because those were the exact same words my sister spoke to me last night when she rummaged through the fridge and produced a jar of honey. She popped open the lid, frowned and turned to me,
"Smell this. I think it's expired..."