[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

I'm not sure I found many of the scenes mentioned to be disturbing. The thing with Gimli and the orc was inappropriate, yes, and should have been left out of the EE just as it was left out of the theatrical release. But did it disturb me on a fundamental level? no. The thing I felt most was annoyance that Gimli would say "nervous system" and sit on an orc. It felt cheesy and in poor taste, but that was all.

Aragorn killing the MOS was inappropriate, but I was warned in advance about that scene, and have honestly never seen the ROTK EE just because I'd heard from many sources that the theatrical release was the better of the two. So problem solved, at least for me. I never picked that scene out and watched it because I prefer to have some things untouched in my memory, and for some reason the whole chat with the MOS is one of those things.

I was never bothered by the abuses on Gollum in the way that others here were for a simple reason: in Osgiliath and Ithilien, the movie veers in a completely different direction from the book. By then, Faramir, someone who was "supposed" to be good, had already been made otherwise by the scriptwriters. I know why this was done, from a cinematic standpoint, so I've gotten over my initial disappointment. He's Faramir, but in TTT, he's a different Faramir from the book. So I guess it just seemed more possible to me or something. Not that it was nice or pleasant to watch. It was brutal, I'd agree, so I guess that I was bothered more by the violence itself than who was doing it.

I would agree with Lal that I was bothered by the violence against animals most of all...dead horses on the battlefield, horses being killed by the fell beast, confused oliphaunts, etc. I was never bothered by what happened to Shelob, though, mainly because she was an evil entity, while the other animals were thrown into the wars of men.

I guess I'm a movie fan as well as a book fan, something rare around these parts...because while some things bothered me, I can usually solve my problem on my own. If the ROTK and TTT EEs bother me, fine, I won't watch them--I'll watch the theatrical releases instead. I can appreciate why the films deviated from the book, yet still love the movies for the movies and the book for the book. They're excellent as far as movies go, so I see no point in getting all up in arms over changes.