Quote:
Originally Posted by Morsul the Dark
I'll defend the Pippin Armor Well scene.
The book has Pippin deliberately drop a stone in the well. It never sat well with me that that somehow alerted the goblins and orcs. The armor on the other hand a loud banging clanging ruckus makes much more sense to me.
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You know what, though, to me that's a perfect illustration of what works in a novel vs a film, with neither necessarily being superior.
In the book, Pippin idly drops a stone down the well in the guard-room; they hear the ominous "tom-tap-tom" hammer, and
hope nothing will come of it. This seems to be correct, they go on their way, and only later when they get ambushed in the Chamber of Mazarbul does it become clear that the goblins- or as it may be orcs- which are of course the same thing-
or are they? were alerted.
In the film, the well is in the Chamber and the stone is replaced by an armoured skeleton which makes an awful clatter and causes an
immediate response from the denizens of Moria.
Both of these are fine with respect to their different formats- a novel can afford to move slower and spend more time building up atmosphere; a film has to be quicker and (often) more spectacular.