Second-guessing Peter Jackson

[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

Kalimac and Amarinth, welcome to the re-writing playground! Let's see, the way we could rewrite the Merry & Pippin meeting, and your points Amar..<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>I like the "abbreviated" version of "A Conspiracy Unmasked" where Frodo leaves a week later to stay with Merry, but if you want to be even more conservative with time - considering that realistically we're probably looking at a maximum of eight minutes for all of this to happen - why not just have Frodo and Sam stop the night at Merry's place in Buckland on their way out of the Shire (so he could still leave instantaneously, no need to show shots of him planning the trip)? This would introduce Merry and Pippin in a believable way (why wouldn't Frodo crash at Cousin Merry's?), you could work in a line about "My cousin lives not far from here" thus establishing the relationship, and by showing Frodo *spending the night* somewhere you could also give the viewer a sense of time passing and make them realize that this journey does take quite a few days - I know they tried to do that in the movie as is (showing Frodo and Sam cooking over a fire in the woods, and so forth) but still the impression you were left with was that it took about twelve hours for them to reach Bree, when in fact even Buckland was a good couple of days away from Hobbiton. (For people who like the "farhest away from home I've ever been" line, that could be kept in, since it's unlikely that Sam ever *did* visit Buckland before). And since Black Riders have been shown as being all over the place, it's likely that Merry and Pippin would have heard or seen them before Frodo and Sam arrived, and seeing Sam's protectiveness and Frodo's terror would put two and two together (possibly an oblique reference to Bilbo's travels, and the fact that they were asking for "Baggins") and announce in the morning that they were coming along to help protect him. If nothing else this would give them time to get some luggage together and lock up the hole, instead of literally running off in what they stood up in. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Good points all. But how would we fit levity into this version? The Black Riders and all are so dark, especially with everything shortened, we need the comic relief. Even if stealing carrots is a little lame. We could take snippets of Crickhollow, the first morning on the walk in the Shire, steal some lines from Tom Bombadil's house.. hmmm...<BR><UL TYPE=SQUARE>At Merry's -<BR>Merry: "Wake up everyone!"<BR>Frodo: "Oh, 4 o'clock, what was I thinking..? Surely even black riders sleep."<BR>Pippin (mischevious): "Sam, it's half past nine, have you got the bathwater hot?"<BR>Sam, bleary: "No - the time! My gosh, no, I haven't sir!"<BR>Frodo, throws pillow at Pippin: "Just for that, You make breakfast."<BR>Merry: "Breakfast is ready. But last one down gets grass and rainwater!"<BR>Frodo laughs, already dressed he has a head start; fires back at Pippin: "Eldest or quickest, either way you're last!" <BR>Pippin tears after him, hopping in a pant-leg.<P>Hobbits whooping and laughing tumble down the stairs (it is Brandy Hall) pulling on and tripping over pants and shoelaces, half-buttoning shirts as they run, Pippin slides down bannister, passing Sam. Merry cuts Pippin off at the corner. <P>Last scene cuts to Merry placing a plateful of grass with a flourish in front of Pippin. The other hobbits laugh and eat.<BR>Pippin (crosses his arms): "Oh, you're funny."<BR>Sam passes him a plate of real food.</UL><P>Well, that was fun, but maybe not visual enough. Also that means Sam and Frodo are alone when they meet the Black Rider, which is way too scary for that point in the story. Let's think about this.<P>Amar, right on with Galadriel. <BR><UL TYPE=SQUARE>All we needed was a soft laugh, adding "gently are you avenged for my test of your heart. So you tempt me. You offer the ring freely. I do admit..." Then at the end (after greatly reduced CGI), she smiles sadly "I pass your test."</UL><P>Council of Elrond. It would be tough to make it stand out without making it clear how contested the ring was. People sitting around a table is pretty dull, unless it is the first time you've heard the stories they tell. Yet if you tell them in flashback, you lose the immediacy of the story, and lose the audience. I thought the arguing was overdone. But, focusing on the ring during the fight as PJ did demonstrated the ring was causing all this, and foreshadowed Boromir's fall. <P>But I dunno.. what could we do.. I know! <UL TYPE=SQUARE>Gandalf could interrupt the discussion when it started to break into an argument, reading the "one ring to rule them all" in the Mordor tongue, stunning them into silence. <BR>Elrond: "No one has ever spoken that tongue here before."<BR>Gandalf: "Nor will again, I hope. I do not ask pardon. This is the One Ring. There is only one course left to us: it must be destroyed."<BR>Silence...<BR>Frodo: "I will take the ring.<BR>Though I do not know the way."</UL><P>I think the unwilling heir gives more room for the expanded role of Arwen, and lets Aragorn develop as a character more clearly. In the book there is a contrast between Aragorn in the beginning, and Aragorn in his first meeting with Eomer. Tolkien had time to explain the difference, by letting us see Aragorn through Legolas' eyes, so we're not sure whether Aragorn changed or we just saw a different side of him. Can't do that in a movie, you need concrete events to show us <I>why</I> Aragorn changed.<P>I think if we had Arwen speaking elvish throughout she would not have been so annoying. PJ was planning to do this, don't know what changed his mind.<p>[ March 26, 2002: Message edited by: Marileangorifurnimaluim ]