6 movies or just 3?

[Greyhame]

The notion of six films is alarming and pretty ill-conceived, if I may be blunt. Besides the fact that it would be financially impossible (to shoot them all at once, at least; which I think is essential to telling Tolkien's story with perfect continuity, by the by), you just can't include every last blooming detail from the book and make an interesting movie. Call me what you will, but it's true. It is possible (and I would add crucial) for cinema and literature to be divided into separate, distinct, independent from one another disciplines. What makes a great book (which LOTR is, I honestly prefer the book to the films) WILL NOT always make a great movie. Peter Jackson realized this early on and strove to make as faithful a REPRESENTATION of the Tolkien mythology as he could, given the constraints of the medium he works (very very well) in.<P>Now, that being said, I am very intrigued about the possibility of a LOTR television series. TV is a completely different beast than film, and in that setting, a "chapter-and-verse" translation would definitely work. That way, we can have Tom, the Downs, Glorfindel, the Warg attack at Moria, a proper Entmoot, NO elves at the Deep, boring Faramir, and everyone's favorite sacred cow, the Scouring. Then everyone can be happy, because happiness, apparently, IS the ultimate measure of aesthetic merit.