Any fans of the Smeagol opening?

[Essex]

It was inspired.<P>What Jackson has done (for me anyway) is to show Smeagol the Hobbit as a happy character. The smile on his face when Deagol's line catches a fish is beautiful, but heartbreaking, just as Frodo's smile at the begining of the fotr is. We know what this character is going to go through and it hurts.<P>I have never felt much compassion for Smeagol all the times I've read the books. This is because I didn't really think that much of him being a nice, normal hobbit. I've always seen him as a nasty creature the way Gandalf describes the Gladden Field episode. I never had it in my mind's eye that he was a happy, fun loving creature, because of the way he immediately kills Deagol.<P>But Jackson/Serkis have changed my view of this. I now realise the powerful effect the Ring had on him that changed him the second he spotted it, which now, after 25 years reading the books, will give me another slant. Maybe I WILL pity him next time I read lotr..........