The Arrogance of the Rings

[lindil]

lindil the purist weighing in .<P>We are in many cases seeing PJ's versions of the characters. Close cousins in most cases but not the genuine article. Does that mean I sit fuming at every discrepancy? No, Gilthalion saved me from that rather useless POV.<P>However the assertions that the changes were "needed" or impproved the book are to my mind totally foolish.<P>I see absolutley no reason they 'needed to bring Arwen forward'. Get a more beautiful actress and increase her mystery!!!<P>PJ's distortion of the various plot lines also becomes more apparent in the movie.<P>The Arnorian Dunedain/Aragorn going from JRRT's dwindling but still protective and maintaining their bloodline to the bizzare " he turned from that path long ago... bs of 'Elrond'.<P>This adds??? <P>I was also unimpressed to see PJ declare that Bombadil did not 'move the plot forward.<P>Oh and gandalf telling Frodo to go to Bree and meet him there while he takes a quick jaunt to Isengard.<P>moves the plotline fwd?<P>Unless you think Isengard is in the Chetwood that is so silly anyone not familiar w/ the tale should be alittle confused.<P>Esp since they give you maps with the DVD!!!<P><BR>I must say seeing more of Lorien and a more realistic council was nice, and needed.<P>But it would have been great to see Gildor 'move the plot forward'.<P>Back to PJ's assertion that they could not have done the whole thing 'by the book' the Extended version shows just how false that is.<P>Yes I agree that if you are not making a 6hr FotR for the Screen then some scenes need to go. But Gildor, Bombadil, the Downs [ along with merry's crucial sword]Glorfindel, all could have been filmed and shown in the big screen as flashbacks during Frodo's morgul wound fever while gandalf was reading his mind. And then joyously re-inserted into the extended version. If they can give us 2 discs of often pointless commentary I would have gladly paid alot more and gotten the missing scenes.<P>So I agree w/ the arrogant premise. Would I have been less arrogant in their shoes?<P>Of co.. I mean probably not.<P>For all my B*&%$ing they <I>did</I> do a better job w/ FotR than any other movie adaptation I have seen.<P>I just bristle at their absurd justifications and any thought that an improvement was done.<P>I still enjoy reading LotR waaaay more, and consider my book[s] and me and a forest the ultimate encounter w/ Middle-EaRTH, not the Ext DVD.<P>Purist rant over.<P>oh btw I must say I have seen just what Thorondil pointed out about people seeming to take the movie as canon <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> And on the boards alot of people parrot their opinions almost word for word about why they changed this and why they changed that... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I find few things less respectful to JRRT. <P>Except perhaps feeling one could improve on the Silmarillion <P>Oh and seeing that they really did uproot trees for the Isengard scene [ I was seriously hoping it was digital] was less than delightful. JRRT would have loved that!<p>[ November 21, 2002: Message edited by: lindil ]