ROTK Minor Change Wishlist

[Neferchoirwen]

I really don't care about whether or not the movies were true to the books. As a "dark fan" (a Tolkien books freak who was born into fandom via the movies), I just take the interpretation as a "from one fan to another" thing. <P>But I have one complaint, though:<P>The ships look like yachts. They ought to be HUGE, GIGANTIC things with masts and all that. And all we have is a yacht.<P>Please. Take the yachts out and give me SHIPS! Cirdan builds better!

[hobbit punk]

Ok, did anyone else find all the flashbacks annoying? Ok, so maybe its been a long time. Maybe people can't remember everything that happened. But flashing back to the Smeagol/Deagol scene? I mean I hope we can give the non-book audiences a bit more credit than that. I also found that the Smeagol/Deagol scene kind of upset the storyline...it felt like it was out of place and could've been cut. I agree that it should've been put in when Frodo first says Gollum's name. I also didn't like that Eomer never seemed to realize his uncle was dead and how they have a close up of the Witch King saying he will break the wizard and then they never meet. I sorely missed the mouth of Sauron and I hated the eye as a lighthouse or whatever..it just didn't seem threatening. The story was weak and I just didn't get into it. The parts that made me feel emotion in the book, well they all do but great emotion, just didn't do it for me in the movie. Ex. Pelennor Fields, Gray Havens. Denethor was a mess and Gandalf acted very below himself to whack Denethor with his staff. I also found that Faramir just magically heals. Since there were no houses of healing, he just seems to magically be cured! Saruman was a big one and it seems nieve for Gandalf to be like oh leave him be, hes got no power now. And we never got to say goodbye to Treebeard.. ...they just kind of said hi and bye...I love Treebeard. All in all I agree with what everyone mentioned beforehand.<p>[ 7:50 PM February 01, 2004: Message edited by: hobbit punk ]

[The Only Real Estel]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Ok, did anyone else find all the flashbacks annoying? Ok, so maybe its been a long time. Maybe people can't remember everything that happened. But flashing back to the Smeagol/Deagol scene? I mean I hope we can give the non-book audiences a bit more credit than that.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I really doubt that PJ & co. flashed back to the Smeagol/Deagol scene to remind people how the Ring was re-found. I think he did it for a few reasons, but one main one:<P>* It not only gave us a great understanding for Gollum's character & a little more background on him, it also got the audience a glimpse of more of the dark side of Gollum, to ensure that his death wouldn't be a sniffing scene.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>I also found that the Smeagol/Deagol scene king (kind*) of upset the storyline...it felt like it was out of place and could've been cut. I agree that it should've been put in when Frodo first says Gollum's name.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I really don't think that it would've worked to insert it in TTT after Frodo says 'Smeagol', because in the movies the remembrance of his older name on somewhat happier times is supposed to lighten Gollum up. If you have a flashback to him killing his friend, I hardly think that would produce his half-smile before the Nazgul screech. Perhaps if they could've gone with shots of him playing around, fishing, etc., show his face brighten, & then gone to the Smeagol/Deagol scene & have his face darken again just before the screech; but that would totally defeat the idea of a happier Gollum prior to the whole Faramir business that deals him a setback.

[hobbit punk]

Good points. I really didn't enjoy the scene at all. But I would've prefered it as maybe a deleted scene on an extended edition. Also, another small annoyance, the fish that drags Deagol under the water and through it to the bottom is pretty small. A well-grown hobbit would've been pretty hefty and that fish was teeny! I could see it knocking him off balance and then him maybe falling in but not dragging him so far. PS: Thanks for the Christopher Lee quote. I was wondering if he would have attended the premiere of Return of the King. Your quote answered my question. <BR> <P>[ 7:48 PM February 01, 2004: Message edited by: hobbit punk ]<p>[ 7:49 PM February 01, 2004: Message edited by: hobbit punk ]

[Dininziliel]

I had reached the rather blissful point of not feeling tortured about the (imo) unnecessary changes in RotK, but then I saw it again last night for 6th time. (Obviously, I like it a lot.) It's going to be like FotR and TT--I'm always going to go back and forth between "I love that!" and then "Oh, whywhywhy did they choose to do <I>that</I>?" <P>So, here's my newest list--(nothing has really changed since my first viewing).<BR>Aside from the obvious, most-mentioned scenes (Voice of Saruman, Mouth of Sauron, etc.), these are the little things I will call “Why Would Anyone Think Their Idea Better Than Tolkien’s When Tolkien’s Would Have Worked Beautifully Under Cinematic Circumstances!”<P><UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>I agree w/Diamond18--Shelob's Lair needed to be pitch black but visible. Merry and Pippin to be noticeably taller than Frodo and Sam. (And all the other hobbits in the Shire!)<LI>Denethor needs his palantir in order to be a credible character.<LI>Use the phrase, “Paths of the Dead” <LI>The Army of the Dead look like scrubbing bubbles. And, why should anyone else bother to risk their lives when the Dead are on the job?<LI>What happened to the despair upon seeing the Corsair ships that coincides with Eomer’s berserker grief/rage at the sight of Theoden & Eowyn?<LI>86 the derivative character/costume design: Gothmog as Elephant Man, Gothmog’s skull-hatted lieutenant (did anyone else think Cat-in-the-Hat?), and the Mad Max Thunderdome mumakil riders.<LI>Change Gollum jumping on top of invisible Frodo at Doom to staying on the ground in a toe-to-toe struggle (less silly looking)<LI>More of the lines from the book. Money simply can’t buy dialogue & description like that.<LI>Shelob looking like she’d been on Slim-Orc diet. She needed to be much baggier and grosser. AND, what happened to that marvelous moment when she reared up above an exhausted Sam who had just enough time & strength to point Sting upwards so she could impale herself upon it? <LI>Angry Oathbreaker: "When The One went into the fire, the camera angle should have switched to Gandalf's view, and they see "a shadow rising above the mountains, lightning crowned and malevolent but shortly blown away by the wind. THEN Barad-dur falls and the ground splits etc." Thank you! You are the only other person besides myself that seems to have noticed this!<LI>Kaiserin: "The Eye: It looked like something you would see in Nickelodeon." Oh, well said!</UL><LI>Oh, I might as well add that I hope the EE has no out-of-Age phrases/idioms ("Meat . . . menu" dwarf tossing references, snow-boarding, etc.)

[The Only Real Estel]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> agree w/Diamond18--Shelob's Lair needed to be pitch black but visible. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Yeah, but how was PJ to accomplish that!? I thought he did a pretty good job because it has to be dark but you still have to be able to see Frodo enough :/.

[Mithisilien]

I know most of these have been said, but here it goes anyway<P>Aragorn's coronation: I reeeeeally loved the way it was done in the books, very touching and respectful. It was almost rushed in the movie<P>Aragorn's arrival at the pellenor fields: They should have shown the flags being unfurled- it was really dramatic and Aragorn's arrival was supposed to inspire everyone, but they might not have known he even got there for a while.<P>Faramir/Eowyn: I was looking foreward to seeing their relationship develop, and they left it out <P>Theoden/Merry: Did they even say anything to each other??? That was kind of a big mess-up<P>Merry and Pippin- I agree they should have been noticably taller, but then only the people who got the TTT EE would know what's going on and that's not very fair, is it?<P>Sam/Rosie- Why weren't they at Bag-End?!?! Arr. At least they used (almost) the right lines, even though it should have been at night. And it would have been nice to see the hobbits walking home together from the Grey Havens too. <P>But the movie was so good anyway.....I like it a lot the way it is

[The Only Real Estel]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>And it would have been nice to see the hobbits walking home together from the Grey Havens too.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Maybe that'll be in the EE...To bad that we can't hope to see Frodo hand over Bag End to Sammie in the EE, since they kind've closed out that possibility in the Theatrical...