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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5765056" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I was part of a Tolkien fan community site prior to the release of the movies. A member of the community was loosely associated with the production and managed to steal portions of the early scripts (some as early as audition scripts), as well as leak information about the scenes being shot to the fan community forums. This allowed us to be continually informed about cast and plot changes prior to the movies releases. Granted, PJ was redoing the script almost daily. </p><p></p><p>Over the course of production, the script in general moved toward greater faithfulness to the books. PJ admitted this in an interview with a magazine prior to the movies release, how some of his ideas had seemed cute initially, but paled upon further reflection. </p><p></p><p>I wish I could easily dig up the links for these assertions, but its been so long since the movies released that it would be a major effort.</p><p></p><p>As for damage to the character of the characters, that would also be my biggest complaint with the films, and no character was done more damage - inadvertently and deliberately - than that of Frodo himself. The inadvertant damage was done by what could be considered a combination of the unfortunate result of necessary truncations to the story, misplaced desire to give the story a female lead, and bad direction. By that I mean that in the book, Frodo is given virtually the entire 'Fellowship' to establish himself as a truly heroic figure in a more classic sense of what it means to be a hero. It is Frodo that breaks the spell of Old Man Willow and finds Tom Bombadill. It is Frodo that breaks that spell of the Barrow Wight and slashes off its hand with its own sword. Frodo defies the Witch King and goes down fighting on Weathertop, and though it is foolish he confronts the entire gathered Nine by himself and defies them at the Ford. Frodo stabs the Mountain Troll and drives it away when Aragorn and Boromir are at a loss. In short, Frodo is shown as a brave, wise, and hyper-competent individual throughout 'Fellowship', which is necessary because there after he's going to spend most of his time being crushed by the Ring and his heroism is going to derive from apparent weakness - like Mercy and Humility. Without this setup, its difficult to relate to Frodo as the hero - something that indeed is hard to do in the first place because we aren't used to heroes like Frodo. Most people end up preferring Sam, which is unfair to Frodo. </p><p></p><p>This is almost excusible, except for two things. One, PJ goes out of his way to direct Frodo as a pathetic weakling. I don't know how many scenes we get of Frodo which are close ups of him in agony and terror. It's pretty much all he does throughout all three movies. I mean, PJ directs all the characters in a redundant and slipshod manner (how many scenes do we get of Aragorn falling off something and lying unconscious after the fall), but its especially bad with Frodo. And even that might be considered excuseable except that PJ goes all Ioreth on the story and totally and deliberately subverts it. PJ has Frodo kill Gollum as his one heroic moment in the whole story. The one time we see Frodo excercising strength, it's to kill Gollum, and undo all his (and Bilbo's!) former mercy and compassion. And unless you think this is a mere interpretation of the chaotic action of the fight scene, it's actually written into the script that Frodo pushes Gollum into the lava.</p><p></p><p>I'm prepared to forgive a lot as the requirements of adapting a story to a different medium, but that's not one of them. This is a guy who reshot the entire scene of Gandalf arriving at the Battle of Helm's Deep because the stunt man used a saddle in the first take. It's not like we are dealing with someone who doesn't have an eye for detail. This was a deliberate change because PJ believes that the Ioreth story is the story of the movie as it ought to be.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5765056, member: 4937"] I was part of a Tolkien fan community site prior to the release of the movies. A member of the community was loosely associated with the production and managed to steal portions of the early scripts (some as early as audition scripts), as well as leak information about the scenes being shot to the fan community forums. This allowed us to be continually informed about cast and plot changes prior to the movies releases. Granted, PJ was redoing the script almost daily. Over the course of production, the script in general moved toward greater faithfulness to the books. PJ admitted this in an interview with a magazine prior to the movies release, how some of his ideas had seemed cute initially, but paled upon further reflection. I wish I could easily dig up the links for these assertions, but its been so long since the movies released that it would be a major effort. As for damage to the character of the characters, that would also be my biggest complaint with the films, and no character was done more damage - inadvertently and deliberately - than that of Frodo himself. The inadvertant damage was done by what could be considered a combination of the unfortunate result of necessary truncations to the story, misplaced desire to give the story a female lead, and bad direction. By that I mean that in the book, Frodo is given virtually the entire 'Fellowship' to establish himself as a truly heroic figure in a more classic sense of what it means to be a hero. It is Frodo that breaks the spell of Old Man Willow and finds Tom Bombadill. It is Frodo that breaks that spell of the Barrow Wight and slashes off its hand with its own sword. Frodo defies the Witch King and goes down fighting on Weathertop, and though it is foolish he confronts the entire gathered Nine by himself and defies them at the Ford. Frodo stabs the Mountain Troll and drives it away when Aragorn and Boromir are at a loss. In short, Frodo is shown as a brave, wise, and hyper-competent individual throughout 'Fellowship', which is necessary because there after he's going to spend most of his time being crushed by the Ring and his heroism is going to derive from apparent weakness - like Mercy and Humility. Without this setup, its difficult to relate to Frodo as the hero - something that indeed is hard to do in the first place because we aren't used to heroes like Frodo. Most people end up preferring Sam, which is unfair to Frodo. This is almost excusible, except for two things. One, PJ goes out of his way to direct Frodo as a pathetic weakling. I don't know how many scenes we get of Frodo which are close ups of him in agony and terror. It's pretty much all he does throughout all three movies. I mean, PJ directs all the characters in a redundant and slipshod manner (how many scenes do we get of Aragorn falling off something and lying unconscious after the fall), but its especially bad with Frodo. And even that might be considered excuseable except that PJ goes all Ioreth on the story and totally and deliberately subverts it. PJ has Frodo kill Gollum as his one heroic moment in the whole story. The one time we see Frodo excercising strength, it's to kill Gollum, and undo all his (and Bilbo's!) former mercy and compassion. And unless you think this is a mere interpretation of the chaotic action of the fight scene, it's actually written into the script that Frodo pushes Gollum into the lava. I'm prepared to forgive a lot as the requirements of adapting a story to a different medium, but that's not one of them. This is a guy who reshot the entire scene of Gandalf arriving at the Battle of Helm's Deep because the stunt man used a saddle in the first take. It's not like we are dealing with someone who doesn't have an eye for detail. This was a deliberate change because PJ believes that the Ioreth story is the story of the movie as it ought to be. [/QUOTE]
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