dontpunkme said:
I'm gonna keep this list fairly short:
1) Where were the sons of Elrond? Would it be too much to show them just a handful of times?
They were a bit part even in the book. The main cast had something like 20 characters for the whole set of movies. Two more would have booged it down even more. And yes, though Arwen was also a fairly minor character, putting the relationship on screen is important because he marries her at the end. Without the backstory, it looks like he's just dumping Eowyn or something.
2) Gimli- I loved him in the books and when we get to the movies he's just insipid comic relief.
Well, I've said before that PJ comes off as kind of an elf fanboy. I mean, look at the dwarf tossing cracks, Legolas catching Gimli by the beard (blasphemy!), and Legolas fighting like some unbeatable invincible uber elf. Perhaps if PJ does The Hobbit as rumored, he'll redress the wrongs done to the dwarves in these movies.
3) Another group of missing characters- the Dunedain? Where was the grey company? How can anyone omit them for christ's sake they are the Westernese and the rangers of the north -- Aragorn's most faithful soldiers.
They would have been cool to see, but in the end just a small detail that didn't mess up the whole storyline overall.
4) The Mouth of Sauron - as in yet another character than goes missing and completely ruins the final battle (Let alone, the significance he serves being to Sauron what Sauron was to Melkor). What about the drama when he hands over Frodo's clothes and gear? Oh wait, Sam gave it to Frodo.
Wait for the EE.
5) Limiting the Ents on screen time, let alone no mention of the Entwives.
All the Ents really did in the book was wreck Isengard. That was in TTT. The Entwives were mentioned in the TT EE.
6) TOM BOMBADIL - seems to me from my rememberance of the books Tom Bombadil happens to put the ring on to no effect to his person. Let alone cutting out the fantastic barrow wight scenes. Hi Ho what the hell?
Bombadil would have been very risky to include in the movie. First he's a side plot that would risk derailing the whole movie. You build up this whole threat of the Nazgul chasing them, and then they cool their heels in the backwoods for 3 days. Also, you'd need the right actor for the part, a badly cast Bombadil would hurt the movie far more than no Bombadil. The Old Forest is a part of the FotR that causes a lot of people to give up on the book. And lastly, he'd add at least another half hour to a movie already 3 hours long, and which rushed parts of the plot.
7) Way to completely ruin the whole men under the mountain scene. Let alone how fantastic they lead into the battle on the fields of Pelennor.
You mean the Druedain? Yes, it's a shame they were left out, I would have liked to have seen Ghan-buri-Ghan myself. But once again, it's a small detail that would have made little difference on film.
I'm not going to get into the intro cutting out the backstory or how Merry and Peregrin actually deviously ambush Frodo before he leaves on his journey.
How much backstory do you want? They backstory of the Ring is given at the very beginning of the first movie. Yes, it simplifies a lot, but all of the important points are touched on. Remeber that Gandalf tells Frodo in the book that telling the whole history of the Ring would takes
months. Even at the council of Elrond, Elrond gives a brief history, and it takes him from midmorning to nearly noon. As for the story of Numenor, it's a shame that it is very lightly touched upon, but that would bog down the movies with even more exposition.
Merry and Pippin do not ambush Frodo. They simply bump into him and Sam by accident and are caught up in the hunt for the Ring.
