My Big Beef With the LOTR movies

[Ranger REG]

Well, I'm sure the only "givens" will be:
A) the 2 Jackson children as "Cute Lake-town Children" (or "Extremely Young and Yet Cute Hobbit Children Again");...

By the time the film production of The Hobbit start (if any), his 2 kids would be 10 years old (at least for the youngest).

 

[Dark Jezter]

Spoiler

But there's a nice addition: a drink game, in which Legolas and Gimli bet who will drink more. After tens of jugs, Gimli first farts, and then says "It’s the dwarves that go swimming with the little, hairy women"; finally belchs. Legolas seems to give away, but when Gimli begins to claim victory – it's him who falls down shattered. "Game Over", says the elf.

Yeesh.

If ever there were any doubts that PJ was an elf fanboy, they've just been obliterated.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Yeesh.

If ever there were any doubts that PJ was an elf fanboy, they've just been obliterated.

Oh, lighten up. It's funny.

 

[David Howery]

Hmm.. I always thought that the people that PJ liked the most were the Rohirrim. They get all the cool scenes, from Helm's Deep to the utterly fantastic charge at the Pelennor. Plus, they look a lot like Vikings, which automatically makes them cool. Then, they are mounted archers, which is also cool. Compare them to the other peoples: the elves just sit in their forests and smile knowingly, other than a handful who went to Helm's Deep (who obviously thought the Rohirrim were cool too). Gondor? They get their butts kicked in most of the movie and are a hair away from going down until (who else) the Rohirrim come along. Who took out the Witch king? A Rohirrim-ette (with minor help from a hobbit). Sure, the dead swarmed over the Oliphaunts and took them out in their invincible way, but the Rohirrim had to fight them hand to hand, and took out at least 4 of them that we saw... fighting giant warbeasts hand to hand is also cool. So, when you add up all the cool points, the Rohirrim win easily....

 

[Dark Jezter]

Oh, lighten up. It's funny.

Perhaps it'll be more amusing when I actually see it, but the description of the scene just me groan a little and go "Great, another scene where Legolas shows up everybody else."

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Perhaps it'll be more amusing when I actually see it, but the description of the scene just me groan a little and go "Great, another scene where Legolas shows up everybody else."

Look: You, me, and the rest of our nerd battalion see this as one big travesty and mockery of the sacred text that PJ has tainted with his Hollywood yadda yadda. But to John Q. Public, who's never read the books, never played D&D, and doesn't know the diff between a Dunedain and a Nazgul, the Legolas/Gimli dynamic played out in the films is simply the sword-n-sorcery equivalent of the classic "straight man" routine. Given that the characters don't have a lot to do dramatically-speaking in the films besides have Aragorn's back, and the whole trilogy can get a little dreary what with all the "The quest shall claim his life" and "Here you will dwell bound to your grief..." doomsaying, I'm sure PJ felt a little levity was in order.

 

[Allanon]

Look: You, me, and the rest of our nerd battalion see this as one big travesty and mockery of the sacred text that PJ has tainted with his Hollywood yadda yadda. But to John Q. Public, who's never read the books, never played D&D, and doesn't know the diff between a Dunedain and a Nazgul, the Legolas/Gimli dynamic played out in the films is simply the sword-n-sorcery equivalent of the classic "straight man" routine. Given that the characters don't have a lot to do dramatically-speaking in the films besides have Aragorn's back, and the whole trilogy can get a little dreary what with all the "The quest shall claim his life" and "Here you will dwell bound to your grief..." doomsaying, I'm sure PJ felt a little levity was in order.

But why couldn't the same levity be had by making Legolas lose the drinking game? Or even just with Gimli falling over soon after Legolas dropped? The Elf winning has nothing to do with going for comedy, it's just PJ childish way of making sure his favorite character wins.

 

[reanjr]

Honestly, I would not have minded all, the entire series, but then, we be looking at a six part film, costing a near billion, and near 20+ hours of extended footage.

You're right, no one has come up with a good reason why they didn't do this.

*sometimes I read what I want to*

 

[reanjr]

Of course I may be in a minority, but I don't miss Tom Bombadil at all.

Oh, I miss the barrow wight scene, just not Bombadil.

Note to self: never add your children's stuffed animal to your stories...

I agree. Tom was... weird...

 

[reanjr]

As for the Dunedain...like Elrond's sons, they bring nothing to the table in the big picture compared to the cost they would have entailed. Rememeber, what you spend on "this" takes away from "all this other stuff".

This is actually the one thing that I do have a problem with. The way it's done in the movie, the whole battle is almost pointless because once the dead get there, they just kill everything without even a little effort. I don't like how they just appear and fix everything without a struggle. Gondor should have just had its people flee for a couple days till the dead got there and took care of everything. And the Rohirrim could have just stayed home.

The Dunedain would have been a much better fit in the movie to appear with Aragorn on the ships.