ping
Tom Bombadil is nowhere to be found—that one mysterious figure who could put on the Ring with no effect, who could give it back without flinching (Sam gave it back, but he flinched) and who—according to Gandalf—would be the last man standing should Sauron lay waste to the rest of Middle Earth.Heh. I remember these types when the LOTR movies were still new, especially Return Of The King. Even the extended editions of these movies were over four hours long each; I missed the Scouring too, but could we really sit in the theater for six hours while that level of exposition went on?
And absent Bombadil, we also lost the Barrow Downs and the wights.
But perhaps the most glaring omission in Jackson’s trilogy was the ending—the return of the four Hobbits to the Shire where Saruman had set up his miniature tyranny. Without going into great detail, this was the final straw for me when watching The Return of the King. The homecoming was important. The reactions of Frodo and Pippin and Merry were fundamental to bringing Tolkien’s tale full circle. …
And this is newsworthy because? Honest question, I don’t get it.
I don’t think there was any way that Tom Bombadil could have been in the story without leaving the viewer confused as to the danger of the ring and probably would have hurt the box office take.
But I think the Scouring should have been in the storyline to show that Hobbits weren’t as helpless as it seemed and that Saruman was still dangerous, even when he was at his weakest.
Couldn’t believe they stretched the Hobbit into 3 episodes.
I agree with him on this, but the first time I read LOTR I thought the scouring was anti-climatic. Maybe I was just disappointed the book was ending.
Jackson fought tremendous odds to deliver an economically viable and excellent product to the market.
Let's take some joy in this.
I challenge the author and critics to do better.
I read an interview with Ralph Bakshi yesterday that was from 2008. He wanted Led Zeppelin for the soundtrack to the animated one.
Said the books were for the hippies in the East Village...
For instance, in the Mines of Moria, as if it weren't a dramatic enough chapter, here's Aragorn telling Frodo "Lean forward!" so that the rock bridge they're standing on can teeter in the right direction.
In a word, asinine.
Actually, although I enjoyed the movies, it became increasingly obvious that Peter Jackson didn’t really understand Tolkien at all.
In particular, the concepts of honor and nobility, which were so important to Tolkien, were completely omitted from the movie. I won’t go into details, but that was evident again and again.
it must be a slooooowww day over at Forbes if this is all their writers can find to bitch/write about
One of my favorite parts of the LOTR trilogy is the “Scouring of the Shire”. I loved Jackson’s films but I don’t understand why he messed with Tolkien’s storyline for Saurman. I was looking forward to seeing how he depicted the “Scouring” chapter.
Of course you cannot put EVERYTHING in a film rendering of any book. That’s why part of the fun of it is arguing over why the director did this or didn’t do that. It’s a great “shoot the bull” discussion starter.
I must have gone out for popcorn and missed the lovely sex scene.
That didn’t tell me much info. Not really interested on clicking thru on my phone. Next time plz post a decent amount. Thanks in advance.
He’d have done better to make six movies instead of three, the same two-book-per-volume split Tolkien used.
The purists who complain about things like omitting Tom Bombadil -- an entirely useless and vacuous character -- wouldn't be satisfied if Tolkien made the movie himself.
Leading with complaining there’s no Bombadil (whom I find to be one of the most annoying characters in the history of fiction) doesn’t really get me to sign up.
When complaining about how a movie is different than the book it’s based on always remember the line from Stephen King, they didn’t change the book, the book’s right there, anybody that like the way it is in the book better can read the book instead.
Bitches: (1) Viggo didn't understand the character, period, and what Aragorn actually was would have been very difficult to describe in dialogue anyway; (2) The Ents - good Lord, are we looking at Disney audioanimatronics in the middle of a CGI wonder here? (3) Eowyn / Aragorn / Faramir - here we had a feminist character written before feminism was cool (and for which Tolkien gets precisely no credit from the academic crowd) who comes to a realization of who she really is, and what we got on screen was another tiresome kick-butt action flick chick. That wasn't the actress's fault. Lastly, The Scouring - it was, actually, the point of the dramatic narrative that the small could rise from the Shire and shake the counsels of the great, and that doing so would change them forever. And with incomparable team of Lee and Dourif in the roles of Saruman and Grima Wormtongue, the potential for greatness was heartbreakingly close.
Bombadil, although I love the character, was, I think, wisely omitted. He's supposed to be enigmatic, and that isn't very satisfying to a movie audience there to see some serious smiting. A literary cottage industry has developed around speculation of what he really was and that's the way Tolkien wanted it.
For The Hobbit I am less enthusiastic, which is, if I understand it correctly, the point of the article. It wasn't told in the same epic voice of LOTR at all, it was a gentle, humorous, avuncular fireside story. LOTR began that way, and one of its most stirring moments for me was when the Black Riders first showed up and the pretense was dropped, and all of a sudden the reader gets a sense of real evil that was nowhere to be found in The Hobbit, a sense that the silliness was done and the waters had just gotten very deep indeed. It was brilliant writing set up by the gentler Hobbit.
But there simply isn't three movies' worth of material in that slender volume, and the padding is done by lesser pens. Just my $0.02.
Because the filmable stories are now "in the can".
Well, almost.
This guy here is eagerly awaiting the closure that will come with the "H:BotFA" extended edition this fall.