[bigheadfred]

create a new character not featured in the original book

hmmmmm... we have a _resident just like that....

[icwhatudo]

Cumberbatch, who also plays dark spirit Necromancer in “The Hobbit” films, said Smaug’s characteristics could convey a more contemporary social message.

“You could read him as some sort of emblem for all that’s gone wrong in the past decade with free market capitalism if you wanted to.

---

Smaug does nothing to create his own wealth but simply takes from others who were successful. He lays around doing nothing and creates a nasty smell in the residence he does not own or pay for.

Sounds more like an indictment of the typical obama voter

[ClearCase_guy]

On Smaug:

"You could read him as some sort of emblem for all that's gone wrong in the past decade with free market capitalism if you wanted to. His level of venality is pretty devastating and destroys him as much as the things around him," he said.

Yeah. Sure. We're just overwhelmed with an out-of-control free market. That's the problem. Uh huh.

I'm looking forward to the film, but Jackson always makes some bad choices, and his view of the world is not my view, and I suspect that Tolkien would be dismayed by much that is in (and much that is not in) the movies.

[yarddog]

Does anyone remember the old video format which used a needle much like a stereo? You pushed the entire record and cover into it and it extracts the video disc.

I had the cartoon version of “The Hobbit” on one of those discs and it was actually pretty good. It gave me a good background on the story and I look forward to seeing the new movies.

[DemforBush]

Eh...meh. I skipped The Hobbit because it looked like they were trying to make it too much like LOTR. The clips I’ve seen of the new one look like more of the same.

Yeah, I get that The Hobbit is the precursor to LOTR. But The Hobbit novel also had a different feel and flow to it. It wasn’t the epic struggle of good and evil so much as the wonders of the world revealed to someone whose world had been quite small before. The was the charm of the book for me.

Just MHO, of course. Millions of movie goers obviously disagree with me.

[Sirius Lee]

...to create a new character not featured in the original book.

[huldah1776]

Just had to stretch it out a bit, eh? Can’t wait to see it. I love those stories, as is. Liked LOTR but missed Tom Bombadil, the other Rangers, and the scouring of the Shire which is crucial to the point of the spreading of evil.

[Caipirabob]

I think Jackson has the trust of the audience to make it work. Looking forward to seeing it soon.

[Cicero]

I’ve been reading Tolkien forever. Read it to all of my kids, too.

Frankly, I recommended re-reading the books and forgetting the movies.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***to create a new character not featured in the original book. ***

Kind of like what Dalton Trumbo did to SPARTACUS. There was no Tony Curtis character in the Howard Fast book.

Also no “I AM SPARTACUS” scene.

[tumblindice]

Evangeline Lilly. I think she played ‘Kate’ in the TV series ‘Lost’. And she dated another character on Lost who also played ‘Meriadoc Took’ in the Trilogy. And she’s built like a boy.
Wonder if that’s how she got the job; and, I hate it when directors and screenwriters make stuff up. (See: ‘Under the Dome’).

[matt1234]

For the record, in The Fellowship of the Ring (1st movie), Liv Tyler's elf maiden Arwen carried Frodo to Rivendell. However, in the book it is a MALE elf who does it.

So, the exageration of female importance has run throughout the franchise.