Everytime I Turn Around, Response to Rob Van de W.
Max B.

My second posting for today (I hope the first to Brian worked, as I wrote it on a tempermental computer). In any case:

1)"You display a certain ignorance when you wrote in a previous post, "(bad ring-hobbits and friends go on a journey-lots of heroism-bad ring destroyed-check)". --And this seems to be the heart of the disagreement. To use an old metaphor, I see the change as a pebble thrown into a river. A few ripples, but the river flows on ever strongly, never changing it's course. The majority of fandom on this site beleives it will constitute a boulder that will alter the river's course if not block it completely.
Tsk, or maybe I am ignorant.

2)"What is it that distinguishes Tolkien's work, then? "-- May I 'suggest' that you point out how any of your quite true points on Tolkien's work (language, history, etc) will be affected by the changes I propose? And how exactly it degrades the work? Again, I see only a pebble in a mighty river until someone explains otherwise...

3)"This is one of the reasons why Gimli has such a reverence for Galadriel and it is a interesting bit of Dwarven culture."--This then becomes only another hurdle for Gimli to overcome. He overcame racial boundaries, why not gender ones as well? Are we expecting too much? Really, we do sell the poor fellow a little short.

4)"Now you may say that people wouldn't notice such things in a movie and that this kind of thing doesn't matter, but it DOES matter to the Tolkien fan base "--This comes down to conjecture on both our parts. I'm willing to wager that the film would still be a blockbuster and still attract a significant number from the fanbase, even with changes in place. Internet polls do not interest me terribly much, unfortunately.

6)"The problem is that these other stories do not have the fan base or cross-cultural appeal enjoyed by Tolkien's LOTR"--And it comes down to this, what is this market they are aiming for? Can we guarantee that every fan, even with a successful photocopying of the text onto screen without alteration will want to venture into a cinema? Are the already converted fan base, with Tolkien merchandise aplenty already adorning their walls...the ones to be flogging more of the same to? Or is it the untouched millions? The children and adults who haven't even read the book or heard of Tolkien yet? As I said, conjecture.