The LOTR Movie Site
February 18, 2001

An Observation
Alice W.

LOTR will it be a lost opportunity Peter Jackson? The director has quite an effect on the outcome, will it be soft and hollywoody like Ridley Scott "The Legend" or brutal and real like Polanskies "Macbeth". Personally I favour a bit of both. I am not Tolkien fundamentalist though I have read the book now many times over a period of thirty years and more. I dislike what is in the wind about changes in the story line, farmer Maggot, Bombadil, Goldberry, Barrow Wight's, Glorfindel, Arwen, what else?

A director should not invent a new story, all a director can do is put emphasis onto certain areas that they consider important. The character of Bombidil is subjective and can be translated in different ways and the time devoted to him can also be variable but it is not the place of the director to remove him, certainly not in book as renowned, like LOTR. For me, I see Bombadil as someone who is disguising his power and not as some people imagine an acid head running around the woods. The Time devoted to a scene does not necessarily have to be long to be rememberable, example "Nell's cabin" in the "Legend". This rustic scene is one way that Farmer Maggot and family could have been depicted. It will be a sore loss if the farm house and the scene with the ominous wagon trip through the fog to the ferry are removed likewise the sinister Barrow-Downs.

The difficulty of trying to produce a film like LOTR is that the story line is not always sympathetic for a film and does not have enough pace or action, this is possibly true in The Fellowship Of The Ring. However there was an opportunity here to embellish rather than to remove aspects of the book. The history of middle earth needs greater explanation and the short stories in the Appendix could have been used. Example the Numenorean Kings, this story could have been told by Strider to the Hobbits at some point in there journey, this would have allowed for a break and the introduction of a scene with a certain degree of action and also given information to non readers of the book. I have waited a long time for this film and I like the other fans hope not to be disappointed.