Re: Bombadil vs. Arwen
Jim W.

First of all, I just wanted to say that I agreed with you entirely. I would rather see Tom (with scenes that Tolkien actually wrote) than love scenes (even though I loved the tale of Aragorn and Arwen). The last time I checked, The Lord of the Rings was an epic fantasy, not a romance novel.

This being said, let me say why I think PJ is doing this:

1) Tom Bombadil IS an expendable character. He didn't help the movie along, (except for giving the Hobbits their swords), but I feel that this is the main reason why Tolkien included him. It adds another layer of realism into the story. I NEVER talk to my neighbor, he serves no purpose whatsoever in MY story, but hes still there. In a real world, there ARE people that don't progress the story.

2)New Line is spending A LOT of money on this film, and I'm sure they want to make quite a profit. In order to do this, they'll need to bring in more than just the die-hard Tolkien fans. This movie will also have to appeal to the masses. One way to do this is add more romance into the movie. At the risk of sounding sexist, romance will attract more women, and they make up more than half of our population,   and by adding more action (Aragorn actually fights the Nazgul on weathertop) to attract more men.

As much as I would like to see a movie that follows the book exactly, I realize that this will never happen, so I'll go see the movie, and when I begin to miss Tom, I'll start reading the book.