Tolkien Online
February 3, 2001

Ancalagon Updates 'The Complete List of Film Changes'
Staff Reporter

Our own AncalagonTheBlack tells us that he has updated The Complete List of Film Changes with all the differences between the books and the films he has discovered by combing through the set reports, interviews footage reviews, and still photographs released over the past two months.

Here is what he has to say:

After Peter Jackson said at the Minas Tirith set press meeting that he was endeavoring to make his films closer to the books, it is ironic (to say the least) that I have compiled and documented twenty-five additional differences between the films and the books in the time since he made that quote.

Here are some examples:

  • The Black Riders chase the hobbits to Buckleberry Ferry. Frodo jumps onto the ferry just before the Black Riders overtake them, and the Black Riders travel many miles to the next bridge to catch up with the hobbits. In the books, Frodo, Sam and Pippin see a single Black Rider standing next to his horse high up on a bank of the Brandywine River before reaching Maggot's farm. Farmer Maggot drives the three hobbits to the ferry, and along the way meet up with Merry. They cross the ferry without incident and do not encounter Black Riders again until they reach Bree.
  • All the members of the Fellowship battle the watcher in the water when it grabs Frodo at the Moria gate. In the books, only Sam slashes at a tentacle with his knife before it frees Frodo.

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