February 13, 2003

Re: Satinder's Comments
Lughaidh

Firstly, I humbly apologize for transposing the letters in your name and misspelling it. It's one of my faults when I get going, such as typing 'fro' instead of 'for.' Sorry.

In many ways my intent in responding to your comments was to provide some counterpoint, but your points were very well taken. I've waited a very long time for a real representation of my well-loved Trilogy, and I think I'm willing to be very forgiving with some of the license that's been taken with these films.

I see your point about Viggo's broken toe. In one of Jackson's interviews he stated that he felt it was appropriate and thought Viggo was ad-libbing. When I saw the film for the first time I was watching the scene with the knowledge that that's what had happened. But at the third viewing I left that fact at the door and gave it another look. I don't know about 'cheesy,' but I'll go with 'overdone.'

My thoughts about Aragorn's renewed sense of purpose after his tumble came from his interaction with Legolas when he returned the Evenstar (I'm guessing that's what it's called in the film, although the term does refer to Arwen) to Aragorn. Before his tumble with the Warg he seemed resigned to Arwen's leaving and perhaps was leaning towards developing an interest in Éowyn. That and some other subtleties gave me that impression, but I'll admit that I may have been trying to get an idea just why Mr. Jackson departed so drastically from the text. And yes ... I know this is a MOVIE we are talking about here, but many of the vehicles used in BOOKS can translate well to film if done properly.

We can certainly put the "laughing at near death orc" issue to a vote if necessary. It was certainly contrived, but to my mind somewhat reminiscent of the orc dialog we find with Grishnákh and Uglúk, or Shagrat ("Garn!") and Gorbag. This issue is certainly not one I'm willing to fall on a sword over though!

I have to totally concede your point about Éomer's abuse, though. After all, he IS the Third Marshal of Riddermark and was only under house arrest. (And it's NOT because you hinted I might not be a 'TRUE' fan ;-)) Which brings me to a somewhat divergent rant: Where in the heck WAS Éomer during this movie? Was he absent so much so that his presence wouldn't detract from Théoden as Lord of the Mark? Or because Gandalf needed to go find someone 'familiar' to bring back at the crack of dawn?

I've lived in these books since 1973 ... the old 'once-per-year' deal ... and was resigned to the fact that no more films were forthcoming after all the cartoon attempts. I saw Bakshi's rendition on opening day and drove home with a pit in my stomach; it just didn't mesh. I signed every "Leave Bombadil In" petition that I could find on this project, he being near the top of my favorites list, only to see all the justification offered here for leaving him out (with which I agree). I'm resigned to the fact that we just can't have it all, but I'm still very pleased with the films so far.

Again, my apologies for misspelling your name, and my thanks for your responses.