May 11, 2002

Entwives, Weathertop and Stuff
Lem

I agree with everyone who said so that Weathertop was not done to satisfaction and the Nazgul should've been more powerful than they appeared.

Also, I saw the movie before I read the book and I didn't realize that there were 2 more (I know, I know), and I thought it was a terrible end to a movie! Then, of course, I learned that the Two Towers and The Return of the King were coming. The movie could've ended better, yes, I agree.

I haven't yet read The Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales, or anything, but I think that Hal's story of seeing a walking tree was really an Entwife.

When the Fellowship was on Caradhras what were the insects or things flying overhead that caused everyone to take cover? Were they birds, or what? Now I realize I sound ignorant and that they were Sauron's spies, but I was just curious.

Yes, Diana, I agree that a year is too long a time to wait for each movie to come out. But, if they'd done a segment for each book wouldn't it get tiring to go every 3 months or so to see another installment? Not only that, but many of my friends have never read the books, and only inteded to see the movie, so wouldn't many fans like these be put off by the staggering number of films each 2-3 hours long? Then the film would have less funds, and if they were still filming, worse effects and worse, well, everything.

PJ probably found it too expensive and time-consuming to do anything like this, if he even thought of it, or someone approached him with the idea. Now, don't get me wrong, I wish more had been included in the movie, especially when Frodo leaves the Shire. It was never clear to me how much time had elapsed between when Gandalf left for Minas Tirith, found the information about the ring, came back, then sent Frodo on his journey. In the book it's many years, but in the movie it appears to be the same night, or sometime near then. This is totally off because it would take Gandalf at least a few days, if not a week or more to reach Gondor, am I right? And then he would need to find the documents about the ring, rush back to the Shire and get Frodo to come with him. This would take much longer than a few days, wouldn't it?

And at Rivendell when Gimli tries to break the ring, what sort of connection did Frodo have with it so that he looked in pain when it was struck? I didn't think that the ring had that sort of connection with the bearer. And the fact that Bilbo wasn't there was also a bit odd, because he was the bearer for many years and was in my opinion, a wise hobbit in the ways of the ring.

I liked the way that Merry, Pippin and Sam stuck to Frodo the whole way, in the book and in the movie. Also, I liked how after Boromir tried to take the ring from Frodo that Aragorn overcame the temptation and remained loyal to his promise of protecting Frodo.