November 13, 2003

Muppet's Questions and Saruman Issue
David

Haldir clarification...

Hmmm…methinks you missed the section in both the theatrical and extended Fellowship where we meet Haldir. He was the leader of the elves protecting the borders of Lorien. The extended edition had quite a nice long scene with him. Two Towers also features Aragorn calling him by name. When viewing Two Towers, how did you get the idea that it was Celeborn when Aragorn clearly calls him "Haldir"? I don’t see the need for clarification…we see him in Fellowship leading Lorien’s soldiers and being Aragorn’s friend, then in Two Towers we see him leading Lorien’s soldiers and being Aragorn’s friend. What else would you like to know about the movie character, Haldir? (For the book character, read the book…he’s actually not in it as much.)

Osgiliath too big/Edoras too small...

A. Osgiliath was NOT Gondor’s second city. Historically, it was the capital and central city of Gondor, until ravaged by war and abandoned. So, Osgiliath should be at least as big, if not bigger than Minas Tirith. B. Edoras in the movie is not that small. If you notice how the city sprawls down the side of the hill, and I assume the same is true on the other side of the hill too. C. Rohan is supposed to be more of a pastoral culture, not so urban. A lot of people are living on the ‘Plains of Rohan’ not in large cities like in Gondor. You definitely get this from the books, but the movie does, in my opinion, an excellent job of showing the different cultures with visual cues, like the difference between Edoras and Osgiliath. D. The army of Rohan derives from the entire country side, not just one city.

Where did Eomer's army come from, why only 300 at Helms Deep, and why were they scared...

Rohan’s loyal army, with Eomer at its head, was leaving Rohan after banishment by Wormtongue. Gandalf rides out to try and bring them back. No one was sure if he would make it in time, or if he would be successful. While this is not entirely accurate to the books, it is a reasonable film adaptation, and is also, I think, pretty clearly stated in the movie. No big confusion to me!

Lorien army....

This is not clearly stated in the movie, and since this episode does not take place in the books, we have only the movie to go with. However, the books do include the fact that Lorien itself was attacked three times unsuccessfully, but there was great damage and loss of life to the forest and elves. Jackson was trying to show this sacrifice even if he couldn’t show the Lorien battles.

Lost without reading books???

Actually, since most of your questions revolve around adaptations that were made for the movie, it actually DOESN’T help much to have read the books to answer your questions. Most of the questions you have are answered with a careful viewing of the movies themselves. Jackson’s confessed target audience is YOU--someone who has read the books or heard the story or seen the cartoons a number of years ago, so they know the basics of the story, but don’t remember all the specifics. Along the way, he wanted to put in enough explanation for those brand new to the story, and throw in enough specifics for diehard fans. Having spoken with people from all three groups; no previous knowledge, the target audience (some previous knowledge), and lots of previous knowledge; it seems that Jackson was remarkably successful in making movies pretty enjoyable to all three groups.

My response about Saruman info...

As far as the Saruman story goes…What’s the big deal?!?!?!? We have seen Saruman bested by Gandalf, we have seen his army defeated, and his stronghold sacked. What else does the casual movie-goer need to see to understand the defeat of Saruman? Yes the parlay between Gandalf and Saruman is an excellent scene and important character development. However, when looking at the story in the novels and saying “How can I make the best movies possible with this story?” I can definitely understand how the parlay does not fit into the end of a Two Towers movie, and how it does not fit into the beginning of a Return of the King movie. Jackson’s job for December is to make the best darn movie he can make to tell the story of Return of the King and to wrap up the trilogy. Hopefully, such efforts will pay off in the Oscar hunt. Sadly, the parlay between Gandalf and Saruman is NOT absolutely essential to his prime goal for December. Happily, Jackson’s prime goal for next November is to release a DVD version that is the best movie possible for fans of the book…and the visit to Isengard will be in that version. So again, I’ll ask…what’s the big deal?