January 29, 2004

Several Things
Magic Fire

First of all, I would like to address again the subject of Peter Jackson's vision of our beloved book by JRR Tolkien. All of us have our opinions, our favorite scenes, the changes we detest most, etc. Saying that "at least Jackson's verson is better than Bakshi's" is a real insult to Peter Jackson. Bakshi's version was trash, pure and simple. The shear detail of the sets, the costumes, the choice of location, the choice of cast, for these alone Peter Jackson deserves our everlasting praise. And, whatever you feel about the omitted scenes from the theatrical versions, you know peoples, he didn't have to spend additional dollars and film all the additional scenes that have been added to the EE's. Yes, I know he is going to make lots more money by selling EE editions and well, good for him! He deserves it.

All of you who watched the Golden Globe awards Sunday night when he began his acceptance speech should know that the man is a class act....the very first person that he thanked was Professor Tolkien.

To Emily (Sam):

Welcome aboard! And go right out and go to the bookstore or library and read the book! There will never be anything that will replace it, but Peter Jackson did his best to honor it.