May 24, 2002

Re: What About the Barrow Downs?
David

I'm afraid I put myself in the 'Thank God They Got Rid of Bombadil' camp. I think that (as several other people in this forum have said) to include Tom Bombadil in the film would have slowed it down considerably. The whole Barrow Downs sequence has very little relevance to the overall progression of the plot within the context of a film. His inclusion would have bogged down the pace and alienated all those Tolkien virgins (like myself at the time) who would be wondering what the hell the funny little bearded guy singing the silly songs had to do with anything.