December 15, 2004

We few, We unhappy few...
Brett C.

Thank you Lord Annatar and G for your welcome of the Little Prince. Rest assured, he will not be premitted to see the movies until I have read him the books.

Ahhh, the books.

After watching ROTK EE I went back and read the first half of the actual book. I now feel much better.

And while I suppose many will hail the new edition as a great triumph, this article is dedicated to what will probably be the minority opinion - that for the first time the EE actually made me unhappier than the cinematic release.

First Annatar, you're spot on with regards to the treatment of the Mouth. When I saw Aragorn just cut his head off without provocation [ and from behind mind you] I let out an expletive I am sure would be banned in this forum.

[Oh - nitpickers take note - Anduril is actually a 'broken' Dwarvish blade]

As for Gandalf in that scene - blech! Poor Sir Ian. Once again, as at the final debate at Minas Tirith, Gandalf is made into a frail has-been in order to establish Aragorn as the lead man according to hollywood convention. What tripe.

The worst part is, the Mouth himself is FABULOUS! Bruce Spence gives a great job under the make-up and CGT - it just makes me sadder thinking how much better that scene would have been if they even attempted to follow the dialogue in the book. Surely they knew that this scene would only be in the EE. Would it really have killed anybody or broken the back to do it right?

G asked about stuff still left out - well here's two.

Firstly, a minor point; The Watchers at Cirith Ungol. From the moment we were given the brief glimpse of them in the cinemas I was hanging out to see Sam use the starglass to get through the gate. Then in the EE - nothing! Disappointed much!!!

And secondly - a bigger issue - the palantir of Minas Tirith. From the moment Saruman mention Sauron is aware of something festering in ME, I fugured that was the lead in to revelation that Denethor has been using the stone. When I saw the flashbck of Boromir as D is looking atFaramir, I figured - excellent, this is Sauron driving him mad through the stone. But no, turns out movie Denethor is just an unlikeable basket case. What a waste.

By the way Annatar - good spot about Saruman knowing about Frodo. And if that's the case, the line about Sauron thinking Pippin has the Ring makes no sense.

Have to go, but expect much more about the WitchKing - on relflection, he comes off almost a badly as Gandalf the White.