June 6, 2002

Novel Adaptations and Response to Paul
David K.

First my response to Paul's questions about Merry offering his sword to Denethor in TTT:

#1 We can't be certain which movie it will appear in until all movies are finished editing and are released. (Likewise, we can't be sure if Theoden recites the entire poem, or only the lines seen in the trailer.) #2 Remember that the "Quest" story in TTT book (Frodo and Sam) goes much farther in the calendar than the "War" story does in TTT. Obviously, the movie will cut back and forth between the two, and will show things happening at the same time. For instance, in the books, Frodo and Sam encounter the Sunless Day in TTT, but Merry and Pippin encounter the same overcast day in ROTK. To deal with such issues, we already know that PJ will not take the "Quest" story quite as far as it goes in TTT book (placing the Shelob incident in ROTK movie instead of TTT). Doesn't also make sense to take the "War" story a little farther than in the book? Sort of average the difference between the two? If this is the case, Merry becoming a knight of Rohan might come at the end of TTT movie.

There has been a lot of discussion about if PJ adapted the novels well, and what exactly makes a faithful adaptation. Let's look at a few examples:

"Forrest Gump"--In the book, Forrest is a heavy set man. He smokes, drinks, tries drugs, swears like a sailor. Bubba is his friend from grade school. His son lives with Jenny who does not die. Forrest lives with his best friend, a chimpanzee whom he befriends while an astronaut."Forrest Gump" the movie: Forrest is tall and thin, and is straight as an arrow, no cursing, drinking, or drugs. He meets Bubba in the army. Forrest is never an astronaut, chimpanzees are never seen. Jenny dies, and Forrest junior lives with his dad.

Some of the most exciting parts of "Hunt for Red October" the book take place AFTER the movie ends.

"Sum of All Fears" the book has a 50 something Jack Ryan hunting down Arab terrorists. "Sum of All Fears" the movie has a 20 something Jack Ryan hunting down neo-Nazi terrorists.

"Jurassic Park" movie has different characters, different dinosaurs (and of the wrong size), people die in the movie who lived in the book, and people live in the movie who die in the book. And one of the major themes of the book, the dinos' need to migrate, isn't even hinted in the movie.

Gee, compared to these adaptations, seems like we have nothing to complain about in LOTR. I mean the #1 complaint is things are simplified/faster/cut-out which is inevitable, and the #2 complaint is that Gandalf and Aragorn switch their positions in the Moria debate (which really is a way of focusing on the ongoing struggle between Gandalf and Saruman and Gandalf's own destiny of service and self-sacrafice, so really isn't a bad change for the movie anyway!) I could list a bunch of #3 complaints (portrayal for Lorien/Galadriel for instance), but it seems there are just as many people who agree with these depictions as disagree, so they balance out as probably good choices.