part of the problem is I've always heard Bombadil's voice in my head with a hillbilly accent

I always pictured him as the Ghost of Christmas Present from the Movie Musical "Scrooge" - a big, happy-go-lucky guy without a care in the world.

I was thinking they would have cast Uma Thurman as Goldberry. I think TB would have removed a lot of momentum from film.

I was thinking they would have cast Uma Thurman as Goldberry.

Didn't they cast Uma as Arwen, but she had to back out due to pregnancy?

Granted, part of the problem is I've always heard Bombadil's voice in my head with a hillbilly accent, which can't be the impression Tolkien wanted to make.

Weird, Frank. I hear the same sort of accent in my head reading those parts.

I was thinking they would have cast Uma Thurman as Goldberry.

That would have been interesting.

I think TB would have removed a lot of momentum from film.

Yes this. Even if you just threw him in a little. Plus, as they say in the behind-the-scenes stuff, once you've established the Ring as this irresistable force of evil that starts destroying anybody who puts it on, any character, even just one, who can put it on and laugh at it, or resist its effects in any way, destroys the icon of evil you've worked to build in your film, and renders Frodo's journey void.

It's the same reasoning behind the much hated changes to Faramir, which I totally understood and agreed with. Not that I want to rattle a yardstick around inside that particular hornets' nest....

Weird, Frank. I hear the same sort of accent in my head reading those parts.

I can only assume that Tolkien heard some kind of British Isles accent for him, but I've never been able to hear it that way in my head - mostly because I've never been able to figure out which one would be appropriate and not sound like a Monty Python sketch.

Didn't they cast Uma as Arwen, but she had to back out due to pregnancy?

I don't know. But I'm glad if this was how it happened. I just pictured her with dark hair and I think Liv is vividly beautiful. Not that Uma is chopped liver, just not what I in mind for Arwen.

AAAARRRGH!!! No way. Just, ew.

I was kidding about the derrydols, but I think it would have been interesting (and truer to the book, which is always what I want with LotR) to have the barrow-wight sequence. I understand why they made some of their decisions, don't have to like or agree with them.

Even if you just threw him in a little. Plus, as they say in the behind-the-scenes stuff, once you've established the Ring as this irresistable force of evil that starts destroying anybody who puts it on, any character, even just one, who can put it on and laugh at it, or resist its effects in any way, destroys the icon of evil you've worked to build in your film, and renders Frodo's journey void. It's the same reasoning behind the much hated changes to Faramir, which I totally understood and agreed with.

Yeah, but I don't agree with the dumbing-down of the story just because it's a m00vEE. It is complex and not simple, and that's just too bad.

Not that I want to rattle a yardstick around inside that particular hornets' nest....

Whoops, too late. Just file me as Tolkien freak and purist and move on.

(I thought Faramir became more complex, not less)

(and truer to the book, which is always what I want with LotR) to have the barrow-wight sequence.

I did want the barrow wight sequence myself. I wasn't sure how to get them out of it without Tom, but I wanted to see that too.

Whoops, too late. Just file me as Tolkien freak and purist and move on.

Hey, me too. We just diagree on how acceptable particular changes were to each other. For instance, the way a lot of people felt about Faramir is how I felt about not using the exact dialog from the death of the Witch King. I thought the lines they wrote were flat and undramatic, and was quite disappointed to not hear Eowyn say "Begone foul dwimmerlaik, Lord of Carrion, leave the dead in peace."

(I thought Faramir became more complex, not less)

(me too)