Whew. First post in this thread, having made it to the end, and I want to ask something.

I mean, I really enjoyed ROTK. I was majorly impressed by Gondor, which looked just the way I thought it should, and loved Merry and Pippen, and was very glad Gimli got to be badass, instead of just comic relief. And I was inexpressibly relieved that the ending had 'well, I'm back', and was good, and I wasn't even bored by the battles.

But (you knew that was coming), I couldn't stand the stuff with Sam and Frodo and Gollum that was just made up. Gollum turning Sam against Frodo, and Sam leaving. It was out of character and complelety unneccesary, and just made me furious. So I'd really like to know, am I alone on this? Did it bug people?

So I'd really like to know, am I alone on this? Did it bug people?

Not alone, yes bugged. Ten page screed omitted, but said screed talks about hating addiction as metaphor (again, still), among other things.

I also enjoyed the movie very much, bring on the EEs, but PJ, stay on target. Sheesh.

The additions didn't bug me as much as I'd've thought they might. (I reserved my buggedness mostly for Eowyn. More despair, dammit! Well, Eowyn and wishing they'd drop about twenty minutes of battle footage.) I think what I really missed, though, was the audience bait-and-switch on the Ring. I regret that we didn't get to see Sam's temptation.

IIRC, Faromir was not ever tempted to keep the Ring for Gondor in the book. That bugged me a lot while watching.

It bugged me that he wasn't tempted in the book. So that change didn't bother me -- especially since it seemed a very different sort of temptation.

I guess in the movie, Faromir was tempted to take the Ring to prove himself to his father. And I think it helped further the idea of how powerful the Ring really was, but I didn't think it was necessary.

It bugged me that he wasn't tempted in the book.

It always bugged me as well. I am more than OK with the movie change. Same w/Sam and Frodo - actually I was watching FotR EE day before yesterday and during the scene at the end when he rescues him from drowning I got all sad thinking about Frodo making Sam leave in RotK.

Speaking of FotR - I know Pippin is the one we are supposed to be most worried will not have the courage to fight when the time comes (in the book especially because of Elrond's warning we are supposed to be afraid he is gonna buy it at any moment- but also in the movie there are shades of this) Galadriel tells him that he will "find his courage" and all. But - dude - he is courageous the whole time! He gets on the cave trolls head (w Merry) and attacks it (at that point it's just him) so Legolas can kill it, he comes out of the hiding place first to stop Frodo from leaving, he attacks the Urak-Hai with the same bloodlust/revenge that Merry does.

I'm not saying he missed his calling as a mercenary or anything, but his displays of courage in FotR *almost* make his freaked-outedness not really buyable for me when he attacks the orc during the seige at Minas Tirith in hindsight.

For me, tina, it's him being separate from Merry that makes it so believable. Merry sees the gravity, takes the initiative. Pippin seems to do what Merry does, because why not?

It's not until he's forcibly separated that he needs to think hard on why he's doing what he does.

I saw the whole lembas incident as being the replacement for the Choices chapter, at least in terms of being Sam's low point. They couldn't have Choices in the film as it was in the book, since it's all about internal struggle that requires dialogue to express what the struggle is, which would be completely out of place in a film that has prided itself on using as little dialogue as possible. So, they had to externalize the struggle somehow, and the best way to drive Sam to his worst moment ever was by having Frodo turn on him.

As much as I adore the way that JRRT wrote the entire Frodo/Sam storyline, I like the way that the screenwriters have added more tension between them than is in the book. It makes Frodo less of a saint and more believable, IMO. I was rereading the Mordor section of RotK last night for the first time since the movie came out, and when I read the Wheel of Fire speech, I realized that every time I've read it in the past, I've assumed that Frodo delivered it in a exhausted, defeated monotone. I prefer the more impassioned movie version over what was in my head.

For me, tina, it's him being separate from Merry that makes it so believable.

I agree. He is def. lost and has to consider each thing he does more without Merry, but he had already taken the oath in front of Denethor. He has taken initiative there - so why be so freaked out about killing one orc (OK that is three times his size) besides, of course, the fact that PJ wanted me to make me weep for two solid hours?

I am just nitpicking, I know. I just struck me how Pippin is not really wimpy at all on re-watch.

eta: context