And serially, that bit you identified as asspully was even MORE asspully in the book. PJ improved it a bit, actually. In fact, in the parody "Bored of the Rings," the eagle leader says, "Welcome aboard Deus Ex Machina Airlines!"

I am righteously pissed at the treatment of Denethor.

Denethor is noble in his madness; he treats Mippen with extraordinary kindness and respect. He's a great king who, tragically, is convinced that their cause is hopeless.

He is not a tomato-dribbling maniac.

Also, he lies back down on the pyre with the Palantir in his hands. He does not run screaming down the hall like a special effect in a cheap music video.

Word, Betsy. That was my biggest complaint. And it can't be fixed in the EE, although I guess they could at least indicate that he's been driven mad by his use of the palantir.

Denethor son of Ecthelion deserved better.

After the hosing of Aragorn and Faramir, I barely even noticed the hosing of Denethor.

What Betsy Said about Denethor. Also what Consuela said about it not being entirely repairable.

If he had to go rushing out of the tomb, he should have staggered and collapsed against the dead tree, setting it on fire, and then we could have got a long shot of the landing pad with the tree ablaze on it, the smoke going up....

It's not really that asspully in the books because it's established as early as The Hobbit that Gandalf is on good enough terms with Gwahir to call in favors every now and then. Given how much of that sort of thing was fixed from the theatrical to the EE TTT, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the RotK EE has a line or two about the eagles in on of the earlier battle-planning scenes. (Help help, I'm becoming an Extended Edition apologist! I must go see it again, to refresh my irritation!)

"The Eagles! The Eagles are coming!" is one of my favorite lines from the book. I don't know why, I just love it to pieces.

Ooh, Theodosia. Setting the old tree on fire! That would've been a cool nod for the book-familiar.

Though now that I think about it, the tree was actually put in Rath Dinen in the books, wasn't it? Still, the pyre would've worked for me.

Yes. Denethor was not handled the way he should have been, in my opinon. He deserved the book version. And it really can't be fixed in the EE.

Maybe it can be fixed in the EE, because Pippin sees the white tree burning in the palantir. And according to the spoilers for the EE, Gandalf's staff is broken before they go into the crypt, so Gandalf couldn't very well whack Denethor with it. So maybe there's a whole other scene.

And how much do I hate the whacking? "Yeah, but I've got this l33t +4 staff!"

Not saying it WILL be fixed, just that maybe it could be fixed. Just that tho...the tomatoes are here to stay.

Wrod on Denethor.

With Frodo, when I watch him get in the boat at the end of FotR, all I'm thinking is, "My god, what a rotten road you've got ahead of you, kid."

The scale doubles really throw me out of things. You get Billy and Dom being all graceful and themselves, then you get a long shot of everyone, and the scale doubles look so damned awkward moving with everyone, especially in armor in that charge to the Black Gate. I don't know anything about those scale doubles, but it looks like little kids playing dress-up in armor instead of people fully at home in their own bodies that they've grown up in. I know, the armor isn't supposed to fit, but I shouldn't wince and people shouldn't laugh when watching them run.

Bit of heresy: when Gondor bows to the Hobbits, it was so cheesy I had to look away. I felt that way about the book scene, too. At least they didn't have the minstrel coming out with his song. I don't know, I'm with Frodo and the "please don't do this, it's very uncomfortable".

And Ninja!Gandalf was a tad annoying. But Pippin did save his bacon from that orc that was sneaking up on him. Yay, Pip! According to Hubby, Pippin's gear is Faramir's childhood armor, and Merry's armor is Theoden's when HE was a boy. They'd better leave all taht stuff in.