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.

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."

Only then? I start thinking that when we get that first shot of Frodo under the tree with his book.

Off to see it in two hours! Of course, this means I will be up late packing for a flight that leaves at, er, 5:10 AM. Oh well.

Well, yeah, when we see the sweet looking kid, there's a big ol' cloud hanging over him to those in the know, but he looks so determined and heroic at the end of LotR, as if only will-power and good intentions will see this thing through . . .

I didn't like how, in the end Denethor's death was not his choice. Shadowfax knocked him into the flames. I mean, obviously he had been intending to kill himself, but the run and plunge lacks the pathos and purpose of him deliberately climbing on the pyre.

I really must see it again. Connie, when do you think your husband will be okay to sit through it again?

WE're hoping to catch our traditional re-watch on Christmas, but I don't know if he'll be up to sitting that long. Depends on the seats we get.

Good evening. In the midst of discussion about critics was that teeny tiny link to Caryn James Of The Sour Grapes. My sister read it out loud to me, and it was sort of hilarious in how excitingly and death-defyingly it missed the point. It's one thing to not like something everyone else likes, and to feel left out and try to justify the dislike; it's another thing completely to accuse the movie of pulling the emergence of Sam as a character out of its butt, just because Sam is not particularly attractive.

Heaven knows, I have my problems with ROTK, and could stand to see a dissenting voice in the press say, "Here's why it wasn't quite perfect", but that article just made me laugh at the writer's wilfull ignorance.

It's good to hear that a non-reader also felt that there were plot problems and herky-jerkiness, so it's not just expectation-itis. I'm beginning to wonder whether the arrival of the Corsairs' ships should have been a complete surprise after all, the way it was in the books, because at the very least it kept up the tension as the battle wore on. I don't know, doing it book-wise would have presented a different set of problems, chiefly the complete screen-absence of the king during the movie named after him, for at least 20 minutes. But letting the story "keep" even one of its secrets until the plot demands its reveal would I think have helped with pacing and maybe even flow.

As for Ted's reading of the She's dying! I laughed over it, after, recalling that Anya line about having only 50 years left. I didn't have any idea that such an interpretation might be the "proper" one, because it's like the funny critters at the end of A.I. -- yeah, they could be robots, but nobody says they're robots, and they look like aliens, and, well, I thought they were aliens and nobody told me they weren't. When you've been given a WTF moment, you're sort of obligated to interpret to its furthest logical extreme, rather than any more-reasonable middle-ground. So the robots come across as aliens, and "she'll be forty! Someday!" comes across as "She needs a kidney transplant!"