The passage Jess quotes brings up something that I feel was lost in the movie (though perhaps not necessary) - the massive suspicion that the Hobbits had toward Strider. (yes, I know they had a few lines about it in the film, but it wasn't anywhere near as pronounced) I remember the first time I read the book I actually gasped aloud when it was revealed that Strider was the heir the throne of Gondor.

I read the Eye appearing and Gandalf's reaction as Gandalf's fear that to touch it would be to reveal himself to Sauron. The temptation read didn't come in for me until Frodo says "You must take the ring!" and Gandalf tells him not to offer it.

Separating books from movies, you're right, Beverly. And I suppose they had to put each of those characters in the way of temptation to show how big a threat the ring was (although that didn't completely work, apparently). Still, would've been nice if someone other than the Fellowship (minus Boromir) was incorruptible. What with Faramir's actions, avoiding the Gap of Rohan in favor of Moria seems like a pointless exercise, when it's likely the ring will go through Gondor/Ithilien anyway.

I like the Best Possible Gimli and Best Possible Legolas, although I would mix in Legolas at the coronation and graceful, savage, Amon Hen Gimli, also.

ETA: Link is a review which contains spoilers and offensive abuse of grammar.

Oh, that was the other thing. I may have missaw because I was stuck a bit forward in the theater for my taste, but at the battle before the Black Gate, right before Sauron gets an eye full, was Aragorn parrying strikes from a Troll? I didn't see clearly, but if he was, then that's a head shaker too, given the established strength of the things.

And speaking of which, when the Gondorians barred the door and the big ram knocked it open, did anyone else hear Boromir say in their heads ' They have three cave trolls. '?

Edit just to say I'm leaving 'missaw' in there even though it's not even remotely a word. So there.

I'm with MM. I hate Legolas jumping on the horse (in front of its legs!?!), the snowboard shield, and the death of the oliphaunt.

I would've been ok if Legolas had simply dealt with the oliphaunt riders, left the beast unfettered and free to follow its own directives. 'Cause it wasn't the oliphaunts' fault. If you've gone and removed the threat, killing it is just gratuitous.

I may be alone in this. Incidentally, I also agreed with MM about Theoden's tactical ability. Charging the oliphaunts actually threw me out of the moment. Get some fire in play, panic them. Take out the drivers with missile fire, and let the uncontrolled behemoths disrupt the enemy ranks. Elephants aren't that easy to control.

9. "'Middle Earth' scenes clearly shot on regular Earth"

It wasn't! It was shot in New Zealand! They had the world's biggest eagles! And still do, apparently.

4. "If they're going to have magic, why not bring back the rapping kangaroo?"

t falling over laughing

Theoden's decision there? What about lining up your cavalry in front of the enemy, and then giving said enemy enough time to set pikes? Apparently pikes in this world don't even scratch cavalry though, so I guess it's okay. And what were the orcs thinking, coming to an infantry-based siege with billhooks and guissarmes anyway? And wouldn't you think Minas Tirith would be built a little sturdier? And where did all those Rohirrim come from? Couldn't we have used them at Helm's Deep? Oh wait, they were in the EE with Eomer, but not the TE...and how many days did the battle take? It's 3 days to Gondor on Shadowfax, but apparently 1.5 for armed cavalry.

(wanders off having confused herself, muttering "Five-hour extended edition")

(wanders back to add some verbs)

What about lining up your cavalry in front of the enemy, and then giving said enemy enough time to set pikes? Apparently pikes in this world don't even scratch cavalry though, so I guess it's okay.

Hmm. I didn't see any actual pikes at pellenor. Just shorter polearms, though again, I was up front and may have missed it. Still, though, If Theoden had made the speech on the gallop, charging them when they're not looking always works out better .

I think at the council of Elrond in the books, Frodo says something along the lines of "Oh, the ring belongs to you" to Aragorn, but he refuses to take it out of fear of having it in his possession. Pretty sure at least. It always struck me as wrong, wrong, WRONG that Faramir could so easily resist what Gandalf and Aragorn feared (and what Boromir couldn't resist).

In the books, Bilbo's willingness to give up the Ring is held up as rather an impressive act of will--or at least an example of the indominability of Hobbits. Perhaps the Ring didn't want to go with Bilbo on his travels, but unlike Isildur, Bilbo was able to let it fall from his hand rather than it choosing to slip off. This is one reason why the CGI in Rivendell bothers me so much. Sir Ian Holm could manage a bit of snarling evil if necessary, I don't think it was required to actually morph him.

Also in the books, it's clear that the Ring is maintaining his health and that's why he ages so quickly once he leaves the Shire. Too bad they didn't have Bilbo at the Council, they way they did in the books. Boromir is initially baffled by this old creature, especially when Bilbo sighs and says "Oh, all right, it's my Ring that's causing the trouble, I'll hit the road and get rid of it," then Elrond says with a smile that his part in the tale is done. Boromir is ready to snicker, then he sees that, while everyone is looking at Bilbo with smiles, those smiles are backed up with a great deal of respect.

Why, yes, Bilbo has always been my favorite Hobbit. But that's before I saw Elijah Wood's bellybutton or heard Billy Boyd sing.

Battle tactics, the logical way! I'm enjoying this muchly.

Get some fire in play, panic them. Take out the drivers with missile fire, and let the uncontrolled behemoths disrupt the enemy ranks.

As I recall, that's partly what they do in the books. There's that fun description of critters going mad with the fire and indiscriminately stomping on so many things it brings up the "why ducks have flat feet" joke. Other tactics include riding close enough to shoot into their eyes, because arrows into the butt of an 8-story critter will not do all that much damage. I could have done nicely with a couple of riders getting together and clotheslining an oliphaunt; that would have been fun and logical.

But then, what am I saying. This cavalry force of 6000 entered the battlefield in a big glut of 30 or 40 ranks deep. I know cavalry is supposed to be shock troops, but aren't they more effective shock troops when, like, everybody has the chance to actually reach the enemy? The dude in the back row was probably more in danger from being hit by flying horseshit than from actually fighting.

Did these people not see The Empire Strikes Back? Come on!!

Yay. Finally saw ROTK yesterday. I loved it and DH (who hasn't read the books) liked it although he wondered why none of the "children" died, even though I have explained to him a million times that the Hobbits are not children but full-grown men. I started tearing up at the Mippin parting and didn't stop really until the end, although it was Sam who broke me over and over. I think I started crying in earnest when Sam fought Shelob and then cradled Frodo's body in his arms, not least because The Choices of Master Samwise is probably my favorite chapter in all of the LotR. And saints preserve us, but I think I got the Frodo-oost, which I never had before this movie. But when Frodo is standing there in Mt. Doom all broken and bloodied and he turns around and gives Sam that malevolent smile and claims the ring for his own, I could only think, "Good lord, that's hot!"

The only thing that really irked me about the movie was how they handled Denethor. The scene where he's eating while Pippin sings especially grated. And I felt that without the information about the palantir did to him he just came off like a crazy bastard, which he wasn't. But overall, I really enjoyed RotK. I need to see it again, though, to really process everything.