XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: no.spam@no.spam   
      
   On 12/31/2011 11:08 AM, Ronald O. Christian wrote:   
      
   >> He knows how to tell a story, which was my main point. For instance   
   >> I think his Ents wouldn't have looked like scruffy walking trees.   
   >   
   > I would say he *used* to know how to tell a story, in the seventies   
   > and early eighties.  Part of the reason for this is that he surrounded   
   > himself with people who knew what they were doing and weren't afraid   
   > to speak up.   
      
   Agreed.   
      
   > Later when Lucas was more wealthy than God and could do no wrong, he   
   > pretty much had his own way with everything, and the results aren't   
   > pretty.   
      
   I'm still impressed, though.   
      
   > Regarding Ents, you're kidding right?  According to the books Ents   
   > *were* scruffy walking trees.  If you're implying that Lucas would   
   > have made them cuter, more symmetrical and perhaps shorter, I actually   
   > agree that he would have been likely to do that.  But I wouldn't   
   > consider it an improvement.   
      
   I'm trying to imply that Lucas would at least have *read* the following   
   passage before he tried to interpret it visually:   
      
    From _The Two Towers_:   
      
      A large knob-knuckled hand was laid on each of their shoulders,   
      and they were twisted round, gently but irresistibly;   
      then two great arms lifted them up.   
      
      They found that they were looking at a most extraordinary face.   
      It belonged to a large Man-like, almost Troll-like, figure,   
      at least fourteen foot high, very sturdy, with a tall head,   
      and hardly any neck. Whether it was clad in stuff like green   
      and grey bark, or whether that was its hide, was difficult to say.   
      At any rate the arms, at a short distance from the trunk,   
      were not wrinkled, but covered with a brown smooth skin.   
      The large feet had seven toes each. The lower part of the long face   
      was covered with a sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy   
      at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends.   
      
   > In fact, after sitting through the prequils, if Lucas had made Lord of   
   > the Rings afterwards, unless he got Irvin Kershner to direct, I   
   > probably would have given it a miss.   
      
   It's hard (for me) to believe that a true Tolkien fan would miss *any*   
   film interpretation, no matter how awful. And I think there will be   
   more LotR movies to come. Maybe not in my lifetime, but sooner or later   
   someone really in tune with JRRT's masterpiece is going to make   
   a decent one. After all, they're still making movies based on Homer's   
   epics 3000 years after the fact.   
      
   I also think (and celebrate) that there will be more "amateur"   
   productions such as _The Search For Gollum_.   
      
   One the bright (or at least dimly glowing) side, PJ's adaptation is not   
   the worst I've ever seen. Three prime candidates for that (dis)honor are   
   _Dune_, _The Wizard of Earthsea_ and _The Tarnsman of Gor_.   
      
   SQ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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