XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: Troels@ThisIsFake.invalid   
      
   In message    
   fred@fred.com (fred) spoke these staves:   
   >   
   > Troels Forchhammer  wrote:   
   >>   
   >> I cannot but wonder if Tolkien wouldn't have solved the riddle in   
   >> a different way -- I am sorry that his test readers advised him   
   >> to stop his efforts to rewrite /The Hobbit/ in 1960 -- the result   
   >> might not have been /The Hobbit/ that they knew, but I think it   
   >> is likely to have become a better book, more in line with its   
   >> sequel.   
   >   
   > Isn't that why we are now getting three movies?   
      
   I don't think that I'd say that that is the reason -- I very much   
   doubt that the film-makers are familiar with John Rateliff's /History   
   of the Hobbit/ or Tolkien's published letters (the internal evidence   
   from their /LotR/ trilogy at least suggests they are not), and I   
   don't know that I would think that they ought to be that.   
      
   I really couldn't say what is the reasoning behind the choice to make   
   three films based on the /The Hobbit/, with some extra stuff from the   
   /LotR/ appendices thrown in for good measure. I have seen many   
   speculations that I find very likely, though I think such a decision   
   is rather more complex and probably involves a number of both   
   rational and irrational reasons.   
      
   As for the overall tone of the film, I have long said that I thought   
   it likely that the /Hobbit/ films would be more mature in tone than   
   the book, and so match the /LotR/ film trilogy from the same people.   
   This, I think, has the ironic effect that the film-makers probably   
   will address (most likely inadvertently) some of the faults that   
   Tolkien himself came to see in his famous children's book. Whether   
   I'm correct, and if so, how this will work with the other changes   
   that they are surely making to the story of course remains to be   
   seen.   
      
   --   
   Troels Forchhammer   
   Valid e-mail is    
   Please put [AFT], [RABT] or 'Tolkien' in subject.   
      
       Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are   
       subtle and quick to anger.   
    - Gildor Inglorion, /The Lord of the Rings/ (J.R.R. Tolkien)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)