From: mr@sandman.net   
      
   In article , Paul S. Person  wrote:   
      
   > > Sandman:   
   > > I did - there was nothing in the movie that established any   
   > > animosity from Smaug towards lake town, and since lake town was   
   > > founded after the fall of Dale, as far as we - the movie audience   
   > > - knows, Smaug didn't even know there WAS a lake town. Why he   
   > > starts talking about the lake town is totally random at this point   
   > > in time.   
   >   
   > In the film, Thorin tells the people of Laketown that he remembers   
   > how it was before Smaug came -- so, apparently, in the film,   
   > Laketown existed, and was a veritable commerical hub, before Smaug   
   > came.   
      
   I took that to be him talking about Dale, though, but perhaps it was   
   unclear enough to not say for certain.   
      
   > > Sandman:   
   > > He has been taunted by Thoring for some hours running around in   
   > > Erebor, he has chased them up and down trying to kill them all,   
   > > and then out of the sky he goes "Meh, whatever, I'll go kill the   
   > > guys in lake town instead", because why again?   
   >   
   > Well, a few minutes anyway. Hardly hours; I mean, the film isn't   
   > long enough.   
      
   Yeah, movie-minutes, but story-hours supposedly. They traverse quite some   
   distance in the mountain. :)   
      
   > > Sandman:   
   > > Agreed. So Gandalf is just stupid, then :-D   
   >   
   > In the film, as compared to the book, yes, I would say (in fact, I   
   > have said) that he was dumbed down a bit.   
      
   > And that is the real problem with the Wizard's Duel in /FOTR/: it   
   > makes it seem that Gandalf thought he could defeat Saruman when, in   
   > fact, he knew darn well (in the book) that he could not. Granted   
   > that something had to be shown, this would have made the point: 1)   
   > Saruman points at Gandalf and says something unintellible (well, why   
   > not, half the cast says things that need subtitles, at least   
   > occasionally). 2) His Loyal Orc Minion walks over to Gandalf and   
   > retrieves his staff. 3) Saruman sends Gandalf to the top of the   
   > tower. That would make the point that Saruman is vastly more   
   > powerful than Gandalf the Grey, making his defeat by Gandalf the   
   > White all the more indicative of how much more powerful Gandalf has   
   > become.   
      
   > But, instead, we got an Action Sequence.   
      
   Well, for what it's worth, I don't consider this to be an action sequence,   
   but something akin to what we see in TH:DOS between Gandalf and Sauron - a   
   measure of power. I bet Gandalf knew he was outmatched in both cases but   
   true to his quest, he did his best to stand against his foes.   
      
   And I actually think the "fight" between Gandalf and Saruman further   
   displays how powerful Gandalf the White has become actually, rather than a   
   "Go to your room" kind of scenario, but that's just me :)   
      
      
      
      
   --   
   Sandman[.net]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)