[Kalimac]

I have to agree with Lush and Thenamir on this one; for one thing it's a different medium, for another thing, in the end, it's their *opinion*. OK, so maybe those some of those opinions seem wrongheaded to us or aren't expressed the way we would do it, but personally I say the proof is in the pudding - despite changes, differences of opinion and yes, some arrogance, they turned out an incredibly good movie which had a real feel for the book - I doubt that was the product of thinking that they knew better than Tolkien every single step of the way. And to repeat a previous point; slavish following of the book, scene for scene, not one change made, would result in something like Harry Potter - a giant, elaborate, very pretty illustration which without detailed knowledge of the book would be IMPOSSIBLE to follow and would NOT stand up as a story in its own right. <P>As for Radagast, no, he's not needed. It would be a nice addition but it's not like there's a huge hole in the plot without him; it's not as if the audience is thinking "Why on earth is Gandalf going to see that Saruman guy?" since Gandalf has the line about Saruman being both wise and powerful, which is enough to explain why he would seek his help. Also, where exactly would the scene fit in, the way the movie's timeline has been compacted? In the movie timeline, which does not follow the book but does make sense in terms of economizing, Gandalf tells Frodo (in Bag End) to meet him at Bree, then takes off for Orthanc. It would be sort of pointless to have Radagast meeting him - already on the way to Orthanc - to tell him that Saruman wants to see him. It would be silly to have Radagast seeking out Gandalf in the Shire and telling him there; that's not the kind of thing Radagast would do. Lastly, there are enough characters to keep track of for someone who hasn't read the book - imagine the confusion after the movie was over. "Was Radagast good or bad? Did he know what Saruman wanted? What's he going to do later?" It's a diverting thread but would just end up confusing things, especially since Radagast (shades of poor old Glorfindel) never turns up again for the remainder of the story. In this case he'd have as much chance to display his character as "Messenger #1" in a Shakespeare play, so why keep him in at all when it would just make things more confusing?