[HCIsland]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> I'm sorry if I've been rude or obstinate or commited some other such crime, and if protest is made I will readily delete this post.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>You certainly haven't been, Iarwain. You have every right to hate these movies, just as others have every right to love them and your reasons are just as valid. Certainly there are many changes that don't sit right with you and that's fine. Personally though, the films (especially Fellowship) were far closer to the books than I would have expected and I delight with every tidbit from the books that Jackson makes work on film.<P>If I were to make a list of my favourite all time films, most of them are ones that I have no trouble finding others to hate. In fact Fellowship (TTT wouldn't make the cut) is certainly one of the most mainstream of the list. So having someone hate a movie I love doesn't bother me in the least.<P>When I first went to Fellowship I was worried, not that it would take liberties with Tolkien, I knew it would. I was worried the movie would be just plain bad. That people who have never read the book would see it and think that it sucked. I love that these films are drawing in so many fans and that many of them are going out and buying the books. The movie is an introduction to Tolkien, it certainly is not Tolkien. In fact, one of the most offensive things Jackson could have done is titled the movies "JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings".<P>I guess what I am trying to say is that I see where you're coming from but for me I was never looking for as close a translation as possible in the first place.<P>H.C.