[HCIsland]

If your expecting PJ to weigh events based upon their historical significance than you will be disappointed.<P>Helm's Deep was what he chose as the climax of the second movie while Pelennor is not the climax of the third. It therefor will not get the same weight whether you measure it by raw minutes or emotional impact.<P>Now if you want to look at events to portray, let's look at what Frodo has to do in RotK, afterall, ultimately this story is about him. There's Sam's rescue of Frodo from Cirith Ungol and then they spend a lot of time marching across Gorgoroth in orc clothing until they get Mount Doom for an exciting climax. PJ is right when he says there is not enough here for Frodo and Sam's story to hold up in the film against the adventures of the rest of the cast. Like in Two Towers, Frodo and Sam would be reduced to the B-plot. This shouldn't happen.<P>Tolkien solved this by seperating the two story lines and telling us Frodo and Sam's journey only after all the rest of the events which is an option that clearly wouldn't work as well in the film.<P>I think putting Shelob into RotK was a good decision. It will be a great punch to start the next movie with, showing the audience immediately what the A plot is. To me Shelob seems more a part of the third story just as Boromir's death is more a part of the first story (even though it is actually the first chapter of TTT).<P>I don't think we should be so slavish as to where these movies should end and begin. Tolkien conceived of LotR as a single novel and it was only presented as three seperate books on the insistence of the publisher.<P>H.C.<p>[ June 15, 2003: Message edited by: HCIsland ]