[The Saucepan Man]

Neither Legolas nor Gimli are really fleshed out in the Books. Their greatest moments are the competiton at Helm's Deep and the resolution of their intial enmity (resulting in their mutual agreement to indulge one another's interests in Aglarond and Fangorn).<P>So what to do with them in the films? Well, Elves are fair and exceptionally talented and a fit young actor is cast in the role of Legolas. So it follows that he will be given the "young hearthrob" role (Viggo generally gets the 25+ vote), together with the cool stunts.<P>What to do with the Dwarf? Well, he is a redoubtable warrior, and this is portrayed in the films. But I think that there is a book basis for Dwarves as comical characters. Particularly in the Hobbit - remember Bombur - but also in the way that Gimli's character was written in LotR, as Imladris has pointed out.<P>My own view is that they went a bit over the top. One or two "short Dwarf" jokes are fine, but too much of it does somewhat detract from his stature (forgive the pun ). I did wince at the "Dwarf tossing" revisited in TTT (just as I winced at Legolas' shield surfing), but these running jokes/characteristics do appeal to a large part of the audience, so I can understand why they did it. <P>And on the whole, it really doesn't bother me too much. At least they were given characters, which really was rather necessary given their background status in the Books.