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Again I would like to point out that with Christopher Tolkien people always assume that he's on the make, trying to squeeze as much money and mileage out of his father's work as possible. Not only do I not agree (although I can imagine that I might want to get paid for twenty years of work as well), but I am also mystified at why people are always assuming the worst of Christopher Tolkien, but giving the makers of the recent films the benefit of the doubt. It seems to me to be a completely wrong-headed double standard that profits no-one.
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Now you see I never saw
HoME as a "cashing in" of any sorts. I saw it as Mr. Christopher Tolkien's way of remembering his father and also giving his father's fans a bit more insight into the development of the genius invention that was Middle Earth. Yes, he does include his own comments as to what he
thinks, but, in my opinion, he makes it absolutely apparent that what he writes is his interpretation. The reader, upon discerning Tolkien's own writing, can make their own opinions on the subject.
On the other hand, I also tend to just let the movie-makers be. From what I've seen - which I admit is not a lot - Peter Jackson at least seems to be a genuine fan of Tolkien's works. I'm not sure you can say that it was a completely selfless attempt to carry Tolkien into the next generation, but his heart was somewhere in the general viscinity of the right location. And while it is fun and frequently merited to gripe about the introduction of Elves at Helm's Deep or the lack of Tom Bombadil, ultimately this was still a movie and not a book. If they wanted to even get the money to make the films, they couldn't very well tell New Line, "Well, look, yes, each movie will be about eight hours, but you see how
accurate it is?" Firstly, the shorter the cinematic release, the more showings in one day. Also, the simpler the story, the more people will come to see it. Ultimately I think the movies did wonders for Tolkien's popularity. Yes, there are many people who love to think that the movies are the "real" version, and that the books are too "long" and "tedious," but look at how many new members the Barrow-Downs, for example, has obtained. Many of them either picked up the books again after not reading them for a good many years, and others read them for the first time, were fascinated, and determined that they were going to come here to find more about the world they stumbled across. It's easy enough to ignore the more annoying people who claim to be Tolkien fans, and I think that many of the newer members are precious to the board and to the Tolkien "fandom," as some people call it.
This is of course, my personal opinion. Very few people share it, from what I've seen.