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Originally Posted by The Only Real Estel
I mean, if you do not have a problem with other big changes (Bombadil, Faramir, etc.) because you 'understand it's a part of the movie', or because you 'try to keep the book & movie seperate' than you should consider this scene the same way--a matter for discussion & debate, but not a matter of sacrilege that deserves such ranting.
I don't see why this change is so horrible that it has been lifted up above all the others as the single-largest mistake/change in the whole trilogy...
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To add my two cents:
First, note that I will lobotomize myself and pretend to never have read the books. My argument will be based on what I saw in the EE DVDs and on various websites.
Missing Bombadil and Scouring of the Shire etc? Who and what? And I read somewhere that these scenes, whatever they were, weren't filmed. Hard to get torqued up over something I never saw.
Ents and Faramir? A bit odd, as the creatures and the person do some mental flips. One minute, the Ents take hours to say "good morning" and seemingly days to decide on a course of action and then wham! They see a few hacked up tree stumps and it's off to war with a bellows from that Treebeard guy (and aren't these things supposed to be tree shepherds? Not keeping too close an eye on the flock, I guess).
And that Faramir guy decides to bring to the ring to his king dad, then sees a flying Nazgul, hears a speech from Samwise and suddenly changes his decision, placing his life and his father's acceptance in jeopardy. Whatever.
Maybe there's more to the stories but I'm not really emotionally invested in either the Ents (the Ents were too CG) or Faramir, and so let these inconsistencies pass.
Then there's that Gandalf guy. See much of him in FOTR. I like him. Wise, kind, a bit more emotional than that Strider guy - I see Gandalf as a real hero as he sacrifices himself to save his friends from that Balrog thing. Thought that he died, but as we never see the body, and he's in the TTT trailer, I'm assured that he's resurrected. Seems to be the kind of guy that you'd want around, as he'd have your back.
He returns in TTT and ROTK. As posted previously, he now is bigger and badder. Those three running guys can't hurt him in Fangorn. He is now more powerful than that other wizard, not only surviving a fireball blast but also breaking that wizard's staff. Gandalf uses his staff to chase away the flying Nazgul, and he's at the Gates when Grond does its work. Still in the thick of things, and leading from the front. It may look dark, but as I see him on the screen, I know that the good guys are far from being done in.
Then, for some reason he loses his staff to the W-K, who I guess is twice bigger and badder as he now wears a helmet. Okay. But Gandalf on the ground looking fearful? This doesn't make sense, as he beat the Balrog and the Wizard and some trolls and assorted orcs. And with the exception of the helmet, isn't this the same W-K that couldn't catch four hobbits in the Shire, and ran away from a sword- and flame-wielding Aragorn? And Gandalf chased him away with some light from the same staff?
And Pippin, who was the least brave of any of the characters in the films, at least makes an attempt to stand up to the W-K (he did attempt to fight five Nazgul at Weathertop, and so maybe this explains it) and the flying thing. And though he's small, he's at least standing, making him for once 'taller' than Gandalf.
And later the W-K is taken out by a hobbit and Eowyn, both of which, as far as I know, have little fighting experience. So why was Gandalf so afraid? Where was the wise, kind heroic guy that I admired those past ~9 hours?
So that's a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that the scene/character was not internally consistent, opened huge plot holes and I really like Gandalf.