[alatar]

The house of Tom, whether in the books or the movie, is a tar pit. For those of us interested in tar, it's not that bad, as you get to wonder just who this person is and how he fits into the story. But as mentioned, Tom has put off many a reader. My own brother is one who was lost in the Old Forest.

And assume that we have Tom in the movie. Do we check back in when the four return to the Shire? No, as Tom doesn't care. So why bother even having him in if he's a five minute dead end?

And you might have noticed that PJ did cut Galadriel, just not completely. The first venture through Lothlorien, as seen in the theatrical version, made my head spin as we entered and left Galadriel's abode in minutes.

I would like to have the hobbits encounter the wights, just to show that Frodo has some gumption and how they receive special swords, but as we have to introduce Tom to get them out, I would then just leave it out, as PJ did.