[Kath]

The close-up of Elijah’s hands beg the question – does he bite his nails?

Yes he does

All of a sudden they're along for the ride. Which brings me to my little gripe, wouldn't Merry and Pippin's families wonder where they are? At least in the books, because of the conspirarcy, they probably let their families know they might be going on a trip or at least there was Fatty Bolger to let them know where Merry and Pip went.

But then, Merry is a Brandybuck and Pippin is a Took. We are always hearing of the strange things members of those families get up to in the books so parents or relatives might just assume they were off on a foolhardy adventure, especially since they are a double-act. Also, Farmer Maggott has presumably seen them and will have a nice little gripe to their relations, who would then likely think that they were off somewhere to stay out of trouble.

It's possible, and I don't know how it was portrayed in the books, but in the last sequence didn't Saruman just tell Gandalf that the Nazgul would kill the bearer and take the Ring? Is this true, or was Saruman just trying to scare Gandalf?

I should say trying to scare Gandalf, maybe as a last ditch attempt to get him to join him and help. It says in the books I'm sure that Sauron wanted him alive, and in fact, Saruman wants him alive, he tells the orcs to bring any hobbits they find 'alive and unspoiled'.

I do like a lot of this next sequence. Bits of it are close to the book, like using Mr Underhill as a fake name, and Pippin accidentally ruining the plot (which I think works, and an excuse for him can be that he was drunk, especially since he was on 'pints' now). The introduction of Aragorn I liked, though not for a second did I think he was evil, and then the continuing scenes with him were good, because again they got closer to the book - Bill, the apples, the 'look foul and feel fair' bit with Aragorn of course hearing every word. I did love that bit, it was one of the well placed bits of humour, not obvious or over the top, just funny.

Oh, and the first encounter with the Nazgul was a great moment. So the horse can magically shorten its body enough to hide behind a tree - the creepiness that oozed from the screen was absolutely right. And as someone said, the later shot of a Nazgul bearing down on Frodo really made you feel scared, or scared for Frodo and the Quest.