[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by alatar

In the movie Mortal Kombat

Ouch! Okay, I have a few problems with Jackson's LotR, but there's no need to be insulting with Mortal Kombat comparisons.

Seriously, though, repetition is a useful tool for filmmakers, who work in a medium where you can't flip back a few pages if you get lost or confused. I'm not necessarily citing this hammering of Isildur's history as a flaw (though in fact I think there are places where Jackson overuses voice or flashback cues to MAKE SURE THE AUDIENCE GETS IT, but we'll come to those in time...), just making an observation. I think you're right that he's really drilling it for the sake of the Aragorn storyline down the road.

Originally Posted by Essex

We must also remember that Gandalf DID NOT KNOW THE RINGWRAITHS WERE HUNTING FRODO DOWN YET.

This is true, though I think that Jackson adds to the confusion by having Gandalf act as if he expects an enemy to appear at any moment in Bag End.

On a more general note on the timeline, I wonder if a solution -- more in keeping with Tolkien's favoring abridgement over compression -- would be to have Gandalf already suspect that Bilbo's ring is the Ring when he arrives in the Shire for the party. It'd go something like this:

• Bilbo, with Gandalf's help, gives up the Ring and leaves for Rivendell.
• Frodo arrives in Bag End and picks up the Ring. Gandalf conducts his fire test right away, Shadows of the Past, etc.
• Gandalf needs advice from Saruman, he leaves to get it.
• Time passes -- maybe a few scenes of Frodo in the Shire, only now it doesn't seem so safe anymore. Maybe we even start to see the Ring beginning to weigh on Frodo's mind.
• Maybe something like that scene at the Green Dragon, only now when Frodo hears talk of "strange folk abroad" and whatnot, he seems more concerned than ever.
• Gandalf has not returned. Frodo, filled with foreboding, decides he must leave the Shire without waiting for Gandalf (either Gandalf proposed his plan earlier as in the book, or Frodo decides for himself to seek Bilbo and his Elvish friends in Rivendell).
• Frodo leaves just in time as he hears the Gaffer being questioned by a Nazgûl.
• Etc...

I'm just spitballing off the top of my head, but I think something along these line would be a little cleaner, and also make Frodo a stronger, more active character.