Greatest sin of Peter Jackson - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Sauron the White · 09-20-2007, 07:12 AM

Of late I have been debating with some here in various threads concerning the films and the books. One thing kept coming up in posts from people who tend to not say very good things about the films: and that is that Peter Jackson had the gall to think he could do it beter and make improvements over the book. For the last month I have been laboring under the belief that Purists felt this was Jacksons greatest transgression.

I was mistaken.

The greatest transgression of Peter Jackson in the eyes of book purists is a far more sinister one. He was successful. His version of LOTR has supplanted the book version in the minds of millions of people around the world.

Consider this: In 1978 Ralph Bakshi made a cartoon film based on about half of the LOTR. It did not do very well, faded from the scene and failed to spawn any real buzz in LOTR. After the Bakshi film vanished from the theaters, swept away like so much popcorn under the theater seats, the books were still there like 200 foot letters sculpted into the side of a mountain. Forgive me for mixing my metaphors.

The same could also be said for the Rankin-Bass attempts at THE HOBBIT and the RETURN OF THE KING both released direct to TV.

But look at the Jackson adaptions and what they have achieved. Each film cracked the All Time Worldwide Box Office charts in the top five of all time. As newer films have been released, FOTR, has dropped out of the top ten, but it was there for a time. ROTK is still #2 taking in over a billion dollars. In fact, all three films have grossed an astounding $4 billion dollars in both film receipts an other rights an sales. Thats $4 billion dollars.

The three films were very well reviewed by professional critics, something which the normal crowd pleasing blockbuster does not garner. And then there were the many industry awards capped by the eleven for eleven including Best Film for ROTK.

And unlike the Bakshi films or the two TV attempts, they still live and are with us in the minds of the hundreds of millions who have seen them. And I have not even delved into the area of all the merchandise that was spun off from the films keeping those characters alive on shelves around the world.

Lets face it folks - more people have seen the film version of LOTR than have read the books. And that is the great sin of Peter Jackson. He was so successful that purists despise it that LOTR is now thought of as a film in the minds of hundreds of millions of people all over the world.

09-20-2007, 07:12 AM	#1
Sauron the White Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 903	Greatest sin of Peter Jackson Of late I have been debating with some here in various threads concerning the films and the books. One thing kept coming up in posts from people who tend to not say very good things about the films: and that is that Peter Jackson had the gall to think he could do it beter and make improvements over the book. For the last month I have been laboring under the belief that Purists felt this was Jacksons greatest transgression. I was mistaken. The greatest transgression of Peter Jackson in the eyes of book purists is a far more sinister one. He was successful. His version of LOTR has supplanted the book version in the minds of millions of people around the world. Consider this: In 1978 Ralph Bakshi made a cartoon film based on about half of the LOTR. It did not do very well, faded from the scene and failed to spawn any real buzz in LOTR. After the Bakshi film vanished from the theaters, swept away like so much popcorn under the theater seats, the books were still there like 200 foot letters sculpted into the side of a mountain. Forgive me for mixing my metaphors. The same could also be said for the Rankin-Bass attempts at THE HOBBIT and the RETURN OF THE KING both released direct to TV. But look at the Jackson adaptions and what they have achieved. Each film cracked the All Time Worldwide Box Office charts in the top five of all time. As newer films have been released, FOTR, has dropped out of the top ten, but it was there for a time. ROTK is still #2 taking in over a billion dollars. In fact, all three films have grossed an astounding $4 billion dollars in both film receipts an other rights an sales. Thats $4 billion dollars. The three films were very well reviewed by professional critics, something which the normal crowd pleasing blockbuster does not garner. And then there were the many industry awards capped by the eleven for eleven including Best Film for ROTK. And unlike the Bakshi films or the two TV attempts, they still live and are with us in the minds of the hundreds of millions who have seen them. And I have not even delved into the area of all the merchandise that was spun off from the films keeping those characters alive on shelves around the world. Lets face it folks - more people have seen the film version of LOTR than have read the books. And that is the great sin of Peter Jackson. He was so successful that purists despise it that LOTR is now thought of as a film in the minds of hundreds of millions of people all over the world.