The Best Adaptions

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Do you mean Gandalf the Grey is "completely messed up" or Gandalf the White? The Grey I liked; the White I thought too much like Roy Rogers. (But then I don't particularly like The White in the Book.)

Never ate at RR, nor am I very familiar with the works of Leonard Franklin Slye. That being said, I too liked the Grey until he got all confused after Rivendell ("Let's take the Ring past Orthanc as Moria is just too spooky for me.") By the time Gandalf becomes the White, it's mostly over - he has a good moment in Fangorn but then relies on everyone else (Aragorn, Pippin) to carry his load. Grrr!

Funnily enough, I think Boromir was credibly portrayed.

Boromir was portrayed *better* than in the Books, and so I exclude him from the list.

Treebeard was pretty good in the Movie too, as I recall.

alatar's coworkers all 'take a break' as he has started screaming at his monitor.

Any takers for Eowyn or even Grima (except he was completely cut out of any credible ending)?

Eowyn Shieldmaiden I liked, Chef Eowyn was too much. Even I can cook stew. Grima was okay, but in his end is too much the dog for me.

[Hammerhand]

Originally Posted by alatar

Boromir was portrayed *better* than in the Books, and so I exclude him from the list.

I disagree a little, in the films he seems to be depicted lesser than his true identity. Being saved in the battle in Moria by Aragorn and being slain by one Uruk Hai archer. When in the book it was multiple archers that fired like thirty or forty something into him to stay him. PJ probably changed the latter to be more "realistic", but still, you get my drift.

As a person, i think Boromir is portrayed just about as he is in the book. Obviously not everything from the book was included in the production but the parts that were, i feel, captured Boromir well.

[Beanamir of Gondor]

Originally Posted by Hammerhand

As a person, i think Boromir is portrayed just about as he is in the book. Obviously not everything from the book was included in the production but the parts that were, i feel, captured Boromir well.

Obviously I would willingly defend Sean Bean (as an actor) to the death, but I still felt as if Movie!Boromir had some problems. For one, Book!Boromir always seemed a lot like Aragorn, to me. His whole demeanor was very calm, very unfazed, perhaps a little more easily threatening... but Movie!Boromir was very easily agitated, quick to suspect other people, grumpy... pretty much your iconoclastic Bean character, actually. PJ almost managed to balance that unfriendliness with Boromir's apparent friendship with Merry and Pippin. Yet Sean Bean's use of Boromir's lines (for example, the scene where he tries to take the Ring from Frodo) are so differently connotated.
I think the defining moment for Movie!Boromir was when he and Aragorn argue about the Ring, just before they come to the Argonaths on the Anduin: "I would not lead the Ring within a hundred leagues of your city!" Right then, Boromir's face becomes a SUPER POUT. Much as I love Sean Bean, I could never have imagined Book!Boromir looking like that childish.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Any takers for Eowyn or even Grima (except he was completely cut out of any credible ending)?

Faramir and Eowyn were my two favorite characters in the books... yet it wasn't until RotK that I started liking either of them in the movies. I refer people back to "What Happened to Gallant Captain Faramir?", because that's pretty much how I feel about a lot of the characters: by changing plot points and personalities (*cough*Frodo*cough*), PJ and the writers stripped other characters of their ability to function the same way as they did in the book. For example, because Aragorn was younger and less stern in the movies, Eowyn was a lot more susceptible to his "manly" attractions, and became a slightly weaker character herself. Amplification effect, I guess.

I know this was supposed to be the best characters, not the worst. Sorry!
All in all, I think Pippin was nailed pretty well, particularly as far as FotR goes. Obviously all four Hobbits were dumber in the movies, but Pippin, being the youngest and the most foolish, got away with it more, even up to being in Minas Tirith with Gandalf. Sam would probably be my second choice.

[Hammerhand]

Originally Posted by Beanamir of Gondor

Obviously I would willingly defend Sean Bean (as an actor) to the death, but I still felt as if Movie!Boromir had some problems. For one, Book!Boromir always seemed a lot like Aragorn, to me. His whole demeanor was very calm, very unfazed, perhaps a little more easily threatening... but Movie!Boromir was very easily agitated, quick to suspect other people, grumpy... pretty much your iconoclastic Bean character, actually. PJ almost managed to balance that unfriendliness with Boromir's apparent friendship with Merry and Pippin. Yet Sean Bean's use of Boromir's lines (for example, the scene where he tries to take the Ring from Frodo) are so differently connotated.
I think the defining moment for Movie!Boromir was when he and Aragorn argue about the Ring, just before they come to the Argonaths on the Anduin: "I would not lead the Ring within a hundred leagues of your city!" Right then, Boromir's face becomes a SUPER POUT. Much as I love Sean Bean, I could never have imagined Book!Boromir looking like that childish.

There are some very sound points there.