Smell this, I think it's expired...

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

After success was assured, PJ was free to add a little more of his own vision.

Except that all three films had largely been written and filmed by the time that FotR was released. You could have a point on the editing, though, I suppose.

I find it difficult to choose between FotR and RotK as my favourite. FotR amazed me when I saw it and, as others have said, it was our first experience of Jackson's screen adaptations. But RotK, for me, has a lot more powerful and tear-jerking moments.

I would agree with the majority, though, that TTT was the weakest. Partly because it is the "middle of the story" and so has no real beginning or end. But also because the changes made in TTT were the ones that bothered me the most, in the sense that many were either gratuitous, introduced internal inconsistencies or just didn't work as well as the original story.

That said, I still greatly enjoyed all three films.