Reverse Gripes

[Mithalwen]

I think visually, it would have been hard to improve on the films..... the sets, and the costumes were excellent (apart from perhaps the slightly froufrou armour sported by Haldir and co! and the Rohirrim's blankety cloaks) and where they deviated from the books (eg Legolas's pair of knives) I liked the rationale of using an asian style of fighting to suggest an ancient and sophisticated culture independent of the more familiar ( to a westerner!!) western style weapons and fighting. The Shire, Bree,Rivendell and Minas Tirith were as imagined.

Lorien well what we saw of it was fine but I would have loved to see a mallorn properly but maybe that was just too impossible to create. Nevertheless, not being into fightscenes I would have rather seen more Lorien and less cave troll ...sorry that was a minigripe.

I think using Alan Lee and John Howard was the key. They are such genuine fans of the books and their vision of middle earth was familiar from the book illustrations.

[Sir Kohran]

In the books, I was always a bit perplexed as to why the Fellowship spent weeks in one place (such as Rivendell) doing little or nothing of use, when their mission was supposed to be urgent, secretive and vital to Middle-Earth's future. Basically, if they can afford to spend weeks resting and enjoying themselves, where's all the risk? And the fact that no enemies catch up with them when they're staying in one place for so long seemed rather unrealistic. The books felt rather sluggish here.

In the films, the timeline was tightened up and more a lot more direct (like Gandalf's journey to Minas Tirith and his quicker return to the Shire). The Fellowship's almost always moving, and there's a great sense of urgency. This is also down to all the 'hints' that we get of being hunted (the shadows in Bag End that could be Nazgul, the scene with the first Uruk Hai being created in Isengard, the foreshading of Gollum, etc.) that really build up the tension.