From Movie to Book

Post by **ToshoftheWuffingas** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 6:20 pm

Readers of Tolkien have spent many hours analysing their reactions to the movies. I would like to turn that around and ask those who saw the movies first and then went on to the books what they thought. There are clear differences that the viewer would not have been expecting.

So - for the people who came to Tolkien via the movies - in the books:

What disappointed them?
What uplifted them?
What surprised them?
What did they think of the major character changes: Frodo, Aragorn and Denethor (and possibly Faramir)?
What episode or character not in the movie most added to their reading pleasure?

I'll post these questions on B77 and TORC too to see what responses they get.

Post by **Padme** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:07 pm

I take it we all read the books first.

Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:27 pm

Oh, Lali.

Post by **Padme** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:30 pm

Voronwë_the_Faithful wrote:Oh, Lali.

I'm Padme not Lali.

But thanks for the compliment.

Post by **Frelga** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:37 pm

I think V was trying to lure Lali, who did see the movies first, into this thread.

I started with the books, but I can ask my son, who went from the musical to movies to books.

Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:12 pm

Yes, sorry for the confusion.

Padme, you have your own charm that is all your own.

Post by **Padme** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:44 pm

I understand now. I was having a blonde moment.

Now to entice Lali into the thread.

We have chocolate here.

Post by **Lalaith** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:58 pm

Chocolate? European chocolate or American?

I'm kind of a chocolate snob.

Let's see. I gave a really short answer on b77. I'll add a bit more here.

I saw FotR before reading the books. I read all of the books after seeing the movie, so I can only speak about FotR (and hopefully I won't overlap accidentally).

I'm not sure I remember what disappointed me. There really wasn't much. As wonderful as I thought the movie was, the books were even better. Maybe the fact that Arwen is hardly mentioned. Maybe that there were so few women in the story.

I was uplifted (and surprised) by how much more personality Legolas had. He was so lighthearted compared to the movie. And cool without being cheesy. Although, the majority of Legolas' cheesiness doesn't happen till the last two movies.

Aragorn was a little more mysterious in the books, iirc. And Frodo was just better all-around--wiser, nobler, etc.

As for things that weren't in the movie, I liked Fog on the Barrow-downs and the whole Old Forest/Tom Bombadil chapters. The Barrow-wights, in particular, were deliciously creepy.