Now that the extended version of Return Of The King has been released on DVD, Phil Eskew has updated his site The NitPicker’s Guide to the Lord of the Rings to reflect the additional scenes. His goal was to compile “a lengthy list of deviations to be found when comparing the text of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and the translation of those texts to film as undertaken by Peter Jackson, et al.”
I’ve done enough ranting about the Star Wars DVD release, so Iwill try not to sound as geeky in my complaints over the Lord Of The Rings, although I must say that I have more of an attachment to J.R.R. Tolkien’s books than I do to the Star Wars movies. However, overall I think Peter Jackson did an excellent job in adapting the books to the silver screen. My worry all along was that his vision would overwhelm the images and emotions I’ve created in my mind over the years while reading and rereading the series. All in all, though, I was surprised at how closely my imagination meshed with Jackson’s.
I too share some of the grievances enumerated in the Nitpicker’s Guide, but despite some egregious omissions and additions (don’t get me started on Arwen) I think this might be the best adapatation of a novel to a movie that I’ve ever seen. Now I just need to find 12 hours or so to watch all three of the extended version DVDs at once… 😉
