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Nit-Pickers Guide to Deviations in Jackson's LotR

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the one-for-comic-book-guy dept.

bcolflesh submits "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."

21 of 712 comments (clear)

  1. Missed a few.. by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    That dude missed a few glaring deviations.

    Fellowship of the Ring
    75. In the book, Gandalf isn't the one saying "You shall not pass!", It's the Black Knight. King Arthur subsequently hacks off all of the Knight's arms and legs leaving a limbless knight protesting on the ground.

    The Two Towers
    107. In the book it isn't an army of Orcs that decimate the army of the good guys, it's a bunny with "a vicious streak a mile wide". Also, the magical fellow warning them in the book is an Enchanter named Tim, not a Wizard named Gandalf.

    The Return of the King
    77. In the movie, Gollum falls into the lava of Mt. Doom and dies. The book clearly states that John Cleese carries him to a cart while Gollum protests "I'm not dead!" Eric Idle then crushes his skull with a club then runs off to the Robinsons' as "they've lost nine today."

    damn slacker..

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  2. Needless amounts of effort! by dswensen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is great work, but you could make this article much shorter in one easy step:

    1) Peter Jackson's work is a movie, not a book.

    Done.

    1. Re:Needless amounts of effort! by Golias · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The question I have is this: Is there any change from the book that actually bothers people?

      Nobody I've spoken to is even the least bit troubled by the skipping of Tom Bombadil's chapters, the compressing of a couple dozen elf jobs into Arwen's character, the burning of the shire becoming a dream sequence, etc. What few nit-picks I thought I had about TTT turned out to be included in the Special Edition after all. Frankly, I think the majority of the changes were slight improvements, and all very faithful to the spirit of the work.

      So, is there anybody out there that can name a change or two that they actually considered a major let-down?

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

    2. Re:Needless amounts of effort! by fireduck · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So, is there anybody out there that can name a change or two that they actually considered a major let-down?

      yes. Aragorn falling off the cliff in TTT and "dieing" was pointless. We already had enough "fake-out" deaths in the first movie that were actually in the text (frodo w/ the cave troll, gandalf at the bridge) that Aragon's "death" just seemed like too much cliche. Especially since it was no where to be found in the text.

      I'm still unsure whether the whole "take Frodo to Osgilith" scene was necessary or not. I understand Jackson's purpose (Faramir is human and corruptable by the ring, so that *needs* to be shown explicitly to drive the point home), I'm just not sure if I liked how it was handled.

    3. Re:Needless amounts of effort! by Phexro · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yeah... In the FOTR commentary, Jackson says that he thought it would be 'silly' for him to be carrying a broken blade around for two and a half movies.

      Which was fine with me, until I read the book and saw that the blade was re-forged at the Council of Elrond, before the bulk of the journey began.

    4. Re:Needless amounts of effort! by bpo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, there is one that really bothers me.

      In TTT, why do the Ents decide not to go to war at the Entmoot? It is even less believable that when the hobbits show them a lot of tree stumps, that they suddenly change their mind (and just happened to be standing at the edge of the forest to respond to TreeBeard's call). If Treebeard didn't know how much his own forest was being cut down, well, pretty bad tree-herder IMHO.

      With dramatic music and sound effects etc, Peter Jackson could probably have done a fairly good job of the tension in the hobbits while waiting(will they help or not?), then the cry for war coming from the Ents.

      Such a simple change, with large repercussions. Why did he have to make it?

    5. Re:Needless amounts of effort! by jallison · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I'm still unsure whether the whole "take Frodo to Osgilith" scene was necessary or not. I understand Jackson's purpose (Faramir is human and corruptable by the ring, so that *needs* to be shown explicitly to drive the point home), I'm just not sure if I liked how it was handled.

      I didn't like it, myself. In the book Faramir is corruptible but not corrupted. I thought Faramir was a much better character in the book than in the movie. Ditto for Denother, who is just a crazy old man in the movie. He's much more tragic in the book.

    6. Re:Needless amounts of effort! by Khomar · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Agreed. I might add one more thing: Sam turning around in Mordor in ROTK. Not only was this not in the book, but it is a complete reversal in the character developed so well in the movies themselves. I do not feel that it is true to Sam's character in the least. If you are going to have a rift between Frodo and Sam, at least have Sam wait for a bit and then follow from a distance.

      Imagine this scene if you will. Frodo tells Sam to leave and continues up the stair. Sam sits down and cries. He finally gets up and starts to look down the stairs. He stiffens and mutters, "I made a promise." He then sets his shoulders and begins the climb up the stairs. You still have the rift, but at least Sam stays true to himself. While this is certainly not from the book, it would at least lend consistency within the movies.

      --

      I believe in de-evolution. God made the world perfect, man fell, and its been going downhill ever since!

    7. Re:Needless amounts of effort! by kclittle · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Right now there is plenty of buzz about these movies, but in a few years I know they will be picked on hard. Once the hype wears down, people are going to laugh (or be disgusted at the extremely low quality) of these movies.

      You couldn't be more wrong. The movies, by virtue of being very good movies in this age of visual information, will in fact become the standard telling of LOTR. The books will become the "other, harder to absorb" telling, and be relegated to college courses taught by anally retentive old men.

      I'm not saying I approve of this outcome, but it is inevitable.

      --
      Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
  3. Translations are always tough by superpulpsicle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't think of a perfect translation from book to movie or video game to movie etc. Give Jackson some credit, he came pretty damn close to perfection.

    Worst translations ever is still mortal kombat2 and double dragon the movie. LOTR could have ended up that bad, thank god it didn't.

    1. Re:Translations are always tough by Golias · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yea, Mortal Kombat 2 was nothing at all like the original novel!

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

    2. Re:Translations are always tough by millahtime · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And Remember if he had made the book exactly into a movie it would have been 100 hours and had long drawn out peroids that would be oh so boring. He did a great job of making that story into a great movie.

      --
      Evolution or ID?
  4. This is nice, but... by neiffer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who cares? Name me a movie that really does follow a text adaptation tried and true? It's nearly impossible because most great books are rarely good screenplays automatically.

  5. this is a new one.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This story has an amazingly low number of posts, given its topic and age. Then I realized: These geeks are actually reading it!

  6. well... by CGP314 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Gandalf first grabs Sam by the shoulders outside the window of Bag End and scolds him, then he carefully lifts him through the window (FOTR p.97-98). Jackson has Gandalf pull Sam quickly through the window and onto a table. Unnecessary and poorly handled. Why did Gandalf need to treat poor Sam so violently? It was also an obvious stuffed dummy prop.

    I think because this is a movie, and we need to quickly show that this is a very serious matter that Gandalf is talking about. Plus it gives more punch to the '...and something about the end of the world.' line.

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  7. Incredible! by KFK+-+Wildcat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who would have thought? The book had to be adapted so it can be shot as a movie! I'm speechless.

  8. He forgot one obvious deviation.. by plams · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..the books don't start with the words: "based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien"

    1. Re:He forgot one obvious deviation.. by plams · · Score: 5, Funny
      Don't mod me "funny" goddammit:)
      • I was serious. This guy dosn't seem to realise that Jackson had artistic freedom when making these movies. For all that he cares, Jackson could have "desecrated the holy LOTR scrolls" and made it into whatever he wanted.
      • Besides, I don't get any karma for it:)
  9. All that and... by CGP314 · · Score: 5, Funny

    All that and he didn't mention the ommission of my favorate minor character: Radagast the Brown.

    I swear, the first one who calls him simple or a fool or a bird-tamer is getting a punch in the mouth. : )

    --
    In London? Need a Physics Tutor?

    American Weblog in London

  10. Text? by utahjazz · · Score: 5, Funny

    You mean LoTR was based on a book or something?

  11. Kind of irrelevant... by puppetman · · Score: 5, Funny

    but funny. Don't remember where I grabbed this list, but here's 12 Things Not To Say Watching ROTK in the theatre:

    1. Stand up halfway through the movie and yell loudly, "Wait...where the hell is Harry Potter?"
    2. Block the entrance to the theater while screaming, "YOU.....SHALL....NOT..... PASS!" - After the movie, say "Lucas could have done it better."
    3. Play a drinking game where you have to take a sip every time someone says, "the Ring."
    4. Point and laugh whenever someone dies.
    5. Ask everyone around you if they think Gandalf went to Hogwarts.
    6. Finish off every one of Elrond's lines with "Mis..ter Ander-sonnn."
    7. When Aragorn is crowned king, stand up and at the top of your lungs sing, "And I did it.... MY way...!"
    8. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone's finger and fall down the stairs.
    9. Dress up as old ladies and reenact "The Battle of Helms Deep," Monty Python style.
    10. When Denethor lights the fire, shout "Barbecue!"
    11. In TTT when the Ents decide to march to war, stand up and shout, "RUN FOREST, RUN!"
    12. Every time someone kills an Orc, yell: "That's what I'm Tolkien about!" See how long it takes before you get kicked out of the theatre.
    13. During a wide shot of a battle, inquire, "Where's Waldo?"
    14. Talk loudly about how you heard that there is a single frame of a nude Elf hidden somewhere in the movie.
    15. Start an Orc sing-a-long.
    16. Come to the premiere dressed as Frankenfurter and wander around looking terribly confused.
    17 When they go in the paths of the dead, wait for a tense moment and shout, "I see dead people!"
    18. Imitate what you think a conversation between Gollum, Dobby and Yoda would be like.
    19. Release a jar of daddy-long-legs into the theater during the Shelob scene.
    20. Wonder out loud if Aragorn is going to run for governor of California.
    21. When Shelob comes on, exclaim, "Man!Charlotte's really let herself go!"