I want to see Legolas among the elves who capture Bilbo and the dwarves. He doesn’t need lines, it needn’t even be Orlando Bloom, but I want to see him, even if he’s just standing there… giving approval.

I agree that there are adventures aplenty in The Hobbit, and there is little need to embellish for the sake of action. I fear though, that the continued plan to turn it into two movies will mean that we will get an extended prologue of Dwarves fighting Smaug and an extended epilogue of Gandalf in the tower of the Necromancer of Mirkwood. Or, even worse, we’ll get all that mixed right in with the story of Bilbo, so we’ll be constantly cutting away to catch up with Gandalf. The whole point of The Hobbit was that Gandalf was MYSTERIOUS, and he simply came and went as he pleased, with little or no explanation.

After the overlong festival of narcissism that Return of the King turned into, I have low hopes for any Tolkein film from Peter Jackson(unless he decides to make Roverdom, which would be great). Del Toro’s presence gives me great hope, but still tempered by the fact that Jackson, Boyens and Walsh will be behind the scenes.

No matter what, I’ll probably still love the Rankin/Bass film better, since I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember.

Have respect and make a self-sufficient and working script. Then add a few carfully placed allussions to the LOTR.

What scene is most important to me? The scene when Bilbo re-enters the shire a recites a very serious poem. Gandalf looks at Bilbo is surprise and tells Bilbo that he has changed.

Unfortunatly the single most important line in the book (in my little world) could not be trasnlated to a movie in any fashion. It is the closing paragraph of the chapter in Eagle’s eyrie. (wow. I have no idea how to spell that word) Tolkiendrops us a beautful line about Bilbo having a dream in which he is searching for something and he doesn’t know what it is. As I said totally intransferably as far as a movie to book is concerned.

I wouldn’t be totally opposed to cameo from previous LOTR actors. AS LONG as they are there to add to the story, not distract from it. Heck I wouldn’t even mind seeing Orlando a little bit. As a minor character. Other characters my opinion would very. You would have to try very hard to sell me on some (such as members of the White Council, Galadriel and Saruman. Even Gimli is technicaly old enough) There is a lot of room for short fullfilling cameo’s and a lot of room for painful tortue.

Let’s hope some screenwriters spend some thoughtful time reading and rereading the Hobbit.

The following opinion was The screenwriters should be urged to depend on the book. They should ignore the existence of any LOTR movies. The movie of “The Hobbit” should be based on fresh readings of what Tolkien wrote; no commitments should be made ahead of time to any of the actors from Jackson’s movies, to New Zealand, to WETA CGI, etc. etc. There are no females at all in the book. The urge to introduce them should be resisted.

At the same time, we are talking here about a movie for release in, say, 2010, not a children’s book from 1937. The “Tra-la-la-la-lally” Rivendell stuff probably cannot make the transition. In any event it represents an immature stage in Tolkien’s own conception of Elves.

The pacing of the movie should reflect that of the book. The book is well stocked with adventures; no additional ones are needed. Much of the book is simply about journeying and being outdoors. Tolkien had much feeling for that kind of experience. It should come across in the movie as much as possible. The audience will probably come around, for the most part. Those who insist on battening on slam-bang fights, chases, etc. don’t have to attend.

Dale Nelson

Do you agree?

My real concern is having Legolas present in Thranduil’s Halls, with Orlando Bloom reprising the role. I can totally see them writing him into the story to sell the movie more.