[Chi-townChief]

It's funny, the different things we all focus on - I'm not so much bothered by the omission of Tom Bombadil or Saruman's anti-climactic return as "Sharkey" as I am by the smaller changes such as the crossing of the Ford of Brunien, changes in Eowyn's, Faramir's, and Denethor's characters, the de-emphasis of the palantirs, Frodo's truncated claim of the Ring at Sammath Naur, etc.

[kcar]

I was also sorry about the omission of the palintirs influence as well, and of the scouring of the Shire, which basically showed how much the four Hobbits had matured versus the simpler ones left behind.

Would have at least liked to have seen them sail beyond the Grey Havens - one last glorious view of Faery - like the view inside the spacecraft in Close Encounters

But that's expecting too much of the non-print media. Tolkien was a master of words, and will always be someone who is best read than envisioned. Like SciFi master Poul Anderson.