[Illbay]

The last time I can recall someone trying to make a film of a vaunted SF/Fantasy epic was David Lynch's attempt at Dune, which fell flat on its face.

Here's hoping that Jackon has got it right.

[maquiladora]

It looks like Jackson has done it.
The wisdom learnt in those 7 long years of pre-production in New Zealand seem to have payed off.

[billbears]

Are you talking about the original Dune where they handed out leaflets at the front of the theater so you would know who everyone was? That pretty much destroyed that version of Dune for most IMHO.

As for this version of Tolkien, I'm not worried about abbreviating charaacter development as much as cutting it out all together as is the case with Tom Bombadil