[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I don't know... Tolkien hated to be edited. It just wasn't done!

Tolkien hated to be edited ... by other people! He had constant revisions on his own works.

[HairOfTheDog]

Right. That is why I can hope he would like the films... But I wonder.

Christopher Tolkien is still living, is he not? - Has he ever spoken on the movies? I am going to poke around and see if I can find anything. They have certainly given the book sales a whole new life for a whole new generation. I hope there is still money to be made by the Tolkien family in this, given the book deals that might have been made years ago.

[HairOfTheDog]

Here is one article... expressing a bit of nervousness about it before the first one came out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

December 07, 2001 at 23:12:29

In a historic first public comment on the upcoming Peter Jackson trilogy of films based on his father's work, Christopher Tolkien says the movies will not do justice to his father's work.
LONDON (Reuters) - The son of J.R.R. Tolkien says the forthcoming Hollywood adaptation of his father's classic "The Lord of the Rings" will not do justice to the magical Middle Earth tale.

In a statement to newspapers published on Saturday, Christopher Tolkien, who is literary protector of his father's works, said he did not disapprove of the film but was dubious about the adaptation.

"My own position is that 'The Lord Of The Rings' is peculiarly unsuitable to transformation into visual dramatic form," he said.

Article: http://www.xenite.org/faqs/lotr_movie/news_0000/468.html

[theFIRMbss]

> Tolkien hated to be edited ... by other people!

Thinking about the
"edits" in this film, last night
I noticed a strange

pattern to at least
two of them. In the books, the
Ents were smart enough

to recognize what
was happening, wise enough
to realize they

had to take action.
In the books, Faramir was
smart enough to guess

Frodo quest and wise
enough to let Frodo go.
But -- but! -- in the film

the Ents were chunkheads
and only circumstances
let the two hobbits

sledge-hammer the Ents
over the head about the
danger. Only then

did the Ents fight back.
The film Faramir only
learns what's going on

direct from golem,
and then is unwise enough
to capture Frodo

until, again, chance
circumstances sledge-hammer
him over the head

about Frodo's quest.
These changes cut to the heart
of Tolkien's vision

of these people. Small
changes, yes, but depressing!
And, on another

topic, the "little"
change to the Arwen story --
-- Aragorn telling

Eowyn bluntly
that Arwen has gone away --
totally changes

the deep, transcendent
nature of their magical
bond and love affair.

Bizarre, small changes.
These changes cut to the heart
of Tolkien's vision.