h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good review. It does explain a lot to people who haven't read the books or seen this film yet. And still, even though I have read the books and seen this film, I found some new information in this article. Good job!

Are you telling me Shelob isn't in the film? Suddenly I'm not sure I'm nissing that much

Shelob is in TTT as a book, but not in the film. It appears in The Return of the King in December instead.
Oberon2001

It? IT?

Surely you mean 'she' as in *She-lob* (she-spider)?

OK so I'm just jealous you know. But I really thought that Jackson, having proved to the moronic producers that a film about one of the most popular and well-liked books ever *wouldn't* be a flop, would stick as close as a button to the plot for the other films. Aaah well...

I've made some tweaks.

Hopefully it's a little more rounded now.

I think this is looking quite good. Here's a brief question -- you say somewhere in the middle that the "higher rating" is merited, but you don't say what the film is rated. And film rating schemes differ by country, don't they? At least I'm pretty sure that the G/PG/PG13/R/X system we use in the US isn't universal.


Mikey

You're right, it isn't.
In the UK it goes *drumroll* U/PG/12a (formerly 12)/15/18/R18 (I think)
The Two Towers was a 12, then a 12a when the rating system changed.
Oberon2001

Just a comment to Oberon2001 on something written a few posts back. The story only exists in three volumes because the publishers would have had to wait too long to publish the book if they did it in one volume. The splits are fairly arbitrary and you can buy the three volumes in one single book, as JRRT intended.

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Just a minor (well, not minor to me) quibble about some decisions in the two films. First: Bombadil. I've always felt that he was terribly important both plot-wise (it is he who arms the hobbits) and thematically (depth of history, the various races, the potential for immunity from evil, etc.). But everybody seems to say, oh, well, Old Tom Bombadillo wasn't really important. Well, Tolkien thought he was important enough to devote three chapters to him (whereas Arwen got one brief mention). Second: The Oliphant. If Bombadil was unimportant, why the he** did Jackson feel that the blundering great CG fakery of the mammothly tusked pachyderm was necessary? Save the effects budget and spend it on the ents, of whom there were far too few at the entmoot, and whose size kept changing through the march on and the sack of Isengard.

I enjoyed the second film much more than the first.

Has anybody checked out Jackson's classic "Meet the Feebles"?

Yes, I too lament the omission of Tom Bombadil, but I guess the American viewing public wouldn't stand for it and in the end the story still advances. If you weren't familiar with the story, you could watch the movie and still get the whole point, even though Tom is missing.

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Gordon the Scout (go on, pick this ), I knew that (I've actually read the intro to the books! ).... Just someone asked why Shelob wasn't in the same book, film bit.
Also, I *think* LotR is split into 7 books (for some strange reason, probably to make them easier to read...).... Hoo-hum, still, nice entry (go on, pick it!)
Oberon2001

I found this sentence confusing, in the final paragraph:

'Jackson has continued to treat the story with care, however more so than in the first film, this is clearly his interpretation'

Do you mean Jackson has treated the story with more care in the second film, or that the second is more his interpretation? I should think its the last, but could you clarify? Cheers

Otherwise, great entry :D

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And to answer a couple of out standing questions.

The rating system in the UK is as described by Oberon. TTT received a higher rating (12A) than FOTR (PG), I believe principally because of the extremely violent battle scenes.

At the end of the piece I do indeed mean that TTT is more of an interpretation (that is less like the book) than FOTR. This need not be a bad thing but amongst fans of the book, the depictions of Elrond and Faramir detract somewhat from the film as a whole.

Maybe some of these concerns will be addressed in the extended version of TTT.

Thanks to you all