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Originally Posted by Varangian
.... I'm pretty defensive when it comes to Tolkien as you can tell. I still haven't seen the movies so couldn't comment on the comic dialogue and whether it works, I'm referring to the books. Clear skies.
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A Tolkien fan who hasn't seen the movies?? Wonders will never cease.
In the books what little humour there is comes from Sam. e.g. after Frodo and Sam accept the quest at the Council of Elrond "A nice mess we've landed in Mr Frodo, and no mistake" (or similar - I don't have the book here). In the movie most of the humour is done by Gimli and it works well to break up the tension and drama - something the movie needs much more than the book.
The book of The Hobbit ends 60 years before LOTR begins, but nothing much happens in that 60 years anyway. Much of the lightness of the book has been lost in the movie and is replaced by crash, bang action, which is a real loss. Overall I was disappointed by the movie, especially the end. I'm trying to remember that I liked much of the beginning and I'll give it at least one more viewing. I had to see The Two Towers a few times before I could come at some of the changes to the plot - especially wrt Faramir.
Tolkien smoked a pipe and made it clear in the prelude to the book that 'pipeweed' was some form of tobacco, but reading it as a teenager in the 70's it was hard not to see it as something else. In the movie they played with that idea in the Isengard scene. Now we have reference to Radagast eating too many mushrooms. Saruman seems the last character to deliver a joke - unless of course we get some slapstick from the Necromancer
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