Why would I want to watch that after watching the Orcs in Congress all week ??

Silly Wabbit...
'cause you get to see 'em cutting the heads off the Orcs

jest sayin'

My understanding was that among a few other things, and entirely new female character was developed by Jackson's girlfriend.

Yes, I knew Martin somebody, from the British Office, Sherlock, and Hitchhiker's among other things was Bilbo - and a very good Bilbo indeed.

I really should learn his full name as much as I like him.

So, I suppose you are a big Hitchhiker's fan too Cel (the books not just the movie)? Our tastes in movies and comics are eerily similar, so.

edit: Looked it up: Martin FREEMAN Gotta remember that

Just to remind myself I wasn't imagine the new female character (it was months and months ago I read about it) I looked it up.

here she is

I am not saying I am totally against it, but there you go.

She wasn't in the first of the films. So many elves, so little time!

Tolkein was not very big on females. If you leave aside Eowyn, who really wants to be a man, there are no human females in the four books, from The Hobbit to Return of the King. That says something about the sexual universe of mid-20th century Oxford, I guess.

I read the books ages ago. My friends who read them more recently complain about the discrepancies more. As long as they are decent and don't depart overly much from the books I am happy.

Tolkien wasn't very big on darker "races" being anything but incontrovertibly evil either. I never really thought about that until the movies came out.

Well you DO have a point ! Orc rally demolition !

Can't wait for the 2nd installment this December !!

No, I wasn't a "HitchHiker" Fan no more than A "Dr. WHO" Fan
(I know them rather incidentally as Paulette IS (...a fan of both...)
Paulette (who I'm always "on" about and indeed tried to introduce
to the MacMinute Forum ..by proxy.. since she still doesn't own a
home computer is a fascinating character in her own right...

One facet of which is her unsurpassed ability To Relate A Story...

She'd watched "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" and even though I
never saw a single episode, I was able to "get" (fully appreciate)
the "Waxy-Yellow-Build-up" schtick as if I'd seen the entire program
start to finish.

ANYWHO:
Paulette was a Douglas Adams fan since "HitchHiker" as a Radio Play,
& the TV version. I didn't come onto it until years later watching the
Film version on PBS.

From that It was easy to recognize the Arthur Dent character from
the moment he got the Demolition Notice (just as they were about
to Bulldoze His House.. and Ford Prefect showed up, & convinced
Arthur to grab his towel & nip-off for a pint, before the Earth was
...well...you know...

What struck me was the remarkabe similarity and the initial reaction
between the two situations.

Also says something about our American obsession
with inserting in "A Love Interest" into every
movie ...whether the author intended to or not...

You also need to consider that it was initially
A) written as a bed-time-story for his kids
B) that grew into an ANTI-WAR Epic once his sons
got old enough to serve in combat during The War.

AFAIC:
It's no big flip that they introduced a female
from the order of Lesser (Sylvan) Elves to bring
more of Legolas's background to bear.

After all, Elves don't self-generate, no more
than do Dust-Bunnies develop into living Mice.

Are you telling us the Theory of Spontaneous Generation is bunk ?

Funny that's what Uncle Louis said !