Deeply aggrieved! Why can't we have 'sensible' songs?

Odo

Literally on mothers knee, those songs were just about bearable, i think taken wholesale from the book they'd sound pretty weak, and ruin/change what had been created with the LOTR films.

Well, If DT uses the same Naturalist style of presentation as LotR, I don't see that any lyrics would have to be changed.

GB

Those hobbit songs were all an intrinsic part of the book for me. Without them, the hobbit won't be the same for me.

What's the next thing? The spiders don't talk? Nor the eagles... sad...sad...sad...

And the next? No Stone Giants? No hounds up on their back feet serving honey cakes at Beorn's house?

Sigh... Those things, I guess, just won't be dark (or adult) enough.

Odo

The songs, talking spiders, dog servants, 'cockernee' trolls etc added nothing to the story for me.
I think it's quite a dark tale and i hope that that comes across, rather than all the little bits of the book that, i believe, Tolkien thought was giving the story an immediate appeal to children.

Trolls, stone giants, goblins, Gollum, wargs, eagles, Beorn mand servants, the spiders, etc. etc. An adventuresome fairy-story with light and dark well balanced, though always with a 'light' touch and nearly always underscored with humor. The 'immediate appeal' to children was the whole point! This 'a dark tale' emphasis is balderdash to me. The text doesn't support the view.
People seem to want either 'a bed time tale' or 'an adult fantasy,' but the book is clearly the first and not the second, however much people pretend it is. Some people (most people???) want a Prequel to LOTR, but I love TH for what it actually is.

Odo

I absolutely agree! Let's have The Hobbit here - that classic of fantasy; not some jumble pieced together from drafts of Tolkien and prefixed to PJ's films.

As happy as I am to have Gandalf's Adventure's included in the Hobbit films, i'm inclined to agree with Odo and Eldorion about keeping the "fun" stuff. As long as it's more Gilliamesque and less Wizard of Oz-ish, I think the right balance of tone can be struck without sacrificing the Mythic elements.

GB

I agree with you Eldorion. We should not have a patchwork of diverse and barely related bits. If they could film TH as closely to the book as possible, and did so competently, we would end up with an absolute Classic Movie. I think TH is very 'visual' in its writing, and the pacing is just right!

I think the right balance can be struck, GB, because the right balance is struck in the book. Myth is not sacrificed there, nor need it be in the movie. (Still can't see eye to eye with you about the White Council though. To make matters worse, this won't be the only tampering either!)

Please please give me a Great Shock Del Toro!!!! Make the Movie true to the book! Songs and all!

Odo

pacing and balance went out of the window as soon as it became 2 movies.
(pauses to rub bank notes over face and body)