I'm just so glad to see it. I appreciate how respectfully Peter Jackson handles the books, particularly in the extended versions of the (first two) LOTR movies.

Also debating about whether I am willing to see this trailer. I practically came out of my seat and orbited around the theatre when I saw the trailer for Fellowship of the Ring, because I knew immediately what it must be. Then I had to hide my eyes and block my ears every time a LOTR trailer played after that, so as not to reduce the impact of a single wonderful moment.

You probably figured out by now that my copy of LOTR is actually second or third generation, and like its predecessors so dog eared it is falling apart.

I'd like to be excited. But he screwed up some of my favorite LotR characters so badly that I am dreading his changes more than I am looking forward to the parts that will be done right. I think if I ever met the man I'd scream "For Faramir!" and punch him in the face. And cutting Glorfindel to give Liv Tyler more screen time? Ugh.

OK, I am still mad at him about Faramir. That important and very interesting character got essentially junked even in the extended versions.

I didn't miss Glorfindel, though. He didn't have the content that Jackson gave Arwen. (I'd add that Jackson in general really enriched the cardboard cutouts that were Tolkien's female characters.)

It still looks like a Wizard Of Oz reboot to me.

So the preview has an attached preview for the movie War Horse, apparently about some horse and WWI blah blah. Every time I see that preview I want to joke that they should have called it Gallopoli. Yes, I have been waiting to make that joke.

I don't mind substituting Arwen in for Glorfindel.

I do mind what was done to Gimli. I don't like how Merry and Pippen were blurred together into chucklehead twins. I think they probably should have left the master/servant bit into Sam and Frodo's relationship, or at least, having removed it, they should have put something else in there instead. So already I don't like most of the fellowship regardless of the other characters and plot events. (E.g. fuck Osgiliath.)

And maybe this is just me, but sometimes it was just hard to understand wtf the characters were saying.

TREEBEARD: Sagrbabrumagan! A Wigbuburd shold knwbsnk betterdbk.
ME: I guess I don't mind them abridging this whole sequence now.

GANDALF [spat out extremely breathily]: FLAH-uh-yuh-FOOHS!
ME: What? Oh. Man, the most dramatic line of the movie probably shouldn't make me think, "What? Oh."

GALADRIEL [turns into Stargate Goa-uld]: BLARBLE WARBLE GLURBLE WLURBLE NURBLE BURBLE
ME: Oh for fuck's sake.

The Arwen/Glorfindel changes wouldn't bother me quite as much if I didn't strongly dislike Liv Tyler to begin with but the only way I would have been completely happy would be if the scenes had played out exactly as in the books. I enjoyed the movies a great deal when they were new but as the wow factor has died off I like them less and less due to cringe-inducing Gimli jokes, characters behaving totally different than in the books, etc.

I forget, how was Faramir's character changed in the movie?

Faramir's character was changed by being mostly omitted, and what remained being an indecisive wimp, rather than the perceptive, nuanced, very brave and kind character he was.

I must admit I missed the Pippin and Merry of the books, who had more courage, strength and seriousness than the movie characters, as well as more individuation. I am torn about Gimli. He was a more likeable character in the movies.

I completely agree that Treebeard just wasn't right, in part because his slowness and age jand treeishness wasn't conveyed, and in general the Ents got shorter shrift than I wanted.

Still love the movies. They brought a remarkable visual and musical dimension to the stories, really clarified the military encounters, and imbued the female characters with heft.

Yeah the Ents were given short shrift. The part about the Entwives leaving, and the very lonely existence of the Ents was left and, and even a couple extra lines of dialogue could have deepened those characters.

And Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. . .

But I loved the movies, still do, and there is no way I could have done better, and we will see the Hobbit as soon as humanly possible upon release (like the first day).

I can understand leaving out Bombadil as it would be difficult to include him without alienating audiences who didn't know what to expect. The real shame is that all of the journey before the hobbits met up with Aragorn is missing including all of the Old Forest and Barrow Downs adventures which were pretty important parts of Fellowship.

The other truly unforgivable thing was the happy ending in an untouched Shire. All of the changes and growth the four Hobbits went through comes to a point in the Scouring of the Shire and it is just ripped out entirely.

The only good thing to come out of the changes with Saruman and how he dies is this.

OK, I'm in agreement that I was very sorry not to see Bombadil, the Barrows and the triumphant return of the hobbits to the Shire. But I know Jackson just couldn't stuff more into these movies. As it is, the wide release versions are very long movies despite being action packed. The extended versions are way, way too long for theatres, and still don't have room for these episodes. I think Jackson had to drop material, and mostly he made good decisions about that.

To be fair, I did like some of the things Peter Jackson did in the LotR movies, especially the scene in Moria where Gandalf doesn't know which path to take.

I think Jackson's style will be more suitable for the Hobbit and I'm excited to see it.

I must admit I missed the Pippin and Merry of the books, who had more courage, strength and seriousness than the movie characters

Especially Merry who is a quite capable and wise little dude! (Pippin is still kind of a chucklehead.) The way I remember which one went where is that they got what they needed: Pippin got noble, dutiful Gondor while fussy rules-oriented Merry got the more vital Rohan.

And you're right Gimli was more likeable in the movies. In the books he's a complainer and kind of a smug jerk. But he never says, "Toss me."