: [snip]

: The point is that Tolkien's hobbits don't have big feet.

Yes, but this (I would say) is one of those novel-to-movie translations where in the novels Tolkien can go off for several paragraphs about Hobbit feet and how strange they are; in a movie, a simple way to get around having to do an awkward expository scene ("Hi Frodo!" "Hi Pippin!" "Hey, aren't our feet hairy and leathery?" "Why, yes they are, though you can't really see that from afar." ;) ). Making the feet slightly larger than normal feet calls attention to them (allows the audience to see the hair) and is explanation enough for an audience as to why they don't wear shoes.

: : 2) What did that reference about your book mean? Are you saying
: : Tolkien Enterprises has poor taste? Just wondering...

: They told my agent they didn't want to publish my Middle-earth history book because they were afraid it would point out the flaws in the movie. In fact, the book doesn't even approach the areas where the movie is going to radically depart from Tolkien (except for giving Arwen Glorfindel's role on the road, but that's a relatively minor incident with far fewer implications than dropping Bombadil). But I can understand why they would be concerned about publishing and promoting a book which has a clearer picture of Tolkien's world than these movies will portray.

Barbarians! That's really outrageous! Wow. Makes me feel like thay're nothing more than slimy marketing bastards, and suspect that "official" encyclopedic type books (that WILL inevitable come out after/during the movies) would have more to do with the movie than with actual Tolkien material. Ugh! Very disheartening.

(not very cheery) Cheers.

Dave C-Q