: : Remember Disney's animated headless horseman? I saw him long
: : before I read LOTR, and I envisioned the Nazgul as looking like
: : that.

: : After some thought, maybe going the Medieval route isn't a bad
: : idea. I have never thought of LOTR as medieval, but it's better
: : than the outlandish weapons and costumes you see in the
: : majority of fantasy movies and television programs. Since most
: : people have some familiarity with Medieval settings through
: : other films,it would give them a sense of a familiar world,
: : their world in the past.

: Outlandish costumes are not necessary to avoid the heavy emphasis on medievality. In fact, to be faithful to Tolkien's descriptions of the world, one could easily use ancient clothing and architectural designs which the untutored could mistake for medieval and which the tutored who prefer medieval should find acceptable. Unfortunately, the designs I've seen are going to scream MEDIEVAL EUROPE at the viewing audience for no sane reason whatsoever.

: According to the poll on our LOTR MOVIE Web site, 40% of you want Jackson's Middle-earth to be medieval. But 60% of us can't be wrong, can we? :)

I'm in that 60 percent. I never envisioned ME as medieval. In fact, it is difficult for me to describe exactly how I envision it. My vision is blend of architecture,weapons,armor and dress from different time periods and places. I doubt it would match the vision you, and others on this board, have of Middle Earth. If I my vision were put on film, it would probably look very anachronistic. Maybe to the point of distracting from the story.

From my point of view, the film setting, be it medieval or otherwise, is secondary to the story. The story, as told in the film, is my main concern and, I believe, the main concern of other LOTR Tolkien fans.