Ohh, right…Peter Jackson Knew What He Was Doing (thoughts inspired by The Fellowship of the Rings Audiobook)

So I’m listening to the audiobook for The Fellowship of the Rings right now, and I spent some time today on the Tom Bombadil section—sooo much time (my rough estimate is 96 minutes).

I remember the first time I went through the book wondering what the purpose of all that time in the book was, but assumed I didn’t just didn’t get something, or that there’d be a payoff by the end of The Return of the King. I was curious about how the movies would handle that portion, but eventually, I shrugged it off and forgot about it. I remembered it when I walked out of the movie, thinking, “Hey, they left that bit out!”* and “good move.”

* After The Hobbit trilogy, it is hard to think of Jackson leaving things out, but it was something he did once upon a time.

Now I know that I’m not alone in not appreciating the Bombadil bits, and I can understand some of the defenses. Understand, but don’t buy them. I just don’t see the point of almost everything that happens for that hour and a half. (Feel free to tell my why I’m wrong!!) That said, Serkis almost made this bit tolerable. Almost.

That said, there have been some good things to come out of that character, and I figured I’d take the opportunity to boost the signal on them, since I’ve been thinking about them while listening to this part of the book. For example:

The song, “In The House of Tom Bombadil” by Nickel Creek, which I could (and have) listen to on repeat for the better part of an hour.

A few strips from the Sheldon comic by Dave Kellett (he may have others, but these are what I can find):
CONVENTIONS!!!
Support Group for Lame Sci-Fi and Fantasy Characters
What Else Did We Miss from “The Lord of the Rings”?
More Tom! More Tom! (meeting Lewis and Tolkein while time-travelling)
Tra-la-lee!

All these are available in Pop Culture!…Building a Better Tomorrow by Avoiding Today by Dave Kellett, one of my favorite comic collections from the last few years.

I really don’t have a point or anything, just needed to do something in response to the Tom Bombadil experience.