I agree with elderberrywine. The Bakshi cartoon should remind everyone how bad it COULD have been.

And then there's the musical in Toronto, which I saw this summer. The staging and effects were magnificent, but the story was quite simply flat and boring, and Gandalf was wimpy. Imagine: a wimpy Gandaf!! I so wanted to love this production, but it just did not affect me at all.

PJ and Co got a lot right, and some things wrong. But for me personally, the resurgence in interest in LOTR led me here, and to writing fic, and for that I am eternally grateful.