Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
Although a few key scenes in The Hobbit had to be rewritten.

Ah, but that was brilliantly handled. I hate when people compare a master story telling with a one time fluke like Lucas. I still say Lucas only made three movies, THX 1138, Graffiti, and Star Wars. I happen to like all three (though THX is very clearly influenced by certian works of literature and can hardly be considered an "original" idea, and America Graffiti is pretty much about nothing at all), but anything that can be truly credited as solely his after 1977 is pretty bad. ESB, and the Indy movies were all done in partnership with other great masters of the art of film, so while his name is on them, I do not feel it is appropriate to credit them entirely to him, as is often done by Lucas fans.

The Lord of the Rings was written to stand on its own, not to be part of a series with the Hobbit. Yes it was a sequel, but a sequel that does not rely on the one before it. They are also two very different kinds of books. The Hobbit is more of a fairy story, and the Lord of the Rings is more of an epic. It is true the Hobbit was minorly modified to fit it into the story of LOTR, and it is true the originally published version ceased to be published. But the similarities to Lucas end there. Tolkien freely admitted the change he had made, and he made the change an actual part of the story, writing the explanation for the change right into the dialogue of the LOTR, giving the change purpose and meaning. It was a masterfully done edit, that in my opinion even heightens Tolkien's story telling genius rather than discredit it as I believe it does in the case of Lucas.