auximenies said:

Vaderisnothayden said:
Middle Earth was all JRRT (except his son's posthumous edits in the Simarillion). The OOT is way more than just Mr Lucas.

Very good point. And one which we are all aware of but I don't think it was yet brought up in the context of this discussion. Lucas withholding the original is an insult to, as one example, the ILM crew whose work was replaced by CGI.

YEP.

All in all, the discussion leads my thoughts to THE question... And I already have my own answer. I t would almost deserve a topic:

What is the difference between a "change" and an "alteration" ?

There was an exposition in France some years ago about the technics of the most famous French writers - as Victor Hugo - at the "Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris" (Paris Nationnal Library). The expo was called "writers drafts" and I can tell that there are so much ways to think and construct a piece of work that it turns some point I rode here out of the matter.

When the motivations for changes are fully commercials, those are certainly alterations. Lucas wanted to say: hey! Remember Star Wars ? Whatch this ! And imagine my next three film with such a tecnology !

What I think it is: Advertising.

Now about LoTR, they just wanted your eyes full of FX. Please everyone take a minute and wonder why they didn't make the end of the story (the return in the country) with the concrete buildings ect... Looks too much as where you live ?

What I think: It would have been the more powerful contrast for a "fantasy" film and more, the audience would have certainly identificated how we - humans - are turning miserable with our sense of restrictions etc... It is to me the heart of the book. Such a message is 1000 times far powerful and somehow awakening than any fashionable so called "ecological" attitude.