"Get off the road!"

[Radaghast]

I answered a question on Quora about what the films omit from the book and came across this scene, which I've never really thought about before, but it seems an unnecessary change from the book, and is utterly absurd:

(Video is not playable here. Search "Get off the Road" on YT if you'd like to review)

Again, the change seems unnecessary to me but, apart from that, what the film gives us strikes me as ridiculous; just one thing after the other:

• First off, how does Frodo sense the coming of the Ring-wraith? I suppose it could be because of the Ring, but he's not wearing it, so I'm not really convinced by that idea. Also, how does the Ring-wraith cause the leaves to move around?
• After the hobbits hide under the tree, the Nazgûl's horse enters the scene walking slowly and without a sound. This makes no sense to me whatsoever. Does Frodo's magically sensing the Nazgûl and yelling at his friends to get off the road an improvement over the sound of a horse approaching? I guess they want to make Frodo more proactive in his own story since they emasculate him almost everywhere else?
• The Ring-wraith pokes his head over the tree root but is apparently too dumb to look under it.
• Sam somehow knows to prevent Frodo from putting the Ring.
• Finally, in perfect coordination with Sam's action, either Merry or Pippin throws something which distracts the 'Wraith allowing the hobbits to escape. First of all, this is a ridiculous cliche straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon show. Second, none of the hobbits (in the movies) have seen a Ring-wraith to this point. None of them know what is looking for them. Third, whoever throws the object doesn't know what the thing that is looking for them is going to do and they have no expectation that this childish tactic is going to work; they don't really have any idea where the thing went, they just blindly run off in some arbitrary direction.

I would guess this is all to help make up for the lack of Gildor and his company and possibly Tom Bombadil too, but it seems to me a very poor substitute.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

It's exactly what you'd expect from someone who directs with the equivalent of a yellow highlighting marker. Just like Galadriel pushing her "scary face" up to Frodo's. But there are many more examples.

 

[Eljorahir]

Skip ahead to 51:18 if you want to hear the commentary regarding the scene.
Apparently, the surreal effect used as the Nazgul approaches was invented by Hitchcock. (I don't know Hitchcock movies so well, maybe it was used in Vertigo?)
Also, the commentary about casting the insects and the insect battle is kinda funny.

 

[Deimos]

I answered a question on Quora about what the films omit from the book and came across this scene, which I've never really thought about before, but it seems an unnecessary change from the book:

Again, the change seems unnecessary to me but, apart from that, what the film gives us strikes me as ridiculous; just one thing after the other:

• First off, how does Frodo sense the coming of the Ring-wraith? I suppose it could be because of the Ring, but he's not wearing it, so I'm not really convinced by that idea. Also, how does the Ring-wraith cause the leaves to move around?
• After the hobbits hide under the tree, the Nazgûl's horse enters the scene walking slowly and without a sound. This makes no sense to me whatsoever. Does Frodo's magically sensing the Nazgûl and yelling at his friends to get off the road an improvement over the sound of a horse approaching? I guess they want to make Frodo more proactive in his own story since they emasculate him almost everywhere else?
• The Ring-wraith pokes his head over the tree root but is apparently too dumb to look under it.
• Sam somehow knows to prevent Frodo from putting the Ring.
• Finally, in perfect coordination with Sam's action, either Merry or Pippin throws something which distracts the 'Wraith allowing the hobbits to escape. First of all, this is a ridiculous cliche straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon show. Second, none of the hobbits (in the movies) have seen a Ring-wraith to this point. None of them know what is looking for them. Third, whoever throws the object doesn't know what the thing that is looking for them is going to do and they have no expectation that this childish tactic is going to work; they don't really have any idea where the thing went, they just blindly run off in some arbitrary direction.

I would guess this is all to help make up for the lack of Gildor and his company and possibly Tom Bombadil too, but it seems to me a very poor substitute.

1) Without looking it up (it's Saturday and I do not expend energy unnecessarily on Saturdays) I think mere physical possession of the Ring may heighten one's senses and perceptions not only in the present [temporal] realm but also of the "spirit" realm.
The leaves moving could be [in universe] just the breeze coincidentally disturbing he leaves. However, the wraith occupies two "worlds" (the temporal and the spirit); and anytime those two realms touch (cf. "thin places") all kinds of disturbing "not natural" things can happen.
2) "cinematic license"
3) The wraith, like Sauron, like Melkor, like Satan in our universe, is a created being and therefore subject to Eru. JUst as Frodo was "meant to have the Ring" and there being other forces [for good] at work, The Wraith may have been prevented from looking further by "other forces' . Such reasoning for the movie is almost a "deus ex machina", but where else except in a movie (or play) do you get to use that device? 😄
4) Sam seems almost preternaturally attuned to Frodo's mind and moods. Not telepathic or clairvoyant, but more akin to the way identical twins "know" what their twin is thinking or feeling. Going out on a limb here, but I think Tolkien intended that kind of closeness for Sam and Frodo from the outset.
Whatever else he may be, PeeJ is not stupid about Tolkien.... (his ego too often gets in the way, tho)... but he probably knew this, about Sam and Frodo.
5 More "cinematic license" as in "Whatever it takes to advance the story! Excelsior!" 😆

 

[Radaghast]

1) Without looking it up (it's Saturday and I do not expend energy unnecessarily on Saturdays) I think mere physical possession of the Ring may heighten one's senses and perceptions not only in the present [temporal] realm but also of the "spirit" realm. The leaves moving could be [in universe] just the breeze coincidentally disturbing he leaves. However, the wraith occupies two "worlds" (the temporal and the spirit); and anytime those two realms touch (cf. "thin places") all kinds of disturbing "not natural" things can happen.

I don't think there is any comparable instance in the book. Creative license is one thing but this seems to come out of nowhere. In the movie Frodo is never warned about the Black Riders. If you hear a horse approaching behind you, it's a natural thing to get off the road if you're trying to get away. To get off the road because the wind is blowing and you hear faint screeching in the air (which is dumb; why would the Ring-wraiths want to warn their prey) is just arbitrary.

2) "cinematic license"

I agree, but I don't think cinematic license requires making your villain look like a doofus.

3) The wraith, like Sauron, like Melkor, like Satan in our universe, is a created being and therefore subject to Eru. JUst as Frodo was "meant to have the Ring" and there being other forces [for good] at work, The Wraith may have been prevented from looking further by "other forces' . Such reasoning for the movie is almost a "deus ex machina", but where else except in a movie (or play) do you get to use that device? 😄

Well, again, we go back to the cliche of making your villain look like a putz to move the story forward.

4) Sam sems almost preternaturally attunned to Frodo's mind and moods. Not telepathic or clairvoyant, but more akin to the way idential twins "know" what their twin is thinking or feeling. Going out on a limb here, but I think Tolkien intended that kind of closeness for Sam and Frodo from the outset.

Well, okay, to be fair, there's the scene on Amon Hen, where Sam figures out Frodo's thought processes, but I don't think this amounts to a psychic rapport; more like Sam using his common sense and deductive reasoning. Also, there's M or P throwing something just right after Sam stops Frodo, as if in coordination. Then Merry asks "What was that?" As if Frodo could possibly know? Only Frodo catches a glimpse of the Black Rider (to correct my statement in the OP). Film Frodo hardly knows more than the others. Also, to go off on a brief tangent, it's kind of funny that M & P blindly follow Frodo with only that one question asked. I guess they had nothing else to do besides steal mushrooms?

Whatever else he may be, PeeJ is not stupid about Tolkien.... (his ego too often gets in the way, tho)... but he probably knew this, aboout SAm and Frodo.

I'd have to respectfully disagree here. There are quite a few instances where the Peej is either stupid about Tolkien or chooses to be so, either because he didn't want to bother to find a way to do it right or simply doesn't understand the source material. Frodo himself is one such major example; he hugely gets Frodo wrong.

5 More "cinematic license" as in "Watever it takes to advance the story! Excelsior!"

All I'm suggesting is that the book needed little changing here. The book scenes work much better and there's nothing unfilmable about them. Also, I've come to the opinion that it would have been a good idea to include Gildor & Co. It needn't have taken as much time as the book scene.

The scene in the movie is based on the following excerpt from the book, after the hobbits hear the sound of hoofbeats :

Again, I find this would work much better cinematically. I find the movie scene is too in your face, too full of dramatic import. Perhaps it's just me but I'd prefer something more understated, where everything seems normal until something weird and unsettling happens. The mental image of a horseman shrouded in black garb getting on the ground and sniffing and "snuffling" around is way more disturbing than anything the movie scene (if, say, Guillermo del Toro directed this scene, he'd do it better). I will add, to be fair, that it is lucky that the Ringwraith seems to lose the scent of the Ring and ride off without any apparent explanation (that I can remember), but I'm willing to overlook it (and maybe there is an explanation). There is also the subsequent scene of the Ring-wraith catching up to the hobbits and sniffing for the Ring, almost locating it before the singing of the elves scares it off. Again, I think that scene should have made the cut.

 

[Radaghast]

It's exactly what you'd expect from someone who directs with the equivalent of a yellow highlighting marker. Just like Galadriel pushing her "scary face" up to Frodo's. But there are many more examples.

Agreed. Peej is very in your face. He doesn't seem to like the slow build. Everything now! now! NOW!

 

[Olorgando]

Agreed. Peej is very in your face. He doesn't seem to like the slow build. Everything now! now! NOW!

My favorite gripe: cookie cutter. And one that goes back to those one-reel silent films (and invariably gives me a serious rash) is the abominable cliffhanger.

 

[Deimos]

1) Without looking it up (it's Saturday and I do not expend energy unnecessarily on Saturdays) I think mere physical possession of the Ring may heighten one's senses and perceptions not only in the present [temporal] realm but also of the "spirit" realm. The leaves moving could be [in universe] just the breeze coincidentally disturbing he leaves. However, the wraith occupies two "worlds" (the temporal and the spirit); and anytime those two realms touch (cf. "thin places") all kinds of disturbing "not natural" things can happen.

I don't think there is any comparable instance in the book. Creative license is one thing but this seems to come out of nowhere. In the movie Frodo is never warned about the Black Riders. If you hear a horse approaching behind you, it's a natural thing to get off the road if you're trying to get away. To get off the road because the wind is blowing and you hear faint screeching in the air (which is dumb; why would the Ring-wraiths want to warn their prey) is just arbitrary.

I think he is warned, or at least aware of them and that they are after him.
When Gandalf and Frodo are talking about the Ring (after the writing is exposed) Gandalf says something about Sauron knowing Bilbo had the Ring, and Frodo responds, "But that will lead them here!"
So who is "them?" The wraiths?

Again, I think you are missing seeing that so many scenes, certainly in the books, but also in the movie, are occurring in two realms....mostly the temporal (ME) but but also the spirit (supernatural) realm. Frodo has heightened senses that are touching the spirit realm.... call it super intuition.
Have you never been standing [wherever], minding your own business when you get a very strong feeling of being watched, or of dread, or even of joy?
And later you find out that someone was indeed watching you, or that something dreadful (or wonderful) happened to someone dear to you at that very moment, who was yet miles away?
The horse's screech may have occurred in the spirit realm, not in the temporal and only Frodo heard it.
Likewise the blowing leaves are just that to the other 3 Hobbits but Frodo senses more, he senses danger.
Eliminate the supernatural from LOTR, and everything not materially explainable is "a stretch" or even nonsensical.
Accept the supernatural, accept that "thin places" are indeed real, and many "difficulties" can be reconciled.

 

[d4rk3lf]

I don't mind this scene, and I think it's pretty nice introduction for Nazguls in movie format, especially for those who didn't read the book.
If I'd change this scene, I would just try to somehow better explain that all these insects crawling out of the tree, are not trying to attack hobbits, but trying to escape evil energy Nazgul emits. I think that non book readers, is not getting that part.

There are far worse scenes in LOTR:
- Arwen speaking to Aragorn like he is child that he is only Isildur's heir.
- Aragorn being weak in decision making, and trying to avoid responsibility
- Pointless drama and arguing at the council of Elrond
- Galadriel and Lothlorien vibe like they are undead, with all these spooky green colors.
- Gandalf being weak too, leaving decisions to crying Frodo
- Too much crying through all the movie
- Making fart jokes with Gimli
- Legolas sliding on elephant

... and many... many more...
-----------------
But all is forgiven (including Hobbit movies) after Rings of Amazonian Galadriel Power.

 

[Radaghast]

I think he is warned, or at least aware of them and that they are after him.
When Gandalf and Frodo are talking about the Ring (after the writing is exposed) Gandalf says something about Sauron knowing Bilbo had the Ring, and Frodo responds, "But that will lead them here!"
So who is "them?" The wraiths?

Seems rather vague to me. Gandalf is hardly specific about them himself in the movie, while in the book he foreshadows the Wraiths fairly early. Still, point taken. At least it is something, I suppose.

Again, I think you are missing seeing that so many scenes, certainly in the books, but also in the movie, are occurring in two realms....mostly the temporal (ME) but but also the spirit (supernatural) realm. Frodo has heightened senses that are touching the spirit realm.... call it super intuition.

These tend to happen when Frodo is wearing the Ring, though. Also, I think the movie jumps the gun a bit too much with its distant screeches and windblown leaves. It is too soon to be suggesting this vague sense "supernatural sensitivity" when Frodo isn't even wearing the Ring, and it hasn't really been set up in the movie. So is it that Frodo sensitive to the supernatural or is it that Peej is just in love with effects shots? Also, it's one thing to be making excuses for the movie but another to not consider that the books is simply superior. Frodo is the "everyman" of our story, perceiving things in an everyman fashion, as we do. We're drawn into the world of the unusual and the supernatural gradually. But since the movie throws a ton of visual exposition at us from the get-go, I suppose we should just not consider it too unusual? 🤔

By the way, the film script is not accurate here:

There is not a whisper of hooves in this scene unless it's very faint (and I'm pretty sure I'm not deaf yet), and the horse just casually walks into view (not even so much as a canter, and even a horse's walk would be audible), and that's only one of the things that don't make sense. Other elements of the scene are also questionable. For instance, Frodo tells the others he thinks they should get off the road, but they, busily collecting herbs or whatever, don't hear him. He says it more urgently and suddenly they're all up like a shot like Frodo is a drill sergeant, and all instinctively run to the same tree (the tree they all just somehow know has a hollow under it). They don't ask why (heck, Merry and Pippin don't even ask where the devil Frodo and Sam are even going). Are they all attuned to the Ring too, or to Frodo?

Again, my contention here is, how is any of this better than hearing hooves and then saying, "Let's get off the road", then actually seeing in full view what it is that's following them and sniffing around on the ground. Then do your supernatural whammie-jammie or whatever.' The sound of horse hooves is not common in the Shire, and hobbits are naturally shy of the 'Big People' so it would only be natural for them to be wary.

Have you never been standing [wherever], minding your own business when you get a very strong feeling of being watched, or of dread, or even of joy?

I've had weird feelings before, though none of being watched (I'm glad to say). Anyway, I think it's too soon to suggest this with Frodo, especially when it hasn't really been set up. In my perspective, it's just Peej being Peej, not willing to let the story develop on its own, wanting to cram it into the viewer's face.

The horse's screech may have occurred in the spirit realm, not in the temporal and only Frodo heard it. Likewise the blowing leaves are just that to the other 3 Hobbits but Frodo senses more, he senses danger. Eliminate the supernatural from LOTR, and everything not materially explainable is "a stretch" or even nonsensical. Accept the supernatural, accept that "thin places" are indeed real, and many "difficulties" can be reconciled.

The screeches are the Ring-wraiths' (the horses are just normal horses). As for eliminating the supernatural, I'm not arguing against its depiction (that would be weird for a fan of LoR), I'd just like it to see it built up slowly (even given the movie's effects-laden opening sequence). In the book, the culmination is seeing Glorfindel and the Ring-wraiths as they really are. Before this there are mainly hints of the bizarre and unnatural. If Peej wanted to instill horror-movie elements I don't think this was the right way to go. I simply don't think Peej's screeching and blowing leaves is very effective. JMO. But, again, that part is not the only issue I have with the scene.

 

[Radaghast]

I don't mind this scene, and I think it's pretty nice introduction for Nazguls in movie format, especially for those who didn't read the book.
If I'd change this scene, I would just try to somehow better explain that all these insects crawling out of the tree, are not trying to attack hobbits, but trying to escape evil energy Nazgul emits. I think that non book readers, is not getting that part.

There are far worse scenes in LOTR:
- Arwen speaking to Aragorn like he is child that he is only Isildur's heir.
- Aragorn being weak in decision making, and trying to avoid responsibility
- Pointless drama and arguing at the council of Elrond
- Galadriel and Lothlorien vibe like they are undead, with all these spooky green colors.
- Gandalf being weak too, leaving decisions to crying Frodo
- Too much crying through all the movie
- Making fart jokes with Gimli
- Legolas sliding on elephant

... and many... many more...
-----------------
But all is forgiven (including Hobbit movies) after Rings of Amazonian Galadriel Power.

I agree there are worse scenes in the movies (and worse changes), but this one just suddenly struck me as having many odd elements all coming one after the other. I'd never really thought about it before but it just now strikes me as almost risible. Just flat-out silly (as does most of the rest of the movies). Again, jmo, of course.

 

[Deimos]

Seems rather vague to me. Gandalf is hardly specific about them himself in the movie, while in the book foreshadows the Wraiths fairly early. Still, point taken, I suppose. At least it is something.


These tend to happen when Frodo is wearing the Ring, though. Also, I think the movie jumps the gun a bit too much with its distant screeches and windblown leaves. It is too soon to be highlighting this "Ring sensitivity" when Frodo isn't even wearing the Ring. Also, it's one thing to be making excuses for the movie but another to not consider that the books is simply superior here. Frodo is the "everyman" of our story, perceiving things in an everyman fashion, as we do. We're drawn into the world of the unusual and the supernatural gradually. But since the movie throws a ton of visual exposition at us from the get-go, I suppose we should just not consider it too unusual? 🤔 By the way, the film script is not accurate here:
View attachment 35187
There is not a whisper of hooves in this scene unless it's very faint (and I'm pretty sure I'm not deaf yet), and the horse just casually walks into view (not even so much as a canter), and that's only one of the things that don't make sense. Other elements of the scene are also questionable. For instance, Frodo tells the others he thinks they should get off the road, but they, busily collecting herbs or whatever, don't hear him. He says it more urgently and suddenly they're all up like a shot like Frodo is a drill sergeant, and all instinctively run to the same tree (the tree they all just somehow know has a hollow under it). Are they attuned to the Ring too or to Frodo?

How is any of this better than hearing hooves and then saying, "Let's get off the road", then actually seeing in full view what it is that's following them and sniffing around on the ground. Then do your supernatural whammie-jammie or whatever.' The sound of horse hooves is not common in the Shire, and hobbits are naturally shy of the 'Big People' so it would only be natural for them to be wary.


I've had weird feelings before, though none of being watched (I'm glad to say). Anyway, I think it's too soon to suggest this with Frodo, especially when it hasn't really been set up. In my perspective, it's just Peej being Peej, not willing to let the story develop on its own, wanting to cram it into the viewer's face.


The screeches are the Ring-wraiths' (the horses are just normal horses). As for eliminating the supernatural, I'm not arguing against its depiction, I'd just like it to see it built up slowly (even given the movie's effects-laden opening sequence). In the book, the culmination is seeing Glorfindel and the Ring-wraiths as they really are. Before this there are mainly hints of the bizarre and unnatural. If Peej wanted to instill horror-movie elements I don't think this was the right way to go. I simply don't think Peej's screeching and blowing leaves is very effective. JMO. But that part is not the only issue I have with the scene.

OK...we're not in major disagreement... I'm willing to let it go as such.
EXCEPT for your other comment.... that PeeJ is stupid about Tolkien.
I still don't think he is. What he is or, rather, what he has is an outsized ego, and thinks his interpretations of Tolkien are improvements and not just improvements but THE DEFINITIVE IMPROVEMENTS. Has always been true that narcissistic behavior is evident to everyone except the person afflicted with it.

 

[Radaghast]

OK...we're not in major disagreement... I'm willing to let it go as such.
EXCEPT for your other comment.... that PeeJ is stupid about Tolkien.
I still don't think he is. What he is or, rather, what he has is an outsized ego, and thinks his interpretations of Tolkien are improvements and not just improvements but THE DEFINITIVE IMPROVEMENTS. Has always been true that narcissism is evident to everyone except the person afflicted with it.

You might be giving his intelligence a bit too much credit 😆 In any case Peej only read the book because Ralph Bakshi's movie didn't finish telling the story.

 

[Deimos]

You might be giving his intelligence a bit too much credit 😆 In any case Peej only read the book because Ralph Bakshi's movie didn't finish telling the story.

Never knew that.
So he would have made LOTR with all knowledge of it gained only by watching a completed Bakshi's movie?
If that is true then, yes, that would make him ....not very bright.

 

[Radaghast]

Never knew that.
So he would have made LOTR with all knowledge of it gained only by watching a completed Bakshi's movie?
If that is true then, yes, that would make him ....not very bright.

I mean, he might have read it anyway at some point, for all I know, but that's what sparked his initial interest in reading LoR, or so I've read.

My doubts about his intelligence still remain, though, whatever the case 😁

 

[Deimos]

I mean, he might have read it anyway at some point, for all I know, but that's what sparked his initial interest in reading LoR, or so I've read.

My doubts about his intelligence still remain, though, whatever the case 😁

I'd lean toward specifying the areas/categories where he's bright and not so bright.
You can't make a movie like LOTR and still be wholesale stupid.
Yet he made The Hobbit abomination so his "stupid faculty" definitely came to the fore in that situation.

Where I think he fails, and indeed where a lot of filmmakers fail** is that they don't read their target audience very well.
This is glaringly obvious in two instances at least:
1) having Arwen "stand by her man" at Helm's Deep, and
2) Having Sauron appear in corporeal form at the Battle of the Morannon.

You have to wonder... did he really think the [Tolkien versed] fan base --once they got wind of them--would accept these changes lying down?

** A box office failure is not always indicative of a bad movie.
Many movies that failed at the box office went on--after some span of years, maybe only a few --to become cult favorites or just beloved by the mainstream audiences.
Sometimes that failure is simply due to bad timing of the initial release.

 

[d4rk3lf]

I don't think it's a question of stupidity.
It's a matter of having a taste for quality, or not

This is what separate Peter Jackson, from directors like Cameron, Darabond, Spielberg, Mel Gibson... etc.
Unlike him, they (usually) know what is cringe... how not to exaggerate sad scenes, until they just become pathetic.
Is there a worse directors then PJ?
Sure... a lots of them.

Good thing though, is that he haven't much freedom in LOTR (he was unknown director, and producers had to have him "in check" all the time (especially during the first movie (and that's the very reason why it's the best in trilogy, imho)).... when he finally got his hands on Hobbit movies with free hands, we all know how that looked.
LOTR movies has many flaws, but also many stuff in there was done right.

The part of the blame is on audience too. It seems like more then half of them don't care about cringe (don't even see it), and as long as they have nice visuals, they don't care too much about story or characters qualities.
Hollywood sees it, and they are just investing in visuals last decade or 2.
Sadly, LOTR movies success might be the first trigger that turns Hollywood on that path.

 

[Deimos]

I don't think it's a question of stupidity.
It's a matter of having a taste for quality, or not

This is what separate Peter Jackson, from directors like Cameron, Darabond, Spielberg, Mel Gibson... etc.
Unlike him, they (usually) know what is cringe... how not to exaggerate sad scenes, until they just become pathetic.
Is there a worse directors then PJ?
Sure... a lots of them.

Good thing though, is that he haven't much freedom in LOTR (he was unknown director, and producers had to have him "in check" all the time (especially during the first movie (and that's the very reason why it's the best in trilogy, imho)).... when he finally got his hands on Hobbit movies with free hands, we all know how that looked.
LOTR movies has many flaws, but also many stuff in there was done right.

The part of the blame is on audience too. It seems like more then half of them don't care about cringe (don't even see it), and as long as they have nice visuals, they don't care too much about story or characters qualities.
Hollywood sees it, and they are just investing in visuals last decade or 2.
Sadly, LOTR movies success might be the first trigger that turns Hollywood on that path.

"Cringe-worthy" is how I phrase it. And yes there are not a few cringe-worthy scenes in LOTR.
The Hobbit, of course, is just one long (3 part) cringe.

Ditto...FOTR is the best of the three. Much of it is delightfully enchanting... the other two parts, not so much, but appealing for other reasons. .
And (as I've said elsewhere) what he got wrong he got it very wrong; but when he got it right he got it very right, sometimes spectacularly so.

 

[d4rk3lf]

And (as I've said elsewhere) what he got wrong he got it very wrong; but when he got it right he got it very right, sometimes spectacularly so.

Agree, with one small objection.
When you say "he did right.. spectacularly right", I don't think he did it at all.
I think amazing editors, and co-directors (that producers hired, so they are sure PJ not screw it up), did it.
If we look at the Lotr making offs, somewhere I think PJ himself admitted that he most enjoyed the action scenes.
The scenes with Troll in Moria, and the scene with Watcher in the water, for example.
And I believe him. He is great as a director to do this king of scenes... but for any kind of different scenes (council of Elrond, for example), not that much.
I really like the scene with Balrog and Gandalf, and I firmly believe (even if action is involved, but also, sort of drama), that Jackson was not so much involved in that scene... once Frodo creams Gaaaandaaaaalf... you see Peter's involment, right on that part... without that scream, that scene would be even better.
I am also pretty sure he was not so much involved (or heavily supervised) for the whole intro scene, because, to me personally, it looks pretty awesome, and it's not in PJ style (otherwise, Isildur would cry after conquering the ring, and Sauron would scream: Noooooooo).

One thing puzzles me.
The Return of the King is worst of all trilogy for me.
Yet, we have one of the best scenes in all trilogy in there. The scene with Smeagol and Deagol.
And this scene is so well executed, and so different from PJ style, that I am really finding hard to believe he did it.
My personal theory is that he gave that to direct to some editor, with words something like: "Take this scene over bro. Direct.. do anything you want... I have so much work to do on Pelenor Fields battle... right now we are struggling with some effects, of Legolas sliding on.. never mind... just take this Golum scene, and finish it".

 

[Deimos]

PeeJ, as director, has the final say so of the filming of a scene (or re-shoot) but also the final so of the appearance of any supporting props etc.
That is, he could have said of the big-ature Orthanc.... "Doesn't work, doesn't look right, go back and remake <THIS> part of it.
So when I say that what he got right, he got very right, I mean that for some THING or some scene, he came away with a winner, even if he had nothing to do with he actual fabrication of the prop. He and he alone can say at the end of shoot that it's a wrap (acceptable), or not.
So if the Balrog Scene on the Bridge came off well (And I think it came off darn well), I will say that PeeJ got that scene "very right", even tho' he had absolutely nothing to do with the construction of the set and the Balrog and related pyrotechics.
In the same way, PeeJ including that incredibly cringe-worthy scene at Osgiliath with Frodo offering the Ring to the Witch King... he could have decided to omit it (which he should have), but didn't. So (imo) he got that scene very, very wrong.