THE LORD OF THE RINGS : 178min. 2001.

[John]

I've never read the books. Another thing; why wouldn't Gandalf touch the ring? Others did with no ill effects, so why wouldn't he touch it?

[Andrew]

For some reason hobbits are fairly resistant to the ring's evil powers.  It seems that the more ambitious you are, the more the ring affects you.  Hence Boromir was influenced by it even at a distance.

Another thing that few people know is that Gandalf is not human.  He is from Valinor and a being more like the Valar or, perhaps, the elves.  Their true name (the wizards) is the Istari.  If you have ever played Starcraft, one of the Protos says something that sounds like "Istari" when you click on them.  I always thought that was neat.

[peter johnson]

Oh, well, I just read the books again a few months ago, so I may or may not have some helpful comments --
Gandalf would not touch the ring because of his non-human nature.  As will be revealed in the films to come, Gandalf is more odd even than the Elves.  Were he to touch the ring, it would conceivably infect him with irresistable temptation to possess it & then -- as he very well knows -- it would eventually possess him.
I heartily recommend to everyone to read the books themselves.  Tolkien was a linguist, a historian, a philologist, and the premiere translator of the Icelandic Sagas into the English language.  All the books of the series are very much based upon the Icelandic Sagas.
The form of the stories is that of a single moment in thousands of years of history to be and history performed.  Tolkien's true master-stroke was to create an entire artificial scholastic history of the texts & their perspective/place in space & time.  It is very worth digesting the appendices at the end of "The Return of The King".
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the individual Hobbits will become very very distinct individuals as the films progress, as Jackson is staying quite faithful to the text & the destinies of Frodo, Samwise(Sam), Peregin(Pippin), and Meriadoc(Merry) are quite distinct.  They will be separated in the films to come, & at that point may have a chance to shine forth in their own right a bit more.
Chirstopher Lee (Sauruman) says in his autobiography (Tall, Dark, & Gruesome -- Midnight Marquee Press) -- published many years before the film was even a gleam in Jackson's eyes -- that one of his rituals is to read the whole Tolkien canon in its entirety every year.  How very very very perfect for him to be in this, though he originally saw himself as Gandalf, he is extremely happy with Ian McClellan's (Not Ian Holm -- also a very great actor, but not playing Gandalf here)performance.
peter johnson

[J.R.]

I felt that was the message of LOTR: Keep it simple. Sauron and Saruman are evil because they want nothing more than to possess absolute power. The Humans are ambiguous because they lead somewhat simple lives yet desire power. The Hobbits and Elves lead simple lives and do not want power, so they are the knoblest and purest of the races.

A thought: I hope Peter Jackson continues to keep the thinly-veiled pot references in. Nothing calms a Hobbit down like a good puff of pipe-weed.