The Culture Channel

As a kid, and even as an early adult, I had never gotten the subtext of the orcs and Urukhai and the Easterlingas and Ghan Buri Ghan and whatnot in Tolkein. (Maybe because I was fixated on how everybody kept reacting to the hobbits and dwarves.) But I have to say I pretty much hated the orc design in the movies. Too slimy for one, and how were they maintaining that slime? I kinda had the impression Mordor and Orthanc were a bit too arid to maintain the swamp creature look all the time. And the dreadlocks bit bugged a lot too. I think the movies bought into whatever coding Tolkein had implied--unintentionally or not--and I didn't like it. (Likewise, I HATED how they turned Gimli into the comic relief in the battle scenes. GAHR.)