[lordfoom]

There is even an active sub-reddit of fans: https://old.reddit.com/r/GloriousTomBombadil/

And his absence from the films was remarked upon, negatively in my circles.

[Trasmatta]

> And his absence from the films was remarked upon, negatively in my circles.

Yeah, same. On Tolkien forums in the early to mid 2000's, I think these were the most commented on complaints about the movies:

* No Tom Bombadil

* No Scouring of the Shire

* Movie Faramir vs book Faramir

* The Ents deciding to not help Merry and Pippin at first (tbh, this is the one that still gets me the most. It sort of ruined a key attribute of the Ents just for a tiny bit of extra tension for a short scene.)

I'm probably missing some, but those were the ones I remember coming up the most.

[teddyh]

Don’t forget the how the entire character of Gimli the dwarf was replaced with some sort of clown.

[philbarr]

No Saruman vs Gandalf rematch in the original films. It was included in the director's cut but then you could see why they left it out.

[ghaff]

Well, in literary fandom generally, anything other than faithful transcription from page to screen often generates outrage.

[ncmncm]

I was mainly irritated that the ents had knees.

That the whole Sauron business was a local and temporary nuisance seems central to the roles of Tom B and the ents. The ents' complaint was, in the end, only with Saruman.