Speaking as a 'print fan', I don't have a problem with adaptations in general, just adaptations done 'badly'. The BBC Radio version of LOTR from the 80s was excellent, but their attempt to do The Hobbit back in the 60s wasn't much good. There's much to enjoy in the Jackson films of LOTR, but the type of flaw that has blighted his version of The Hobbit was already there to a lesser extent in the previous trilogy - good actors saddled with a clunky script, silly additions to the plot, over-emphasised battles, crudely altered characters, cringeworthy attempts at humour, and a general lack of subtlety. An adaptation doesn't have to follow the source slavishly to be good (see Game of Thrones for a really intelligent treatment that frequently takes major liberties with the novels), but it has to preserve something of the spirit of the original to really work for those who love the books (not just the popcorn crowd).
Footnote, after all these years, having read the novels multiple times, once to my daughter before the films first came out, I just recently had an in-story epiphany. It always seemed curious and whimsical that Gandalf was so adamant about Bilbo being included in the quest. But think -- that simple decision set in motion a chain of events that after many years leads to the destruction of the One Ring -- something that probably could not have happened otherwise. How did Gandalf know?
There are hints about this in various places:
Gandalf to Frodo:
'Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was _meant_ to find the Ring, and _not_ by its maker. In which case you also were _meant_ to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought.'
Gandalf on planning the quest of Erebor in the Shire:
'It was a strange business. I did no more than follow the lead of "chance", and made many mistakes on the way.'
Gandalf on Thrain's map and key:
'...I suddenly remembered the strange chance that had put them in my hands; and it began now to look less like chance'
Gandalf on his choice of Bilbo:
'I knew in my heart that Bibo must go with him, or the whole quest would be a failure - or, as I should say now, the far more important events by the way would not come to pass'
Gandalf on happening to meet Thorin at just the right time to set everything in motion:
'A chance-meeting, as we say in Middle-earth'.
I think all this implies that apparently random events are getting the occasional nudge from a Higher Power, and that Gandalf in particular (as a member of an 'angelic' order in accord with the Divine Plan, albeit limited by his human incarnation) is getting the odd subtle hint (more of a feeling rather than any sort of direct instruction) on how best to proceed with his mission.
