I appreciate all the comments everyone.
I do tend to favor manufacturer's recommendations the vast majority of the time, and coming from a technical/engineering background myself, I think that that's generally a good practice.
However, in this case, 12-years/120,000-miles seems, to me, to be a reeeeeeealy long time to leave a transmission unmaintained, especially since there appears no way for the end-user to even monitor the fluid level of the transmission, nor to check the fluid itself for any suspended detritus or for degredation of the fluid itself. This, to me, goes against all common sense and intuition.
I/we passed on our old vehicle to a family member when we got this one. That car was 14-1/2 years old, with under 80,000-miles on it. I don't remember the recommended interval in the manual, I think it was about every 30-40,000-miles, but I changed the tranny fluid & filter about every 10,000-miles(2-years),(I could regularly check the level/color/smell/and "feel" of the fluid, and I could usually tell when it needed to be done), and the oil(synthetic) and filter every 2,000-2,500-miles. Did I waste my money, maybe, but I never had a single engine/tranny problem with that car, ever. Same for the car I had before that, maintained in similar fashion, ~ 8 years ~145,000-miles, passed on to friends, and it was still running and being used 5-6 years later.
While I may trust the manufacturer's guideline/schedule, I'm uncomfortable with it this time, and the idea of having no way to check the level and quality of the fluid. I also don't find most dealerships very concientious nor trustworthy(at least not in my area), so being forced to be only able to have it done there doesn't make me feel very confident either.
Again, thanks for all your thoughts and comments, they are all helpful and will aid in my decision making.
Thanks!!
Joe