New Hobbit Trailer

[RickZarber]

Old Hobbit thread seems to have fallen away, but whatevs, new trailer is here! (I suggest clicking through for full quality!)

SDnYMbYB-nU

Link for HD downloading. (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/thehobbit/)

And what's more, the official site has a flash version where you can choose one of four additional ending bits (http://www.thehobbit.com/index.html#content=choose-your-moment) which consist of: Gandalf telling Bilbo that the dwarves placed bets on whether he'd show up, Bilbo reading the contract, Elrond translating sword runes, and a Gollum/Sméagol moment. (All of which I think are actually better than the "real" ending.... >> )

EDIT: HD Trailers now has download links for the alt. trailers (http://www.hd-trailers.net/movie/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey/).

[Shyria Dracnoir]

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc230/Shyria_Dracnoir/tumblr_m54i2iYfGP1qmxleo-1.gif

[Magus]

Hmm, is that shiny veneer over everything from that 48fps shenanigans? Anyway, looks like something I won't be missing, although still a little confused as to what the third movie is going to entail (if it's going to be that bridge movie, or if it's going to be spread out over three movies...)

[synkr0nized]

I remember asking my parents at some young-ish age if they had any fantasy books and finding an old copy of The Hobbit on their bookshelves (and not my brother's, surprisingly). So you could say this story is the reason why I came to know of Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings. I'm very happy for that.

This tale is definitely a good one, despite my typical eye-rolling at dwarves and dreading what I knew would inevitably happen to Smaug (I often root for the dragon). It definitely made me appreciate hobbits, especially ones as lucky as Bilbo. It's exciting to see them putting the same quality effort towards making a movie for it.

[RickZarber]

although still a little confused as to what the third movie is going to entail (if it's going to be that bridge movie, or if it's going to be spread out over three movies...)
The latter. The "bridge movie" concept went away as soon as they wrote the script, back when Guillermo Del Toro was going to direct.

When it was just two movies, the split was going to occur after the barrel riding sequence. Now it seems the first movie will end with the eagles rescuing them from the wargs and goblins in the burning glade. (You'll notice that nothing that occurs after that part of the book shows up in this new trailer.)

[Locke cole]

Could be Eagles, or it could end after Gollum...

[Amake]

Reverence. Joy. Anticipation. Frustration towards the limitations of linear time.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and the second and third films of the trilogy are productions of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, with New Line managing production. Warner Bros. Pictures is handling worldwide theatrical distribution, with select international territories as well as all international television licensing being handled by MGM. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” will be released on December 14, 2012, with the second film, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” releasing December 13, 2013, and the third film, “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” slated for July 18, 2014.

Nothing left to do but wait then

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc230/Shyria_Dracnoir/tumblr_m3ko5pRdZ61rnvzt5o1_500_zps12955097.gif

[RickZarber]

Could be Eagles, or it could end after Gollum...

Rebuttal:
http://www-images.theonering.org/images/hobbittrailer02/hobbittrailer02-126.jpg


Oh and also, someone did go and put those alt. trailer endings into one video, so if you didn't feel like wading through the trailer 5 times, well, here you go:
BI_sxIzhQh8

[Locke cole]

"the desolation of Smaug"?

What, are they getting to the Lonely Mountain in the second film?

I wonder if they'll try to make some of the third movie the bit where Bilbo ran into some other trouble, "but was never in any real danger".

[Xellos]

Well don't forget, they are also covering a lot of things which weren't in the book. The battle of the Five armies will be there, though that may have been in the book. There is also the whole business with the white council and chasing out The Necromancer (i.e. Sauron)...who apparently will be played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

[Magus]

The Battle of the Five Armies was just summarized, I could see an hour of the third movie being dedicated to it.

Anyway, the movis seem to be making up for a lack of three thick tomes of material with hilarious made-up humor so I'm all for it. Gandalf: Inveterate Gambler. Sting the letter opener. I hope there's like, 40 minutes of this in each of these.

[walkertexasdruid]

I was surpised when they announced that it would be three movies. I mean The Hobbit is not that big a book when compared to The Lord of the Rings. Still Ima watch them, Ima will.

[synkr0nized]

I don't get the need for three movies for a brief story, either, but three seems to be the current standard for, like, all movies and games.

I just hope they do something interesting in all three. Dwarves being dwarves and Bilbo being "clever" could get quite old when stretched out a lot. I mean, thankfully the LotR movies cut out the tons of singing and the like.

In either case I'll have to re-read the story to make sure I remember more of the details. Perhaps I should have done that before making this post.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Dorfs

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb2acpdUYS1qzboqbo1_500.jpg

[Azisien]

I read The Hobbit twice as a child and I don't recognize half the shit in these trailers. I guess I didn't know how to read after all.

[Locke cole]

I recognized a fair bit of it.

Man, that party is imbalanced, though. 13 Dwarf Fighters, 1 Halfling Rogue, and 1 "human" Wizard. Really could have used a Cleric or something.

[Gregness]

A wizard's all you need, really.

[Locke cole]

Someone needs to be there to patch up the wizard if the unthinkable happens and someone actually manage to deal damage to him.

I know, outside chance, but still.

[walkertexasdruid]

Ar least the hobbit rogue is pretty responsible, could you imagine this party with Tasselhoff Burrfoot? :ohdear:

[Magus]

The difference from the book is basically, "In the book when escaping from the goblins it said, 'They managed to escape from the goblins' in one or two paragraphs. In the movie it requires a 20 minute action sequence."

[Locke cole]

The escape from the goblins was like 3 chapters, but otherwise yeah.

[Doc ock rokc]

The difference from the book is basically, "In the book when escaping from the goblins it said, 'They managed to escape from the goblins' in one or two paragraphs. In the movie it requires a 20 minute action sequence."

You're forgetting this is written by Tolkien. The man who put a 3 page report on magical fucking bunnies in the middle of an action sequence.

[Magus]

The escape from the goblins was like 3 chapters, but otherwise yeah.

What I mean is I don't remember them leaping off bridges or Bilbo dueling with an orc or whatever the hell is going on in these trailers. There is no big action sequence involved, they kill a few goblins and escape, until I guess they climb up those trees and get taken away by the eagles. In the middle is the part with Bilbo and Gollum. The movie is filling in the gaps of a tiny book with extended action sequences. There's no other way to get three three-hour movies out of this one book.

[Locke cole]

Wasn't there a battle in the cave with the false back, where, among other things, Gandalf kills the goblin chief and Bilbo tumbles down into Gollum's little cavern?

[RickZarber]

You're forgetting this is written by Tolkien. The man who put a 3 page report on magical fucking bunnies in the middle of an action sequence.

Waitwaitwait. What?

[walkertexasdruid]

are the magical bunnies fucking or are they just magical fucking bunnies?

[Aerozord]

So while reading the hobbit anyone else get the feeling Gandalf was just trolling Bilbo for like the entire story?

[Bum Bill Bee]

I only got that feeling when watching the animated movie, Aerozord.

[Locke cole]

So while reading the hobbit anyone else get the feeling Gandalf was just trolling Bilbo for like the entire story?

For about half of it, I'd say, the other half of which he spent faffing about to deal with various wizard-level threats.

And remember that Bilbo is supposed to have written the book, so some of it may be author bias.

[walkertexasdruid]

Were the magical bunnies procreating? The world may never know.

[RickZarber]

And remember that Bilbo is supposed to have written the book, so some of it may be author bias.

"But you know how things went, at any rate as Bilbo saw them. The story would sound rather different, if I had written it. For one thing he did not realize at all how fatuous the Dwarves thought him, nor how angry they were with me. Thorin was much more indignant and contemptuous than he perceived. He was indeed contemptuous from the beginning, and thought that I had planned the whole affair simply so as to make a mock of him."And from an earlier draft:
"Indeed I think it was annoyance with his haughty disregard of the Hobbits that first put into my head the idea of entangling him with them."

So yes, trolling, but not necessarily Bilbo...


And yeah, Magus, get back in here and explain that thing about the rabbits, 'cause I still don't know what the hell you're talking about. I wanna know!

[Magus]

I'll let Doc Ock Rokc handle such things, since he brought it up.

Glad to see the explanation for why Gandalf even involved Bilbo at all was that he thought it would make for a good laugh. That's some high-level trolling right there.

[Amake]

I had the impression Gandalf's plot wizard divination skills sensed Bilbo had the potential to be a talented thief and contrived to help him realize his genius. Possibly because he had smoked a little too much pipe weed and got this romanticized image of a daring, dashing rogue and forgot about all the, you know, stealing stuff.

Oh man I just realized where I got the idea to shoplift like crazy throughout my latter teens. A wizard did it.

[Aerozord]

Gandalf had a clear bias for hobbits. Granted they had potential, you do not want to mess with a ticked off hobbit and they are hard to corrupt, but over all they are ultimately introverted and peaceful. Not really the best choice for dangerous quests

[RickZarber]

I'll let Doc Ock Rokc handle such things, since he brought it up. Oops, yeah, my bad. :sweatdrop

DOC!

[walkertexasdruid]

Bilbo was the perfect candidate to acquire the One Ring and keep it safe until Gandulf figured out what it was. Though it was more of a happy accident, since it was not on his radar when he began this particular quest.

[Magus]

Yeah, that's rationalizing it backwards. He didn't know it was the One Ring until years later, nor that Hobbits were more immune to its corruption than other races. So it can't be why he brought Bilbo along. It has to be just be that he thought it was jolly good fun. Also high on weed.

Of course, if asked, he would be all like, "OH, WELL. IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE WILL OF THE ERU ILUVATAR, WORKING THROUGH ME. I AM ACTUALLY GOD'S INSTRUMENT. THAT MAKES ME EVEN MORE AWESOME! IT ALSO MEANS I SHOULD SMOKE EVEN MORE WEED!"

[Aerozord]

I think Gandalf was just a hobbit fanboy. You know one of those guys that invites someone along just to go "dude we are totally adventuring with a hobbit, isn't this awesome" even if bringing them along doesn't really make any sense.

In other words I think he just wanted a hobbit along and picked Bilbo because he was the most likely to go with it. Giving only a token concern for how he could help. Like he wanted Bilbo along then worked backwards to justify it.

[RickZarber]

The Quest for Erebor by JRR Tolkien (text from multiple drafts edited together by me)

[This is written from Frodo's point of view, and the frame story takes place after Aragorn's coronation.]

After the crowning we stayed in a fair house in Minas Tirith with Gandalf, and he was very merry, and though we asked him questions about all that came into our minds his patience seemed as endless as his knowledge. I cannot now recall most of the things that he told us; often we did not understand them. But I remember this conversation very clearly. Gimli was there with us, and he said to Peregrin: "There is a thing I must do one of these days: I must visit that Shire of yours. Not to see more Hobbits! I doubt if I could learn anything about them that I do not know already. But no Dwarf of the House of Durin could fail to look with wonder on that land. Did not the recovery of the Kingship under the Mountain, and the fall of Smaug, begin there? Not to mention the end of Barad-dûr, though both were strangely woven together. Strangely, very strangely," he said, and paused.

Then looking hard at Gandalf he went on: "But who wove the web? I do not think I have ever considered that before. Did you plan all this then, Gandalf? If not, why did you lead Thorin Oakenshield to such an unlikely door? To find the Ring and bring it far away into the West for hiding, and then to choose the Ringbearer - and to restore the Mountain Kingdom as a mere deed by the way: was not that your design?"

Gandalf did not answer at once. He stood up, and looked out of the window, west, seawards; and the sun was then setting, and a glow was in his face. He stood so a long while silent. But at last he turned to Gimli and said: "I do not know the answer. For I have changed since those days, and I am no longer trammelled by the burden of Middle-earth as I was then. In those days I should have answered you with words like those I used to Frodo, only last year in the spring. Only last year! But such measures are meaningless. In that far distant time I said to a small and frightened Hobbit: Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker, and you therefore were meant to bear it. And I might have added: and I was meant guide you both to those points.

"To do that I used in my waking mind only such means as were allowed to me, doing what lay to my hand according to such reasons as I had. But what I knew in my heart, or knew before I stepped on these grey shores: that is another matter. Olórin I was in the West that is forgotten, and only to those who are there shall I speak openly."

Then I said: "I understand you a little better now, Gandalf, than I did before. Though I suppose that, whether meant or not, Bilbo might have refused to leave home, and so might I. You could not compel us. You were not even allowed to try. But I am still curious to know why you did what you did, as you were then, an old grey man as you seemed."

He would say no more that day. But later we brought the matter again, and he told us the whole strange story; how he came to arrange the journey to Erebor, why he thought of Bilbo, and how he persuaded the proud Thorin Oakenshield to take him into his company. I cannot remember all the tale now, but we gathered that to begin with Gandalf was thinking only of the defence of the West against the Shadow.

"I was very troubled at that time," he said, "for Saruman was hindering all my plans. I knew that Sauron had arisen again and would soon declare himself, and I knew that he was preparing for a great war. How would he begin? Would he try first to re-occupy Mordor, or would he first attack the chief strongholds of his enemies? I thought then, and I am sure now, that to attack Lorien and Rivendell, as soon as he was strong enough was his original plan. It would have been a much better plan for him, and much worse for us.

"You may think that Rivendell was out of his reach, but I did not think so. The state of things in the North was very bad. The Kingdom under the Mountain and the strong Men of Dale were no more. To resist any force that Sauron might send to regain the northern passes in the mountains and the old lands of Angmar there were only the Dwarves of the Iron Hills, and behind them lay a desolation and a Dragon. The Dragon Sauron might use with terrible effect. Often I said to myself: "I must find some means of dealing with Smaug. But a direct stroke against Dol Guldur is needed still more. We must disturb Sauron's plans. I must make the Council see that.'

"That is why, to jump forward, I went off as soon as the expedition against Smaug was well started, and persuaded the Council to attack Dol Guldur first, before he attacked Lórien. We did, and Sauron fled. But he was always ahead of us in his plans. I must confess that I thought he really had retreated again, and that we might have another spell of watchful peace. But it did not last long. Sauron decided to take the next step. He returned at once to Mordor, and in ten years he declared himself.

"Then everything grew dark. And yet that was not his original plan; and it was in the end a mistake. Resistance still had somewhere where it could take counsel free from the Shadow. How could the Ringbearer have escaped, if there had been no Lórien or Rivendell? And those places might have fallen, I think, if Sauron had thrown all his power against them first, and not spent more than half of it in the assault on Gondor.

"Well, there you have it. That was my chief reason. But it is one thing to see what needs doing, and quite another to find the means. Those were my dark thoughts as I jogged along the road. I was tired, and I was going to the Shire for a short rest, after being away from it for more than twenty years. I thought that if I put them out of my mind for a while I might perhaps find some way of dealing with these troubles. And so I did indeed, though I was not allowed to put them out of my mind.

"For just as I was nearing Bree I was overtaken by Thorin Oakenshield, who lived then in exile beyond the north-western borders of the Shire. To my surprise he spoke to me; and it was at that moment that the tide began to turn.

"He was troubled too, so troubled that he actually asked for my advice. So I went with him to his halls in the Blue Mountains, and I listened to his long tale. (We actually passed through the Shire, though Thorin would not stop long enough for that to be useful. Indeed I think it was annoyance with his haughty disregard of the Hobbits that first put into my head the idea of entangling him with them. As far as he was concerned they were just food-growers who happened to work the fields on either side of the Dwarves' ancestral road to the Mountains.) I soon understood that his heart was hot with brooding on his wrongs, and the loss of the treasure of his forefathers, and burdened too with the duty of revenge upon Smaug that he bad inherited. Dwarves take such duties very seriously. I thought: 'Well, here is an enemy of Smaug at any rate! And one worthy of help. I must do what I can. I should have thought of Dwarves before.'

"I promised to help him if I could. I was as eager as he was to see the end of Smaug, but Thorin was all for plans of battle and war, as if he were really King Thorin the Second, and I could see no hope in that. So I left him and went off to the Shire, and picked up the threads of news. It was a strange business. I did no more than follow the lead of 'chance,' and made many mistakes on the way.

"And then there was the Shire-folk. I began to have a warm place in my heart for them in the Long Winter, which none of you can remember. They were very hard put to it then: one of the worst pinches they have been in, dying of cold, and starving in the dreadful dearth that followed. But that was the time to see their courage, and their pity one for another. It was by their pity as much as by their tough uncomplaining courage that they survived. I wanted them still to survive. But I saw that the Westlands were in for another very bad time again, sooner or later, though of quite a different sort: pitiless war. To come through that I thought they would need something more than they now had. It is not easy to say what. Well, they would want to know a bit more, understand a bit clearer what it was all about, and where they stood.

"They had begun to forget: forget their own beginnings and legends, forget what little they had known about the greatness of the world. It was not yet gone, but it was getting buried: the memory of the high and the perilous. But you cannot teach that sort of thing to a whole people quickly. There was not time. And anyway you must begin at some point, with some one person. I dare say he was 'chosen' and I was only chosen to choose him; but I picked out Bilbo."

"Now that is just what I want to know," said Peregrin. "Why did you do that?"

"How would you select any one Hobbit for such a purpose?" said Gandalf. "I had not time to sort them all out; but I knew the Shire very well by that time, although when I met Thorin I had been away for more than twenty years on less pleasant business. So naturally thinking over the Hobbits that I knew, I said to myself: 'I want a dash of the Took' (but not too much. Master Peregrin) 'and I want a good foundation of the stolider sort, a Baggins perhaps.' Somehow I had been attracted by Bilbo long before, as a child, and a young hobbit: he had not quite come of age when I had last seen him. He had stayed in my mind ever since, with his eagerness and his bright eyes, and his love of tales, and his questions about the wide world outside the Shire. As soon as I entered the Shire I heard news of him. He was getting talked about, it seemed. Both his parents had died early for Shire-folk, at about eighty; and he had never married. I thought that odd though I guessed why it was; and the reason that I guessed was not that most of the Hobbits gave me: that he had early been left very well off and his own master. No, I guessed that he wanted to remain 'unattached' for some reason deep down which he did not understand himself - or would not acknowledge, for it alarmed him. He wanted, all the same, to be free to go when the chance came, or he had made up his courage. I remembered how he used to pester me with questions when he was a youngster about the Hobbits that had occasionally 'gone off,' as they said in the Shire. There were at least two of his uncles on the Took side that had done so. He was already growing a bit queer, they said, and went off for days by himself. He could be seen talking to strangers, even Dwarves."

"Even Dwarves!' Suddenly in my mind these three things came together: the great Dragon with his lust, and his keen hearing and scent; the sturdy heavy-booted Dwarves with their old burning grudge; and the quick, soft-footed Hobbit, sick at heart (I guessed) for a sight of the wide world. I laughed at myself; but I went off at once to have a look at Bilbo, to see what twenty years bad done to him, and whether he was as promising as gossip seemed to make out. But be was not at home. They shook their heads in Hobbiton when I asked after him. 'Off again,' said one Hobbit. It was Holman, the gardener, I believe. 'Off again. He'll go right off one of these days, if he isn't careful. Why, I asked him where he was going, and when he would be back, and I don't know he says; and then he looks at me queerly. It depends if I meet any, Holman, he says. It's the Elves New Year tomorrow! A pity, and him so kind a body. You wouldn't find a better from the Downs to the River.'

"Better and better!' I thought. 'I think I shall risk it.' Time was getting short. I had to be with the White Council in August at the latest, or Saruman would have his way and nothing would be done. And quite apart from greater matters, that might prove fatal to the quest: the power in Dol Guldur would not leave any attempt on Erebor unhindered, unless he had something else to deal with.

"So I rode off back to Thorin in haste, to tackle the difficult task of persuading him to put aside his lofty designs and go secretly - and take Bilbo with him. Without seeing Bilbo first. It was a mistake, and nearly proved disastrous. For Bilbo had changed, of course. At least, he was getting rather greedy and fat, and his old desires had dwindled down to a sort of private dream. Nothing could have been more dismaying than to find it actually in danger of coming true! He was altogether bewildered, and made a complete fool of himself. Thorin would have left in a rage, but for another strange chance, which I will mention in a moment.

"At last I went back to Thorin. I found him in conclave with some of his kinsfolk. Balin and Gloin were there, and several others.

"'Well, what have you got to say?' Thorin asked me as soon as I came in.

"'This first,' I answered. 'Your own ideas are those of a king, Thorin Oakenshield; but your kingdom is gone. If it is to be restored, which I doubt, it must be from small beginnings. Far away here, I wonder if you fully realize the strength of a great Dragon. But that is not all: there is a Shadow growing fast in the world far more terrible. They will help one another.' And they certainly would have done so, if I had not attacked Dol Guldur at the same time. 'Open war would be quite useless; and anyway it is impossible for you to arrange it. You will have to try something simpler and yet bolder, indeed something desperate.'

"'You are both vague and disquieting,' said Thorin. 'Speak more plainly!'

"'Well, for one thing,' I said, 'you will have to go on this quest yourself, and you will have to go secretly. No messengers, heralds, or challenges for you, Thorin Oakenshield. At most you can take with you a few kinsmen or faithful followers. But you will need something more, something unexpected.'

"'Name it!' said Thorin.

"'One moment!' I said. 'You hope to deal with a Dragon; and he is not only very great, but he is now also old and very cunning. From the beginning of your adventure you must allow for this: his memory, and his sense of smell.'

"'Naturally,' said Thorin. 'Dwarves have had more dealings with Dragons than most, and you are not instructing the ignorant.'

'"Very good,' I answered; 'but your own plans did not seem to me to consider this point. My plan is one of stealth. Stealth.3 Smaug does not lie on his costly bed without dreams. Thorin Oakenshield. He dreams of Dwarves! You may be sure that he explores his hall day by day, night by night, until he is sure that no faintest air of a Dwarf is near, before he goes to his sleep: his half-sleep, prick-eared for the sound of - Dwarf-feet.'

'"You make your stealth sound as difficult and hopeless as any open attack,' said Balin. 'Impossibly difficult!'

"'Yes, it is difficult,' I answered. 'But not impossibly difficult, or I would not waste my time here. I would say absurdly difficult. So I am going to suggest an absurd solution to the problem. Take a Hobbit with you! Smaug has probably never heard of Hobbits, and he has certainly never smelt them.'

'"What!' cried Gloin. 'One of those simpletons down in the Shire? What use on earth, or under it, could he possibly be? Let him smell as he may, he would never dare to come within smelling distance of the nakedest dragonet new from the shell!'

'"Now, now!' I said, 'that is quite unfair. You do not know much about the Shire-folk, Gloin. I suppose you think them simple, because they are generous and do not haggle; and think them timid because you never sell them any weapons. You are mistaken. Anyway, there is one that I have my eye on as a companion for you, Thorin. He is neat-banded and clever, though shrewd, and far from rash. And I think he has courage. Great courage, I guess, according to the way of his people. They are, you might say, "brave at a pinch." You have to put these Hobbits in a tight place before you find out what is in them.'

"'The test cannot be made,' Thorin answered. 'As far as I have observed, they do all that they can to avoid tight places.'

"'Quite true,' I said. 'They are a very sensible people. But this Hobbit is rather unusual. I think he could be persuaded to go into a tight place. I believe that in his heart he really desires to - to have, as he would put it, an adventure.'

'"Not at my expense!' said Thorin, rising and striding about angrily. 'This is not advice, it is foolery! I fail to see what any Hobbit good or bad, could do that would repay me for a day's keep, even if he could be persuaded to start.'

"'Fail to see! You would fail to hear it, more likely,' I answered. 'Hobbits move without effort more quietly than any Dwarf in the world could manage, though his life depended on it. They are, I suppose, the most soft-footed of all mortal kinds. You do not seem to have observed that, at any rate, Thorin Oakenshield, as you romped through the Shire, making a noise (I may say) that the inhabitants could hear a mile away. When I said that you would need stealth, I meant it: professional stealth.'

'"Professional stealth?' cried Balin, taking up my words rather differently than I had meant them. 'Do you mean a trained treasure-seeker? Can they still be found?'

"I hesitated. This was a new turn, and I was not sure how to take it. 'I think so,' I said at last. 'For a reward they will go in where you dare not, or at any rate cannot, and get what you desire.'

"Thorin's eyes glistened as the memories of lost treasures moved in his mind; but 'A paid thief, you mean,' he said scornfully. 'That might be considered, if the reward was not too high. But what has all this to do with one of those villagers? They drink out of clay, and they cannot tell a gem from a bead of glass.'

"'I wish you would not always speak so confidently without knowledge,' I said sharply. 'These villagers have lived in the Shire some fourteen hundred years, and they have learned many things in the time. They had dealings with the Elves, and with the Dwarves, a thousand years before Smaug came to Erebor. None of them are wealthy as your forefathers reckoned it, but you will find some of their dwellings have fairer things in them than you can boast here, Thorin. The Hobbit that I have in mind has ornaments of gold, and eats with silver tools, and drinks wine out of shapely crystal.'

"'Ah! I see your drift at last,' said Balin. 'He is a thief, then? That is why you recommend him?'

"At that I fear I lost my temper and my caution. This Dwarvish conceit that no one can have or make anything 'of value' save themselves, and that all fine things in other hands must have been got, if not stolen, from the Dwarves at some time, was more than I could stand at that moment. 'A thief?' I said, laughing. 'Why yes, a professional thief, of course! How else would a Hobbit come by a silver spoon? I will put the thief's mark on his door, and then you will find it.' Then being angry I got up, and I said with a warmth that surprised myself: 'You must look for that door, Thorin Oakenshield! I am serious.' And suddenly I felt that I was indeed in hot earnest. This queer notion of mine was not a joke, it was right. It was desperately important that it should be carried out. The Dwarves must bend their stiff necks.

'"Listen to me, Durin's Folk!' I cried. 'If you persuade this Hobbit to join you, you will succeed. If you do not, you will fail. If you refuse even to try, then I have finished with you. You will get no more advice or help from me until the Shadow falls on you!'

"Thorin turned and looked at me in astonishment, as well he might. 'Strong words!' he said. 'Very well, I will come. Some foresight is on you, if you are not merely crazed.'

"'Good!' I said. 'But you must come with good will, not merely in the hope of proving me a fool. You must be patient and not easily put off, if neither the courage nor the desire for adventure that I speak of are plain to see at first sight. He will deny them. He will try to back out; but you must not let him.'

"'Haggling will not help him, if that is what you mean,' said Thorin. 'I will offer him a fair reward for anything that he recovers, and no more.'

"It was not what I meant, but it seemed useless to say so. 'There is one other thing,' I went on; 'you must make all your plans and preparations beforehand. Get everything ready! Once persuaded he must have no time for second thoughts. You must go straight from the Shire, east of your quest.'

"'He sounds a very strange creature, this thief of yours,' said a young Dwarf called Fili (Thorin's nephew, as I afterwards learned). 'What is his name, or the one that he uses?'

"'Hobbits use their real names,' I said. 'The only one that he has is Bilbo Baggins.'

'"What a name!' said Fili, and laughed.

"'He thinks it very respectable,' I said. 'And it fits well enough; for he is a middle-aged bachelor, and getting a bit flabby and fat. Food is perhaps at present his main interest. He keeps a very good larder, I am told, and maybe more than one. At least you will well entertained.'

"'That is enough,' said Thorin. 'If I had not given my word, I would not come now. I am in no mood to be made a fool of. For I am serious also. Deadly serious, and my heart is hot within me.'

"I took no notice of this. 'Look now, Thorin,' I said, 'April is passing and Spring is here. Make everything ready as soon as you can. I have some business to do, but I shall be back in a week. When I return, if all is in order, I will ride on ahead to prepare the ground. Then we will all visit him together on the following day.'

"And with that I took my leave, not wishing to give Thorin more chance of second thoughts than Bilbo was to have. But you know how things went, at any rate as Bilbo saw them. The story would sound rather different, if I had written it. (He did not know all that went on: the care, for instance, that I took so that the coming of a large party of Dwarves to Bywater, off the main road and their usual beat, should not come to his ears too soon.) For one thing he did not realize at all how fatuous the Dwarves thought him, nor how angry they were with me. Thorin was much more indignant and contemptuous than he perceived He was indeed contemptuous from the beginning, and thought then that I had planned the whole affair simply so as to make a mock of him.

"It was on the morning of Tuesday, April the 25th, 2941, that I called to see Bilbo; and though I knew more or less what to expect I must say that my confidence was shaken. I saw that things would be far more difficult than I had thought. But I persevered. Next day, Wednesday, April the 26th, I brought Thorin and his companions to Bag End; with great difficulty so far as Thorin was concerned - he hung back at the last. And of course Bilbo was completely bewildered and behaved ridiculously. Everything in fact went extremely badly for me from the beginning; and that unfortunate business about the 'professional thief,' which the Dwarves had got firmly their heads, only made matters worse. It was only the map and the key that saved the situation.

"But I had not thought of them for years. It was not until I got to the Shire and had time to reflect on Thorin's tale that I suddenly remembered the strange chance that had put them in my hands; and it began now to look less like chance. I remembered a dangerous journey of mine, ninety-one years before, when I had entered Dol Guldur in disguise, and had found there an unhappy Dwarf dying in the pits. I had no idea who he was. He had a map that had belonged to Durin's folk in Moria and a key that seemed to go with it, though he was too far gone to explain it. And he said that he had possessed a great Ring.

"Nearly all his ravings were of that. The last of the Seven he said over and over again. But all these things he might have come by in many ways. He might have been a messenger caught as he fled, or even a thief trapped by a greater thief. But he gave the map and the key to me. 'For my son,' he said; and then he died, and soon after I escaped myself. I stowed the things away, and by some warning of my heart I kept them always with me, safe, but soon almost forgotten. I had other business in Dol Guldur more important and perilous than all the treasure of Erebor.

"Now I remembered it all again, and it seemed clear that I had heard the last words of Thráin the Second, though he did not name himself or his son; and Thorin, of course, did not know what had become of his father, nor did he even mention the last of the Seven Rings.' It was nine years after Thráin had left his people that I found him, and he had then been in the pits of Dol Guldur for five years at least. I do not know how he endured so long, nor how he had kept these things hidden through all his torments. I think that the Dark Power had desired nothing from him except the Ring only, and when he had taken that he troubled no further, but just flung the broken prisoner into the pits to rave until he died. A small oversight; but it proved fatal. Small oversights often do.

"I had the plan and the key of the secret entrance to Erebor, by which Thrór and Thráin escaped, according to Thorin's tale. And I had kept them, though without any design of my own, until the moment when they would prove most useful.

"Fortunately, I did not make any mistake in my use of them. I kept them up my sleeve, as you say in the Shire, until things looked quite hopeless. As soon as Thorin saw them he really made up his mind to follow my plan, as far as a secret expedition went at any rate. Whatever he thought of Bilbo he would have set out himself. The existence of a secret door, only discoverable by Dwarves, made it seem at least possible to find out something of the Dragon's doings, perhaps even to recover some gold, or some heirloom to ease his heart's longings.

"But that was not enough for me. I knew in my heart that Bilbo 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. So I had still to persuade Thorin to take him. There were many difficulties on the road afterwards, but for me this was the most difficult part of the whole affair. Though I argued with him far into the night after Bilbo had retired, it was not finally settled until early the next morning. "Thorin was contemptuous and suspicious. 'He is soft,' he snorted. 'Soft as the mud of his Shire, and silly. His mother died too soon. You are playing some crooked game of your own, Master Gandalf. I am sure that you have other purposes than helping me.

"'You are quite right,' I said. 'If I had no other purposes, I should not be helping you at all. Great as your affairs may seem to you, they are only a small strand in the great web. I am concerned with many strands. But that should make my advice more weighty, not less.' I spoke at last with great heat. 'Listen to me, Thorin Oakenshield !' I said. 'If this hobbit goes with you, you will succeed. If not, you will fail. A foresight is on me, aid I am warning you.'

"'I know your fame,' Thorin answered. 'I hope it is merited. But this foolish business of your Hobbit makes me wonder whether it is foresight that is on you, and you are not crazed rather than foreseeing. So many cares may have disordered your wits.'

"'They have certainly been enough to do so,' I said. 'And among them I find most exasperating a proud Dwarf who seeks advice from me (without claim on me that I know of), and then rewards me with insolence. Go your own ways, Thorin Oakenshield, if you will. But if you flout my advice, you will walk to disaster. And you will get neither counsel nor aid from me again until the Shadow falls on you. And curb your pride and your greed, or you will fall at the end of whatever path you take, though your hands be full of gold.'

"He blenched a little at that; but his eyes smouldered. 'Do tot threaten me!' he said. 'I will use my own judgement in this matter, as in all that concerns me.'

"'Do so then!' I said. 'I can say no more-unless it is this: I do not give my love or trust lightly, Thorin; but I am fond of this Hobbit, and wish him well. Treat him well, and you shall have my friendship to the end of your days.'

"I said that without hope of persuading him; but I could have said nothing better. Dwarves understand devotion to friends and gratitude to those who help them. 'Very well,' Thorin said at last after a silence. 'He shall set out with my company, if he dares (which I doubt). But if you insist on burdening me with him, you must come too and look after your darling.'

"'Good!' I answered. 'I will come, and stay with you as long as I can: at least until you have discovered his worth.' It proved well in the end, but at the time I was troubled, for I had the urgent matter of the White Council on my hands.

"So it was that the Quest of Erebor set out. I do not suppose that when it started Thorin had any real hope of destroying Smaug. There was no hope. Yet it happened. But alas! Thorin did not live to enjoy his triumph or his treasure. Pride and greed overcame him in spite of my warning."

"But surely," I said, "he might have fallen in battle anyway? There would have been an attack of Orcs, however generous Thorin had been with his treasure."

"That is true," said Gandalf. "Poor Thorin! He was a great Dwarf of a great House, whatever his faults; and though he fell at the end of the journey, it was largely due to him that the Kingdom under the Mountain was restored, as I desired. But Dain Ironfoot was a worthy successor. And now we hear that he fell fighting before Erebor again, even while we fought here. I should call it a heavy loss, if it was not a wonder rather that in his great age he could still wield his axe as mightily as they say he did, standing over the body of King Brand before the Gate of Erebor until the darkness fell.

"It might all have gone very differently indeed. 'The main attack was diverted southwards, it is true; and yet even so with his farstretched right hand Sauron could have done terrible harm in the North, while he defended Condor, if King Brand and King Dain had not stood in his path. When you think of the great Battle of Pelennor, do not forget the Battle of Dale. Think of what might have been. Dragon-fire and savage swords in Eriador! There might be no Queen in Condor. We might now only hope to return from the victory here to ruin and ash. But that has been averted - because I met Thorin Oakenshield one evening on the edge of spring not far from Bree. A chance-meeting, as we say in Middle-earth."

Gimli laughed. "It still sounds absurd," he said, "even now that all has turned out more than well. I knew Thorin, of course; and I wish I had been there, but I was away at the time of your first visit to us. And I was not allowed to go on the quest: too young, they said, though at sixty-two I thought myself fit for anything. Well, I am glad to have heard the full tale. If it is full. I do not really suppose that even now you are telling us all you know."

"Of course not," said Gandalf.

[Aerozord]

first, thanks for reminding me how much I love a good read.

secondly, well while not for the trolling, certainly seems he did just want a hobbit and Bilbo just happened to be his best bet.

Does make me wonder how much of this was thought out and how much was retconned.

[phil_]

That sure was a lot to type. Man, Tolkien could write when he wasn't interrupting himself with pages of flower species on the field or songs.

[RickZarber]

Does make me wonder how much of this was thought out and how much was retconned.Almost entirely the latter. Back when the Hobbit was written, none of the events of the second and third ages had even been thought up (they were all composed for The Lord of the Rings). "The Necromancer" only shows up because he already existed in the Silmarillion, although at the time the The Hobbit was written, he was called Thû, not Sauron. (Incidentally, in the very first version of the mythology, The Book of Lost Tales, Thû was actually a giant cat-creature--which is why the eye of Sauron is cat-shaped!) And there was no connection between the Ring and the Necromancer, nor between him and the dragon. Tolkien merely plucked a figure out of his other stories to use as an excuse for Gandalf to disappear, and since at the end of the Elder Days (at that time), there was no account as to what had happened to Sauron after the fall of Melkor, he suited. But there was no clear sense that The Hobbit was at first actually part of Tolkien's main mythology--although Mirkwood may have started off as being the same forest as Taur-na-fuin, by the time the book was even half-way done it was clear that the story was not set in Beleriand--and only the threads of "greater" works, such as Elrond, the Necromancer, and mentions of the fall of Gondolin, etc, drew it towards that story. Much of the composition of the plot for the LotR was figuring out how those stories connected.

[Aerozord]

I read the hobbit and the lord of the rings and never did Sauron seem like a necromancer. In retrospect I guess he does have alot of the motif of a lich though. Just saying I never personally got that he was supposed to be one

[RickZarber]

He was certainly a necromancer in the Silmarillion, though never, I think, "on-screen".

The Lay of Leithian refers to him as:
Sauron, captain of the host,
the lord of werewolf and of ghost.
Most foul and fell of all that knelt
at Morgoth's throne.

And in fact, early on in that poem, he does cause the phantom of a man's dead wife to appear and trick him into treachery...

And it was certainly he that raised or created the various wights and wraiths and other fell spirits. And the lord of his ringwraiths, the Witch-King of Angmar, was a powerful necromancer in his own right; it was he that filled the barrows of Arnor with wights after he destroyed that kingdom (the very barrow-wights that capture Frodo & co.) Actually, indeed, I forget where they he stated it, but Tolkien did say that one of the reasons Gandalf was in Dol Guldor in the first place was to see if it's lord was the Witch-King, who had not been seen since the fall of Angmar, when he had goaded the last Gondorian King off to his death several hundred years ago, or if Sauron had indeed returned.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Hobbit related swag in the Weta shop, including weapon replicas for a few of the dwarves (http://www.wetanz.com/hobbit-auj/)

All of the weapon descriptions have a bit explaining how they relate to their particular dwarf's personality.

[Aerozord]

He was certainly a necromancer in the Silmarillion, though never, I think, "on-screen".

The Lay of Leithian refers to him as:
Sauron, captain of the host,
the lord of werewolf and of ghost.
Most foul and fell of all that knelt
at Morgoth's throne.

And in fact, early on in that poem, he does cause the phantom of a man's dead wife to appear and trick him into treachery...

And it was certainly he that raised or created the various wights and wraiths and other fell spirits. And the lord of his ringwraiths, the Witch-King of Angmar, was a powerful necromancer in his own right; it was he that filled the barrows of Arnor with wights after he destroyed that kingdom (the very barrow-wights that capture Frodo & co.) Actually, indeed, I forget where they he stated it, but Tolkien did say that one of the reasons Gandalf was in Dol Guldor in the first place was to see if it's lord was the Witch-King, who had not been seen since the fall of Angmar, when he had goaded the last Gondorian King off to his death several hundred years ago, or if Sauron had indeed returned.

ok I should have caught on with that since I know what a wraith is so that should have been a huge hint. Some reason I never thought of them as "dead" just highly corrupted to the point they cease to be human (or equivalent). Never occurred to me that they died and were raised

[Magus]

They basically turn into ghosts over time, I think. They wear the ring so long their physical forms turn into the ghostly wraith-form as it corrupted them over hundreds/thousands of years.

And yeah barrow-wights are definitely undead. I wonder if we will get to see something like them this time around, since they cut it out of the Fellowship movie. Maybe when Gandalf scours Dol Guldur.

[RickZarber]

To be fair, necromancy in its etymology refers to "divination from communication with the dead", and it's current meaning of raising the dead / creating undead is pulled mainly from post-Tolkien fantasy.

Also, dang I want that Thorin's map replica very much....

[Locke cole]

Yeah, a more meaningful word for commanding the dead would be, like Necrourgey or something. But that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

[Aerozord]

To be fair, necromancy in its etymology refers to "divination from communication with the dead"

if thats true I wonder if Aragorn counts as a necromancer, or Gandalf (I think he did that once)

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Was browsing the "Smaug" tag on tumblr for a lark and found this from this interview (http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/tv/benedict-cumberbatch).

http://cdn.shortlist.com/resource/binary/9db1514580c51e803cfd30a2b074ede1/cumberbatch_pic.jpg

[Shyria Dracnoir]

In other news, MONEY

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbhjd7SJJR1rgyiu5o3_500.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbhjd7SJJR1rgyiu5o1_250.jpg

Also, Lake Town

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbhjheVKII1rgyiu5o1_500.jpg

Unfortunately the source video appears to be down because the studio wants to drag the marketing for this series out longer than a taffy pull.

[Locke cole]

I loves me some good ol' fashioned hoards, and that is one motherlode of a hoard.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

DARGON

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc230/Shyria_Dracnoir/553600_4808817902784_1075435502_n.jpg

I know we have NPFers in Germany or at least nearby. Is this legitimate?

[Magus]

I thought they were going to make it not look like a traditional dragon? That's pretty darn traditional.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Honestly, I'd be happy if they don't make another damn wyvern on the basis of "realism." Seriously, we haven't had a proper hexapod dragon in film since Eragon and maaaaaybe Tomb of the Dragon emperor if you really want to call those fiddly little T. rex things arms.

[Aerozord]

I thought they were going to make it not look like a traditional dragon? That's pretty darn traditional.

why not? The Hobbit is why we have traditional dragons*


*I know he didn't invent the concept or the look, but he is the reason its so common in the fantasy genre

[walkertexasdruid]

I am still wondering how and why it would be split into three movies.

[Magus]

why not? The Hobbit is why we have traditional dragons*


*I know he didn't invent the concept or the look, but he is the reason its so common in the fantasy genre

I dunno, I thought one of the people making it said that. I too thought it was stupid, but they said it, I thought.

[RickZarber]

I think that was back when Guillermo del Toro was directing. IIRC, his Smaug design had the wings attached to the hind legs, so that in flight the dragon's silhouette was something like a two-headed axe. Seeing as PJ pretty much redesigned most of the film when he came onboard, I doubt we'll see anything of the GDT designs on the screen...

[Magus]

I think that was back when Guillermo del Toro was directing. IIRC, his Smaug design had the wings attached to the hind legs, so that in flight the dragon's silhouette was something like a two-headed axe. Seeing as PJ pretty much redesigned most of the film when he came onboard, I doubt we'll see anything of the GDT designs on the screen...

lol what the heck...at best I could see arms and legs being wings and like, it looks like a reptilian butterfly or some crazy stuff like that. That Del Toro, I tell ya...

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Stephen Colbert Teases Caemo in later "Hobbit" Films. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stephen-colbert-make-hobbit-cameo-381423)

Any guesses where he'll turn up? If he's not voicing a giant eagle I will be so disappointed.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

I think that was back when Guillermo del Toro was directing. IIRC, his Smaug design had the wings attached to the hind legs, so that in flight the dragon's silhouette was something like a two-headed axe. Seeing as PJ pretty much redesigned most of the film when he came onboard, I doubt we'll see anything of the GDT designs on the screen...

I finally dug this back out of the Funny Image archives. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharovipteryx)

[Magus]

It's so stupid looking. I hope it's dumb leg wings were incredibly terrible for survival and it went extinct way faster than all the other cool looking dinosaurs.

[rpgdemon]

It's so adorable looking. I hope it's totes adorbs leg wings were incredibly useful for survival and it still exists today, as a cool looking dinosaur.

Fixed that for you.

[Magus]

Dammit, I demand that nature's evolutionary pathways be aesthetically pleasing to my human eyes!

Other animals I hope died horrible deaths:

Epidendrosaurus
Stethacanthus
Quetzlcoatlus/Azdarchid

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Denny's creates "Hobbit"-inspired menu to promote film (http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-dennys-middle-earth-hobbit-20121023,0,4853088.story)

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc230/Shyria_Dracnoir/dennys-hobbit-menu.jpg

[mauve]

Denny's creates "Hobbit"-inspired menu to promote film (http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-dennys-middle-earth-hobbit-20121023,0,4853088.story)

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc230/Shyria_Dracnoir/dennys-hobbit-menu.jpg

Aaaand part of my soul just died.

[phil_]

Aaaand part of my soul just died.Really? You don't like themed food?

http://i.imgur.com/NXRMn.jpg

You wouldn't like some Command Seal pancakes? Or a nice Sword of Promised Victory curacao? It's grapefruit flavor.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

I still have no clue what the fuck a seed cake is.

[Magus]

The portions are tiny, just like ol' Bilbo!

[Aerozord]

Really? You don't like themed food?

http://i.imgur.com/NXRMn.jpg

You wouldn't like some Command Seal pancakes? Or a nice Sword of Promised Victory curacao? It's grapefruit flavor.

I have played the original VN, so I'd be really hesitant to eat anything themed after that series.

[RickZarber]

First US television spot!

SZ6WX0EI31Q

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Biiiig article discussing behind the scenes material, including some interesting information on the psychology of the individual dwarves (http://io9.com/5954767/massive-secrets-of-the-hobbit--revealed)

I'm just posting the ones that stood out to me.

Oin (John Callen) is the group's apothecary, hauling lotions and potions and tending to the sick, although Taylor also describes him as one of the group's "old battlers." Callen offers this tidbit of character building he developed with Hambleton:

So we thought Oin and Gloin— Gloin is the father of Gimli, and we decided that probably, I was assisting at the birth of Gimli, and he turned out the way he did because I dropped him on his head.


Bifur (William Kircher) has a somewhat more complicated (not to mention tragicomical) backstory. Poor Bif has a goblin axe buried in his skull, and since we're in a pre-surgical world, whoever was tending to him decided to leave it in there. Bifur is a toymaker and normally a gentle soul, but that axe has left him with two rather pronounced problems: First, he suffers from a sort of foreign language syndrome, and can speak only an ancient version of Dwarvish that no one else can understand. Two, he becomes at times extremely violent, forcing whomever is near him to wrench the axe until he becomes docile again. It's no great surprise that he's looking for the fellow who tried to chop his skull into firewood.

Bombur (Stephen Hunter) is the brother of Bofur (Jimmy Nesbitt) and cousin of Bifur. The -ur Dwarves are peasant farmers. "[T]o us it still means quite a lot to go and take over the mountain," Hunter says, "but we're just going along for the ride." Bombur is quite naïve, and doesn't know what to expect on this journey, but don't underestimate him. He can use his beard—which is braided into an enormous loop—as a weapon. He throws it over his enemies' heads, pulls them into his massive girth, and strangles them. Otherwise, he mostly cooks. While other Dwarves carry heavy armor and weapons, Bombur carries a tiny bag and his trusty ladle.

Bombur is quite terrified of Dwalin (Graham McTavish), as well he should be. Dwalin is the veteran warrior, and he, like his brother Balin (Ken Stott) and Thorin, witnessed Smaug's arrival in Erebor. Dwalin realizes that this trip is going to be much more harrowing than the young Dwarves expect. He's also a particularly violent character.

Dwalin has taken up this quest in order to reclaim the homeland and restore the honor of his people. The tattoos on his head and arms are an illustrated history of the Dwarves, including their defeats at Erebor and Moria, a permanent reminder of all the Dwarves have lost. He grew up with Thorin and is staunchly loyal to his lord. His belief is that you must show undivided loyalty or else you're an enemy. It's no wonder that he believes everyone is an enemy until proven otherwise. When Bilbo shows up and Thorin is less than pleased to have him join their company, Dwalin shares his lord's displeasure. Bombur and Bilbo, on the other hand, get on quite well.

[Odjn]

I still have no clue what the fuck a seed cake is.

Probably one of these (http://www.kitchenparade.com/2009/05/poppy-seed-cakes.php).

[RickZarber]

Another new Hobbit TV spot, yet more new footage / dialogue sprinkled in!
dUfBxB-yC1Y

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Hobbit-themed airline safety video by Air NZ

cBlRbrB_Gnc

[synkr0nized]

So
I just re-read the book today. It took all of, like, a little over an hour. I am not seeing three movies out of the events in this story unless there is plenty of embellishment.

[RickZarber]

It seems that Regal Cinemas will be hosting a Lord of the Rings Extended Edition movie marathon on Saturday, December 8th in just under 300 theaters in the US. (Their announcement page lists the theaters (http://regmovies.com/Lord-of-the-Rings-Trilogy-Marathon).) Tickets are $30 a pop, and go on sale this coming Wednesday, November 7th, at 9AM (the same time pre-orders for the first Hobbit film go live). Marathon starts just before noon, ends after midnight.


I'm kinda torn on this. On the one hand, who knows when I'll get another chance to see these films on the big screen! On the other, 12 hours is a long damn time to sit in a movie theater... and I had been putting off watching my Blu-rays to watch them right before the new one. It may be a moot point, regardless; who knows if I'll be able to get the day off.

[Magus]

So
I just re-read the book today. It took all of, like, a little over an hour. I am not seeing three movies out of the events in this story unless there is plenty of embellishment.

No, no, no embellishment. They ran from the orcs for two chapters, remember? Nope, not a thing added to this.

[phil_]

On the other, 12 hours is a long damn time to sit in a movie theater... and I had been putting off watching my Blu-rays to watch them right before the new one.Bud, I know I'm not as big a movie guy as you despite working in a movie theater for seven years, but just watch it at home. You've got a projector, right? That's as good as what we have. And, as much as those movies were a validation for two generations of nerds, they're not "I'm going to sit still for twelve hours" good. The Two Towers isn't even "sit still for three hours" good for me, but I understand how being into a medium can make good examples of the medium even more watchable.

So watch your jank at home, and don't watch it all the day before The Hobbit comes out. You've got a whole week in December; book club that series.

[RickZarber]

Yeah, you're probably right... But the temptation remains...

In other news, Regal has now announced which of its theaters (http://regmovies.com/The-Hobbit-48) will be carrying the movie in 48fps 3D. (Apparently Regal will not be offering HFR 2D showings--no word on if that will hold true for all chains.) Expect other theaters' listings in the next two days.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Exclusive behind-the-scenes content available through QR code at participating Denny's

EDIT: Tumblr post got taken down but the video itself has been officially posted to Youtube.

rWEn4jF-zac

[RickZarber]

Rolling Stone has the end credits song up for streaming!

Song of the Lonely Mountain -- Neil Finn (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neil-finn-reaches-epic-heights-on-song-of-the-lonely-mountain-song-premiere-20121112)

[RickZarber]

Tolkien Estate sues Warner Brothers and Saul Zaentz Company's Middle-earth Enterprises for exceeding the bounds of their merchandising rights as agreed back in 1969. (http://m.deadline.com/2012/11/warner-bros-sued-for-80m-by-j-r-r-tolkien-estate-publisher/)

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Arguably, digital merchandising has become the norm in recent years the same way print and physical merchandise was in 1969, and that if the estate had concerns that this new direction was overstepping the bounds of the original document, it should have been re-negotiated earlier.

[Locke cole]

I don't know all what the contract says, but they do say that gambling, online or no, is outside the rights granted. So it's less that digital merchandising is exceeding what they expected in 1969, and more that they don't want Tolkien's work on slot machines of any sort, physical or otherwise.

[Magus]

I think the main thing to take away from this is that Eru Iluvatar frowns upon gambling.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Production Video #9 and first video of post-production work.

4vqyzHwnEiY

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Newest TV Spot

7V_ZT6NGd2k

It's going to be a hot one in the old Dale toniiiiight

[Aerozord]

hey is there such a thing as a young wizard? I know in the LotR series that wizards are not humans but a different race and a long lived one. Though I also recall Gandalf was on the young side by their standards

[Shyria Dracnoir]

In Tolkien's cosmology, wizards (http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Wizards) are the earthbound forms of spirits roughly analogous to angels or minor gods known as the Maiar (http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Maiar). The wizards appeared as old men from the first time they incarnated, probably to signify their original purpose of acting as guides and advisers to the earthly races instead of open rulers. While they can technically grow old, practically it occurs so slowly that they are for all purposes immortal save for being killed by an outside force.

Since the wizards all came to Middle-Earth at the same time, any calculation of age would probably be irrelevant.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Unused Smaug design by Peter Konig for the Guillermo del Toro Hobbit (http://awalkinthedust.blogspot.com/2011/08/smaug-as-imagined-by-peter-konig.html)

[Bells]

So... Stephen Colbert is pretty much set to be in the 2nd Hobbit movie... dude is so passionate about LoTR that i'm actually looking forward to see him there, even if it's not a speaking role.

...although i'm really hopping it will be.

[RickZarber]

Two thoughts on that Smaug design:

That certainly looks like something out of a GDT film, yes.
But also, I can't help but see 1998-American-Godzilla-with-Horns when I look at that face.

[Aerozord]

Again this is the book that cemented the traditional dragon into public consciousness. I want Smaug to be the most cliche' generic design possible. Because the Hobbit is why those generic images exist.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Television special with behind-the-scenes footage and cast interviews.

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[Shyria Dracnoir]

Phat lewtz (http://www.filmthrasher.com/2012/12/the-news-bundle-first-photo-from-hobbit_7.html)

[Magus]

GOLD

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Warner Bros. moves to temporarily block release of "Age of Hobbits" Asylum-knockoff (http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2012/12/11/15839646-judge-halts-release-of-age-of-hobbits-knockoff-movie?lite)

"Asylum's argument appears to ignore the connection between the term used to describe Homo Floresiensis and Tolkien's hobbits," the judge writes. "Asylum treats the use of the two terms as completely unrelated, but the terms are in fact closely related: Scientists gave Homo Floresiensis the nickname 'Hobbit' because its appearance resembled Tolkien's hobbits, as described in his novels.... Given that Homo Floresiensis received the nickname 'Hobbit' specifically because of its resemblance to Tolkien's fictional hobbits, the Court finds Asylum's argument that its movie is wholly unrelated to Tolkien's work because it is about Homo Floresiensis to be disingenuous."

"Age of the Hobbits," a film about a "last village of clever, peace-loving Hobbits ... attacked and enslaved by Java Men, komodo-worshiping, dragon-riding cannibals," was scheduled to release tomorrow.

So, ignoring the arguments about copyright infringement Asylum somehow managed to mash up the literary hobbits with the scientific hobbits and throw all of that in with Komodo dragon riding cannibal ape men.

...I need to see this film. Morbid curiosity.

[Bells]

this is the sort of movie that deserves a web screening premier of flamming glory.

On the other hand, i wouldn't want to give money for that...

[RickZarber]

...It has Christopher Judge in it... Teal'c, how did you get roped into this?!

Also, I finally bought my tickets for the midnight showing of the Hobbit! I was worried they'd sell out but then the ticket guy told me they had only sold 28 so far... >.< (This being for the HFR version, that is.) But hey! I'm cool with not waiting in line and getting nice seats!

[Magus]

That's pretty cut-and-dried copyright infringement. The generic public domain term is halfling. Hobbit is clearly a creation of Tolkein.

[Nique]

Lot's of negative reviews floating around for The Hobbit. Whether it's actually bad or not I guess will have to wait until I see it but the content of these reviews is confusing ...

Like, a lot of the complaints are about it 'looking too good' which is just the dumbest 'back-in-my-day' mean-nothing complaint. Some guy from The Sun, I think, complained that three films is too much and was an effort to cash in on the success of LotR, which is a stupid complaint to me because clearly this is not just supposed to be the story of The Hobbit but the story of The Hobbit in the same cinematic world as Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings.

And also within the same review complaints about it being too serious for the original story but too much comic relief and shots of Freeman grimacing humorously, which... ok??? Which way would you like it???

Like, look, here's the thing - Tolkien's middle earth has a huge, complex mythology, and if Jackson has used The Hobbit to show more of that world in his cinematic universe (which is already not supposed to be identical to the original individual books) then I guess I don't really see a problem with that. These reviews sound like pedantic Tolkien purists who have forgotten that the same elements they don't like in The Hobbit were present in LotR (see: dwarf comic relief), and also that The Hobbit as a book is merely the tip of the Tolkien iceberg.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

I don't know, pretty much every review I've read is Jackson has gone up his own ass showing off petty bullshit that only like a small bunch of basement dwelling tolkien nerds would possibly want to see.

[Nique]

Yeah like, that could be the case, but if it's all flash and no substance then these guys could be saying that. Instead they're sounding like they've got some agenda about the movie they wanted to see which is also fine I guess except it isn't really sounding like the objective movie review that they get paid for and also it sounds like they forgot what LotR and all it's extended editions looked like.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

No I think its acknowledged those were shit too and these took the worst bits about them and got rid of the best bits making them even more shit.

[rpgdemon]

Looking too good is a legitimate complaint: It's good to look fake, because as the realism gets upped, you can start seeing that things are just sets and costumes.

Like, it no longer looks like a movie, it looks like people standing around in costume talking.

[Nique]

Just saw it last night. This movie is long as hell and probably didn't need to be but it was still a lot of fun. The dwarfs were not as comically bumbling as I was expecting which was a pleasant surprise. Orcs and Goblins and Wargs are all still evil for no reason but I mean it's Tolkien, so, there you go.

My main complaint is Bilbo's seeming lack of plausible motive for joining Thorin 'n Co. but I can't remember if that's a failing of the book or not. It was fun, it hit all the good stuff from The Hobbit and had a bunch of other tolkien stuff in it with a few action scenes added to fill out the 3 hours, so, yeah, not perfect but worth seeing.

[Locke cole]

Bilbo kinda gets swept up in the whole thing, if I recall.

He sort of gets flustered by Gandalf's first visit, and invites him to tea without really thinking. Then he ends up catering the Unexpected Party because A: It's only the polite thing for a host to do, apparently, and B: he's so taken aback by it all that he doesn't really think to say "get out". Then, the next day, he oversleeps and misses a letter for a meeting with the Dwarves, and Gandalf sort of shoos him out because he's "late".

There's also a bit of hinting that Bilbo wants to go on an adventure more than he lets on. I don't know if it's in the movie, but in the book, when he first has his meeting with Gandalf and remembers the wizard's previous visits, he says "Things used to be quite excit- er... I mean, you used to upset things quite terribly around here."

[Nique]

That sounds like a better transition than what's in the movie, though Freeman plays it all really well.

[Locke cole]

I'm pretty sure the letter, at least is still in the movie. I remember a bit from the trailer where Bilbo's running out of Bag End with a big piece of paper, which I can only assume is that, but I suppose I'll have to see the movie myself.

[Lumenskir]

I'm pretty sure the letter, at least is still in the movie. I remember a bit from the trailer where Bilbo's running out of Bag End with a big piece of paper, which I can only assume is that, but I suppose I'll have to see the movie myself.
He runs out waving the contract the dwarves gave him to sign that would absolve them of all liability for him getting injured/killed in exchange for 1/14th of the treasure they'd find.

I haven't read the book in a while, but his entire motivation for wanting to join in the movie basically boils down to "Well, everyone (but Gandalf for some reason) called me weak and bumbling, and I admitted I would be bad for it, and I have no real idea why it's so significant to all of them, and there's a good chance of me getting maimed or otherwise not coming back, so I guess I'll go?"

I mean, I guess Gandalf says the word Took a lot and tells a fake story about one of Bilbo's ancestors, but it really does seem like he just wakes up the day after the meeting and has a complete change of mind with no explanation given.

[Nique]

Yeah like, all of the time they spent on thundercat-looking orc guy? If instead that had been spent on like, Hobbit stuff and why Bilbo was a little different in Hobbit society or why Gandalf thought he was a cool dude then that would have been a lot better.

[Locke cole]

If I recall, he wakes up the day after the party, and is all "huh. Was that all some sort of weird dream? Eh. On to breakfasts.", and about an hour or so later, Gandalf is like "you didn't even dust your mantle-place this morning, did you?" and Bilbo's like "What's that got to do with anything?" and Gandalf's like "This letter is what.", and the letter's like "We're waiting for you at the inn, we expect you at [time]", and Gandalf's like "That's 10 minutes from now, better hurry!" and Bilbo's like "bu-" and Gandalf's like "nope! Shoo! You'll be late!"