The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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Anyone excited to see this movie? I'm probably going to see it on opening day next week, I remember my father reading it to me when I was a very small child on Christmas Eve. He was trying to get me to go to sleep so Santa could drop by for a glass of beer and a plate of cookies :D, I think he stayed up all night reading to me. My poor mother was all alone setting up most of the night for Christmas morning.

The Hobbit led to the Lord of the Rings, which eventually led to the Silmarillion and my joy of reading them through the years. The old Rankin Bass cartoons tried, but couldn't get the feel of the book, and those scary looking Hobbits and elves creeped me out when I was a kid. Looked like Moe Sizlak from the Simpsons.

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings series did a great job, especially the extended editions. Spoilers warning ahead for those few who've never read the book.

I hope that the movie can pull off the singing scenes, such as the first one in Bilbo's house, when the drunk dwarves decided they want to clean up their guest's dishes. Talking spiders (Shelob's daughters), a were bear (Beorn), and a talking dragon (Smaug). The two biggest reasons to see this movie, at least for me, are Smaug (in Erebor, and over Dale), and Beorn vs Bolg in the battle of the five armies. Seeing a giant grizzly bear crushing a huge orc in full battle armor in the middle of a vast battle sounds to me like a lot of fun to create, let alone see on the screen. I've read the Silmarillion, and realize that the movie length was increased to show the Council's taking down of the Necromancer's fortress. Three movies? I guess everyone has to make money, even "ailing" movie studios :rolleyes:. If this one does well, I guess we'll see about twenty movies for the Silmarillion series. The Siege of Gondolin, with a few hundred dragons and balrogs running around, all commanded by Gothmog and Sauron would also be a treat on the big screen.
 
I'm hoping to love it but I'm going in with far more reservations due simply to the fact that the shortest book is being split into a trilogy. Will we get three short movies depicting everything in the book or three longer movies loaded with plot and characters made up of whole cloth to appeal to modern sensibilities? I'm already dismayed that Galadriel appears and am horrified to hear that a female elf warrior appears. And turning Thorin Oakenshield into a hunky dwarf? I truly do fear.
 
I have been a huge fan of The Hobbit and The LotR. In-fact, I read all 4 books at least once a year. (With the new year approaching, I'm already starting to get the itch.) I have been seeing previews for the movie, but I have pretty low expectations. I loved the LotR films (the extended editions, in particular).

This is the first I have heard about The Hobbit being a trillogy. What the heck? My first instinct is that this is just a ploy for a heartless film company to make a buck. (I base my "heartless" claim on this.)

I hope this turns out well.

:/
 
Considering that I've watched Lord of the Rings maybe 100 times, there's no doubt that I'll be seeing this one as well.

Here is something to keep you guys busy:

[youtube]zfX1PYv1FEY[/youtube]
 
c10darren said:
I have been a huge fan of The Hobbit and The LotR. In-fact, I read all 4 books at least once a year. (With the new year approaching, I'm already starting to get the itch.) I have been seeing previews for the movie, but I have pretty low expectations. I loved the LotR films (the extended editions, in particular).

This is the first I have heard about The Hobbit being a trillogy. What the heck? My first instinct is that this is just a ploy for a heartless film company to make a buck. (I base my "heartless" claim on this.)

I hope this turns out well.

:/
Click to expand...

There is a restaurant/bar in the resort town of Ocean City MD called the Hobbit, and they have a lot of Tolkein material throughout the restaurant. The hotel behind the restaurant, owned by the same people that own the restaurant, is called Rivendell. For that matter, take a look at any mountainside resort, one out of five will probably be named Rivendell.
 
I'm gonna see it. Looking forward to it. But, Jackson got away with some uneeded changes to the story in the LOTR movies that evidently bolstered his confidence in doing it to this one. It will be cool to see it, but will be disappointing if he ventures too far from the book.
 
Going to see it on opening night, I was really sad once the LOTR trilogy ended but now we have 3 more movies to look forward to.
 
thaeffman said:
Going to see it on opening night, I was really sad once the LOTR trilogy ended but now we have 3 more movies to look forward to.
Click to expand...

If these do well, we might get to see the Silmarillion. Of course, a lot of stories that probably wouldn't go over well. Luke/Leia anyone? Turin and his sister?

TV spot with Smaug.

[Youtube]jTx4_GkKTc4[/Youtube]
 
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SPOILERS



David%20Wenzel%20-%20Beorn%20bearsThorin%20out%20of%20the%20battle.jpg

David_Wenzel_Beorn_zermalmt_Bolg.jpg


Old comic adaptation of the Hobbit, I hope I still have this.

beorn-bear.png


Bolg
Bolg-1-973x1024.jpg
 
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They did a nice job with all the swords in the LOTR. Saw some clips of Orcrist, and Elrond telling Gandalf and Thorin about Orcrist and Glamdring. It's all part of the story, but nice to see some time devoted to the blades. I wonder how Elrond felt about dwarves carrying such regarded swords.
 
I am going to be honest here- I had a hard time reading Tolkien when I was younger. I still do. But I do enjoy the hell out of the movies- so much so I bought advance tickets for the midnight showing opening day.:)
 
stalbot said:
I'm gonna see it. Looking forward to it. But, Jackson got away with some uneeded changes to the story in the LOTR movies that evidently bolstered his confidence in doing it to this one. It will be cool to see it, but will be disappointing if he ventures too far from the book.
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He is going to have to venture from the book. The hobbit has a very different texture from the LOTR trilogy, it is much more of a G-rated pre-adolescent children's fantasy as written. I don't see how he can stick closely to the story and still entice those who loved LOTR. It is going to have to do something with all of those ineffective and bungling dwarves, to make them credible to the LOTR audience.

n2s
 
stalbot said:
But, Jackson got away with some uneeded changes to the story in the LOTR movies that evidently bolstered his confidence in doing it to this one.
Click to expand...

Jackson was pretty faithful to the books. Two of his big changes - no Tom Bombadil and killing Saruman resulted in the removal of the stupidest (the whole Tom Bombadil thing) and the most drawn out (the Hobbits returning to the Shire) parts of the book.

I think the Hobbit is safe in Jackson's hands. A faithful adaptation of the Hobbit would flop - fans of the LOTR movies who didn't read the books would be expecting a much grittier high fantasy experience. The kid market would at least partially compensate.

Filling in the story with materials from the Return of the King appendices will flesh out the movies and make them worth their length. Who isn't psyched to see the White Council battle the Necromancer? Supposedly Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Torro did write some original stuff to try to transition the end of the third Hobbit movie into the LOTR.
 
wintermute said:
Jackson was pretty faithful to the books. Two of his big changes - no Tom Bombadil and killing Saruman resulted in the removal of the stupidest (the whole Tom Bombadil thing) and the most drawn out (the Hobbits returning to the Shire) parts of the book.

I think the Hobbit is safe in Jackson's hands. A faithful adaptation of the Hobbit would flop - fans of the LOTR movies who didn't read the books would be expecting a much grittier high fantasy experience. The kid market would at least partially compensate.

Filling in the story with materials from the Return of the King appendices will flesh out the movies and make them worth their length. Who isn't psyched to see the White Council battle the Necromancer? Supposedly Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Torro did write some original stuff to try to transition the end of the third Hobbit movie into the LOTR.
Click to expand...

Much of what Tolkein wrote was quite violent, he didn't delve into detail on the violence. Gollum was described as eating young goblins (a monster eating the monsters of the movie), giant spiders that want to eat you etc. Jackson can inject his grittiness of the LOTR movies into the Hobbit. From the previews, it looks like he did just that.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Much of what Tolkein wrote was quite violent, he didn't delve into detail on the violence. Gollum was described as eating young goblins (a monster eating the monsters of the movie), giant spiders that want to eat you etc. Jackson can inject his grittiness of the LOTR movies into the Hobbit. From the previews, it looks like he did just that.
Click to expand...

True on all accounts. It seems that the Hobbit will be somewhat more cheery than the LOTR movies, but I guess that makes sense - it takes place before Middle Earth descended [further] into darkness.

On a side note, is that photo of Bolg from the upcoming third movie? Looks like he'd give an Uruk-Hai a run for its money.
 
So what's the verdict fellows? Was going to see it tonight but I like waiting for the theatres to be a bit quieter.
 
saw it at the midnight show on Thursday night and I have to say I was disappointed. I won't say more yet so that I don't spoil anything for those yet to see it.
 
I saw it Saturday and loved it. I've read the Hobbit, LOTR, and the Silmarillion, so I'm a pretty big Tolkien fan.
 
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