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Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style


The old thread was closed, so I've decided to make a new one.

:stare::derp::stare: THE TRAILER IS HERE :stare::derp::stare:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/thehobbit/

THE ESSENTIALS
The Hobbit is coming. In fact we're going to be receiving two loads - An Unexpected Journey, in December 2012 and There and Back Again the year after that - and they're going to be right in our faces in glorious 3D and at 48 frames per second. In this particular inn, it most certainly comes in pints.

Peter Jackson is directing, it's being filmed in New Zealand, and most of the production team responsible for creating the LotR trilogy are back and working on the two films, including (obviously) WETA workshop/WETA digital, concept artists Alan Lee and John Howe, and composer Howard Shore. The script has been co-written by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro.

THE PLOT
The Hobbit takes place 60 years before the events in The Lord of the Rings, and it introduces us to the titular character of Bilbo Baggins, who is visited out of the blue by a mysterious wizard known as Gandalf The Grey. Gandalf tries to convince Bilbo to aid a band of thirteen Dwarves, led by the Dwarf Lord Thorin Oakenshield, who are on a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the dragon Smaug. Whilst being swept up in this adventure, an unlikely twist of fate leads Bilbo to stumble upon a certain Ring.

For those of you not terribly familiar with Tolkien's works, The Hobbit was the first book that he published in his Middle Earth mythology, and The Lord of the Rings was penned afterwards as a sequel. If you want to know a more detailed version of the plot, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit

For the films though, this leads to an interesting approach. Because the filmmakers have the luxury of adapting The Hobbit post-LotR, it means that as well as getting all the Hobbity goodness from the book, the films will feature a fair wallop of LotR material that you will not find if you just read The Hobbit book. I won't go into spoilers but the "appendices" at the end of the Return of the King book described a bunch of stuff that happened during the time of The Hobbit, and framed it within the wider context of The War of the Ring. We're gonna be seeing some of that stuff in the films. Yes, we are going to be seeing an attack on Dol Guldur, led by the White Council :gizz:

A (BRIEF) PRODUCTION HISTORY
After LotR and King Kong, Jackson was seemingly set to direct The Hobbit, but from 2005, a series of legal disputes and financial issues led to him stepping down and the project entered development hell until 2008, when Guillermo Del Toro was hired to direct with Jackson taking an executive producer role.

Ongoing financial trouble continued to delay the greenlighting of the film, and because of this, in 2010 Del Toro left the project. Jackson was eventually persuaded to step up to direct the film after all, leading us to where we are today. The films have been in principal photography since March 2011.

Although he is now no longer directly involved, Guillermo del Toro's contributions will remain in the script and we may possibly see his signature avant-garde visual style in some of the creature and environment designs, although to what extent is unknown at present. With the off-kilter appearance of many of the Dwarves, it's possible that we are already seeing his influence.

SPOILER POLICY
It is very hard to define a clear spoiler policy for a thread about a film adaptation of a book that was published in 1937, however I appreciate that not everyone reading this thread has read the book, and I don't want to spoil everything for them.

Basically I would suggest a spoiler policy of: just use common sense. If we had to black out every bit of text that describes something that happened in the book, then most of the thread would be a mess of black and everyone would be breaking the rules anyway. As a rule of thumb, just try to imagine yourself in the position of someone who hasn't read the book. Is it a spoiler to say "The major villain of the story is a gold-hoarding dragon named Smaug"? Not really, that's pretty generic and likely to be promoted in marketing before the film's release. Is it a spoiler to say Smaug throws a pissy fit and burns down Laketown before being shot and killed by Bard? Yes. Spoiler that poo poo.

THE CAST
Every LotR cast member that it makes sense to bring back, is being brought back, so again we're getting Ian McKellan's Gandalf, Andy Serkis' Gollum, Hugo Weaving's Elrond, Cate Blanchett's Galadriel, Christopher Lee's Saruman, with Ian Holm in a flashforward/bookend role as the old version of Bilbo along with Elijah Wood's Frodo. In addition, Orlando Bloom's Legolas will also be there doing some cool poo poo like tombstoning a Warg whilst leaping off The Lonely Mountain and then backflipping onto a passing Eagle just before hitting the ground.

Martin Freeman is being played by playing Bilbo Baggins.


(Click to embiggen)

The Dwarves are being played by a motley crew of British and Kiwi actors.


From left to right: Jed Brophy as Nori, Dean O'Gorman as Fíli, Mark Hadlow as Dori, James Nesbitt as Bofur, Peter Hambleton as Glóin, Graham McTavish as Dwalin, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, Ken Stott as Balin, John Callen as Óin, Stephen Hunter as Bombur, William Kircher as Bifur, Adam Brown as Ori, and finally Aidan Turner as Kíli.

Other notable cast members include:
  • Benedict Cumberbatch, who is voicing two major villains - both the dragon Smaug, and The Necromancer. It is reported that his work on Smaug also involves performance-capture, though I'm not sure how that is going to work with a dragon.
  • Mikael Persbrandt plays Beorn, a shape-shifter, who helps Gandalf, Bilbo and co.
  • Sylvester McCoy plays Radagast the Brown, one of the five Wizards, or "Istari", alongside Gandalf the Grey and Saruman the White. Radagast is a lover of flora and fauna, and seems to have close ties to Beorn.
  • Lee Pace is playing Thranduil the Elvenking, in a role that will really demonstrate the bitter tensions between Elves and Dwarves. Thranduil is also father to Legolas.
  • Evangeline Lilly from LOST is being introduced as a Silvan Elf named Tauriel. The Silvan (or Wood) Elves are a bit more practical and down-to-earth than the aloof, floaty elves that dominated the LotR trilogy. In The Hobbit, they party and get drunk pretty much all the time.
  • Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Concords had a bit part in the LotR trilogy as an unnamed Rivendell Elf later nicknamed "Figwit" by fans. He is being brought back in a slightly larger role this time around, and his character has the official name of "Lindir".
  • Luke Evans plays Bard the Bowman, a guardsman of Esgaroth with royal lineage. He plays a very pivotal role in the second film.
  • Stephen Fry is playing the Master of Lake-town, the greedy, cowardly Mayor of Esgaroth.
  • Barry Humphries is voicing and performance-capturing The Great Goblin, and is sure to be a memorable villain from the first film.
  • Conan Stevens plays Azog the Orc, a role which pretty much guarantees that we will be getting at least one flashback scene to the brutal "War of the Dwarves and Orcs".

If you want to see WHOPPING HI-RES images of each of the dwarves, then click here:


(L-R: Nori, Ori and Dori - Óin and Glóin - Fíli and Kíli)


(L-R: Bombur, Bofur and Bifur - Balin and Dwalin - Thorin Oakenshield (wielding Orcrist, The Goblin Cleaver))

While we're at it, here's some more delicious hi-res promotional pics:


(Bilbo and the Dwarves in Bag End)


(Gandalf looking somewhat pensive)


(Peter Jackson directing Martin Freeman)

And here is a glorious picture of Gandalf looking really Gandalfy:


Why are there women in my Hobbit?
The book is a complete sausage party, so to address this imbalance they are introducing a new female Elf character called Tauriel, played by LOST's Evangeline Lilly, and Galadriel is coming back for scenes that leverage the extra material found in the LotR books.

THE PRODUCTION DIARIES
If you want to be spoiled rotten, at least in terms of the look and feel of the movie, if not exactly major story spoilers, then be sure to follow Peter Jackson's production videos, of which four have currently been posted:

Production Video 1
Production Video 2
Production Video 3
Production Video 4
Production Video 5

The AICN Set Reports
Quint from Ain't It Cool News is a lucky sumbitch who not only gets to follow the entire production with the crew, but also has a bit part in the film where he plays a Hobbit fishmonger. He has been tickling us on a semi-regular basis with his series of set reports, which I will link to here. Warning - thar be spoilers ahead:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

WAIT, WHAT - 48 FPS?
Literally the least surprising thing about this production is that it is being filmed in 3D. However, somewhat more interesting is the fact that it is the first movie to be filmed and projected at 48 frames per second - twice that of the normal frame rate of 24 FPS. What this means is that the picture will display at an unprecedented level of smoothness and realism. It will feel as if you have been transported to Middle Earth itself. 24 FPS versions of the movie will also be shown where it is not practical to display in 48 FPS. To clear up a few questions about it, Peter Jackson has said this:

From here.

Peter Jackson posted:

We will be completing a "normal" 24 frames per second version—in both digital and 35mm film prints. If we are able to get the Hobbit projected at 48 fps in selected cinemas, there will still be normal-looking 24 fps versions available in cinemas everywhere.

Converting a film shot at 48 fps down to 24 fps is not a hugely difficult process, but it requires testing to achieve the best results. Some of this involves digital processes during post-production. We are also shooting the film a slightly different way, which is a question several of you asked. Normally you shoot a movie with a 180-degree shutter angle. Changing the shutter angle affects the amount of motion blur captured during movement. Reducing the shutter angle gives you the stroby (or jerky) "Saving Private Ryan" look.

However, we're going the other way, shooting at 48 fps with a 270 degree shutter angle. This gives the 48 fps a lovely silky look, and creates a very pleasing look at 24 fps as well. In fact, our DP, Andrew Lesnie, and I prefer the look of 24 fps when it comes from a 48 fps master.

I'll be adding more to this post as developments transpire to develop.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Dec 30, 2011

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Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Stare-Out posted:

It's nice to have a new thread (with a great OP), but what will the spoiler policy be for the thread? In the last one it was pretty mixed, with some people covering even the smallest spoiler and others going with the whole "the book is a billion years old, everyone's read it so why spoiler the story" angle. I read the book when I was a kid, but honestly I've forgotten most of it, enough that I think I can go see the movie(s) pretty much clean. I'm sure I'm not the only person in this situation, so I'd prefer if there'd be some kind of policy set in stone for the thread about it.

very good point - i have edited the op accordingly

Mr. Gibbycrumbles fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Dec 17, 2011

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
Scans of a new article and photos from Total Film magazine:
http://heirsofdurin.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/new-hobbit-article-in-total-film/

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

DS at Night posted:

My only disappointment in the lineup so far is having Brian Blessed in this but not having him play Beorn. I'll live with it.

Brian Blessed is not in this as far as I am aware. Guillermo was considering him at some point, but that went nowhere when PJ took over the casting.

In fact I'm gonna update the OP with some more detailed casting info.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
By the way, if you want your Hobbit trailer spoiled, I have updated the OP with a leaked breakdown of the trailer content.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Colonel Whitey posted:

...except that it's 48fps instead of 24? My understanding is that there's already motion judder with 24fps sources on displays that don't natively flicker at a multiple of 24hz, so I was wondering if anybody knows whether that effect will be more or less pronounced with a 48fps source. Apologies if that was not clear initially.

From here.

Peter Jackson posted:

We will be completing a "normal" 24 frames per second version—in both digital and 35mm film prints. If we are able to get the Hobbit projected at 48 fps in selected cinemas, there will still be normal-looking 24 fps versions available in cinemas everywhere.

Converting a film shot at 48 fps down to 24 fps is not a hugely difficult process, but it requires testing to achieve the best results. Some of this involves digital processes during post-production. We are also shooting the film a slightly different way, which is a question several of you asked. Normally you shoot a movie with a 180-degree shutter angle. Changing the shutter angle affects the amount of motion blur captured during movement. Reducing the shutter angle gives you the stroby (or jerky) "Saving Private Ryan" look.

However, we're going the other way, shooting at 48 fps with a 270 degree shutter angle. This gives the 48 fps a lovely silky look, and creates a very pleasing look at 24 fps as well. In fact, our DP, Andrew Lesnie, and I prefer the look of 24 fps when it comes from a 48 fps master.

So there you have it. It will look loving good either way. The end.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Dec 20, 2011

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Medical posted:

So when these make a billion dollars, what fantasy properties will Hollywood greenlight to try and cash in?

To be honest, thanks to LotR and Harry Potter, the fantasy cash-in factor reached saturation long ago. I'd be surprised if The Hobbit changes much.

LotR also triggered a wave of "epic CGI armies" films like Troy and Kingdom of Heaven that also seems to have reached saturation.

So many of the big properties have already been attempted and largely botched.

The Wheel of Time series seems to be looming, but that's pretty B-grade and a bit dodgy when the first book is basically a plagiarised version of The Fellowship of the Ring. I can't imagine many big name directors would want to deal with that poo poo.

VVV pretty much yeah

Mr. Gibbycrumbles fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Dec 21, 2011

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
So, the trailer is apparently going to be up on the Apple trailers site at 10pm Eastern time, or 3am GMT.

I'm in the UK so will have to stay up 'til 3am :argh:

Just 3 more hours. This had better be good.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
page not found for me too :aargh:

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

El Ste posted:

Yep. Open quicktime, go to file->open URL, paste that link in and voila, you have your Hobbit trailer.

I'm so excited :dance:

YES!!! do this guys it works

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
Jesus, that song was so good I kinda want them to be singing all the time now.

If there was ever any worry the songs would make the film cheesy, I think that one can be pretty much put to rest :stare:

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Nilbop posted:

Oh my loving God the singing.

I can't believe they pulled it off.

Who was that dueling with Gandalf in the ruins around 1:57?

I can't believe they got me that stoked without a shot of the spiders or the drat dragon. I'm very impressed.

Those ruins Gandalf is exploring would appear to be Dol Guldur, and that thing that he is fighting is actually very intriguing - I initially assumed it was just some sort of Orc but if you step frame-by-frame you can see that it appears to have a long bushy beard, which is not very orc-like. It also seems to be a bit tougher than regular Orcs for it to be giving Gandalf that much grief. Fascinating indeed.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
I've just been frame-stepping through the 1080 version of the trailer and actually noticed you get a clear shot at one of the Stone Troll's faces:



It's interesting to see how this obviously shares DNA with the LotR Cave Troll, but seems a bit more human-like.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Teek posted:

Anyone have a screenshot of the stone trolls from Fellowship? Would be interesting to see how close in design they match.

The best image is from Weta's collectible version:
http://www.wetanz.com/assets/Uploads/LOTRenviro3trollslrg.jpg

The nose has changed the most, and the eyes are now more :downs:, but I think it's close enough.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
Holy poo poo, I've just realised who Gandalf is fighting at 1:57, and it's pretty awesome

It has to be the Dwarven king Thráin II, who has been clearly driven mad both by his imprisonment in Dol Guldur, and the fact that he wielded one of Sauron's rings. His crusty appearance again shows the corrupting power of Sauron's rings

It explains the hair, beard, regal-ish clothes and the fact that he's a short-arse.

EDIT: oops, just realised that Viridiant basically guessed the same severl posts above me!

Mr. Gibbycrumbles fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Dec 21, 2011

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

That's a pretty abysmal article. "Gandalf goes to Moria!" "They battle giants!" "Gandalf-Galadriel sex scene!"

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Rencall posted:

- Gandalf meeting with Galadriel (this is not from any books... indicates they're creating some new storylines).

That just looks like White Council members figuring out what to do with this little Necromancer situation, so it's part of the books really.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

kiimo posted:

I got the feeling that young dwarves look normal and get more dwarvish as they age? Maybe?

I dunno. Don't dwarves live like a couple hundred years if I remember my Rolemaster correctly?

About 250 years, although Dwalin lived to be 340. Because he's Graham loving McTavish, and when Death came knocking on his door, he glassed him.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

TheChad posted:

How big is that guy? In the trailer he looked enormous next to the other dwarfs.

Looks badass as hell.

McTavish is 6'2" in real life, which I think is the tallest amongst the Dwarf actors.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

keep punching joe posted:

Don't be silly, Gandalf is some sort of higher being, he's not going to waste his time boning some elf maiden, dude has poo poo to do ridding the world of Sauron.

Tom Bombadil would like a word with you.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
So, anyone else concerned that Ian Holm seems to be shaking in a wierd way during his close-up, and also that they had to use a stand-in for the opening shot where old Bilbo waves Frodo off?

I love Ian Holm and wish him all the best health - but was shoehorning him into this film really a good idea?

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Stare-Out posted:

Are you sure that's a stand-in? Looks a lot like Ian Holm to me. Also it can very well be that the shaking is a part of his performance, and I don't really consider having him in the movie as 'shoehorning' as such. It's a perfect and easy way to tie the LOTR trilogy to The Hobbit movies by having him be the storyteller.

Well now that I think about it, of course it would have to be a stand-in because the Frodo shot was done on location in NZ, whilst Ian Holm remained in London for his bits. And yeah, maybe I'm blowing the shaking thing out of proportion and it is just part of the performance.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

ComposerGuy posted:

I figured they set it up this way to help set up those who aren't familiar with The Hobbit for the *actual* deaths that occur. Namely Thorin. You get them comfortable with "oh, Bilbo can't die...hey I kind of like these dwarves and OH MY GOD THEY'RE DYING"

I was thinking how no-one actually dies until the end of the story and how I'm sure Jackson will want to change that.

Literally the only place where they can make another main "good" character die is during the Necromancer stuff. I reckon we're going to see Radagast get killed by Sauron

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
Guys, the reason we're getting the films in this order is because initially (1995 or so) Jackson DID want to make The Hobbit first, then LotR, but the film rights to TH were split up between different parties and no-one could untangle that mess so they decided to just do LotR instead.

It's actually good that it happened like this though, because the original plan was just to make a trilogy that included TH, i.e. film 1: TH, films 2 and 3, a sort of cut-down LotR that compressed the whole story into 2 films. Bleh :{

Besides I reckon if he started with TH, there might have been a much bigger chance of it bombing because it's far more difficult to sell a fairly whimsical tale about some jolly Dwarves than it is to sell a story about Aragorn and co. cracking Uruk skulls at Helm's Deep. Also, if he did start with TH first, there's no goddamned way we'd have had 13 Dwarves.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

kaworu posted:

He could have easily made a more challenging, thoughtful, quiet film that focused much more on the aftermath of the quest (like the book itself) and it could have worked out really well. I mean, I honestly think that PJ should have followed the structure of the book more closely, and ended the quest at the halfway point of the film. The entire second half should have been one long denouement, including the scouring, and the film should have dealt much more with the characters than with all the epic battles (which actually don't take up too much space in the books at all, really). I get why PJ did what he did, but I'll never fully agree with it.

I would have loved seeing all of the post-Mount-Doom stuff on an Extended Edition in the comfort of my own home because I am a goony Tolkien sperglord. However, the majority of the cinema audience are not enormous sperges, and would not really respond favourably to a story that reaches its dramatic conclusion halfway through the running time. Out of all of the "casual" LotR fans that I have spoken to in real life (and by "casual" I'm including largely the people that loved the films but either hadn't read the book, or read the book afterwards - and yes they are the major part of the movie audience), pretty much all of them found the post-coronation scenes fairly boring or tedious and just an anticlimactic chore now that the ring had been destroyed and all dramatic story arcs had been resolved.

I think the Theatrical version of RotK should have ended after the coronation scene. Even I struggle getting through the Grey Havens stuff if I watch the film in one sitting, and I'm a massive fan of the films and books.

Jackson took a huge risk including just the stuff that we did see - to add anything more than that would have been cinematic suicide.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Zzulu posted:

As someone who had never even read a lotr book before seeing the movies, I thought the battles were some of the weakest points in the movies. Especially the conclusion to each battle which seemed to always be "another army shows up and then the enemy dies in droves". Ghost army sucked and the ending to the battle at helms deep was pretty poor as well with the horsemen showing up and destroying the orcs like they were nothing

The first movie was by far the best and didn't need an epic "army vs army" fight at all

Ghost Army indeed was a cop out, but I'm amazed how someone could diss the TTT Rohirrim charge.

Anyway, the resolution of the big battle in The Hobbit, if it plays out exactly as in the book, risks coming across as just a big parody of the battles in LotR - yes, again it features another big army swooping in at the last minute to save the day, although in this case, they are the Eagles and Beorn.

What the Battle of Five Armies does have going for it though, is the build-up before the fighting actually starts; a stand-off utterly unlike anything seen in LotR.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

kaworu posted:

Anyway, to bring this back on-topic, the point I'm trying to make is that I really hope that The Hobbit turns out to be a lot more like FotR. Like I said before, my huge fear is that the Battle of the Five Armies becomes the focal point of the two films, and takes up an hour and a half of running time, while some random orc with distinctive makeup becomes an important character and as much of a villain as Smaug.

Well you can guarantee that Bolg will get the "Gothmog" treatment in the BoFA. Also there are so many huge action beats in the first part of TH (trolls, goblin tunnels, wargs, spiders) that the first film will probably achieve King Kong levels of action-clusterfuck-ness whch worries me a lot too to be honest.

And yeah, the Smaug finale will be milked believe me. He will be trashing Laketown for ages, whilst other guardsmen try to bring him down, getting slaughtered in the process

Mr. Gibbycrumbles fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Dec 27, 2011

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
While we're at it, Beorn is a bit of an oddball "where the hell does he fit in?" enigma too.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Jesto posted:

Out of curiousity, what things in the movies do the people in this thread hate? Not because they're different from the book, but because they're just legitimately bad to them. Characters, scenes, dialogue, CGI, anything, what grates on your nerves?

My biggest gripe is probably when people spergrage about EE scenes that suck. I always feel compelled to say "Duh...why do you think they were cut in the first place?" Most of the added EE scenes in RotK are piss-poor imo.

As for theatrical things that suck - I don't really have much of a list. I would say that I'm a bit disappointed in the rather obvious and cartoony design of the Ents - I can't remember the artist but I'm always drawn to a more humanoid depiction of the ents, and one that recalls Tolkien's original description of them looking a bit "troll-like" instead of the literal walking trees we got in the films.

I do not have an issue with the idea of the ghost army winning the Pelennor, but I do have a problem with the "god-mode" invinci-bubbles way in which it was realised.

I always cringe at Frodo's mouthful of semen after getting pegged by Shelob.

Oh and all the fake hobbit deaths throughout the trilogy (especially the ones in FotR) seem really stupid now.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
"The world is divided into those who watched the Rankin/Bass version of the Hobbit as a small child, and those who will never watch it." - The Sunday Times.


(Actually the Sunday Times never said that, but bonus points if you know the actual quote I'm bastardising).

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
Ok, I bet Jackson will not be able to resist putting in a reference to Moria at the end of Hobbit 2 - maybe something like Balin cheerfully boasting that now they've reclaimed Erebor, it's time to make plans to retake Moria! I bet also we'll get an ominous reaction face from Gandalf.

Well I think it'll be cool.

Edit: Also, we know he's filming some Battle of Azanulbizar stuff (they've cast Azog), so I'd be intrigued to know if he'll even be able to restrain himself from throwing in some Balrog stuff at the end of that.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Dec 28, 2011

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
If the film rights to The Silmarillion ever see the light of day it will basically give whichever studio acquires it a license to print money. I would imagine with a property of that caliber, they will make at least one trilogy of films based on parts of the Sil before they even think about doing a TV series.

I imagine Jackson will executive produce - I cannot imagine him wanting to spend any more of his life directing Middle Earth films, such is the monumental effort it demands.

I wonder who they'll recast to play Gandalf, assuming a Sil film is at least say 10 years off...

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Geekboy posted:

I hate you all for stoking my secret dream of seeing the Silmarillion adapted by Peter Jackson and company. It will never, ever happen but oh, if it did . . .

I, too, would also enjoy seeing Peter Jackson's visualisation of the city of Gondolin falling to Morgoth's army of orcs, balrogs and dragons.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

REY DE LA PLAYA posted:

There will never be a Silmarillion film. The stories are too similar to what we've already seen. The Hobbit itself is a risk considering it shares almost note for note the same structure as LOTR.

Money doesn't work like that. Did I say money? I meant cinema.

Seriously how is The Hobbit even remotely a risk? It's probably the least risky proposition in cinematic history. In fact WB are so confident in it that they've given it a budget of half a billion dollars american.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Dec 30, 2011

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Oasx posted:

You simply put "From the director of The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings" on the trailer and movie poster. Free money.

I would give my firstborn for PJ to adapt the Sil but realistically it will be someone else.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Erwin posted:

But Jackson is probably the only director working today that has asperger's read the Silmarillion.

Del Toro is very spergin' too, and he read the Sil and Unfinished Tales as part of his preparation for The Hobbit. GDT would be an option as long as his experience on TH hasn't put him off the whole Tolkien thing.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

ComposerGuy posted:

I got the impression that Dwarves live about as long as the Dunedain Men did.

Dwarves live to about 250, except for Dwalin, who lived to the age of 340 because Tolkien made a typo he's hard as gently caress.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style

Olibu posted:

Just wanted to point out even though it's a few pages back that Sam did not hand it over immediately. He briefly had a vision of taking over Mordor and filling it all in as a gigantic garden that he will tend, before realizing how dumb that is since he is just a hobbit and gives it back to Frodo.

I wished Sam had followed through with this actually. I always imagined him with a huge pair of garden shears, just sort of waving them around, a bit like when Sauron is waving his mace around on the battlefield in the FotR film prologue - but this time instead of bodies flying, it's weeds and garden pests, with nearby hedges and trees straightening and trimming themselves the gently caress up because if they don't, Samwise The Strong is going to come over there and ruin their goddamned day.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
The Hobbit was very violent for a children's story considering you have the violent decapitation of the goblin king, wolves and goblins being burned alive, Bilbo stabbing the poo poo out of an army of giant spiders, the Battle of the Goddamned Five Armies, not to mention Smaug razing an entire town to the ground, along with all the horrible burning deaths that would seemingly imply

It's a book for goony spergspawn that like to read about things that stab other things, so let's not pretend this is Telletubbies that we're dealing with here.

Mr. Gibbycrumbles fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Jan 3, 2012

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Mr. Gibbycrumbles
Aug 30, 2004

Do you think your paladin sword can defeat me?

En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style
quote != edit ffs

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