Topic: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

[knightstorm]

The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey - Official Trailer

The trailer looks good, but I'm a little disappointed that they put in unnecessary Galadriel scenes so that Cate Blanchett can have a role in the film.

[Andromeda]

I believe they're going to do some of the stuff going on in the rest of the world so they can pad it out to two movies.  So, Galadriel and Gandalf may be about preparing to deal with the Necromancer.  Plus I noticed the cast list also includes some First Age characters (say Elros, Elrond's human brother). 

[762_XC]

I would expect some backstory scenes, as in the Last Alliance scene at the beginning of Fellowship.

And it did look like Gandalf was in Dol Guldur in the one scene (remarkable how much that looks like Dol Guldur in LoTRO).

[knightstorm]

Maybe I'm just jaded because they replaced Glorifindel with Arwen in LOTR so that Liv Tyler could have a bigger role.

[Dracho]

I think I read somewhere that they did it like the trilogy.. all the filming at once, but then 2 movies released 1 year apart.

[Andromeda]

Glorfindel-Arwen bugged me at first, but really Glorfindel didn't do much.  It would have just added another bit part voice role.  The thing that bugged me the most about the Arwen flight from the nazgul (okay other than removing Frodo's heroic stand at the river) was that she cut her cheek while riding.  I just can't see that happening to an elf in the forest.

[knightstorm]

what bugged me wasn't so much that they got rid of Glorifindel, its that they drastically altered Arwen's character.  She's supposed to be a dainty princess, not a feminist hero warrior woman.  It also makes Eowyn have less of an impact in the Two Towers because there's less of a contrast between the two.

[762_XC]

I'm just glad she didn't show up at Helm's Deep like Jackson wanted her to. Bad enough Haldir was there (while Lorien was under siege).

[Dracho]

My biggest complaint with the trilogy was the removal of the Scouring of the Shire.  That's the culmination of the whole story where the Hobbits grow into strong, self-sufficient beings who can handle problems they cowered from at the beginning of the story.

[762_XC]

It would have been nice to see, but far worse in my mind were the major character changes - Faramir, and Treebeard in particular. Both changes were completely gratuitous and unnecessary, and had nothing to do with pacing or brevity.

[knightstorm]

My biggest complaint with the trilogy was the removal of the Scouring of the Shire.  That's the culmination of the whole story where the Hobbits grow into strong, self-sufficient beings who can handle problems they cowered from at the beginning of the story.

I agree about how it was wrong to remove it, but I disagree about the reason.  The hobbits really didn't seem to cower that much in the books.  I also feel that its symbolic of the main theme of the story since the final battle of the war is fought not by men or elves, but by halflings.  And as 762 pointed out, what makes it worse is that it was removed because Jackson didn't like the scene.

[Dracho]

In the books Tolkien is good at writing the Hobbits as afraid when their adventure begins.  When they scoured the Shire they were not afraid, just angry and determined.

[knightstorm]

I interpreted it as they were more reluctant to leave home than afraid.

[Andromeda]

The movies were great.  They weren't an exact retelling of the books.  Any movie that has been an exact retelling has been hard for me to watch - boring. 

I like to think of it as a story told by a human some decades later (not a hobbit or the scouring of the shire would be in it) who never read the Red Book but had the story passed down from his father and his father's father, etc., (Beregond of the guard, say). 

Yeh, characters were different.  Scenes were different.  I'd rather have the movie different than not at all.

[knightstorm]

Like I said, part of my problem with the changes to Arwen have to do with the fact that reduced the contrast between her and Eowyn.  That said, The Hobbit will be a winner as long as they include this song in the end credits.

Leonard Nimoy - The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins [FULL VERSION] - best quality

[Andromeda]

nononononononononoooo

[marstone]

The movies were great.  They weren't an exact retelling of the books.  Any movie that has been an exact retelling has been hard for me to watch - boring. 

I like to think of it as a story told by a human some decades later (not a hobbit or the scouring of the shire would be in it) who never read the Red Book but had the story passed down from his father and his father's father, etc., (Beregond of the guard, say). 

Yeh, characters were different.  Scenes were different.  I'd rather have the movie different than not at all.

Problem with any movie based on a book is that you have to cut content to fit the time frame of a movie.  Even with the super long versions of each, you don't have time.  So characters are rolled together, scenes are blended so overall you get the story, but not exactly the same one. 

But I can understand how people can react.  If I see a movie first then read the book, I usually like the movie better.  Same with reading the book first, then seeing the movie, I like the book better.

[Sirgod]

hehe.

[Andromeda]

That's good.

[knightstorm]

Does Gollum have aides also?