Official The Hobbit thread

[Ponyboy]

And guess when Peter had time to do that?

 

[Boom]

If they need the time, I'd rather they take it.

The Blu-Rays of the theatrical editions did not impress me. I want the best product they can deliver. If that means waiting until 2012 or 2013, so be it.

 

[Solidus]

I bought the theatrical on blu because I'm impatient, the picture was not the best and I see the EE's as the definitive version. If they are ready this year I'll take em. But I agree with Boom I want the best PQ possible.

Which got me wondering of running time for these two films. I could not imagine that each of them would be 3 hours, maybe but I'm thinking each 2 and a half hours. Wonder if they would even do EE's with these ones.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Sadly, I don't think Fellowship can be improved. The problem is with the source. Fellowship will always look like crap.

 

[Octoberist]

I wouldn't go that far as saying that it looks like crap or can't be cleaned up. It just need a loving transfer.

 

[regwec]

I actually always got the feeling that the Gollum from the Hobbit was still more sane than how we see him in LOTR.

He even shows semblances of real intelligence with the riddles he makes Bilbo go through.

While he's always been a conniving little thing he omitted a more mannered sense of terror. Especially with his display of intelligence on how he was planning to trick/stall Bilbo with the riddles.

He was terrifying not because of his insanity (which hadn't fully form quite yet in the Hobbit) which LOTR relied on and turned into comic relief at times. Not a problem I have but I hope Jackson makes this distinction between the time periods.

I personally think the opposite is true- after all, Gandalf says at the Council of Elrond that Gollum began to recover from the ring's influence once Bilbo took it from him. The Gollum of The Hobbit is completely consumed by the ring: he has been unable to leave his dark, dank hiding place because even sunlight burns him. He was unable to pursue Bilbo into the outside world for that reason.

Once the ring was withdrawn, Gollum began to gather himself. He left the dark caves and regained his tolerance of first moonlight and then sunlight. He remained obsessed by the ring, and was later traumatized by torture in Mordor, but I think he had begun to regain slivers of his "humanity". After all, he comes along at some pace once he joins Frodo and Sam, though the ring and events conspire to push him back over the edge.

So, I would say that when Bilbo met him, Gollum was at his lowest, most murderous, most bestial ebb.

 

[Marx]

Also, hadn't he been supposedly tortured in Mordor for a while after Hobbit? Probably took a toll on him.

I believe so.

 

[superkong 500]

Sadly, I don't think Fellowship can be improved. The problem is with the source. Fellowship will always look like crap.

No I think they just did a ****** transfer. good thing I didnt buy them. Specially fellowship being my favorite movie of all time. I hope the EEs have a great transfer. If they can clean up Aliens and make it look better than ever before with all the noise and grain it had from the film stock, Fellowship and the other two films should be a walk in the park by comparison. Theres no excuse.

 

[Octoberist]

I was wondering why on Earth would anybody buy the blurays. Aren't they even barebones?

 

[Angel_Faerie]

[YT]mbW-Zv_kR5Q&feature=related[/YT]

Sorry to derail the thread a bit, but I found this on YouTube and had to post it. Seeing it made me so much more saddened that Andy wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for his work because his performance was recreated digitally. He worked his ass off for those movies, bruising himself, hurting his throat, diving into ice-cold water. It isn't fair. I can't wait to see him in The Hobbit. He's probably relieved his role isn't as big so he doesn't have to do as much.

 

[GreenKToo]

I hope gollum as shown as the terrifying monster that he is but I have a feeling jackson will tone him down somewhat because of kids..I hope not, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I don't think he will. The writers aren't stupid that way. Listening to them, especially Boyens, they know better.

The had ****ing heads launch out of a catapult and land on people in the third film. Hardly kid friendly. Being 11 when I saw that I loved it and was repulsed.

 

[DarkKnight88]

To be fair, The Hobbit is a book that was written for children. The Lord of the Rings was a completely other matter. But now Peter Jackson has the difficult balance of keeping that innocence that is inherent in The Hobbit book but also not disappoint the movie fans of Lord of the Rings. But The Hobbit should definitely not be as "brutal" as The Lord of the Rings, if that makes sense.

 

[Solidus]

Ehhh I agree and disagree at the same time on this.

I don't know about the "innocence" so much. Yes it was more of an adventure but there was a lot of "impending doom" and terrible things that happened to Bilbo and crew. I mean from the trolls as well to Gollum (as some of us were discussing he was more evil and sinister in that part then he was in all of LOTR) to Smaug himself.

I agree that the narrative and some what more straight forward "adventure" did have more of an appeal with children and it was written for that. But a lot of the content (at least maybe by today's standards) is pretty violent at times. With the Battle of the Five Armies the giant spiders ect. I'm not denying it was a children book, but quite a dark one at that. Maybe in '37 it was not considered so.

In LOTR there are many instances of giant battles where the violence was not explicitly explained however PJ showed the more nitty gritty of some of the battles. Which I'm sure with the battle of the Five Armies and the battle at Dol Guldur it will be the same.

The Hobbit was for sure written for children with it's more simplistic nature and straight foward adventure. LOTR definitely brought in more complex ideas and multiple story lines. And definitely was much more in depth of pushing us into the world of Middle Earth.

So with The Hobbit we now are getting things from the appendix and so forth so with Dol Guldur and other things I have a feeling it will feel the same (to a point) as LOTR. Yes there is no overall impending doom in The Hobbit such as Sauron taking over the world. However with Dol Guldur and Sauron as the necromancer we could have more of a fearful story of Sauron's rise to power (or attempt to).

I know I'm rambling but I agree it was a children story in its narrative form, it's just a lot of the subject matter, and now with the mixture of the Necromancer ect, I think LOTR and The Hobbit will be on the same level.

I never saw The Hobbit as a story of innocence I guess either, to me it was some one who feared the outside world and is shoved out into a violent and dangerous world.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Gino Acevedo tells me that we won't be disappointed with Smaug's design..just saying

 

[Dark Sentinel]

And I was talking with Dean Wright last night, he says that Alan Lee is going to be a VFX Director this time around, in addition to conceptual artist and set decorator

 

[Doctor Jones]

Really? Hmm...

I want to see John Howe get into his armor and fight the swordmasters again. Hell, a cameo would be nice. I believe Lee has a cameo in TT but Howe didn't.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Really? Hmm...

I want to see John Howe get into his armor and fight the swordmasters again. Hell, a cameo would be nice. I believe Lee has a cameo in TT but Howe didn't.

Yep, Lee had a cameo in Fellowship as one of the nine kings of men in the prologue. Hopefully they can get Howe to be in the Battle of Five Armies

P.S.- Howe has also (verbally) committed to doing the cover art for my novel once it's properly published..I'm making it my second bargaining chip (along with personally retaining the film rights of course t

 

[redhawk23]

Yep, Lee had a cameo in Fellowship as one of the nine kings of men in the prologue. Hopefully they can get Howe to be in the Battle of Five Armies

P.S.- Howe has also (verbally) committed to doing the cover art for my novel once it's properly published..I'm making it my second bargaining chip (along with personally retaining the film rights of course t

!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dark Sentinel]

4 realz t: thank God (or Ilúvatar for Tolkien fans ) for Facebook

 

[Dark Sentinel]

But anyway back on topic. This IS the Hobbit Thread after all, and I don't want people going " here goes d_s about his damn book again"

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Any new uh...news?

Also (side note) releasing my book on Smashwords.com today. See thread for my book in the Community forum (Books & Music) for more info. Tolkienians unite!!

 

[Jackasscoley15]

RadioTimes Chats with Aidan Turner

Do you worry about being typecast?
Nah, as I’m about to fly to New Zealand for The Hobbit [Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings prequel]. That’ll get me out of the typecasting pretty quickly. I’m to play Kili the dwarf, so it’s to be long beards and prosthetics from now on.

Does that mean you won’t be in the fourth series of Being Human?
I don’t really know yet. We’re shooting The Hobbit for a good year and a half – until midway through 2012 – but I think I get six weeks off, so we might work something out.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Another interview from Turner:

Aidan Turner discusses Hobbit boot camp

You’ve just started filming the Hobbit, haven’t you?

Yes, we’re all off to Hobbit boot camp. I’m not sure what it entails but I think it lasts a few weeks and gets us all fit for filming.

The Lord Of The Rings films changed the careers of most of the actors who appeared in them. Are you prepared for the same happening to you?

I don’t speculate too much about the future. That’s the thing about this job – it’s so fickle. You take the jobs, you read the scripts and, if something interests you and you like the people who are working on it, you go for it. If not, you take a break. I could be back in Ireland, Britain or America afterwards. It’s so variable but very exciting.

Were you a fan of the films?

I saw them at the cinema. It’s not my favourite genre but they are all masterpieces. I’m a huge fan.

What are you going to spend the money on?

I don’t know – there are more important things than money right now. I’m not an extravagant person. You don’t get a chance to spend money when you’re working on a TV show. I like travelling so I took my cousin to Disney World recently and went to Amsterdam.

Have you ever had a supernatural experience?

No, I don’t believe in that rubbish, so bring it on. I want to spend the night alone in a haunted mansion. I wouldn’t say I’m sceptical because that word implies the truth is out there when there is no truth out there.

Which dead celebrity would you like to talk to in a séance?

JRR Tolkien, that’d be handy. I’ve got a couple of questions I’d like to ask him right now.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Saoirse Ronan would love Hobbit role

The Oscar-nominated Irish actress is strongly rumoured to be in talks to play the character Itaril in the films, but she did not reveal any further details at the launch of the IFTAs in Dublin yesterday.

When asked if she would like to play the role, she replied: "Yeah if I was asked, certainly."

Her father Paul said that it would be great if she landed the Hobbit part, but did not say if she had been asked.

He told journalists: "It would be something that would be wonderful if it happens. I don't think all of the cast members have been chosen or asked yet because it's going to be such a long project.

"It's going to take a long time. She worked with Peter on 'The Lovely Bones'. After a couple of weeks with working with Peter it's like being part of his family.

"It would be wonderful to see them all again and to work with them again."

Not quite sure how I feel about this, mainly because the only information we have on this supposed character comes from speculation. And I never trust speculation.