Support NeoGAF

[Grinchy]

I want a fan edit where the eagles just fly the dwarves to the mountain and then pick up the dragon and drop it in the volcano.

 

[Turin]

Dol Guldur was one of the few things I enjoyed them adding, as it is a major part of Gandalf's plan.

That being said I didn't care much for them adding in the "Gandalf gets captured" bit, and would have preferred the assault by the White Council, rather than a rescue by the White Council.

I love the Dol Guldur part in concept but it wasn't really done right. It should have been a more haunting part of the story. Something Del Toro would have excelled at.

 

[DrForester]

I love the Dol Guldur part in concept but it wasn't really done right. It should have been a more haunting part of the story. Something Del Toro would have excelled at.

I agree. I thought the initial scene with Radagast was excellent. The second was pointless. It should have just been Gandalf and the others going to take him down.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

I will fully support any edit that doesn't touch anything that Smaug is in...even if it is the shit molten gold stuff.

 

[EatChildren]

Dol Guldur was an interesting addition as bits and pieces happen in the lore, just in completely different order. I think how they handled it needed a lot of work though.

 

[DrForester]

Dol Guldur was an interesting addition as bits and pieces happen in the lore, just in completely different order. I think how they handled it needed a lot of work though.

The order was pretty much right. Gandalf wanted to attack Dul Guldur while the Dwarves were at Erebor. Gandalf feared Sauron joining forces with Smaug. He made his way to Erebor as soon as they were done at Dol Guldur.

 

[Lord Panda]

Dol Guldur was an interesting addition as bits and pieces happen in the lore, just in completely different order. I think how they handled it needed a lot of work though.

What I don't quite get is how Gandalf managed to keep his Ring - Narya - after his capture at Dol Guldur? Sauron and the Nazgul surely would have sensed or seen it?

 

[DrForester]

What I don't quite get is how Gandalf managed to keep his Ring - Narya - after his capture at Dol Guldur? Sauron and the Nazgul surely would have sensed or seen it?

He wasn't captured in the book. It was just another bit of drama Jackson shoved in. So he would not have found the ring.

In the book, Gandalf is long suspicious of Dol Guldur. Nearly a century before The Hobbit he went investigating there. Sauron fled as he was not powerful at all at the time. Centuries later, Gandalf would return when strange things started happening there again. He found Thrain (Thorin's father) and took the key and map. It was during this trip that he realized "the Necromancer" was Sauron. He informed the White Council, but Saurman delayed as long as he could before finally agreeing.

One of the Nazul returns a few decades later and pretty much grief Thranduil and Galadrial's realms. After the One Ring is destroyed Galadrial destroyed the place with the last of her power.

 

[Grinchy]

My brother's wife's cousin's penpal downloaded the 3 hour edit. He watched the frist 30 minutes out of curiosity. He said that when the dwarves are at Bilbo's house and they sing the Misty Mountain song, that's when it shows flashbacks to Dale being destroyed.

That makes a lot of sense and flows much better than the original IMO.

 

[Vashetti]

Are they better than the LOTR Extended Editions?

I think that most people like the LOTR EE's, but I recently bought them over the holidays and actually didn't like them nearly as much as the original cuts. I felt like most of the added scenes that were unnecessary and hurt the overall pace of the movies and at worse even hurt the tone (like the added Gimli comic relief scenes). I wouldn't have minded watching those scenes in a "deleted scenes" extra on the bluray, but having them stuck back into the movies felt mostly awkward.

Probably the only additions I thought were a big improvement were the added Boromir/Faramir/Denethor scenes that fleshed out that relationship. Those were really good, but to me not good enough to make up for a lot of the other ones.


If the Hobbit EE's add mostly good character scenes and actually IMPROVE the pacing, then I'd be willing to give them a shot. I don't have much fondness for the original cuts of these movies, so I doubt I'd mind some additions to them, haha.

Yes, they genuinely improve the pacing. I know it's a common joke "lol how can they make these cashgrab movies even longer", but the added scenes are genuinely meaningful.

The majority are character scenes too. You'd be surprised how many Bilbo-specific scenes were cut. The Rivendell section in AUJ is transformed in the EE.

DoS EE is a revelation.

 

[JB1981]

Best addition in DOS EE is more Beorn and a much improved Mirkwood. I could not tell much of a difference other than that. Laketown is still boring as ever.

AUJ EE is definitely improved. It feels less action heavy and yes I agree the Rivendell section sees the biggest improvement since the focus is on Bilbo's experience there

 

[Nikodemos]

Yes, they genuinely improve the pacing. I know it's a common joke "lol how can they make these cashgrab movies even longer", but the added scenes are genuinely meaningful.

The majority are character scenes too. You'd be surprised how many Bilbo-specific scenes were cut. The Rivendell section in AUJ is transformed in the EE.

DoS EE is a revelation.

That's because some films have an inverted bell curve of length/coherence. The more they add, the less sense the film makes, up to a nadir; from then onwards adding more stuff actually causes the film to start making sense again. Jackson's Tolkien lore films are an example.

 

[michaelius]

I don't understand what was so bad about The Hobbit movies. I liked them.

You need to read book first to understand why movies were slaughtered with hollywood fanservice.

 

[thefro]

Here's the second attempt. Guy calling himself David Killstein. This guy got it down to 3 hours and 15 minutes.

List of changes:



curious as to how "created voice over transition" plays.

edit: Oh, this is how it plays:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj3Ed3NrOtg

I think I actually like the other guy's transition better.

I like the Killstein one better since he keeps the scenes from the book in there. Having them just run from the Misty Mountains to Beorn's house is dumb. He also seems to be a little more skilled at creatively editing than the the Tolkien Editor.

Apparently there's a different 3-hour cut here by "Underhill Editor"
https://ahobbitsholiday.wordpress.com/

From the description, he had some similar ideas to Killstein. He's got a few clips of the edit up on his site.

 

[EatChildren]

The order was pretty much right. Gandalf wanted to attack Dul Guldur while the Dwarves were at Erebor. Gandalf feared Sauron joining forces with Smaug. He made his way to Erebor as soon as they were done at Dol Guldur.

I mean the timing. If I recall correctly the proper sequence of events is that Gandalf is investigating Dol Guldur long before The Hobbit even begins, during which he bumps into Thrain getting the key and map (though Thrain can't remember Thorin or something), and discovers that Sauron's spirit has returned and is thus the real Necromancer. And all of that is his prime motivator for starting the adventure; preventing Sauron from allying with Smaug. The attack on Dol Guldur happens during the book, but the details are never elaborated. And if I'm right, Saruman wasn't an ally of Sauron at that point, and was searching for the One Ring for his own use.

I guess they condensed it well enough, in retrospect. I just wasn't too fond of the execution. Again because so much was "hey remember that stuff from lord of the rings well here it is again".

 

[Deleted member 80556]

Can we have a cut where Jackson is given 7 more years of production to make it as good as LOTR?

 

[FlutterPuffs]

Can we have a cut where Jackson is given 7 more years of production to make it as good as LOTR?

7 years?

He's just been given too much creative freedom at the moment to do what he wants. What he needs is to have someone to pull him back to the ground when he starts to do something like Hobbit 3.

I still love the guy, but man. He really needs someone to kick his ass during editing.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

7 years?

He's just been given too much creative freedom at the moment to do what he wants. What he needs is to have someone to pull him back to the ground when he starts to do something like Hobbit 3.

I still love the guy, but man. He really needs someone to kick his ass during editing.

Didn't LOTR have like 8 years of production or something? Or am I remembering wrong?

 

[POWERSPHERE]

How did this happen? Did he get George lucased since the LotR movies?

 

[FlutterPuffs]

Didn't LOTR have like 8 years of production or something? Or am I remembering wrong?

The amount of production years doesnt matter when it comes to Hobbit 3. What it has is too much excess, not the lack of scenes/plots.

 

[jambo]

Didn't LOTR have like 8 years of production or something? Or am I remembering wrong?

They started writing serious scripts in 1997 and the last film came out at the end of of 2003.

 

[GavinUK86]

Just remove everything but the Tauriel scenes and be done with it.

 

[Vashetti]

You need to read book first to understand why movies were slaughtered with hollywood fanservice.

I've read the book many times and prefer the movies.

Whereas with LOTR I prefer the book.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

The amount of production years doesnt matter when it comes to Hobbit 3. What it has is too much excess, not the lack of scenes/plots.

I just mean, I think it would have come better if Jackson had more time.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Basically, all these edits right now are just idea farms waiting to be harvested by the guys willing to put in the months of effort it'll take to knock together a finely tuned, smoothly constructed one-film edit from the EE blu-rays next year.

It's still gonna be awhile before there's a single-movie version of this that will rule them all. None of these are going to suffice as anything but a sort of rough-draft.

 

[Vashetti]

Basically, all these edits right now are just idea farms waiting to be harvested by the guys willing to put in the months of effort it'll take to knock together a finely tuned, smoothly constructed one-film edit from the EE blu-rays next year.

It's still gonna be awhile before there's a single-movie version of this that will rule them all. None of these are going to suffice as anything but a sort of rough-draft.

Two are already out and the last will be out later this year.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Two are already out and the last will be out later this year.

I know.

And next year will see an edit made from all three ee blu-rays that will likely take ideas from these edits and implement them much more smoothly and in a much higher resolution than what we're getting now.

 

[Grinchy]

In the 3 hour edit, there's a really wonky transition in the stone giants scene. The Beorn and Mirkwood parts are way better than the theatrical version of DoS. The parts from the EE should have been in the theatrical version. I don't know what they were thinking with the original to have cut this content.

So far the 3 hour edit has done a really good job of keeping things light and flowing while still holding onto just enough tension without going overboard with melodrama. An edit like this in the ~4 hour range might even be better. There are some sequences that almost feel like they are cut too short. Basically, any non-action sequence where we get to see Bilbo and the gang being actual characters could be lengthened and I would be very happy.

I could probably even go for two 2 hour movies that use a lot of EE scenes.

 

[genjiZERO]

Wouldn't the Tolkien edit to have no film at all?

 

[Grinchy]

Wow, going from the barrel section to leaving Laketown really does take like 10 minutes total. I actually don't see a reason for it to be that short. There was some good content cut out.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

I'll wait for the inevitable official one movie edit.

 

[thefro]

Basically, all these edits right now are just idea farms waiting to be harvested by the guys willing to put in the months of effort it'll take to knock together a finely tuned, smoothly constructed one-film edit from the EE blu-rays next year.

It's still gonna be awhile before there's a single-movie version of this that will rule them all. None of these are going to suffice as anything but a sort of rough-draft.

Yeah. It seems to me like the edits for the first two movies are much more fully formed and mature. Adding the last movie on is a work in progress, especially since the EE isn't out.

It's clear that someone's going to nail it though, and that there is a pretty good movie you can make out of all this footage that was filmed.

 

[Huw_Dawson]

So the credits are rolling on the "There And Back Again" edit.

They need to add way more of everything from the Barrels to the end of Laketown back.

 

[Lord Panda]

He wasn't captured in the book. It was just another bit of drama Jackson shoved in. So he would not have found the ring.

In the book, Gandalf is long suspicious of Dol Guldur. Nearly a century before The Hobbit he went investigating there. Sauron fled as he was not powerful at all at the time. Centuries later, Gandalf would return when strange things started happening there again. He found Thrain (Thorin's father) and took the key and map. It was during this trip that he realized "the Necromancer" was Sauron. He informed the White Council, but Saurman delayed as long as he could before finally agreeing.

One of the Nazul returns a few decades later and pretty much grief Thranduil and Galadrial's realms. After the One Ring is destroyed Galadrial destroyed the place with the last of her power.

Yep, I've read the book religiously too so I'm referring to Jackson's adaptation. While I appreciate that PJ put the Gandalf and the White Council's forays into Dol Goldur onscreen, what I didn't like was how braindead the whole thing was.

 

[Any Questions]

This trilogy should of been two movies. The biggest sin was giving Alfred lines. Total madness

 

[Extra Sauce]

As much as I hated the Hobbit trilogy, I'm extremely excited to watch this fan edit. It seems like he removed most of what I hated about the films. It won't make them perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I wouldn't be surprised if a smart edit elevates that trilogy into something that's watchable.

"Extremely excited" about "something that's watchable"?

 

[DoctorFling]

Looking forward to watching one of these edits, my main problem with these films is the bloat.

 

[btrboyev]

Looking forward to watching one of these edits, my main problem with these films is the bloat.

Just wait until official bluray of the last movie then. The quality dip in these edits now are atrocious when it hits the third movie.

 

[Grinchy]

So the credits are rolling on the "There And Back Again" edit.

They need to add way more of everything from the Barrels to the end of Laketown back.

Yeah there is too much taken away in the 3 hour edit. A lot of things needed to go, but too many plot points completely lack any context in this one. That's why I feel like a 4 hour edit will probably be perfect.

I also don't understand why he left the molten gold statue in it. Smaug threatens to go and kill everyone in Laketown because Bilbo just pissed him off. He's about to fly away and wreak Havoc when Thorin screams at him from the top of the statue mold. There was no reason to leave that in.

Smaug could have flown off and it would have made sense. And it could cut back to Bilbo saying, "What have we done."