Hobbit Trilogy - TM2YC's Entirely Respectable Editions

[TM2YC]

I sorta went with this in the end:

Also about the displeasure between Elrond and Thorin, @"kerr" wanted to create a different dynamic between Elrond and Thorin so he rearranged the dinner scene a little bit. It goes like this:

ELROND: How did you come by these?
GANDALF: We found them in a Troll-hoard on the Great East Road, shortly before we were ambushed by Orcs.
ELROND: Thirteen dwarves and a halfling... Strange travelling companions, Gandalf.
THORIN: Excuse me... (leaves table)


Then he uses the scenes with Bilbo exploring Rivendell and talking to Elrond which then transitions to the Moon Runes scene, creating a sequence with Bilbo exploring then walking to the Moon Runes scene. All done to bring Bilbo back to the forefront. You could mimic that if you want to keep the song. Or even without the song, it's a good idea. Lots to love in the Arkenstone Edition, it is my favorite.

The above quoted dialogue switcheroo between Elrond and Thorin is a genius cut by @"kerr" , so I've replicated it pretty closely. The rest I've taken inspiration from but removed more silliness (like the Dwarfs setting fire to Elrond's furniture and other silly lines) and recut and mixed the audio/music differently. The food-fight/song is gone, it's too daft for my tastes. I've also kept Kili mistaking the Elf man for an Elf maid because it nicely foreshadows the Tauriel plot line in the later films (yes I'm almost certainly retaining elements of that). I've toned his behavior down though so he doesn't wink, doesn't do that horny curled lip thing and removed a shot of him looking quite so disgusted when he realises it's a dude (Kili is totally comfortable in his sexuality in my Tolkien universe ).

Thanks again for the reminder about the Arkenstone Edition and to @"kerr" for making it.

 

[TM2YC]

Following up on the video of my Radagast-free escape from the Wargs from the OP post...

https://forums.fanedit.org/showthread.php?tid=17572&pid=319979#pid319979

...here is that excised Radagast material later reinserted as a flashback within the White Council scene (so a three-layer flashback structure):

(Password: fanedit.org) (The first and last 30-seconds are unchanged and are only included to "set the scene" in it's proper context)

The idea for how to use the scene here comes from @"Funny Puzzle" 's excellent 'Battle of Dol Guldur' fanedit short (which seems to be offline right now and he has gone AWOL sadly). I've recut it somewhat differently and switched around some of the dialogue to avoid using the same heavily cropped shots FunnyPuzzle used. This way, I've only had to slightly crop a couple of shots and paint out two dwarfs from the background and regrettably cut a few more lines of dialogue between the two Wizards. @"L8wrtr" also deserves credit as he used Radagast footage at this point in his Hobbit edit too.

Other changes included removing Saruman claiming Radagast takes magic-mushrooms and Radagast going cross-eyed smoking Gandalf's weed. The pot reference in the first LoTR movie was borderline silly but it was taken to stupid extremes here IMO. Footage is regraded, sound and music added and an FX tweak or two.

 

[TM2YC]

Here is a recut of the sequence of Gandalf and Thorin leading the dwarfs on a chase through Goblin-Town. I've cut a minute and a half of ridiculous nonsense, resulting in what I think is now a pretty badass action scene (making our heroes, actually look heroic), up there with the best of LoTR   (hopefully):

(Password: fanedit.org)

- Removed (almost) all OTT and silly elements, leaving just visceral hack and slash combat and non-stop forward momentum. Only Gandalf crushing the Goblins with a massive rolling boulder remains but he's a powerful Wizard so I think we can allow him one outlandish feat of spell casting (plus the score is epic for that part).
- Removed the Goblin King's final silly line. Characters shouldn't make ironic jokes about their own death. Gandalf just hacks him up (with added gore soundFX).
- Drastically reduced the ludicrous length and comedy timing of the fall into the chasm at the end. It still stretches credibility a tad but not to breaking point.
- Retained the Goblin King's body falling on top of the Dwarfs but removed the generic comedy dialogue. Ironically, I believe this now makes it genuinely funny   and a nice catharsis after the tension filled chase. It would've been very easy to cut completely and I considered it but I kinda like it now.

I'm very pleased with how this turned out, just the final Azog scenes to edit.

 

[revstevens]

That was, far superior to the original cut. I'd consider removing the Goblin King's body falling on them. But, that would be a personal preference. It does work better, as-is.

There was one sound effect that bothered me. One of the dwarf's hits a goblin with a mallet and it sounds rather hollow and far different to all the other sound effects in the scene, making it stand out. But, again, personal preference.

Nice work!

 

[TM2YC]

That was, far superior to the original cut. I'd consider removing the Goblin King's body falling on them. But, that would be a personal preference. It does work better, as-is.

There was one sound effect that bothered me. One of the dwarf's hits a goblin with a mallet and it sounds rather hollow and far different to all the other sound effects in the scene, making it stand out. But, again, personal preference.

Nice work!

Thanks for the feedback. Could you tell me the timecode where the mallet sound is please (there are a lot of Goblin's getting hit ).

I might change my mind on the Goblin king's body falling, anybody else like/dislike it?

 

[revstevens]

Thanks for the feedback. Could you tell me the timecode where the mallet sound is please (there are a lot of Goblin's getting hit ).

You're welcome!

Looks like it's right at the 37 sec mark in the above clip.

 

[TM2YC]

Thanks for the feedback. Could you tell me the timecode where the mallet sound is please (there are a lot of Goblin's getting hit ).

You're welcome!

Looks like it's right at the 37 sec mark in the above clip.

Thanks. Bofur hitting the Goblin's head against the wooden post with his hammer? That's the original movie audio, nothing added, or taken away and nowhere near any edits.

 

[revstevens]

Thanks for the feedback. Could you tell me the timecode where the mallet sound is please (there are a lot of Goblin's getting hit ).

You're welcome!

Looks like it's right at the 37 sec mark in the above clip.

Thanks. Bofur hitting the Goblin's head against the wooden post with his hammer? That's the original movie audio, nothing added, or taken away and nowhere near any edits.

Yup. That's the one. I know it's the original audio. It's just the only sound of its kind, so it stands out to me. Even pitch shifting it down some would, in my opinion, help it.

 

[TM2YC]

Bofur hitting the Goblin's head against the wooden post with his hammer? That's the original movie audio, nothing added, or taken away and nowhere near any edits.

Yup. That's the one. I know it's the original audio. It's just the only sound of its kind, so it stands out to me. Even pitch shifting it down some would, in my opinion, help it.

I might add some extra metallic sounds to that bit then.

Tweaks like that aside, I've finished editing AUJ and I'm working on a cutlist. I still need to do a test render and watch it back at some point... and decide on a title for the project .

Timeline:



(^ Click to see full res image)

Original Runtime: 3-hours 2-minutes
Fanedit Runtime: 2-hours, 41-minutes
Time Added: 1-minute (used Goblin King intro from Theatrical Cut)
Time Removed: 22-minutes

 

[Gaith]

Okay, but the real question is: will this Hobbit musical song be a 007-style opening credits sequence, or merely play over the end?

 

[douchebag]

That was, far superior to the original cut. I'd consider removing the Goblin King's body falling on them. But, that would be a personal preference. It does work better, as-is.

There was one sound effect that bothered me. One of the dwarf's hits a goblin with a mallet and it sounds rather hollow and far different to all the other sound effects in the scene, making it stand out. But, again, personal preference.

Nice work!

Haha. It reminded me of the mallet weapon sound effect from world of warcraft, now that I come to think of it.

 

[TM2YC]

Here is a long, detailed (and potentially boring ) cutlist... because I like to have a list of these things for when I inevitably forget:

Reveal message

- GENERAL CHANGES:
- No silliness allowed... fun yes, humour yes, silliness no.
- 14-minute prologue is unchanged.
- Thorin, Balin, Kili (and to a lesser extent Bofur and Dwalin) are important characters, the rest of the Dwarfs are supporting characters. Oodles of screentime is no longer devoted to giving each and every one of the 13 Dwarfs their own comedy moments and character traits. If they have something important to say, or do then fine, otherwise... cut!
- Of all the Dwarfs, Ori is trimmed the most. His childish voice is annoying, his use of a small catapult in battle is pathetic and he generally does and says little that isn't very silly indeed.
- The Misty Mountains song is totally awesome, all other songs are removed in this edit because they are dreadfully misjudged. The ludicrous Plates song sequence has been terminated with a vengeance (plus Bofur's song in Rivendell and the Goblin King's two songs).
- Thorin's dislike of Bilbo has been toned down to just enough to serve each other's character arcs. Too much and Thorin came off as petulant and spiteful.
- No f***ing stupid Radagast rabbit-powered sleigh! Easily the silliest thing in the whole Hobbit trilogy. If I couldn't have achieved this removal, I may not have bothered making editing the Hobbit at all.
- Radagast no longer ever meets the Dwarfs. His scene with them has been repurposed as a flashback featuring just him and Gandalf. Also the Dwarfs escape the first Warg pack on their own, without Radagast's help.
- Azog does not appear in the edit until the very moment Thorin sees him again.

- INTRO:
00.00.00 - TM2YC and FE.org titlecards added.
00.00.27 - Replaced tacky 3D studio titlecards with less elaborate ones from the LoTR era (from LoTR, OHMSS and THX 1138 blu-rays)
00.01.06 - Tinted the titles blue to match the look of the LoTR titles.
00.14.35 - Reframed first shot of young Bilbo so that his eyes are in the exact same area of the frame as the next cut (for a smooth transition).
00.14.41 - Cropped shot to remove "60 years earlier..." title. I dislike these films having onscreen titles and this one is unnecessary anyway, it's blatantly obvious that we have moved backwards in time several decades.
00.14.55 - Reframed shot of Bilbo to be halfway between the framing of the preceding and following shots.
- BAG END:
00.20.06 - Removed Bilbo saying "Do we know each other?" and Dwalin replying "No!?" as I always felt Dwalin's line was way overplayed.
00.21.36 - Removed Balin and Dwalin headbutting each other. It's too silly for my tastes and was only there as a distracting meta reference to a crew tradition from the LoTR trilogy.
00.21.23 - Removed 14-seconds of Bilbo dithering on and Dwalin and Balin talking about blue cheese. It was pointless and I don't believe Dwarfs have never heard of blue cheese.
00.21.29 - Removed 1-second of silence to improve the comedy timing of Balin's reply to Bilbo.
00.21.44 - Removed Kili saying "You must be Mr Boggins". It bordered on silly, plus removing it improves the comedy timing of Bilbo's annoyed response. I like that he's closing the door in their smiling and friendly faces and not in response to them getting his name wrong.
00.21.50 - Removed 1-second of silence to quicken the timing of Bilbo's line and make him seem even more irritable.
00.22.00 - Removed 14-seconds of Fili and Kili in Bilbo's entrance. Sure Dwarfs are a bit uncouth but Kili scraping his muddy boots on Bilbo's antiques just makes him look like an a***hole. Plus the shot gets pretty close in on Kili in his very different early makeup appliance.
00.22.47 - Removed 14-seconds of Bifur talking to Bilbo about the axe stuck in his head and some weak Oin "I'm deaf" humour. Okay I can't remove the idiotic axe from Bifur's head but I can at least not draw attention to it.
00.23.04 - Removed 20-seconds of faintly silly Dori dialogue about Camomile tea.
00.23.39 - Removed 14-seconds of more Dori silliness, this time about red wine.
00.24.12 - Removed 2.5-minutes of total stupidity (including a burping competition and puns about Croquet and testicles) and of course the awfully silly plates song sequence is gone. Thorin's sudden arrival now simply interrupts the Dwarf's loud drinking session.
00.25.06 - Removed Thorin sarcastically saying "Thought as much", in order to tone down his behaviour towards Bilbo.
00.26.10 - Removed 2-minutes of the Dwarfs generally bickering round the table and delivering vague unnecessary exposition.
00.28.28 - Removed a bad looking FX shot of Gandalf and toned down how angry he gets.
00.30.22 - Shortened time it takes for Bilbo to faint, which improves the comedy timing IMO.
00.30.36 - Removed 7-seconds of Gandalf talking about doilies and dishes (which references things I cut earlier).
- JOURNEY BEGINS:
00.37.42 - Removed 13-seconds of Bilbo excitedly running through the Shire shouting "I'm going on an adventure!". I don't think he should be that confident and elated, it's just a crazy impulse decision that he almost immediately regrets. Rescored and reworked soundmix.
00.40.32 - Removed 16-seconds of Bombur inhaling flies. Rescored.
00.48.31 - Removed 8-seconds that showed birds living in Radagast's hat.
00.49.01 - Removed 8-seconds of overly cutesy and anthropomorphic hedgehog business.
00.51.15 - Removed 12-seconds of Radagast riding his rabbit sleigh to Dol Guldur. Rescored and reworked soundmix.
00.53.00 - Removed Gandalf saying "I've had enough of Dwarfs for one day". Probably not a good idea to say out-loud what the audience might be secretly thinking.
- TROLLS:
00.54.41 - Removed 8-seconds of Bilbo going back for the bowls. Absent mindedly taking them with him is believable and funny but not him forgetting, remembering and then actually going back for them.
00.55.50 - Removed 10-seconds of the Trolls arguing about snot. Added soundFX.
00.55.58 - Removed 15-seconds of the Trolls arguing about stinky parts.
00.56.17 - Removed 27-seconds of the Trolls arguing about grog. I also felt the use of the term "laughing gear" was too specifically Kiwi/Aussie/Limey for Middle-Earth.
00.56.47 - Removed 7-seconds of the Trolls going on about "'ooters".
00.56.58 - Removed the annoying high-pitched Troll saying "An oversized squirrel?".
00.56.59 - Removed the annoying high-pitched Troll saying "A burglar Hobbit?".
00.57.23 - Removed 6-seconds where the cockney Troll says "You what?" like Ray Winstone and also removed Kili's reply. Now the Troll just grunts menacingly and throws Bilbo.
00.58.30 - Removed 4-seconds of the useless Ori waving his catapult about.
00.58.37 - Removed 7-seconds where Dori kicks a Troll in the nuts. Cut retimed so Dwalin only makes one big swing with his hammer knocking the Troll's teeth out.
00.59.00 - Removed 3-seconds of the Dwarfs considering whether they should let the Trolls kill Bilbo.
00.59.09 - Removed a joke shot of Ori throwing his catapult down.
00.59.20 - Removed the annoying high-pitched Troll saying "Oooh, that does sound quite nice".
01.01.44 - Removed 3 shots where the Trolls make jokes about Gandalf's entrance, which somewhat diminished the awesome-ness of said entrance. Rescored and reworked soundmix.
01.02.30 - Replaced shot of Thorin smiling, with shot of him looking sheepish.
01.02.42 - Replaced shot of Thorin Looking sheepish, with shot of him smiling. This way his reaction to Bilbo's quick thinking seems a tiny bit more friendly.
01.02.44 - Adjusted the timing of Gandalf and Thorin within this shot by splitting it down the middle (to sync with the last change).
01.04.52 - Removed Gloin's joke about "Making a long term deposit". Reworked soundmix.
- WARG CHASE:
01.06.13 - Changed first shot of Sting so it glows blue as the Warg pack draws near.
01.06.26 - Brought forward shot of forest canopy and reworked soundmix.
01.06.59 - Removed Radagast from the scene involving the Warg pack and meeting the Dwarfs (it's used later as a flashback). The approaching sound they hear is now simply the Wargs.
01.07.17 - Cropped shot to remove Radagast.
01.07.25 - Cropped shot to remove Radagast.
01.07.26 - Cropped shot to remove Radagast.
01.07.14 - Removed all traces of Radagast and his Rabbit sleigh from the chase across the plains. Sequence of events radically reordered to portray our heroes being circled and trapped by the Wargs. Rescored and reworked soundmix.
01.09.27 - Removed Dwarlin shouting "He's abandoned us" about Gandalf. He loses faith in his companion far too easily.
01.09.29 - Removed 7-seconds of Ori shooting his pointless slingshot at a Warg to zero effect.
- RIVENDELL:
01.16.06 - Removed Thorin saying "Indeed? He made no mention of you" to Elrond. It made Thorin sound childish and petulant. He now just looks back at Elrond with distrust (I swapped his and Bilbo's reactions shots around).
01.16.25 - Removed 5-seconds of the Dwarfs whispering about the food. It's better comedy timing to just have them immediatly accept.
01.16.35 - Removed Ori saying "I don't like green food".
01.16.39 - Removed Ori saying "Have they got any chips?".
01.16.59 - Removed Kili winking at the Elf maid. Now he just smiles sweetly at her, so much cuter.
01.17.07 - Intercut Nori stealing things and Kili's dialogue about Elf maids. This allowed me to move around some other shots.
01.17.13 - Used Dwalin reaction shot to cover the "dirrrty" curled lip thing that Kili does.
01.17.24 - Removed a shot of Kili looking angry when he realises the "Elf Maid" is a dude. Kili is comfortable with his sexuality in my cut.
01.17.30 - Removed 9-seconds of Oin stuffing hi ear trumpet to drown out the Elf music.
01.17.59 - Moved Bilbo and Balin discussing Sting to later in the scene (Based on a similar cut from Kerr's 'Arkenstone Edition fanedit).
01.18.09 - Replaced Elrond asking "and what were you doing on the Great East Road?" with the later "...strange traveling companions Gandalf" (Based on a similar cut from Kerr's 'Arkenstone Edition fanedit).
01.18.18 - Removed Elrond and Gandalf discussing the Dwarfs, the Inn song and the food fight. Replaced it with Bilbo and Balin's talk about Sting after Thorin leaves, so the scene ends on Bilbo (Based on a similar cut from Kerr's 'Arkenstone Edition fanedit).
01.18.35 - Used shot of harp player to make new transition into daytime scene. Rescored and remixed audio, plus extra soundFX.
01.18.36 - Removed 2-minute scene of Azog on Weathertop killing the Warg Pack Captain (the audience can now just assume he was killed by Elrond's riders, if they give his absence any thought at all) and brought forward scene of Bilbo exploring Rivendell in the daytime.
01.20.54 - Remixed audio transition into first Rivendell night scene establishing shot.
01.20.58 - Brought forward long shot of Library interior to act as new establishing shot.
01.21.05 - Swapped around Bilbo's reaction shots.
01.21.45 - Removed Gandalf shouting "Show it to Lord Elrond" at Thorin. Thorin is now wise enough to listen to reason and come to his senses quicker.
01.24.04 - Removed scene showing bad-CGI Dwarfs naked in a fountain.
01.24.42 - Removed Bombur breaking the chair because of a sausage.
- WHITE COUNCIL & LEAVING RIVENDELL:
01.29.32 - Removed 13-seconds of Saruman claiming Radagast takes magic-mushrooms. Added music.
01.29.56 - Inserted scene between Gandalf and Radagast discussing Dol Goldur (sans Dwarfs) as a flashback just after Galadriel says "Show me". This clever edit should be credited to FunnyPuzzle, although I've executed it slightly differently. Rearranged and trimmed Radagast's dialogue in order to avoid using shots with Dwarfs all over the frame.
01.29.58 - Cropped shot of Radagast to remove one dwarf and graded another green to disguise him.
01.30.06 - Inserted shot of Radagast on the bridge of Dol Goldur, timed with his "I followed thie trail" line. This works as a nice flashback element and also serves to replace a Dwarf heavy shot. Added some general evil soundFX.
01.30.20 - Masked over a Dwarf in the distance of this shot of Radagast.
01.30.26 - Removed Dol Golddur bridge shot (used earlier).
01.31.24 - Removed 18-seconds of Radagast riding his silly rabbit sleigh.
01.31.27 - Removed 17-seconds of Radagast smoking weed and going cross-eyed. Far too silly.
01.31.31 - Added smoke FX to shot of Gandalf to link it visually with the preceding one of Radagast.
01.31.53 - Used reversed shot Gandalf with a slow zoom out to transition us out of the flashback. Remixed music.
01.31.55 - Removed 2-seconds of Gandalf reaching under the table for the blade.
01.41.25 - Removed 5-seconds of Thorin losing his footing and nearly falling to his death. Thorin rescuing Bilbo without a moments thought (like a true hero) and then chewing him out for his mistake is acceptable. Thorin admonishing Bilbo after making the exact same mistake is not. It made Thorin look like a spiteful and hypocritical a***hole.
01.41.44 - Removed Thorin saying "He has no place amongst us" to tone down his behaviour towards Bilbo.
01.42.26 - Removed 28-second Azog hunting scene.
- GOLLUM GOBLIN TOWN:
01.47.16 - Brought forward main Gollum sequence as I always felt it was dramatically ill-judged to setup the Dwarfs in danger, then have a 13-minute dialogue scene about riddles and finally resolve the Dwarf danger. Much better to let the audience enjoy the extended riddle game, without them worrying about what the Goblin King is up to for 13-minutes.
01.53.23 - I felt that both Serkis and Freeman massively overplay the "...eats it whole" moment, so I've let Gollum's line continue over Bilbo's reaction shot, improving the timing IMO.
02.00.44 - Removed 2.5-minute silly Goblin King song (and assorted nonsense) and replaced it with almost a minute of the more sensible Theatrical-Cut introduction to Goblin Town.
02.01.57 - Removed the Goblin King looking at the bottom of the candlestick and saying "Made in Rivendell".
02.02.01 - Removed Nori saying "Just a couple of keepsakes". Now Dori simply looks at him in disbelief, funnier and more subtle IMO.
02.02.36 - Removed 4-seconds of Bofur stalling. It's pretty silly but retaining some of it does allow Thorin to have this "Spartacus" moment.
02.02.48 - Removed Bofur saying "Some inbreds on me Mother's side".
02.04.24 - Stitched the two halves of the Goblin King scene back together by intercutting the messanger trundling away and the Goblin discovering Orcrist. Reworked soundmix.
02.04.28 - Removed Goblin King's second shorter 14-second song.
02.06.49 - Removed FX shot that always struck me as wierd looking because Bilbos buttons fly into Gollum's face (right into his eyes in fact) yet he doesn't blink.
02.07.35 - Removed 16-seconds of Dwalin using a large pole like snooker cur clearing balls. Looks silly.
02.07.43 - Removed 8-seconds that involves a "Wilhelm Scream", which I've begun to really loath.
02.08.02 - Removed 12-seconds of Oin twirling round and the silliness involving the Goblins on ropes swinging around like yo-yos.
02.08.07 - Removed 16-seconds of Kili using a ladder as a comedy battering ram and then as a bridge.
02.08.12 - Removed 16-seconds of the Dwarfs playing on a swing.
02.08.21 - Removed 6-seconds of Bombur silliness.
02.09.18 - Removed the Goblin King saying "That'll do it". Real characters don't make jokes about their own deaths, to their killers. Now Gandalf just cuts him up, with added gore soundFX and remixed sound.
02.09.27 - Removed 8-seconds of very silly falling. The fall down the chasm has to be there but now it's as short as possible (which is still very long)
02.09.42 - Removed Bofor joking "Well that could have been worse" before the Goblin king's body lands on them. I tried without the body but it makes such a fitting "Cymbal crash" finale to the chase, that I had to keep it.
02.09.45 - Removed Dwalin's boringly generic "You've got to be joking" line, leaving it open for the audience to laugh, or not.
- Azog & Finale:
02.12.48 - Removed Dwalin saying "Curse that halfling". Again with the OOT lack of faith in his companions.
02.13.02 - Removed Thorin saying "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it". Totally overplays his feelings about Bilbo.
02.15.02 - Removed 14-second scene showing us Azog before the characters see him. Reworked soundmix so the Dwarfs are suddenly started by the cry of a Warg.
02.15.44 - Removed Ori accidentally hitting a Warg.
02.15.56 - Removed Bofur walking on Dwalin's head.
02.16.10 - Removed a jokey shot of Bombur.
02.23.08 - Removed 9-seconds of footage between Bilbo defending Thorin and the rest of the Dwarfs running in to help him. The gap was way too long and overplayed the moment.
02.27.35 - Cropped shot of Bilbo a little closer, hopefully making the absence of Gandalf less of an obvious continuity error in the original film.
02.27.41 - Removed a shot of Gandalf to use later, which also nicely shortens the awkward silence Thorin and Bilbo.
02.27.45 - Removed Thorin saying "You nearly got yourself killed" in order to tone down his fake anger at Bilbo. Covered the removal with the earlier Gandalf shot.
02.27.54 - Removed Thorin saying "...and you would not survive in the wild" and a long awkward silence, once again to tone down his fake anger at Bilbo.
02.29.35 - Adjusted the camera movement and trimmed the shot of Thorin so it does begin to not pan down toward Bilbo.
02.29.36 - Adjusted the camera movement and trimmed the shot of Bilbo so it does not start by panning toward Bilbo.
02.29.38 - Removed Bilbo sying "You know, you're right. I do believe the worst is behind us". I prefer to end on a genuinely positive note and not a joke about speaking to soon. We the audience still see the shot of Smaug but our characters do not.
02.29.41 - Used long shot of the Dwarfs as their final shot (with a slow zoom out)
02.40.55 - Added fanedit credits.

Original Runtime: 3-hours 2-minutes
Fanedit Runtime: 2-hours, 41-minutes
Time Added: 1-minute (used Goblin King intro from Theatrical Cut)
Time Removed: 22-minutes

By the way, I was looking at some appropriately "Misty Mountains" this morning (humming the tune in my head ):

 

[TM2YC]

So about that fanedit title...

I was looking through the book at descriptions of Bilbo and the Bagginses and the line "...people considered them very respectable..." seemed to appropriately sum up the goal of an edit with the silliness taken out . In the film Ian Holm says "...I was entirely respectable..." in the last line of his prologue (just before we see Martin Freeman as young Bilbo) and there is a track on the soundtrack too:

So something along those lines I think e.g.

- The Respectable Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- A Very Respectable Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- An Entirely Respectable Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Respectable Edition
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Very Respectable Edition
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Entirely Respectable Edition

I think I favour the last one but I'm open to suggestions of variations on that theme. Thanks

In other news... the artwork is in progress and I've watched a draft render, remixed a few bits of audio and am ready to render out what might be the final version.

 

[addiesin]

What about just 
A Very Respectable Hobbit? Short and sweet.

Edit: I forgot you're doing edits of all three, not a 3 in 1.

My vote goes to A Very Respectable Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in that case.

 

[revstevens]

- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Entirely Respectable Edition

FWIW this was my favorite.

 

[TM2YC]

- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Entirely Respectable Edition

FWIW this was my favorite.

That's the one I'm using for now, although I could change my mind.

The artwork is taking shape:



Re-drawing the Runes from Tolkien's Hobbit bookcover was fun:

(The Gandalf drawing is not mine)

 

[revstevens]

Nice cover. I would suggest moving the circle either up or down though. It looks too close to dead center, which always feels off to me .

 

[Nic]

I was thinking The Hobbit: A Very Respectable Journey.

 

[addiesin]

Nice cover. I would suggest moving the circle either up or down though. It looks too close to dead center, which always feels off to me .

Looks to me like it is dead center, if so, moving it up or down would make it literally off.

 

[revstevens]

Nice cover. I would suggest moving the circle either up or down though. It looks too close to dead center, which always feels off to me .

Looks to me like it is dead center, if so, moving it up or down would make it literally off.

Technically off, but visually more appealing. To me anyway.