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Hi guys,
One of several fanedits I completed over the last month-- a Tolkien purist edition of Peter Jackson's "Desolation of Smaug", recut according to JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit". Almost all the subplots created just for the movie have been removed, to reflect the book more accurately.
I cut this to be my go-to version of Desolation... when I watched this in the cinema, I remember what a good start the movie had, and how awesome and well crafted the scenes with Smaug were, while how frustrating it was every time they cut away to some nonexistent plot device (ie. Tauriel and Legolas, Bard vs. Stephen Fry, etc.). I don't know why but the way they drew this movie out to nearly 3 hours by padding it with fluff like the elf-dwarf love triangle thing made zero sense to me--as well as how liberal they were with the source material, a book I loved since I was a kid. As much as I admire Peter Jackson as a director, I felt like Desolation was a good 2 hour movie trapped in a 3 hour mess.
This is the lean version which retains all the greatness of the movie and drops all the fluff, making it more entertaining and watchable (Smaug's onscreen by 90 minutes)
Title: The Hobbit: Fire of the Dragon
Original runtime: 161 min
Fanedit runtime: 120 min (41 min cut)
Cutlist:
1. The prologue with Gandalf and Thorin in Bree is deleted.
2. Other than a brief scene of him chasing them, all the scenes of Azog and Bolg (the orcs) stalking the dwarves as well of the scene of them at Dol Guldur is deleted
3. Bilbo being tempted by the ring outside Mirkwood forest is cut (this isn't LOTR)
4. Legolas' Gimli reference is cut
5. Entire scene of Tauriel and Kili, and Tauriel with Thranduil is deleted. There is no love triangle.
6. Shots of orcs ceeping up on Mirkwood are cut, making the orc attack more of a surprise.
7. Gandalf at the Nazgul tombs*-- cut the lines "You're asking me to abandon my friends, etc."
8. Kili's arrow to knee is bound and never spoken of again. He's all better in this version.
9. Cut scene of Legolas & co interrogating an orc, as well as Bolg tracking dwarves.
10. Trimmed Laketown scenes for pacing.
11. Cut all scenes of the four dwarves being left behind--would you seriously notice?. Cut all scenes of Tauriel/Legolas (after the Mirkwood battle.)
12. Cut all scenes of Orcs attacking Laketown.
13. Gandalf vs Sauron, is kept in*, but moved to before Bilbo enters Smaugs lair.
14. Entire Smaug sequence intact in one flow, except a brief cutaway for about 30 seconds where Bard tells his kids he'll kill the dragon and grabs the black arrow.
15. Cut scenes of Bard running around Lake town and getting arrested.
16. Cut Bilbo's last lines "What have we done". Last lines now Smaug's.
17. The end credits scored with Misty Mountins Cold from An Unexpected Journey.
*In the book, you're left wondering Where the hell Gandalf was as all the stuff's going down with Bilbo and company. I really wanted to cut all Gandalf's scenes to better reflect the novel, but I decided against this. Unlike Tauriel/Legolas, Gandalf actually was in the book and though Dol Guldur was not shown in the book, he Did go there... From Wiki:
So the events in the movie could conceivably have happened, and although there is no mention of Gandalf taken captive, I figured the sequence was exciting enough to balance the slower pace of Laketown. The total runtime of both Gandalf scenes together is only around 10 mins anyway.
This edit is ready for review, please PM me if you're interested thanks!
Please let me know what you think, thanks
One of several fanedits I completed over the last month-- a Tolkien purist edition of Peter Jackson's "Desolation of Smaug", recut according to JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit". Almost all the subplots created just for the movie have been removed, to reflect the book more accurately.
I cut this to be my go-to version of Desolation... when I watched this in the cinema, I remember what a good start the movie had, and how awesome and well crafted the scenes with Smaug were, while how frustrating it was every time they cut away to some nonexistent plot device (ie. Tauriel and Legolas, Bard vs. Stephen Fry, etc.). I don't know why but the way they drew this movie out to nearly 3 hours by padding it with fluff like the elf-dwarf love triangle thing made zero sense to me--as well as how liberal they were with the source material, a book I loved since I was a kid. As much as I admire Peter Jackson as a director, I felt like Desolation was a good 2 hour movie trapped in a 3 hour mess.
This is the lean version which retains all the greatness of the movie and drops all the fluff, making it more entertaining and watchable (Smaug's onscreen by 90 minutes)
Title: The Hobbit: Fire of the Dragon
Original runtime: 161 min
Fanedit runtime: 120 min (41 min cut)
Cutlist:
1. The prologue with Gandalf and Thorin in Bree is deleted.
2. Other than a brief scene of him chasing them, all the scenes of Azog and Bolg (the orcs) stalking the dwarves as well of the scene of them at Dol Guldur is deleted
3. Bilbo being tempted by the ring outside Mirkwood forest is cut (this isn't LOTR)
4. Legolas' Gimli reference is cut
5. Entire scene of Tauriel and Kili, and Tauriel with Thranduil is deleted. There is no love triangle.
6. Shots of orcs ceeping up on Mirkwood are cut, making the orc attack more of a surprise.
7. Gandalf at the Nazgul tombs*-- cut the lines "You're asking me to abandon my friends, etc."
8. Kili's arrow to knee is bound and never spoken of again. He's all better in this version.
9. Cut scene of Legolas & co interrogating an orc, as well as Bolg tracking dwarves.
10. Trimmed Laketown scenes for pacing.
11. Cut all scenes of the four dwarves being left behind--would you seriously notice?. Cut all scenes of Tauriel/Legolas (after the Mirkwood battle.)
12. Cut all scenes of Orcs attacking Laketown.
13. Gandalf vs Sauron, is kept in*, but moved to before Bilbo enters Smaugs lair.
14. Entire Smaug sequence intact in one flow, except a brief cutaway for about 30 seconds where Bard tells his kids he'll kill the dragon and grabs the black arrow.
15. Cut scenes of Bard running around Lake town and getting arrested.
16. Cut Bilbo's last lines "What have we done". Last lines now Smaug's.
17. The end credits scored with Misty Mountins Cold from An Unexpected Journey.
*In the book, you're left wondering Where the hell Gandalf was as all the stuff's going down with Bilbo and company. I really wanted to cut all Gandalf's scenes to better reflect the novel, but I decided against this. Unlike Tauriel/Legolas, Gandalf actually was in the book and though Dol Guldur was not shown in the book, he Did go there... From Wiki:
After the battle, Gandalf accompanied Bilbo back to the Shire, revealing at Rivendell what his pressing business had been (for him leaving Mirkwood): Gandalf had once again urged the Council to evict Sauron, since quite evidently Sauron did not require the One Ring to continue to attract evil to Mirkwood. Then, in an event only briefly described (in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings), the Council "put forth its power" and drove Sauron from Dol Guldur.
So the events in the movie could conceivably have happened, and although there is no mention of Gandalf taken captive, I figured the sequence was exciting enough to balance the slower pace of Laketown. The total runtime of both Gandalf scenes together is only around 10 mins anyway.
This edit is ready for review, please PM me if you're interested thanks!
Please let me know what you think, thanks