So, since I don't know when to quit, I have a few updates!
First,
@ibuk27 I DID end up making an alternate version of Episode 5! It now begins as follows:
Opening Credits
Gandalf arrives in Dale
Gandalf meets with Bard and Thranduil (Alfrid does not exist)
Gandalf warns about an Orc army
Gandalf does NOT say "tHeY hAvE bEeN bReD fOr wAr"
Gandalf doesn't mention Azog
Gandalf says "The enemy" instead of "His Master" (in regards to Azog) (Credit to DonKamillo)
Thranduil then asks where the orcs are
Bolg and his orcs march out of Gundabad
(This is sort of a continuity error, because Legolas shows up later to warn about this very thing, whereas it's implied here that THIS is the big bad orc army that's coming, despite some big ugly white orc being the leader when they show up. Personally though, this continuity error is preferable to showing Azog and his army marching out in broad daylight, which, along with the "bReD fOr wAr" line are both war crimes in my opinion.)
Cut back to Gandalf, Thranduil, and Bard at night where Gandalf continues to plead his case
Our boy Bilbo shows up
Bilbo delivers the Arkenstone, and says that he believes the dwarves will give them what they're owed in exchange for the Arkenstone
Bard and Thranduil exchange looks, as the music then fades into:
Morning, the armies are outside Erebor ready for the ensuing shenanigans (This is the original beginning of Episode 5)
I actually enjoy how this flows, surprisingly, despite it not being what I wanted to do. That said, this will exist as the Alternate version of Episode 5, as the way it currently exists (Surprise Gandalf + Arkenstone) is my actual vision for this project, and how I personally prefer to watch it.
Also, originally I was opposed to this idea because of this:
Bilbo sneaks off at night
- Gandalf arrives in the morning
- Bolg
- Bilbo arrives a full 24 hours later
BUT after watching
@DonKamillo 's edit of The Batman, and seeing this same time-jump thing happen, and seeing it work really well (as DK points out in his own forum, they do this type of thing in TV shows all the time) I decided to finally pull the trigger and do it this way! (It also saves me the trouble of making an Alternate version of Episode 4)
Second(?)
@tobious I finally finished my Episode 4.5, and while it hasn't been proof-watched yet, nor do I think it works perfectly, I think it will suffice for now! However, this episode ends with the entire sequence I listed above (which is actually what caused me to finally make the alternate episode 5) so I'm going to have to tweak the ending of it to match better. For now though, it's "done" and it's
live if anybody cares to watch 45ish minutes of Gandalf and Dor Guldur stuff!
Lastly, I updated my IFDB listing a bit, but in light of these updates I'm going to have to update it yet again. In due time.
I love you all!
- Stromboli