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Presenting THE HOBBIT: THE THIRD AGE, a Movie-to-TV edit of the Hobbit, available now.
BUT THERE ARE SO MANY HOBBIT EDITS! WHO IS THIS FOR?
This is a Movie-to-TV edit based on AdamDens' 'The Hobbit: The Original Two-Film Structure', with a few further tweaks.
Therefore, this edit will be most suitable for people who want-
* A high quality edit with well-considered changes, tightened and polished and with minimal frustration
* Tonal and visual consistency with the Lord of the Rings movies, and the retention of the majority of content which sets up its plotlines
* A digestible, episodic structure (8 episodes of ~50 mins each)
INSPIRATION AND INTENTIONS
Looking to make this story a little more digestible for my daughter, and inspired by the announcement of the Rings of Power series, I observed that AdamDens' edit (my preferred version) broke nicely into a natural series of ~50-minute chunks.
I love the books but the LotR movies have always been excellent, so I never sought 'book purity' - I always really enjoyed the White Council and their B-plot through this trilogy, both as its own storyline and worldbuilding, and as a worthy set-up for LotR.
I've reordered some scenes to allow the episodes each to work as cohesive thematic chunks which work end-to-end. 'Riddles in the Dark' and 'The Lonely Mountain' take on a deeper meaning, for example, and interesting sub-plots like the disappearance of Thrain are allowed to become the focus of a single episode. The TV format has also allowed me to make certain elegant changes which some movie edits have struggled to work around given the source material. I won't spoil them here, but both fans of the movies and haters of the Hobbit films should find themselves pleasantly suprised!
AdamDens' masterful three-to-two movie duology, 'The Gathering of The Clouds'/'There and Back Again', is my primary source, however there isn't an episode produced that I haven't further modified in some way. I'm really pleased with some of the cuts I've been able to make, and am proud to present this as the Hobbit I believe it always should have been - and a worthy lead-in to LotR.
CHANGES
These episodes contain MAJOR CHANGES TO THE HOBBIT MOVIES with the intent of minimising poor humour, cartoonish physics, and unwelcome sub-plots, whilst focusing on the characters of Bilbo, Thorin, and Gandalf, and maximising the growing threat of Sauron and cohesiveness with the Lord of the Rings films.
GENERAL CHANGES:
* Restructured into eight ~45 minute episodes, with bold title cards to give the impression of book chapters.
* Full recolouring throughout for consistency with LotR.
* Restructured some scenes for pacing, such as introducing fewer plots at the beginning all at once, introducing Azog later (since we don't need a new main villain like the first movie did), and making the investigation of the Necromancer more of a developing mystery.
* Used alternate subtitles for Black Speech, to simplify and better contextualise the villains' motives, enhance the Necromancer subplot, and help contextualise the attack on the Dwarves and the Lonely Mountain as an early strategic move of Sauron's in the war for Middle Earth.
* Removed as much silliness as possible, such as some of Radagast's eccentricities, the Trolls' snot jokes, and Dwarven antics (where they appear silly or abrasive, as opposed to merely uncouth).
* Removed as much cringe as possible, such as the Tauriel romance, most of Alfrid's antics, the Dwarven forge and golden dragon, and Dain's swearing and modern slang.
* Removed as much cartoon physics as possible, or situations characters only survive through luck, such as with the storm giants, during the barrel riding scene, the goblin halls (including the major falls), and the final battles.
* Removed as much obvious/bad CG as possible, such as the Goblin King's wobbly singing, a lot of Legolas' superpowers.
* Tightened or removed scenes to keep up the pace and keep the focus on character drama and characters we're emotionally invested in, such as removing the warg attack on the party, removing the warg attack on Lake-town, removing Legolas from the final fight on ravenhill, and trimming Thorin waiting patiently for Azog to jump out of the ice.
* Introduced credits for each episode including episode-specific credits music to make it feel like a TV series.
s01e01 - THE HOBBIT (45:24) - Featuring Old Bilbo's bookend, the Erebor introduction, Bilbo joining the Dwarves, and Radagast investigating Mirkwood:
* Frodo is relegated to a cameo.
* Far tighter opening, with less of the scenes in the shire which don't move the plot forward, with some of Thorin's flashbacks moved to later.
* Dwarves are less goofy in Bilbo's home (and throughout this edit).
* No 'Blunt the Knives' (but yes 'Misty Mountain', of course).
s01e02 - AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (45:37) - Featuring trolls, Rivendell, the first meeting of the White Council, and the mountain pass:
* The troll sequence is heavily trimmed (but still flows smoothly), with less snot jokes and other unfunny bits. (I'm particularly proud of this, I believe this cut is unique amongst edits and the tightest I've seen this scene.)
* No warg chase to Rivendell.
* Dwarves at Rivendell are less goofy and less awful dinner guests - they're uncouth, not 'hilariously' abrasive. The tension between Dwarves and Elves is still emphasised.
* Trimmed storm giants with less death-defying physics.
s01e03 - RIDDLES IN THE DARK (53:10) - Featuring goblins, Gandalf investigating the nine's graves, Gollum, and Beorn:
* No unbelievable physics in the goblin caves.
* Lots of tightening for pacing.
* No Goblin King singing.
* No battle scene out of the goblin tunnels (though tension is retained).
* No initial showdown with Azog with forced emotional stakes for Thorin and Bilbo. Their relationship develops much more naturally.
* No eagle rescue (I use AdamDens' alternate sequence instead).
* Arrival at Mirkwood is split into two scenes between this episode and the next. Now, when they arrive, Bilbo immediately feels the pull of the ring and Gandalf notices immediately, before Bilbo lies about finding the ring. We end the episode ominously.
s01e04 - THE RETURN OF THE SHADOW (54:33) - Featuring the Gandalf-meets-Thorin flashback, Mirkwood, the Woodland Realm, barrel riding, and Gandalf confronting the Necromancer:
* Following from the prior episode, Gandalf now explores Mirkwood and warns the party of its dangers, before they enter alone.
* No Fili/Tauriel romance (here or anywhere else in the series)
* Minimal Tauriel/Legolas. She's a very minor character, he's present but not focal.
* Heavy trims to barrel-riding scene to minimise cringe and bad physics.
* No Legolas superpowers (here and throughout the edit).
s01e05 - THE LONELY MOUNTAIN (44:07) - Featuring Bard, Laketown, the arrival at the Lonely Mountain, and the White Council coming to Gandalf's aid:
* Alfrid and the Master are heavily reduced - kept only as texture for the state of Laketown.
* No warg attack on Laketown.
* Still no Tauriel romance.
s01e06 - THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (45:05) - Featuring Smaug the Magnificent, O Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities:
* No Smaug battle within Erebor.
* Smaug's attack on Laketown is tightened and reordered, for pacing and focus on characters we care about.
s01e07 - THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (45:32) - Featuring the fallout of Smaug's death, Thorin’s madness, and the initial clash of the five armies:
* Azog's dialogue is edited to make him a more competent commander.
* Dain's dialogue is trimmed to keep him abrasive but not too offensive.
* Nearly no Alfrid.
* Trims to the flow of the battle and the more ludicrous CG.
* Still no Tauriel romance or Legolas superpowers.
s01e08 - THERE AND BACK AGAIN (54:01) - Featuring more of the Battle of the Five Armies, the strike on Azog on ravenhill, the Erebor conclusions, and Bilbo's return home:
* Further trims to the flow of battle.
* Heavily restructured the final battle between Thorin and Azog to make it far tighter and with less suspension of disbelief.
CLIPS
Here's my edited Troll scene.
And here's my final Thorin-Azog fight (it's actually 04:20, I accidentally added a lot of black after the clip).
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