The Hobbit Trilogy Discussion Thread

[Beast]

Yeah, but if Frodo fails his mission... the Eagles are boned also. As Sauron's darkness consumes the world.

So saying that the Eagles were just too proud to help... just means that the Eagles were complete dicks.

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by Beast

Yeah, but if Frodo fails his mission... the Eagles are boned also. As Sauron's darkness consumes the world.

So saying that the Eagles were just too proud to help... just means that the Eagles were complete dicks.

ONLY Middle-Earth. Not Aman. Which I believe that the Eagles had as a haven also.

BTW, I believe that the 'Deus Ex Machina Airlines' was used just as much or more in that capacity in the Silmarillion.

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[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by EricJ

No, it's the old LOTR joke about "Why didn't they just get those eagles, or dragons, or whatever?"

Originally Posted by Beast

So saying that the Eagles were just too proud to help... just means that the Eagles were complete dicks.

Of course this question has come up many times, and the most obvious answer is "the Eagles could have to taken the Ring to Orodruin and destroyed it with relative ease." I know of no rational argument against that, other than it would have been extremely bad for the plot and reduced the thickness of the book by about a thousand pages.

[Beast]

Tolkien just should have found another means of saving Frodo and Sam.

Or Sam could have escaped and left Frodo to die, horribly burned and still consumed with the Ring's Evil.

And then Saruman could find him later and rebuild him somehow into a new Agent of Evil.

[Duffy12]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cUCT1jSSNw

[Moleman1138]

Originally Posted by Beast

Tolkien just should have found another means of saving Frodo and Sam.

Or Sam could have escaped and left Frodo to die, horribly burned and still consumed with the Ring's Evil.

And then Saruman could find him later and rebuild him somehow into a new Agent of Evil.

Does Sam have the higher ground?

"You were my brother Frodo, I loved you"

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Beast

Yeah, but if Frodo fails his mission... the Eagles are boned also. As Sauron's darkness consumes the world.

So saying that the Eagles were just too proud to help... just means that the Eagles were complete dicks.

No, means they're an independently living species, like most of the remaining sentient species in Middle Earth, and, like their Narnian cousins, they just don't answer to their slave names.
(Hey, YOU argue with an oversized 12-foot golden eagle: "I ain't your crop-dusting pilot, two-legs, I'm not dropping you off at soccer practice, and I ain't your damn Tweety Bird", all right?")

They may have been as snotty as the Elves, but they got in on the climactic ending too.

[Duffy12]

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Another one-


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jMLC...ature=youtu.be





And here is the Smaug one that everybody is talking about-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V_ZT6NGd2k&list=UUHgCiVjYBHG6-tHjGQ8MsZQ

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[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cUCT1jSSNw

Those scenes go by so fast it is hard to make some of them out. Is that a ship at the beginning, right before the first scene with Gollum?

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

Those scenes go by so fast it is hard to make some of them out. Is that a ship at the beginning, right before the first scene with Gollum?

That was my first thought also but...

I believe that it is a camera pan during the fighting in goblin town.

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[blakeyamc]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

.

Another one-


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jMLC...ature=youtu.be





And here is the Smaug one that everybody is talking about-



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V_ZT...HG6-tHjGQ8MsZQ

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Yowser!!! So many epic new shots...

Smaug
Moria?
Armies?
Crazyness!!

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

.

And here is the Smaug one that everybody is talking about-



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V_ZT...HG6-tHjGQ8MsZQ

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If that is an ad for the first movie it is misleading, because almost certainly some of those scenes will not appear in it.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

If that is an ad for the first movie it is misleading, because almost certainly some of those scenes will not appear in it.

Prologue, dude. Prologue.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

That was my first thought also but...

I believe that it is a camera pan during the fighting in goblin town.

.

I watched it a few times and I think you are right.

Originally Posted by Aragorn84

Prologue, dude. Prologue.

If true, it seems odd at least to me that Jackson would be minimizing the climax of the trilogy by revealing

[Show spoiler] the appearance of the dragon

at the beginning of the movie.

[blakeyamc]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

If that is an ad for the first movie it is misleading, because almost certainly some of those scenes will not appear in it.

I believe you are seeing the

[Show spoiler]flashback to the Battle of Azanulbizar and, of course, the destruction of Dale.

[blakeyamc]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

If true, it seems odd at least to me that Jackson would be minimizing the climax of the trilogy by revealing

[Show spoiler] the appearance of the dragon

at the beginning of the movie.

In this LA times interview PJ mentions you will see

[Show spoiler] Smaug in the first movie, but very briefly. Similar to Gollum, in the Fellowship

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/...eature-design/

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by blakeyamc

I believe you are seeing the

[Show spoiler]flashback to the Battle of Azanulbizar and, of course, the destruction of Dale.

If that is the prologue that would also be my guess, but I was hoping that with the extra time afforded by three movies, Jackson would have gone to more depth concerning the events underlying that particular battle, since it has something to do with the events of The Hobbit.

[Show spoiler] One would imagine that a prologue would not be enough to cover the events leading Thrain (or his father Thror) to Moria, the story behind his Ring of Power, and the pivotal role he plays in the story by providing the map to Gandalf.

But, a brief nod in the prologue would be better than nothing.

Originally Posted by blakeyamc

In this LA times interview PJ mentions you will see

[Show spoiler] Smaug in the first movie, but very briefly. Similar to Gollum, in the Fellowship

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/...eature-design/

That also makes sense based on the pattern established in the prologue of Fellowship, but I also thought the introduction of Gollum in that sequence made his appearance in The Two Towers somewhat anti-climatic, as compared to a totally unexpected surprise - especially for those who were not familiar with the book. But again, everything I hear so far is good, so we'll see.

[Duffy12]

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Actually now that I am thinking about it, it shouldn't really be a surprise to see a brief glimpse of Smaug in the first film. If you remember during one of the production vids, they mentioned that they built a full scale set of Dale in all it's glory before it's destruction. Meaning if they put that much money into a set they are sure to get as much use out of it as possible. Which means early shots of Smaug the Golden.

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[beadelf]

Originally Posted by Aragorn84

Prologue, dude. Prologue.

beat me to it

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

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Actually now that I am thinking about it, it shouldn't really be a surprise to see a brief glimpse of Smaug in the first film. If you remember during one of the production vids, they mentioned that they built a full scale set of Dale in all it's glory before it's destruction. Meaning if they put that much money into a set they are sure to get as much use out of it as possible. Which means early shots of Smaug the Golden.

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Smaug is the stakes of the entire film, like Sauron in LOTR (well, at least, until the whole Arkenstone business), so we *should* see his power at the outset. We don't have to see him in long, lingering shots, but what he does should be demonstrated, and powerfully.