The Hobbit Trilogy Discussion Thread

[radagast]

Originally Posted by pj_campbell

I didn't realize how long it had been until you brought that up! Man that makes me feel old...I remember seeing all 3 of them in theaters multiple times and watching the Academy Awards and writing a report on it winning its award in middle school...Wow. It has really been a while

It irritates me to think that we would be watching the first installment THIS YEAR if it hadn't been for a bunch of gremlins (or orcs?) causing so much trouble and delay.

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by MCT

I think when I finally see a trailer for this, I may geek out and get misty eyed. It's been nearly 10 years since the last LOTR film. Seeing all those familiar faces in familiar settings after all these years will be strong stuff.

Yea, I remember that 'The Two Towers' was the very first interenet trailer that I watched on my computer.

Originally Posted by radagast

It irritates me to think that we would be watching the first installment THIS YEAR if it hadn't been for a bunch of gremlins (or orcs?) causing so much trouble and delay.

You got that right bud. Plus the Extended LotRs BDs also.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by radagast

It irritates me to think that we would be watching the first installment THIS YEAR if it hadn't been for a bunch of gremlins (or orcs?) causing so much trouble and delay.

Your not alone. It's irritating it took so long for this movie to finally gear up and be made Damn you MGM!

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by pj_campbell

Your not alone. It's irritating it took so long for this movie to finally gear up and be made Damn you MGM!

Good things are worth the wait, besides you are forgetting that for a long time nobody thought live-action LoTR was possible, waiting 9 years for the Hobbit films is nothing in comparison.

[frogmort]

I thought Christopher Lee was definitely not going to do this. This is awesome news! I really hope he does it.

I personally don't like the idea of cramming all of the LOTR characters that shouldn't be in The Hobbit in there, but the White Council was held during this time period, so this is looking good!

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Darth Anakin

Good things are worth the wait, besides you are forgetting that for a long time nobody thought live-action LoTR was possible, waiting 9 years for the Hobbit films is nothing in comparison.

This is true, way to put it in perspective

[Ernest Rister]

I'm wondering how they'll handle 'Riddles in the Dark', in that Tolkien treats Gollum a bit differently in The Hobbit versus Lord of the Rings. It's been a very long time since I've seen (or read) The Two Towers, but I don't remember thinking that Gollum ever wanted to eat Sam or Frodo. That's a very different story in The Hobbit.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by pj_campbell

Your not alone. It's irritating it took so long for this movie to finally gear up and be made Damn you MGM!

I think things turned out best, as the turmoil forced Peter Jackson to take the directing assignment himself when del Toro bowed out.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I'm wondering how they'll handle 'Riddles in the Dark', in that Tolkien treats Gollum a bit differently in The Hobbit versus Lord of the Rings. It's been a very long time since I've seen (or read) The Two Towers, but I don't remember thinking that Gollum ever wanted to eat Sam or Frodo. That's a very different story in The Hobbit.

[Show spoiler]They'll probably be able to handle that quite well, especially if they add stuff like Gollum's stomach growling every so slightly intermittently. If I had been stuck in that cave for as long as Gollum with nothing to eat but fish and rotting goblins, a hobbit would look tempting to me too.

[frogmort]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I think things turned out best, as the turmoil forced Peter Jackson to take the directing assignment himself when del Toro bowed out.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I think things turned out best, as the turmoil forced Peter Jackson to take the directing assignment himself when del Toro bowed out.

See, that actually worried me. If Jackson really didn't want to do it, I don't think him being forced to direct it would be such a good thing...The Hobbit was so much different than LOTR, so I was disappointed when Del Toro bowed out. But honestly, as long as Jackson is comfortable doing this and not doing it because he has to, the movies will turn out good

[frogmort]

Originally Posted by pj_campbell

See, that actually worried me. If Jackson really didn't want to do it, I don't think him being forced to direct it would be such a good thing...The Hobbit was so much different than LOTR, so I was disappointed when Del Toro bowed out. But honestly, as long as Jackson is comfortable doing this and not doing it because he has to, the movies will turn out good

I heard that the reason he originally wasn't doing it was because he sued New Line for money they owed him, & an executive(can't remember his name) said "PJ will never work for New Line again!", but who knows.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by frogmort

I heard that the reason he originally wasn't doing it was because he sued New Line for money they owed him, & an executive(can't remember his name) said "PJ will never work for New Line again!", but who knows.

Ah, I see...Interesting. I always thought it was because LOTR had stressed him out so bad he couldn't handle doing it all over again. I could be wrong though.

[frogmort]

Originally Posted by pj_campbell

Ah, I see...Interesting. I always thought it was because LOTR had stressed him out so bad he couldn't handle doing it all over again. I could be wrong though.

If you go to wikipedia and search "The Hobbit Film Project", go down to "First Stages of Development" the 2nd & 3rd paragraph kind of mention both, but you never know with wiki.

[Darkhawk9587]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Great. This movie is really shaping up with Lee's signing. Can't wait.

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

"Christopher Lee in talks..." - extremely good news!

The Lee news is the best so far. I sure hope he stays healthy long enough to bless us with another sublime performance.

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I'm wondering how they'll handle 'Riddles in the Dark', in that Tolkien treats Gollum a bit differently in The Hobbit versus Lord of the Rings. It's been a very long time since I've seen (or read) The Two Towers, but I don't remember thinking that Gollum ever wanted to eat Sam or Frodo. That's a very different story in The Hobbit.

Sam and Frodo probably should have been worried about being eaten, if they weren't... in Jackson's RotK, he does refer to having tasted orc.
As I understood it, Tolkien actually went back and re-edited "riddles in the dark" after the release of LotR, because he felt Gollum needed to be more menacing; in the original edition, I don't believe there is any talk of Gollum eating Bilbo.

Originally Posted by frogmort

I heard that the reason he originally wasn't doing it was because he sued New Line for money they owed him, & an executive(can't remember his name) said "PJ will never work for New Line again!", but who knows.

You're both right, but on different points in the timeline.
First, Jackson was out because of his fight with New Line. The executive you mentioned, (Bob Shaye) has since been fired for grossly mismanaging New Line: what he did with Jackson, he did with everybody else that worked with New Line; any pennies he tried to pinch in underpaying people, were lost twofold in the subsequent lawsuits. So, Warners gave him and Michael Lynn the boot, and absorbed New Line.
By the time Del Toro is brought into the picture, that is all resolved and Jackson is back on board but says he's too fatigued to direct it, he's only in for writing and producing.

I still think they would have made a better final product if GDT had stayed on. He wouldn't really have been "replacing" the role Jackson filled on LotR, he was just being "added to the team", and he seemed to me to be the perfect fit to join that group. I hope his contributions still come through to some extent in the final product, and I hope someday we finally do get to have some movie that is GDT directed/Jackson produced, and has the full commitment of Richard Taylor, Mike Mignola, and the rest of both teams. It's a shame this isn't it, because this was the perfect project for that perfect super-team.

[frogmort]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

The Lee news is the best so far. I sure hope he stays healthy long enough to bless us with another sublime performance.



Sam and Frodo probably should have been worried about being eaten, if they weren't... in Jackson's RotK, he does refer to having tasted orc.
As I understood it, Tolkien actually went back and re-edited "riddles in the dark" after the release of LotR, because he felt Gollum needed to be more menacing; in the original edition, I don't believe there is any talk of Gollum eating Bilbo.



You're both right, but on different points in the timeline.
First, Jackson was out because of his fight with New Line. The executive you mentioned, (Bob Shaye) has since been fired for grossly mismanaging New Line: what he did with Jackson, he did with everybody else that worked with New Line; any pennies he tried to pinch in underpaying people, were lost twofold in the subsequent lawsuits. So, Warners gave him and Michael Lynn the boot, and absorbed New Line.
By the time Del Toro is brought into the picture, that is all resolved and Jackson is back on board but says he's too fatigued to direct it, he's only in for writing and producing.

I still think they would have made a better final product if GDT had stayed on. He wouldn't really have been "replacing" the role Jackson filled on LotR, he was just being "added to the team", and he seemed to me to be the perfect fit to join that group. I hope his contributions still come through to some extent in the final product, and I hope someday we finally do get to have some movie that is GDT directed/Jackson produced, and has the full commitment of Richard Taylor, Mike Mignola, and the rest of both teams. It's a shame this isn't it, because this was the perfect project for that perfect super-team.

GDT still helped shape The Hobbit; I can't wait to see SMAUG

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by frogmort

GDT still helped shape The Hobbit; I can't wait to see SMAUG

Assuming they're still using his Smaug design. (Probably so... and his Mirkwood spiders, too. It's not quite the same if he isn't directing the scenes, though.)

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

The Lee news is the best so far. I sure hope he stays healthy long enough to bless us with another sublime performance.

Sam and Frodo probably should have been worried about being eaten, if they weren't... in Jackson's RotK, he does refer to having tasted orc.
As I understood it, Tolkien actually went back and re-edited "riddles in the dark" after the release of LotR, because he felt Gollum needed to be more menacing; in the original edition, I don't believe there is any talk of Gollum eating Bilbo.

Well, then, what was the whole riddle game about in the original version? Because Gollum lunching down on Filet of Bilbo is the stakes of the game in every version I've read...

[Ernest Rister]

By the way, I'm a bit concerned about the attempt to bloat up the Hobbit with all the action found in the appendices of Return of the King. The novel is about a sheltered and safe man who is taken out to engage with the wide world, and we learn of this wide world through his eyes. It is an intimate, almost first-person, point of view.

What I'm worried about is this...by cutting to all these Great Events That We Never Really Learned About In The Hobbit...the entire focus of the work shifts. Now, instead of a singular vision exeriencing a wider world, his story becomes a part of a quilt - a quilt composed of The Hobbit and the events as described in the appendices of Return of the King. Bilbo was our "in" to the world of Middle-Earth while reading The Hobbit. Who is our "in" when Bilbo's story simply becomes one of many concurring events? There's no Merry or Pippin around this time to perform the same trick. Frodo?