The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition - November 4, 2014

[The Edge]

Originally Posted by lrt106

I would like to know this too, as this happened to my copy of the first movie. The original movie set has similar hinges, but they're thicker and sturdier. I wonder if they sell replacements for just the part that the discs are held in.

is there a possible e-mail address to ask WBHE for a replacement black case?

Also, UV code for TDoS: EE ... Up for grabs.

J2224492KX9Y

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by BluMonday

Technology and experience/skill keeps on moving forward. These movies are coming out a year apart so it's natural that they are going to keep on improving on the final renderings during the year's in-between. Right up to the last minute before release. I don't think anyone wants Gollum's look and feel from FOTR to be the same in TTT, ROTK and TUJ. At the end it would be nice to go back and smooth out and update the quality of the CGI on all 6, but I don't really want to see that Pandora's Box opened. It'll probably lead to temptation of redoing scenes entirely, adding new stuff ala George Lucas. I would rather live with the inconsistencies.

Okay, technology changing in a year I can understand, but keeping it going until literally the very last minute is what winds me up. There's a certain discipline to film editing which has been blown apart by the digital flexibility afforded to filmmakers these days (call it the George Lucas syndrome), and while some use it to create as precise a vision of their film as possible (like David Fincher, who seems to have the whole thing mapped out in his noggin ahead of time) others approach it like a kid in a candy store and so the focus of the storytelling gets watered down. IMO.

The snafu with the final shot of Smaug in AUJ was ridiculous because it's not like they were having to create a third movie out of odds and ends (as with TDOS), and even though they threw out GDT's designs and started again they still had plenty of time to finalise the dragon beforehand. As for not changing the CG of the characters, Jackson's done it already: Smaug's design in the theatrical prologue of AUJ was altered to the later version for the EE prologue, and that was definitely not because of improvements in technology, it's because Jackson is the king of the procrastinators.

[Blu Myers]

I'm watching the extended edition for the first time finally. I'm loving all the additions to the story. It actually gives it a better flow.

[lrt106]

Originally Posted by The Edge

is there a possible e-mail address to ask WBHE for a replacement black case?

Also, UV code for TDoS: EE ... Up for grabs.

J2224492KX9Y

Maybe! Do you think it'd be best to contact Warner Bros directly?

[The Edge]

Originally Posted by lrt106

Maybe! Do you think it'd be best to contact Warner Bros directly?

I've filled out their customer service form yesterday, but no reply back. Would you have the customer service phone number handy?

[GenPion]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Jackson's done it already: Smaug's design in the theatrical prologue of AUJ was altered to the later version for the EE prologue, and that was definitely not because of improvements in technology, it's because Jackson is the king of the procrastinators.

I'm not sure I'd call him that... few filmmakers can turn out as many movies of the caliber or demand of his productions as quickly as he can.

...even though these films have taken decades of preparation, the release windows of the two trilogies suggest a strict workflow demand that doesn't allow too much for for that, IMO.

[Geoff D]

If you mean the back-to-back-to-back yearly release dates of each movie then I see where you're coming from, and in the case of TDOS I even have some sympathy for him seeing as they had to cobble it together from bits and pieces, some of it shot only months before. But there's no excuse for letting AUJ go down to the wire like that; he does it because he's the goddamned Peter Jackson and he leaves everything to the last minute whether he has to or not.

Random factoid: Did you know that they had 48 RED cameras (two for each 3D rig) on the production? Forty-freakin-eight!

[WorkShed]

Geoff, the scale of these films is immense. I don't think he was intentionally dragging his feet on anything. He has a ton of choices to make every second and yes, some stuff will fall by the wayside because he has to feel it out and if something is not right, it's not right.

As for the modification of Smaug in AUJ, that was due to the design team only having pieces of the dragon designed for AUJ and Jackson had a better idea when it was time to give the design focus for DOS. The wings as front legs was a much better design idea and actually worked well with the motion capture performance that Cumberbatch gave.

[bookcase]

Originally Posted by HomerThompson

To be fair, they hadn't locked down a Gollum design when the first Lord of the Rings film came out which is why when he is glimpsed at, he looks different than the second film.

I don't recall how he changed, but it's been a while since I watched them. Do you have pics?

[Vlad Draculi]

I really don't get why it matters when we don't even see an actual body shot of Smaug in the first one.

[jvonl]

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

Hey, wasn't this supposed to come with a booklet like the LotR movies did?

Look for posts from the Hutt. He has done spectacular fan versions for both Hobbit movies and has links to them on his posts.

[TheHutt]

Here is one for your convenience.

PS: got one signed by Peter Jackson, Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman now.

[Taikero]

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

I really don't get why it matters when we don't even see an actual body shot of Smaug in the first one.

We see Smaug's legs, lower body, tail, etc. Quite a bit of him is shown as he invades Erebor. They put a bunch of Smaug on-screen in theaters, then before the Blu-ray/DVD release, they had to go back in and digitally alter his entire design that was seen in the theater so it wouldn't be off-base once they released Desolation of Smaug.

Either way, the design of Smaug should have been pushed further along much earlier in the game, possibly even as one of the first designs done, as like Jackson says in the Appendices, getting Smaug wrong would basically break the Hobbit as a successful film/trilogy. The guy had ten years in between trilogies to get a lot of these ideas brainstormed. Guillermo may have been helming the operation for a time, but everybody knew Jackson would come back eventually in some capacity. He can't keep himself away from Middle Earth, one way or another. I'm also surprised that Alan Lee/John Howe weren't considering seriously that Smaug could be on the horizon after the success of LotR.

But then I guess once a project's done, it's on to the next one, eh?

[TheHutt]

Originally Posted by Taikero

We see Smaug's legs, lower body, tail, etc. Quite a bit of him is shown as he invades Erebor. They put a bunch of Smaug on-screen in theaters, then before the Blu-ray/DVD release, they had to go back in and digitally alter his entire design that was seen in the theater so it wouldn't be off-base once they released Desolation of Smaug.

Actually, it was not before the SEE of AUJ that the new design was created and one shot (of several) was replaced. You can still see four-legged Smaug in another shot; also, the paws breaking out the gate are the front paws of a four-legged Smaug.

[Taikero]

Originally Posted by TheHutt

Actually, it was not before the SEE of AUJ that the new design was created and one shot (of several) was replaced. You can still see four-legged Smaug in another shot; also, the paws breaking out the gate are the front paws of a four-legged Smaug.

At least Jackson didn't try to explain that one away by positing he took over Erebor so he could cocoon himself in a sea of gold so he could sprout beautiful, magnificent, calamitous wings.

Nothing more tyrannical than a fire-breathing overgrown butterfly.

[TheHutt]

You mean like on the old German "Hobbit" book illustrations?

[Taikero]

Originally Posted by TheHutt

You mean like on the old German "Hobbit" book illustrations?

[Show spoiler]

That would have been stupendous to see on-screen. I think I would have fallen out of my chair in amazement.

[Gold Ranger]

can someone post images of the different Smaugs that you are all talking about, please.
I have no idea what you guys are actually discussing or how he changed in appearance

[Taikero]

Originally Posted by KaineKinetic

can someone post images of the different Smaugs that you are all talking about, please.
I have no idea what you guys are actually discussing or how he changed in appearance

[Gold Ranger]

So, they changed the way the claws look?