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

[CGHULK]

Well I finally saw the extended edition and I loved it. It is so much better than the theatrical cut. I now love the pacing of the film so much more. The moment from Beon leading up to the spider fight, is primarily all story and devoid of action, which is really nice. My father’s complaint from the theatical cut was why was the Master of Laketown giving Bard such a hard time, now it’s all fleshed out, you see now the people of Laketown look up to him. An example is how the towns people helped Bard by hiding the knocked out soldiers. In the theatrical cut I had a complaint with the Master quickly welcoming Thorin’s quest, now that has been fleshed out. I love how while Thrain is telling Gandalf that Thorin must not enter the mountain, they then cut to Thorin entering the mountain, which added suspense. With Thrain telling Gandalf that the dragon is in league with Sauron adds a more evil dimension to Smaug instead of him being just a one-dimensional character that just wants gold. When Thorin is doing his best to kill Smaug you really want him to succeed in doing it, now that stakes are higher. I love it when the dwarves are presented to Beon two by two, just like in the book. I think the new footage and cut in Mirkwood forest is an improvement. I love that there is a scene where Smaug hints at his connection to being in league with Sauron. Now when Smaug senses the ring its now because he’s more evil because he's in league with the dark one. When Smaug knew Thorin and the dwarves were there in the mines you suspect that he and Sauron were expecting them to show up. Overall the story is more layered now and better paced than the theatrical cut. I think the extended cut pacing here is closer to the Lord of the Rings than the theatrical.

I have to say the theatrical cut is more faithful to the source material than the extended cut and the extended takes even more focus off Bilbo due to the new adding story elements. That's not a criticism, its just the truth.

[Agent Bond]

How much more time do they waste in Laketown in this?

[CGHULK]

It's not a waste, the added footage fleshes out The Master's agenda against Bard and poisoning the towns people against him.

[RD1973]

I've been reading through the thread and I haven't seen anyone mention any exclusive content (disc or online).

Can it really be that there are no exclusive featurettes anywhere?

Don't get me wrong. This is great news (especially after the Target Winter Soldier disaster).

[Cook]

Originally Posted by RD1973

I've been reading through the thread and I haven't seen anyone mention any exclusive content (disc or online).

Can it really be that there are no exclusive featurettes anywhere?

Don't get me wrong. This is great news (especially after the Target Winter Soldier disaster).

I dont think there was any extra content exclusive to certain retailers. They like to make these extended editions comprehensive no matter where you get them from.

As for exclusives disasters, I think Star Trek Into Darkness (the first blu-ray release of that film) takes the cake for exclusives disasters. Holy ****ing hell that was a train wreck. To get all the special features a person would have had to buy like 9 different copies each from different retailers.

[rexcrk]

Originally Posted by Cook

It will. This is the release schedule WB and Jackson set out way back in 2001. Its been this way since FOTR. It isnt going to change. The Battle of the Five Armies EE will come out in November or December 2015.

Let's look at this logically. By sticking to the established schedule WB gets to spread their profits more, maximize sales of the Theatrical Cut and Jackson and crew gets plenty of time to finish the EE. And we the customer dont get a rushed release. Its advantageous for all of us. I know the wait sucks...god does it suck!, but these EE releases are truly remarkable and its because of the time Jackson and his crew put into them. Rushing it isnt the way to go about it.

Return of the King extended edition came out sooner than winter back in 2004, so maybe Battle of the Five Armies will too.

[jaredofmo]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

Return of the King extended edition came out sooner than winter back in 2004, so maybe Battle of the Five Armies will too.

I seem to remember The Return of the King Extended Edition coming out about a month later than usual. There was no movie for it to lead in to, so they released it (and the boxed set) closer to Christmas. And costing about $25, which makes these $20 Blu-Ray Hobbit editions just a bit sweeter.

But who knows, the Hobbit might be a different case.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

Originally Posted by jaredofmo

I seem to remember The Return of the King Extended Edition coming out about a month later than usual.

That's correct. FotR and TTT's EEs came out in November. The RotK EE came out in December.

[Ugly Pig]

Is it just me, or does amazon not carry the regular 3D EE? I'm not interested in statues and exclusives and whatnot, I just want the regular 3D EE to match my regular 3D EE of AUJ but I can't seem to find it on amazon...

[disneywildcat]

Originally Posted by Ugly Pig

Is it just me, or does amazon not carry the regular 3D EE? I'm not interested in statues and exclusives and whatnot, I just want the regular 3D EE to match my regular 3D EE of AUJ but I can't seem to find it on amazon...

Try searching for Hobbit DOS 3D. Amazon tends to hide 3D titles if you don't include 3D in your query.

[Ugly Pig]

Originally Posted by disneywildcat

Try searching for Hobbit DOS 3D. Amazon tends to hide 3D titles if you don't include 3D in your query.

Thanks. How bizarre.

[rexcrk]

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

That's correct. FotR and TTT's EEs came out in November. The RotK EE came out in December.

I take back my previous post lol. I could've sworn that the extended Return of the King came out a few months before November. Maybe I'm thinking of the theatrical cut coming out sooner than the other two movies.

[Adam_WM]

One thing I'm confused by is the chronology of the appendices on these Hobbit releases. I know they went back for pickups for a bunch of stuff when they made it 3 movies, but I'm having a hard time telling WHEN exactly they were doing the various shoots. I'd love to see the original scripts for movie 1 + 2 when that's all there was.

[JackKnightStarman]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

I take back my previous post lol. I could've sworn that the extended Return of the King came out a few months before November. Maybe I'm thinking of the theatrical cut coming out sooner than the other two movies.

If my memory serves me, the theatrical DVD release also came out later. I believe late July early August.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

Originally Posted by JackKnightStarman

If my memory serves me, the theatrical DVD release also came out later. I believe late July early August.

Actually, he's right on that one. The Theatrical RotK DVD came out in May, while FotR and TTT came out in August.

I'll stop being a know-it-all now, I promise.

[Gold Ranger]

Originally Posted by Adam_WM

One thing I'm confused by is the chronology of the appendices on these Hobbit releases. I know they went back for pickups for a bunch of stuff when they made it 3 movies, but I'm having a hard time telling WHEN exactly they were doing the various shoots. I'd love to see the original scripts for movie 1 + 2 when that's all there was.

I thought they decided even before shooting began that they would make it a 3-parter instead of 2...

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by KaineKinetic

I thought they decided even before shooting began that they would make it a 3-parter instead of 2...

No, they decided to do it after principal photography had finished.

Originally Posted by Adam_WM

One thing I'm confused by is the chronology of the appendices on these Hobbit releases. I know they went back for pickups for a bunch of stuff when they made it 3 movies, but I'm having a hard time telling WHEN exactly they were doing the various shoots. I'd love to see the original scripts for movie 1 + 2 when that's all there was.

It's confusing, but basically they're presenting the making of each movie as it happened in each set of appendices. So even though AUJ and what was originally There and Back Again were shot together during principal photography, we weren't shown any of the TABA née TDOS behind the scenes material in the AUJ appendices.

So when we get to the TDOS appendices, we're back in 2011/2012 during the original shoot again. The pickups for films 2 and 3 were done over 10 weeks starting in May 2013, the relevant material of which is also shown in the latest appendices. AFAIK the majority of the reshot stuff for TDOS centred on expanding Kili and Tauriel's relationship and the addition of the 'lighting of the forge' sequence in Erebor.

[yeslek]

Originally Posted by BaerGriggs

I'm thinking there was an issue with the product as a whole right now since I haven't seen anyone actually say their statue edition has shipped. Still chatting with Amazon so hopefully I can get some actual info from them.

I've just had a payment alert (changed card since pre-ordering) and have just updated so all looks fine.
Will delay any potential panic until tomorrow - gotta give it time to ship

[yeslek]

Originally Posted by bam777

It has arrived.

NICE!!
cant wait to get my copy - think last years statue/extended arrived within a few days which was nice

[Botchavelli]

Anyone else missing the UV code inside the packaging of the extended Smaug? I purchased my copy from Best Buy that includes the Key of Thorin Oakenshield.