J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit: A Fanedit by Dustin Lee

Could you perhaps edit the Riddles in the Dark sequence so that there is no 'unidentified light source' and purely make it so that gollums eyes and bilbo's sword are the source of light? I wouldn't ask you if I didn't see your impressive digital and color alterations. Clearly you're using some real professional SFX program that has the ability to something along these lines...

Clearly you are a very mature 14yr old

davidjoneshoward wrote:Could you perhaps edit the Riddles in the Dark sequence so that there is no 'unidentified light source' and purely make it so that gollums eyes and bilbo's sword are the source of light? I wouldn't ask you if I didn't see your impressive digital and color alterations. Clearly you're using some real professional SFX program that has the ability to something along these lines...

Well, that sounds cool but absolute pitch darkness does not translate well to film! It would take a very long time for me to process that entire scene too...I would rather put my energy into other sections of the film.

Just edit in Bilbo grabbing several torches and three lanterns as he falls (and falls and falls) to where Gollum is, and use those after he survives (and survives and survives)...

... it will fit right in with Jackson's action scenes (ask Naomi Watts).

Or edit in Naomi Watts herself... I mean, her name is Watts after all.


I'm sorry.

azriel wrote:Clearly you are a very mature 14yr old

thanks!

Long post ahead, but I do hope that you read it all. Many of you know I'm not the biggest fan of the Hobbit trilogy in its current form, but I wanted to sit down and give Peter Jackson one last chance to redeem himself with the Battle of Five Armies Extended Edition. I've heard mixed opinions on the EE...some are happy to have what they feel should have been the TE, and others are still upset that more scenes weren't included. I tried going into this with an open mind, and did my best not to watch the film and think about which new scenes I would/wouldn't include in my Hobbit fan edit later this month. So! With all that being said, here's how I feel about the BOFA EE.

It sucks.

Maybe some of you are happy with it, but for the life of me I cannot fathom how anyone thinks this is a good film. The theatrical version was already violently incoherent, and almost fully devoid of Tolkien's spirit. This extended version is even MORE violent and only slightly less incoherent. There were such high hopes that PJ & Co would fix all the plot holes and unresolved arcs with the EE, and those hopes have been dashed in favor of tasteless blood and gore.

I've followed SO many speculative posts over this past year on TORN, with everyone weighing in on the awesome new footage we'd hope to see in the EE. We even tried estimating how much time each new scene would be given. Maybe 2-3 minutes for the Bilbo/Bofur scene, a meaty 4-5 minutes for the funeral and coronation, at least 1-2 minutes of Beorn tearing it up on the battlefield, proper conclusions for Bard and Thranduil. Yeah. Almost all of those estimates were way off. The funeral was largely disappointing for me, and there was no coronation...Dain nods his head and that's it. Better than nothing, I guess. Beorn got maybe 5-6 SECONDS of new footage, and is now officially the most shafted Tolkien character in this trilogy. But hey, we did get that nice scene with Bofur and Bilbo, right? Doesn't that excuse all the other shortcomings?

No, it does not. Which leads me to the other 90% of new footage. Violence, blood, guts, dismemberment, decapitations and so on. Oh, and more Alfrid. None of which actually moves the story forward. The last thing that BOFA needed was more violence for the sake of it. The man who brought us the LOTR films is not the same man who gave us these Hobbit films. Peter Jackson is clearly more interested in playing with his computer sandbox at WETA than actually delivering a satisfying story on film.

Don't blame the studio on allegedly withholding the additional 10 minutes of footage we were "promised." Don't hold out hope for a non-existent Super Extended Mega Mithril Edition. Will that honestly make this film THAT much better? The version of the Hobbit you are hoping to see does not exist. A few extra minutes of footage will not save it now.

I am now more convinced than ever that the only way I'll ever enjoy The Hobbit films is to watch a completely re-edited version of them. Without all the excess bloat and over-the-top violence that has ignored the charm and spirit of J.R.R. Tolkien's sublime little fantasy novel. I can only do so much with the footage available to work with, but I can assure you with all bias aside that there is a much better Hobbit film beneath the three films we've been given. And the nice part is that I'm only one of several people working on a fan edit of the Hobbit...so if you don't like the changes I've made than I'm sure you'll find another version that might suit your liking!

This was the last time I'll ever watch PJ's Hobbit films in their original form.

I would have enjoyed The Hobbit a hell of a lot if it had been burnt, deleted, sunk as ashes to the bottom of the deepest ocean.

Goldeneye wrote:Long post ahead, but I do hope that you read it all. Many of you know I'm not the biggest fan of the Hobbit trilogy in its current form

I'm sure you realise by now Goldeneye, that is a viewpoint that isn't very rare in this forum

I wanted to sit down and give Peter Jackson one last chance to redeem himself with the Battle of Five Armies Extended Edition.

I feel like I should given the amount of time I've spent speculating/moaning about these films over the last few years, but I just can't be bothered, I enjoyed most of AUJ, didn't mind parts of DOS, but BOTFA simply bored me, I was even annoyed by it, just utterly indifferent...and kinda pleased it was all over.

The theatrical version was already violently incoherent, and almost fully devoid of Tolkien's spirit. This extended version is even MORE violent and only slightly less incoherent. There were such high hopes that PJ & Co would fix all the plot holes and unresolved arcs with the EE, and those hopes have been dashed in favor of tasteless blood and gore.

When you give the director of Braindead $600 million, and 3 hours to fill with a Battle Film, subtly is probably not to be expected...but even so I agree the theatrical version was over the top and confusing, like a half finished videogame that the coders had lost interest in halfway through.

Dain nods his head and that's it.

'Want to be King Mr oddly shiny Scottish Stereotype?' 'Sure, why not...I've not done anything to earn it though' 'Nod if you agree'

Beorn got maybe 5-6 SECONDS of new footage, and is now officially the most shafted Tolkien character in this trilogy.

I wonder if that was to do with the actors prison sentence? They rejigged Bolg's storyline to give Legolas a nemesis, maybe they ran out fo time to do the same for Beorn?...honestly, I wouldn't have minded if they dropped Beorn, I liked him in the book, but hated the Sonic the Hedgehog design they gave him the films, he's kinda redundant in the structure of these films anyway.

Oh, and more Alfrid

sarcasm obviously

The man who brought us the LOTR films is not the same man who gave us these Hobbit films. Peter Jackson is clearly more interested in playing with his computer sandbox at WETA than actually delivering a satisfying story on film.

Jackson also had much less to prove and more freedom, money and screentime to fill with made up junk this time around, he never really wanted to make these films, and I never got the sense he liked the book very much, so it's not surprising he poured more effort into something's he's actually something of a pioneer in. In fairness he had only a few months to plan for the films (compared to 2-3 years with LOTR) and made things up pretty much on the fly.

A few extra minutes of footage will not save it now.

The sad thing is a few hours less material may have made it better...

This was the last time I'll ever watch PJ's Hobbit films in their original form

I'll probably watch them again at somepoint, they have many good points in terms of production design, acting etc, and there's plenty more to moan about at least

Oh well, there's already been a perfect Hobbit adaptation...the graphic novel...

The man who brought us the LOTR films is not the same man who gave us these Hobbit films.- Goldeneye

This si the onyl thinin your post I disagree with- I was accusing Pj of just the same errors and inconstancy of tone, characters ect in the LotR's films- yes there is less Pj and more Tolkien in LotR's and less Tolkien and way more Pj in TH films- but its the same issues form the same man through and through.

The man who brought us the LOTR films is not the same man who gave us these Hobbit films.- Goldeneye

well I agree 100% with this.

Lets just say The Hobbit films suck and leave it at that. I have no desire to rewatch them in any form. Its depressing.

I don't know how many people on this forum have actually watched BOFA-EE but from the clips alone I think most of the forum agrees with you, Goldeneye. I did see the film during the theatrical re-release and was similarly disillusioned, although I wasn't really expecting much from the new cut to begin with.

No direct links! Here is the link to my webpage, but you'll have to find the actual film on your own via the posts within.

http://www.maple-films.com/the-hobbit-fan-edit

After more than two years of work, I am very excited to have completed the final version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. I won’t bore you with a specific cutlist here…if you want to read that you can visit my webpage for the details. Like many others, I wanted to see a version of The Hobbit that was closer to the spirit of Tolkien’s book. This is that film.

Many of you probably saw or heard of “The Tolkien Edit” when it was released last year. That was not my fan edit. It was hastily assembled and had very poor audio/visual quality, especially since the editor used a pirated DVD screener copy of Battle of Five Armies as his source. A guy named David Killstein released his own edit shortly after that, called “There and Back Again.” It had better editing, but the technical quality was still poor. Regardless, both of these edits grabbed a lot of attention because they were the first Hobbit fan edits out of the gate, and it showed people that it was possible to cut a 9-hour trilogy in half (or more) and still make sense.

So if you liked those edits, you will LOVE this version. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit has been created using only the highest-quality media available- full HD Bluray and 5.1 surround sound. Working with 5.1 has given me far more options for audio editing than a simple stereo track. Here’s just a sample of some of the work I’ve done on the film.

- A 532 minute trilogy cut to a single 247 minute film
- Well over 600 actual edits and trims made
- An Intermission splits the film in half, at the exact point where Peter Jackson originally intended to split the Hobbit when it was still two films
- Overall, the film remains focused on Bilbo and the dwarves. Unnecessary subplots, characters, and CGI silliness have been jettisoned. That means no Tauriel.
- Color corrected in several sequences to match LOTR’s visuals more.
- Numerous digital alterations, including a new opening title, gold coating removed from Smaug, Radagast erased from an eagle flyover shot, etc.
- Orc subtitles altered to explain plot adjustments
- Several unused music cues by Howard Shore have been re-inserted in key scenes, including the famous Misty Mountains theme that was abandoned after AUJ.
- Various scenes from the Extended Editions have also been added where needed. Yes, Thorin’s funeral is in here.

SO. If you’d like to watch this fan edit, I only ask that you legally own all three films in advance. It’s only fair to the copyright holders, regardless of how you feel about the original films.

Right now you can enjoy the HD digital copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, but in the next week or so you will be able choose from DVD or Bluray ISO files. They will both be 2-disc sets with custom artwork (available for free on my site). They will feature 5.1 digital surround sound, interactive menus, the whole shebang. Eventually I plan to add subtitles in multiple languages…several people have volunteered to help translate already! Finally, I’ll include a side quest film called Durin’s Folk and the Hill of Sorcery on the special features. It’s an hour-long film that follows the Dol Guldur subplot and how it ties into the dwarves’ backstory. This subplot actually works a lot better when it’s not distracting from the main story of the Hobbit!

Phew, long post. I’ve said it many times since I began working on this edit, but buried somewhere underneath the uneven, bloated Hobbit trilogy is a truly great film. For me at least, I have finally found that film. Hopefully you’ll think so too!

**TL;DR I made a fan edit of the Hobbit trilogy and I think it’s the best one out there by far. Check it out and let me know what you think.**

I watched Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery since it was shorter and (mainly) because it was available to stream. You've clearly put a lot of work into this project and I admire that effort. To be perfectly honest though, I don't think the Dol Guldur plot was really salvageable though. I didn't like most of those scenes to begin with, but they were tied together with the book material so tightly that putting them on their own just makes it feel disjointed and incomplete. With AUJ, I thought there were too many flashbacks and cutaways in the first part of the film. I'm sure your edit is improved by getting rid of those, but having just the flashbacks and cutaways together doesn't really bestow any forward momentum on those scenes either.

Not trying to be a negative nancy here and I certainly don't blame you for the scenes not working for me! I might try watching the main edit at some point although I actually don't own a copy of BOFA (since I went to see it during the theatrical screening in October) so I would feel uncomfortable downloading it for the same reason you mention.

I shall give it a look when I have the chance Goldeneye as your levels of professionalism are exceptional. I will however still reserve judgement for now on if your cut has earned the J.R. R. Tolkien edition, as that was my only gripe with your previous cut.

**Just as before, no direct links! Just Google "maple films hobbit" and you'll find what you're looking for.**

Last month I released a digital copy of my fan edit, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. The feedback has been great so far and I'm glad so many of you have enjoyed it. After a LOT of trial and error (emphasis on error), I've finally finished the DVD and Bluray builds. I apologize for the wait, but a lot can and will go wrong when building a project with this much content! I did end up fixing the color correction for the earlier parts of the film, since many of you thought I desaturated things a bit too much. I also managed to de-bloom much of the footage from The Battle of Five Armies too. Other than that, the film is pretty much the same as the version released last month.

You may have seen the menus I designed, but here they are again if you're curious.
https://imgur.com/a/rYQLg

And here is the custom box art I designed, which uses elements from the 1966 hardcover edition of the book. Comes in six different colors too!
https://imgur.com/gallery/nomC5/new

Annnd here is the custom disc art, designed by Eric Odmyr. Made to look like the LOTR/Hobbit Extended Edition discs.
https://imgur.com/a/FKv8G

* 247 minutes.

* Two-disc set.

* 5.1 Dolby Digital surround, and stereo option available

* Special Features include my side quest edit, Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery.

* Subtitles were a freaking nightmare and kept crashing my software on import, so I added the English subs to my website in case you want to add them to the ISO files yourself. It was too much of a PITA for me, sorry.

Just FYI, these are extremely large files...15GB for the DVD and 60GB for the Bluray. So be patient and seed away. This is how J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is meant to be experienced! Enjoy and of course, please make sure you already legally own the original Hobbit films before downloading this fan edit!

That's an extremely impressive achievement you've put together, Goldeneye! Are those actual Alan Lee sketches on the disc art or were they drawn by Mr Odmyr?

Eldorion wrote:That's an extremely impressive achievement you've put together, Goldeneye!  Are those actual Alan Lee sketches on the disc art or were they drawn by Mr Odmyr?

Thanks, the disc art features sketches by Alan Lee. I believe they were taken from the EE discs, and then custom text graphics were laid on top.

Where is your avatar/profile pic from? ...asking for a friend...

Very cool, Goldeneye.

(Check your PMs. )

Now Topher Grace joined in the action.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/m/f3159225-4138-3921-a28a-64ad42e94f64/ss_topher-grace-recut-the-hobbit.html

Great we’ll never see his version. Even at 2 hours a turd remains a turd.