HOBBIT TRAILER #1

There are less than four hours to go before the announced time of the web premiere of the very first trailer to THE HOBBIT! We've discussed this elsewhere but I feel this occasion is momentous enough to have a special thread just for it. I'll hopefully be online when the magic hour rolls around but whoever finds the link to the streaming trailer first, please post it here.

The announced time was 7:00 PM U.S. Pacific time on 20 December. For our members around the world, that equates to:

• U.S. Eastern Time: 10:00 PM/22:00, 20 December
  
• UK Time: 3:00 (AM), 21 December
  
• Central European Time: 4:00 AM, 21 December
  
• Australia/Melbourne: 1:00 PM/13:00, 21 December

Where will you be when the trailer hits? What do you think of it once you see it? Let us know here; we're all very excited.

3 am! Right, Skyrim it is then. Buckie supplies. Check! Crisps. Check. Cigarrettes. Check. Sporran scrathcer. Check. Buckie. Check, again.
All set.

I could have done without hearing about the sporran scratcher, but it's good to hear that even the most crabbit among us are looking forward to this event (if only to become even more crabbit). Speaking of which, I hope the NOTP's meter can take the inevitable spikes this will cause.

It's a few minutes before 7 PM Pacific and TORn is claiming that this page has the trailer on it. I'm getting an error message, but I suspect that the trailer will appear in a few minutes if the page is refreshed. Either way, for news' sake, here's the link.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/thehobbit/

Its not on their just aded page yet either.

TORn seems to have messed this up, but in the comments section there, someone showed this.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=85322

Watching now...

BINGO!!! It worked! I'm going to watch it again and share my thoughts after that.

First poster up too:

Mmmm watched it twice.
Good points- the retention of the Break of day song-hurray!- some actual Tolkien based dialogue, although not an awful lot.
Hard to say what to make of the Gandalf wandering about ruins stuff- could be Dol Guldur, or a flash back or investigating something else entirely.
Less pleased with the usual PJ over heightening of drama -"I cannot guarantee his saftey" etc
There appears to be a worryong scene where elves on horseback have the dwarves circled and bound together- looks like Rivendell.
Its so fast I couldnt make out what Gandalf is fighting but looks like its in the ruins again.
And its looks like the dwarfs spring out all at once and attack the three trolls- and I only here roars and grunts- no talking trolls. So thats that bit probably ruined much as expected.
And I hope Gandalf smashing his staff down like he did in Moria is not him turning trolls to stone- he tricks them PJ he doesnt magic them- knowledge wins not brute force.
looks like all the dwarves arrive at once as well which kind of ruins the comedy value of the scene.
Not as bad as I had feared and not as good as I had hoped. Troll scene worries me now, and the Rivendell stuff, and all the Gandalf fighting in ruins stuff.

Should add I'm still not convinced by the look of any of the dwarves. I had hoped the film lighting and post work would have improved matters but sadly not. They just don't say dwarf to me. And they seem to be used to often for comic purposes- given how degraded the race was by the script for LotR's you'd think this would be an opportunity to set the record straight and to portray them as a noble and dignified race.

I took a ton of screen captures of the trailer -- just need to crop them down to size and I'll post them with my thoughts in a bit.

Youtube link

Not bad, not bad at all. 3d looks great

It kind of looks... a bit too bright. Like the colors haven't been blended together. BUT WHOAH THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, the wait is over! More than three years since our forum started and at the same time I (though I was not yet aware of this place) began following news of THE HOBBIT, we have a trailer to look at and geek over! We also have a new poster and a new official site to geek over. The new site doesn't have much on it yet but it replaced the official (quite boring) blog today, after the trailer was uploaded.

www.thehobbit.com

But of course, the website and poster are ephemeral at this point. The crown jewel of the evening, and what we've been waiting for, is the trailer. I remember announcements coming down when the green-light was given and when filming finally actually began, and I remember when the first production video was released. But this feels, to me at least, somehow much more concrete. A sign that this film is real, and that it is going to come out in a year, and that our patience (or lack thereof) over the past years is being rewarded.

Now, I'm going to do my best to stop waxing emotional over this, although I am very excited. All in all I was extremely excited about the trailer, and that made me thrilled while watching it, though there were some things I didn't like. I'm sure that more will become apparent as my excitement and pulse decrease and I become a little more objective. Still, no one who has waited for a film for three years can pretend to be objective about it any way. Nonetheless, I'd like to present my thoughts on the trailer.

I took about three dozen screen captures of the trailer but I edited them down to my favorites and the ones I feel are most important. Some of the pictures have glitches -- weird lines and duplicated features -- which I think is a problem with a lag on my computer's screen-capturing process. I hope that you can appreciate the images nonetheless. If you'd like to peruse them without my commentary (though I'll try not to be as wordy as I'm being now), the link is below.

http://photobucket.com/hobbit-trailer-1

So without further ado, please pull up a comfy chair and a mug of buckie, and I'll begin.


You may notice that the trailer begins with three logos, not just the New Line logo, like LOTR. The reason for this is twofold. First, New Line was acquired by Warner Bros. a few years ago (previously they had merely been sister-companies under the TimeWarner umbrella). Second, MGM owns some of the rights to The Hobbit, but none for LOTR.


We knew from the AICN set reports and other sources that the film would begin in the Shire at about the same time as the beginning of FOTR, and this first shot in the trailer matches up with that. Elijah Wood and Ian Holm are reprising their roles as Frodo and Bilbo in the LOTR-era scenes that are apparently framing the film. If you look closely, you can even see Bilbo's "No Admittance Except on Party Business" sign on the gate.


This shot clearly mimics the one from the beginning of Extended Edition of FOTR of Bilbo in his study, which was also echoed by a shot of Frodo in the same position at the end of ROTK. I'm fairly confident this is still old!Bilbo, largely based on the appearance and outfit. He is probably writing his memoirs, just like he is in his first scene in FOTR-EE.


This is the first image in the trailer of Martin Freeman as Bilbo! We've obviously seen plenty of images of him over the past months, but there's something different entirely about seeing the character in motion. I was awfully excited by this point in the trailer. It's also clear that this is Bilbo when Gandalf first walks up to him at the door of Bag End, and Bilbo is at least smoking like he was in the book, which is an encouraging sign.


Our first view of Gandalf in the trailer! I haven't checked, but this shot seems very familiar and I think they copied it from Gandalf's first scene with Bilbo in FOTR. However, as with the still images of Gandalf that have been released, he looks different. I think the primary difference is that his beard appears much fuller and wider (GB will be thrilled by this!).


Bilbo on a pony, riding through what I assume is the Shire. The adventure has officially begun for him!


The image quality on this one isn't great and it's rather murky, but the image shows Bombur crushing a chair under his weight while a plate flies up in the air. This was the first scene in the trailer to really give me pause. I can't say I'm surprised, but I still shudder to think what PJ will do when he can combine fat jokes with his already-established fondness for dwarf jokes.


I could have picked almost any of the dwarves, but I decided to go with Thorin because of his prominence to make my point here. I've stated in other threads that I'm not sold on the design of the dwarves in this movie, and Thorin in the trailer encapsulates that for me. He might not have ridiculous D&D-esque frills to his costume or a %$@#! axe in his head, but Thorin simply looks to human. If I didn't know who he was supposed to be, I would have assumed this was a human character. Some of the dwarves look suitably dwarven, but there are number that look like men (plus those that just look ridiculous for aforementioned reasons).


I must say that I really liked the trailer's rendition of the Dwarves' song with the low, atmospheric chanting. At first I was a bit disappointed that they didn't seem to have any instruments with them, but then I was swept away by the music and stopped caring if there were instruments or not. I'm not sure how well they'll handle it in the finished movie, but I was impressed by the song in the trailer. It gives me a small measure of hope that they won't completely botch the handling of songs.


I wasn't exactly sure what this was at first, but I think it's supposed to be Gandalf in Dol Guldur...


...This shot was what made me think that. At first I entertained the notion that it could be Gandalf in Goblin-town or the surrounds, but the fact that he is out-of-doors and the style of the architecture don't suggest that to me. I couldn't think of anything from the book that would match this setting for Gandalf. It could be a purely invented scene, but I suspect it is a flashback to Gandalf sneaking into Dol Guldur when he got the map from Thrain.


This image was preceded by some gorgeous shots of Rivendell that I was too tired to screen-cap in addition to everything else, though this one is also visually stunning. However, the main point is that it shows Bilbo visiting the "shrine" where the Shards of Narsil were stored in the LOTR movies. It remains to be seen if the young Aragorn will be incorporated into the story in Rivendell, but this would certainly be the perfect place to include him. Even if Aragorn does not make an appearance, however, this is a pointless, unnecessary tie-in to LOTR and I was unhappy to see it.


Speaking of extraneous characters being shoe-horned into Rivendell, here we see Gandalf sharing a quiet moment with ... Galadriel, of all people. Aside from the pointless (and possibly unintentional?) mirroring of the Aragorn/Arwen love scenes in Rivendell, the presence of Galadriel is wrong for reasons that have been expressed to death in other threads. I'm speculating here, but I assume that this scene takes place during the White Council, which seems to be being held in Rivendell. It's possible that Galadriel was just visiting Rivendell when the Company first reached there, though. Note: I wasn't positive where this scene was supposed to be at first, but since it's preceded by so many Rinvedell shots I assume it is there.


More Gandalf sneaking around. I assume this is also him at Dol Guldur, in the same sequence we got a glimpse of earlier in the trailer.


I included this shot largely because I like it and find it a gorgeous shot. I think that it is a scene in Mirkwood, perhaps near the edge, though I really don't know. I've had a number of hypotheses, none of which are terribly convincing, but the presence of trees makes me suspect Mirkwood. Alternatively, it could be the Trollshaws, given it is followed by this:


Bilbo finds Sting! Not much to say here since we aren't given any context about how exactly Bilbo came into possession of the sword in the movie. My only comment is that it does appear to be in a cave, which is consistent with the book.


Shades of FOTR here. This and the shot of the Company on horseback really seem to be echoing the iconic and beautiful shots of the Fellowship travelling across Eriador and into Eregion before reaching Moria. Nothing wrong with that, of course. However, I feel that the colors seem a little off. PJ used digital color "correction" on LOTR and I recall him talking about this in one of the production videos too. I hope he doesn't go overboard with it in the film, but his "psychedelic Mirkwood" from the fourth video doesn't encourage me. Still, this is a nice shot, and it's fully possible that the landscape just really did look that way and I'm imagining things.


I thought the figures on horseback were supposed to be the men of Lake-town at first, but Petty mentioned that he thought they were Elves and I have to agree now. The architecture in the background, which I hadn't noticed at first, is clearly in the same art nouveau-influenced style of Rivendell that was present in LOTR. While I have no problem with an Elven army (unlike LOTR, this IS the place to show one) I am discouraged by the apparent change to the Company's arrival in Rivendell. There's no need to "anticipate" the Dwarves and Elves nearly having a battle later in the story, and doing so flattens the narrative by repeating the same events over and over.


I assume this is Tauriel (or whatever she's called now). I don't really know what Evangeline Lilly looks like but a quick Google image search shows a strong resemblance. I really have nothing else to say about this character other than that I'm glad she was barely in the trailer, but wish she wasn't in it (or the movie) at all. As has been pointed out to me, this is actually Galadriel. I blame watching the trailer too many times in a row for my eyes getting out-of-focus.


"Chip the glasses and crack the plates, that's what Bilbo Baggins hates!" Based on the stacks of dishes and the smile on Bilbo's face one can assume that nothing was cracked, which is true to the book. More evidence of faithfulness in parts, and it opens an opportunity for an authentic book song to be worked into the movie! I am probably inordinately excited over such a simple shot, but it's giving me hope.


This scene is quite murky and was more clear in the actual video, but it shows the dwarves charging towards a campfire with trolls on the other side. It was preceded by scenes of battle against orcs. While I don't think the two fights were related, this is an indication that the story is being given more action sequences. We also saw a glimpse of the Trollshaws battlefield in one of the production videos, so I think it's a given at this point that the the scene with the trolls will be turned into a fight.


Furthermore, it appears that Gandalf will NOT simply be using his wits to outsmart the trolls, but some "cool" magic as well. This shows Gandalf right before he bangs his staff into the ground, Bridge of Khazad-dum-style, and a flash of light fills the entire scene. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be Gandalf creating a flash of light, making the sun rise, or just timing his action with the rising of the sun (though I doubt the latter is the case), but it shows more 'actioning-up' of the Trollshaws. Also, I apologize for the exceptionally poor quality of this image; I tried retaking it a few times but had no luck.


I'll admit that I included this image largely because it mirrors a shot of Sam vaulting over a fence while being chased by Ringwraiths, which is one of my favorite simple shots from LOTR. No real reason for it, I just like vaulting over things like fences myself and thought it was a cool shot. Also, we see Bilbo holding the long sheet of parchment that was glimpsed earlier in the trailer as well as in the very first ever picture of Bilbo that was released. Petty speculated then that it was the letter (or contract) Thorin left for him and I agreed. This shot clearly shows Bilbo running to Bywater to meet up with the Dwarves, which lends further credence to that hypothesis.


The One Ring! It had to be in the trailer, and I wasn't disappointed. I'll note that this is clearly a different sequence of events than the finding of the Ring shown in the prologue to FOTR, but it was pretty much a given that they wouldn't be following that (which deviated considerably from "Riddles in the Dark", which I hope the film will follow more closely). I have no problem with this, but I do hope that PJ won't pull a Lucas and replace the LOTR scene with a Hobbit scene in a future DVD/Blu-ray release.


The official logo is included! This is a pretty obscure thing to geek out over, but I had been hoping for the logo in its officially rendered and typeset form to be included in the trailer, and I was not disappointed. It looks great IMO, echoing the style of the LOTR logo but also being its own. Also, this finally puts to rest the question of whether the first film's subtitle is "An Unexpected Journey" or "The Unexpected Journey".


Gollum!! Of course he was going to be in here too. The scene is very shadowy but I think that's fine for the first trailer. Gollum appears to be rendered in the same design as he had in TTT and ROTK, rather than the earlier version of his design from the prologue of FOTR. I think that's a good thing, as the FOTR design had nothing on the later version. I'm willing to overlook a small inconsistency such as this in favor of higher quality.

That's it for the trailer. I'm sure I will watch it again many times over the few days and many, many more times over the next year (and beyond). No matter what else comes, this will hold a special place as THE first trailer for The Hobbit, just like the first preview and trailer for LOTR. All in all I'm quite pleased with it, and of course eager to see the film. For now, though, I am satisfied by this glimpse.

Alright, I've just watched it a bunch of times. Here we go...

The beginning is kind of cheesy, with Bilbo waving off Frodo and Frodo skipping down the path. A bit too forced to me. Ian Holm looked really old, but alright Martin Freeman is PERFECT! I love the line "I'm a Baggins from Bag END," or whatever it was, I thought he delivered it perfectly! Gandalf doesn't seem very sharp, but I attribute that to Sir Ian. I liked the dwarves intro (particularly Bombur breaking a table!) and how each was relatively unique. Aidan Turner is gorgeous, just saying . The song was very dark and, therefore, telling. I have a feeling a score wrapped around the theme of that song will return quite a bit. Ok, Galadriel brushing back a piece of Gandalf's hair? Er, WHAT? Ew...? And I think that Gandalf was fighting Radagast. I tried to see the face, but I couldn't pause it at a good point (if you could get a screenshot of that Eldo, it'd be splendid!) Definitely not Beorn, so who else could it be. There was way too much Galadriel face time for my liking, and Gandalf too. This is supposed to be about BILBO!!!!!!!!!!!! (whose feet looked awfullly large as he was climbing up those stairs in Rivendell.

I don't know, I guess it met my expectations. I'm glad it was pretty long though! Usually teaser trailers are 30 seconds!

Got to read Petty's comments on the trailer and I realized I repeated a few of his points; sorry Petty. Also, a few other notes:

If you go to www.thehobbit.com there is an even bigger and more hi-res version of the trailer than otherwise available. It was literally added in the last 30-45 minutes. It's fullscreen, but unlike many fullscreen videos which are only scaled-up, pixellated versions, this one looks even more crisp and clear than the smaller versions. It really is quite glorious.

Also, after watching the trailer more than half a dozen times, I have to say that I love Martin Freeman as Bilbo so far. While I'm not getting much of a middle-aged vibe from him, he seems to strike a great balance between stuffinesss ("I am a Baggins -- of Bag End!"), nervousness, and courage. I have hope for him, both as being faithful to the book character and as being a great movie character. Look at the difference having a talented actor in your lead role can have, Mr. Jackson (meaning no offence but much disappointment to Elijah Wood ).

Also, I know I said it earlier, but I love the Dwarves' song. I haven't checked if the lyrics are 100% Tolkien but it strikes just the right mood for me. If it weren't for that song I wouldn't be nearly as excited, but as it is I'm feeling like this could avoid the many potential pitfalls that have cropped up and be a great movie and a worthy successor to LOTR. Maybe. I'm sure that tomorrow and later I'll be less excited and more cynical/realistic. For now, let it suffice to say that the trailer is FANTASTIC!

Great work Eldo, but isnt it Galadriel not Tauriel

I don't think that's Tauriel, Eldo, I think thats Galadriel. If Tauriel is from Mirkwood (like we were sort of told she was), then I don't think she would be in the trailer. I think all of the Dol Guldur stuff will be in part 1, and the rest of the story in part 2.

I'm sorry I just can't get over how unnatural everything looks. It's too bright and too made up! It looks like only the Shire was filmed on location! It just looks so fake!

Lots of people posting. This time I realize I was repeating things that Tin said.

Tinuviel wrote:Martin Freeman is PERFECT! I love the line "I'm a Baggins from Bag END," or whatever it was, I thought he delivered it perfectly!

Completely agreed.

I liked the dwarves intro (particularly Bombur breaking a table!) and how each was relatively unique. Aidan Turner is gorgeous, just saying . The song was very dark and, therefore, telling. I have a feeling a score wrapped around the theme of that song will return quite a bit.

While I'm far from thrilled at the look of the dwarves, they're becoming more palatable with each viewing of the trailer, and infinitely better than they looked in the publicity photos. And I hope we hear lots of that song in the dark parts, though I would be disappointed if the lighter parts of the book were darkened up for film.

And I think that Gandalf was fighting Radagast. I tried to see the face, but I couldn't pause it at a good point (if you could get a screenshot of that Eldo, it'd be splendid!) Definitely not Beorn, so who else could it be.

I went to the YouTube version and this is the best I could do:



Blurred, obviously, but that face doesn't look human (or Istari) to me. If I had to guess I'd say it's an invented character of some sort. On the other hand, the hair looked rather Gandalf-like, so perhaps it was Radagast. That thought hadn't crossed my mind before, though.

I don't know, I guess it met my expectations. I'm glad it was pretty long though! Usually teaser trailers are 30 seconds!

Same! I was afraid we'd end up with something under a minute. I think this was great and will hopefully get both fans and casual movie-goers very excited. I know I am.

chris63 wrote:Great work Eldo, but isnt it Galadriel not Tauriel

Tinuviel wrote:I don't think that's Tauriel, Eldo, I think thats Galadriel.

I didn't think it looked like Cate Blacnhett at first, but I looked a bit closer and I have to admit you guys are right. Thanks for pointing that out.

I'm sorry I just can't get over how unnatural everything looks. It's too bright and too made up! It looks like only the Shire was filmed on location! It just looks so fake!

Yeah ... I'm not sure that everything looks too bright, but there are a number of shots with really unnatural coloring (like I mentioned in the long post). I guess that wasn't just my eyes being weird.

Frame by frame

https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10150447765494821.372336.6425769820&type=1

Hah! I beat TORn to having a frame-by-frame (sort of) analysis by at least half an hour. Though there's is definitely better; love the hi-res images.

I'm going with the Gandalf fight being from a flashback when he finds Thrain. I reckon thats Thrain he is fighting- although a bit worrying he looks more like a zombie dwarf here than a mad one.





It also seems like all (or most) of the dwarves arrive at Bilbo's together. They also seem to all arrive at the trolls together too (well I say arrive, I mean charge in swingin axes).

Looking at the hi-res screencaps of the mystery fight, it's clearly at Dol Guldur. The architecture and the weird spikes on the pillars seal it, as well as the hanging cage in the background. That being Thrain makes more sense than it being Radagast, but that's a relative statement. When Gandalf found Thrain, Thrain had been imprisoned, tortured, and (probably) starved for five years. The idea that they have some fight is just ridiculous. On the other hand, I'm not sure who else that's supposed to be.

Ah yes Eldo but one must consider whether PJ turning the meeting into a fight is as ludicrous an idea as the idea itself. I'd say it's exactly the sort of thing the Coven likes to do.