HOBBIT TRAILER #1

Oh yes, it would certainly be in character for them. I just find it to be a particularly egregious mis-step if that is indeed what they have done.

I note in the credits that Phillipa Boyen has gone up the pay scale getting a wage for screenplay and now also as executive producer (all aboard the Tolkien gravy train!)- which I dont find encouraging given I hold her in no small part responsible for the poorness of the script in LotR's. I also see Guillermo Del Toro is still on the joint screenplay credits along with the Coven.

I think Boyens is credited as a Co-Producer, though to be perfectly honest I'm not sure how that differs from regular Producer (where PJ and Fran Walsh land again). I'm not surprised that GDT has a writing credit: the scripts were written while he was still involved with the project and he was part of that process.

While I agree that the touch of Boyens is to be regretted, I'm more curious to know if GDT's influence made the films more or less faithful. Based on the little that was stated at that point in pre-production, I suspect he would have been a driving force away from Tolkien. He seemed even more fond of his own ideas at the expense of Tolkien's than PJ is.

Thinking about it the inclusion of the song took me by suprise in a good way. It doesn't seem like a Coven bit of writing given they seem to detest Tolkiens actual poetry and cut all the songs from LotR's. I wonder if it is a Del Toro addition to the script- it somehow feels more like him to me than the Coven.

You are right Eldo- co-producer she is- I stand corrected. Slightly different carriage, but still on the Tokien gravy train!

Good point about the songs. Speaking of del Toro, I'm curious to see how The Hobbit (especially Mirkwood) will look in comparison to Pan's Labyrinth. I finally watched that recently after delaying for years because so many people told me it was really violent and disturbing (it wasn't), but I actually didn't find it to be as good as most people seem to think it is. However, I think the visual style and the general atmosphere of the forest and the labyrinth and the other world are all well done and would make for an interesting take on 'the Wild'. My ideal would be a setting with del Toro's sense of magic and menace that has been tempered to be consistent with the faux-realist visual style of the LOTR films.

No musical-instruments-cum-camping-equipment? In fact, no musical instruments at all? Tho' we get a song... I guess...

And interesting too that the poster doesn't actually have the words 'The Hobbit' or 'J.R.R. Tolkien' anywhere on it but does have 'from the director of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy'. The trailer does have 'The Hobbit' eventually after three screens of text about PJ but no mention of Tolkien. It seems Tolkien has been finally purged!

LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! What a trailer

(Sadly my laptop told me that I needed to update to the newest version of flash player which took me a while to get sorted; normally that kind of thing happens automatically with no input from me... Serious buzzkill. Technology continues to thwart me.)

Um, but okay, after those technical difficulties I watched the trailer. Loved the trailer, I did. I did I did I did. Amazing merger of the tone of The Hobbit with the familiar epic tone of LOTR. I know you are all going to moan: "Wahahaha, it's not Lord of the Rings, it's The Hobbit, and I hated Pj's Lotr!!!", but I loved his films and I think I'm going to like his adaptation of The Hobbit!

Highlights for me include:

(As mentioned already) that beautiful, haunting ballad. I hope Throin and co treat us with several songs between the two films.
Which leads me on to another point, Thorin, or more specifically Richard Armitage. I love that guy! It was a joy to hear Richard's honeyed baritone! As a huge fan I'm obviously a teeny bit biased, but I think he's amazing! Plus he's really exicted about the films and I hope this is successful just so it catapult's him into stardom! I think he embodies the qualities of Thorin and looks and sounds just right for the role. I remember reading (Eldo?) that he didn't look like a dwarf, but I'd argue that he was never like the rest of the dwarfs anyway, he was The King! He still has a few dwarfish features, i.e the ears, but y'know he's a King he's supposed to be on horseback looking commanding and regal like, that voice, those eyes that amazing mane of hair I want to run my fingers through and perhaps plait another braid or two for him . . .can't really remember how attractive Thorin was in the books, but I aint complaining!! This must be how women felt with Rudolph Valentino...

Okay so that was one highlight.

And Martin Freeman IS SO Bilbo. He is just absolutely amazing! The rest of the returning actors- I also have no problem with them returning to their roles. Tolkien left behind a treasure-trove of material to draw from, and Mr Peter Jackson is the man for the job.

So it's wetted my appetite nicely; still want to see some goblin and dragon footage. Trailer seemed a little forced, odd-composition of scenes, but let's be honest I have no idea what I'm taking about when it comes to reviewing movies.
I missed all the excitement when LOTR came out (being only ten and all) so I'm so excited about these movies!!!

oh I am so happy cant speak for a bit just seen the trailer, that song gave me goosebumps. thanks for the image capture Eldo, great. and the hobbitmovie link, the quality is fantastic.

I feel like the only reason Del Toro's name was mentioned was because he started writing the script all those years ago and PJ and coven used some of it still. I wish he'd write all of it!

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. - Eldo

Pull a Lucas

The trailer.. I agree with everyone that the song was awesome and Martin Freeman will make a great Bilbo, but that's about it. The rest of the trailer made me want to move to Scotshobbiton and consume buckie by the bucketloads Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't anything more either. Rant over

Orwell wrote:No musical-instruments-cum-camping-equipment? In fact, no musical instruments at all? Tho' we get a song... I guess...

Looks like a musical instrument being played in the background to me

chris63 wrote:

Orwell wrote:No musical-instruments-cum-camping-equipment? In fact, no musical instruments at all? Tho' we get a song... I guess...

Looks like a musical instrument being played in the background to me

I think Orwell's jealousy of that hipster beard must have distracted him. Though I'm not entirely sure why that guy in the background is plucking at thin air; maybe cgi strings are going to be added in later?

Tinuviel wrote:I feel like the only reason Del Toro's name was mentioned was because he started writing the script all those years ago and PJ and coven used some of it still. I wish he'd write all of it!

When did he leave? 2010 wasn't it? They must have had a couple of years, so I'd think the script was more or less finished by the time he left. Must have been if he's got writing credit. Hopefully PJ's behaving and sticking closely to it.

Hi, I joined this forum now. Some of you may know me from the-hobbit-movie.com/forum as Nora. Mrs Figg told me you guys had problems with logging in there and you ended up here. Well, I follow.

Obviously I have seen the trailer now, and it made me want to see the movie even more. There are some things I do question, but mostly the whole trailer was positive for me. I loved seeing Bilbo in action and the landscape and of course the Icelandic horses!

I am worried, though, about the trolls. I would really like them to talk. It is such a funny scene… well, I still have my hopes up, it may turn out great.
I also noticed that in some shots they didn’t have horses. E.g Rivendell and some distant stuff. If I remember correctly (and I believe I do) they had horses from the Shire (which is shown in the trailer) all the way to Rivendell and in the mountains where they were eaten. I do wonder about that. They got new horses at Beorn’s, which they were to send back at the borders of Mirkwood, yes?
And, someone here mentioned it though I don’t remember who, that all the dwarves seem to arrive at the same time at Bag End. I see your point, but it could be a good thing. Remember they arrive in the same manner at Beorn’s and to save that (very funny) moment until then would be wise, at least in my opinion. It is funny how it just becomes more and more dwarves, but we can’t laugh at it twice.
The fight scene between Gandalf is most definitely with Thrain, or whoever gives him the map. Someone here, again I can’t remember who, said it would be unlikely for him to fight due to starving and torture. I say he is a dwarf and they are hard and stubborn, so I am not surprised.

All that said I did love the trailer. Maybe there was too much Galadriel, but really I don’t want to bother. (BUT WHATTA ** was all that with Galadriel and Gandalf.. was that…. Love?? )
Pettytyrant, they did mention Tolkien, at the end, look closely.
Ringdrotten, kult navn, eg må prøve å lesa ho på nynorsk ein gong.

Nice to see you Norc

Great to see you safely here Norc, love the avatar btw, really funny. Us poor refugees from Bree have found a safe haven here i think. anyway, I think you are right about the point you made about them all falling in the door, its best to leave that to Beorns scenes as it is probably more important there rather than at Bagend, as it shows Beorn was a grumpy kind of fella not to be crossed.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:And interesting too that the poster doesn't actually have the words 'The Hobbit' or 'J.R.R. Tolkien' anywhere on it but does have 'from the director of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy'. The trailer does have 'The Hobbit' eventually after three screens of text about PJ but no mention of Tolkien. It seems Tolkien has been finally purged!

Look on the bright side, Petty. Maybe they've finally realized how egregious the changes they made were and they've stopped pretending to be adapting Tolkien.

(((((I don't actually think this, but don't tell Petty that! I want to see him get his feathers ruffled even more. )))))

Hey Ally! It's great to see you again. I hope life's been treating you well and I'm glad you were able to find time to return to Forumshire.

Ally wrote:Um, but okay, after those technical difficulties I watched the trailer. Loved the trailer, I did. I did I did I did. Amazing merger of the tone of The Hobbit with the familiar epic tone of LOTR. I know you are all going to moan: "Wahahaha, it's not Lord of the Rings, it's The Hobbit, and I hated Pj's Lotr!!!", but I loved his films and I think I'm going to like his adaptation of The Hobbit!

I've always had a love/hate relationship with PJ's LOTR. To be honest I expected to be disappointed by a lot of the trailer and was consciously lowering my expectations, which is part of why I'm so excited. PJ and the others have talked a fair bit about wanting to change the tone to make it more like LOTR which worries me, but the inclusion of Over the Misty Mountains and the apparent inclusion of the Chip the Glasses and Crack the Plates fills me with great hope that they will be able to strike a happy medium. I'm really, really happy to see those parts of the book in the trailer!

Highlights for me include:

can't really remember how attractive Thorin was in the books, but I aint complaining!! This must be how women felt with Rudolph Valentino...

I remember when Tolkien first said he wanted Thorin to be a hunk and I was really put-off by the idea. I can't say I'm thrilled by it now, though from the very little we saw of him Richard Armitage seems to be doing a better job selling the character than I would have thought was possible in that get-up. I'm not at all familiar with Mr. Armitage's acting work, though.

I missed all the excitement when LOTR came out (being only ten and all) so I'm so excited about these movies!!!

Same here (though I was even younger). That's part of why I've been so enthusiastic about following The Hobbit for so long and it feels very rewarding to get to be in the very first group of people to see the trailer. Before it's even in theatres, in fact!

As for the dragon, I have no doubt that Weta Digital will keep that design under even closer guard than they did the Balrog (which was itself completely secret until the premiere of the film). Del Toro promised way back when that Smaug would be truly magnificent though, and I have hope given Weta's track record.

chris63 wrote:Looks like a musical instrument being played in the background to me

Interesting; I hadn't noticed that. Thanks for pointing it out, Chris. I wonder if they went for just vocals in the Misty Mountains song to create a more atmospheric effect. If so, I think it definitely worked!

But Tolkien is mentioned there!!!! [img][/img]

Norc wrote:Hi, I joined this forum now. Some of you may know me from the-hobbit-movie.com/forum as Nora. Mrs Figg told me you guys had problems with logging in there and you ended up here. Well, I follow.

Hi Nora, welcome to Forumshire! I posted for a short while on Hobbit Movie News as Jacob before getting overwhelmed by RL and having to withdraw from a lot of forums, and I'm only slowly getting back to most of them. It's very nice to meet you again, I hope you enjoy your time here in our "haven".

I am worried, though, about the trolls. I would really like them to talk. It is such a funny scene… well, I still have my hopes up, it may turn out great.

I'll admit that I had pretty much resigned myself to the idea that the trolls wouldn't be talking. However, given the songs and then general somewhat lighter-than-expected feel, I still have hope that the trolls might talk at least a bit. I suspect that if they do it will be in a very guttural, bestial way, but I could be wrong (I wouldn't have pegged the dishwashing song for the film either)!

The fight scene between Gandalf is most definitely with Thrain, or whoever gives him the map. Someone here, again I can’t remember who, said it would be unlikely for him to fight due to starving and torture. I say he is a dwarf and they are hard and stubborn, so I am not surprised.

I believe I was the one to comment on the length of Thrain's torture. I do see your point, but if I recall the book correctly Thrain was supposed to be near death and barely able to think coherently, much less do anything else. I suppose that within the constraints of the film's universe a fight scene could make sense, but it still seems to me a wholly unnecessary insertion of action into an already-suitable scene.

The more I think about it and the more I rewatch that clip, the more I find myself agreeing that it has to be Thrain, though. As far as I can tell almost all (or even all all) of the trailer is composed of clips from part one. Given that Gandalf is clearly in Dol Guldur, he must be fighting Thrain or else a servant of Sauron the Necromancer. Someone (Petty, I think) said Thrain looked like a zombie dwarf, but I really hope that PJ doesn't use the title of "the Necromancer" as an excuse to add a zombie army.

Still, great trailer, and it's great to see it bringing people here to discuss it and fan over it together!

Norc wrote:But Tolkien is mentioned there!!!!

{{{{Shhh, I was trying to get Petty even more crabbit! }}}}

{{{{NB These brackets are an encryption spell which prevent others from seeing the message. (Not really, of course, but we play along.)}}}}

Norc wrote:
Ringdrotten, kult navn, eg må prøve å lesa ho på nynorsk ein gong.

Den nynorske utgåva er etter mi meining den beste (av dei eg har lese), så om du enno ikkje har ønska deg noko til jul, ønsk deg Ringdrotten

And welcome to our little community, Norc

Just watched the trailer and read through the comments!

Less than a year to go and I am so excited to see the trailer. At this point it is clear we are getting a darker prequel to Lord of the Rings using the Hobbit as the central structure.

On Thorin, I am actually quite relieved that they still seem to be playing him serious after all the tomfoolery we seem to be getting from the dwarves. The trimmed beards do stll look odd, but I suspect it is in an ill concieved attempt to give quick visual clues to those who do not know the books. Don't think it is going to help particularly, it is always going to be a little difficult to keep track of all these charaters in one piece, so somewhat pointless.

Like everyone, loved the inclusion of the song, I had a real prickle of cold running down my back at that point - here we go!

I don't know why, but I was surprised to see Gandalf in flashback so much. Not sure why. I think we've talked about the later additions to the films in terms of white council, that I hadn't thought about the logic of building in the tracking down of the map and key to such an extent. It is an obvious incclusion and actually aids the addition of white council stuff later, I suppoe we may even see Gandlaf getting his first hints of the nature of the necromancer here to to lead to the other stuff.

Following from Galadriel/ Gandalf love worries, while I wouldn't put it past the coven I think it more likely they are pulling from the written stuff about Gandalf being Galadriels choice to lead the council and her foreknowledge of the hard road he is to tread, including his fall to the Balrog and reawakening. If this is the first move against the forces of evil they may be some soul searching, preparing for the storm, am I strong enough stuff for Gandalf (as for Aragorn in LOTR).

Finally, the shot of Gandalf/dwarves in cave with Bilbo at the cave mouth and drawing sting. Is this not likely to be in the Misty Mountains were they are camping in the caves, just before they get snatched by the goblins?

Having got that out of my system I have to say I am excited, as a film i think it's going to be good, not the Hobbit, but I've known that for a while, I'm now just looking for a fun film!