Waiting for 'The Battle of the Five Armies'...

Peter Jackson wrote:In our adaptation of The Hobbit we have done something that Tolkien didn't succeed in doing in print and, hopefully, this will come fresh to people who will have never seen the full story playing out in chronological order.

This is a slap in the face to both Tolkien and his fans       

I could forgive the rest of the statement as a difference of opinion, except for this:

... Tolkien didn't succeed ...

We ALL know who failed, and it isn't Tolkien.

Tolkien didn't succeed in doing 'it' (I assume he meant tie The Hobbit in fully with LOTR in terms of continuty and style, not bastardize the story into an overlong 'epic' parody) because he A) Didn't have the time B) Was rather more focused on writing The Silmarillion-you know that book Phillpa Boyens respects too much to not read in over 25 years... C) His comments in published Letters, and 'On Fairy Stories' show a very conflicted opinion on the tone of the book, IMO, whilst he came to regret elements of it, all the same he recognized the charm of the book was beloved by many (I'd go as far to say it's a more popular book with the general public than Rings) and abandoned his 'Adult recasting' (which still featured colour bearded Dwarfs, a talking purse and cockney trolls) in 1960 very quickly, without consulting his publishers, or close friends-this was a man who spent decades writing  The Silmarillion, yet it took just one opinion from an unnamed family friend to persuade to live with The Hobbit as it stood (the third edition of The Hobbit in 1966 didn't actually change very much) D) He didn't do it, because frankly (imo) it couldn't really be done, the timelines, tone, scale and climax of The Hobbit are rather at odds with the world Tolkien developed in LOTR, his attempts to retcon things in 'The Quest For Erebor' didn't entirely work imo, and 'adult' hobbit would probably be a bit lifeless for my liking.

E) I'm actually quite offended by this (He's voiced similar views before) in sorta reads to me, as if he thinks hes doing Tolkien a favour by 'finishing the job'.

Christopher Tolkien was given full creative control to

publish edit alter rewrite or complete any work of mine
which may be unpublished at my death or to destroy the whole
or any part or parts of any such unpublished works as he
in his absolute discretion may think fit and subject thereto

If Tolkien were that serious about rewriting The Hobbit, I don't think we'd have waited decades to see the abandoned results,Tolkien had almost 20 years to slip in the names 'Legolas and Thranduil' if he was so inclined, Christopher would have been the person to finish the job if it needed doing.

Just my opinion of course.

 

He really did put his foot in it with that quote. Sheesh.

I'm glad it wasn't just me who was bothered by that quote.

Everything about these films screams ego. That quote is a cherry on top.

http://www.funniestmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Funniest_Memes_the-hobbit-edited-by-peter-jackson_3175.jpeg

Does it include the outakes? That tome looks a little thin to me.

Well hey that's something to look forward to, if the filmmakers can be trusted to actually use the footage they shot of Lee Pace, and not discard most of it for the sake of extended action sequences or further development of Thorin's internal demons.

Nah,nah,nah, Im not liking that paragraph ! Is the whole show gonna be run by Thranduil alone ? and why kindness to Galadriel ? will she be at the mercy of Thandy because.....im shaking my head here !.......she does something un-elf-like ? We had a hint at the white council scene, where she stroked Gandys face ? This epic battle is not going to be like the epic battle in the book, oh fook no. Its PJ's epic battle, let us not forget ? Its gonna be a barrel of fireworks lit by loonies, a pandora's box of lunacy. Every unimaginable thing will become real, because what has PJ got left ?

what the heck are these people on??? talk about egomaniacs.   
I have rarely heard such self congratulating puffed up tripe.

So, can we conclude from that the battle at Dol Goldur and tBo5As will be connected?

That doesn't sound all that reassuring...

That footage we have seen of what appears to be a battle in Dale looks like people are being killed. Why? And honestly, more Thrandy is a blessing to me, because I'll be oogling over him instead of thinking about how this film is somehow related to the hobbit   

That being said, that quote still greatly troubles me... especially the bits about Galadriel and Gandalf. Gandalf I could see, Galadriel, no way. If what I remember from UT is right, I don't think Thrandy and Galadriel like each other very much, that's why they are separate kingdoms. They eventually reunite when she and Celeborn leave (I think) but that's post LOTR.

Bluebottle wrote:So, can we conclude from that the battle at Dol Goldur and tBo5As will be connected?

Shocking, I know.

I don't see how the battles could be continuously connected. That is to say, the orcish armies are seen leaving Dol Guldur for the Lonely Mountain at the end of the last film. With them gone, how could the battle at Dol Guldur consist of typical battle participants. Surely it would be more of a power struggle between Sauron and the White Council?

And anyway, what's up with that? The whole idea of Sauron setting up in Mirkwood was that it served as a convenient place in which to recuperate stealthily and from which he could send out spies to search for the One Ring.
I know there's a long gap between when his presence first became known there, and the final time he departed from there and traveled to Mordor. Regardless, this is basically the idea. That he was connected to the goblin's plans to attack the Lonely Mountain is not established at all in the literature; at least that I know of.
Therefore, it doesn't really add up that Sauron the herpaderp eyeball is behind the goblin army, and it really won't add up either if he continues with all this fighting-the-wizards nonsense that we already saw with Gandalf. He should really pretend to run away in defeat while secretly stealing away to Barad-dur, surely?

I am curious to watch Galadriel tear down the walls of Dol Guldur and cleanse it with Elanor flowers.

She'll twirl and make it so of course.

And if the ring itself plays anything close to an important role in the third film I will be even more disappointed.

It will,
Who's gotta creep around, infiltrating ? messing about in the dark, busily with the Arkenstone ?  And Thrandy pants is ready to wage war dont forget, because...cue creepy music....he felt an evil rising...(must be the Ring ? or, dinner didnt agree with him ?) Then there's the battle itself, fook, the possibilities are endless.

I guess the point is that the magic ring Bilbo found in the original story has not yet featured in the films. Instead, from step one, his magic ring has been The Ring. I wouldn't mind adventurous things going on with Bilbo using the ring, but having The Ring overshadow his character constantly like an impending upset stomach, I cannot stand.

I wouldn't necessarily mind them making the Ring a bit more sinister than it was in the book -- that's one aspect of LOTRizing that I think would have been inevitable even if TH had been made into a film first -- but it needs to be subtle to avoid overwhelming the main story. Therein lies the problem, what with this being a Peter Jackson film. The scene (possibly only in the EE; I don't recall) of Bilbo staring at the mural of Sauron and Isildur while the camera zoomed in on the Ring was downright insulting. It also throws all of Bilbo's subsequent actions into doubt, or at the very least, highlights the potential plot hole of no one realizing what the Ring is for decades.

Well exactly Eldo. The presence of the ring in the Smaug/Bilbo scene was a horrible distraction from the actual point of the conversation they held. The emphasis placed on it was a major factor in the reason the scene was not so good ultimately.

Eldorion wrote:

Bluebottle wrote:So, can we conclude from that the battle at Dol Goldur and tBo5As will be connected?

Shocking, I know.

It certainly leads the mind a bit too easily to some of the more preposterous rumors. Like a reanimated Smaug and so on..

https://twitter.com/theoneringnet/status/475732478376697856

Check this page out.