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Introduction
Hello! I have completed my own re-edit of The Hobbit trilogy, made from scratch, started in 2019, and now finished in the summer of 2021. For those that may wonder "what makes this unique," I can briefly explain. Most of the successful Hobbit edits I see here are usually the 2 film or 3 film format (The Arkenstone edit, 2 film structure, l8wrtr, wraith edit, and more) , which are all amazing in their own right, but I found myself wanting to have The Hobbit in an extended edition style single-film format, so as a result mine is in a completely different direction than all of those. Granted, 3-in-1 Hobbit edits are also somewhat common here, to a lesser extent (there's several - Spence edit, anti-cringe edit), but none of them set out to stick to the book as close as possible, except for just one (The Maple edit).
So with that said, what I am getting at is there is still a lot of room for interpretation and creativity within this "genre" of book focused 1-movie Hobbit edits, that a "new" experience can still be delivered, and thus my version is not a rehash of any prior fan edits, due to both its formats and goals, which have only barely been tackled by this fan edit community based on the approved edits list (As again, to my knowledge there's only one other like mine). Anyways, that leads to my project, which has all of its goals listed below. In summary, I cut the movies to be as book accurate as possible, to fit better with the LOTR films, and overall be a more streamlined film that's enjoyable for all audiences.
Main Goals (Summary/TLDR)
1) Be more faithful to The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien while still being under Peter Jackson’s vision. Includes making the story focus on the main quest & also decreasing the numerous references to LOTR, allowing both stories to stand on their own.
2) Consistent tone as the story progresses from its lighthearted beginning to serious ending. With this, a convincing atmosphere displaying more realistic combat and physics is present throughout.
3) Maintain professional film editing techniques, specifically with making smooth audio transitions, maintaining a surround sound mix with new edits, and good pacing.
4) Stay in Middle Earth as long as possible with our beloved characters, never cut anything “good” or from the book purely for the sake of runtime.
5) Appeal to all Middle Earth & movie fans, regardless of what their prior knowledge is with any of the books or original films.
Project started on June 19th 2019, with an initial release in April 2020.
Title: The Hobbit (Extended Edition)
Runtime: 4 hours 5 min (Without counting credits/intermission)
Resources used:
Hello! I have completed my own re-edit of The Hobbit trilogy, made from scratch, started in 2019, and now finished in the summer of 2021. For those that may wonder "what makes this unique," I can briefly explain. Most of the successful Hobbit edits I see here are usually the 2 film or 3 film format (The Arkenstone edit, 2 film structure, l8wrtr, wraith edit, and more) , which are all amazing in their own right, but I found myself wanting to have The Hobbit in an extended edition style single-film format, so as a result mine is in a completely different direction than all of those. Granted, 3-in-1 Hobbit edits are also somewhat common here, to a lesser extent (there's several - Spence edit, anti-cringe edit), but none of them set out to stick to the book as close as possible, except for just one (The Maple edit).
So with that said, what I am getting at is there is still a lot of room for interpretation and creativity within this "genre" of book focused 1-movie Hobbit edits, that a "new" experience can still be delivered, and thus my version is not a rehash of any prior fan edits, due to both its formats and goals, which have only barely been tackled by this fan edit community based on the approved edits list (As again, to my knowledge there's only one other like mine). Anyways, that leads to my project, which has all of its goals listed below. In summary, I cut the movies to be as book accurate as possible, to fit better with the LOTR films, and overall be a more streamlined film that's enjoyable for all audiences.
Main Goals (Summary/TLDR)
1) Be more faithful to The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien while still being under Peter Jackson’s vision. Includes making the story focus on the main quest & also decreasing the numerous references to LOTR, allowing both stories to stand on their own.
2) Consistent tone as the story progresses from its lighthearted beginning to serious ending. With this, a convincing atmosphere displaying more realistic combat and physics is present throughout.
3) Maintain professional film editing techniques, specifically with making smooth audio transitions, maintaining a surround sound mix with new edits, and good pacing.
4) Stay in Middle Earth as long as possible with our beloved characters, never cut anything “good” or from the book purely for the sake of runtime.
5) Appeal to all Middle Earth & movie fans, regardless of what their prior knowledge is with any of the books or original films.
Project started on June 19th 2019, with an initial release in April 2020.
Title: The Hobbit (Extended Edition)
Runtime: 4 hours 5 min (Without counting credits/intermission)
Resources used:
- J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit
- The Hobbit: All 3 movies [Extended Edition HD Blu-rays, 5.1 audio]
- The Hobbit Soundtrack: All 3 movies [Special Edition, FLAC]
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies [Theatrical Version HD Blu-ray, 5.1 audio]
- Many new sound effects
- Adobe Premiere for video and audio editing
- Audacity for some additional audio mixing
- 2 parts (Like each LOTR extended edition film) instead of 3 movies - The digital version is combined into one movie file while the disc version is two separate files. It's been split in half because 1) the parts can fit on 2 dual layer discs perfectly 2) it recreates how each LOTR extended edition was split in half 3)it covers up the mediocre transition by Peter Jackson that's impossible to fix (End of Hobbit AUJ to start of Hobbit DoS)
- The story focuses on Bilbo primarily, like the book
- Character & sideplot removals
- Radagast -> Removed
- Dol Guldur/Sauron -> Removed
- White Council -> Removed (Only brief appearance in my "Special Features")
- Bolg -> Removed (Still kills Kili, but he's not a real character, just a random Orc)
- Frodo -> 30 second cameo
- Legolas -> 60 second cameo
- Alfrid -> Background character (Two lines, required to drive plot forward)
- Tauriel -> Background character (One line)
- Character & sideplot adjustments
- Azog - Not seen until the final act of the movie, where he appears as a nameless Orc leader in a 20-minute sequence representing the final climax, the "Battle of the Five Armies." I refer to him as Azog because it's easier, even though in my edit no one says his name. Gandalf arrives to warn the others about an approaching army, providing the initial context and more build up to the final battle. Then, we see Azog march his army towards the mountain with some redubbed subtitles for context, so the audience understands the Orcs want to capture the mountain because Smaug is dead, similar to how the Elves/Men lay siege upon Erebor for its riches.
- Thorin - His character arc is now focused on honor & pride instead of dragon sickness, and he has no connection to Azog. This places the impact of his final duel on proving himself. A King that was once overcome with greed, pride, and selfishness, but eventually able to overcome it to perform the most selfless act for his friends, by sacrificing himself to help defeat the Orcs. His final scene is his funeral with Gandalf's deleted eulogy reinserted.
- Thranduil - The other King in opposition to Thorin, who could not empathize with the great loss of the Dwarves, offering them no aid, and selfishly sided with the men who did have a legitimate claim on the Mountain, just for his own personal benefit to get some gems, at the cost of most of his army. He finally realizes the pain from such a huge loss in life, especially being an Elf, which might change his attitude on what’s important in the world. This means his arc has no nonsense with Tauriel/Legolas/Legolas's Mom/Strider. His final scene is him reflecting on the fallen Elves in Dale after the battle is finished.
- Bard - His role is the same except without the Master/Alfrid conflicts. In the book, there was half a sentence saying how Lakemen had accused Bard of wrongdoings in the past, but it was not to the extent that people were spying on him and that he was getting arrested. Instead, Bard is a simple every-man looking out for his family and his people, who is opposed to the Dwarves awakening Smaug, which the Master of the lake actually disagrees with, showing some of his "going against the grain" characterization as referenced in the book. Bard & his kids show up a few times as minor characters throughout the Laketown portion of the movie. Smaug attacks Laketown, and in response Bard defeats him (without the help of his son balancing an arrow on his shoulder), and then he becomes the leader of the Men, at which point he is now a full on main character. The rest of his role plays out relatively the same as the original films, with the exception of him trying to save his kids during the battle, instead, it's assumed his kids are safe hidden away with the other people while Bard fights on the frontlines. Unfortunately, Bard doesn't really get a final scene due to the footage that exists, but we last see him paying respects in Dale during Thorin's funeral.
- Dragon sickness - It's now referenced two or three times, but it is clearly not a literal sickness, and instead expands on how Dwarves are known to be greedy. This is similar context to how it was mentioned (once) in the book, just a metaphor for someone overtaken by greed.
- "Black arrows only rule" for killing the dragon isn't how it works anymore, instead, black arrows are just stronger arrows, like the book. I think it's silly to make it sound like they are the only weapon in Middle Earth that can kill a dragon.
- Character & sideplot removals
- Toning down the LOTR fanservice/connections - In my opinion, this movie is supposed to be a separate story from LOTR. There were too many exaggerated references & sideplots that I felt should be removed or toned down. It still is good to have connection to LOTR, just nothing overdone, so that means no fan service. For example, as discussed earlier, Legolas & Frodo's roles have been substantially reduced to just cameos, and that includes the removal of the forced Gimli reference. Also, obviously the whole Sauron build up has been removed, because that is for another story. I have removed the excessive evil-ring music cues, so they are now only to be heard around the Gollum portion of the movie/when Bilbo first finds it, and then once more when we transition to Old Bilbo holding the ring at the end. I didn't want "the ring" part to be overdone, this film isn't supposed to be another story of a Hobbit being manipulated by the ring, which was unfortunately attempted in the original Hobbit trilogy, like when Bilbo goes crazy killing a baby spider because he dropped the ring, Bilbo petting the ring in Beorn's house, Bilbo lying to Gandalf to hide the ring, or the constant Sauron eye flashes. All of that is gone, because that is not what the story is about. In addition, I wanted to pay homage to how the ring was written in the book, and make the ring work well with what we see in Gandalf/Bilbo's characters throughout both stories. That is, it works best that the ring stays as just a cool magic ring that doesn't really matter during The Hobbit, because Gandalf doesn't know about it or its importance, and neither will a first time audience. But then, it is only in Fellowship when we finally start to uncover how important this ring is. Gandalf learns that after those 60 years Bilbo has been effected by a magic ring. He does his research in Minas Tirith, and it turns out the ring Bilbo has is "the one," and connected to Sauron. Why should all the Sauron one ring hints & references be dumped in the Hobbit movies, rather than the natural progression of knowledge we get in Fellowship, which is of course, closer to how it happened in the actual Tolkien lore? I'll throw the audience a bone with a few ring music cues, but then let Fellowship do the rest of the work introducing Sauron.
- For the book fans, movie chapters reflect each chapter in the novel while maintaining a cinematic narrative, I read while editing. Every detail from the book was considered during the cutting process, so I was able to keep so many little references. Examples include:
- Gandalf wanting red wine in Bag End, Gandalf saying Bombur counts as 2 Dwarves, Thorin's dialogue in Mirkwood, the White Deer/river scene in Mirkwood, the Beorn intro scene as a whole, Dori complaining about rain, Thorin swearing to be avenged if anyone takes the Arkenstone, Gandalf/Bilbo departure at the end is word-for-word from the book, I was even able to extract a line Smaug says to Thorin in the movie but says to Bilbo in the book so it now is in the right place, and more.
- Setting the tone & fixing the universe/aesthetic. I've found that the Hobbit trilogy felt tremendously different in its universe and tone compared to LOTR. With this edit I was able to 1) remove the differences in how Middle Earth felt (because it should feel like it's the same world), and 2) slightly bring the tone between each story closer, but still different enough to honor the book. That means, yes, LOTR is the epic dark trilogy, while The Hobbitis a more lighthearted-comedic adventure that gets grittier over time, but still close enough to feel like both are in the same world.
- Universe & aesthetic:
- To make the Hobbit trilogy feel more like LOTR, I removed all of the wacky designs that I felt did not fit. Blind trolls with peg-legs, trolls with mini-catapults and goblins on their back, a troll with a stone on his head for a battering ram, gigantic stone giants, Dwarf goat cavalry, and more.
- I also made sure to remove everything that crossed a line of defying physics (which had a lot of crossover with cutting stuff that wasn't from the book), such as the Dwarves sliding down an entire cave on a broken bridge without being harmed, the entire Dwarf-Smaug chase, Legolas running up stones, flying with a bat, Bombur's barrel scene, and plenty more.
- Color correction to tone down the excessive saturation, which you can read more about below in the color correction section. Still, even after my edits to reduce saturation, the colors and atmosphere are less gritty than LOTR, which is how I believe it should be, just not so extreme as it was in the original Hobbit trilogy.
- Now, The Hobbit actually feels and looks closer to the same universe, so I can focus on how I make sure the tone between each story is distinct, as to resemble the nature of each of their respective books
- Tone. Many things were kept, many things were removed, all to create an entirely new tone.
- Changing up the action scenes. There were too many times to count where characters did ridiculous combat stunts/cheap comedy stunts that you would expect to see in generic Hollywood movies such as dodging arrows with swords, using a slingshot that shoots pebbles against a troll, Dwarves killing things behind them without even looking, headbutting Orcs that have a helmet on, doing spinning fighting tricks that wouldn't work in real life, and just so many more. By removing all of these instances, the combat can match closer to what we saw in LOTR.
- Songs. I kept all of the songs taken from the book, as they are basically straight out of Tolkien's words. Small adjustments have been made to make the scenes slightly shorter and more digestible, but I strongly believe these are positive additions to the tone of the story, which is more lighthearted, while also paying great homage to the text.
- Misty Mountains: No changes
- Blunt the Knives: I removed all of the most ridiculous plate tricks which were done with CGI, so we still get to enjoy the song from the book, but we don't have to sit through such a circus act. As a result, the song is a little shorter, but the full song can be found in my special features.
- Goblin Town song: I removed any weird footage of the Goblin King, his excessive dancing, fist pumping, his silly dialogue before/after the song, and crushing Goblins with his feet. As a result, the song has been shortened by one stanza.
- Comedy. Pretty much all of the Company/Bilbo/Gandalf banter & comedy is still in tact, as it was in the book, mostly in the first half of the story. There's just nothing over the top now, and as the story progresses it actually gets less and less lighthearted, whereas in the original films the final movie still had so many cheap comedy moments that ruined it all. Some "comedy" moments that I removed are the Dwarf-Elf romance jokes from Rivendell all the way to the Woodland Realm, all the Alfrid stuff, climbing through toilets, naked Dwarves in the Elf fountain, and plenty more, but still - there's a time and place for some fun comedy.
- In conclusion, with a balance of adjustments to the comedy & action seen in these movies, I feel I was able to really improve the tone, not only to make it feel ever so slightly more congruent with the LOTR, but to also reach that perfect sweet spot where it's just as fun and lighthearted as the book at times, but still able to be a story you can take seriously and be emotionally invested in.
- Universe & aesthetic:
- Color correction to decrease the heavy glow of saturation. Everything looks slightly more real, natural, and congruent with LOTR. I was careful not to go overboard and completely zap the life out of the film, which is not ideal for a Middle Earth fantasy movie. I was also careful to ensure that The Hobbitdoesn't look extremely gritty and dark all the time, because that just doesn't match the story.
- Saturation and vibrancy decreased anywhere from by 0-8%, depending on the scene or film
- Green tint removed throughout the edit
- Subtle 35mm film grain added to match a little closer to LOTR
- All three films should blend together as "one" in terms of color as best as possible, but it is intentional that the colors shift as the story progresses and as characters enter new realms
- New Digital Alterations - all created by eric1894unless otherwise stated
- 1 - Removed Thorin's excessive wound from the Azog duel at the end of AUJ, as this never happened in my edit. It now appears as he's lightly scarred & cut, just like the rest of the cast, but not gravely wounded.
- 2 - Removed all arrows seen on the barrels, as this fight never happened.
- 3 - Digitally altered shot of the company walking to Erebor showing all 14 members of the company, because now no one was left behind. (By Dustin Lee)
- 4 - When Smaug breaks out of Erebor, he's no longer covered in gold. He is now dark red with a cloud of dust/rubble around him.
- 5 - Replaced Bard's kid with a block of wood, because it works better to have Bard kill Smaug on his own.
- 6 - Removed Radagast from riding one of the Eagles near the end, as Radagast does not appear in my edit.
- Gandalf still has several disappearances like the book, but because I removed the sideplots, they now play out a little different. I found that his sideplots were a problem in the original films because they distracted from Bilbo and the company.
- The major disappearance of Gandalf has to do with the build up in evilness & an Orc presence in Middle Earth. Beorn mentions Orcs, Gandalf sees the red marking in Mirkwood, so he leaves to investigate. Later, he is seen eagerly riding as fast as he can back to Erebor, so the audience knows his little side quest is over and he's returning. He reveals that he has discovered a huge Orc army coming to attack the Mountain, finally explaining the purpose of his disappearance (instead of the explanation being fighting the Necromancer, because that does not contribute to this story). Unfortunately, no one listens to him, and Gandalf can only try to delay conflict.
- The transition from part 1 -> part 2 is as smooth as it can get. Again, it's all one movie, but I have explained earlier at the top of this page why there is a pause/intermission. We end at the Company looking off into the distance at the Lonely Mountain in the morning, [then intermission], and we return with them having made some more progress into a forested area, and it's now nighttime. The wolves have almost caught up to them, and they discover Beorn in bear form. They have no choice but to run through the forest and out into Beorn's house, in a new custom sequence with a more natural flow of geography as compared to the original scenes.
- Soundtrack: "Misty Mountains" theme added into the Battle of the Five Armies during a fighting montage, unused piece "Good Omen" used during the Eagle montage, and unused piece "Dreaming of Bag End" placed after the main credits song finishes. Also there are many new audio cues, extensions, and shortenings of various soundtrack to create new transitions or sequences.
- Updated end credits - Main starring list features Thorin's company, the LOTR cameos & returning cast, as well as the main side characters throughout the film (Like Bard, Thranduil, Dain, etc). The Full cast list contains those already listed, as well as all the minor characters, whether they were always minor or their roles were reduced, such as Tauriel or Alfrid. Azog is never mentioned by name, so I credited him only as Bolg to be slightly accurate to the book. I also updated the main sung credit music to this.
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