Hobbit: The Spence Edit, The

This is my 100th fanedit review...an I open with a huge APOLOGY!
I thought I had reviewed this...but alas...OOPS!

THIS EDIT (and one other), were the driver to my return to this forum a couple of years ago.

THIS EDIT...inspired me to creat my own Hobbit edit....and it was and remains a game changer...not just for me, but for many other fan editors.

Spence did things here which had not been done by anyone at that point.

The Logolas solution, The removal of the Black Arrow, The Barrel ride, The scoring change as the dwarves emerge and SO much more.

This was and remains an inspirational edit. I've watched it more times than my own...and many others have too, and also borrowed many of the genius flourishes within...(yes, I am guilty of this too).

Little did I know back then that I would get the honor of working with this genius.

To be able to strp away near on two thirds of the material and retain a compelling, balanced and well paced narrative is already a huge achievement...but to then sig down and refine it to this polished finish is a glory to behold.

OVERDUE, I thank you publically, for your work, your frienship and humility in permitting me to borrow from your creative efforts.

This remains MY GOTO....

No point going into the technicals...they are spot on.

Long may you REIGN!

This edit is fantastic. It is what I have been waiting for since the first Hobbit movie. It's really gripping from start to finish. The cuts were pretty much invisible, technically very well-executed. The score was very loud for me at three different points (22, 33.5 and 1hr50 minutes) but this is a very minor quibble in what was overall a great experience. Very well done.

This is what I wanted to see when I first heard that The Hobbit was going to be made into a film. I am a very critical viewer, even when it is one of my favorite films. There are still a number of things that I would have cut.
-When talking about the Took side of Bilbo- the golf reference always seemed out of place to me even in the book.
-I would have removed ALL traces of the rabbits and sled.
-Galadriel only in the scene against Sauron.
-I'd like to see her not look and sound like the scene in The Lord Of The Rings (that was supposedly how she'd be when using the Ring Of Power).
-I would have kept a bit of the Stone Giants, just enough to see them as part of the thundering storm- but not when the company is on them.
-I like how other edits have handled the drop into goblin town- short. And I think the floor should have given way as soon as Sting shown blue.
- I like how the goblin king dies in the theatrical release. I'd leave out his dialogue, though, during his confrontation with Gandalf. His death was supposed to be the main reason for the goblins chasing the company to the pines.
-I'd like all of Beorn's scenes to remain, although I can understand why it was cut.
-I don't think that we should see the Ring having any sway over Bilbo in The Hobbit at all.
-Rivendell needs several more cuts. Once they arrive I would cut to Gandalf's greeting with Elrond, then skip to Bilbo talking with Elrond.
- I'd cut out the dwarves eating in Rivendell. I don't know why elves are portrayed as vegetarians in Jackson's movies. The elves ate meats in the book.
-Leave out the line about the exact same moon-phase needed for reading the map- too coincidental. Just have the line about needing to be read in the moon light.
-Keep dwarves in trees scene (without the moth) and no one coming down out of the trees.
-Keep the line where Gandalf tells Bilbo that his sword will glow blue but cut the part about it doing so because it is elven. Not all elven swords glow blue.
-I still don't like the ring twirling in the air and falling right on Bilbo's finger. Although I'm not sure how this scene could be done another way with just editing.
-Jackson tends to have an awful lot of light in all his "dark" scenes. I would darken most, especially the encounter with Gollum.
-Get rid of the giant worms.
-Azog falling in water and then jumping up through the ice and ready to fight. Talk about demanding a suspension of dis-belief. I'd skip that whole part and just go to the death scene.
Although I've listed a lot of cuts that I personally would like to have seen, that's not to say that I thought this was a bad edit in any way. It was fantastic. I'm just super critical. There were many things that I loved in this FanEdit.
+ Loved how this edit started with the smoke ring and the older Bilbo at the end of the film. That worked out great!
+ I like the Eagles in the battle. After all, aren't they one of the five armies?
+ I thought all of the cuts during the unexpected party were wonderful.
+ Love how Radaghast's earlier scenes were cut.
+ I don't miss the White Council meeting.
+ I like most of the goblin town edits.
+ I thought all the scenes involving Legolas or Tauriel being cut was done well. I think the FanEditor's decisions on what should stay and what should go were wisely done.
+ barrel sequence edits - perfect!
+ All the scenes that were removed involving Laketown really improved the film. Excellent!
+ No dialogue from Alfrid is so much better.
+ I like how Dol Goldur was wrapped up before Smaug.
+ Of course the dwarf confrontation with Smaug in the mountain had to go!
+ No molten gold dragon!
+ The edits surrounding Bard's slaying of the dragon were perfect. Way better than the ridiculous scene with Bard's son involved that was in the theatrical release.
+ Love how Kili's death was handled.
+ Like how the auction was kept.
All in all, these painfully inadequate movies have been edited into one great film that is now one of my favorites.
Great work, Spence, and Thank You.

Superb job =) very close to the book itself. Special thanks for removing:
- Much of "goblin town".
- Tuning down much of Legolas show off and screen time scenes.
- Tauriel/Kili romance bahhh, PJ must had been out of his mind or it was Fran and Phillipa's doing (chicks lol).
- Barrel "platform video game" scene (dreadful scene -.-).
- Lake town's boring scenes... (million thanks).
- Alfrid Lickspittle dreadful character (hope he has a terrible death in the extended edition MUAHAH).

MAGNIFICENT ENDING MUSIC WITH ACTORS VOICES =)

I pinpoint/suggest a few things should you "revisit" this edit again:
- "Warg attack" at the end and the eagles rescuing the company. I think you may have removed it because of Azog's scenes, but putting as much as the "Warg attack/eagle rescue" would be an excellent addition and faithful to the book.
- I would have liked to see the entire fight sequence of the White Council, i just love to see Saruman fully fighting the wraiths.
- I think the battle of the five armies was a bit shortened out, trying to increase it a bit wouldn't harm =).
- Beorn was missing in it's entirety. I think he should appear talking, in part, with the dwarves and lately in the battle, instead of jumping of the eagle's back, you could put him just in the middle of the fray, since he also appears in the books.
- Bolg should have been seen dying by the hand of Legolas, as Bolg is the other Orc commander from Gundabad. I think it will be more credible for the Orc army to retreat since they loose both their top commanders.

Many thanks Spence

Like many people, I'm a huge fan of LotR but I found The Hobbit movies a bit of a chore. The third movie, especially, wasn't much more than an exercise in not walking out. I'd re-watched An Unexpected Journey once on Blu Ray, just to check out fancy HD visuals, and the others were bought only for the Appendices. I could see that there was a lot of great stuff scattered throughout the three movies, but it would never be worth a 9/10-hour movie marathon filled with ridiculous action scenes, mind-numbing subplots and Jar Jar-level humour to see them again. This edit is exactly what I needed. The movie discs of my Hobbit Blu Rays can consider themselves retired.

The image and sound editing is of a professional standard. There were, I think, only two instances when dialogue was overshadowed by the music. (I can't remember exactly where, sorry.) Official Hollywood releases have more garbled dialogue than that (e.g. Batman movies), so that's brilliant for such a long movie. There weren't any plot holes formed from the cuts, beyond the sudden appearance of ponies after the goblin caves. No big deal, though, because it's a LotR movie and you have to put up with that even in official releases (that get filled out in Extended Editions).

Very pleased with Legolas's reduced role. He's just a fun cameo now, while still playing a minor role in the battle at the end. Delighted that the Tauriel romance has gone. Now she's just a striking-looking extra. I was happy to lose the council scene as well, and I think it makes the great Christopher Lee's later appearance all the more dramatic. The eagles in the battle are now a total surprise and not foreshadowed (or hinted at existing for people unfamiliar with LotR), but the fact that Radaghast leads them means that it's a great "Hey! Radaghast's here!" moment rather than a "WTF? Eagles?" moment. I don't know if I'm remembering wrong, but I thought in the original cuts Bard knew about Smaug's weak spot. There's no dialogue of it in this. I was expecting that to be a problem, but when Smaug flies over him it now just looks like Bard spots it and shoots it right away. That works well for me. I'm really happy that all of Bard's family has been cut and over the moon to be rid of the Laketown nonsense with the mayor and Alfrid (the single worst thing to happen to the trilogy). I didn't miss Beorn at all. At the end of the day, he gives them some ponies and then shows up for 5 seconds in the battle at the end. Not worth the ten minutes extra run-time. Great stuff getting rid of the Azog pursuits and the false defeat at the mountain door.

Overall, then, I couldn't be happier. Spence has done an astonishing job of rescuing this series. Three separate average-to-poor films have become one great one. The tone is just right. There are just enough scenes to tease for LotR without it getting tiresome (none of the crappy "Hey, Legolas! Go find Aragorn!" nonsense). Enough of the dwarf stuff has gone that it now is more about Bilbo. And the ending worked really well, giving Ian Holm a nice cameo to finish. Awesome stuff all round.