Comic-con Hobbit panel (HUGE SPOILERS!)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Stone giants are confirmed. I knew Jackson wouldn't be able to resist.

Much, much, much more to come.

[Dave_LF]

And not just as vague shapes in the distance either, evidently.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

From TORN:

Hobbitcon in Hall H — the details and the spoilers!

Well, the long wait is over. Peter brought 12 and a half minutes of Hobbit goodness to Comic-Con’s Hall H today, and blew everyone’s minds. Reports are that much of what we saw was similar to what was shown at Cinema-Con earlier this year, with a number of interesting changes and two additional minutes of footage.

For this crowd it was all very, very new.

Read on for our detailed report on what was shown! Unless you’re not into SPOILERS in which case, look away now!

Note: Updated again with a few additional details and some corrections!


Wild applause broke out the moment the hall dimmed, as images only seen before online or in magazine articles filled the screens flanking the audience.

Nothing compares to seeing them up on screen. The front door of Bag End, the dwarves gathered around Bilbo’s table, the barrel scene… all this and more.

Followed by a production diary chock full of heart-felt messages from the cast, the crew and scenes from throughout the shoot. Dwarf after dwarf, Martin, Andy, Orlando, and more in quick succession.

When Peter Jackson stepped on stage, the house leapt to its feet with enough energy to propel themselves into the air.

“Who has been camping out on the street all night” he asked. “ You poor sods. You poor bastards. But thank you very much!”

Bringing Phillipa Boyens out on stage, he introduced her as someone who is “possibly a bigger Tolkien geek than any of you.” I don’t know about the Hall H crowd, but the TORn audience is pretty geeky, so I’m guessing it’s a bit of a toss-up.

What we were about to see had a few not-quite-finished touches Peter said, such as partially-finished effects and temporary music tracks. An update for film score fans: Howard Shore begins recording with the London Philharmonic in the next few weeks.

Also, a Comic-Con extra: never-seen second film footage that made its way into the clips. “But we won’t identify them,” Peter said cheekily.

Then, without any fanfare, the lights dimmed and ‘The Hobbit’ lit up the screen.

The Hobbit showreel:
It opens with a sweeping shot of the green hills of the Shire, with a voiceover from Gandalf intoning “Far to the east lies…” Setting the scene of where they are going -– which is Bag End and the dwarves gathered around Bilbo’s table talking about the quest.

An imposing and grim Thorin Oakenshield heads the table: “Rumors have begun to spread,” he says, “The dragon Smaug has not been seen in many years… Perhaps the vast wealth of our people lies unprotected … perhaps it is time to take back Erebor!”

Gandalf produces the key “It was given to me by your father for safekeeping, it is yours now.”

Fili: “if there’s a key there must be a door!”

This leads in to a discussion of the map and what must be done to go after the long-lost treasure. Gandalf looks to Bilbo… “That is why we need a burglar.”

Martin Freeman is wonderful in this scene, playing a hobbit who is as yet oblivious of what is being designed for him. Even as Gandalf professes the need for a burglar, he agrees but doesn’t quite realize that what Gandalf means is HIM.

“He’s hardly burglar material” the dwarves observe as they regard him skeptically. Which Bilbo happily agrees with. Gandalf then rises to full height and in a deep voice, (much like in Fellowship of the Ring when he says commandingly: “I’m not trying to hurt you, I’m trying to help you”) he warns the dwarves that a burglar he isn’t, but a burglar he will be.

Because, he says, Smaug is well aware of the scent of dwarf. A Hobbit will be wholly unknown to him. Bilbo looks appropriately horrified.

Thorin and the others are extremely skeptical: “Very well, we’ll do it your way.”

As we saw in the trailer last fall, Thorin says: “I cannot guarantee his safety, nor will I be responsible for his fate.”

“Agreed,” replies Gandalf.

The reading of the contract is hilarious, as Bilbo goes over the terms and the various dwarves jump to reassure him that it will be painless once he’s turned ash. James Nesbitt, as Bofur, is superbly funny.

Then Bilbo faints. Thunk.

A series of quick shots of Radagast follow
Radagast is full-bearded, rough-looking, with a big hat… which we later see conceals a number of birds. He’s cuddling his bunnies a hedgehog, and later on we see him racing through the forest on the infamous “bunnysled”.

There’s a quick look at Laketown, which looks amazing. Large boats, almost like pontoons, navigating their way through a warren of canals. We also see the Master of Laketown, played by Stephen Fry.

A brief moment of Gandalf speaking to Radagast: “Turn around and do not come back.”

Radagast does come across as very gentle, as we heard out of Cinema-Con reports.

We follow Gandalf into what could only be Dol Guldur. Looking terrified, he races through narrow passages, as we see glimpses of something ominous racing around either away or following him. Very tight quarters, then suddenly a person we assume to be Thrain leaps out and attacks him.

The riddle game…
Cut away to Bilbo and Gollum meeting in the goblin caves. Bilbo is clumsily waving Sting at Gollum, trying to get him to go away.

“I need to get un-lost a soon as possible.” Bilbo tells Gollum. “I don’t know what your game is.”

“GAMES, WE LOVES GAMES, DON’T WE PRECIOUS!?” Says Gollum, who is quickly slipping between Sméagol and his alter ego.

Bilbo, frightened but up for a small shot at escape, “ Let’s play a game. If I win you show me the way out of here.”

It then segues into the riddle game and after into an expanded look at the scene which caused much speculation when the first trailer was released.

Gandalf and Galadriel come together, with Galadriel saying: “Mithrandir, why the halfling?”

Gandalf responds: “Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay… small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? That’s because I am afraid and it gives me courage.”

Chills. Seriously.

Gandalf and Galadriel are holding hands but not in a way that is romantic, but more in the sense of a lifetime of friendship and shared experiences. There is longing, but there is sadness. I cannot say that it is “love” in the way most people think of it.

“Do not be afraid, Mithrandir, you are not alone,” then in Elvish, with English subtitles. “If you ever need aid, I will come.” And after a long look, she draws away from him, leaving him standing alone, and… slightly lost.

Cut to Bilbo picking up the ring
Then we hear Gandalf say, “You’ve changed, Bilbo Baggins…”

Bilbo replies “I found something in the cave”

Gandalf raises his eyebrow and asks, “What did you find?”

Bilbo hesitates and fingers his vest pocket and then drops his hand and says: “My courage”.

Gandalf replies, “Your courage? Good, you’ll need it”.

It’s the first instance of Bilbo’s reluctance to tell the truth about the Ring.

The action shot sequence
And heeeeerrrre we go — a wild ride of action shots.

BOOM. TROLLS GIANTS. Ugly, mean, wild and vicious trolls stone giants.

Have you seen the pics from Comic-Con? Absolutely nothing like seeing them in action. Not the bumbling stupid trolls one kind of expects after reading the Hobbit.

Radagast, racing through the forest on his bunnysled. Yes, a bunnysled. A sled, pulled by surprisingly strong bunnies.

Tauriel, barely shown in these clips, although Philippa speaks highly of her in the Q&A which follows. What we do see is a female, dressed in-brown version of Legolas (description courtesy of Quickbeam), in combat with goblins. Legolas springs out of… leaves? …and joins in the fighting.

Legolas races from the action and comes face-to-face with the party of dwarves, who come to a shocked standstill. “I won’t hesitate to kill you, dwarf,” says everyone’s favorite elf. Warning: We are slightly guessing on the exact quote, due to excessive audience screaming.

More trolls… and then Gandalf is seen standing on a hillside, stabbing his staff into the ground with a blast of morning sunlight.

THE END

More to come from the Q&A soon!

Edited to incorporate TORN's edits.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Hobbitcon video interview complete round-up!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Edit: Not true, as Elen points out below.

From the TORN twitter feed:


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Scene: Gandalf is walking with Elrond in Rivendell, and glances in passing at a young boy [sic] idly gazing as the distant waterfalls. Gandalf turns his head a fraction more toward the boy and his smile very slightly increases. Then he continues on his walk. A very brief but huge nod to whothat boy is.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here's another long report, that among other things confirms that Glamdring glows!

Martin Freeman OWNS the role of Bilbo in the first Hobbit clips!

[Elentári]

From the TORN twitter feed:


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Scene: Gandalf is walking with Elrond in Rivendell, and glances in passing at a young boy [sic] idly gazing as the distant waterfalls. Gandalf turns his head a fraction more toward the boy and his smile very slightly increases. Then he continues on his walk. A very brief but huge nod to whothat boy is.

Apparently this was a speculation by an enthusiastic tweeter that got picked up after the panel finished, as having been confirmed!
redgiant owns up on TORn!

[Elentári]

Here's another long report, that among other things confirms that Glamdring glows!

Martin Freeman OWNS the role of Bilbo in the first Hobbit clips!

Yes, a great in-depth write up of the footage shown, even with a few mistakes (like identifying Radagast as a Dwarf!) Anticipation levels are rising even more rapidly for me now!!

Several sites indicating that Tauriel will have red hair (presumably to avoid confusion with Arwen...)

Another concise round-up of events at the Panel from Collider

I'm still avidly digesting everything since I was asleep through the live reports but the biggest gossip seems to be PJ's comments on all the extra material they already have/want to film from the Appendices that they are in negotiations about, in order to make some sort of extended version of the films to flesh out the backstory for HOBBIT/LotR

[Primula Baggins]

I like the idea of including that kind of material in the Hobbit EEs. People who want one continuous story can enjoy that, but it doesn't have to clog and confuse the theater cut, which needs to be more commercial and less geeky. And it's better than having an entire "bridge film" IMO. They wouldn't have to invent as much, which we all know can be dangerous; they can sprinkle in the Appendix material where it fits.

[Elentári]

Yes, that would indeed be a perfect compromise, AFAIAC.


ETA: Neat video of some of the lenticular posters - you can really see the amazing depth of the 3D images:

http://youtu.be/L0bhtR1N_QU

[Elentári]

Whoa! This is interesting....

In another write-up of the Comic-Con new Hobbit footage, Entertainment Weekly chose to mention a scene from (presumably) the next video blog that Jackson is busy assembling right now:

The panel began with the latest behind-the-scenes video blog dispatch — which Peter Jackson has been posting regularly on The Hobbit‘s official Facebook page — on the final five days of production. We’ll post it on EW.com when it goes live, but there was a wealth of lovely moments, including interviews with Lee Pace, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, and Stephen Fry, all of whom seem to figure more prominently in the second film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, which includes the climatic confrontation with the dragon Smaug. We also saw the final day of production on both the second unit — directed by Andy Serkis — and the main unit, including a scene between Bilbo (Freeman) and Gandalf (McKellan) with this dialogue (which was seen, but not heard):
Gandalf: I need a horse!
Bilbo: Why? Where are you going?
Gandalf: In search of answers!

Could it be that the end of TABA will include some kind of conversation between Gandalf and Bilbo about the Ring and Gandalf sets out "in search of answers"??? Would this impact significantly on new viewers of FotR?

The other worrying thing is that this particular journalist has added fuel to the 'shipping' fire with his conclusions on the Galadriel-Gandalf scene shown:

It ends with what I perceived as quite a tender moment between Galadriel and Gandalf, hinting at an unspoken ache in Gandalf’s heart for the attentions of this celestial being standing before him.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I edited my post above to incorporate the edits that TORN did to there description, most significantly clarifying that the action sequence shown was the Giants, not the Trolls.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

A long report from Quint at AICN that includes some details that I haven't seen elsewhere, particularly from the production diary that was shown:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/57079

[Elentári]

That is a great write-up - very detailed- particularly nice to have some description of the appearances of Radagast, Bard and the Master.

Apparently the film makers have re-drawn Thror's map for the movies - The text now reads "Here of old was Thror King under the Mountain" which conflicts with Tolkien's reference to "Thrain" in that same piece of text, and it seems that the Lonely Mountain has been 'turned' a few degrees, so that the River Running runs more South-West and the secret door appears to be facing North at first glance. However, it still looks to be in the same location to me - two "spurs" West of the Main Gate...

Here are links to the two maps to compare:

Hobbit Movie Map

Tolkien's Map