http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/thehobbit/
First Hobbit Trailer (with SPOILERS)
All right, you're officially on my naughty list.
The song is now playing in my head.
Yes, a year of looking forward to the Hobbit. Then we will have to wait another length of time until the second movie. It's so funny. I have such memories of having just seen the first movie in 2001, and thinking HOW AWFUL to have to wait until 2002, then 2003, to see the next movies.
How was I ever going to survive??????? Ha. That's all years ago now. So yes. It will happen.
I think I'm going to like that they pulled from the Appendices to flesh out The Hobbit. It looks as though they are treating it more as a "prequel". Of course it was the LOTR that Professor Tolkien envisioned as a followup to the Hobbit and originally written in more of the same tone as the Hobbit. Now PJ is going back and revising the Hobbit to match LOTR, it seems. I was purely in the Revisionist camp in the past, and I can see I'm going to be in it now, again.
Yes, a year of looking forward to the Hobbit. Then we will have to wait another length of time until the second movie. It's so funny. I have such memories of having just seen the first movie in 2001, and thinking HOW AWFUL to have to wait until 2002, then 2003, to see the next movies.
How was I ever going to survive??????? Ha. That's all years ago now. So yes. It will happen. I think I'm going to like that they pulled from the Appendices to flesh out The Hobbit. It looks as though they are treating it more as a "prequel". Of course it was the LOTR that Professor Tolkien envisioned as a followup to the Hobbit and originally written in more of the same tone as the Hobbit. Now PJ is going back and revising the Hobbit to match LOTR, it seems. I was purely in the Revisionist camp in the past, and I can see I'm going to be in it now, again.
Tolkien - the original Revisionist.Ellienor wrote: Of course it was the LOTR that Professor Tolkien envisioned as a followup to the Hobbit and originally written in more of the same tone as the Hobbit.
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
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Primula Baggins
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I just saw it. The YouTube HD trailer looks great on a 50-inch screen, BTW. . . .
I was glad that beforehand I had clicked through TORn's frame-by-frame analysis on Facebook. I only read the initial comments for each, but it helped me follow the trailer better when I saw it. Otherwise I tend to just sit and vibrate with excitement (What's next?!? What's next?!!!?) and nothing sticks in my memory.
It looks wonderful. The dwarf song stood out from the rest by far, though. I got chills. I am so happy. (I love that sound, the deep voices blending; it reminds me of Orthodox sacred choral music.)
Whatever else ends up happening with the film, going to see this is going to be like going home. I don't know what I'll do when we get our first clear view of the Shire. . . .
I was glad that beforehand I had clicked through TORn's frame-by-frame analysis on Facebook. I only read the initial comments for each, but it helped me follow the trailer better when I saw it. Otherwise I tend to just sit and vibrate with excitement (What's next?!? What's next?!!!?) and nothing sticks in my memory.
It looks wonderful. The dwarf song stood out from the rest by far, though. I got chills. I am so happy. (I love that sound, the deep voices blending; it reminds me of Orthodox sacred choral music.)
Whatever else ends up happening with the film, going to see this is going to be like going home.
I don't know what I'll do when we get our first clear view of the Shire. . . .“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Oh great. The outpouring of love this is getting from all quarters makes me flash back to my immediate post-Return of the King 2003 mood.
Ahem. Now that's out of my system, let me speak calmly:
Tolkien tried rewriting the Hobbit in 1960 to bring it more in line with LOTR. So one can say there's nothing new here.
But Tolkien abandoned the rewrite after a friend told him it just wasn't The Hobbit anymore. So one can say there's nothing new here.
The book has a sequel, this is a prequel. This already feels like less "The Hobbit" than "The Lord of the Rings: The Hobbit". Or it's like a chocolate-covered nut with "The Lord of the Rings" enveloping "The Hobbit". How much chocolate and how big the nut, that remains to be seen, but I think the chocolate taste may overpower the nut.
I just would have preferred a live-action Hobbit to be able to stand on its own feet. By sticking Frodo and Galadriel and stuff in them, these films can't. I fear they've gone the Star Wars prequel route with it. The original trilogy could be watched on its own as a tale of Rebels vs. Evil Empire. The prequels only set up the originals. I don't want The Hobbit to fall into that trap. But it has one foot in it already, if not both.
Ahem. Now that's out of my system, let me speak calmly:Tolkien tried rewriting the Hobbit in 1960 to bring it more in line with LOTR. So one can say there's nothing new here.
But Tolkien abandoned the rewrite after a friend told him it just wasn't The Hobbit anymore. So one can say there's nothing new here.
The book has a sequel, this is a prequel. This already feels like less "The Hobbit" than "The Lord of the Rings: The Hobbit". Or it's like a chocolate-covered nut with "The Lord of the Rings" enveloping "The Hobbit". How much chocolate and how big the nut, that remains to be seen, but I think the chocolate taste may overpower the nut.
I just would have preferred a live-action Hobbit to be able to stand on its own feet. By sticking Frodo and Galadriel and stuff in them, these films can't. I fear they've gone the Star Wars prequel route with it. The original trilogy could be watched on its own as a tale of Rebels vs. Evil Empire. The prequels only set up the originals. I don't want The Hobbit to fall into that trap. But it has one foot in it already, if not both.
If its any consolation Anduril, Freeman commented in a recent interview that the work theuy have done so far has been very light hearted and comic. In fact he was asking PJ when there would be opportunity for more character work, to which PJ answered "Its coming".
The feeling seems to be that "An Unexpected Journey" will be closer in tone to "The Hobbit" while "There and Back Again" will be closer in tone to LotR. That makes sense to me as the end of "The Hobbit" is a very different tone to the start of it, and is in fact much closer to the tone of LotR.
Can anyone imagine the Thorin of An Unexpected Party saying this:
The feeling seems to be that "An Unexpected Journey" will be closer in tone to "The Hobbit" while "There and Back Again" will be closer in tone to LotR. That makes sense to me as the end of "The Hobbit" is a very different tone to the start of it, and is in fact much closer to the tone of LotR.
Can anyone imagine the Thorin of An Unexpected Party saying this:
"Farewell, good thief," he said. "I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed. Since I leave now all gold and silver, and go where it is of little worth, I wish to part in friendship from you, and I would take back my words and deeds at the Gate."
"There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!"
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
What Al said.Alatar wrote:The feeling seems to be that "An Unexpected Journey" will be closer in tone to "The Hobbit" while "There and Back Again" will be closer in tone to LotR. That makes sense to me as the end of "The Hobbit" is a very different tone to the start of it, and is in fact much closer to the tone of LotR.
"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could ... "
Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
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Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Avatar by goldlighticons on Live Journal
Alatar wrote:Can anyone imagine the Thorin of An Unexpected Party saying this:"Farewell, good thief," he said. "I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed. Since I leave now all gold and silver, and go where it is of little worth, I wish to part in friendship from you, and I would take back my words and deeds at the Gate."
"There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!"
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I must say, I saw far more of Hobbitesque whimsy than I had hoped for. And it was all from the book. The dish cleaning, dwarves piling on Bilbo's doorstep, Bilbo running after the dwarves with the contract in his hand, and so on. The song was spot on.
I wouldn't say that including Frodo makes this a prequel. Seems like his role is no greater than the sick kid's in the Princess Bride.
I wouldn't say that including Frodo makes this a prequel. Seems like his role is no greater than the sick kid's in the Princess Bride.
"What a place! What a situation! What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter."
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
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Primula Baggins
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I'm sure they're saving that to build excitement later in the lead-up to the films.
To me the song's tempo is right somehow—to bring a shiver of darkness and depth into what was in the book a largely comic scene, and to hint that there is more danger in the Dwarves and in the adventure ahead than Bilbo may have been guessing.
To me the song's tempo is right somehow—to bring a shiver of darkness and depth into what was in the book a largely comic scene, and to hint that there is more danger in the Dwarves and in the adventure ahead than Bilbo may have been guessing.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
So maybe this is because I didn't read the Hobbit until I was 20, but the darkening of the tone towards the end was what effectively redeemed the book for me. The beginning was just so...twee. There were Elves giggling and singing "Tra-la-la-lally, welcome to our valley." Seriously. Gag me with a spoon. Surprised I stuck with it but glad I did. Will be even gladder if the movie version avoids that entirely. Comic relief I can deal with. Saccharin...no.
I think the plan with the movies is to show the White Council-related stuff that was happening off-page in the book. Galadriel was part of that. There is a larger landscape to The Hobbit. Bilbo and the Dwarves are off dealing with Smaug and the White Council's off dealing with the Necromancer, thus pushing the darkness Eastward. The part no one calculated on was the recovery of the One Ring, but can you imagine what it would have been like if the Ring had been recovered while Sauron still sat in Mirkwood and Smaug sat in Erebor?
*shudders*
I think the plan with the movies is to show the White Council-related stuff that was happening off-page in the book. Galadriel was part of that. There is a larger landscape to The Hobbit. Bilbo and the Dwarves are off dealing with Smaug and the White Council's off dealing with the Necromancer, thus pushing the darkness Eastward. The part no one calculated on was the recovery of the One Ring, but can you imagine what it would have been like if the Ring had been recovered while Sauron still sat in Mirkwood and Smaug sat in Erebor?
*shudders*
When you can do nothing what can you do?
