It works fine as it is as a stand alone story, but once you start looking at it in the context of the War of the Ring it becomes far richer for the additional material, because with hindsight you can see the opening moves of the war - key pieces being moved into place or eliminated. It one of, if not the best aspect of the world Tolkein created - individual stories hold up well on their own, but the more layers he added the better they became.

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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe - Albert Einstein

Its not important to the story of 'The Hobbit', but with the inclusion of the third movie Jackson is creating a 6-movie story that tells the entire 'War of the Ring'.

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Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker

Well I guess that's kinda what my objection is, I didn't really care for Jackson's interpretation of the LOTR. Basically everything he changed made things worse than the books, and I'd rather not see that happen with the first non-children's book I ever read.

He made a mess of the second two movies certainly, but the chances of that happening with The Hobbit are a lot less, as the book itself is a lot vaguer, and so lends itself better to a screen adaptation. The applies doubly so to the actions of the White Council during the period, given that they're mentioned only in the form of the vaguest of historical notes.

And if you're talking about the Hobbit rather than LotR when you talk of a "non-children's book", you're sorely mistaken.

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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe - Albert Einstein

I'm coming in late, but I have mixed feelings about this.

One one hand, it feels like a money-grabbing stunt. On the other hand, we've come full circle with del Toro's original proposal for the adaption and if Jackson can pull it off, I'd be curious to see it work.

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

I mean as opposed to Encylopedia Brown, the Hardy Boys, Curious George, stuff like that.

I always thought it was rather annoying to have the Purging of the Necromancer as "oh, the elves were off doing this", or a historical note in the timeline. Once the Necromancer was tied to Sauron, it just seemed like a footnote. I have to wonder if Tolkien was going to edit it into its own book.

Although his last books were less novels and more dry history than anything Interesting.

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agentfisherSDnet: You're as brilliant as you are beautiful.
Librium Arcana, Where Gamers Play!
"We're cooler than an iced frappicino -- On the Planet Hoth!"

The freaking Lord of the Rings was a trilogy of history books with a narrative tacked on as an afterthought. The only Ring War books that were actually fun were 'The Hobbit', and (marginally) 'The Fewllowship of the Ring'. The second and third movie being far less compelling than the first was essentialy due to the failure of the source material, and even so they managed to be a lot more fun than the books they were based on.
I don't want a lecture on the history of Middle Earth. I want the Hobbit.

I don't want a lecture either, I want to see an EPIC.

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agentfisherSDnet: You're as brilliant as you are beautiful.
Librium Arcana, Where Gamers Play!
"We're cooler than an iced frappicino -- On the Planet Hoth!"

[i]I[i] want a lecture. Maybe with some nice maps and scenes of things happening.

Read the damn books then. They've been there for the taking for half a century or more. When I go to the movies, I want entertainment.And for me, the history of Middle Earth does not qualify as such.

I did read the book. Now I want pictures.

Heck it's your money. I still think the movies would be a lot better off concentrating on the actual novel but as long as nobody's making me watch them who am I to argue if that's the kind of movie you want?

Exactly.

I like exposition in films, and had the first LoTR film just been hours of The Council of Elrond, I would have seen it more than five times. Of course, I also like action. So if a lecture could segue into a fight scene, I'd be set.

Yeah. I'd bet people financing the Hobbit asked him to include cast from previous movies 'for continuity's sake' so that typical moviegoer has no doubts they're the same successful series (and it thus more motivated to spend money). At which point writers went over original material again, found something filmable White Council actually did in the book (thus, less whining about changes from tryhard Tolkien fans) and thrown it in during boring parts of journey to satisfy both requirements.

Okay serious question here
How many years until the ultra special edition hits with all six movies and an extra twenty hours of content, assuming they keep the four discs per special edition formal that's means the six movies will have twenty four blue rays total for a combined total something like six hundred gigabytes of data for six movies. I assume the entire thing will be bundled with the ultra special 25th disc for the 2025 twenty year anniversary.

By then, we'll be over-joyed to get it (although probably not in disc format), and we'll be bitching about how it's the real Lord of the Rings film version, and not that crappy 2021 Full-CGI Trilogy Remake.

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"You can't hammer tin into iron, no matter how hard you beat it, but that doesn't mean that tin is worthless."
-Jon Snow, A Game of Thrones

"I prefer my history dead. The dead sort is written in ink, the living in blood."
-Rodrik Greyjoy, A Song of Ice and Fire

I'd guess 5 years, assuming they're going to be putting out 1 film a year starting december 2013.

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Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker

LOL, I'll start the campaign now, Aragon shot first.

Then you don't want The Hobbit.

The Hobbit is the story of Bilbo going There and Back Again. It is not the story of necromancers or prequels to the Lord of the Rings, and should not be bent out of shape until it is, because that can only dilute the narrative drive of what the story is actually about (hint: It is about an unassuming person finding reserves of character in extreme circumstances). It's not even an epic, despite the events that happen being fit for one, because of the perspective and character of Bilbo.

Can't the exact same thing be said about LotR, though? Frodo goes there and back again, epic stuff happens in background. Another unassuming person that fails the quest this time around, you can cut, say, Pelennor Fields out the same way Necromancer wasn't shown in Hobbit, little of the above would be lost.

The thing is, the Hobbit is literally the story of Bilbo, from his point of view. We see almost nothing unless Bilbo sees it or it is directly about him. The Fellowship series follows the adventures of the nine, jumping around extensively and staying on certain characters for an extended period of time.

The Hobbit is about the Hobbit, but the Fellowship is about the entire Fellowship.

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Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker

I don't think it's invalid for a new depiction of art to change the focus. Jackson likes making cinema epics; if that means telling the story of "Bilbo and the thirteen dwarves and other important stuff happening elsewhere at the same time," then maybe it'll be a good story even if it lacks the homely charm Tolkein wrote into it.

I only feel like complaining about a movie adaptation of a book that reimagines what the book is about if it's bad.

So a "new" trailer was released within the last day or so. Fair warning, it isn't substantially different from the one everyone has seen already, but there are a few new bits and pieces. And it seems to be available in 3D (click on the gear symbol on the player toolbar). So for the sake of the completionists among us, enjoy:



Here is the first one, if you feel like comparing the two. See if you can spot the differences!

I've never bought a movie soundtrack in my life, but I'm going to get the one for Hobbit.

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Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker