THE HOBBIT ~ Discuss and Spoil!

[Quatermass]

He was still practicing then.

Someone hasn't seen the end of Dragonfire, episode 1. Or when the Dalek mutant tries to throttle him in episode 3 of Remembrance of the Daleks.

[Who's Wee Dug]

If I watched it I saw the end of it but I don't keep check of the individual eps I've seen and he was not one of the stand out Dr's for me in fact I can't remember what ones he was in and don't care that much either.

[Cheery]

Cutting in quickly, just ignore me and move on your conversation around me. I just need to say this:

BEST MOVIE LAST/THIS YEAR SO FAR!!

I have been hyped for the Hobbit for two years now and I have to say it has filled all my expectations! No, exceeded them! I have to admit, I was never a big Tolkien fan, books or movies, but the Hobbit is something very dear to my heart. My dad used to read the book to me and my brother. It's an old copy with illustrations in it and I still have it Spent some of the happiest hours of my life listening to that story.
Every part of it was perfect. From story to casting to special effects and beautiful landscapes. Fell in love with it. Already went to see it 3 times.


(Need to go watch the Lord of the Rings movies next. I have to admit I haven't seen them for a while. I was 9 when I first saw them, which was probably too young cause I was scared stiff of some of the stuff. I'll probably enjoy them a lot more now I'm older.)

Okay, carry on.

[SamHain]

I still feel the writing crew felt that their audience was going to be mentally challenged. They went out of their way to be the film over our heads and scream in our faces "THIS IS THE PREQUEL TO LORD OF THE RINGS SERIES!!!". It's my only real complaint: that they put far to much emphasis on the finding of the Ring itself. Then we have the counsel meeting in Rivendel that went a bit on the overboard side with foreshadowing.

[Quatermass]

The foreshadowing bit is actually part of the filler. Peter Jackson is taking elements from what Tolkien said was happening elsewhere in Middle Earth at around the same time as The Hobbit.

I intend to see The Hobbit again in the near future.

[Jan Van Quirm]

Hi there Cheery - nice to see you again!

Yeah - the Radagast bits and the mini council between Galadriel, Elrond, Gandalf and Saruman (very good to see Christopher Lee back as well, especially as he was so ill-used in having his crucial part so outrageously ditched from RotK) are all in there to lay the ground for when Gandalf leaves the dwarves and Bilbo to their own devices as they go into Mirkwood. Presumably that stage of the journey and the White Council campaign against Dol Guldur will form the heart of movie 2 so we're actually progressing through the tale in more or less chronological order and spacing our battles out a bit...

[Quatermass]

(very good to see Christopher Lee back as well, especially as he was so ill-used in having his crucial part so outrageously ditched from RotK)

I have to confess, he doesn't look any older than his turn in The Lord of the Rings. That's a decent beard, wig, and makeup for you. Impressive that he's still acting at what, 90? Apparently, though, he's asked to film his scenes in the UK rather than in New Zealand, due to his age.

Speaking of his turn in Return of the King, you know how in the Extended Edition, he gets stabbed in the back? Apparently, Christopher Lee knows rather too well what the sound of someone getting backstabbed sounds like. Makes you wonder what he was like in the OSS...

[Jan Van Quirm]

He was supposed to get stabbed in the back in RotK in the crucial Scouring of the Shire part of the storyline where the 4 hero hobbits return to the Shire only to find that Saruman had beaten them back and staged a coup d'etat making himself a kind of Vichy government with himself as the Great Dictator. So instead of Merry and Pippin and Sam kicking arse and deposing him we got a cosy pint down the Green Dragon with Sam making revolting sheep's eyes at Rosie and the far too soppy leave-taking at the Grey Havens for the 'feel-good' cop-out anti-climax ending

Not that I bear a grudge for that... I'm afraid my acronym ignorance has once again left me adrift with OSS but of course, having played Rasputin in a former life Chris Lee's more than used to getting more than knives in his back

[Quatermass]

Sorry, got the wartime unit wrong. Not the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), but the SOE (Special Operations Executive). Did a lot of secret commando and espionage work in Europe during World War II. Lee himself speaks little about it, in all likelihood due to some sort of Official Secrets Act thing, but the fact that he claimed to know what a man being stabbed in the back sounded like when discussing Saruman's death scene with Peter Jackson suggests that he's seen it happen firsthand. Or may have even done the deed himself. The guy's lived an interesting life, to say the least.

Unfortunately, the video where he discusses this is no longer on YouTube, but there's a funny, related video. Remember how Saruman is impaled on a spiked wheel in Return of the King? Well, when you think about it, it's sure to give poor Christopher Lee a sense of deja vu...

[Quatermass]

I'm also listening to the BBC adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, or at least the first part, that of the adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring. It's pretty good.

[SimonAtford]

I'm also listening to the BBC adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, or at least the first part, that of the adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring. It's pretty good.

That was my first experience of LotR. Much as I love Sir Ian McKellen's performances in the movies he can't say "fly you fools" in quite the way Michael Hordern could. I'm currently listening to the 1968 radio version of The Hobbit on cassette. It features Heron Carvic as Gandalf who's voice was very different to the deep tones of both Hordern and McKellen. Good though despite Anthony Jackson's (the narrator or Tale Bearer) rather idiosyncratic pronucaication of Gollum). Will probably onto the LotR next.

[Jan Van Quirm]

Check this out - Genius!

[SimonAtford]

Brilliant!

Gareth as Gollum seems about right but if David Brent is Gandalf them Middle Earth is doomed.

[Who's Wee Dug]

As Brent he could bore Sauron and co. to death.

good though.

[SimonAtford]

As Brent he could bore Sauron and co. to death.

good though.

I was thinking more of effect he'd have have on the good guys. He'd probably end up persuading Bilbo the Dwarves to stay home and not pursue their dreams.