The Desolation of Smaug anticipation thread [SPOILERS]

Fri Sep 27, 2013 4:14 pm

The new trailer has now been listed at the Alberta Recently Classified Trailers site. Running time is 2:23. Rated PG.

w00t!!!1

Post by **sinister71** » Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:01 pm

Hopefully this trailer will have some Bilbo in it instead of showing off all the made up content to get fans used to it.

Post by **Elentári** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:02 am

sinister71 wrote:Hopefully this trailer will have some Bilbo in it instead of showing off all the made up content to get fans used to it.

You know, I was thinking about that...the AUJ trailers were careful to stick pretty much to material from the book. Perhaps that's why expectations were so high, and the scale of the changes (such as Azog) came as more of a shock, even though we should have anticipated it?

Post by **sinister71** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 4:59 am

Honestly that is why I disliked most of AUJ. The major deviations. Point blank. I'm not talking minor additions or minor changes. Stuff that I consider rewrites of great scenes from the book. Stuff like the trollshaws scene, the unnecessary changes to Riddles in the dark, the pointless over emphasis on the ring Bilbo finds (which we learn all about in FOTR), Goblin Town being completely OTT, The stone giant ride, the added Azog material. All changes I found worthless and left me scratching my head in confusion

I didn't mind the White Council stuff although I found most of what was in the film pointless, and Galadriel was just worthless in those dresses that she couldn't even walk in. But she looked good

And with all the deviations we are learning about with DOS I really don't see it getting any better. I hope it does. Hopefully they are hyping up the changes which really wont be as bad as they are leading us to believe. I wont hold my breath waiting on that,

BUT I can hope for it

Post by **Elentári** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 2:38 pm

According to Tim@TheBeeb, Output Editor at BBC TV News, the new DOS trailer debuts 1st October 2pm GMT

and that ".. it will take a while to get uploaded on to YouTube"

https://twitter.com/handlt10

ETA: tolktolk over on TORN has kindly quoted the small trail for DoS in this month's "Catching Fire" issue of EMPIRE magazine:

If AUJ catalogued Bilbo's rise to acceptance, DoS turns him into the unlikeliest action hero."It's the sort of thing Peter and I have had a lot of conversations about, " laughs Freeman."When does Bilbo stop being sort of fusty, wussy Bilbo and when does he get to be a bit more manly, a bit more butch?" The answer is right now.

Act Two of Peter Jackson's magnum Hobbit will take us from the peculiar lodgings of Beorn to Erebor, the Lonely Mountain where Smaug has stirred from his slumber. All the while it's Bilbo, utilising his precious new ring, who rises to the occasion. Gandalf meanwhile has issues to resolve in the ruin that is Dol Guldur.

The talk here is all about scale. This is a Middle Earth reaching for the darkening skies, as trippy, funny and truly scary as only Jackson can make it - psychic spiders, the poisonous Necromancer and the archdeacon of dread, Smaug the Terrible voiced by Khan. If that doesn't give you a fit of the screaming mimis, you've got your 3D specs on back to front. IN A WORD: Dragon.

Post by **Frelga** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 3:42 pm

Psychic spiders?

Mon Sep 30, 2013 3:42 pm

I'm still expecting the trailer on Wednesday, despite the reports that it is coming tomorrow.

All the while it's Bilbo, utilising his precious new ring, who rises to the occasion.

That's encouraging. As is this:

the archdeacon of dread, Smaug the Terrible voiced by Khan. If that doesn't give you a fit of the screaming mimis, you've got your 3D specs on back to front. IN A WORD: Dragon

.

Post by **WampusCat** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 4:38 pm

"Trippy"? That's not exactly the sense I get from Tolkien.

Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:46 pm

Frelga wrote:Psychic spiders?

There have been previous reports that instead of having the spiders actually talk, Bilbo will be able to "hear" them when he is wearing the ring. I actually kinda like that idea.

WampusKitty wrote:"Trippy"? That's not exactly the sense I get from Tolkien.

A lot of people sure did in the 60s! And, as the resident expert on psychedelia, I must say, I can understand why. If you equate (as I do) "trippy" with "consciousness-expanding" then I think that Tolkien qualifies!

Post by **Frelga** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:54 pm

Ah, Ok, Bilbo being able to understand dark creatures while wearing the Ring I can deal with. I wonder if this means that he can't communicate back, and so won't be taunting them to draw them out. I think Bilbo entering into some sort of telepathic communication with the spiders would be too trippy for me, and not in a good way.

Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:01 pm

Whereas I love the idea, or at least the idea of the idea. How it works in practice (if it actually happens) remains to be seen!

Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:05 pm

Meanwhile, I am quite pleased to have been wrong about the trailer. It now has been announced on Facebook:

The new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be unveiled tomorrow (Tuesday, October 1st) at 6am PT / 9am ET!

And there is a fantastic new banner/poster:

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:17 pm

Determined Bilbo!

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:18 pm

Voronwë the Faithful wrote:Meanwhile, I am quite pleased to have been wrong about the trailer. It now has been announced on Facebook:

The new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be unveiled tomorrow (Tuesday, October 1st) at 6am PT / 9am ET!
And there is a fantastic new banner/poster:

Looking forward to that scene. CGI dwarves running away from CGI spiders, CGI Bilbo hopping from branch to branch Tarzan style, CGI dwarves and Bilbo falling from great heights with no consequences, all in a mixture of a CGI and really fake-looking Mirkwood interior set. Rinse and repeat (just with elves and orcs) for the barrel ride theme park scene!

What's not to love? :-)

Post by **Elentári** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:24 pm

That banner is very.....teal

Anyone think that will be the colour for the DoS Blu-Ray/DVD packaging next year?

And yes, the spiders communicating telepathically only with Bilbo because he is wearing the Ring is pretty neat...everyone else will probably only hear hisses and clickes, etc., which saves any awkwardness with the talking creatures some complain about...

Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:25 pm

Primula Baggins wrote:Determined Bilbo!

Passdagas the Brown wrote:Looking forward to that scene. CGI dwarves running away from CGI spiders, CGI Bilbo hopping from branch to branch Tarzan style, CGI dwarves and Bilbo falling from great heights with no consequences, all in a mixture of a CGI and really fake-looking Mirkwood interior set. Rinse and repeat (just with elves and orcs) for the barrel ride theme park scene!

What's not to love? :-)

These two comments back to back say so much about why some people appreciate these films, and why some people don't.

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:34 pm

Voronwë the Faithful wrote:
Primula Baggins wrote:Determined Bilbo!

Passdagas the Brown wrote:Looking forward to that scene. CGI dwarves running away from CGI spiders, CGI Bilbo hopping from branch to branch Tarzan style, CGI dwarves and Bilbo falling from great heights with no consequences, all in a mixture of a CGI and really fake-looking Mirkwood interior set. Rinse and repeat (just with elves and orcs) for the barrel ride theme park scene!

What's not to love? :-)
These two comments back to back say so much about why some people appreciate these films, and why some people don't.

You're probably right. My main problem is that an excellently-acted Bilbo, portraying his determination in just the right way (as Freeman will undoubtedly do) will be overwhelmed by irrelevant and gigantic nonsense created by a PJ that doesn't trust the story.

I would also be excited about the look in Freeman's face, if I wasn't so worried about what PJ would cake that scene with.

I would venture to guess that based on AUJ, Freeman may also worry about what visual context will surround his acting.

Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:36 pm

Passdagas the Brown wrote:My main problem is that an excellently-acted Bilbo, portraying his determination in just the right way (as Freeman will undoubtedly do) will be overwhelmed by irrelevant and gigantic nonsense created by a PJ that doesn't trust the story.

Only if you let it be.

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:44 pm

Voronwë the Faithful wrote:
Passdagas the Brown wrote:My main problem is that an excellently-acted Bilbo, portraying his determination in just the right way (as Freeman will undoubtedly do) will be overwhelmed by irrelevant and gigantic nonsense created by a PJ that doesn't trust the story.
Only if you let it be.

That doesn't make much sense to me, unfortunately. I see a work of art - literature, painting, film, what have you - as a whole, not as a mere set of parts cobbled together. If half of it is great, but the other half is not, then it spoils the soup.

A believable Bilbo in a false world (and story) diminishes the Bilbo by association. I cannot separate Freeman from PJ's half-baked world.

Mon Sep 30, 2013 7:00 pm

I know you will disagree with this -- and of course you have every right to! -- but I think that you actively seek to dislike these films, despite elements that even you admit are very good, rather than appreciate them for what they are. That of course is only my opinion.