Happy New Year Elen!!!!Elentári wrote:I know the palantír vision was filmed, because Doug Adams mentioned seeing it in the cut of DoS he viewed in October 2013...but it was removed from the released version. There is some speculation that it might possibly have been kept over for BotFA, but personally I don't really think it would work now, because Smaug dies so early on. It would have to be used as a prologue before Lake-town, I supposed...
The business with the rabbit sled and Orc through DG could still be re-inserted, but I don't know how much of that was tied up in the discarded "Beorn at DG storyline," which may have rendered it unusable.
As for Alfrid, although part of me wants to see him get his comeuppance, I think the comic ending would detract from the other main deaths. I would favour either his story being left open-ended, or a variation on the canon death of the Master, alone and starving with his money in the wastelands much later on in the film, perhaps after the funeral, before the return journey for example.
regarding your comments about the vision of Gandalf and Smaug - when the dragon is killed and we go to Dol Guldur we first see Gandalf hanging in a gibbet. That could be the opportunity for the vision scene since he does not know the beast has just been killed by Bard. His vision could be abruptly interrupted by the large orc who has come to torment him. I think it would work like that plus underline why it was important to kill Smaug.
I also am no fan of Alfrid but would like to see the little weasel meet his deserved fate in the EE. CHRONICLES describes a few ways to do it and they all would be fun to watch in a sadistic sort of way.