Smaug!

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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Feb 2, 2005
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"My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail is a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!"
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smaug-3.jpg


Who else is excited to see ol' Smaug in the Hobbit. They are either going to nail him and have the coolest dragon ever seen in the theaters, or screw him up royally. Let's hope Peter Jackson and WETA can do a good job.

Wonder if this is fake Photoshop or real CGI still? Good start.
hobbitposter1.jpg
 
I have high hopes for these and hope Mr. Jackson & co. don't disappoint (especially considering how high he himself set the bar with the LOTR trilogy).

ETA: Y'know, it's funny re-reading my comment while thinking of Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles & Dead Alive which I also loved (albiet for slightly different reasons...):D
 
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I think they will do well. Every year the technology gets better. Just think what they have come up with since the LOTR trilogy was released.

Can't wait!

Glenn
 
I'm also sure it will be great and I doubt anyone will be disappointed.

I found it odd from the start that The Hobbit requires two films to cover it.

LOTR was three thick volumes, and doing one movie for each volume might have been overkill, but Jackson wanted to give it the deluxe treatment done by a lover of the story. Even then he still had to leave some parts of the original books out of the movies.

But The Hobbit is not exactly a long read, nor is it really what one would call action-packed. No big battles, etc. Seems it would have been easy to give it quite decent treatment in one movie.
I'm curious what in the world Jackson is going to add to fill up two movies.
 
Alann45 said:
I'm also sure it will be great and I doubt anyone will be disappointed.

I found it odd from the start that The Hobbit requires two films to cover it.

LOTR was three thick volumes, and doing one movie for each volume might have been overkill, but Jackson wanted to give it the deluxe treatment done by a lover of the story. Even then he still had to leave some parts of the original books out of the movies.

But The Hobbit is not exactly a long read, nor is it really what one would call action-packed. No big battles, etc. Seems it would have been easy to give it quite decent treatment in one movie.
I'm curious what in the world Jackson is going to add to fill up two movies.
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Well there was that whole big battle of five armies, Elves, Men Dwarves, Orcs and Wargs at the end of the book...
 
Triton said:
Well there was that whole big battle of five armies, Elves, Men Dwarves, Orcs and Wargs at the end of the book...
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Been a looong time since I've read it. Seems like that was barely mentioned, not really described, but I could be totally wrong.

I have heard/read that Jackson is going to expand on a lot of parts (like that one) and add a lot of background material. I'm sure it will work out and be great entertainment.

Jackson loves Tolkien and I have no doubt he will make The Hobbit movies something to be proud of.

And Smaug will likely be awesome! :D
 
Bilbo was often commenting on how Gandalf was on some other adventure, while he was with the dwarves. Sometimes, Gandalf would return in the nick of time, other times, he would get there almost after the fact (the trolls, the goblin king and their capture). I think the 2nd movie is supposed to cover the overthrow of the Necromancer/Sauron, supposedly what Gandalf was going off on other adventures for. That was covered in the Silmarillion. Gandalf and Frodo, I believe, were having a discussion about what would have happened if Sauron and Smaug had joined forces, and how basically everyone would have been screwed.
 
As a kid in seventh grade 1978 I tore through the Hobbit and LOTR books. Re-reading them over the years I found there is so much more than I caught on to in the first and second passes so if Jackson fleshes out the landscape and characters to make Bilbo's story into two movie parts I am all in. I remember reading them before falling asleep and dreaming in full color 'tolkien' images that were vivid, probably many readers did as well. I hope they work through the Tom Bombadil character and tag his role into the center, he was seen as a tag on that was not essential but a Tolkien idea that was not fully worked through.
 
Tom Bombadil would have been really tough to work out. They sort of did his scene in the extended version of Two Towers, with Treebeard telling an old tree to let Pippin and Merry loose. Tom Bombadil did that in the Fellowship of the Ring.

Tom Bombadil was almost like a representation of God on Earth. He didn't care one way or the other about Sauron's ring, and he didn't turn invisible when he put it on. I think he actually made it disappear. I think that the audience would have wondered why Tom didn't do anything in the war, if he was so powerful.
 
stalking the wild hallucinagen

pinions slicing the clouds
as peasants rush
to make the final payments on their shrouds
flames gush over the crowds
and the countryside is stifled in a morbid hush

A wing with a claw,
a voracious maw,
a dragon that bites
off heads as he fights --
the prospect sticks in my craw!

He circles the town.
The wizard looks down;
on the peak he stands
with staff in his hands,
and faces death with a frown.

The end of the day --
no end to the fray --
the dragon lights up the night.

With one last great spell,
the wizard to hell
sends the beast -- in secret delight.

Wizards and dragons
don't play well together,
and the tricks that they do
can disrupt local weather.

-- EB
 
I saw the trailer for it tonight. Martin Freeman (Watson from the new BBC Sherlock) is playing Bilbo Baggins! Freeman has been nothing short of magnificent in Sherlock, which has easily become my favorite TV show in at least 20 years. I'll see the Hobbit just because he's in it.
 
I read this to my 5 year old.

I read the Hobbit in the 3rd grade, as well as LOR trilogy.


I don't think I can express the excitement that I felt when I saw it was being made into a movie.

I also don't think I could express the bafflement and horror, when I saw the first preview, and my wife turned to me and said "what nerdy movie is that".

She had no idea who or what it was about. She had never read the books, or even heard of them!!!!!!!!!

It was almost an instant divorce!

They are her favorite all time books and movies now! Marriage saved. I went home and made her read my old beat up copies.


I am so excited to take my boy (now 7) to see this movie too. I think it might be a bit intense for my 2 year old!
 
I can still hear the original cartoon Smaug's voice if I think about it. Thanks for the quote, Silenthunterstudios. That guy was so scary to a 6-yr old.

If they can give it the same creepy/scary voice, I'll be thrilled, and will probably not take my 4-yr old to see it.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Wonder if this is fake Photoshop or real CGI still? Good start.
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I hope it's not. Smaug was ancient in the Hobbit. That dragon looks too shiny and new.

Alann45 said:
I'm also sure it will be great and I doubt anyone will be disappointed.

I found it odd from the start that The Hobbit requires two films to cover it.

LOTR was three thick volumes, and doing one movie for each volume might have been overkill, but Jackson wanted to give it the deluxe treatment done by a lover of the story. Even then he still had to leave some parts of the original books out of the movies.

But The Hobbit is not exactly a long read, nor is it really what one would call action-packed. No big battles, etc. Seems it would have been easy to give it quite decent treatment in one movie.
I'm curious what in the world Jackson is going to add to fill up two movies.
Click to expand...

As I understand it, the first movie will cover the entire book. Jackson and Guillermo del Torro, who was originally slated to direct the movies, dove deep into the Hobbit, LOTR and the Silmarillion to construct the 70 years between the Hobbit and Fellowship. I believe we'll get to see the Necromancer, the rise of Sauron, the seduction of Saruman, maybe even the fall of Moria and Gondor's attempts to keep back the Shadow if we're lucky.

Plus, how can you follow up the LOTR movies with a by the letter movie of the Hobbit? That would be quite underwhelming.
 
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wintermute said:
I hope it's not. Smaug was ancient in the Hobbit. That dragon looks too shiny and new.



As I understand it, the first movie will cover the entire book. Jackson and Guillermo del Torro, who was originally slated to direct the movies, dove deep into the Hobbit, LOTR and the Silmarillion to construct the 70 years between the Hobbit and Fellowship. I believe we'll get to see the Necromancer, the rise of Sauron, the seduction of Saruman, maybe even the fall of Moria and Gondor's attempts to keep back the Shadow if we're lucky.
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That would be interesting if true. Regardless, there is a lot more in the Hobbit than people remember I think, plenty to warrant a split I think. The meeting up of the Dwarves, Ogres, traveling through the mountains capture by the Goblins, escape, Golum, Treed by wargs, rescue by Eagles, Beorn, Mirkwood, Elf capture, escape to Esgaroth, Smaug!, capture of the Lonely Mountain, assault from men/elves, final battle and return home.

That's a LOT of awesome material that I'd love to see given in-depth attention. That to me could easily be 2 movies,
 
The fall of Moria (Thorin and his grandfather fought in Moria against Azog or Bolg, whoever was the Goblin King of Moria). Thorins father went crazy in Dol Guldur, the realm of the Necromancer/Sauron, when Gandalf found him and the map of the lonely mountain.


Spoilers for those who haven't read the book. If you haven't read the book, go buy it now!


I think seeing Smaug will be the biggest thrill of the two movies, but Beorn crushing Bolg the Goblin King in a bear hug at the Battle of the Five Armies will be a close second.
 
wintermute said:
I hope it's not. Smaug was ancient in the Hobbit. That dragon looks too shiny and new.



As I understand it, the first movie will cover the entire book. Jackson and Guillermo del Torro, who was originally slated to direct the movies, dove deep into the Hobbit, LOTR and the Silmarillion to construct the 70 years between the Hobbit and Fellowship. I believe we'll get to see the Necromancer, the rise of Sauron, the seduction of Saruman, maybe even the fall of Moria and Gondor's attempts to keep back the Shadow if we're lucky.

Plus, how can you follow up the LOTR movies with a by the letter movie of the Hobbit? That would be quite underwhelming.
Click to expand...

That was the original plan. I think they have since decided that the events of the Hobbit would be split between the two movies. Much of the additional content will be drawn from the appendices of LOTR telling what Gandalf was up to while he was away from Bilbo and the dwarves, the White Council's assault on Dol Guldor.

My guess is that part one will end somewhere between the encounter with the spiders and Laketown, and we won't get to see Smaug until part two. :( However, they may choose to end part one with the White Council storming Dol Guldor. :)
 
I have no fear about Smaug. WETA knows how to make Fellbeast's better than any other Middle-earth artist to date, so it shouldn't be hard for them to produce the best dragon we've seen.

And if you've seen the new Comic Con banner, it seems that the movie will end around the time they escape from Mirkwood. The banner has 10 scenes evenly spaced throughout the movie, that end with the dwarves in barrels.
 
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