I love The Lord of the Rings. It’s the movie franchise that pretty much changed my entire life: it opened up an incredible new world to me, got me seriously into fantasy, and Christian allegories, and Tolkien in general, and gave me my best friend.So to hear The Hobbit is coming out… well, that’s pretty damn cool. You know why? I get to leap back twelve years in time and revisit the biggest obsession I have ever had. It’s taking everything in me right now not to spew Tolkien-related stuff all over this blog from now until December, and then on through the following year. Why? Because… I never tire of talking about it. I will never outgrow it. I am getting the chance to see all my favorite characters (and some new ones) all over again, in a second franchise, in a world I absolutely adore — and that is fantastic.
And now, I hear the news that The Hobbit will be three films instead of two. Part of me is screaming and jumping up and down with utter excitement. You know what this means, right? It’s not just about Bilbo and the dwarves anymore… it’s about Gandalf, and the Necromancer, and Galadriel, and Elrond, and the rise of Sauron, and so much more. And… that’s where the mild apprehension sets in. I trust PJ. I really do. I don’t have a single complaint with his adaptation of LotR other than that he diminished Eowyn and Faramir’s romance so much (seriously, dude, what the hell? you have like 5 hours of battle scenes and you can’t spare 20 minutes for a secondary romance?). I thought most of the changes he put into place were terrific. So, yeah, I trust PJ to take The Hobbit and the Appendixes and to come up with a truly kick-ass prequel series.
But… can he do it without losing the essence of what The Hobbit is actually about? Bilbo! It’s his story. His adventure. With three movies, I have a feeling we’re going to see a bit less of him. Don’t get me wrong — I’m all for seeing Galadriel in action (that would be the highlight of my entire life!), I want to see the “other” wizards in Middle-earth, and if he throws in more Elrond or even, glory be, a bit of Aragorn, I will be the first girl in line to buy a ticket (well, that’s going to happen anyway). I just hope this stretching out of the story doesn’t stretch Bilbo too thin, “like butter stretched over too much bread.” But you know what? Bilbo is to The Hobbit what Frodo is to The Lord of the Rings: important, but it’s not all about just him. It’s about Middle-earth too.
So… yeah, I guess my response is more excitement than trepidation. Particularly since we only have to wait six months for the final installment. But PLEASE tell me we don’t have to wait until the final film to see Smaug! And DO tell me that we might get to see a bit of Arwen after all…
The Sacred in the Secular 
This whole sickness of making two movies instead of one is really starting to nerve me out: Harry Potter 7, that “Twilight” sequel, and so on. I really have nothing against giving us more material, but at the end I think three movies is too much. I can’t help but feeling a bit weird on the idea that whenever I’ll do a LotR all nighter I will be seeing as much Hobbit as LotR. It seems kinda odd when I see it like that. The idea of the Hobbit was that it was a short fun story for kids to enjoy. NOw we have romance, boom, war and evil magicians everywhere. I understand Jackson wanted to tell the story untold to give more sense, but some parts of the storie are not that necessary to enjow the whole series. I did withouth them for years!
I can see splitting a huge book like LotR into three parts, because it was three films. The splitting of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight was completely not-needed. HP7 could have been cut down to a decent size (leaving out the twenty or thirty boring minutes of nothingness that the kids are involved in at the start). THG doesn’t have that much plot. And Twilight? Please.
PJ does want to tell a decent story and I approve of that, but The Hobbit isn’t The Lord of the Rings, and it shouldn’t pretend to be. Go with simple, not complex.
I do totally agree here with you! Amen!
Yeah, I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of it when they announced that they were expanding the story to three movies. Two movies made sense and while I’m always up for more Middle Earth (you can never have too much Middle Earth, I say =D And it’ll be nice to see more background on the things that Bilbo did not witness during the time of The Hobbit; thank goodness for LOTR’s Appendices xD), I wonder how it’s going to impact the core story.
But at the end of the day, this is pretty much me to the theatres/movie companies/Peter Jackson: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/hotaruanne/gifs%20and%20macros/l7QzW-1.gif LOL I trust that PJ will make it so that the movies will stay true to the core of the story
I do trust PJ. He’s a good director, if a bit.. um… over-enthusiastic. He never knows when to quit, which is fine for fanatical fans but not so much for casual ones. It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out in the end. Whatever it is, it’ll be epic!
Mmm, I’m still not sure yet. I guess my worry will be that PJ tries to make it ‘too epic’ and loses the heart of the story, which as you say is Bilbo. To me The Hobbit always felt more like a fairy tale than the pseudo-historical fiction of LotR. It was cosier, more compact, and much as I’d love to see some Radagast (ohmygosh I completely DO!) and how they dovetail the two franchises together, I desparately don’t want them to lose that homeliness and slightly grumpy naivette that Bilbo embodies. If it was three 90min movies it might be ok, but if they all start pushing 2hrs I might get a little concerned.
Yeah, I hear you on that. The Hobbit was a children’s story — and now it’s no longer going to be one! I’m eager to see how the franchises combine, but worried that the sweetness of the book will be lost.
I love Bilbo. You know that. And I feel exactly the way you do. I don’t him being “stretched” over too many films. I don’t want 40 straight minutes of action away from Bilbo because this is his story.
But I still can’t contain the excitement I’m feeling right now! Even after voicing that concern, I want to see what PJ does with the rest of the story. The story so few people know because it was never a part of the book but only appendices. So I’m a complex mix of ecstasy and concern but in the end, I think these movies will be brilliant and we’ll love them!
Yeah, me too. I want to see Gandalf and Radagast, and Galadriel and Elrond in Mirkwood, but all the same… I hope the story doesn’t get so big that the focus is drawn away from wee Biblo.
I have really mixed feelings about this right now. I LOVE the LOTR films, and I’m thrilled to pieces about The Hobbit…but honestly I thought two films for the book The Hobbit was threatening to stretch the story a bit to thin. Now three? I mean don’t get me wrong, I’ll see them all in theaters, perhaps multiple times — but the cynic in me worries that this is a response to the wild success of the LOTR trilogy, and now PJ and/or the studio want to try and replicate that. I hope that quality isn’t sacrificed to the god of the box office, you know?
I feel the same way. Part of me is excited at the potential for three films, and another part of me feels that this is a bad idea that may backfire in the end. The Hobbit is NOT The Lord of the Rings. It doesn’t need three films!