Flashforward. :p

ChainsawAsh said:

I'd be really annoyed if it turns out to be bookended by Elijah-Frodo reading the story from Bilbo's book...

ChainsawAsh said:

I'd be really annoyed if it turns out to be bookended by Elijah-Frodo reading the story from Bilbo's book...

Prepared to be annoyed...

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/actor-elijah-wood-confirmed-to-star-in-the-hobbit/story-e6frf96f-1225984822550

ChainsawAsh said:

I'd be really annoyed if it turns out to be bookended by Elijah-Frodo reading the story from Bilbo's book...

Why?  It makes perfect sense from a marketing standpoint.  From what I've read, there are only a couple of characters from the LOTR stories in The Hobbit.  If they're going to get people other than the LOTR fanbois into the theaters, they have to feature some of the characters from the LOTR films in some capacity.  Since Frodo doesn't appear in The Hobbit at all, using him as a framing device in the film makes sense, and adds the recognition factor they'll need to help make an otherwise unfamiliar story a success.  (Besides, they have to do something to pad out a single book into two films...)

Dammit! That is so incredibly stupid. So, counting Frodo, Galadriel, Saruman, and Legolas, that makes four characters cast in this movie who do not appear in the original book, but who did star in the previous LOTR trilogy. Anyone else getting PT vibes yet?

So Elijah Wood is confident "in whatever they're going to do in terms of bringing in any familiar characters back, just knowing their sense of upholding integrity." Like Fox Mulder, I want to believe...but I'm dubious. Seems to me that these familiar characters and familiar actors are being brought back for one of two reasons, or likely both: (1) Because of nostalgia (it's been well over a decade since LOTR was shot, and I'm sure everyone's looking forward to "getting the old group back together."; (2) To lend the new films some of the credibility of the old, and thus "tie the two together."

In my opinion, neither of these reasons is a good reason to make a casting or writing decision. These decisions need to be made on the basis of good storytelling. And I certainly have more faith in PJ's ability to make good storytelling decision than, say, GL's. But I'm still dubious.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Actually at lot of the Hobbit retcons were done by Tolkien himself in Lord of the Rings, and the later drafts of the Silmarillion to tie all three works together.

The Hobbit can be read as a standalone or as a prequel to the lord of the rings.

The white council in Lord of the Rings mentioned happens in the hobbit timeline.  It is when Sauron spirit came back in Mirkwood, and Saruman was there at the white council being false because he knew the one ring was not destroyed and desired to be its master.

The necromancer was original just put in the story to get Gandalf to leave the company, after Lord of the Rings was published a much more sinister evil lingers in that name because he and Sauron are one and the same. 

Also by rewriting riddles in the dark Tolkien made the ring a more sinister device because blibo's original story as published in the first edition of the ring being a present from Gollum for winning the riddle contest a lie.  Too similar to Gollums birthday present story.

I thought it was great when Deltoro was going to do it because he was going to limit the use of CGI and stay faithful to the book.

It would tie in with the end of the LOTR film trilogy, where Frodo's story is added to Bilbo's.

The films aren't the books and I don't have too much of a problem with that.

I seem to recall Christopher Lee saying he was 'too old for this shit'.

[he may not have used those particular words]

I haven't read The Hobbit in a few years, but aren't there several instances where Gandalf wanders off and the book stays with Bilbo. Who says that the movie won't follow Gandalf having a sidequest or two while intercutting with Biblo's adventure.

There is a soft core porno that comes on at about 3 am called Lord of the G Strings. The main characters are 3 throbbits LOL.

EyeShotFirst said:

There is a soft core porno that comes on at about 3 am called Lord of the G Strings. The main characters are 3 throbbits LOL.