Unrelated to the HDTV restoration, but this gem seems very much worth preserving and cleaning up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME4yxyGZNS4
Pre-Zemeckis test animations with an early version of Roger (voiced by Paul Reubens), Jessica, and a character from the novel who got cut.
Could anybody shoot me a Myspleen invite? I'm having trouble getting this elsewhere, and for some reason I haven't gotten one in my... shit, 8 years here.
For some reason, I kept a careful eye to to see what were easy cuts and what weren't while I was watching. Strangely enough, I believe that the entire Azog plotline can be cut outside of the "15 birds" section, and even then they looked like they could just be the toughest of the Goblins rather than the audience going "who are these guys?". I also think, in order for it to feel more like Bilbo's story, the entire Goblin City section could be cut except for the Gollum bits. And to keep the story from feeling bloated, I also think that the entire prologue can go, all of Radaghast, the stone giants, etc. Not that some of these aren't great moments, but during the film they just felt like unnecessary roadblocks just to fulfill a certain number of action beats.
And these could all go without any significant. For instance, with the stone giants, Bilbo almost slips off the cliff right before the giants come out. Right after, he almost slips off the cliff again. I think that could easily be combined into one moment without much editing magic. It would make for a very short film on its own, but I think as soon as the other films come out there can really be a nice trim version that cuts out most of my personal complaints.
Oops, "since Tolkien had wanted to revisit The Hobbit." My bad!
I'm going to voice the obvious and most viable suggestion here and say that I'd love to see a version that just excises the elements not in The Hobbit book, creating a more standalone story that doesn't follow Gandalf when he peaces out of Bilbo's adventure, that doesn't include the expected elf/dwarf love story, and that doesn't get into the Five Armies' politics in the way that the book didn't.
That being said, I'm actually a fan of the expanded version of the films that ties into LoTR more, since Jackson had wanted to revisit The Hobbit again and update it to the tone of his later books but was convinced otherwise by his peers.
Jambe Davdar said:
digitalfreaknyc said:
Jambe,
I might have missed it but that actress who wrote "Love You" on her eyelids was in a deleted scene.
Not sure if you had that info.
Yeah, there was a still or two. Maybe I'll include it. Thanks for the reminder.
I would love to have this included if it is from the scene I have in mind - I've heard about the scene but never seen any stills. I didn't even know for sure that it was filmed, but it does exist in at least one late version of the script. The one I'm thinking of gives context for why Jones is wearing a bathrobe when Marcus comes to his house in that he slept with the "Love You" girl.
I think that certainly adds something to his character. He clearly has no problem sleeping with a student who has a different power and age relationship with him, just like he didn't have a problem with sleeping with Marion in possibly similar conditions.
Any chance I could get a MySpleen invite? I'd love to be able to get this.
Awesome to hear this is going forward! PM sent.