Life has been busy but my Quality Rebuild is under way!

It’s a little more complicated than a simple “Find and Replace” of my source files, so that has taken some extra time to sort, but we’re cooking with gas, as they say.

I’m also toying with making a few small changes, outside of the usual Extra frame here, sloppy fade there, etc:

@TM2YC cut Blunt the Knives really cleanly in his edit and I’m thinking about doing it in a similar manner.
I’ve also considered reinstating most of the Mirkwood sequence. I trimmed it after some feedback, and received some more feedback suggesting to revert it, and I think i agree. I like the longer bit, it really let’s the confusion set in.
Reinstating Sauron’s eye showing up right before they enter Mirkwood and cutting it from Bilbo’s encounter with Smaug is probably a for-sure thing at this point. This will keep Sauron in the film but will lessen the relationship between him and the Ring.
Once I’m satisfied with these changes, I’m going to start working on an Episode 4.5 that contains the full High Fells/Dol Guldur subplot for the people who want to know what Gandalf was up to in between Episodes 4 and 5! This may prove a challenge as I myself don’t enjoy hardly any of that sequence, but I’ll do what I can!