Grand Admiral Thrawn

Posting the below on behalf of @morematt4 at Fanedit.org

My edit of the Hobbit is ready to share. I premiered it to friends over the last couple weeks with raving reviews.

In my opinion the Maple Films and M4 Studios edit of the Hobbit are the best out there. Both the Maple Films and M4 Studios follow the shared goals as listed below. My goal is to create the definitive fan edit of the Hobbit.

I felt that both edits could use some improvement to fill in plot holes and add and remove some scenes. My goal is to take the best scenes from both edits. These are Peter Jackson’s films and my goal is to use his scenes and interpretation of The Hobbit as much as possible. This means not following the book too religiously. This is a movie instead of a book and needs to flow as one.

Maple Films and M4 Studios Shared Goals

• Follow a 2 part structure like in The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions
• Blu ray quality video resolution
• 24 fps instead of 3D, 48 fps
• 5.1 surround sound audio
• Use scenes from both the theatrical and Extended Editions
• In these edits a lot of the same unnecessary and bad scenes have been removed
• Some extra scenes have been combined into a separate side quest feature
• Several small edits to trim and tidy up scenes to reduce the run time and be close to 4 hr 12 minutes which is the run time of the Return of the King Extended Edition

This edit will use the Maple Films edit as a base with additional edits by me (Matt aka Eagle Lord), M4 Studios, Eric1894 and the Spence edit. New footage and audio were taken from the Extended Editions, official soundtracks, some audio from M4 Studios edit and special effects from Eric1894.

I started the process 2 years ago by viewing and comparing each and every scene in the theatrical, Extended Editions, Maple Films and M4 Studios edits. From there I decided what scenes to add and remove from the Maple Films edit. I had a friend, Beri Willowbottom from Road to the Shire, as well as Random Film Talk help as consultants.

Cut from Maple Films:

Part 1

• Change title to remove JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit
• Bilbo packs up to sneak away jump cut. M4
• Goblin king steps on goblins. 2 places. Before and after Gollum scene. M4
• Bilbo plays with ring in Beorn’s house
• Sauron’s eye in Mirkwood. M4
• Bilbo fights centipede in Mirkwood
• Thranduil dragon fire face
• Barrel scene Bilbo stabs orc

Part 2

• Sauron eye flashes
• Oakenshield Smaug references. M4
• Thorin mine shaft
• Furnaces relit in Erebor
• Alfred yelling “somebody help me” on Long Lake beach. M4
• Alfrid “man of noble stock”. M4
• Dwarves at bottom of stairs Thorin and Bard at gate. M4
• Bilbo with sting after Dain says “oh come on!” M4
• Bilbo fighting before Thranduil elk death. M4
• Dain headbutts. M4
• Thorin and Dwalin fight Mercenaries
• Bilbo throws rocks
• Gandalf Bilbo farewell talking about ring. M4

Durin’s Folk

• Sauron’s eye in Mirkwood. M4
• Thrain says Smaug and Sauron are in league

Added from M4 and Eagle Lord:

Part 1

• Footage at Rivendell arrival. M4
• Dwarves leave Rivendell transition scene. M4
• One or two lines from Goblin song
• Carock scene from. M4
• Beorn house arrival transition scene
• Dwarves rest
• Thorin says “no wind no birds”
• Legolas takes Orcrist from Thorin. M4
• Bilbo watches in cellar from. M4

Part 2

• Dwarves walk to Bard’s house. M4
• Bard’s weapons. M4.
• Cut right after Bard explains weapons in armory
• Smaug scene “King under the mountain”. M4
• Bilbo running into great hall
• Searching for Arkenstone. M4
• Thranduil fighting elk dies Darkest hour. M4
• “Rallying to their king”
• Thorin fighting Azog and mercenaries
• Legolas throws Orcrist to Thorin
• Azog looks back and sees 2nd army. M4
• Thranduil last scene. M4
• Add name as editor to credits

Durin’s Folk

• “Why the halfling” Gandalf and Galadriel

Deleted Scene

• Enchanted river white stag. M4

Replaced from M4 and Eagle Lord

• Beginning old Bilbo scene
• Dragon enters Erebor with wings attached to hands
• Durin’s Folk scene when dwarves leave Rivendell to match. M4 transition
• Move dwarves watching secret door entrance to before keyhole appearance. M4
• Smaug exit scene. M4
• Eric1894 VFX mountain tunnels
• Replace Durin’s Folk audio with surround sound 5.1 audio

RM4747 said:

Yawn. No shortage of VPNs and new accounts I can make lol

Peter Pan said:

Maybe we could even add her to the celebrations at the end.

It’s a novel idea, but then why would Luke be at the Lars Homestead?

I think he means zero connections to past movies. If it is set after IX then it’s kind of a blank slate. Eventually if it’s popular enough we’ll have Grogu and the Starfighters at some point…

Glad this change is getting the love it needs to be cleaned up. Ady is also restoring it for ANH:R HD.

https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1626717

Hal, thanks again for making these max versions!

Been around since V3 of your prequel edits. They have definitely come a LONG way. Your hard work is much appreciated.

O00ll00O said:

I watched the change you made with headphones on. I love the idea of this dialogue change, but personally it sounds a little jarring to me. The music cuts weird and the voice sounds closer to JEJ than Vader.

I think it’s because you’re listening for it. The “mother” word does sound like it could use a bit more of the Vader-voice filter, but it seems good for what it is.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

Remind me, is it the whole underwater sequence that’s included, or do they just get the ride and then we cut back to Theed?

They arrive, talk to Boss Nass, get their ride, deal with bigger fish, and then end up at Theed.

I’d still argue Ady’s might look better. Disney and Lucasfilm has had a TERRIBLE track record of quality on home video releases and I’d be willing to bet money that 4K77 and Despecialized will still look miles better than an official release.

Nice! Also looks like you removed the “force speed” moment too. Great changes!

Hal 9000 said:

COD V9 is going up right now! I’ll work on the ‘Max’ version to get that done soon as well.

Sweet! What is in the V9 changelist and the max one?

Hal 9000 said:

COD V9 is going up right now! I’ll work on the ‘Max’ version to get that done soon as well.

Sweet! What is in the V9 changelist and the max one?

There appears to be a duplicate thread. Hoping these can be merged!

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Kenobi-Trials-of-the-Master-WIP/id/119996

Gotta love government-controlled internet and censorship! 🙄

This is my main gripe about leaving it…

Hal 9000 said:

I don’t know, but I agree with you. I may just proceed with an update, as it would be pretty straightforward to plug in the source once I get it from TMWNN with the project all ready to go otherwise.

Do you also plan to incorporate his version of the force speed removal at the beginning? That was very well done.

And also this:
https://youtu.be/kvqOTNlJIVc?si=vm9pi2_4wcYYVzW3

This:
https://youtu.be/yBn6G99m0GQ?si=23-6NV5VghDbO5AM

Hey Hal, hope you’ve been well. Any updates on the “Max Cuts” for Episode I and III? Hoping to do a rewatch with some family soon and would love to include those versions. No rush at all though, just wondering!

ElectricTriangle said:

it’s not spamming to want to access the projects here, and I don’t think that folks should need to meet a threshold of participation in order to do so

It is spamming when the creators of edits clearly say to PM or email them or provide ways to access their work in their initial post, but new users don’t care to read the rules of the site they are signing up for and are just constantly inflating threads with link requests.

EDIT: Moreso, the reason WHY this was established in the first place was because of existing users of the site getting annoyed with new users not bothering to even look into how to get an edit and then acting entitled when people a direct link wouldn’t get posted in a thread, or they would tell someone off for needing to wait to PM the creator.

Does this also affect the canon cut?

I’ll see what else I can find on the web. It’s just a sad state of things when it is more believable for a Star Wars film to be cancelled versus actually releasing.

As expected… the movie is now being reported as “shelved”

😂😂😂

https://thedirect.com/article/lucasfilm-star-wars-movie-upcoming-shelves

The latest Star Wars story to hit the pause button is Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars film, which will include the much-anticipated return of Daisy Ridley’s Rey. The movie was first announced at Star Wars Celebration in 2023 and has since stopped and started through the development process.

The latest update on the Rey movie comes from entertainment insider Daniel Richtman, who reported on his Patreon that the Rey movie is “on hold once again.” Richtman reiterated that “the project is not canceled” but is “temporarily on hold.”

I still think Bor Gullet feels out of place. Sometimes “show don’t tell” isn’t always the right approach.

Hal’s edit handles the Bodhi stuff quite well, with us meeting Bodhi for the first time in the prison cell and him being less out of it.

However, if you’d want to reinstate some stuff to include more Saw:

• I think the initial Bodhi intro scene could still work fine as is.
• When Saw pulls his mask tight back to his suit, cut to the next scene.
• Leave Bor Gullet out of the edit.
• Re-add Bodhi being more out of it and not knowing who he is when he is in the jail cell. His mental state leaves it to the imagination of the viewer to dwell on the extent of his interrogation.

By cutting this way, Bor Gullet is removed, and the assumption is instead that Saw was the one that did something to him to jack his head up so badly. I think that works to make Saw seem even crazier if that is your goal.

Definitely agree, @Vladius.

I believe it was an addition during the reshoots. I feel that the higher-ups said “Wait… we don’t have a creepy alien/monster, add one in!”