I’ve been keeping an updated changelog in a word document, the OP here is pretty outdated, so I’m gonna dump that whole thing here! Apologies for the length, it’s all in reverse chronological order!
Version 2.5 Changelog (April 5, 2022)
Episode 4
Cropped the shot of Bard pulling back on his stupid makeshift bow to make it look more like he’s pulling back on a regular bow, rather than one that breaks the laws of physics.
I always knew this shot was a continuity error if you realized what you were looking at, but I never knew how to deal with it. Thanks JPePe for the suggestion!
Removed Maple Films’s FX shot of Bard seeing the dwarvish windlance on fire
It made sense to have it in Maple’s version, since Bard still uses a black arrow, but in mine they’re more a thing of legend, so it felt like the FX shot brought them up for no reason
Used M4’s digital removal of Bain from the clocktower
Version 2.4 Changelog (March 24, 2022)
The “Alternates” folder for episodes 2 and 3 now contains the OLD versions of those episodes. I’ve implemented the New versions as official. The only changes are:
Episode 2 no longer ends with a cliffhanger of Beorn from the start of Episode 3. It now ends with a shot of the company after Bilbo says “I do believe the worst is behind us.”
I myself enjoyed the cliffhanger, but it was confusing some viewers who had never seen the Hobbit movies before, and so I decided to make the change, as it doesn’t make it any WORSE, just different.
Episode 3 now starts with that former-cliffhanger and continues on as usual
Kept goofing Episode 3 during the export process, it should be all taken care of now!
Version 2.3 Changelog (March 20, 2022)
Added a folder with an Alternate version of the ending to Episode 2 and consequently the beginning of Episode 3. I will probably make these the official versions, but I put them aside just to mull it over
Subtitles!!!
I’ve had a few people ask, and they weren’t very hard to implement, just tedious! (All 5 are finished)
I’ll be providing them as a separate file (for now, at least) that way it’s WAY easier for me to update them if there’s any goofs or lines that are altered a little that I think should be different
After they’re all polished up, I’ll be embedding them into the video files themselves
I THINK it’ll be really easy to generate subtitles of languages other than English, so if you have a request, feel free to ask! I won’t be able to proofread them, so that’ll be on you, but I’d be happy to give it a go!
Episode 1 – Took TM2YC’s very minor, yet significant change of: I swapped how Thorin reacts to Gandalf saying “to look ahead/looking behind” and then “He had the nous to play for time. None of the rest of you thought of that!”
Since Thorin and Bilbo no longer have their big moment at the end of the Eagle rescue, I figured it was important to include some of these moments that TM2YC implemented in an effort to both diminish Thorin’s over-the-top hatred of Bilbo, and to make their friendship grow more organically. It’s the little things that count here!
Cut the “have a feel of me tubers, nice and firm they are” line from the end of the scene where Bilbo is in the market in the shire because…yeah.
Version 2.2 Changelog (March 17, 2022)
Subtitles are still a WIP but WILL BE COMING ASAP!
Episode 1 - Improved the framerate of a slow motion shot I used
(Thanks iNightmare)
Episode 2 – Removed a line where Gandalf mentions Saruman when he’s talking to Galadriel. While most of us know who he is, Saruman doesn’t appear in this edit, and so it was a pretty random mention.
Episode 4 – Fixed a couple of the chapter markers that were a little off
Episode 5- Fixed the “Special Thanks” and “Stromboli Bones” title cards right at the start of the credits that I somehow deleted
Included Single-film version!
This version is not my personal vision for this project. I see it more along the lines of an Alternate Ending that’s included in the extras when you buy a movie on disc. I’m including this because it has been requested a few times, it was pretty easy to put together, and if that small amount of effort makes any number of people out there happy, it was well worth it to me!
That being said, I don’t love the transitions to bridge Episodes 2-3 and 4-5, but I feel like they’re serviceable/good enough. If you think there’s a way to do these transitions better, I’d love to hear it. Just bear in mind that I don’t have any desire to spend a lot of time on them, because again, this isn’t my own personal vision for The Hobbit, and so if I have to add/remove certain scenes in order to get those transitions to work, I’m not interested. In fact, part of the reason I adopted the 5 Episode format was because it offered me a way to deal with these transitions
In any case, thanks for watching either version!
Version 2.1 Changelog (March 7, 2022)
The Eagles & Beorn now arrive AFTER Thorin defeats Azog. This adds extra weight and risk to their duel, and removes the “Deus Ex Machina” that the Eagles bring with them.
Removed a line where Kili mentions Azog by name
Version 2.0.1 Changelog (February 12, 2022)
Added Chapters and fixed some mistakes made during the 2.0 update
Version 2.0 Changelog (January 24, 2022)
Fixed all the visual and audio bugs that were pointed out by feedback
Episode 1:
Removed the line “You must be Mister Boggins!” so that the sequence goes “Fili, Kili bow at your service.” “NOPE you can’t come in you’ve come to the wrong house”
TM2YC did this and I agree 100% it makes it funnier
Episode 2:
I always loved how Anti-Cringe moved the scene “My lord Elrond, the dwarves… They’re gone.” to come right after Galadriel shows up. I thought it was genius. However, someone recently pointed out to me that we see Thorin and Bilbo dropping eves on that conversation like 30 seconds prior to that announcement, so it was a continuity error that was perhaps pretty minor, but one that bugged me enough to change it! The Rivendell sequence now only has 1 night, instead of 2. (Day arrival -> Dinner -> Night Moon Runes -> Night Eavesdropping -> Galadriel -> Bilbo explores Rivendell the following morning -> Departure)
I only used the 2nd half of the walking Montage because I plan on using the 1st half in Episode 1 to transition from the troll hoard to Rivendell like M4 did (had a few people suggest this) however my version includes the Gandalf/Galadriel conversations.
Realized Bilbo falling off the cliff actually has a contuinity error in the original film. Rearranged some shots to fix this
Toned down Thorin raging at Bilbo for said fall, just a little (TM2YC)
Removed Gandalf noticing Bilbo put the ring in his pocket, and added back his “Awwww” expression towards Bilbo once Bilbo gives his wholesome speech @Hal9000
Replaced the slowed shot I used of Bilbo at the ending with a cropped and zoomed version of the same shot for removing the caption. @Wraith and I discussed this a while back and I thought it looked weird, but when I saw TM2YC’s edit and barely noticed, I realized it was the way to go.
I had a few people critique how the end of this episode goes from movie 1 to movie 2, but honestly I think this is the single best thing DonKamillo did in his edit (and I liked a LOT) so I refuse to budge on it!
Episode 3
Cleaned up/Tweaked the transition right at the beginning to cut one of the dwarves (Thorin?) saying “and be run down by a pack of orcs?”
There are orcs in the distant mountain shots, and I don’t feel that that’s so much a plot hole (or at least, a big enough one for me to care about) as it is just part of the world of Middle-Earth; Wargs and Orcs hang out. However, I cut the line originally because the attack was from “just” Wargs (I just adjust it a bit here)
Sauron’s eye at Mirkwood re-instated, but does not relate to the Ring or Bilbo @Wraith
Sequence from Entering Mirkwood to the Spider attack has been restored and left untouched. I shortened it after some feedback, then got some different feedback saying it was too short, and I always liked it to begin with so I put it back in.
Episode 4
I previously mimicked L8wrtr’s version of the dwarves not giving up when they couldn’t find the keyhole, then I tried Maple’s, ended up with M4’s.
Remove Sauron’s eye when Bilbo takes off the ring (Smaug encounter). Now, the only time Sauron’s eye shows up in my edit is right before Gandalf leaves Mirkwood. This was done at Wraith’s recommendation to disassociate the Ring from feeling so "LotR-Prequel"y, and place that foreshadowing on Gandalf’s shoulders, so it can be fleshed out in Episode 4.5
Created new sequence during the Smaug encounter (modeled off of Maple Films) to make a better transition
Version 1.0.1 Changelog
Misty Mountains theme inserted when Thorin & Co. bust out of Erebor to join the battle (Spence)
Added back “60 Years Later” subtitle
The original post above is Version 1.0!
If you read this far, thank you again 😃