I don't think there is anything overly Spoilerish in here ...

Yes, I really missed the singing dwarves! That is one of the most effective and powerful highlights of the trailers.

As for your third paragraph, Dot, SPOT ON!!!

We quite enjoyed Gandalf's nod to Pippin's poignant song in The RotK of "Home is behind; the world ahead" (around 2:10).

And I just clued in who Fili and Kili remind me of when they greet Bilbo ... Fred and George Weasley.

Just a reminder: The Hobbit Reading Group starts on Saturday.

There is so much to digest in the trailer. I don't like the original ending. The other ones are much better.

Just some quick thoughts:

Just looking at the trailer as a trailer, I thought it a pretty good one. No doubt The Hobbit will be a good looking movie. I think a general audience who has not read the book will like what they see.

I agree with our Watchful Admin that Martin freeman will make an excellent Bilbo and Andy Who? as Gollum; couldn't ask for much more than the original. And Gandalf will be Gandalf.

But as far as deviations from the book, we'll have to wait and see things in context and hope any big ones work. But we already know with VDT how they might not.

Here is hoping that Peter Jackson and company will be as faithful as possible and will not doing something totally unnecessary that will stick out like a sore thumb to the Hobbits' many fans.

Just a reminder: The Hobbit Reading Group starts on Saturday.

Must get that first chapter re-read! (Sadly, however, I'm out of town for much of Saturday. Bad timing on my part. )

Twigs, I'm hoping that they focused on the action parts in the trailer to entice more people in ... although for true fans of the book, action-overload would be a turn-off, methinks.

I wasn't sure about the one voice either. I'm assuming it was Thorin ...

Here is hoping that Peter Jackson and company will be as faithful as possible and will not doing something totally unnecessary that will stick out like a sore thumb to the Hobbits' many fans.

Indeed, although I think a couple of sorethumbs are already beginning to rear their heads tips.

A couple of Hobbit-related books are hitting the shelves (well, probably many more than this list , but these two struck my eye):

~Tolkien scholar and lecturer (The Tolkien Professor), Corey Olsen, has written a book, Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, released a few days ago. This looks like it would be an excellent companion in a Reading Group.

~And Devin Brown, who has been involved in some Reading Groups here on the forum, has written a book with an early October release, The Christian World of The Hobbit. I am curious to know what he has done with this, as there is no indication JRR wrote the book with Christian themes in mind. Rather, it was based on his love of weaving a great and endearing tale.

Well, I am about to step my foot into the world of Tolkien discussion, something I probably should stay away from since Middle-earth is a world I have enjoyed onscreen for a decade but have only done sparse reading on. But there seems to be no end to the books on Middle-earth and if I'm going to discuss the anticipation of The Hobbit movie, I have to start somewhere, so here goes:

Having now read the book twice, I have to say that the part of the trailer that I thought was the coolest was

Concerning Gandalf:

Radagast

So much to learn about Tolkien's world. Somebody, teach me!

*Pops in briefly*
I was at a birthday party for Bilbo and Frodo yesterday and two people sang "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins." I mentioned it to my parents and they had no clue what I was talking about so I dug up the link and figured I might as well post it here.

I have to say, from a LOTR film fans perspective, and not a true "ringer", the trailer looked very very good. I liked that it explained a lot more of the whole concept of the movie:

"The dwarves are determined to reclaim there homeland."

Uh...........yup. That seems to sum it up for me. Except they forgot to mention Smaug, he's pretty important too.

It was nice to see Hobbiton again, and Bilbo's narrative about visitors was funny. Although I had a very large problem during the whole of the trailer: I kept hearing and seeing John Watson. Even though he's in makeup and has a wig, I can still see it. So, that's a little frustrating and distracting, but...

I liked it alot that Thorin actually says "...so this is The Hobbit." It seemed very - final, like: It's really here! It's COMING!

And I liked watching Bilbo's line about going on an adventure, but it seemed a bit - fake. Almost, like he didn't really want to go on an adventure.

Seeing Rivendell again was very very cool, and seeing Elrond again made my day, no idea why though, it just seemed more connected to LOTR and the fellowship. His line was capital, and it was very nice because I remember hearing Hugo practice that in one of the vlogs. Although, in that particular scene ("So this is your purpose...") I came to the realization of something...Thorin is short!

I've no idea why, but these past few months, I've had the distinct impression that Thorin was man sized, it wasn't really registering that he's a dwarf. So when I saw him next to Elrond, he looked...childlike, off, and can I be honest? He looked silly. His body proportions seemed to run a little too big.

Like I said, I've know clue where I got my man height impression, but in the first trailer when we see

"The leader of our group: Thorin Okeanshield"

sitting atop his horse, I was picturing a man on a noble steed, not a dwarf on a Shetland pony.

Radagast was neat, and the hedgehogs were really cute. Do we actually know from the book what the thing is that's attacking his home?

And then there's Gollum. The thing that nobody really likes, but wants to see anyway. I was very pleased that they included what they did, I know everyone's been talking about the "Riddles in the Dark", so it was nice to see. As for the creep himself, , he looked, healthier, if that's at all possible. His eyes were more blue, while the whites of his eyes were very - red. Animation speaking, he looked very good, very detailed, even down to his eyelashes and the little fuzz on his slightly pointed ears. But when you look at him and then compare him to Bilbo, Gollum looks - shiny. His skin looks shiny, while Bilbo looks gritty and noising, there was a lot of stuff on his cheeks and nose and forehead, while Gollum's was slick and smooth looking. Only complaint to that was that they should have toned down on the noise on Bilbo. I liked Gollums little face and shrug he gives after he delivers the options, I never liked him, but that little gesture made me laugh. And Freeman's dry answer and straight face were great.

All the quick shots were good, they showed a lot of the action that will be in the film. Overall, my main joy about the trailer was that it portrayed the film less as "a little hobbit bouncing around in a Rankin Bass, G rated B film." and more into the film that so many of you have been looking for for the past 10 years (at least) with the director and actor the majority of you wanted to see.

So, yeah, sorry about the length, didn't realize I had rambled so long, I'll shut up now.

So, did anyone see our first glimpse of Tauriel?

http://io9.com/5945621/hobbit-action-fi ... at-tauriel

Great, an elf that I can cosplay without having to change my hair! Red heads FTW. I like it; very wood-elf-y. And should I take note in the fact that the Tauriel and Legolas action figures are being sold in the same pack?

Semi-thoughts on the Hobbit trailer (disclaimer: it's late [or early, depending on your perspective], it's been a while since i've seen it, and this is more about people's reactions to the trailer than the trailer itself):

I read The Hobbit before seeing any movies, but i couldn't get into LOTR proper until after i saw the first movie. Undoubtedly, that has affected my perception of both Jackson's movies and the books.

Frankly, i'm not sure that either LOTR or The Hobbit are "adaptable"; and i don't just mean that modern audiences wouldn't accept certain elements, or that we don't have the technology to film things. I not certain that a fully accurate film version of either would make a good movie. The film version of The Fellowship of the Ring was an excellent movie, whatever you might have to say about it as an adaption, and it's the reason i got into the rest of LOTR to begin with, so as long as The Hobbit is a good film adaption, i'm willing to accept it - with a few caveats.

There were things that PJ and co. changed that i didn't like (Faramir, the Ents, Frodo sending Sam away, etc.); yet, they had (in my opinion) the best possible reasons for each of these changes. I still didn't like that it had been changed, but i understood why they did it. There are almost certainly going to be changes in The Hobbit that i won't like. At this point, however, i'm willing to take it on faith that a) nothing absolutely crucial is going to be changed, and b) the reasons they have for these changes will be good ones.

All this to say, nothing in that trailer really undermines my expectations. Actually, i'm not sure i'm seeing this as The Hobbit exactly - but if it's a good prequel to the LOTR movies, then i'm okay with that. I totally understand that this is not the same for everyone, and some people are legitimately bugged by one thing or another, this is just where i stand on this.

Faramir's change I can live with, but Frodo sending Sam away and Aragorn falling off a 'cliff' are unforgivable. What was wrong with the Ents though?

Warrior 4 Jesus, the book-Ents were a lot less unwilling to join in the battle against Saruman. Personally, i found it a slightly grating attempt to introduce more drama.

Well, it's been a bit since anyone's posted here, but I just wanted to drop this off for opinions.

A few months back, TOR.net posted a fan video called, "Lord of the Rings in 99 seconds."

Well, someone suggested I set the song to the films. So I did.

http://imageshack.us/clip/my-videos/20/ ... xgolo.mp4/

After listening to the song countless during the process, it grows on you.

Any thoughts, good or bad are welcome.

Well me and my sister Broke the Bank on Hobbit collectables from WETA workshop. It was all worth it! I only hope I can save enough up for the Orcrist replica before it's released.
Weta e-mailed me mentioning they have more stuff on the way and mentioned that they were finishing up some wizards staffs.

Also has everyone else seen the new awesome pictures of Thranduil, Legolas and Elrond? I love them!

Legolas:
http://www.herr-der-ringe-film.de/v3/me ... 117116.JPG

Thranduil:
http://www.herr-der-ringe-film.de/v3/me ... 117116.JPG

Elrond:
http://www.herr-der-ringe-film.de/v3/me ... kfair9.JPG

Five new stills! http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=95960
Could be slightly spoilerish.

Nor did anything [Gandalf] said seem out of place from my perspective based on my readings of The Hobbit.

He gives me hope.

+ angsty scene dressing -- I object more to the idea of the scene than the actual words.

Very amusing for me, very profitable for you...

The way I look at it, you can arrive at such a statement by playing word association: amusing--> cheer up on a bad day--> one bright spot in a dark world. The question is, was it as bad as all that? Really?