Weighing in a bit late on Evangeline "Kate" Lilly in the movie...

...but the whole love triangle [in LOST] really started to get annoying near the end.
My only worry about Evangeline Lilly being cast is that I might see her as Kate instead of an elf.

I have similar thoughts. I didn't mind Kate until the love triangle began ramping up in season 3. But I digress.

I might see her as "Kate the elf," and her tentative name (Tauriel) is just too close to the constellation "Taurus" for me (hey, I'm an astronomer ).

Pictures! I squeed a bit when I saw Gandalf the Grey smoking his pipe.

I'm going to go with the theory that Bilbo is looking at his contract. Although it looks very long...but the Dwarves are in the background! (how cool is that?!) I suddenly feel like re-reading the book (again ).

her tentative name (Tauriel) is just too close to the constellation "Taurus" for me (hey, I'm an astronomer ).

I see what you mean. I had to look up the meaning of 'Taur', but her name means 'Daughter of the woods' or 'wood maiden' so it's at least linguistically appropriate.

I saw the picture of Bilbo and thought, "Hey! That looks a bit like Sam!" I think it's the fact that he's in his shirtsleeves.

I thought the same thing. The curly hair may have something to do with it! I'm very, very partial to Sam, so this makes me even more endeared to Bilbo. Bilbo was never one of my favorite characters in the movies, so I was slightly afraid that I wouldn't like him in The Hobbit. However, after seeing the pictures, I can honestly say that is not so. I absolutely love the pictures, and even did a few fangirl squeals.

Seeing Gandalf again was very awesome too. I absolutely love Bag End and it feels like I'm back in Middle-Earth again - which, I think, is exactly the feeling that The Hobbit is supposed to evoke.

My dad first read The Hobbit to me when I was 6 or 7, and I read it again when I was 9. It was one of the first classics that I read on my own (besides Narnia). So, needless to say, I honestly cannot wait for these movies.

Well, since I am mildly excited about The Hobbit coming out, I'd better post here.
Does anyone know when the official trailer is scheduled to come out? Has there been any word on that?
So I have feelings for two of the actors that kind of contradict the final outlook; since they're opposite. Richard Armitage. I've only seen one movie with him, but yeah, I think he's amazing. I'm really excited that he's going to be in this. Seems so funny that he's going to be Thorin. From Mr. Thornton, to a dwarf.
And then Benedict Cumberbatch. Believe that I am really, really, REALLY understating my feelings when I say I don't like him. It's hard not to say anymore, but to be respectful, I'd better stop here. I know that I should know this, but . . who is he going to play? Goodness. I'm not sure if I can watch another movie with him in it.
That was my little . . post.

Cumberbatch is voicing Smaug, Elanor, and is also working through motion capture to portray the infamous dragon, apparently.

I am curious: why do you so dislike Benedict? (Maybe a PM might work better ... ) Did you see him in Amazing Grace? Mind you, that is all I have seen him in, but I was very impressed.

I was going to say that I've never seen Benedict Cumberbatch act in anything, but I did watch Amazing Grace a while ago, and I vaguely remember him in that. I'll have to watch that movie again.

When I went to look him up on Wikipedia, it says he's both the voice of Smaug and Sauron in the Hobbit. I didn't know he was voicing Sauron, too. Of course, that's Wikipedia and therefore anyone could have added that in, but I found it interesting. Does anyone know if it's confirmed?

Wikipedia should have said he's voicing the Necromancer in addition to Smaug, as opposed to Sauron. That has been confirmed.

Spoiler

I would imagine that most people on this thread know that Sauron and the Necromancer are one and the same, but I thought I'd leave that a bit ambiguous for those that don't know.

Ah, gotcha, FK. I think a re-reading of the book is in order, since I honestly don't remember that.

At first I wasn't too excited about Richard Armitage being in The Hobbit. The only thing I'd seen him in was the BBC show Robin Hood, and his character isn't exactly savory. He's a good actor, but he just wasn't what I pictured for Thorin Oakenshield. However, my opinion has changed since then, and he's the one I'm super-excited to see.

So why has your opinion changed, Mountie? Seen him in anything else now? It is awfully hard for me to imagine him as Thorin. I've just watched one scene of him in Robin Hood; hard for me to imagine him as a bad guy, but at least he's a semi-nice bad guy. Not as in, nice, but . . you know, you can't help somewhat liking him. Okay, I can't.

ok, so the new pictures of the Hobbit set are pretty cool - but I'm slightly annoyed that Bilbo's hobbit hole doesn't really look very much like the one in LOTR.....
and Martin Freeman in costume looks way more like Merry then Bilbo
see this picture here:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=w ... vw&cad=rja

So why has your opinion changed, Mountie? Seen him in anything else now? It is awfully hard for me to imagine him as Thorin.

Well, to completely answer that question would be difficult without giving away spoilers. Basically, Guy rose in estimation on my favorite characters list after Season 3. After that, I became okay with him playing Thorin. Sorry to be so cryptic, but I think if you watch the show, you might understand.

I've just watched one scene of him in Robin Hood; hard for me to imagine him as a bad guy, but at least he's a semi-nice bad guy. Not as in, nice, but . . you know, you can't help somewhat liking him. Okay, I can't.

It's kind of amusing that you would say that because personally, I couldn't really see him playing a non-villain at first. Now I think he can definitely pull it off.

and Martin Freeman in costume looks way more like Merry then Bilbo

Libby, in my opinion, it's fitting that Bilbo should look like Merry, since Merry is a young hobbit and Bilbo should definitely look like a young hobbit in this one. I think there needs to be a distinction between the old Bilbo (Ian Holm) and the new one (Martin Freeman), so I'm okay if a few things are different.

What exactly do you not like about the Hobbit Hole? Like Bilbo, I think it's okay if it looks a little different, because I don't think that it's realistic to have it look exactly the same as it did in LotR. So much time passed between the LotR timeline and the Hobbit that there are bound to be a few things that changed.

I'm slightly annoyed that Bilbo's hobbit hole doesn't really look very much like the one in LOTR.....

Like Bilbo, I think it's okay if it looks a little different, because I don't think that it's realistic to have it look exactly the same as it did in LotR.

As someone who grew up rearranging her bedroom every year for fun, I'm gonna have to agree with Mountie. Even when I look back at pictures of my house when I was growing up, I can't believe how much it has changed, even though I don't really remember it happening. I think it'd be less realistic to have Bilbo's hobbit hole exactly the same in the Hobbit as in LotR. We're talking 60 years difference.

Another important fact to remember as well, when Bilbo returns home in the Hobbit, almost all of his stuff has been auctioned off. He gets some of it back, but not all of it.

Well, to completely answer that question would be difficult without giving away spoilers. Basically, Guy rose in estimation on my favorite characters list after Season 3. After that, I became okay with him playing Thorin. Sorry to be so cryptic, but I think if you watch the show, you might understand.

I think I kinda do understand. And I do want to watch it, except that it would depress me (him not being the good guy. ).

It's kind of amusing that you would say that because personally, I couldn't really see him playing a non-villain at first. Now I think he can definitely pull it off.

Surprisingly enough, I can utterly understand. He is very villainy. But I can't imagine him playing someone *nasty*. No, it's really not a contradiction. Villains can be amazing.

As someone who grew up rearranging her bedroom every year for fun, I'm gonna have to agree with Mountie. Even when I look back at pictures of my house when I was growing up, I can't believe how much it has changed, even though I don't really remember it happening. I think it'd be less realistic to have Bilbo's hobbit hole exactly the same in the Hobbit as in LotR. We're talking 60 years difference.

I've lived in the same house for more than half my life, and it looks much different from when we first moved in. Rooms have been painted, furniture has been exchanged. It even looks older now than it did a few years ago. The differences are endless, and I've only lived in this house for only a fraction of 60 years. I was actually thinking about how much my house has changed when I looked at Bag End - and in my opinion, Bag End hasn't changed nearly as much as it could have. Especially since a lot of his stuff got auctioned out - I forgot about that too.

Surprisingly enough, I can utterly understand. He is very villainy. But I can't imagine him playing someone *nasty*. No, it's really not a contradiction. Villains can be amazing.

Right, they can be! I even think Smaug was an amazing villain. I'm looking forward to seeing how he's fleshed out, though I hope they do him well since dragons can be hard to portray.