The Hobbit (the Jackson films)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks to Sherlockology, here's the latest movie poster -- featuring our favorite hobbit!

 

 

This is the first time I've seen the official credits. I'm pleased to see that Martin Freeman is nicely positioned -- preceded by Ian McKellen (as was only to be expected), but no one else.

[Undead Medic]

Oooh, Nice poster. Thanks Carol!

[Carol the Dabbler]

New Zealand Post (the official issuer of NZ stamps) has announced a new series of stamps and collectible coins commemorating The Hobbit. (Technically, both the stamps and the coins are legal tender, but you'd have to be an idiot to pay several times the face value and then just use them!) The face most represented on the stamps and coins (well, second only to Queen Elizabeth, who appears on the other side of all the coins) is that of the eponymous hobbit himself.

 

Here's just one example, from a large number of offerings:

[Banshee]

Anybody in NZ want to get me those stamps?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks to becks28nz, Sherlockology has posted the first Hobbit television ad!

 

Perhaps even more so than in the trailers, I am impressed by Freeman's Bilbo. He is such a solid little hobbit, as contrasted to the rather mythically stylized Frodo. I am so going to enjoy these movies!

[Undead Medic]

Here is the trailer:

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SZ6WX0EI31Q

[Carol the Dabbler]

We all know that hobbits are smaller than humans. But how much smaller, really? What would it be like to stand next to a hobbit?

 

The ultimate authority, J. R. R. Tolkien, stated (in Chapter I of The Hobbit) that compared to humans, hobbits are "about half our height." According to Internet Movie Database, Martin Freeman stands 5' 7" (170 cm), so we might assume that Bilbo Baggins is 2' 9.5" (85 cm) or so.

 

Now, some of you are saying, "Wait, Bilbo is three feet tall -- I heard it in a song somewhere." Right, that's "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" [see Note, below]. But even if the song were seriously considered to be canon (which it never has been), lyrics are typically more metrical than precise. (Note that "He's only three feet tall" fits the music ever so much better than "He's only 2' 9.5" tall.") Of course, 2' 9.5" is only an approximation, but it may be the best we can do.

 

You can see what 2' 9.5" (33.5" or 85 cm) looks like on a measuring stick, and it's pretty short, just as you'd expect. But here's something that startled me: I'm about 5' 7" tall myself. Standing with both feet flat on the ground, I can reach my hand up to about 7 feet. That means Bilbo can reach things up to about 3.5 feet (42" or 107 cm) -- only as high as my waist. Good heavens, he's tiny!

 

It gets even more surprising. Just because Bilbo is half as tall as Martin Freeman doesn't mean that he weighs half as much. That's because he's not shaped as though Freeman had been sawed in half by a magician! He's proportioned like Freeman, so he's not only half as tall, he's also half as wide and half as deep -- which means that he weighs only one-eighth as much (assuming that hobbits have roughly the same tissue density as humans).

 

I have no idea how much Freeman weighs, but according to a height-weight chart, a reasonable weight for a 5' 7" man would be something like 150 pounds (68 kg), and that's close enough for our purposes. One-eighth of 150 pounds is a mere 18.75 pounds (8.5 kg). I'm not a particularly strong woman, but I'd have absolutely no trouble lifting Bilbo in an emergency! (I say "in an emergency" because otherwise it wouldn't be very polite for me to pick him up.)

 

I invite your comments.

 

Note: "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" was performed by Leonard Nimoy. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were very popular in the late 1960's during Nimoy's run as Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek series, and fans were championing Nimoy for the role of Aragorn, in hopes that the books would soon be made into movies. (Then as now, there was considerable overlap between the Star Trek and Tolkien fandoms.)

[Undead Medic]

For those who have never seen it, Leonard Nimoy's "The ballad of Bilbo Baggins"

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGF5ROpjRAU

[SherLOCKED221]

I haven't actually seen Lord of the Rings...HOWEVER, Martin Freeman being in it might actually convince me to watch from the beginning.

I refuse to watch anything were I've missed the first movie/episode!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Actually, you are in luck, because The Hobbit *is* the "first episode"!

 

Tolkien wrote The Hobbit first, and the story is set some 60 years before The Lord of the Rings (which he wrote later). Peter Jackson wanted to film them in that order, but there was a legal snag over rights to The Hobbit, so he finally went ahead and filmed LotR first. At some point, the legal snag got worked out, so now he's doing The Hobbit as a three-part prequel.

 

Judging by the trailers that I've seen so far, Freeman's performance as Bilbo Baggins (the hobbit himself!) is absolutely wonderful.

[SherLOCKED221]

I knew it was a prologue, however didn't know the thing about the movie rights...interesting.

 

Did you know Batman: The Series starring Adam West isn't on DVD (at last I heard) or VHS because of a legal dispute between DC Comics?

After DC's sister/parent company WB took over DC in 1969? Something about only having rights to show it on TV but not record it/sell it.

 

Studios always seem to have a similar problem at some point!

[aely]

If you do decide to watch LOTR after seeing the Hobbit, I would personally advise you to get hold of the dvds and watch the 'extended' version. There are bits that had to be cut out of the theatrical release that give the film a lot more meaning (if anyone is wondering about specifics from my POV I'm thinking of Faramir's story and Saruman). Having said that, if you're not familiar with LOTR at all (not read the books or anything) then the theatrical release is fine as it is and not as long!

[Carol the Dabbler]

The DVDs also have tons of really neat documentaries, though (again, if you're into that sort of thing). (Jackson has completely spoiled me for the stupid self-congratulatory infomercials that pass for documentaries on a lot of other DVDs.) There are also something like three audio commentaries for each movie.

 

I will definitely buy the extended edition of The Hobbit.

 

Technically, Tolkien didn't write The Hobbit as a prologue or a prequel, by the way. He wrote Lord of the Rings as a sequel -- an afterthought.

[SherLOCKED221]

I never watch the commentaries, I don't have the patience.

However, if the mini-documentaries are interesting enough I'll watch.

The first one that comes to mind is the "Real Story" of the movie Kinky Boots, it was BASED on a true story and this mini-doco tells you about the original company that began selling KINKY BOOTS. Great movie.

 

Oh and I now know that Lord of the Rings was a sequel to the Hobbit, but because they chose to make LOTR first, the Hobbit is now a prequel!!

[Carol the Dabbler]

The first movie's official gala New Zealand premiere is -- when? -- next week? I assume there will be photos and perhaps video interviews available from that. Does the movie actually open in NZ theaters then, does anyone know, or is it just a single event?

 

In any case, the movie opens for the rest of us in less than four weeks. Hubby and I are re-reading the book aloud to each other in preparation, and we've already bought our tickets for the 12:01 a.m. showing on the 14th!

[Banshee]

For those who have never seen it, Leonard Nimoy's "The ballad of Bilbo Baggins"

 

 

That is hilarious...

[Carol the Dabbler]

The circa-1970 "hip" hasn't worn well, unfortunately!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I am pleased to see that wonderfully-BAMF poster appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone's new Hobbit book!

 

 

And another delightful Freeman-as-Bilbo picture is on the cover of a children's book, The World of Hobbits.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks to an item in Sherlockology, here's a really beautifully-done Hobbit tie-in:

 

 

Just one more reason to fly Air New Zealand!

[Carol the Dabbler]

We stopped by the book store last night, and I had a look through all the goodies on their Hobbit table. For anyone who doesn't already own a copy of the book, The Hobbit itself is available in a wide variety of editions. I may be tempted to buy another one myself!

 

But the book that impressed me the most was the Official Movie Guide.

In addition to pictures that we've already seen online, it's got loads of photos (both behind-the-scenes and movie frames) that I, at least, had never seen, including many showing the hobbit himself (and I never cease to be amazed by Martin Freeman's range of facial expressions!). There are also interviews with all the principals (from both in front of and behind the camera), plus explanations of several bits of movie magic. It's a good, solid piece of work.

 

Oddly enough, Amazon.com does not currently offer the book (though it is available through some of its "marketplace sellers"), saying that customers have alerted it to some sort of problem, which they are working to correct as soon as possible. Their UK branch does offer the book (see link above), and at less than half of full retail price. However, I'm a bit concerned by that talk of problems, and may decide that the prudent course of action would be to just buy a copy in the store, after checking to make sure it has all its pages, etc.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Back to the bookstore yesterday. I was disappointed to see that 1) they don't carry the Sherlock calendar, and 2) only one month of the Hobbit calendar (January) has a picture with Bilbo in it. However, I did buy a copy of the Official Movie Guide book that I mentioned last time, and am enjoying it.

 

So far, the biggest actual plot news that I've gleaned from it is that the first Hobbit movie apparently ends just after Chapter VI -- a caption on page 30 mentions "the climactic scene in the pine trees," page 34 makes a vague reference to a scene wherein "they are about to be attacked by Wargs," and I've found no mention (nor photo) of Beorn, the guest star of Chapter VII.

 

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Martin Freeman is embarking on a goodwill tour of talk shows -- see the thread "Martin Freeman on Upcoming Talk Shows."

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'm about halfway through the Official Movie Guide and still endorse it as a good informative mix of photos and text. Here's another plot hint (from page 55):

 

I got the chills reading the script, when Frodo hears that Gandalf is on his way and he runs off, telling Bilbo that he's going to the Eastfarthing woods to await Gandalf's arrival. As everyone who's seen The Lord of the Rings knows, you see Frodo for the first time sitting reading in a tree and listening for the sounds of Gandalf's cart to come along the road. Now, here we were filming the moment immediately before that happens.

So the "framework" story (or at least part of it) -- where the elderly Bilbo (Ian Holm) tells Frodo (Elijah Wood) about his adventures -- takes place just before LotR. I had been wondering about that!

[Carol the Dabbler]

The bravest little hobbit of 'em all meets his teensy-weensy scale double!

 

 

According to an item in Sherlockology, Lego has also introduced Gandalf and most of the dwarves to their mini-counterparts -- you can apparently see their photos here.

[Carol the Dabbler]

The current issue of Entertainment Weekly has a brief interview with Martin Freeman, to go with this cover (and you can also see their other three "collector's" covers by following that link):

 

 

There's also a bit of info on the second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug, with this shot of Bilbo (apparently facing the titular dragon):

 

[SherLOCKED221]

Can anyone say "Shocked beyond Belief?"