edits for an unexpected journey

1/19/2015

No Dale/Erebor prologue. This was cut because the dwarves’ backstory is told in a much better fashion when they are in Bag End.
Bilbo’s opening lines remain, but Frodo is removed
Some dwarf silliness is gone from the Bag End sequence (just a few shots)
No Necromancer/Dol Guldur subplot. It distracts from the main quest and was poorly conceived and executed anyways. As it was in the book, it is only briefly hinted at now.
No Radagast whatsoever
Azanulbizar flashback is gone, although I MAY reinsert it depending on how the third film edits into the picture. It gives background on Thorin and Azog (who I will get to below)
Azog. This is one of the biggest issues with the fanedit. Azog is a lousy CGI villain that looked immediately dated upon the film’s release. However, Jackson made him the primary antagonist across the three films and his role is unfortunately essential. Even so, I have cut his role down considerably in AUJ.
Troll scene has been trimmed, with some silliness removed
The Daylight orc chase is gone. I spliced the company checking out the troll cave with their entrance to Rivendell.
No White Council/Galadriel/Saruman
The Stone Giants, while they were in the book, were overdone and ridiculous in Jackson’s film. They have been cut.
All scenes with Gollum are untouched!
Goblintown escape has been cut drastically, removing almost all of the physics-defying stunts and cartoonish CGI bits.
The tree fight/eagle rescue sequence is gone. This is another book scene I had to cut due to Jackson’s mishandling. It was obviously beefed up late in production in order to have a more “action-packed” climax for AUJ.
The film ends with Bilbo meeting back up with the dwarves outside Goblintown, and he still gives his nice little speech. Orcs suddenly show up and the party begins to run…however the beginning of the chase segues immediately into the beginning of DOS, where they are being chased into Beorn’s house.
Other miscellaneous trims here and there

levi47

1/20/2015 02:31:54 am

Have you thought of releasing your edits as an AVIsynth file? there should be no copyright issues with that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AviSynth . You will simply need to fix it on a specific release(ideally the full bluray remuxed into an mkv) and specify how to go about obtaining that from the originals.

Dustin Lee

1/20/2015 05:16:39 am

I had not thought of that, thanks for the information. Whatever can make this fanedit more accessible to people, the better. I'll look into AVIsynth.

TP421

1/20/2015 10:23:25 am

+1 to AviSynth or equivalent. I was just thinking last night how an open file format would be a great way to distribute these files without copyright problems.

Stone

3/31/2015 04:47:50 am

The tree fight/ eagle rescue was defiantly beefed up too much in the movie but it should not be cut completely. it is necessary to keep authentic to the book

Vallon

4/30/2015 05:47:55 pm

I strongly agree. The eagles need to be introduced. Establishing Gandalf's ties to the eagles is essential to understanding where the hell the eagles in battle of five armies have come from.

Aretin

11/25/2015 09:51:06 pm

Please do not edit out the Tree-fight/Eagle rescue scene. Trim it but dont cut it. UnderhillEditor's edit has done a good job with that scene. No Azog. No Thorin falling down. Simply pine cone bombs & then Gandalf calls the eagles.

Andrew H.

2/27/2016 04:14:35 pm

"All scenes with Gollum are untouched!"

Hey Dustin! I was just wondering why Gollum's intro scene was truncated? In the original film, Gollum drags the goblin away after clubbing him with a rock, and you see him drop the ring.

Dustin

2/28/2016 07:46:52 am

Hi Andrew, I did originally leave the Riddles in the Dark sequence untouched. However, I decided to change the beginning of the scene to make it more like the book. In the movie, Bilbo clearly sees Gollum drop the ring when fighting the goblin, and thereby becomes a thief by picking it up. Whereas in the book (and in my fan edit), Bilbo awakens alone and sees the ring just sitting on the ground before taking it. This makes the scene more suspenseful because we don't really know whose ring it us until Gollum bursts into rage at the end.

2/28/2016 03:57:18 pm

Thanks for the reply, Dustin!

I should have known you did it for good reasons. :D

I'll confess my initial reaction was "screw that, more Gollum!!" but it is as you said, the audience benefits from the suspense.

My only remaining "objections" are that the scene also served to establish that Gollum is dangerous, but that is also pretty clear when Bilbo eavesdrops on him in the cavern proper.

And it also explained where the goblin went, since Bilbo fell with the goblin but woke up alone. This can also be rationalized as Bilbo not waking up until Gollum already found the goblin.

I dunno, I guess I just liked the unsettling way Gollum handled the goblin as he was dragging him.

I suppose simply cutting out the ring falling out as he deals with the goblin isn't in the cards, huh?

3/1/2016 10:40:41 am

Yeah I just didn't think we needed to see that part with the goblin in the passages. It was creepy, but I wanted to see it closer to the book!

Sean Davis

7/18/2016 01:12:15 pm

Hey im really glad to see the readdition of the eagle rescue... honestly I've watched a few hobbit fan edits, and this is the best.... my only question is that you mentioned the retelling of the dwarves back story while they're in bag end, I was skimming your edit (haven't had time to watch it entirely yet), but has all the footage of the erebor prologue been cut? Or has it been put in elsewhere? I really enjoyed that footage and I loved the way another editor overlayed it on the misty mountains song... is it something like that? Or is it just in the durins folk? Thanks!

7/28/2016 01:05:42 pm

Thanks Sean! The Erebor prologue was cut from the main fan edit, but I included it in Durin's Folk since it made more sense in that story's context.

Carl

6/8/2017 09:37:03 pm

I've gotten just to the point where they reach Mirkwood. I have loved the edit for the most part, it moves along much better, like the book does. But I actually liked the stone trolls and was sorry to see them go.l Perhaps it could have been trimmed a bit but I liked how this was one of Bilbo's first clues that the world beyond the Shire was much more menacing. I was also sorely disappointed that the Beorn additions from the extended edition are not in this edit. One of the biggest letdowns from the theatrical release was how little we got to see of Beorn, one of the most intriguing characters in the book. I understand the need to keep the fanedit somewhat short, but really, why keep out Beorn? The scene of him clawing at the door is one of the best ones from the book, and it could be here too.

6/13/2017 12:08:08 pm

Thanks for the comment! The stone giants were a bit too much like Rock Transformers, and way too over the top considering we had never seen anything like that in Middle-earth before. If you watch my other fan edit, Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery, you'll see that some of Beorn's extended scenes are in that version. He just didn't add much to the film's plot, other than providing ponies to the company (which they promptly discard after 3 minutes of screentime).

Nate Strangman

11/2/2017 11:10:25 pm

So i guess the AUJ edit page needs to be edited (lol) cuz from what im watching, which says JRR Tolkiens Hobbit DEC 2015 FINAL, the eagles saving them is in here which is great, whereas the edit page says otherwise, something about after Bilbos speech it segues into DOS, just thought id let you know

11/3/2017 07:50:24 am

Ha, yes it does need to be outdated and I've been lazy about that! Thanks for letting me know.

Gogoe

1/18/2018 02:08:54 pm

Very good version of all three films. Much more fun to watch and its easier to follow the important parts of the plot/understand charakters.

Lucy Logan

4/16/2020 04:05:28 pm

I thought all the edits to An Unexpected Journey's portion worked perfectly, although seeing Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee alongside one and other, if only briefly's a nice idea, I think regretfully you correctly excised the White Council scene.

Can Uzmen

2/22/2021 02:26:12 pm

Hi, really enjoying this edit after watching the movie for the first time since it was in theaters. But this page really needs updating for example the eagle rescue is in the edit but the page says it is edited out. I liked the transition to the Beorn's house but people who were watching it with me was a little confused. So perhaps some extra scenes with him from the extended edition could be nice? Thanks for the great work!

John Alvarez

3/21/2023 08:32:11 pm

I agree. I just discovered this and I'm watching it now. I miss the scene where the dwarves come out in pairs. I'm just at the intermission and that's the only thing I miss. As is, this cut, so far, is amazing!.

Thank you so much for doing this edit. This is going to become my go-to version for future viewings, though I'm probably just going to slip that into to Beorn in when I watch it. That 4 minutes is missed.

Keith Forsberg

4/6/2021 05:19:12 pm

Being a fan of lord of the rings and disappointed in the Hobbit movies I’m glad I found this edit. Still haven’t watched it but one scene from extended version that I see is in your other edit should be how Gandalf introduces the dwarves to beorn. One of my favorite parts of the book. Since the scenes are in your other edit I may find a way to include this scene even though I don’t know how but I’ll figure it out. Other then that this edit looks awesome and can’t wait to watch. Always talked with a friend that an edit would be cool and glad others felt the same way and did them.

edits for an unexpected journey

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edits for an unexpected journey

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©2023 Maple films ltd.all rights reserved

©2023 Maple films ltd.
all rights reserved