Maple Films
  • About
    • Contact
    • Donate
    • Press
  • Our Films
    • 20th Century Man
    • Abroad
    • The Astronomer
    • Early October
    • The House of Boredom
    • Mind Over Manners
    • Super Pimp
    • Transistor
    • Undue Process
  • Other Videos
    • The History of NASA
    • The Killers- War Movie Montage
    • Iceception
    • Ultimate Movie Montage
  • Fan Edits
    • J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit >
      • FAQ
      • Downloads
      • An Unexpected Journey Edits
      • The Desolation of Smaug Edits
      • Battle of Five Armies Edits
      • Video Clips
    • Rogue One Fanedit >
      • Rogue One Downloads
      • Video Clips
    • Finest Hour - A Dunkirk/Darkest Hour Supercut >
      • Finest Hour Downloads
      • Video Clips
  • Photography

EDITS FOR THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

3/24/2015

18 Comments

 
  • I went back to DOS and realized it wouldn’t be too hard to remove the left-behind Dwarves from Laketown completely, so Smaug’s attack on Laketown is now dwarf and Tauriel-free.
  • Alfrid has been completely removed from the film aside from the opening scene, and the shores of Laketown. 
  • Since the four dwarves from Laketown were never actually there, I removed their reunion scene with the company.
  • Some of Thorin’s “dragon sickness” scenes have been cut or trimmed. There were too many of these scenes in the original version and they dragged the film too much.
  • Legolas appears briefly during the battle to warn Gandalf of Bolg's approaching orc army. We do not see him again.
  • Tauriel is gone completely!
  • The giant were-worms are gone. Azog’s army simply marches out of the mountainside.
  • The actual Battle of Five Armies has been drastically cut. I boiled it down to its most essential element- Dain’s army is quickly overrun and Thorin must decide whether to help or not. Everything else that happens is not crucial to the plot. Therefore, most of the fighting in Dale has been cut along with some of the more ridiculous bits of the battle. Everything has been streamlined and is much easier to follow now. It also puts more focus on Dain, which is nice.
  • I have reintroduced the Misty Mountains theme from An Unexpected Journey into the scene where Thorin and company rally the dwarves. 
  • Ravenhill has been trimmed considerably as well. I spliced Kili's death with Fili's so it appears they die at the same time while Thorin watches. Azog stabs Fili and it's implied that Bolg is nearby and stabs Kili. Unfortunately there is no onscreen death for Bolg since PJ gave him and Legolas the most unrealistic and ridiculous fight scene ever. So let’s just assume Beorn ate him or something.
  • Thorin’s fight with Azog is trimmed a bit but is mostly the same.
  • Radagast has been digitally removed from the eagles' attack on the orcs.
  • I inserted "Dreaming of Bag End," a mostly unused music piece by Howard Shore, into the scene where Bilbo and Gandalf part ways.
  • The End!

18 Comments
Prosaic
3/25/2015 06:09:09 pm

Looking forward to this fanedit. It's the first and most ambitious fanedit of the hobbit trilogy I have heard of. I haven't even seen part 3 yet. I decided I'd rather just watch a fanedit than see the strung out version. So your version will be the first time I've seen part 3 of the hobbit!

Reply
JP
4/2/2015 03:21:26 am

You have no idea how excited I am for your final edit. I'm a huge Tolkien fan, and while Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy wasn't perfect, it was still pretty great. But that Hobbit Trilogy would make Tolkien sick to his stomach. I'm so glad you're doing what you're dong and I'm psyched to watch your final cut!

Reply
Gerardo
7/22/2015 04:58:56 pm

Have you considered to give the option to watch the movie with subtitles?
spanish would be great! ;)
or at least the option of english close captions!
Anyway Great work!!!!!

Reply
Dustin
7/23/2015 12:24:33 am

Hi Gerardo, thanks for your comments! I would definitely like to add subtitles to this fanedit. Some posters here have generously offered to help translate to a couple different languages including Spanish, so hopefully we can work something out once the BOFA EE is released!

Reply
Charles
2/18/2016 03:44:29 pm

Dustin, are your fan edits of the three Hobbit movies based on the Extended Cuts?

Reply
abreas
5/6/2016 03:42:40 am

Your work is huge! I actually couldn't help but laughing while reading what you cut out, because I must have felt the exact same way as you when I watched PJ's shame.

Btw, when the italian subs please?

Reply
Diego Antonio link
6/11/2017 04:14:36 pm

Which credits did you use?

Reply
Dustin
6/13/2017 12:03:33 pm

The credits are from BOFA!

Reply
Chuck
6/13/2017 04:19:56 pm

Thanks for all your work!

Reply
Larissa
8/27/2017 12:04:32 pm

Did you make the final edit with BOFA extended editions? There's still some extended scenes that are from the book.

Reply
Ambaryerno
10/22/2017 08:02:55 am

Great work, though I wish you could have edited the slaying of Smaug to eliminate that ridiculous improvised ballista crap (I really can't express just how much I DESPISE that scene). Maybe cut from Bard firing his last arrow, to the shot of the Black Arrow striking home (from what I saw it would actually have fit very seamlessly; the Black Arrow looks close enough to Bard's regular arrows, and the shot is so quick, that most viewers probably wouldn't have noticed).

I did also notice that excising Legolas vs. Bolg does create a plothole: Thorin uses Orcrist at the end of his fight with Azog, which Legolas is carrying at the Battle of Five Armies after he takes it from him in Mirkwood. Legolas loses or gives up the sword (I can't remember which, been a while since I subjected myself to the original film) and Thorin takes it back to finish the fight with Azog. So in the new edit, it's never explained how he gets it back.

Reply
Drygdor
10/2/2018 04:46:23 pm

I agree that the improved ballista thing is super ridiculous, but I bet editing that out would have been either too difficult or else would have made for some jarring jump-cuts.

I also noticed the Orcrist plothole, which is unfortunate but necessary, methinks.

Another scene I wish could be removed is when the elves decide to jump over the shield wall/pike line and engage in twirly one-on-one combat. Unfortunately it's the only scene showing the elves entering the fight so it would be hard to replace. Why, PJ? WHY!?

Reply
Drygdor
10/2/2018 04:42:39 pm

Okay, so I'm a few years late, but just wanted to say this. Is. Amazing. After watching all the films of The Hobbit trilogy as they was released (and still buying them for some reason) I told myself I would never watch them again. I just had no desire to sit through all the bullcrap that padded the runtime. Now I can add this to my LOTR yearly viewings, so thank you very much, sir.

Reply
tolkiennut
12/14/2018 11:05:07 pm

I've tried to burn these ISO's on a Verbatim DL blu ray disc and the burn keeps failing; Anyone know what the problem could be? Thanks!

Reply
Dustin
12/18/2018 07:14:26 am

What program are you using? IMGBurn definitely works for me.

Reply
tolkiennut
12/18/2018 08:42:58 am

I used IMGBurn and MediaSuite both had a failed burn. I don't know if it is the discs or my burner; I have a external Blu Ray burner.

TheKingElessar
7/25/2019 09:02:23 pm

"I have reintroduced the Misty Mountains theme from An Unexpected Journey into the scene where Thorin and company rally the dwarves."

I immediately noticed this and it was great. Thanks for the great cut! :)

Reply
Lucy Logan
4/16/2020 04:20:16 pm

I watched this version of The Hobbit with my family, and more than any issues I've stated previously one stood out to a member of my family, Thorin's sword appearing out of nowhere actively took him out of the film. But otherwise we adored it, particularly I and my aforementioned Brother. I can't overstate the improvement it makes to the experience of viewing this adaptation, so for that I thank you above all else. As a fan of J.R.R Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien's Legendarium, but first and foremost as a film viewer. I hope Peter Jackson sees your version someday, and creates something official and similar, but alas. The road goes ever on and on.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    March 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

©2018 Maple films ltd.
all rights reserved