The Eagle Sequence is back in!

9/16/2015

Alright, you asked for it so here it is...the eagle rescue has been re-edited and inserted into the fan edit! I grumbled about this at first, mostly because I wasn't sure I could cut the end of AUJ and DOS easily. At this point I am pretty happy with how this new sequence plays out, and I hope you enjoy it too. There are a few changes I may still make, such as removing the part where we see Azog hanging outside of Beorn's house. I don't think it makes sense that he could have caught up with the company so soon after they escaped on eagles. Let me know what you think!

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit- Out of the Frying Pan from Dustin Lee on Vimeo.

37 Comments

Jose

9/16/2015 02:19:17 pm

Hi Dustin,

I like your edit a lot... with one exception: at the 6:45 mark Azog appears near the house of Beorn. How was he supposed to travel along the orcs from the Misty Mountains to Beorn's house at the same pace as the eagles?

Out of curiosity: why have you included that take?

Jose

9/16/2015 02:57:38 pm

I've re-read the text that leads to the video and now I see that you are already considering to remove the take of Azog outside the house of Beorn. Right now I don't know if this text wasn't there when I posted my first comment or it was present but I simply skipped it and anxiously watched the video instead :-D

Either way, my first comment is absolutely useless right now, so don't take it into account ;-)

You are doing an amazing job!

Dustin

9/16/2015 07:07:27 pm

Ha, well you answered your own question didn't you!

Jose

9/18/2015 02:36:06 am

Yes! :-P

Sandro

9/17/2015 07:48:53 am

I think it works great! I like how you've left out Thorin's showdown with Azog, but still kept their reactions of seeing each other to further establish their rivalry.

This edit is really similiar to one I've seen in a different fan edit, the difference being that you left out the extended edition scene with the dwarves meeting Beorn outside his house. Although I kinda like that scene (it's funny, faithful to the book and gives Beorn more screen time) I understand why you left that one out. It doesn't really move the plot forward, and the eagle scene already added an extra 8 minutes.

Daniele

9/19/2015 04:05:11 pm

Great job with this one! I agree with you about Azog presence outside Beorn's house, even if i really like his line ( and that part is not even completely senseless, I mean: we could assume the orcs have followed the eagles and arrived at Beorn's house in the deep night)

Jonathan of the North link

9/20/2015 07:30:15 am

First of, you are doing great work man, and you've saved my final conclusive impression of these hobbit movies from being almost totally negative and leaving a sour taste in my mouth, to something that I now am quite excited about again. Suddenly the story has a flow! I was almost standing up in my chair and cheering at the end of the movie, so thank you so much for that :)

That said, ive had one small technical issue that I would like to bring to your attention.
After seeing the movie (your fanedit that is) really want to share the movie with my parents who were as (if not more) disappointed with the way the movies turned out than i was. Problem being that i would like for them to be able too see it in their living room at the TV, and as such i need to rip the movie onto a DVDr for them to watch (the dont have bluray).
Now this is where i run into trouble, because the DVD+R's i have are all 16x 120min with 4.7 Gigs of space. The thing about this is that that makes up almost exactly half the movie before the intermission. The intermission starts at 2 hours and six minutes into the movie. which makes it complicaded because the that puts it just slightly above the red line in both disk-space and time ( about 6 minutes and 60 megabytes above actually).
Ive been tinkering with it for about a day or so and honestly I'm not all that good at this sort of stuff. So I'm bringing it to your attention in the hope that you might take it into consideration.

I hope all this makes sense, its pretty much the quintessential first world problem I know but the thing that really makes me want to point it out is that it is so close to being perfect. Just a few minutes and a few megabytes less and i would be able to fit the whole movie onto two DVDr's, with a perfect transition in the form of the Intermission.

Anyway, thank you and kudos for this piece of work, it really is quite an accomplishment :)

Dustin

9/20/2015 10:37:11 am

Thanks for the message! For the time being, I would suggest buying dual-layer DVDs to do the burning. You may still need to split the file to fit it on two discs, but it will definitely give you more space per disc. I think Amazon sells them for pretty cheap.

Connor

9/20/2015 04:23:47 pm

The thing is this scene only really works if the Hobbit is divided into more than one film. It is only in An Unexpected Journey to give it a climactic ending (which the book doesn't have at that point as it isn't the end) and to end the story arc of Bilbo trying to gain the trust of Thorin. But if you have the Hobbit as a single film that arc culminates much better with Thorin's dying words to Bilbo. So while your editing magic certainly made the change from Journey to Desolation very smooth, I think it works best if this scene is absent like in the original fan edit.

Jonathan link

9/21/2015 05:07:29 am

I couldn't agree more. I would vote for leaving it out.

AHS

9/21/2015 10:19:51 am

I agree, this will be one of the weak parts of the edit.

John

9/21/2015 12:30:16 pm

This is an improvement. The previous transition of running from Azog and the wargs to running from Beorn in bear-form was very confusing.

I don't understand the other comment about this ruining the Bilbo-Thorin respect story arc. I don't see the change in that arc. Also, the book certainly does have the eagles rescuing the company from the burning trees and wargs/goblins...so I don't follow that reasoning either.

Daniele

9/21/2015 04:57:13 pm

I perfectly agree with all you said, every single word!

Jose

9/22/2015 12:40:43 pm

I couldn't have said it better.

Saelvo

9/21/2015 02:49:37 pm

Suggestion: Why not cut from gandalf explaining the company the nature of their host straight to the EE introducing scene with Beorn. Then from there on you can go over to the scene where the dwarves are having breakfast with Beorn, completely eradicating the scene in the night with Beorn in bearform.
This would, on one hand, include this nice scene from the book, but on the other hand not extend the running time to far by cutting the scene in the night. And we would be rid of Azog too.
The only problem I can think of, is, that in the introduction scene the dwarfs come from inside Beorns house. Maybe it won't matter, maybe it will look strange, I don't know.
You might give that a thought.

Dustin

9/21/2015 05:40:20 pm

Hi Saelvo, I do appreciate the suggestion but I have decided not to include the EE Beorn scene in this fan edit. Simply put, it's too long and it doesn't really add anything to the story. It is a clever nod to the book but it just doesn't translate well to the screen! I am going to try fitting it into the Durin's Folk side quest film, if I can.

Jared

9/23/2015 10:43:00 am

I have one comment that accounts for the flow of this scene and movie... the original scene with the eagles flying with the scenery and music is beautiful. Howard Shore composed some of his best music with this scene. The version you made with the transition to Beorn looses the magic that the original had. I understand that it adds time, but the point isn't only making it as close to the book as possible, isn't it also making it a good film? With that being said, what you have done thus far is amazing and I couldn't be more satisfied with it. Could it be possible to prolong Gandalf's introduction to Beorn "there is a house,"? You wouldn't need to have Fili yelling "Thorin!" just enough room to allow the music to flow into the next seen, allowing this scene to be a restful scene, instead of transition, transition, transition. Just a thought.
Thanks,
-Jay

Nathan

9/24/2015 10:42:42 am

Great point. That was a worry I had as well.

Dustin

9/23/2015 11:19:30 am

Hi Jared, I agree that Howard Shore's music during the eagle flight is lovely. But it was scored to match a climactic scene in AUJ, which no longer exists since I am continuing the story into DOS. So from a pacing and thematic standpoint, it's a little too epic sounding and would overpower Gandalf's voiceover about Beorn. I do think I will push his voiceover down to give that first eagle shot some more breathing room though, good idea! Thanks for watching!

Armando

9/27/2015 01:30:30 pm

Were the napalm pinecones in the book? It seems both unrealistic and counter-intuitive. I think the silliness of that alone is enough to justify excluding the eagles.

Armando

9/27/2015 01:52:54 pm

Its also kind of confusing how they all ended up in one tree, and if Bilbo doesn't kill the wolf, his dramatic glance backwards seems out of place.

Daniele

9/30/2015 09:23:43 am

Although I agree with you about the pinecones (pretty ridiculous, even if they're impossible to be cut) I think it's enough clear how all the dwarves ended up in one tree ( we clearly see them jump from the falling trees to the only one left). Also Bilbo's glance isn't completely out of place, he could be simply worried about the chasing wargs behind him. Don't you think?

Armando

9/28/2015 05:50:09 pm

Sry for many comments, i just realized fanediting was a thing and i'm super excited. Great job toning down the action sequences, but i feel the movie is too fast paced, especially in between the mountain goblins and laketown. It might be worthwhile to add in some EE scenes in there to let it breathe a little, even if it's at the expense of brevity.

Armando

9/29/2015 03:58:34 pm

Thanks for all the comments Armando! Rest assured I am trying to make the best version of this fan edit possible. Sometimes I have to make tough decisions in order for a certain scene to work...which might mean cutting some other scenes people might like. Hopefully you understand!

Armando

9/28/2015 07:00:24 pm

If one of the problems with excluding the orcs from the barrel chase is the arrows in the barrels, maybe you could make it seem so that the elves are shooting at the party?

Sandro

10/1/2015 12:29:32 pm

I wonder: am I the only one who thinks the music transition at 4:54 sounds a bit abrupt?

At 4:45 we hear Dori shout: "Mr. Gandalf!". The music stops at this point to give us a moment of silence. Then it starts swelling again, as if it's building up to something. Suddenly we hear the theme associated with the Eagle arrival, which overrules the other music.

I know that in the original movie there was a complete fight scene in between, so the music literally gets cut off in this version. Is it possible to completely remove those 10 seconds of music? If not, can you replace it with something more downplayed?

Thanks again,

Sandro

SICL95

10/3/2015 02:39:20 pm

Hey, I've just watched your edit for the first time and it's great one of if not the the best fan edit that I've seen so far, Thank You. I look forward to seeing the Battle of the Five Armies EE scenes added in. If I was going to say one thing it would be that I missed the Beorn-Dwarf introduction and the extended scene in mirkwood but I understand why you would have chosen to leave them out.

SICL95

10/3/2015 02:49:58 pm

Also an edit I was working on for these films I used removed footage that was shown in the trailers of Azog in the barrel chase scene and it worked well, I'm sure you could do it better. Not trying to tell you what to do at all I appreciate your work and love what you've done so far. :)

John

10/9/2015 01:59:23 pm

The problem with the narration is it's taken from different scenes and it shows because Ian McKellen's diction changes and it sounds unnatural now that it's been put together like a single sentence. I know you're rather against adding in the EE Beorn introduction but I think cutting from the eagles flying to that scene would flow more naturally than a narration that is clearly taken from separate scenes where the background noise is clearly audible.

Will

10/30/2015 03:32:00 pm

I think the voiceover could also work if you just include Gandalf's first part of the voiceover; up until "where we might take refuge.". Then leave the rest of the clip as it is in your first edit, with the company running from Azog and Beorn.

This also allows you to keep more Azog in the film (he is the film's primary antagonist and we do need to see him).

One more suggestion: in Azog's extract of this scene, you could include the part where Bolg turns up; thereby explaining Azog's departure from the narrative until BOFA, as well as introducing Bolg as a secondary antagonist. Then, on top of that, you could include Azog's scene with Sauron in Dol Guldur in the Durin's Folk side film.

Jake

11/7/2015 10:52:24 pm

I feel this is an excellent addition. You do excellent work.

This was one of only two changes I thought the movie needed, and the way you handled it was great.

The other change I suggested was having some of the orc attack on the barrels out of bond, just enough to show Thorin throwing the sword to save Legolas. Then, show an abbreviated form of Legalos' scene at the end where he saves Thorin by throwing Orcrist. That would explain the only real continuity challenge with this edit: how does Thorin get Orcrist? Also it provides a small arc for Legolas.

Dustin

11/8/2015 07:28:51 am

Thanks Jake! Unfortunately, the Orcrist question is one that can't be solved easily. In order for me to show Thorin getting his sword back, I have to include a LOT more Legolas for it to make sense. It's a chain reaction of crappy footage that would need to re-inserted. So in this case I would rather deal with a small plot hole than bog the edit down with CGI elf acrobatics.

Jake

11/8/2015 09:54:58 am

Understand that completely, priorities after all.

Man, PJ really screwed this one up, didn't he? It's amazing that even with incredible fan editing these types of problems are going to linger. I've seen some fan edits of the Star Wars prequels that make them pretty much perfect, and that is saying something indeed.

Casey

11/21/2015 07:18:58 pm

Great edit. I was wondering how hard it might be to change the colour of the flames on the pinecones Gandalf throws? In the book he lights up three different coloured ones: red, blue, and green. I always liked that a lot in the book, and I was really bummed out that they were just regular flames in the film.

Dustin

11/21/2015 10:39:11 pm

Hello! Unfortunately that would be quite difficult for me to change the colors of the flaming pinecones. I'm afraid we will just have to live with the version you see in the film!

Victor Soares

8/9/2020 03:46:26 am

ok that is fun and all but... where is the download link??? the only download link that i can find, is the one you cut the eagle's scene, and for me, that being such an important scene, i rather find the download link for the version where the eagles are acctuly there.

but as i stated, the only download link i culd find, is the version where the eagles arent there, and that one is not the one i want to watch ;-;

JasonBoiii

10/21/2020 03:38:49 pm

Hey man, I've heard Alot about this particular fan edit
Like a lot of awesome things, I. Leaving this reply here in
2020 and I think you did most of this back in 2015-16
But dude.... 100% epic, huge compliment, wonderful editing skills. I am a huge fan of the book & greatly disappointed by the film franchise
But If you could edit this scene still with the eagle dismount instead of cutting directly to Beorns house then tthat would make this edit even more than book awesome but also cinematography gold
( Personally in my own opinion is figure out a different way to add Gandalf's introduction to Beorns house other than the voice over, that's a slight pet peace of mine
I'd like to see that audio left untouched
Then as you said specifically yourself if you could cut out Azog completely from Beorns house this would also be awesome, cinematically it doesn't make any sense to have Azog In these films other than
1). Out of the frying pan and into the fire
The. Have him completely disappear and never show up again until
2). The battle of 5 armies
( It makes not Alot of sense to have him in the movies at all since he was supposed to have been killed 50 years before the hobbit... But if he only appears twice In the entire franchise then we have a little bit of cinematic gold and a slight justification for that cuz )

As far as after the untouched Eagle dismount scene I would like to see maybe the intro to the desolation of smaug left more in tact
Have the dwarves runnin' through the forest when gandalf gives the voice over ( In my opinion at least the point of the edits shouldn't be to stuff it all into one movie, it's okay to have nearly 4/5 hours of footage ... The goal should be
Making it all more bilbo centric, cutting out all the side quests not In the original source material novel, completely cutting out all cartoony action stunts such as the entire barrel escape scene... Like no orcs at all.. no Legolas unless he only makes a 3 second stan lee style cameo. Just cut directly from the archers and the dwarves escape to the dwarves washing up on shore meeting bard the bow man ) cut out Tauriel from the franchise completely
Cut out Gladriel
Etc ....
Certain Things it is okay to keep like the insanely long 30 just to get out the door sequence only because it aligns itself truthfully with how Tolkien wrote the source material
Anything from the source material should be left In tact
Just please cut out the cartoony actions sequences that ruined these movies for me.

JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit