 After more than two years of work, I am very excited to have completed the final version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit! Here is the link to the Downloads Page for your convenience.
This fan edit has been created using only the highest-quality media available...full HD Bluray and 5.1 surround sound. Working with 5.1 has given me far more options for audio editing than a simple stereo track. Here's just a sample of some of the work I've done on the film.
SO. If you’d like to watch this fan edit, I only ask that you legally own all three films in advance. It’s only fair to the copyright holders, regardless of how you feel about the original films. Right now you can enjoy the HD digital copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, but in the next week or so you will be able choose from DVD or Bluray ISO files. They will both be 2-disc sets with custom artwork (available for free on my site). They will feature 5.1 digital surround sound, interactive menus, the whole shebang. Eventually I plan to add subtitles in multiple languages…several people have volunteered to help translate already! Finally, I’ll include a side quest film called Durin’s Folk and the Hill of Sorcery on the special features. It’s an hour-long film that follows the Dol Guldur subplot and how it ties into the dwarves’ backstory. This subplot actually works a lot better when it’s not distracting from the main story of the Hobbit! Phew, long post. I’ve said it many times since I began working on this edit, but buried somewhere underneath the uneven, bloated Hobbit trilogy is a truly great film. For me at least, I have finally found that film. Hopefully you’ll think so too!
136 Comments
Muse88
12/1/2015 04:56:17 pm
Fantastic!!! downloading now! Thanks for all of your hard work :) 1 quick question. I downloaded the Vemeo version of the Durans Folk and the Hill of Sorcery, Should I redownload the new version?
Dustin
12/1/2015 07:49:30 pm
The new version of Durin's Folk is not ready yet! Sometime later this week probably.
Lizzie
12/2/2015 03:00:32 am
heya Dustin! Would you be able to create a digital copy of the Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery for those of use who wish to watch it on our ipad?
Leonardo (leonmuse)
12/1/2015 05:02:16 pm
Finally it's here! Thank you my friend!
Bilbob Baggins (Bob)
12/1/2015 08:18:11 pm
Thank you so much for putting in so much work to make this edit! I have watched your April cut a couple times and you did a remarkable job. As someone who dabbles in all things audio/video I truly understand the tedious work and massive amounts of time needed to edit like this, so great job, really! I hope your fans truly appreciate all the work you've done.
Jackie
12/5/2015 01:57:34 am
I have had too a positive attachment with PJ LofR...i have been in cinema over 15 times for the first film and multiple times for the next. I made costumes and go in them to the cinema...and to fan events...and many more...i really truely love LotR...
Tyler
12/1/2015 08:39:42 pm
Downloading now! Can't wait to experience this film without all the excess! How is the torrent coming for everyone? Mine is very slow. Would it be any faster to go through MEGA?
Eric
12/2/2015 12:40:53 am
Yeah, torrent was really slow for me too. Switched to MEGASync and it's a lot faster. I will download the torrent as well when the MEGA download is done though, just so I can help seed this masterpiece :)
Ben
12/2/2015 01:11:52 am
Hey!
Andy
12/2/2015 02:12:21 am
Finally! The wait is over. Thank you for your enormous effort. Love from continents apart!
Jose
12/2/2015 02:28:58 am
Thank you Dustin for the work you have put into this project!!!
Andy
12/2/2015 06:00:23 am
Dustin, I wondered what was this COLOR CORRECTION chatter all about & tried watching the semi-downloaded file. The colors are washed out & de-saturated. Why would you do that?
Dustin
12/2/2015 06:56:42 am
Most of my color correction work was done on An Unexpected Journey. That film in particular was way too vibrant, especially with the way oranges and blues popped out on the screen. I color corrected those portions of the film to match closer with LOTR's color palette.
Eric
12/2/2015 08:17:38 am
As much as I admire your work, I really must agree with Andy on this one. The colour correction was WAY overdone at some places. Seriously, compare these two frames from the beginning and from the end of the film:
Riley
12/2/2015 07:10:50 am
I'm with Dustin in this one, the color correction was the way to go. The originals were way overboard and it felt like a cheesy video game more than an real, epic adventure.
Phil
12/4/2015 07:18:24 pm
Really? I'm with Eric & Andy in this one. Colour correction went too extreme in the edit. I admit that there were some oversaturated shots in PJ's version but Dustin didn't have to overcorrect it. Most scenes in the first hour of the edit felt incredibly cold and colourless. Now I know how Dustin could have spent two years working on this....
Joe
12/16/2015 10:44:17 pm
Surely, you must be joking.
Arne
12/2/2015 07:34:14 am
Thanks, for your effort! Downloading right now...
Dustin
12/2/2015 08:48:55 am
Sure why not? I just added the AC3 5.1 file to the downloads page. It's on you to mux it however. Let me know if it works in case I need to fix anything.
Tobias
12/2/2015 09:26:58 am
That file seems to be the whole movie again (9.79GB), not just the audio.
Sean
12/2/2015 11:06:28 am
Thanks for your hard work and I am very much looking forward to viewing a more faithful edit of The Hobbit. Will the Bluray ISO version will have a DTS track rather than (or in addition to) the AC3 track?
Arne
12/2/2015 04:02:59 pm
Thanks, a lot for the AC3! It works fine. Now the only thing missing is an english subtitle file ;-)
Wally
12/2/2015 09:23:57 am
Good idea. Don't fancy downloading everything again!
Dustin
12/2/2015 09:36:16 am
Oops. Link was wrong at first. Fixed it.
Robert
12/2/2015 12:49:03 pm
I wish you wouldn't advertise it as a single film for the sake of trying to prove a point (that point being: 'The Hobbit should have been one film').
Sean
12/2/2015 01:03:10 pm
By your logic, then, is the original Lord of The Rings "Trilogy", in its extended form, actually 6 films? I seem to recall that the extended versions for the DVD release were on 2 discs each...with an intermission to change discs. Per IMDB, RotK: Extended ran for 253 minutes (and for that matter, the Bluray extended version is 263 minutes). Is Return of the King actually 2 films?
Robert
12/14/2015 08:57:49 am
'I seem to recall that the extended versions for the DVD release were on 2 discs each... with an intermission to change discs.'
Dustin
12/14/2015 09:41:20 am
If this had been released in theaters, it would have definitely been split into two films. From a business standpoint it makes sense, as long as there is enough good content for a pair of two-hour films.
Tyler
12/2/2015 06:08:54 pm
Tried megasync and it worked wonders. Love everything about this edit. Though fan edits can never be perfect (especially when editing to better match a novel said film is based on), this one comes pretty darn close. I reread my copy of The Annotated Hobbit recently and this was a great way to cap my read. There is a decent adaptation of the The Hobbit in Jackson's films, it's just buried under side stories, Go Pro shots, and over the top CGI. This is now my go to version. I may even purchase a blu-ray drive for my computer just for the sake of having this version on my shelf, alongside both The Hobbit and LOTR extended trilogies.
Drake
12/2/2015 11:30:30 pm
Hi Dustin,
Rémi
12/3/2015 11:45:16 am
Hi Dustin.
Dustin
12/4/2015 11:57:45 am
We are almost done with the English subs, after which we can have our volunteers translate to other languages (including French). It will still be another week or so however.
Brad
12/3/2015 03:07:15 pm
Downloading now! I'm so excited to watch this. It's completely evident that you've worked really hard on this, and have used tools that other editors may not have thought of.
Jackson
12/4/2015 01:40:37 pm
Maybe this was making the best of a bad situation, but I'm curious why you left Smaug shaking off the "gold"? You changed it to look like water, but then it still raises the question of how he got covered in water.
Sandro Algra
12/4/2015 03:08:15 pm
You could argue that it's supposed to be dust, which he get's from breaking out of the gate. But yeah, it still has too much gloss and it looks very green when he shakes it off. I wonder how long Dustin struggled with colour correcting this detail.
Dustin
12/4/2015 04:45:05 pm
It was quite a struggle trying to get rid of that gold, lol. The problem wasn't so much the color, but the texture. The shiny coating ruins Smaug's scaly texture, and that was beyond my capabilities to fix. So I had to settle for just changing his color.
Jackson
12/4/2015 10:11:02 pm
Given that it's such a short part of the film, have you considered outsourcing that part to see if someone with more experience with digital editing might be able to help?
Will
12/5/2015 05:35:34 am
You could argue that the gold being shaken off is gold pieces from the treasure that are engraved in his scales.
Dave Smith
12/4/2015 09:55:50 pm
Hey Dustin. I just watched this and it was amazing, easily the best. The only part that I could tell was edited was after Bard confronts Thorin.Thorin begins to say something, but then it skips to the next sentence. Also i'm just curious as to why the Mirwkood extended scenes were cut? They were from the book and helped establish how lost and long the company was stuck in the forest. If this is indeed a purist edit I think those would make the film perfect, and they aren't too long
Jack C
12/5/2015 07:50:44 am
I agree with all of this
Aaron
12/5/2015 02:47:21 pm
Sadly, this isn't in fact a "purist edit" -- otherwise you're right, it'd be there. Dustin himself is a filmmaker, and so this is his take on it as a film. He's suggested these sentiments on the relevant subreddits, etc.
Jack
12/5/2015 12:23:48 am
I think agree with a lot of other people here that while this is really impressive, there are a couple things that could still use some work. The desaturation was taken too far, imo. Also a couple of edits were kind of iffy, like for instance when they're escaping Smaug, why leave in the shot of Smaug "reactivating" the furnaces if it no longer comes into play later. I also think more of the Beorn introduction sequence could have been left in; as it is, the sudden transition from Gandalf voice-over (this could also use some further sound-editing, it seems off) to sleeping in the House is jarring. There are others that people have mentioned elsewhere in the comments.
Jack
12/5/2015 12:47:11 am
a quick edit: After rewatching the original EE of DOS, there's probably not much you can do about going straight from eagles to Beorn's, but I completely agree that reintroducing the "two by two" scene from the book will smoothen the whole process immensely. It makes it clear that they showed up there without him knowing and gives a proper "introduction" to Beorn's character.
Phil
12/6/2015 12:46:20 am
I agree with your exposition, Jack. Well done.
Jon
12/31/2015 01:42:07 am
I had another look at the Beorn intro scene and it's around 5.30 minutes long. The Mirkwood stream scene that some people also want to see is also over 5 minutes. As much as I think these were nice scenes, they are way too long and, IMO, tedious. As a result I have to agree with Dustin's edit.
Akram
12/5/2015 03:18:40 am
Thanks Dustin for all this effort and toil to put together the Hobbit movie we all wanted to see. Whatever comments you get on what should have been in or out, I want you to know you made the right call.
James
12/5/2015 07:49:09 am
Please add in the extended intro of Beorn and more mirkwood! Other than that amazing work
Patrick Kane
12/5/2015 08:09:04 am
That would totally make this the definitive version for me, I missed those scenes from the book
Dustin
12/5/2015 12:02:50 pm
These two scenes were brought up in feedback when I released my first version in April. I know those scenes are in the book, but they REALLY slowed the film down. There's a reason PJ didn't include them in the theatricals. We don't need to spend 5 minutes being re-introduced to the dwarves one by one, especially so far into the story. It's redundant.
Dean
12/5/2015 12:33:41 pm
The Beorn EE scene does more than just "reintroduce the dwarves." It does create a lull, but it does the same thing in the book as well and there's a reason Tolkien included it there. After the huge climax with the Wargs and Eagles, it lets the audience "reset" with some humor and is just in general a great scene. I hope that you take some of the advice people in these comments because as great as this cut is, it could still use some improvement.
James
12/5/2015 03:42:00 pm
Interesting, that does seem like a good compromise. Perhaps if only the mirkwood scene was added in it wouldn't add much to the length, but would help accomplish just how long the company was in the forest. Maybe it's just me, but I never liked how Mirkwood seemed like and afterthought in the theatrical edition.
Trevor
3/10/2016 09:00:19 am
I do want to chime in and agree with my colleagues. While it is certainly your edit, that feedback remains as true today as it did earlier. The scene with Beorn was in the book. By ignoring it, the same sins that led to a bloated film are being committed again.
Stephen
4/1/2018 01:07:57 pm
I agree and disagree with this. It does in fact slow down the films. It probably wasn’t needed for Jackson’s because they were too long to begin with but would have fit very nicely into your edit.
Luke
12/5/2015 03:38:01 pm
I'm gonna echo everyone else and say that the desaturation was taken way too far.
Ryan
12/5/2015 06:24:07 pm
I just watched the edit and I really enjoyed it. The edit is far superior to any of the original films. Moreover, most of the cuts are invisible, which I found to be very impressive. Below are my thoughts on which edits were excellent and which edits could be improved.
Ryan
12/5/2015 06:27:43 pm
Also, I didn't mind the colour correct so much (in fact, I liked it). However, Eric does have a point. The contrast between the first and last scenes of the shire is a bit much. Perhaps tone down the last scene a bit and tone up the first scene a bit.
Jason
12/5/2015 07:02:04 pm
I agree that there was some level of color correction needed for the first couple of films, but I think that Dustin just went too far with it. When I think of Hobbits and The Shire, the first thing that should come to mind is "cozy and warm." The major desaturation Dustin used takes away too many of the warm reds and oranges and makes things look cold and grey.
Nicolas
12/5/2015 06:54:26 pm
I have finally watched the final version of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and these are my thoughts.
Chad
12/5/2015 07:18:49 pm
This is a really superb edit. Others are pointing out that there are weaknesses here and there - sure - but I actually enjoyed watching the Hobbit for the first time and really cared about what happened to the characters at the end. That is quite an achievement since, the first time round I just found the characters annoying and couldn't wait for most of them to meet their end so the pain would finally stop. The scene you recut with Fili and Kili was especially great. Well done.
Will
12/6/2015 02:48:59 am
Hi Dustin, congratulations on completing this labour of love. We all appreciate the amount of detail and passion you've put into this project and I enjoy the film very much, it now feels as though it's on the same level as LOTR.
Jackson
12/6/2015 09:03:25 am
I actually completely disagree with trying to make the barrel scene more of an "action climax." Maybe it's the book purist in me, but they originally just floated away and that was that. The more it represents Tolkien's work, imo, the better.
Will
12/6/2015 09:37:38 am
Maybe I'm using the wrong phrasing by calling it an "action climax" it's more of a set piece. I know that originally in the book they just floated down the river, but in Dustin's version, it's an action set piece.
Brian
12/9/2015 09:27:31 pm
I totally agree with Jackson. If it were me, we'd see only shots of the barrels floating down the river with no pursuing elves, no orc attack, and no getting stopped by the gate. Just drop out of the cellar, bobbing through rapids, at the end we see elves rushing around the empty cells and heading to the cellar, then cut back to the dwarves landing on the shore and meeting Bard.
Andy
12/6/2015 04:59:43 am
The Gollum scene was one of the saving graces of this bad movie trilogy & I think you mentioned you had left it largely intact. And yet you edited out the intro scene of GOLLUM.
Emrys
12/6/2015 02:21:34 pm
Hi Dustin,
Jon
12/6/2015 11:50:58 pm
Hello Dustin. I just wanted to say thanks and congratulations on a fine job. I enjoyed this more than the original movies and I don't think that there is higher praise!
Just finished The Hobbit fan edit, a very good effort. Perhaps a bit too harsh on the cuts at times would have liked to have seen more Beorn as it felt a little choppy there, the only other time things feel a little chopped up are the final battle scenes with bolg and azog at ravenhill (and that's most likely because of all the legolas and tauriel action in the original edits)
B.W.
12/9/2015 09:21:17 pm
As someone who never saw the final battle, I didn't notice the choppiness during the Ravenhill scenes, and in fact had no idea until reading the list of edits that Kili & Fili didn't die together with Azog and (as far as I could tell) a random orc underling standing side by side. How did they get captured? Didn't matter to me that it happened off camera...Azog is a tough enough guy to buy it.
David
2/3/2016 09:19:17 pm
I was also having problems with the 5.1 AC3 file and the swapped channels. Did it ever get fixed?
Tyler
1/23/2017 12:40:12 pm
Dustin, would you be able to upload the current AC3 file?
Hugo Paiva
12/7/2015 10:06:44 pm
There will be a 720p download option?
Sebastian
12/8/2015 09:01:22 am
Having seen it all I was very impressed. This is fantastic and is definetly the best Hobbit edit I've seen, however I have a few constructive criticisms (pretty much everything was perfect):
Daniel Möller
12/8/2015 11:38:36 am
First of all, let me thank you for the massive amount of work you have done to make the bloated and what I thought almost irredeemable Hobbit "trilogy" into one (or maybe two?) highly enjoyable and surprisingly touching film. I really applaude your effort, and your version of the film is far superior to Jackson's! (I won't blame Jabez Olssen, as he probably followed Jackson's instructions). Who would have thought that such a film lay buried in the mess that was the trilogy. I will list some pros and cons with your edit, and my sentiments will probably echo a lot of other posters'. Some of the cuts and transisions feel a bit abrupt, but that is entirely because of what you had to work with.
Brian
12/9/2015 09:14:08 pm
I do agree that I would have liked the transition to Beorn, and the time at his house to be different. I'm not sure why the eagles dropping them at the Carrock was cut, for one. It's way more abrupt without it. And if at all possible the way we find out he's a bear should from Bilbo seeing him out in the woods, not from voice over or the horrible chase scene (which I'm so glad got left out). But I'm not sure that with the existing footage it would have allowed for much more than what we got.
Caroline
12/8/2015 12:30:35 pm
Not sure what I've done wrong, but I downloaded it in my browser but when I go to play it on VLC, the sound is there, but I just get an Attuned Vibrations logo on a black screen all the way through. What am I missing? thanks
Chris
12/8/2015 12:56:23 pm
I agree with most people here in that I think that there were definitely a number of unnecessary cuts made in an attempt to make it into 1 very long movie instead of 2 average sized ones. I think the latter would make for a better experience.
DanteS
12/8/2015 01:33:24 pm
Is it too late, or too much work to ask, to make Glamdring glow white in the presence of goblins and orcs ?
Dustin
12/9/2015 08:19:51 am
Unfortunately it would take way too much time for me to make Glamdring and Orcrist glow. This is an issue you'll have to take up with Peter Jackson! Thanks for the message.
Aaron
12/9/2015 08:26:32 am
Hey Dustin! Have you considered other feedback in the thread, as far as color correction, Beorn, etc.? There seem to be basically only 2-3 main things that extremely consistently come back as feedback points, rather than everyone having different idiosyncratic suggestions. Thought?
Dabte
12/9/2015 11:28:38 am
He said that he fixed the color correction for the DVD/Blu Ray release. But adding scenes would mess up the time signatures for subtitles so beorn and such are in his side quest film, which will be in the special features
Brad
12/9/2015 03:47:20 pm
I really like your work. There is however a moment of awkward audio around 2:22:15 when Thorin is giving his speech at Lake Town. I think maybe a split second of unintentional dialogue sneaks in where two audio clips were dissolved together. It's a little jarring. Is that fixable?
Dustin
12/14/2015 07:48:23 am
Yes several people have noticed that...you guys have sharp ears! It definitely slipped past me haha. I have fixed this issue for the upcoming DVD/Bluray release.
Dante
12/14/2015 12:08:37 pm
I hate to nag. But when do you think the DVD version will be released?
Brian
12/9/2015 09:05:19 pm
Thanks so much for this. I was so disappointed with the original versions of these. The edits to Unexpected Journey were almost perfect, everywhere I wanted something left out (such as rock giants, falling Goblintown bridge, Radagast) were cut exactly. I do have a few suggestions in case you ever decide to do some more tinkering:
Dustin
12/14/2015 08:01:59 am
Thanks for the feedback! I'd like to address each of the points you brought up in your post.
James Ellis
12/10/2015 12:23:46 am
I'm so happy that your edit exists! I would have never appreciated a lot of the work that went into these movies due to the excessive amount of crap that found its way in. Thank you so much for all of your work on this and I'm really looking forward to the Blu-Ray release!
Dustin
12/14/2015 07:47:06 am
Thank you James!!
Gerry Blue
12/14/2015 06:14:55 pm
Thanks indeed for all your efforts, this rocks!!
Garret
12/15/2015 06:47:29 pm
This is really solid work, Dustin. Seriously, this edit makes my heart happy. I for one am extremely satisfied with the edit! Any idea of when we might see the Blu-ray version of this on the downloads page?
Gary V
12/15/2015 07:41:51 pm
I can't wait to see the blu ray version of this edit! I am in whole agreement with you that these three films had a lot of fat to trim, but underneath there is indeed a great film. Again, can't wait for the blu ray download!
Gary V
12/17/2015 07:40:16 pm
Where can I download this?, it seems to be flagged.
Bob
12/16/2015 08:19:01 am
Dustin, your edit is just brilliant. It is more cohesive and more emotional than the original, as the focus is now on the Company just as it was in the book. This will be the only version I will watch from now. Thank you so much for all your hard work and effort!
David
12/19/2015 09:19:26 am
Dustin,
Andrea
12/22/2015 05:39:40 pm
Sir this is a true masterpiece and you're a genius. Thank you for this. Thank you. Thank you for your precious time spent on this work. This is not perfection, of course, but we won't never get that, especially from a fan edit. There's a little weakness in fili and kili's death, but I'm sure that part required you a lot of work, and overall this edit has gained a 9.5/10 in my personal rating scale. Thank you again, this will be part of my collection and I'll spread voice of your work to all my friends.
Will
12/25/2015 01:33:28 pm
That sounds great! I'd love to see an edit with Beorn's EE intro and more Mirkwood. As for the alternate intro to the battle, does that include the elves and dwarves fighting?
Will
12/25/2015 01:35:17 pm
My apologies, ignore the comment above.
Dan
12/27/2015 03:35:30 pm
Hey, awesome work you've done with this!
Dustin
1/4/2016 11:03:45 am
Thank you, the subtitles were giving me lots of errors when I tried importing them into my DVD/Bluray projects. So I've decided to add the English subs to the downloads page, where you can grab them and add them to the film on your own.
Dan
1/4/2016 12:53:34 pm
Thanks, but I can't get it to work, VLC throws this error:
Haydon
1/4/2016 04:32:45 am
Would just like to say that I was blown away with this. I always felt that a good story was in there and that some fine acting performances were let down by a bloated and poorly directed story. I've introduced this to family and friends and everyone loves it bar a few minor nitpicks. I was also pleasantly surprised at how well Durin's Folk compliments the main movie. Thank's so much for your hard work. Can't wait for the blu ray!
Dustin
1/4/2016 11:04:38 am
Thank you Haydon! I'm glad you and your family/friends have enjoyed it.
Will
1/5/2016 10:49:38 am
About a week ago, someone was commenting on this page about an extended edition for J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit (I believe his name was Akran).
franklapidus4ever
1/26/2016 01:15:56 pm
I've kind of made my own "extended" version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.... ;) I've put the Beorn introduction back in, as well as other little bits and pieces here and there. I'll admit I put some more Legolas and Tauriel back into the film. Nothing love triangle related, but enough to show why and how they randomly show up in the middle of the Battle of the Five Armies.
Will
2/12/2016 03:32:00 am
Do you have a link up online? I'd be interested to give your edit a watch. Also, have you made any changes in terms of colour correction?
Dan
1/5/2016 01:30:35 pm
Hello again. Just wanted to let you know that the BluRay ISO files torrent is really, REALLY slow, only a few B/s most of the time. Yes, B/s. It's going to be impossible to download it like this, I've setup a few seedboxes but even they can't download.
Dustin
1/5/2016 01:34:47 pm
Yeah I've noticed that. If I duplicated the files on another computer & network, how could I add a seed to that download?
Dan
1/5/2016 05:18:03 pm
I don't know which program you use but it should be similar between most of them: http://help.utorrent.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1826054-how-do-i-migrate-torrents-from-a-different-client-to-utorrent-?b_id=3883
Dan
1/8/2016 02:39:27 pm
Hello once again. The subtitles included in the BluRay torrent aren't synced correctly, they get a gradually bigger delay as we watch the film.
Dustin
1/8/2016 06:43:04 pm
Hmm, I'm not sure why that is. I had so many issues with the subs that I just gave up trying to make them work.
David
7/5/2016 01:52:54 pm
I'm watching this for the third time in three days. Brilliant. It gives me the same feeling I had when Fellowship came out. Your recut is much better than the official movies.
Natalie
7/17/2016 06:01:08 pm
All I can say here is thank you. Really. Thank you so much. The Hobbit is one of my favorite books and one of my favorite stories, and to see it mangled the way it was in the hobbit trilogy hurt me in my soul. You took it and you gave it life again, the way it should have been, and gave me a version stripped down and wonderful. There's almost nothing I wanted to change, aside from little tiny bits, like removing Gandalf's "don't enter that mountain without me" (as you completely removed everything surrounding it that made that line at all relevant) or cutting Thranduil's scar and skipping from "do not speak to me of dragonfire" to "I warned your grandfather" because it is still very wtf, or cutting "your gratitude is misplaced" and skipping right to 'i come to claim something of mine', which also gives Bard a reason to work with Thranduil, other than just treasure.
Dustin
7/28/2016 01:09:32 pm
Thank you Natalie! Like you I was also disappointed with how Mirkwood was portrayed in the film...but I didn't think the enchanted river would have really helped it all that much. Ultimately it slowed the pace down without adding anything to the story.
Vincent
9/20/2016 02:32:04 pm
Hi Dustin, just to let you know I posted two mini-reviews on the Fanedit.org thread. I'm not sure whether you'd ever consider going back to this edit but still wanted to give you my two cents. My username there is axxofan. All in all, apart from a few criticisms, we've really enjoyed your edit!
Payton Tarver
1/10/2017 12:00:57 pm
Thank you so much for this edit Dustin. Glad to say that I'll be watching this before The Lord of the Rings probably for the rest of my life.
Dustin
1/10/2017 07:00:27 pm
Thank you Payton! I chose to include the Intermission where Peter Jackson indicated he would have split the Hobbit when it was still two films. It would have made a very disappointing ending in theaters, but I think it works in terms of splitting a four-hour film in half!
Jon
5/10/2017 05:03:09 am
I just wanted to say that like others, this is now my "go to" version of the hobbit. My favorite changes that you made was the deletion of uber cgi and cartoon action scenes. I actually feel suspense now instead of glancing at the clock during the scenes with the trolls, goblin town, and with Smaug. The scene you worked on that surprised me the most was Bilbo talking with Smaug. It went from not feeling like the book at all to reliving reading the book as a kid! Just great work. Thank you!
Dustin
5/10/2017 11:16:41 am
Thanks Jon! I wish they had stuck with more practical effects and miniatures like they did with LOTR...oh well. Lots of "what ifs" with the Hobbit films. But I'm glad you enjoyed this edit- I definitely recommend taking the time to download either the DVD or Bluray ISO files and burning them to discs. Totally worth it :)
Sam
7/26/2017 08:58:04 am
Why is the intermission present in the digital version of the hobbit? Seems unnecessary
Dustin
7/26/2017 09:33:12 am
I just thought it would be fun to keep it in. You can get up and take a quick bathroom break while it plays, or just scrub past it!
Casey
8/18/2017 09:30:02 pm
Finally got a chance to watch this, and really enjoyed it - great job! This will definitely be my main version from here on in.
Ambaryerno
10/21/2017 07:17:57 pm
Just finished Disk One and love the work you've done so far. I do wish you'd used the extended parts of the House of Beorn, tho. It's been a while since I watched DoSEE, but didn't they film a scene of Gandalf introducing the Dwarves that was more accurate to the books? I seem to remember a sequence of them approaching him while chopping wood.
Ambaryerno
10/21/2017 10:02:50 pm
Finished the second half. It's really too bad you didn't edit the Death of Smaug. It seemed it could have been altered so the last regular arrow being loosed cuts to the shot of the Black Arrow piercing Smaug's hide. Bard's arrows look similar enough and it happens so quickly you probably wouldn't even notice the difference.
Ciano
3/15/2018 07:41:28 am
That edit might be harder than you think, but I'd love to see you try! Seriously, I'm not trying to goad you, I'd love to see the problem tackled creatively. And even if you couldn't make it work, it would be interesting to see why. Video editing is a cool and often underestimated process, and I love seeing other people solve problems in different ways through editing.
Scott Sherrell
1/29/2018 05:15:10 am
The main problem with this edit is it is still too long. The Hobbit should be cut down to a single three hour movie. I would greatly prefer a movie I could watch in one sitting over a four hour movie with an intermission. The novel is shorter than any of the Lord of the Rings books.
Dustin
1/29/2018 07:40:04 am
I have to disagree. The actual Hobbit book may be shorter than any of the LOTR books, but it covers a ton of story and plot. Certainly not enough for a 9-10 hour trilogy like Peter Jackson ended up making, but a 4-hour version seems to fit just right for me.
Ambaryerno
1/29/2018 08:14:11 am
Yeah, I don't think the length is a problem. In fact I wish he'd reedit to use the extended introduction to Beorn rather than just cutting from the Eagles flying right to his house.
Ciano
3/11/2018 08:33:54 pm
Why did you leave out the stone giants?
Dustin
3/12/2018 09:06:27 am
The stone giant sequence in the film was too ridiculous and over-the-top. They are mentioned in the book but never shown to the extent PJ depicts them. Certainly not with the entire company jumping across giant stone kneecaps, haha.
Ciano
3/15/2018 07:37:18 am
Aww man. I really liked the minor detail of the stone giants in the book, and I thought it was amazingly cool how they did them in the movie. But I respect your decision to leave out what you wanted to in your edit.
Greg
9/3/2018 04:48:28 pm
I really wish the stone giants were left in also. My ideal edit would be just like maple edit (which I love) but including stone giants (but excluding the stone giant scenes with stone giants fist fighting or getting heads knocked off)
Stephen
4/1/2018 12:53:47 pm
I’ve watched a few fan edits in search of the best. I know there is a great film hidden within the hours of extra nonsense. While you obviously put a ton of time and love into this it’s unfortunate for me that key scenes that I really enjoyed were left out of your cut. I’m only partially through but thus far....
Eric
4/1/2018 01:13:05 pm
The scene where Bilbo asks about the other wizards and the scene where Gandalf introduces the dwarves are both in the "side quest" film; Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery.
Dustin
4/2/2018 12:15:57 pm
Thanks for the lengthy feedback! I did try to keep the edit close to the book, but there were certain book scenes (like Beorn's intro and the extended Mirkwood stuff) that just didn't come across well on film. They added little to the story and slowed the pace down considerably.
Rex
10/6/2018 09:34:48 am
Hi Dustin, Leave a Reply. |
AboutThis page is dedicated to my ongoing fanedit project for The Hobbit trilogy, titled J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. The plan is to edit three mediocre films into one (hopefully) excellent film. Click here to jump straight to the Downloads Page. Archives
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