Synopsis:

The edit is made entirely from the idea of making it a good movie. Book accuracy is thrown out of the window if a cut is simply more clean without it. We have a plethora of incredible book accurate cuts, but I miss some of the added drama Peter Jackson sometimes correctly added.

Intentions:

To challenge myself, and to complete the circle. There are now 6 Precious Editions.

Change List:

Added a nice film grain layer, which does not affect highlights as proper film grain should. Created a new opening, with narration. Taken from the first film. This cuts to the title screen in an utterly dramatic fashion. Removed all early viewings of the bear. We now hear Bilbo saw a bear, and can experience the same disbelieve the dwarfs have. We don't need to see it, far better to keep the mystery. A rare example of: tell, don't show. Removed all heavy handed exposition done by Beorn. We don't need to have him and his family killed by Azog. The universe becomes smaller if everyone knows that pale orc. Also, how is he going to be useful in the war if he's such a pushover? Cut the flash to the eye when gandalf sees the painting of an eye. Keep the mystery. Kept everything that works about the battle with the barrels, and cut everything that is too expositiony. No Bolg here, just an orc attack where Fili get's shot in the leg. Then they escape and we see some elves doing cool elf stuff. Cut Tauriel as much as necessary but not completely. She is a guard, nothing more. Book accuracy is not the goal, creating lean cuts is the goal. Plus, she is absolutely gorgeous. Kept the orc interrogation, but removed all the cringe/heavy exposition. Mystery kept. This orc attack prompts legolas to go on his own investigation in the third film. Cut the cringe of bard entering lake town with Alfrid being overly evil, but kept the toilet dwarfs. He's a smuggler, ofcourse he smuggles them in his house. Plus, it's comedy gold. This often get's cut in the search for book accuracy, but I can keep it. Kept Bard's children, but cut Tauriel and Legolas completely here. This was very tricky, but ultimately leads to a far more satisfying climax. Kept some of the dwarfs missing the boat. This is good added tension, and helps some of the dwarfs go against Thorin's decision to NOT help the laketowners in the third film. They saw their suffering first-hand. Good change, Peter Jackson. Removed Alfrid cringe moments. This was rather easy. Removed some out-of-place looking extra's. This was tricky, but worth it to create a more consistent looking Middle Earth. I kept the tapestry scene for ONE reason and ONE reason only: The merchant sounds exactly like Patches from Dark Souls ( can someone confirm if it's the same actor? ). The cross-over we never asked for, but we got anyway! Removed Bilbo backing up the Dwarfs. There is no reason for him to somehow be a valid voice, this is the Master's decision only. Removed EVERYTHING regarding the Dol Guldor scenes with Thorin's father. Instead, we get something.. that.. you guessed it.. keeps the mystery. Cut around everything to keep Bard out of jail, keep as much Dragon scenes as possible, and have the dragon attack laketown afterwards. Bard is not with his children, because he's being searched for by the time Smaug shows up. The Dragon attacks laketown, the dwarfs and the kids try to escape. The rest continues as in the original. Zero Tauriel and Legolas here. This allows for a climactic version with the boy being used as a ballista (Bard has a son in the book as well, so yay!). Rediculous? I suppose so, but now we have visual consistency. Plus, with all other cringe removed, this becomes far more tolerable. Created a completely unique, new ending. I will not spoil anything, but it tells us what we need to know about the war in part three and raises the stakes dramatically! This is where Chipbayless went all out with crazy suggestions. Some micro-edits I can't recall.

Additional Notes:

What I aim to do is: Cut humor that's excessive. Cut action that's excessive. Keep humor that's cute. If there is a scene with cringe and good quality (and there are a ton of those), remove the cringe, but keep the quality. This helps pacing and storytelling.

Other Sources:

Poster created by reddit user Max Beech Creative

Special Thanks:

Special thanks to all the other Hobbit faneditors for inspiring me. Special thanks to chipbayless for his feedback, and pushing me to make this as good as can be. The edit would have not been as creative without the input! Went really in depth in feedback and previews and came up with extremely good ideas which were a pain in the ass to realise, but completely worth the trouble. Special thanks to GarStazi for being my personal quality control manager for this edit.