Synopsis:

This edit purely focuses on Bilbo's story. All other storylines from the original Hobbit Trilogy are either cut or reduced dramatically.

Intentions:

Like many others, I've always felt that there was a good movie within The Hobbit Trilogy. This edit aims to bring that good movie up to the forefront and delivering a less bloated and more concise experience.

Change List:

An overview of the changes are: - Bilbo is kept in the forefront of the story - Tauriel and Kili's romance and Gandalf's adventures in Dol Guldur are completely removed - Azog's story is reduced heavily, he is introduced after the company escapes from Goblin Town and doesn't come back into the story until the Battle of Five Armies - Certain scenes are removed to keep the film feeling like one film (e.g removing the carrock scene due to it feeling too much like the end of a movie) - Eye-rolling moments are removed, the tone of the film is closer to Lord of the Rings, albeit a bit more lighthearted An Unexpected Journey Change List: - The prologue is included, however the dragon sickness stuff is removed - The excessive Frodo and Old Bilbo scenes are removed, Frodo only has a small cameo - The dwarves questioning Gandalf on how many dragons he has killed is removed, instead the dwarves arguing with each other is in response to Balin's "nor brightest" line - Thorin and Balin's conversation before the Misty Mountains song is cut - After "The world is ahead" scene, it cuts straight to the company arriving at the abandoned farmhouse - This means that the flashback to the Battle of Azanulbizar and Radagast's introduction scene are cut - The troll scratching his butt while Bilbo is behind him is cut - Removed Ori throwing his slingshot down after Thorin lays down his sword - Removed the dwarves denying that they have worms - After Gandalf gives Sting to Bilbo, it cuts straight to the company arriving at Rivendell - This removes the scene with Radagast as well as the escape from the orc pack - Cuts to dinner scene after Elrond says hello to Gandalf (this is to remove any reference to the orc chase) - Beginning of dinner scene with dwarves complaining about the food is cut, starts with elves playing on the harp - Gandalf mentioning that they were ambushed by orcs is removed - Moon Rune scene ends earlier to remove Elrond's reference to the White Council - After Moon Rune scene it cuts to the scene from the extended edition of Bilbo walking through Rivendell and talking with Elrond - After Elrond and Bilbo talk it cuts straight to the company departing from Rivendell - It then cuts to the walking montage over the Misty Mountains - The stone giant action scene has been removed, Bilbo now falls off the cliff during the chaos of the rocks crashing into the mountain - The elaborate slide that the dwarves go down into Goblin Town is removed - Bilbo's fight with the goblin is condensed, only includes the second half of the skirmish - The scene with the Great Goblin ends with him mocking Thorin, removing the mention of Azog - Scene showing how the ring fell out of Gollum's pocket is removed, this makes it feel a little closer to the prologue in Fellowship of the Ring - Clip of Gollum in the boat paddling to Bilbo is removed, now the audience doesn't see Gollum's face until he drops down in front of Bilbo - The fight with the Goblins in the throne area is condensed, removing the part where Gandalf beheads a goblin - The chase through Goblin Town is cut, after the ring falls onto Bilbo's finger it cuts straight to him following Gollum through the cave - Azog's motivation has also been changed. He is now attacking the company because Thorin killed the Great Goblin - The 'Out of the Frying Pan' sequence is shorter. The eagles now rescue the company right after the tree falls - The carrock scene is cut, after the scene of the eagles flying it cuts straight to the company at Beorn's house The Desolation of Smaug Change List: - As mentioned above, after the eagles it cuts straight to the company at Beorn's house. This means that Beorn chasing the company is removed - Azog and the orc pack don't continue to pursue the company after the 'Out of the Frying Pan' scene - Removed Bilbo looking at the ring - The shot of Beorn transforming back into a human has been cut. This was mainly done for a smoother edit, but it also lets the audience wonder what the significance of the bear is, which is answered in the battle at the end - Cut out all mention of Azog and the orcs from Beorn - Cut out any reference that Bilbo's ring is connected to the eye that Gandalf sees on the statue - Cut Bilbo not telling Gandalf about the ring - Removed Gandalf telling the company to meet him on the overlook - Cut out scene where Bilbo kills a baby spider to get the ring - The dwarves fighting the spiders has been shortened to remove some sillier parts (such as them ripping a spiders legs off) - Cut the Gimli reference when Legolas is searching Gloin - All Tauriel scenes are removed. After Thorin is thrown into his cell it then cuts to Bilbo in the cellar - Barrel escape is heavily trimmed. There are no orcs or elves. - Kili's arrow wound is now implied to just be a wound from riding in the barrel - Used eric1894s shots of the barrels that have had the arrows removed - Any reference to the orc pack is removed when the dwarves are on the shore - Cut out the Alfrid scene at the Laketown gate - Cut Bain telling Bard that their house is being watched - Cut the dwarves emerging from Bards toilet, after getting off Bard's boat it cuts to the company in Bard's house - Cut the mention of the black arrow being the only thing that can kill Smaug - After Bard finds out that Thorin is seeking to retake Erebor, it cuts straight to Bard's scene at the market - Scene with the Master of Laketown is shortened, cutting to the dwarves on the boat right after Thorin promises to share his wealth with Laketown and the people cheer - All the dwarves go to the mountain, none are left in Laketown. Pretty much any shot that shows all the dwarves is either cut or edited to include all of them - Cut the company looking for the way up the mountain, them climbing up the statue is included in the traveling montage - Cut out the eye of Sauron flash before Bilbo takes off the ring in Erebor. - Scene with Smaug and Bilbo is shortened, I've always felt that the original scene tended to drag-on (pun entirely intended) - Bilbo saying "the black arrow found its mark" is removed - The scene with Balin telling off Thorin for not going in to help Bilbo is removed. It is a nice scene, but since the scene of the dwarves feeling the tremble of Smaug is used later, there wasn't any way to include the scene without it feeling a bit awkward - Dwarves do not enter the mountain, and Smaug does not get covered in gold. After Bilbo and Smaug's scene it cuts to Smaug telling Bilbo that he will attack Laketown - The 'that, my lad, was a dragon' scene is used to cover up for the fact that the shot of Smaug emerging from the mountain is removed. Now it is just implied that it happened off screen - Cut "I am fire, I am death" (it is a cool line but it does feel too much like an end-of-the-movie stinger) - Cuts from Bilbo on the rock straight to Smaug burning Laketown - All of Bard's Laketown stuff after the company leaves is cut, including the stuff about the black arrow The Battle of the Five Armies Change List: - Cut the Master of Laketown and Alfrid's scenes, you only see him die when Smaug falls on him - Cut Bard escaping from the prison, the first time you see is him stealing a bow and arrows - Cut the black arrow and homemade ballista, Bard kills Smaug with a normal bow shot - Since Fili, Kili, Oin and Bofur are now implied to be at the mountain with the rest of the company, their scenes in Laketown are removed - After Smaug is killed, we cut from Thorin walking to mountain straight to dwarves searching for the Arkenstone - This removes the scene where the people of Laketown wash up on the shore - Cut scene showing Bilbo looking at the Arkenstone, this means that when he reveals the Arkenstone to Bard and Thranduil it is a surprise for the audience - We only find out that the people of Laketown are in Dale when Dwalin tells Thorin. - After the Dwarves build the makeshift wall, it cuts straight to the Laketown people in Dale. This removes the shot of Gandalf riding in the field, which was cut just because it looks a bit weird - Cut Alfrid from scene of the Laketown survivors in Dale - Cut out Thorin telling Bilbo he will not part with a single piece of gold in slow motion, now the Mithril scene ends with him telling Bilbo that they are friends, leaving the scene on a lighter, but still rather melancholy note (especially if you already know that Bilbo has the Arkenstone) Gandalf does not warn the elves and men about the orc army, instead he is merely trying to get the armies to make peace. I removed this so that you wouldn't need to know about Gandalf's story to understand how he knows about the orcs. - Cut out Bilbo staying the night in Dale, its now implied that after he gives Thranduil and Bard the Arkenstone he just sneaks back to the Mountain - Gandalf mentioning the orc army approaching is removed when he speaks with Dain. - The battle has been heavily modified, here are the main points: - Cut Thorin telling the dwarves not to fight. - It is now implied that he chooses to lend his support when the battle starts going south. - Now when Thorin charges out it is a surprise to the audience - Silly battle moments are cut, like Dain headbutting orcs, Bard riding the wheelbarrow, etc - Bilbo doesn't get to Ravenhill until after Fili and Kili have died and the dwarves are fighting Azog's militia - This means that Bilbo doesn't speak with Thorin at all until Thorin is dying, thus making their final conversation even more tragic - Kili's death is changed, now he is killed by Bolg during his charge after Fili's death - Thorin and Azog's battle on the ice is cut. Thorin is implied to just have gotten many critical injuries during the battle - Used eric1894's shot of the eagles approaching with Radagast removed - After the battle is won and Thorin is looking out over the eagles, a close up shot of Azog's body impaled by Orcrist is removed. - Radagast is removed from the funeral scene - Cut out Bilbo and Gandalf's goodbye. After the traveling montage it cuts straight to Bilbo arriving in Hobbiton - Added 'The End' card at the end (I was surprised when I realized the original movie did not have this) - Custom credits with Song of the Lonely Mountain by Neil Finn - Modified the scrolling credits of An Unexpected Journey: - The cast list is changed to include the cast present in the edit - Any mentions of the title 'An Unexpected Journey' are removed, instead replace with just 'The Hobbit' - Compiled all of the In Memory Of sections of each films credits into one - Added an In Memorial to Ian Holm

Additional Notes:

Most of the edit is pretty bog-standard, just basic cuts. For some transitions I made use of the 6 channel audio from the Hobbit Blu-Rays, mainly so that I could keep the sound effects of the scene but have different music. I also modified a shot of the dwarves walking to the mountain, so that there were 14 instead of 10. This was done just by cutting out some of the dwarves and placing them behind.

Other Sources:

Special Thanks:

- Big thanks to ArtisDead for reviewing my edit and helping me through the process - Thank you to eric1894 on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_UTxvYRpswi5XWtoLx5I8Q) for the vfx shots, specifically the arrows being removed from the barrels and the shot of the eagles with Radagast removed - Finally, thank you to Dustin Lee, the Hobbit Maple Edit introduced me to this world of fan editing and inspired me to make my own