The original plan was to chat some about The Hobbit in last week's Cult Spark podcast, but that got bumped in favor of Dark Tower talk when the site unexpectedly went a little Mid-World crazy for a few days. We'll likely focus on The Hobbit in the next episode, but in the meantime, here's the spiffy new trailer for the first of the three Hobbit films, An Unexpected Journey, coming Dec. 14:
As you know, I'm wary of Peter Jackson stretching this story over three films, but such concerns seem distant when I'm busy smiling ear to ear over the above two minutes and twenty seconds. Some thoughts …
— Martin Freeman as Bilbo is just some of the best casting ever, especially when you consider that he's taking over a role previously played by a different actor (Ian Holm, who's also in The Hobbit as old Bilbo but sits this trailer out). The shot of him running and yelling out, "I'm going on an adventure!" is a highlight here.
— Richard Armitage is going to be a complete badass as Thorin Oakenshield, isn't he?
— I think the "A dark power has found its way back into the world" part must be ancillary material dealing with the rise of the Necromancer/Sauron, as I can't immediately recall that scene from The Hobbit text proper.
— One of my worries is that Jackson will try to darken the story of The Hobbit too much to make it flow better into The Lord of the Rings films, but my mind is a little eased by all the humor on display here, including the funny bit with the troll at the end.
— All of the action shots look incredibly epic, especially the stuff on the side of the mountain.
— I bet Hugo Weaving prays every night that these movies turn out better than The Matrix sequels.
— The one ring turning into the "O" in the title graphic surprised me a little, but it leaves no doubt that this is meant to be sold (and probably seen) as a direct and integral prequel to The Lord of the Rings, not as a separate adventure in that same universe with a few of the same characters.
