I’m currently out on Vancouver Island, enjoying some R & R with my dad and step-mom. I was looking for a book to read yesterday, and had the idea to re-read The Hobbit, a book I haven’t read in about 20 years. It’s the predecessor of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and a lot of the mythology that appears in that series was started in The Hobbit.
As many people know, Peter Jackson (the director of the three Lord of the Rings movies) is currently making a two-movie version of The Hobbit. It’s not due to be out for over a year, but already the anticipation of growing for it.
That said, having just re-read The Hobbit in its entirety, I’m not so sure it’s going to translate well without some serious alterations. Many of the climactic scenes in The Hobbit involve species or situations that were also present in The Lord of The Rings, such as The Eagles flying in to help. Likewise, the interactions between the three species in The Hobbit (Dwarfs, Elves and Men) relies somewhat on us being exposed to them for the first time, but after seeing Lord of the Rings we know all about them now.
I suspect now that Peter Jackson will take some very creative liberties while making the movies and add some new scenes or elements to keep it fresh. Otherwise I have a feeling it will fall a bit flat due to all of us having been exposed to the same type of storyline in Lord of the Rings.
I think you’re right. I hadn’t read The Hobbit until a couple of years ago, after seeing Jackson’s films and then reading The Lord of the Rings.
It also raises the question of why the eagles didn’t just fly Frodo over Mount Doom and drop the ring in.
Either way, Jackson has the fans behind him. He got away with lots of liberties in the LotR movies because he largely captured the feel of the books. He can get away with almost anything now, I think. Just try not to think about any precedents George Lucas may have set (e.g. sins of the prequel trilogy).