Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Edits, The

This edit takes advantage of the episodic nature of the story, allowing the narrative to unfold in a serial format that keeps the viewer engaged from start to finish. The technical work of the editing is superb, with seamless transitions that almost never feel out of place. One of the standout features of this edit is how it streamlines Bilbo's story while retaining all the important character beats and plot points. The pacing is really good, with every scene serving a clear purpose in advancing the story. It flows much more smoothly, without any of the pacing issues that were present in the original cut.
One minor critique is the amount of time still spent on Thorin's dragon sickness. While this is an important aspect of the character's journey in the original Peter Jackson's vision, the edit could have benefitted from cutting some of the first scenes to make this change less sudden at the beginning of episode 4. Additionally, I missed some foreshadowing of the arrival of the orc army at the end, which would have heightened the tension. Despite all the result is magnificent and one of the best fanedits of The Hobbit.

After doing a Lord of the Rings marathon, my wife and I were searching for a better way to watch the Hobbit (We'd seen the theatrical editions before and really didn't like them).

In short, this edit perfectly blended the good parts of the books with the good parts of the movies. It really kept the feeling of a small adventure for a Hobbit within this enormous world that Bilbo doesn't really know much of. Minus a couple of occasional strange audio cuts/transitions, the audiovisual editing was perfect, and even the "normal" quality edit looked great on our high-res screens. Breaking it down into 5 episodes was also a nice touch, as it was easy for us to find intermissions for snacks and such.

Would highly recommend this edit to anyone who wants a more streamlined, focused way to watch the Hobbit trilogy.

Episode 1:
This was very well done, I think the biggest problems with it are some jarring audio cuts, like the music changes won't flow naturally. This is a really simple fix by fading the previous scene's audio into the next scene and having that scene's audio fade in. It was only a cople times but it was still a minor complaint.

Overall very entertaining and fun.

I thought I would never watch these movies again. Whenever they’re on tv I’d watch a few minutes and couldn’t take much more. This was a great cut episodic and great pace

Stromboli Bones is bearing the weight of a truly oversized crown here. May he never faulter in his duty as King Unto the Middlearthers. Let no dragons, traitorous kinslayers, elvish lords, nor Followers of Morgoth be victorious against him. For to rest our heads in peace this Battle of Five Edits must be won!!

I'm basing this review on the single film all-in-one file I've just watched. One star is knocked off for a stuttery panning shot across Dale after Thorin's death scene. And others for cutting issues seen in Beorn's house from the pouring of the milk and up to Mirkwood with the Eye of Sauron on the tree. If I rated the individual episodes it might be harder to knock off some stars but who needs all these stars anyway..... I was thinking of starting to do ratings based on a five point scale but then narrative rating here might be seen as insulting..... I guess we should just be thankful for the lack of issues with out fan-edits here, but we must try to offer constructive criticism when we can......

On to the narrative quibbles I'll just say I put quite a few down in a review on Don Kamillo's 'Anti-Cringe' version. Some of these transfer to this version. One though, needs a mention as it is certainly a stumbling block. Its the transition to the final episode. It all gets pretty hectic at this point and with only one lingering shot to pick for the title bloom (completely absent from the all-in-one file - paradoxically) it conflicts with an appropriate ending, and beginning (I'm speaking here with respect to the standard - set in the first four episodes - of an opening few minutes playing out as an intro segmented off by the title bloom leading into the main feature). It is my humble suggestion to circumvent this issues requires the elongation of the shot panning across the host outside Erebor to effect a lingering moment long enough for the TABA title to bloom. This is just after the final departure of Bilbo down the rope. Fitting I'd say. With the previous ending being on the look on Thorin's face with an army of archers all aiming at him - quite a classic expression there - and thusly begining the final episode with Bard's glancing over at Thranduil. Ten stars of enjoyment just for getting the chance to even put this suggestion down....

Much appreciation to all the Reel Bearers!!