Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Edits, The

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!!

Great fan edit. I did a fan edit of the Hobbit back in the day, and this achieve what I had wanted to do. Makes the hobbit films a joy to watch. Easy to pull up and with the episodic nature you can download one while you watch. Really the only way I can recommend watching for long time fans or first time viewers.

Really well done, way better than the theatrical cuts! I especially appreciate the effort that went into the whole Smaug section, and the inclusions of some extended edition bits that really should have been in the theatrical cuts.

Amazingly Well done. This is NBSpidey from Discord btw

Really, really good. I love the Hobbit book, but the second movie was terrible. The edit is really well done and allows you to genuinely enjoy a great story.