- Database
- Fanedit Listings
- FanFix
- Hobbit: The Spence Edit, The
Hobbit: The Spence Edit, The
Hot
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2012
Original Running Time:
513
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
195
Time Cut:
318
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
This is a 3 film in 1 edit running at 3 hours 25 minutes. This is not intended as a "book cut" but instead tries to imagine what Peter Jackson and Co. might have made if they had decided to do the story as one film.
My goal is not to make the film more like Lord of the Rings in tone, but in spirit. The gag-filled action scenes that Peter Jackson has become fond of are minimized, except when appropriate. It feels more epic. The pacing is quicker. It feels more in line with those films, while also becoming even more different from them.
My goal is not to make the film more like Lord of the Rings in tone, but in spirit. The gag-filled action scenes that Peter Jackson has become fond of are minimized, except when appropriate. It feels more epic. The pacing is quicker. It feels more in line with those films, while also becoming even more different from them.
Intention:
It was an experiment in seeing just how much could be removed from this story while still making it work.
Other Sources:
Music:
Howard Shore's scores from all six Middle Earth Films
Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold by Clamavi De Profundis
A few shots from The Lord of the Rings here and there.
Howard Shore's scores from all six Middle Earth Films
Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold by Clamavi De Profundis
A few shots from The Lord of the Rings here and there.
Special Thanks:
All the FE.org members that participated in my thread deserve much credit, especially everyone who previewed my workprint as I went along.
Release Information:
Digital
Cuts and Additions:
There are many, many individual cuts, too many to list in all. Here are some general concepts:
General Cutlist:
- Remove Prologue with Older Bilbo
- Much of the Dwarves dinner antics are cut
- Azog is no longer following/hunting Thorin's company, but he is still one of the main villains.
- Radaghast is removed until his scenes with Gandalf in DoS.
- The White Council scene in Rivendell is removed, but they still rescue Gandalf later in the film.
- Rock Giants are gone.
- Goblin tunnels are heavily cut, but 99% of Gollum's scenes are kept.
- Beorn is not in this film.
- Most of Bilbo's struggling with how the Ring is changing him is gone, as it felt out of place in this story.
- Tauriel is now just another elf, her relationship with Kili does not occur.
- Legolas is heavily trimmed to be more of a fun cameo than a full fledged important character.
- The Barrel sequence is much shorter, and the company is no longer chased by Elves or Orcs.
- Bard's family and the politics of Lake Town have been completely removed.
- Alfrid appears in some shots but has no lines of dialogue.
- Dol Goldur is wrapped up before we meet Smaug for pacing reasons.
- The Dwarves fight with Smaug inside Erebor is completely removed.
- Smaug's attack on Lake Town is heavily edited.
- Major cuts throughout Battle of the Five Armies to get the story moving and the pieces in place faster.
- Major cuts to the battle for length and pacing.
- "Misty Mountains" theme re-instated when Thorin rallies the army.
- Kili's death rearranged to remove Tauriel.
- Many cuts to Ravenhill for pacing.
- The film features a new ending created using the various Old Bilbo shots and voice overs, shots from Lord of the Rings, and the delted "Dreaming of Bag End" music cue.
General Cutlist:
- Remove Prologue with Older Bilbo
- Much of the Dwarves dinner antics are cut
- Azog is no longer following/hunting Thorin's company, but he is still one of the main villains.
- Radaghast is removed until his scenes with Gandalf in DoS.
- The White Council scene in Rivendell is removed, but they still rescue Gandalf later in the film.
- Rock Giants are gone.
- Goblin tunnels are heavily cut, but 99% of Gollum's scenes are kept.
- Beorn is not in this film.
- Most of Bilbo's struggling with how the Ring is changing him is gone, as it felt out of place in this story.
- Tauriel is now just another elf, her relationship with Kili does not occur.
- Legolas is heavily trimmed to be more of a fun cameo than a full fledged important character.
- The Barrel sequence is much shorter, and the company is no longer chased by Elves or Orcs.
- Bard's family and the politics of Lake Town have been completely removed.
- Alfrid appears in some shots but has no lines of dialogue.
- Dol Goldur is wrapped up before we meet Smaug for pacing reasons.
- The Dwarves fight with Smaug inside Erebor is completely removed.
- Smaug's attack on Lake Town is heavily edited.
- Major cuts throughout Battle of the Five Armies to get the story moving and the pieces in place faster.
- Major cuts to the battle for length and pacing.
- "Misty Mountains" theme re-instated when Thorin rallies the army.
- Kili's death rearranged to remove Tauriel.
- Many cuts to Ravenhill for pacing.
- The film features a new ending created using the various Old Bilbo shots and voice overs, shots from Lord of the Rings, and the delted "Dreaming of Bag End" music cue.
User reviews
35 reviews
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
9.6(35)
Audio Editing
9.2(35)
Visual Editing
9.7(35)
Narrative
9.4(35)
Enjoyment
9.4(35)
(Updated: January 05, 2024)
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This is my 100th fanedit review...an I open with a huge APOLOGY!
I thought I had reviewed this...but alas...OOPS!
THIS EDIT (and one other), were the driver to my return to this forum a couple of years ago.
THIS EDIT...inspired me to creat my own Hobbit edit....and it was and remains a game changer...not just for me, but for many other fan editors.
Spence did things here which had not been done by anyone at that point.
The Logolas solution, The removal of the Black Arrow, The Barrel ride, The scoring change as the dwarves emerge and SO much more.
This was and remains an inspirational edit. I've watched it more times than my own...and many others have too, and also borrowed many of the genius flourishes within...(yes, I am guilty of this too).
Little did I know back then that I would get the honor of working with this genius.
To be able to strp away near on two thirds of the material and retain a compelling, balanced and well paced narrative is already a huge achievement...but to then sig down and refine it to this polished finish is a glory to behold.
OVERDUE, I thank you publically, for your work, your frienship and humility in permitting me to borrow from your creative efforts.
This remains MY GOTO....
No point going into the technicals...they are spot on.
Long may you REIGN!
I thought I had reviewed this...but alas...OOPS!
THIS EDIT (and one other), were the driver to my return to this forum a couple of years ago.
THIS EDIT...inspired me to creat my own Hobbit edit....and it was and remains a game changer...not just for me, but for many other fan editors.
Spence did things here which had not been done by anyone at that point.
The Logolas solution, The removal of the Black Arrow, The Barrel ride, The scoring change as the dwarves emerge and SO much more.
This was and remains an inspirational edit. I've watched it more times than my own...and many others have too, and also borrowed many of the genius flourishes within...(yes, I am guilty of this too).
Little did I know back then that I would get the honor of working with this genius.
To be able to strp away near on two thirds of the material and retain a compelling, balanced and well paced narrative is already a huge achievement...but to then sig down and refine it to this polished finish is a glory to behold.
OVERDUE, I thank you publically, for your work, your frienship and humility in permitting me to borrow from your creative efforts.
This remains MY GOTO....
No point going into the technicals...they are spot on.
Long may you REIGN!
W
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
As a simple guy that likes movies I really enjoyed this. The story works so much better and feels much more in the spirit of lord of the rings as one great lean adventure film as opposed to 3 bloated movies. The pacing was great. There were only a few spots I could really tell it was edited namely the dragon raid and legolas showing up out of nowhere at the end. There were a couple others too but they slip my mind now. Considering the shear volume of stuff removed it's amazing there were so few easily noticeable instances. Great edit as always Spence!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
D
(Updated: April 03, 2022)
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
After following Peter Jackson's production diaries with excitement throughout 2012, I remember the surprise at the mixed reviews and the disappointment of finally seeing "An Unexpected Journey". The let-down was repeated with each subsequent instalment, and ever since coming across this site I have intended to look through the wide variety of edits in the hope of finding something more pleasurable to sit through, I finally got around to it and chose this out of the well-regarded ones first for the simple reason that it is among the shortest.
This work is absolutely amazing, vindication of the production as a worthy companion to its predecessor trilogy. Yet again I marvel at just how much of a film(s) can be removed (sixty-odd percent here) while still remaining coherent, though in this case that alone is hardly a compliment with all the filler present in the originals. What really stands out (or perhaps doesn't) is just how unnoticeable the excisions are, anybody unfamiliar with the story would have little cause to believe that this could be anything but an non-professional effort, this view upheld by consistently excellent audio and video quality.
Being familiar with and fond of the original book I do miss a few things though, mainly "Blunt the Knives" and Beorn. The latter provides the only real issue for me, after escaping the goblins the company now suddenly get ponies from somewhere (the shot of them mounting up feels a bit brief on its own) and within two minutes they are being sent away (to where?). This is not a plot hole in terms of creating contradictions but it did take me out of the moment a little.
It remains for me to see if any of the longer cuts (up to double the runtime) can provide such a good balance, until I then this is without a doubt the version I would turn to.
This work is absolutely amazing, vindication of the production as a worthy companion to its predecessor trilogy. Yet again I marvel at just how much of a film(s) can be removed (sixty-odd percent here) while still remaining coherent, though in this case that alone is hardly a compliment with all the filler present in the originals. What really stands out (or perhaps doesn't) is just how unnoticeable the excisions are, anybody unfamiliar with the story would have little cause to believe that this could be anything but an non-professional effort, this view upheld by consistently excellent audio and video quality.
Being familiar with and fond of the original book I do miss a few things though, mainly "Blunt the Knives" and Beorn. The latter provides the only real issue for me, after escaping the goblins the company now suddenly get ponies from somewhere (the shot of them mounting up feels a bit brief on its own) and within two minutes they are being sent away (to where?). This is not a plot hole in terms of creating contradictions but it did take me out of the moment a little.
It remains for me to see if any of the longer cuts (up to double the runtime) can provide such a good balance, until I then this is without a doubt the version I would turn to.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I consider this edit to be one of the "Big Five," and is actually the first of the group!
Basically my only complaint about this edit was when Smaug gets hit by the regular arrow (genius idea) he sort of just teleports up into the air. I understand this was done to cut out shots of Bard and Bain, but it jarred me out of the experience a little. This was also done because, as stated, you wanted to cut out as much as physically possible whilst retaining a functional movie. You succeeded in this goal, no question.
The counterpoints to my one complaint are:
Legolas throwing orcrist back to Thorin after running out of arrows was a 200 IQ move on your part and I've seen it re-used be a few editors out there just due to how ingenius it was.
You also replaced the theme of Thorin & Co. busting out of Erebor with the Misty Mountains Theme, and I've only ever seen that in your version, and one other (Wraith's) who did it as a shoutout to your own! Another stroke of genius here brother.
Anyone who wants to watch a version of the Hobbit that has absolutely no fat on it, this is the one you want. Absolutely bare-bones version here, and executed to perfection. Not to mention the inspiration this edit has had on many many others. Nice work Spence!
Basically my only complaint about this edit was when Smaug gets hit by the regular arrow (genius idea) he sort of just teleports up into the air. I understand this was done to cut out shots of Bard and Bain, but it jarred me out of the experience a little. This was also done because, as stated, you wanted to cut out as much as physically possible whilst retaining a functional movie. You succeeded in this goal, no question.
The counterpoints to my one complaint are:
Legolas throwing orcrist back to Thorin after running out of arrows was a 200 IQ move on your part and I've seen it re-used be a few editors out there just due to how ingenius it was.
You also replaced the theme of Thorin & Co. busting out of Erebor with the Misty Mountains Theme, and I've only ever seen that in your version, and one other (Wraith's) who did it as a shoutout to your own! Another stroke of genius here brother.
Anyone who wants to watch a version of the Hobbit that has absolutely no fat on it, this is the one you want. Absolutely bare-bones version here, and executed to perfection. Not to mention the inspiration this edit has had on many many others. Nice work Spence!
User Review
Format Watched?
Digital
S
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This is, by far, the best way to watch The Hobbit. I'm a huge fan of the LotR Extended Editions and this is the perfect companion to incorporate into a binge watch. I'm glad that the extra material was left in rather than a straight book cut which I don't think was the issue with the films. But all of the bloat was taken out making this a rip roaring film.
The only real issue in this edit is the battle of the five armies but, like previously mentioned by other reviewers, is an artifact of how messy the original cut of the battle was. I'm still surprised how cohesive this cut is and will probably never watch the originals ever again.
The only real issue in this edit is the battle of the five armies but, like previously mentioned by other reviewers, is an artifact of how messy the original cut of the battle was. I'm still surprised how cohesive this cut is and will probably never watch the originals ever again.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
S