Hobbit: The Spence Edit, The

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!

As soon as it was announced they would be stretching out The Hobbit into three movies, I knew someone around here would take up the job of reducing it back down to the single movie this SHOULD have been. Spence has, IMO, done a fantastic job of doing so! A/V Quality and Editing are superb, seamless, and honestly I didn't see anything to suggest anything was cut. The only reason I was aware of anything removed was due to having seen the original versions, otherwise I likely wouldn't have known.

If I have a real criticism or complaint, it's that honestly I think more could have been cut. This is very much the film Peter Jackson probably would have made and released had he been asked to make a single film, but it's not a particularly easy film to enjoy: it's still a pretty slowly paced slog.

That said, this edit has permanently replaced the theatrical trilogy on my shelf and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who wants to see The Hobbit but doesn't want to sit through nine hours of film.

"Every good story deserves a little embellishment” – Gandalf to Bilbo.
Well unfortunately, Peter Jackson ran with this idea and did some very extensive embellishment with the Hobbit movie series. I believe that was a key focus of this edit (and most to be found here) - to remove that embellishment, the unnecessary (and generally silly, over-the-top) scenes, of which there are many. I know the movies quite well and noted countless cuts throughout, but the actual editing was seamless and would not be noticed by a first time watcher. I took some notes/thoughts throughout the viewing, which I will share here:
--Intro and dwarf visit – I didn’t miss the dinner scene and cleanup. All the good elements of character building and storyline kept intact.
--Excellent jump from trolls to Rivendell, I didn’t miss any of the wolf/sled chase scenes.
--Goblin cave scenes trimmed well. Happy to see that the Bilbo/Gollum scene was edited very little. It is one of the best scenes of the movie series.
--The council at Rivendell has always been a hot topic of debate. Spence took a good route here, removed the full council scene, but Gandalf still meets with Galadriel. I like that scene, and as much of a purist as I am, I don’t mind embellishments that involve female characters. Particularly if great actresses are playing them. Is it a little strange that she’s suddenly gone at the end of the scene – maybe, but Galadriel could be compared to a demi-goddess, ancient and full of magic, including one of the three elven rings of power. It’s not hard to imagine she has the power to project herself, or teleport. Gandalf has another one of the rings, so maybe they allow for teleportation between them.
--Best cut I’ve seen for dwarves reaching Erebor, jump right to Thorin putting key in the keyhole and opening the door. I didn’t miss any of the stupidness with dwarves pounding weapons on the rock, and walking away whining.
--The later scene with Galadriel/Elrond/Saruman taking on the Nine and Sauron is a keeper. Many don’t like it, and heck yeah it’s a major embellishment, but I like seeing the big dogs in action, particularly Galadriel. The movies need some feminine bad-assness.
--Battle of Five Armies trimmed nicely.

Further changes that I believe could improve this edit :
--A major peeve of mine is the troll scene: the trolls get a hold of Bilbo and threaten to pull his arms off, and the dwarves do it. How does this make any sense?! They basically give themselves all up to be eaten just to avoid seeing Bilbo get dismembered! I have seen only one edit (Menbailee) where this was changed - the scene jumps from the trolls chasing the dwarves and Bilbo around to them all captured. Unfortunately it was not accomplished very smoothly – but I’ve found I would rather have that than watch a stupid scene.
--Goblin caves: the slide down into the caves is too long. Also, the shot of Gandalf slicing through a goblin’s neck then tapping the head off body does not really fit with his character. This is the guy who lectures Bilbo about how serious it is to take a life.
--After they escape the goblin caves they suddenly have ponies again. Way too obvious. This is due to the complete removal of Beorn scenes, but this has to be explained somehow or changed. I’d like to see at least a brief Beorn visit, maybe just have Gandalf mention him then cut to him pouring them milk. Mix in the scene of him as a bear somewhere.
--Out of the frying pan completely removed – again it would be nice to have a little bit of this, particularly because the scene with them riding eagles is way cool in my book. Have eagles drop them off and then jump to them at Beorn’s place maybe?
--Bilbo suddenly having the keys to the jail cells was strange, might be worth keeping a bit of the lifting of keys off drunk elf.
--I have to admit I missed Tauriel. I’d like to see her retained in more scenes, maybe just enough to try to make her look like Legolas’ girlfriend.
--Suggest talking with Rangerkris about using his Sauron/Maia flash clip at Dol Guldor. It’s a very cool touch.
--Giant rock delving worms necessary? I say no.
Regardless of the suggestions above, this was an excellent and enjoyable edit. It was wonderful to watch the entire story straight through without changing a disc. The fat was trimmed, mainly scenes that my 10 & 12 year old always say was their favorite part. Without all the fluff and nonsense it becomes a movie about Bilbo, as it should be. Martin Freeman did such an outstanding acting job, and it shines through. There are many well written and moving scenes to be found, and Spence did a heck of a job assembling them.

Hugely enjoyable and a massive improvement on the bloated cinematic version. The only thing I missed was Beorn, although I did feel a bit bad for Tauriel - I'm sure that adding in one or two non-romance scenes for her might be possible without bogging down the pacing. I rather liked her role as the elf with a conscience in the movie; I just deplored that a romance had to be shoe-horned in on the back of that.

Fabulous that Legolas runs out of arrows in his one battle scene, although I agree if it is possible to show him slaying the other orc leader I would be happy for that to be included if it's possible to edit that without him going all Super Mario. I'm torn with the dragon-slaying scene because the close up of the arrow clearly shows it's not a normal arrow but I really don't miss his annoying children. I will probably get used to it the more I watch it.

A couple of scenes felt a tiny bit abrupt but overall it was amazing.

I don't think I've ever been as disappointed with a series of movies as I have been with the Hobbit. The official cuts are lifeless, characterless, shallow, and ultimately constipated in their ability to engage and entertain anyone who isn't looking for a fodder-fest. Thank you Spence for taking these, shacking them mercilessly and presenting something that actually feels like a hobbit movie, and a pretty decent one at that.

Audio/Video: 10
This is probably the best 7gb mp4 I've seen. Great video, great audio. Perfect 10

Visual Editing: 9
For the most part this is perfect editing. There are a few spots where cuts seem forced or fades occur that seem unnatural due to the fact that they never occur until the very end, but that's just being nit picky on my part.

Audio Editing: 9
Again near perfection. Just a few areas where the audio cuts seem rushed, but I would be hard pressed to approach the superb job done here.

Narrative: 7 (UJ 9/10, DoS 8/10, BotFA 6/10)
I love what is done with UJ. Wow! That was the movie I had hoped for in the first place. BUT, I do wish the warg chase/eagle rescue was still present in some form as it's one of my favorite moments from the story. I really enjoyed the almost complete omission of Legolas and what's her name from DoS and keeping the dwarfs out of the mountain. While Gandalf's special quest is intriguing and very insightful into the lead up to the Lord of The Rings, I felt it was a bit distracting albeit very neatly trimmed and well done. I'd love to see an edit with Azog completely removed as a major player. His character demands too much attention and steals the focus and attention on the true story at hand, in my opinion. Also, removing the intro of the arkenstone leaves the viewer scratching their head as to why everyone is so obsessed with something that we only first see (though we don't know what it is unless we've seen the movies before) an hour and a half or so into the edit. I wonder what the edit would feel like if we followed Bilbo predominantly during the battle and when he gets knocked out the next scenes we see are him seeing Thorin fall to the ground and rushing to his side. The fighting is just too over the top and ridiculous for me. That being said, the battle did seem like it was rushed, or rather, unexplained/resolved. The story inches along, then KA-POW! Orcs, Bats, Eagles and Mountain Goats. Perhaps a flipped scene of the dwarfs cresting the hill could be input to show the first coming of the orcs instead of the earth mover dune worms. The narrative is strong through the first two film cuts, but most likely due to terrible source content and not Spence's narrative abilities, the final film narrative is kind of flat. Would love to see what Spence can do with an extended source for BotFA for perhaps a version 2.0?

Enjoyment: 8
This edit has saved the hobbit films for me. And even though I may have some qualms with the narrative, this is my current go to version of what should have been a 3 hour adventure. Great job Spence!