Three Times The Hobbit?

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

After a quick skim of the most recent discussion on this thread, I must throw out my two cents (or one cent, perhaps, because it is a trifle?). Bilbo did not fight in the Battle of Five Armies, no. As was pointed out earlier, he was unconscious during most of the duration. We will get Bo5A in the movie, whether we want it or not; there is no question. That would not really be a blight to the film, in fact, I think that I might actually enjoy it. It is keeping with the narrative of the book. The trouble I would have with the battle being an epic fifteen minutes of running time (as it will inevitably be), is if they decided to make Bilbo some war hero in it. In LotR the hobbits had a fair amount of battling. They did that in the books, though. I didn't see a big problem with that. I would, however, have a problem with Bilbo fighting in the Bo5A. That would be contrary to the book and to the essence of the story.

Originally Posted by davem

And that is clearly what Jackson misses. Still, I'll be going to see the spectacle, because as with the LotR movies, I reckon something of Tolkien will come through. What is sad is that many people will see the film & not read the book, or if they do go on to read it, they will do so in the light of PJs take on it.

I will close this post by stating that this is exactly what my mother will do and so will my brother. I hear so many cries of "I don't have the time to read The Hobbit before I see it!" The fact of the matter is, TH isn't a very long book. I read it in a day, if given an hour or two here and there I think that it could be finished in a week or two. That is not taxing. Every time I hear someone -- who is usually close to me -- say that they cannot or will not read TH before they see it, I cringe. I am bitter or saddened because of it. When we spend three hours every day watching television, shouldn't we have time to read?