GENERAL CHANGES

- No dwarves staying behind and no orc-attack on Lake-Town

- The encounter of the dwarves with Smaug has been trimmed (no grenades or gold-surfing).

- Azog is introduced as the Orc with an interest in Erebor and we see him leading the charge, but there is no connection to Thorin or Sauron.

- The battle of Dale has been trimmed. (No Bard surfing a chariot, no headbutting troll and no fighting women).

- Thorin is less of an obsessive ass (up until Smaug is dead) and his change of heart does not include voice-overs or require repeating worries of his fellow dwarfs.

- Greatly reduced Alfrid, Legolas and Tauriel. These last two only appear at the end, with warnings of Gungabad orcs. Legolas does no Super Mario jumps and Tauriel dies.

- The last parts of the battle have been trimmed and shifted slightly to streamline it.

- Chariot sequence (slightly trimmed) included.

 

SPECIFIC CHANGES 

 

A Warm Welcome

- The second part opens with the scene of Bard entering Lake-town with fishbarrels. The dwarves are introduced to be in the barrels when we see Bombur's eye and they all enter the film when they're thrown out of the barrels once inside.

- I use the scene of the EE when they walk into “the world of men”, but skip all the spying, the arrest and crawling out of the toilet. Instead, we immediately jump to the repeated exposition about the needing to reach the mountain in time, and the lance (which used to before that).

- Thorin's line “If men were true that day, much would have been different” has been cut.

- A fast cut from asking about weapons to Bard's laying out of his (s)crap weapons and another fast cut to the armory break-in after Bard mentions the city armory. (Shifted the music slightly to make for a better transition).

- The moment when Bard realises Thorin is who he is has been moved later (and color-corrected into night-time for continuity-reasons).

- The first scene of the Master is cut. Instead, we'll see the Master for the first time when they're all at his footsteps and he blesses Thorin's journey in the hopes to gain some riches. This scene contains everything we need from the Master and none of the others offer anything more than caricature variations on the same theme. It was quite easy to take the scene out and leave the music fading over Bard arriving at home.

- Put in Bard's realization (after seeing the lonely mountain) while they're stealing the weapons. The scene has been color-corrected to match the time of day of the weapon-heist. (Might still be removed)

- Fili, Kili, Bofur etc will not be left behind.

- Legolas and Tauriel's conversation cut.

 

On the Doorstep

- Used the Extended scene of reaching Dale. It has a quiet, but somewhat sinister buildup that I find more fitting than the Theatrical version.

- Recut the Door-scene so the dwarves (stubborn as they are) don't leave after the light of the sun fades. Very similar (though not identical) to David Killstein's cut. I have Thorin look at the moon (and added a subtle bit of moonshine on his face when it appears).

 

Video: Dwarves don't leave the doorstep. (Inspired by David Killstein)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside Information

- Cut all the Gandalf scenes.

- Upped the colors a bit.

- Kept the Smaug – Bilbo conversation,

- The Smaug – Bilbo sequence is not intercut with Laketown. To get continuity Inbetween scenes I had to cut the line “No blade can pierce me” (i'm not missing it) and have Smaug say “It's Oakenshield” on the same visual (a line which in the original film is  not accompanied with any visual). Luckliy “No blade can pierce me” and “It's Oakenshield match nearly perfectly in terms of lips (with an added breath-sound in the beginning for the extra syllable). To get the music and pacing to match up, the next shot of Bilbo sneaking is slowed down slightly (not noticeable in the slightest).

- When Smaug mentions that a darkness is coming, I've added the footage of the orcs marching from Dol Goldur, though I've removed Gandalf from that scene. And since the attack on Lake-town is removed, that short interlude of orcs moves into Smaug saying “You are being used.”, which can now also be associated with the armies exploiting the dwarves' quest.

- When Bilbo starts fleeing and Smaug breathes fire right into the lens, I cut to the shot of fire in the doorway (out where te dwarves are). I let this transition into the earthquake and “That, my lad, is a dragon”. Thorin, instead of being an ass, immediately runs to Bilbo's aid. He does insist on getting the arkenstone, but no longer threatens Bilbo for it.

 

Video: Thorin is less of a dick and even somewhat heroic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The dwarves their encounter with Smaug has been kept, though trimmed. It would seem wrong for them not to try to engage with Smaug.

- Instead of having that stupid moment where they discuss the furnaces and not having fire hot enough, I just have Thorin going ahead with that plan without exposition. To get the cuts fluent, however, I took away his answer (“Have we not?”) and replaced it with “I know” (from the, here cut, beginning of DoS) and added a slight echo to match the room. His lips do not match perfectly at first, but you'd have to look for it to notice.

- Grenade-making and gold-surfing cut. Instead, after Bilbo pours water over Smaug, the dragon comes after Bilbo, angry. Thorin then lets the gold flow. I've used from shots from various places to make it flow like one sequence and used the OST to get the music untarnished.

- Molten gold does not explode, but just starts to collapse. I've added a slight effect on a previous shot to make it match.

 

Video: Dwarves vs Smaug without grenades or gold-surfing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fire and Water

- When Smaug flies out of Erebor, I've edited in some shots of Bard (who is not in prison here) and his family in fear.

- “I am fire, I am death” goes right into Smaug breathing fire unto Lake-town. I've rearranged some shots for this. After some shots of people fleeing from the fire (some of which normally come later), I've cut to people fleeing (used to be before Smaug arrived) and then to Smaug's shadow passing a part of town that hasn't been destroyed yet.

- Then, we see the “not if I kill it first”-scene (added some background noise of Smaug's attack) and move fight into Bard coming out on the roof with bow and arrow. (I first tried putting this earlier, before Smaug does any damage, but I find the scene more threatening if Smaug's attack is not preluded by any “not if I kill it first”-heroics). 

- Used Extended Edition version of Bard racing across rooftops, but don't cut to the dwarves in anguish.

- I considered putting it in, to communicate to the audience that the dwarves are sensitive to what they've done, however, it felt strange to cut to it. Especially considering they were all inside not a moment ago.

- No Master escaping. I considered just showing him escaping with the gold, but it detracted from the scene more than it added.- Rearranged some shots to make Bard's journey to the tower more smoothly.

- I've cut Smaug saying “Is that your child?”, but I've kept “You cannot save him” and “he will burn”, but replaced his “him” with “them” (taken from where he says “you care about them” to Bilbo) and “he” with “they”. Works splendidly.

- David Killstein did a fine job cutting around the presence of the kid and I've just used parts of his cut of the final showdown with Smaug. It's not that I'm bothered by the kid. I even kind of like that Bard uses him to steady the arrow. However, it makes no sense to have him show up with the black arrow when he just took it with him. Now it is implied that the last arrow he has is the black one and that's fine with me.

 

Video:  Smaug leaves Erebor to attack Lake-town (from DoS to BotFA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not at Home

- Used Extended Edition scene for the dwarves their response after Smaug is dead (but i've cut their earlier reactions so as not to move away from the action).

- When Thorin hears of the news, he goes inside. Here, I used the scene where Fili, Kili etc arrive, but trimmed it so that there isn't much beside other dwarves arriving, Thorin walking amongst the treasure and telling them to behold that treasure. His madness starts here. Bilbo looks worried. From here, I cut to all of them looking for the Arkenstone and then to the scene where Bilbo is shown to have it as well as his worry of giving it to Thorin.- Only then do we go to the wreckage of Lake-town.

 

The Gathering of the Clouds

- Re-arranged some shots of the wreckage and fiddled with the audio. I only kept the bass-sounds of and inserted a piece of “Shores of the Long Lake” to accompany it.

- I used a shot of Bard walking and turning elsewhere and inserted it here (flipped it and added some color-corrections to match) to have him and his children notice each other. When they do, sound resumes as normal.

- Cut most of Alfrid's antics

- Cut Tauriel's presence and the dwarves traveling to Erebor as they are already there.

- Cut the people attacking Alfrid. Instead we go from Alfrid proclamining Bard as the leader to Bard asking for the Master to Bard telling people to follow him to shelter, where he looks at the mountain.

- Cut all of the scenes of the people of Lake-town gathering materials and Legolas talking to Bard. Instead, after Bard says “we find shelter” (which he says looking at the mountain), they get up and moving.

 

Video:  Wreckage of Lake-Town

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Then we go to Thorin getting sick of not finding the arkenstone, to Balin sick of Thorin's sickness (where Bilbo implicitly asks whether he should keep the Arkenstone or give it to Thorin) to Thorin's talking to Bilbo about the acorn (I love that scene). When Dwalin mentions the people of Laketown streaming into Dale, that's what we see in the next scene.

- The scene where they build a stone wall in front of the entrance is cut. Instead, we'll just see that's what they've done later. Bard will make a remark about it too, so we don't need to see them actually doing it.

- As the people of Lake-town arrive in Dale, Bard immediately discovers that the elves, too, have arrived.

- When Thranduil talks of the gems in the mountains, I show the unused flashback of An Unexpected Journey (Extended Edition) instead of Thorin fondling and throwing it. That way, it doesn't interrupt Thorin's journey to the Gate, it makes clear that Thranduil was once denied the jewels and it just looks better.

- Inserted Gandalf travelling by horse, but cut the shot of his face. We only see his face when he gets off his horse in Dale (which is the next scene). This reintroduces Gandalf, whom we haven't seen anymore since the previous film. I also cut Alfrid's antics and Gandalf asking who is in charge.

- Shortened the scene in the tent. When Gandalf says “not this time”, I move their conversation outdoors, cutting all references to “the enemy” and his plans. I've also rearranged some dialogue so that Gandalf now says Azog is the one seeking control of the mountain (but without mentioning plans for world-domination). When Thranduill asks about the army, we cut to the army (slightly color-corrected).

- The scene of the army that we cut to is the one which normally came after Legolas mentions his fears of what will happen (in the wreckage of Lake-town). I have also trimmed this scene to remove the conversation between Azog and Bolg. Nonetheless, we do see Azog for the first time in a brief, but menacing shot.

- Cut the scene introducing the earth-eaters that we would have normally seen after Thranduills question of the army. Although they are cool, Earth-eaters are way too underused in the film to include them at all.

- Cut the Gungabad scenes

 

Video: Gandalf warns about Azog's interest in Erebor, not Sauron's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Thief in the Night

- Cut the Bofur scene (from the extended edition), but did use a couple of seconds of Bilbo's sneaking before we see the rope thorwn out of Erebor.

- Cut the conversation between Bilbo and Gandalf. I like it, but it contributes nothing and stands in the way of a more natural continuation of the plot.

 

The Clouds Burst

- Used the cut from the Theatrical version where they skip further bargaining over the Arkenstone. I do like that Thranduil retorts, to Thorin threatening “Upon my oath, I'l kill you all”, with “Your oath means nothing”. But the pacing is better without that part.

- Cut Thorin saying it is a ruse and a lie. We go straight to him saying “It is a trick.”

- Used Extended Edition of Ironfoot's arrival and their fight with the elves.

- Gandalf says “Azog” instead of “earth-eaters” and we cut to Azog instead of the earth-eaters. The rumbling we heard was of the orcs marching in.- Reordered some reaction-shots from Bilbo and Dain.

- Put a creeping zoom on the armies marching in.

- Stompy (the blind troll from the EE) has been included.

- Cut the troll headbutting the wall of Dale, (repeated a slowed down sound of the destruction to link the shots).

- No Bard looking for his children, chariot-riding to them and telling his son to get people to the great hall. Instead, he'll just do that from his own free will without ever seeing his father. Also, no telling Alfrid to help his son and then fight.

- Thranduill rides into Dale, but without the part where he decapitates several orcs hanging from the antlers.

- Inserted Dain losing his mount in and commanding his army to fall back into the melodramatic fight-losing sequence. (Used the OST to isolate the song for an establishing shot).

- The scene where Thorin realizes what he has become has been recut thusly: An establishing shot of the horrible battle cuts to Thorin sitting on his throne, thinking (no conversation with Dwalin). I messed around a bit with the sound to bring some weight to the scene. Then we cut to Thorin standing atop the golden pool in the great hall. We hear no voice-overs, but we do hear the sounds of the action (taken from elsewhere), of Thorin himself and of the imaginary Smaug (which I've isolated). INo cutting all over the place. We just see Thorin standing atop the gold, hearing Smaug, seeing him pass under him and sinking into the gold until it swallows him. He throws away his crown.

 

Video: Thorin's change of heart recut and without voice-overs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-- Cut Thorin asking everyone to join him in the fight. We already know he had a change of heart, it's better if we just see him arriving in the battle.

- For the charge itself, I used an epically slowed down version of the Misty Mountain theme (same pitch) from the song "Roast Mutton".

- Cut Bombur's silly jump and the dwarves throwing axes for each other. However, I did leave in Stompy again.

 

Video: Misty Mountain theme for the Charge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Cut Women and Old people fighting and Alfrid dressed as a woman. Even though I kind of don't mind that gag.

- Cut Gandalf fighting a Troll.

- Shifted the music for Bard leading men into battle "one last time". And there's now a match-cut of an orc falling to get back to Thorin.

- Used the chariot-sequence from the Extended Edition (though I left out the bridge-holding Troll).

- Legolas and Tauriel come with news from the Gungabad orcs. When Bilbo says “Thorin is up there”, we go immediately to Thranduill amidst the elven corpses (though without lingering on them). Imitated from The Spence Edit.

- Then we go back to Thorin (cut a few introductory orc-slicing).

- Cut Thorin telling Fili and Kili where to go. They explore the tower from their own accord.

- When Fili gets killed, Kili immediately runs to avenge his brother. Rather than intercut this, I've made it into one little sequence so Thorin witnesess Kili's death also. To weave the scenes together, I use the song The Fallen (from the soundtrack). There is no Tauriel present here. Tauriel's part of the fight with Bolg has been placed elsewhere. Thanks to some lucky repetition in action, these two parts of the same fight have been split very well.- Bilbo doesn't throw rocks. As soon as the orcs arrive, one of them knocks him unconscious. (Techncially, you can see Bolg arrive here when we've already seen him kill Kili, but he may just be leading new troops into battle).

 

Video: Fili dies, Kili soon after

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The bats flying to the battle happen while Bilbo is still crouching from them, not afterwards.

- Cut Legolas hanging by a bat.

- Thorin is fighting Azog. When he has to fight orcs on the ice, Legolas shows up. Tauriel appears right after, also fighting orcs, only to be surprised by Bolg. I've flipped a couple of shots horizontally to match two (otherwise seperate) sequences.

- Bolg and kills Tauriel. Legolas is pissed and takes his revenge in a very much trimmed fight on the collapsing bridge. (No Legolas's super mario jumps). There is a bit of a continuity-error in where they're standing on the bridge. I didn't notice it until after a couple of viewings, so I don't imagine it'll be much of a problem.

- Thorin's last fight with Azog is now one sequence, with a few shots cut (to make it flow without continuity errrors) and Azog floating under the ice trimmed..

- Cut Radagast's shot on an eagle and shifted the start of the music a bit to compensate for it.

- Tauriel mourning over Kili cut, because Tauriel is no longer amongst the living herself.

- Only took a very short part of the scene with Legolas and Thranduil, so Legolas can express it and Thranduil can react to it. I replaced the original piece of dialogue with elvish (taken from another scene) and subtitled it "She didn't survive". 

 

Video: Tauriel dies & Legolas informs Thranduil (Subtitle has been improved in later version)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Return Journey & The Last Stage

- Thorin's funeral is kept, but that awkward shot of Gandalf, Beorn (& Radagast) has been cut.

 

Credits

- Added own (user-)name as fan-editor

- Cut Christopher Lee (though kept people who appeared in Part I)

- Added “As Sir Not Appearing in this Film” to Sylvester McCoy (Radagast)

 

 

INSPIRATION:

I’ve sometimes cross-referenced my edit with other fan-edits for inspiration. Though it has sometimes shown we came to the same ideas separately, at other times, I’ve been indebted to their creative decisions: The Spence Edit, The Dwarfed Edition, The Arkenstone Edition, There and Back Again, Into the Fire, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Tolkien Cut. I’ve endeavored to improve upon them though.