May 01, 2023

50. LaCroix Wormtongue.

1 hour 6 minutes

Jared, Oriana and Ned appear live in Portland at Passages Bookshop to

celebrate fifty episodes of By-the-Bywater and to talk about Oriana’s choice

of topic: Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit. To say that there was

almost immediate speculation about whether or when Jackson would also adapt

The Hobbit following the smash critical and commercial success of his Lord of

the Rings films is to understate; over the following years there were further

lawsuits, broken agreements, studio questions, planned directorial choices

that mysteriously fell through and more besides that seemed to indicate it

would be the biggest case of developmental hell ever. But eventually the films

did start coming out in a similar yearly pace starting in December 2012, and

certainly earned a fair amount of cash. Yet to say that the films have had

anywhere near the level of widespread love and cultural staying power than The

Lord of the Rings films is to deny the fundamental truth of how poorly these

films have aged on several levels, and the various resultant impacts since, up

to and including a literal rewriting of a country’s laws to accommodate the

production. What were the core differences between the two sets of adaptations

on a structural level, and how did that play out in comparative terms? What

technical achievements were made much of in the run up to the films’ release,

and what impact did they actually have? How did what should be a core

relationship between the characters of Thorin and Bilbo get set up as a near

love story, and how was that all ultimately undercut in the final edits? And

really…Alfrid Lickspittle. REALLY?

Show Notes.

Jared couldn’t make a doodle for obvious reasons. But look

here! Friend of the show

and network Gabriel did sketch us!

Big ups to Passages Bookshop! Owner David

is a fine fellow and you should all check it out next time you’re in Portland.

Not only was there our live episode but there was an associated live bingo

game for audience

members. (Some people got close but nobody got it exactly – pity, that would

have been amazing if that had happened!)

Oriana’s old podcast American Grift.

It may yet return!

Whitechapel! Steampunky, yes, but the drinks

are great.

Our first episode! Different days…

The Hollywood Reporter

story on Amazon Studio’s somewhat

flailing ways, especially in terms of The Rings of Power.

That suit filed by the fanfic guy. Where to

begin. And if you want the back cover of his totally original book The

Fellowship of the King, here ya

go.

(Debutante ball. Really.)

Don’t forget Jared’s upcoming novel!

Our Silver Call duology episode –

and our Rings of Power Season 1

episode.

RIP Barry Humphries , Jackson’s Goblin King.

The Hobbit movies.

Yup. That’s them.

We’ve linked them before but the three

parts of Lindsay

Ellis’s analysis of The

Hobbit films are really something special, a masterpiece of both analysis and

reporting.

Nathan Rabin’s old Forgotbusters

column for the Dissolve.

Ah the Denny’s menu. Testimony from one who

survived

The whole framerate thing was hyped almost as much as the 3D. And it was

countered at the time, not just retrospectively…

The opening sequence in Erebor

is indeed a technical and artistic success. The escaping Goblin-town

sequence…is

not. The barrel

escape

definitely isn’t.

Dune and Goodnight Moon? Julia Yu has you

covered.

Thorin and Bilbo fan-art on Tumblr? Wouldn’t know about

that…

Thorin’s death scene with

Bilbo? Very

strong, very close in dialogue to the book too. The death scene after

it? Well…

The Tauriel issue.

There’s a lot.

Martin Freeman and James Nesbitt can indeed do something together with a sense

of dramatic heft and charisma, as seen in this scene from the first

movie.

Nothing like it happens again.

Lee Pace really just needed to do

this.

The Thorin charge to Azog down the flaming

tree,

yeah…and the music with it? Why did they do that?

Alfrid Lickspittle. Just,

no. (We’re sure Ryan Gage is

lovely in his own right.)

Yeah, Smaug the

Golden was a

nice touch.

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By Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett

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