Here is Stephen Fry in the Hobbit, for those who are fans of his.
Well, since so many dwarves will (presumably) be killed in the Battle of Five Armies, the death of the female elf may sort of upstage that. That would be a poor choice, I think. Not that Peter Jackson hasn’t made some poor choices…
I don’t know that Tauriel dying will upstage at least three of the dwarves. I mean, there is a heartless-ass reason that specific dwarves are human-standards attractive, and specific other ones aren’t.
I agree that there’s no reason in the world of the Hobbit to kill her off, but I also think she’s gonna kick it for narrative/heartstring-pulling reasons.
I’m strangely ok with that.
Parts of the cartoon are rough but I always thought the scenes with Smaug were well done. Richard Boone nailed the voice.
“Have fire, will travel.”
Any word on where The Desolation of Smaug will end? I’m guessing just as Bilbo comes down the secret entrance and gets his first good look at Smaug.
We won’t get a good long look at him until the third movie.
Rumor is that Smaug doesn’t die until the third movie, so probably we don’t see him until the opening of the third or the final scenes of the second. I wouldn’t be surprised if the second movie ends with the cliffhanger of an enraged Smaug bearing down on Laketown.
That was my guess, right after I saw the first movie. On the other hand, it means that movie 3 will be almost entire battles – Laketown, Battle of Five Armies, and maybe a few more fights with goblins since we haven’t seen much of that.
Oh, I’m sure Jackson will manage to get a few chase scenes in there somehow. 
More seriously, there’s the potential for a lot of tension between those two huge fight scenes and I’m looking forward to it. Once they kill the dragon, that’s when the politics really come into play and the tension starts building to that last fight where we lose some of our Company. The Dwarves holed up and preparing to starve on their piles of gold, lead by a king whose caught up in dragon sickness himself. Laketown devastated as winter comes in. Bilbo doing his best to settle things peaceably and losing his hard-won trust in Thorin despite it. And the audience gets to watch three factions, none of whom are bad folk, inch toward a confrontation where they’re all determined to kill each other off for Erebor’s treasure. That’s fertile ground for heart-squeezing character moments. I’m just hoping Jackson and crew have made the most of it.
A selection of posters for the movie, which comes out in the U.S. on Dec. 13:
http://www.flicksandbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/The-Hobbit-The-Desolation-of-Smaug-poster-2013.jpg
http://static.squarespace.com/static/51b3dc8ee4b051b96ceb10de/t/5264a89de4b0b34efecbd401/1382328479325/The-Hobbit-The-Desolation-Of-Smaug-Poster-600x817.jpeg
http://static.squarespace.com/static/51b3dc8ee4b051b96ceb10de/t/52715540e4b02bf29d8ca18c/1383159109111/El_Hobbit_La_Desolación_De_Smaug_Nuevo_Poster_Latino_a_JPosters.jpg
it’s been legolized - LEGO The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Teaser Trailer [HD] - YouTube
Holy crud.
Very cool! Thanks.
Lots of Hobbit bling here: http://www.noblecollection.com/index.cfm?fa=products.catagory&catid=91
The replica Stings are always too big. It’s little more than a knife, a mere short sword in the hands of someone 3 feet tall. It isn’t 22 inches long.
More of a letter opener, really…
Newest production diary:
Next one will be on the music
Brian
Maybe they make them larger than life so that anybody holding it looks hobbit-sized?
I’d be well up for buying stuff that’s scaled up so I can feel like a hobbit.
I would love a human sized version of Bilbo’s comfy hobbit hole of a house. I love the look of it in the movies. I think it would be really cozy in the winter with all the earth berming.