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After watching The Hobbit trailer many times, setting the poster as my desktop, and finally going through the trailer again frame by frame, I have a lot of things to say. (I also no longer cry when I watch the trailer! Which is cool because that was getting tiring XD)

First off, watching frame by frame is possible! I'm not new to trailer scrutinizing but what IS new is being able to see anything when you freeze-frame XD Before, often there was so much motion blur, you couldn't see what was going on. 48fps: GOD BLESS IT. ANYWAY, I was able to notice a lot of tiny little details which made my day!!

Second, I'd like to address the appearance of the "hot" Dwarves XD They have been INCREDIBLY controversial, most notably Kili, Fili, and Thorin. People are angry that we have attractive Dwarves now. I think that's silly. Does Tolkien say in the books that Dwarves are supposed to be butt-ugly little fat creatures? No! He doesn't. And if you'll notice, there's no lack of HAIR on these men (which IS a described Dwarven trait), so no complaining about that (and personally, I think these men have achieved the huge feat of making beards hot - it's really REALLY not my type, but these guys are pretty sexy)! Anyway, it's sad that people think Dwarves should be looked at as gross little people who are only around to be comic relief. I personally enjoyed all the decisions made with Gimli in LOTR regarding the comic relief (although, his comedy outweighed his serious, hardcore side, which is sort of a shame) - but these Dwarves need to be taken more seriously. Some, anyway. And I think one way to really get away from that is to not make them all look like Gimli and Bombur - give them a more badass look (achieved specifically by Dwalin, Nori, and Thorin) and a more attractive look (achieved by Kili, Fili, and Thorin). So far, the designs are all so different from each other in the best way possible. They've definitely made so many good decisions here. smile So anyway, my point is, if Elves can be hot, humans can be hot, and HOBBITS can be hot, Dwarves have the right to be hot, too.

A quick side note about Gloin: I think they've designed him REALLY well - he's similar enough to Gimli so that no one will forget that he's Gimli's dad but at the same time, he's different enough to show that he's his own person... er, Dwarf! XD

Third, "Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold." I'm having mixed feelings about this song for the dumbest reason ever. Personally, I'm EXTREMELY fond of the version of that song that they made in the animated Hobbit ages ago. While that is a silly movie with silly songs (but I LOVE IT!!!!), THAT song is actually a legitimately awesome song with a beautiful and haunting tune. I love it. I sing that song often, actually. So... getting used to this new version isn't going to be easy. I didn't have to deal with that kind of replacement anxiety (XD) with LOTR because they didn't use any songs from the old movies (although, the Tolkien Ensemble did "There Is an Inn, a Merry Old Inn" and it's hard to balance both that and the one from the Bakshi movie, which I do like, even if it's only a few seconds in the movie XD). So we'll see how this goes. I like the song, I do - it's really lovely. But it's going to take some getting used to XD

Fourth, I'm REALLY curious about what this scene between Gandalf and Galadriel will consist of. There is a scene in the trailer that shows Gandalf and Galadriel together in Rivendell. The mood looks quite serious and I just wonder what they'll be discussing. Perhaps this is in/around the time of the White Council. SPEAKING OF WHICH, I'm blown away by the fact that we will actually be seeing the (Second) White Council (in their first and/or second meeting). I think it's going to be really amazing to see and I'm excited to see how they flesh it out. I think they're going to do some interesting things with "Gandalf's gone again and we don't see him for another few chapters and never find out what happened, really" XD I think in order to justify his many disappearances, they'll have to show where the heck he's going - and since LOTR has already been made, everyone knows who Gandalf is digging up info on.

Fifth, locations. The locations revealed in this trailer already show a big difference from LOTR. Peter said ages ago that there's lots more of New Zealand to see and that we'd be seeing it in The Hobbit - I'm really excited about that. But of course, it's familiar enough that it looks like Middle-earth - just different enough to be more interesting.

Sixth, Mirkwood. This gets its own little section here XD If you'll notice, there are a few parts in the trailer that show Gandalf going through some scary places. I presume this is Southern Mirkwood (Dol Guldur). In my opinion, it's a little reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro's artistic style. I wonder if the design has some leftovers from Mr. del Toro. I sure hope so because I LOVE HIM. I always thought his style would suit the Hobbit. With his leftovers and Peter's team combined, we're going to get some amazing designs here. Seventh: TROLLS. There are a few frames in which you can see the bottom of one of the troll's faces - I think the design is going to be very smart for them. I know we technically saw them in Fellowship of the Ring in their stone forms ("Look, Frodo! It's Mr. Bilbo's trolls!" wink but I hardly think they'll keep those designs since they weren't thinking they'd ever make a Hobbit movie at that point. I think the faces need to have a certain amount of human qualities to show that these aren't common cave trolls - they can speak and are in fact, different from the trolls we saw in LOTR. Anyway, they need to be a little more humanoid and a little less monstrous to achieve this effect. From what I can see of the lower face in those few frames, I will get the design that I want XD

Eighth, I was pleased that they showed Gollum in the trailer. I think people really liked Gollum (well, you know what I mean XDDD) and I think they'll be happy to see him in this one. Having him appear at the end of the trailer is really exciting.

Ninth - regarding artistic liberties. This doesn't deal with the trailer but I wanted to talk about it. There is no denying that many changes were made to LOTR in order to make it work on the screen. In my opinion, the people complaining the loudest about the changes are the people who know the least about screenwriting and adapation, as well as filmmaking in general. SO MANY THINGS just HAVE to be changed in order for things to work on the screen. For example, Tom Bombadil. This singing, yellow boot-clad, water lily-toting weird old man was awesome in the books but could NEVER EVER work in a movie. He's not cinematic at all. He's too silly and also, having the Hobbits stop off at Bombadil's would harshly disrupt the pace of the film. I could go on about why things had to be changed but if you don't understand then you just don't understand and I'm tired of wasting my time on negative nancies. XD Anyway, as far as the liberties that are going to be taken with this one, I suggest holding onto your hats. Me included. I've read The Hobbit most about of Tolkien's books and it's my favorite book of all time. The inevitable changes are going to be jarring and scary at first but I KNOW Peter and his team will make the right decisions. As for the addition of female characters, I just have to say: you CAN'T have a movie without women. For a lot of reasons. But the main reason is probably that radical hyper-feminists would flip their s**t and picket in front of movie theaters and s**t. Which is annoying. We want to avoid that because it's exhausting. But also, it seems a little awkward. I didn't notice it when reading the book, but the sausage-fest might be more noticeable on screen. So, Galadriel is back for that reason (aside from the White Council thing). But they're also adding Evangeline Lily's character (I think her name is Tauriel?) perhaps because they will need at least one butt-kicking woman. And frankly, why the hell not? In the end, I think people just need to remove the sticks from their bums and enjoy the movies (and realize that the changes weren't made out of laziness or douchebaggery but out of NECESSITY - DUH).

Tenth and last: Costumes. I know there was this big uproar amongst many LOTR fans when the news of the absence of Ngila Dickson hit the press. Frankly, guys, COME ON. They're acting like Ngila is the only costume designer in the world. She did EXTREMELY fine work for LOTR but they will definitely find someone equally as competent to replace her. From what I saw of the costumes in trailer, they look fantastic. Especially Bilbo's robe in the scene where all the Dwarves tumble in the door XD I think that design is so Tolkien.

All in all, I am of course, so excited for these movies. I could go on about my thoughts on it forever. Feel free to discuss XDDD WHEW! I'm exhausted now XDDDD