12. returning to middle earth

The Hobbit, for those of you who don't know, is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.Tolkien. Unfortunately, I've not read any of the books (when I get home for Christmas, I plan on reading the Hobbit) but I've seen all of the LOTR films, and today I went to see The Hobbit.

The film, directed by Peter Jackson, sees the return to Middle Earth, in a story about Bilbo Baggins, Frodo's (from LOTR) uncle, who goes on an unexpected adventure. It stars Martin Freeman (who plays John Watson in BBC's Sherlock) as Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage (he's Guy of Gisbourne in BBC's Robin Hood) as Thorin (a dwarf) who is one of the key characters. It also sees the return of some characters that we've seen before in LOTR, such as Gandalf, Galadriel and Lord Elrond. Unfortunately Legolas doesn't make an appearance until the last installment (according to IMDB), which is a shame, cos Orlando Bloom is pretty nice ;) Luckily, I think Aidan Turner who plays Kili is gorgeous, so I'll have to make do with him for now. Especially as there's no Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson). Anyway, this isn't supposed to be a post about the good-looking actors in the film, but I'm not sure what the point is... probably just to go on about the amazingness of the film! (I love it, in case you couldn't tell).

I genuinely think it was brilliant though, and I really want to see it again - hopefully, I'll get to if I meet up with my friends Natalie and Steph (we all LOVE Lord of the Rings - when we were all at band together, we kept asking if we could play LOTR music... it never happened *sadface*). I actually want to go and see it again now! I don't know how I'm going to be able to cope for the next week or however long (unfortunately, I can't compare it to the book - but it was an amazing film even without the prior knowledge of the plot!) I can't wait until next December, and then the following July when the 2nd and 3rd parts come out! I want to watch all of them now! And then have a LOTR marathon... and then possibly watch The Hobbit trilogy again... I know I'm babbling... but it's AWESOME!

I don't want to say too much about it, as I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet (crazy people - you should go and see it IMMEDIATELY... and I mean it even more than when I told people to go and watch Skyfall)! 

PICTURE TIME NOW... (these screenshots were up on digitalspy, so I don't think they count as spoilers - well, too much anyway :P)

MARTIN FREEMAN as BILBO BAGGINS - he's excellent as Bilbo!!! 

DEAN O'GORMAN as FILI and AIDAN TURNER as KILI... Aidan Turner is gorgeous!! Even as a dwarf!!  I'm going all fangirlish (something I haven't done in ages... well, not for a while anyway :L) over him! When I was watching the premiere at Leicester Square, I saw him with Prince William and was like, 'nice ;)'

ANDY SERKIS returns as GOLLUM - which means there are loads more phrases that Steph can now imitate. The Gollum moment in The Hobbit was great! Loved it :D

Some dwarves at Bilbo's hobbit-hole... I chose the picture with Aidan Turner in to put on here (who wouldn't?!?!)

Anyway, apologies for this post being very random, and fangirlish. But.. it is THE HOBBIT! I think Natalie will understand... :)

Tara