Earth Station One Episode 142 – Playing Riddles in the Dark, We Review the First Hobbit Film

The ESO crew goes on a journey we’ve been expecting for nine long years! Mike and Mike with fellow ESO podcasters JD (The Delta Quadrant) and Van Allen Plexico (White Rocket) review the first chapter of The Hobbit trilogy. Plus, Bobby is on hand to help author Jana Oliver face The Geek Seat. All this and the usual Rants, Raves, Khan Report, and Shout Outs!

Join us for yet another episode of The Earth Station One Podcast we like to call: Playing Riddles in the Dark, we review the first Hobbit film

Movie review: Peter Jackson returns to Middle-earth in ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’

By Ashley Bergner
Box Office Buzz

It’s been almost a decade since fans last had a chance to visit Middle-earth in theaters. The fantasy world created by author J.R.R. Tolkien was brought to life in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy of “Lord of the Rings” films, which came to a conclusion in 2003 with the Oscar-winning “Return of the King.” Ever since then, fans have been hoping Jackson would return to Middle-earth and film Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” prequel, “The Hobbit.” Although getting “The Hobbit” to the big screen has been a complicated process — mired by a legal battle between Jackson and New Line Cinema, which produced the LOTR films, and the departure of Guillermo del Toro, who was originally hired to direct the film — the movie finally came to theaters this Friday. And it was well worth the wait.

The film follows a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, whom LOTR fans will recognize as the uncle of Frodo, the hobbit who carries the One Ring to Mount Doom. Bilbo isn’t, at first, as adventurous a hobbit as his nephew. He enjoys a quiet life with good friends and good food, and doesn’t feel particularly compelled to venture beyond the comfort of the Shire. However, the wizard Gandalf sees a spark of greatness inside Bilbo, and sends him off on a quest with a band of Dwarves to reclaim the Dwarves’ treasure from a dragon named Smaug. It’s a quest that will have a dramatic impact not only on Bilbo, but on the entire land of Middle-earth, setting in motion events that will lead to an epic showdown with the dark lord Sauron in the LOTR movies.

Next on Earth Station One…

Next week, the Earth Station One crew goes back to the theater for the premiere of The Hobbit. That’s right, we’re heading back to Middle Earth for the first installment of the new trilogy from Peter Jackson.

ESO wants to hear from you. Tell us what you thoughts on The Hobbit. We’d love to hear your experiences. Also, have you visited a convention or planning one? We’d love to hear from you at http://www.esopodcast.com, email us at esopodcast@gmail.com, or call 404-963-9057. We might just read yours on the show. Follow ESO on Facebook and Twitter.

The ESO Crew

Earth Station One Episode 134: Walking Our Way Towards The Two Towers

Join the ESO crew as we revisit Middle-Earth and review the second film in The Lord of the Rings series. Once again the merry band of Mike, Mike, and Bobby and joined by Jessa Phillips (GoodtoBeaGeek.com) and Rebecca Perry (TheOneRing.net). We also Countdown to Halloween with tricks, treats, and artist Chris Moreno in The Geek Seat. Plus, our review of the second episode of The Walking Dead season three. All this and the usual Rants, Raves, Khan Report, and Shout Outs!

Join us for yet another episode of The Earth Station One Podcast we like to call: Walking Our Way Towards The Two Towers

Peter Jackson strikes back at The Hobbit criticism

By Nathalie Caron, Source: Blastr.com

Last week, Peter Jackson showed 10 minutes of footage from the highly anticipated The Hobbit. What should have been a moment of crowning glory for the director turned into a flurry of criticism regarding the look of the film. So what’s Peter Jackson to do? Why, respond to those criticisms, of course.

During CinemaCon last week, Warner Bros. showed off 10 minutes of footage from The Hobbit. While critics were rather ecstatic about the scenes that were shown, they weren’t happy with the look of the footage — which is apparently more “realistic” in appearance than Jackson’s previous Middle-earth opus, The Lord of the Rings.

‘The Hobbit’ has an extended preview at CinemaCon: Which scene would you want to see first?

by Darren Franich, Source: ew.com

Tomorrow, Warner Bros. will host their presentation at CinemaCon, and EW has confirmed that the studio will screen some material from Peter Jackson’s hotly-anticipated The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey — the first part of the Hobbit duology, which is totally a word now thanks to Hollywood. Warner is keeping mum about exactly which scenes from The Hobbit will screen, although an earlier report by The Hollywood Reporter claimed there would be about ten minutes of footage. Which gives us the opportunity to speculate. Besides the ominous teaser, this will be pretty much the first new video from Peter Jackson’s version of Middle-Earth in almost a decade. What would you want to see from The Hobbit?

Look who Peter Jackson just cast as The Hobbit’s ‘toughest’ dwarf

By Trent Moore, Source: Blastr.com

Middle-earth is getting even more crowded. With the first of two films based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novel The Hobbit set to open this December, director Peter Jackson has cast the actor who will portray one of the toughest dwarfs in the gang.

Billy Connolly (The Last Samurai, Boondock Saints) will star as Dain Ironfoot, a great dwarf warrior, according to Variety.

Police needed after thousands of Hobbits overwhelm casting call

By Marc Bernardin, Source: Blastr.com

How many Hobbit extras are too many Hobbit extras? Well, if you ask the police of Wellington, New Zealand, the nearly 3,000 would-be Middle-earth residents who showed up for a casting call for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequels qualify.

Dwarves, Gollum and the green Shire in 1st trailer for The Hobbit!

By Matthew Jackson, Source: Blastr.com

It seems like we’ve been waiting ever since the end of The Return of the King to see it, and now the first trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is finally here! Prepare yourself for singing dwarves, beautiful visuals and a creature in a mountain who first hears the dreaded name Baggins.

From the very beginning we get ties to The Lord of The Rings with hints of Howard Shore’s original score, plus appearances by both Elijah Wood and Ian Holm as old Bilbo lets young Frodo know that he didn’t tell him the whole story of how he got his hands on the One Ring after all.

1st official synopsis for The Hobbit reveals epic plot details

By Nathalie Caron, source: Blastr.com

We still have a looong year to wait until we can finally go back to Middle-earth again when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey makes it to theaters. But in the meanwhile, the studio’s just released the first official synopsis for the film.

If the blurb released by the studio exactly a year to the day before the premiere doesn’t raise your anticipation for The Hobbit at least a little, we don’t know what will. Oh yeah, we do. Maybe a boatload of pics would do the trick … but there are none to be found today. (Sorry!)