Sci-Fi Storm

Middle-earth. Gandalf. Bilbo. Dragon.

‘nough said.
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Peter Jackson has released his video production diary for The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, which you can see below…but sadly, he says there will be no presentation at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con due to time constraints while they finish pick-up shooting.

The trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, part two of The Hobbit trilogy, is out and you can see it right here!

Although people who purchased [sfs=1287]The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey[/sfs] were able to watch Peter Jackson’s presentation and preview of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug live (and if you missed it and have an Ultraviolet code, you can still watch it), you can watch an excerpt of the question and answer section right here…and you might recognize a couple of the people asking questions…
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The nominees for the 2013 Hugo Awards were announced yesterday…here they are (with links when available if you want to check them out). The 2013 Hugos will be presented at LoneStarCon 3 in San Antonio, Texas, August 29-September 2, 2013 – the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention.

Best Novel:

[asin=0316098124]2312[/asin], Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
[asin=0316081078]Blackout[/asin], Mira Grant (Orbit)
[asin=1451638450]Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance[/asin], Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
[asin=0765334798]Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas[/asin], John Scalzi (Tor)
[asin=B00B9ZEMN6]Throne of the Crescent Moon[/asin], Saladin Ahmed (DAW)

Best Novella:

[asin=1616960655]After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall[/asin], Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)
[asin=1616960922]The Emperor’s Soul[/asin], Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)
[asin=0956392458]On a Red Station, Drifting[/asin], Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
[asin=B0089EHIA4]San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats[/asin], Mira Grant (Orbit)
“The Stars Do Not Lie”, Jay Lake (Asimov’s, Oct-Nov 2012)
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Tomorrow is the big day – the first installment of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is released on [sfs=1287]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1288]DVD[/sfs] tomorrow. And while we have to wait until December for part 2, The Desolation of Smaug, we can now journey back to Middle-earth to our heart’s content to see how the journey began…(don’t forget…you can use your Ultraviolet code from either version to access the Peter Jackson Q&A session and get the first sneak peek at The Desolation of Smaug on 3/24!)

(And I’ve discovered that I’ve probably been pronouncing Smaug wrong for many, many years…I’ve always just said “Smog”, but it seems it should be two syllables, something approximating “Sma-oohg”.)

First, let’s talk a bit about the feature…An Unexpected Journey covers approximately the first third of the book, up through the Gollum and goblin fights. From my own memory I thought it covered a lot more of the book, but it really is about a third. And it holds pretty true, at least from my memories of the book, which are probably about 15 years removed. It does start with a link-in to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in the form of the older Bilbo (played Ian Holm again) writing in the Red Book, while explaining to Frodo (Elijah Wood) about his big adventure, showing events that took place just prior to his birthday party but weren’t shown in the The Fellowship of the Ring. This serves as a gateway in to the story using the familiar characters, and then flashes back to the younger Bilbo (now played by Martin Freeman), just before he is about to receive quite a few unexpected visitors.
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Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson will host a live first look at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second film in The Hobbit Trilogy, on Sunday, March 24 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern/12pm Pacific at www.hobbit.com/sneak. Just added: The live event will now include a Q&A with Jackson and fans! Video questions can be submitted beginning March 12 through March 19 on “The Hobbit” Facebook page, or through the Vine mobile app using the hashtag #askPeterJackson. Fans can also Tweet links to video questions using the hashtag #askPeterJackson. The live event will be limited to holders of an UltraViolet™ code, available by purchasing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which arrives on [sfs=1287]Blu-ray Combo Pack[/sfs], [asin=B00BEZTMWW]Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack[/asin] and [sfs=1288]2-disc DVD Special Edition[/sfs] on March 19. Visit thehobbit.com/sneak for more information.

Warner Bros has said that that they are pushing back the release date for Part 3 of The Hobbit to December 17th, 2014 from its original July 18th date. This puts it in to the same holiday timeframe as the first two installments, and away from X-Men: Days of Future Past.

We still have to wait until December for the next part of The Hobbit – but we don’t have to wait that long to watch Part 1 at home. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be release on [sfs=1287]Blu-Ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1288]DVD[/sfs] in three weeks, on March 19th. Pre-order now!

Pretty much as usual, a roundup of the Oscars when looking at the science fiction and fantasy genres is a short article. Even with the expanded Best Picture list, nothing made that list, not even The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Probably the highest level award is the Best Animated Feature, which is at least full of genre entries, with Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and Wreck-It Ralph filling the sheet.

The dueling Snow White movies, Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman, will duke it out again for Achievement in Costume Design, while The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey did receive nods for Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design and Visual Effects, with Snow White and the Huntsman and The Avengers also getting nods in the latter.