There and Back Again

The Hobbit.   I have been 'there and back again'.  I made that long and sometimes tortuously slow journey all the way to Smaug, and then all the way back to Bag End.  But it just left me... unfulfilled, I suppose you could say.  As I said, it was long and often very slow and in comparison to The Lord of the Rings, the vivid, vibrant, grippingly beautiful and intense style that enchanted and impassioned me every step, every sentence, was completely lacking in The Hobbit. 

I read it because my mentality has always been start at the start, end at the end, read before you watch the movie, etcetera etcetera.  And so, I completely abstained from the glorious three-part edition of The Lord of the Rings that I got for my fifteenth birthday, grovelling instead, in the tame and dusty pathways of The Hobbit. 

It scared me a little.  I had waited so long with so much expectation to read The Lord of the Rings, that when I read The Hobbit, I was really concerned that I wasn't going to enjoy it after all.  I had expected so much and was met rather, by a simple and unexciting children's book.  It really put me off.  But nevertheless, there was that glorious three-part edition waiting on my shelf, and I eventually grabbed it and set off.  Within half of a single chapter, it was obvious to me that I was not going to be disappointed.  Every expectation of the last five years was going to unravel like a fresh lawn in front of me, and then continue out of my imagination.  It became the book that I had waited for without realisation, my entire life. 

I should probably have never read The Hobbit, if only for the avoidance of those days of disappointment, and really, for all of you who consider reading it in the future, it isn't necessary anyway, because the entire plot and all the details are given in The Lord of the Rings, so that if you skip it, it won't affect your reading experience.  But despite my less than thrilling journey there and back again with Bilbo Baggins, it is impossible for me to stifle excitement over the impending release of part one of the film adaption next year.  Especially knowing who is going to play Bilbo Baggins...

It is my wonderful and delightful Martin Freeman, gallant portrayer of Dr. Watson in the BBC production, Sherlock and our awkward but wonderful Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Who then, better to play funny and frumpy Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit?  Not to mention, he looks extremely funny, frumpy, and dare-I-say-it, cute, 'hobbofied'!

You agree, don't you?  This is one of the original stills released from onering.net, and it's just enough to sprinkle thrills up your spine, if you're anything of a Tolkien fan - movies or books. 

Though the book left much to be desired, I have a strong feeling that the movie will be something worth journeying for.  Even if only for Martin Freeman.