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eter Jackson has picked up the pace. He began his Hobbit trilogy at an amiable, meanderingly wayward canter, and tried the patience of believers and non-believers alike with that initial supper scene, almost an epic in itself. But this second episode commences with a narrative whipcrack – a quick flashback to Gandalf and Thorin tensely discussing their great plan in the snug bar of the Prancing Pony – and then we're off, at a tremendous gallop. The Desolation of Smaug is a cheerfully entertaining and exhilarating adventure tale, a supercharged Saturday morning picture: it's mysterious and strange and yet Jackson...

I apologize if this has been posted before. Check this out. JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit was published in the USSR in 1976, with illustrations by M. Belomlinskij.The Soviet HobbitHere's a sample. More at the link.

Christopher Lee offers his voice for Smaug… won’t go back to NZ. July 13th, 2008 by Compa_Mighty In a bittersweet note, forummer DiveTwin reports this note that appeared in Cinematical:

A Tolkien Virgin: The Hobbit - Chapters 13 and 14by Mark-EdmondThe Journey Continues Smaug over Esgaroth... Chapter 13Not at HomeWait around for a few days? Man, as soon as I thought Smaug was gone, I would have made a break for it! Then, they dilly dally taking their pick from the treasure with the dragon possibly returning at any second..."get the heck out of there!" I wanted to scream. Furthermore, Bilbo's taking of the Arkenstone can't be good. Remember what happened to Thingol when he resisted the Dwarf-smiths' taking of the Nauglamir newly set with the Silmaril of Beren....

A Tolkien Virgin: The Hobbit - Chapters 11 and 12by Mark-Edmond The Journey ContinuesChapters 11 and 12 - On the Doorstep and Inside Information Smaug's horde under the Lonely Mountain. Oh. My. Gosh. Smaug is going to Lake-town and he doesn't know that Bilbo and the rest are safe inside the mountain! Talk about excitement!So, I actually got giddy for a moment with that Inside Information. Dread followed by giddiness. I mean, how dreadful a line, "Then Smaug spoke." I forgot about that...Glaurung spoke in the Silmarillion, right? Heck, I can't remember, but I wasn't expecting Smaug to talk to...

DRAGONSin the Writings of J.R.R. TOLKIEN     In "On Fairy Stories" (delivered as an Andrew Lange Lecture in 1938) Tolkien confides that as a child he was little moved by Alice in Wonderland or Treasure Island, "But the land of Merlin and Arthur was better than these, and best of all the nameless North of Sigurd of the Vosslung, and the prince of all dragons. Such lands were pre-eminently desirable. I never imagined that the dragon was of the same order as the horse. And that was not solely because I saw horses daily, but never even the...