The Hobbit: Preview “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” – The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien Thus began one of the most epic adventures ever written. Whether our first exposure came from reading the books or watching the movies, J.R.R Tolkien’s epic fantasy series about the inhabitants of Middle Earth has been a large part of many of our lives. The trailer for the Hobbit was released on December 20th, 2011, and it was an amazing glimpse of what we can expect of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The Hobbit trailer was awesome. It highlighted exactly what we all loved about the LOTR movies: occasional humor, ominous darkness, quick flashes of action, and, of course, wide pan shots of horsemen riding single file over the landscape of New Zealand, or as it is more commonly known, Middle Earth. The Hobbit trailer also ensured the return of another thing I loved about LOTR: the music. Howard Shore’s music added to the experience of the movies, as it was tailor-made to suit the epic nature of Tolkien’s writing. From the small bit of music in the Hobbit trailer, it is evident that Howard Shore has again written music that will vastly enhance the effect of the movie. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, while still quite a ways off, is causing quite a buzz, and rightfully so. The trailer provided a small glimpse of the brilliance of Tolkien’s writing, combined with Peter Jackson’s direction and New Zealand’s stunning landscape.