I have seen the future, and it plays at 48 frames per second. It may not currently be without notable flaws, but technological revolutions seldom begin as such.

This week I saw a Digital IMAX projection of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in HFR. HFR (High Frame Rate) is a marketing term for digital video projected at 48 fps (frames per second), exactly twice the current film frame rate standard of 24 fps.

As some have accurately criticized, to the unaccustomed eye this has the tendency of making the film look like a 70’s BBC TV drama or an old soap opera (that’s because rather than using film, pre-HDTV era soap operas were acquired using economically efficient video cameras which captured at a rate of 60 interlaced fields per second, or the equivalent of 30 frames per second).

During scenes populated mostly by CGI characters I often felt I was watching a cutscene from a fantasy videogame. The high frame rate also appears to reveal more potential imperfections, particularly in scenes involving actors. At times Ian Holm‘s (older Bilbo Baggins) face looked so waxy and dull I thought his makeup was applied by morticians. Makeup artists are going to have to be more stringent than ever in the HFR world. In fact, I’d say the majority of criticism attributed to the “eerie” look of this new process is an indication that all filmmaking disciplines will need to reinvent themselves to meet the challenge of the medium.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Directed by Peter Jackson
Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm
Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 170 minutes
Release Date: December 14th, 2012

Director Peter Jackson returns to J.R.R. Tokien‘s Middle-Earth with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first entry in a new series of films that serve as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Set 60 years before The Fellowship of the Ring, An Unexpected Journey concerns Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a young Hobbit who goes on a grand adventure with the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a company of thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage).

Their goal is simple: reach the Lonely Mountain and reclaim the kingdom of Ererbor (and its golden treasure) from the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch), the ‘Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities.’

The journey leads them from Bilbo’s home in Bag End in the Shire to the Elven stronghold of Rivendell and through the Goblin-infested Misty Mountains, where Bilbo encounters Gollum (Andy Serkis), a tragic creature who possesses a golden ring that will change the hobbit’s life forever.

That is, of course, the basic plot of Tolkien’s 1937 novel. Jackson’s film adaptation, however, makes extensive use of appendices and other supplementary materials to expand the 300-page children’s book into a trilogy of films that will eclipse nine hours of screen time.

Welcome to the Geeks of Doom Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2012: Specialty Items!

If you’ve not yet done your shopping, this is your place for a few gift ideas for the geeks in your life who have just about everything you were thinking about getting them. Whether it be plush toys or board games, collectibles, household items, prop replicas, or even edibles, you’ll find it here to help guide you toward your ultimate goal: happy, glowing geek eyes when Christmas morn’ arrives.

If something is said to be unavailable, you can usually find it available elsewhere online. Or you can wait; it’s assumed that more should be available soon. Some of these items are also coming out later on down the road if you’re in need of late gifts or want to start planning for next year.

Be sure to continue on below to check out the 2012 Specialty Items gift guide now!

Ho, ho, ho, and a bottle of Red Bull. It’s THAT time of the year again and we here at Doom HQ have been busier than migrating elves in Middle Earth cultivating this list of the best books and eBooks of 2012. See below for our Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2012: Books & eBooks.

It seems that 2012 was a good year for rock ‘n’ roll memoir/biography/holy-shit-I-lived-through-that/hey-we’re-still-relevant books because we’ve got a fairly long list of ’em for people like your cousin Phil who still wears that bogus KISS jersey he bought in the parking lot at NJ’s Brendan Byrne Arena back in 1982. And there’s lots more geeky awesome gift books in our annual Holiday Geek Gift Guide, including several movie and TV tie-ins; Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years, which is so hot it made it onto this year’s list twice; the Star Trek: The Klingon Bird-Of-Prey Owners’ Workshop Manual, an obvious essential for all Bird-Of-Prey owners; picks for the Star Wars, Firefly, and The Avengers fans in your life; a bunch of urban fantasy selections, and a pick from the dudes over at Wizards of the Coast.

Having a huge event film in its post-production stage up until only a few days from its world premiere is not exactly unheard of in the motion picture industry, especially when it involves the completion of crucial visual effects and music. Such is the case with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which is still being worked on as its theatrical opening looms largely with less than three weeks to go before it bows on 2D and 3D movie screens across the U.S.

To give us a modest taste of the massive amounts of work that go into making The Hobbit look and sound as epic and unforgettable as it needs to be director Peter Jackson is here with the ninth in a series of video production diaries.

You can watch the video here below.