Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, which was released in December 2013, is the second installment in the director’s planned film trilogy, which means that its ending is not as “final” as audiences would like it to be. There’s plenty more story to tell and we’ll have to wait until this December for the trilogy’s finale, There And Back Again, to hit theaters to finally find out exactly how this tale with end.

But in the meantime, this middle segment leaves itself ripe for the picking for the folks over at “How It Should Have Ended,” who give us short cartoon renditions of live-action films revealing how they really should have ended. Their endings typically make much more sense than the originals, and are quite entertaining.

Check out the video here below for How The Desolation Of Smaug Should Have Ended, and be on the lookout for guest appearances.

“What about second breakfast?”

If you’re a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Middle-earth, then chances are, you know about Second Breakfast. And Elevensies. And Supper.

These are just some of the meals that Hobbits, as featured in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings, partake in daily, along with four other courses.

Now, you can get a shirt with the full daily meal schedule listed on it. Continue below to find out where and to see the full shirt.

For an epic like Peter Jackson’s film trilogy of The Hobbit, whose source material has a major and rabid fanbase, there’s going to be a lot of dissection of the adaptations (that’s why it helps to watch the filmmaker’s 30 hours of Blu-ray bonus features). The folks over at the Tolkien fan site The One Ring have brought attention to a list, created by fan Gary Appenzeller, of the differences and similarities between The Hobbit book and its 3-film adaptation. The list, which includes instances from the first two films of the planned trilogy, is quite lengthy and even notes some of the very minor details.

Below are six items from the list that pertain to The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, which was released in theaters on December 13, 2013.

Stephen Colbert went on Late Show With David Letterman earlier this month where he talked excitedly about his cameo in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug. The Colbert Report host, who’s a noted fan of the works of Hobbit author J.R.R. Tolkien, mentioned that his spot in the film was during a scene in Lake Town and that his wife and sons also appear.

I’ve seen the film a few times since its release two weeks ago and I didn’t spot Colbert in it, but now his cameo has finally been revealed. Check it out here below.

The Lord Of The Rings – The Two Towers: Extended Edition
Blu-ray
Directed by Peter Jackson
Written by Peter Jackson, Phillipa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Fran Walsh; based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
Starring Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, and Sean Astin
New Line Home Video
Release Date: August 28, 2012

You can read Dr. Geek, Ph.D’s review of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition from July 2011 here.

When you take a look back at some of the greatest second chapters in motion picture trilogies of all time like The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II, and (my personal favorite) Evil Dead II it is easy to understand why so many turn out vastly superior to their originals. Since most trilogies use their first story to act as set-up for almost everything that happens next the second is where things really start to take off. In successful film franchises it is also in the second installment where events begin to take darker turns, characters are forced to traverse a metaphorical – and sometimes literal – Hell to reach their personal Heaven, and the endings are very rarely happy or even conclusive.

Because the creators of the series – from the screenwriters to the studio executives with control over the green light to the bravura director and producer(s) who must assemble a crack team of actors and technicians to bring their mutual vision roaring to life – believe that the audiences who made the first movie a smashing success are invested in the ongoing narrative to the point where they will follow it wherever the filmmakers desire. Thus they are granted license to put their beloved characters through a series of traumatizing physical and psychological journeys where the only optimistic outcome is to survive to fight another day, nothing more.