'Rings' prequel 'The Hobbit' is less Lordly, just as grand

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films pushed English professor J.R.R. Tolkien's epic novels to the forefront of popular culture. But the trilogy, the first part of which was published in 1954, has its antecedent in a smaller, more pastoral 1937 work called The Hobbit.

This charming, cheerful and somewhat magical book sets the scene for the great adventure that is to follow. The Hobbit has now been split into three parts and filmed by Jackson and his The Lord of the Rings team, and the first instalment, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, was released in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Tolkien did not intend the book as a prequel to his defining work. Although it introduces the world of Middle-earth, and many of the trilogy's characters, it's a standalone story with a more convivial aesthetic than the ominous Wagnerian bombast of Rings. Episodic in form, The Hobbit is a fantasy quest about a pompous but well-meaning hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who sets out on a dangerous journey from the Shire to help a group of dwarves reclaim their treasure from a dragon's lair. Along the way, he meets a conniving subterranean creature called Gollum, and inadvertently comes into possession of his "precious" ring of invisibility. Thus, the chain of events that leads to the later trilogy is set in motion.

During an interview in New York before the film's release, Jackson says his main challenge was maintaining The Hobbit's lighter tone while making sure it reflects the brooding atmosphere of his three Rings films. "Tolkien wrote The Hobbit first. He was telling stories to his children, and the bedtime stories grew into the book," the director says. "It's written in a linear, episodic way, so he could read a chapter to a child each night before he turned the lights out. So it has that bedtime-story quality to it."

The Hobbit was a success when it was released, and Tolkien's publisher asked him to write a sequel. He started work immediately, but the second world war intervened. Much of the ensuing work was written during the war years, and this led to a much darker tone. (One reading of Rings is that it's an allegory of the second world war, and that the Dark Lord Sauron's shadow, which spreads out over Middle-earth, is an metaphor for the rise of Nazi Germany.)

"By the time The Lord of the Rings came out, he had expanded it into a huge, apocalyptic, dark fable," says Jackson. "The works are obviously connected, but they certainly have a different feel. I didn't want to make The Hobbit as a children's story as I was aware that, after the theatrical release of all of the Hobbit films, people will have six Rings DVDs on their shelves. So I wanted there to be a unity in the storytelling and look. I've tried to capture the lighter tone of The Hobbit while making sure that everything blends and connects with The Lord of the Rings."

Bilbo Baggins is a different kind of hobbit to his nephew, Frodo, the chief protagonist of the Rings trilogy. Frodo is earnest and full of the courage that youth bestows. By contrast, Bilbo is rambunctious and pompous, and has a jestful side. Jackson cast British comic actor Martin Freeman, notable for his roles in television programmes The Office and Sherlock, as Bilbo. He was a perfect choice.