Back to Middle-Earth with ‘The Hobbit’ Trailer

If you’ve been missing Middle-Earth, director Peter Jackson has something to make you miss it even more.

He has just released the first trailer to “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” his highly anticipated return to the Shire and adventure.

As Tolkien fans well know – and I’m sure I’ll get comments correcting any tiny details I mistake – “The Hobbit” takes place before “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and features the “there and back again” adventures of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he joins a gaggle of dwarves on a quest to recover the gold from the dragon Smaug. The tone is much lighter than “Rings,” although many of the characters are the same and hobbit feet are just as big and hairy.

Here’s the trailer:

Did anyone else get shivers seeing the elf city again? (Is it Rivendell? I get them mixed up. Sue me.)  How about that younger, perkier Gandalf? The dwarves look fantastic. And, of course, we meet the unfortunate Gollum, played by Andy Serkis, and his precious ring once again.

And not an orc in sight!

Sadly, we have to wait an entire year for more hobbit action, which seems like forever.

The Shire? I want to go to there.