The first official trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is here. I fully understand why producers and film companies like to start an early buzz about an upcoming film, but for Tolkien fans, a teaser for a film that will not be released until December 14, 2012 seems a bit torturous doesn’t it?

Oh, well.

I like Tolkien’s work. Back in the 1970’s our family took an entire summer to travel out west on an extended vacation. We hit about every state west of the Mississippi river. It was a summer I’ll never forget, and not just because we stayed at every KOA campground in existence, nor because we ate every flavor of Hamburger helper or Tuna helper ever made – multiple times – but that was the summer I discovered Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I devoured it all. Traveling in a car across the country gives you plenty of time to read. I not only read the trilogy, I also devoured The Silmarillion, a collection of Tolkien’s mythopoeic works. Loved it all.

However, it was The Hobbit that captured my imagination in those younger days, and it was the first page of that book that I memorized and have been able to quote on demand ever since….most of the time.

This is one film I’m looking forward to seeing (D.V.).