Bilbo blows a perfect smoke ring and watches it rise into the air. A tiny sailing ship with masts and sails glides through the Center of Bilbo's smoke ring.
BILBO (CONT'D) Ohhhh, (smiles) Gandalf my old friend...this will be a night to remember!
CUT TO:
EXT. PARTY FIELD, HOBBITON -- NIGHT BOOM! A FIREWORK explodes into the night sky high above Hobbiton...in the shape of a great green tree with unfolding
branches. TILT DOWN:
with glowing flowers as they rain down from the branches...evaporating just above the up turned faces of the delighted party-goers 144 Hobbits, feasting and drinking Carts of beer and wine are scattered about, and the tables are piled high with steaming scones and savories.
Gandalf hurries about, lighting fireworks with a blue spark that dances magically from his staff... Bilbo is greeting visitors. Frodo and SAM sit at a table drinking ale...Frodo notices Sam's eyes keep flicking to another pretty Hobbit, Rosie Cotton, sitting some distance away.
FRODO:
Go on, Sam, ask Rosie for a dance.
SAM:
(horrified) I think I'll just have myself another ale.
FRODO:
Oh, no you don't. Go on.
Sam goes to drain his glass... suddenly it is snatched out of his hands as Frodo thrusts him into the middle of a passing throng of dancers.
15.
ANGLE ON:
SAM'S HORRIFIED FACE as he is Swept away. Frodo laughs and finishes Sam's beer.
ANGLE ON:
Gandalf as he sets alight a particularly spectacular firework that draws gasps of admiration from the party guests.
Close on:
Bilbo is relating stories of his adventure to a group of young hobbit children.
BILBO:
(melodramatic) So, there I was...at the mercy of three monstrous trolls...Have you ever heard of a troll? Do you know what a Troll is?
Great big nasty twenty foot high smelly things..and they're arguing...arguing about how they were going to cook us!
ANGLE ON:
A LITTLE HOBBIT GIRL'S upturned face...her eyes growing larger and larger.
BILBO:
Whether it be turned on a spit or minced in a pie or whether they were going to sit on us one by one and squash us into jelly! But they spent so long arguing the whether-to's and why-for's that the sun's first light crept over the top of the trees...and turned them all to stone!
STUNNED GASPS from his young Audience greet his astonishing
feat! Close on:
MERRY AND PIPPIN, two mischievous Young Hobbits in their late teens. Pippin scrambles on to the back of Gandalf's wagon, snatching up a small firework
MERRY:
(urgent whisper) No, no..the big one...the big one! Pippin grabs a huge rocket. CLOSE ON: FIREWORK FUSE crackles with flame!
Merry is holding out the big rocket...he looks aghast at the fizzing fuse that Pippin has just lit.
MERRY (CONT'D) (worried whisper) You're supposed to stick it in the ground!