4. Back To The Start
The earliest trailers teased An Unexpected Journey would have a narrative bridging device in the form of Bilbo writing his memoirs and talking to Frodo. What we didn't know was how relevant to the original trilogy it would be, with Bilbo deciding to start his book on his 111th Birthday. This is on its own a good thing; its nice to see both hobbits interacting outside the constraints of the story. Even more exciting, however, is Frodos exit from the film, asking when Gandalf will be arriving, going off to read in wait for him. This directly leads into the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring when Gandalf arrives in Hobbiton, with Bilbo even coyly mentioning about him not liking being late. Its a nice rounding together of the two trilogies and doing it from the very off creates a more joined series, rather than two separate stories.