why weren't the black riders chasing bilbo baggins when he had the ring in the beginning of the movie?
If I remember correctly its because the demon only "woke" up at about the same time Frodo got it. As a matter of fact is was chasing for the ring BEFORE Frodo had it.It only got to it once he did.
This is where the books are helpful. The Ring is lost for roughly 3000 years. Nobody even realizes that it had been found until Gollum makes his way into Mordor looking for it after Bilbo comes across it. In addition, Sauron had not regained his full power-- at the time of the finding of the Ring, he was in a different form and had not even returned to Mordor himself-- so his servants were not yet actively searching for the Ring. The movie hints at Gollum being tortured for the information on who had "stolen" his ring... he's the one who screeches out "Baggins... Shire!" right before the Riders leave the Dark Tower.
Plus, although Bilbo *had* the ring, and felt for it in his pocket all the time, I think he didn't actually put it on much, until his eleventy-first birthday party when he put it on so he could disappear. *Wearing* the ring seems to be a louder signal than just *having* it, or else the ringwraith would have found the hobbits when they were hiding under the tree early on.
Bilbo put it on numerous times in The Hobbit. However, as the Ring's master was not at his full strength (he was being forced out of his temporary base in Southern Mirkwood during those events) he was not able to sense Bilbo or, for that matter, Gollum's use of it. If anything is a question raised by pre-FOTR use of the Ring, it's why weren't the Orcs of the Misty Mts. drawn to it (while Gollum possessed and frequently used it) as the ones who waylaid Isildur were?
*sigh* In another thread somebody told somebody else to embrace his inner geek. Works for me here. In answer to Ian Lozada's question, here's my hypothesis: The reason the Misty Mountain Orcs (actually they were called goblins in the Hobbit, weren't they?) weren't drawn to Gollum's ring was that, at the time, they were more or less independent from Sauron/the Necromancer (as he was called while gathering strength in Dol Goldur). It's his thralls (par excellence: the Ringwraiths) that are drawn to the ring. Also, it seems that the orcs and goblins are too dense to sense it as clearly as the wraiths, et al.
I'm pretty sure the very act of responding to a Lord of The Rings question qualifies us as geeks. Doesn't bother me a bit. I just hope that a decade from now, Peter Jackson is directing all six movies based on George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.
Okay, I'll try to embrace without the sigh next time. Haven't read that series (or anything) by Martin, but I'm pretty sure I saw Jackson quoted as saying the trilogy films were going to be outliers in is ouvre (Christ! now I'm sounding like Frasier's brother, Miles). Doesn't bode well for more fantasy films by him, which is too bad.
Oh yeah, your Star Wars/Soccer Universe thread. Thanks, I couldn't remember where I'd seen it before and it was bugging me.