'The Hobbit' by Rankin/Bass

[Radaghast]

I figured this deserved a thread of its own and I couldn't find any so I created one. Mods, feel free to merge with any existing thread.

Anyway, I watched this yesterday for the first time in a while and I'm amazed at how different it seems from the last time I saw it. Things I forgot about the movie include the lack of the Arkenstone and Bilbo being fitted in plate mail to fight the Wood-elves and Lake-town army! 🙄 Instead of the whole Arkenstone bit Thorin calls Bilbo a coward for objecting to the battle. It's bizarre that I don't remember this, but even stranger is that it's in the movie (or, in the case of the Arkenstone, not in the movie). And what's with the goofy garden gnome helmets?

I'm also surprised at how much worse it seems. Actually, this is pretty terrible. For a movie that allots only 77 minutes to the story it sure seems to waste a lot of time on silly nonsense, yet still feels rushed and things happen without context or explanation. Also, much of the dialogue does not seem to come from the book. And during the Battle of the Five Armies, Bilbo actually remarks on how many armies there are; I cringed. I remember in the first Peej Hobbit movie how Bilbo falls from a great height in the tunnels and yet is none the worse for wear, and how stupid that was; but that happens in this movie too, and it is no less ridiculous here.

Another silly thing that happens in this movie is Gandalf telling Bilbo to keep a journal of his adventures from then on so that he can point out where he messed up. 🙄 😖

Some of the character designs are terrible. The goblins, for instance, have horns for some reason, and silly catlike ears. The giant spiders have these ridiculous rabbit ears and vampire teeth. I have to imagine that including horns, teeth and ears increased the cost.

The Wood-elves fare worst of all. Just... what?

The voice on Gollum is pretty good, but I have to wonder why he looks like a were-frog. Also, as good as the voice is, it's not always easy to understand him. The riddle game between Bilbo and him is not done well. But very little in this movie is.

I'm kind of on the fence on how they went with Smaug. I kind of like the design but it's not what I'd have imagined and no way is that thing getting off the ground, let alone stay aloft and move through the air.

Beorn is absent but I guess they wouldn't have been able to include him no matter how good the pacing was. 77 minutes just isn't enough time to do the story justice (and 6 hours is way too much). So, thanks to New Line, we'll have a long wait before even the chance of a decent adaptation. Many seem to love this movie and I can't really understand why, aside from any sense of nostalgia, perhaps.

Anyway, if you have a video player that can play avi files, you can download the movie here.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

It's being discussed on other threads too, at the moment, but I think we still have room. 😄

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

The Wood-elves fare worst of all. Just... what?

I've never seen this version but the Wood Elves look absolutely horrible. For creatures that are supposed to possess great beauty, wisdom, and spiritual power, as well as being learned in lore, this is just a disgrace.

 

[Radaghast]

I'm also not a fan of the lack of any English actors in the voice cast. The closest we get is the voice of Elrond, Cyril Ritchard (who died shortly after the release of the movie), who was Australian. Hans Conried, who approximated a British accent for the voices of Captain Hook and George Darling in Disney's Peter Pan, is the voice of Thorin but he doesn't really do an accent for this role for some reason.

In The Return of the King, R/B's sort-of sequel to Bakshi's LotR, the only Brit in the cast is Roddy McDowell as the voice of Sam.

 

[d4rk3lf]

I've never seen this version but the Wood Elves look absolutely horrible. For creatures that are supposed to possess great beauty, wisdom, and spiritual power, as well as being learned in lore, this is just a disgrace.

Apart from elves looking like that, and orcs and Gollum looking too frog-ish, I think it's actually not bad cartoon at all.
Certainly way better then LOTR cartoon.

This cartoon has this childish innocence, and it fits perfectly, because it's Hobbit.

Oh yeah.. and Bilbo kind of looked too sad all the time.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Apart from elves looking like that, and orcs and Gollum looking too frog-ish, I think it's actually not bad cartoon at all.
Certainly way better then LOTR cartoon.

I am not saying it is a bad cartoon, just that the depiction of Elves it presents seem to be rather hideous.

 

[Child of Varda]

In spite of its problems, I would say it is one of the better adaptations of Tolkien to the screen. In their defense about Elves and Gollum, if these people had only The Hobbit and skimmed The Lord of the Rings, I think that could explain the… problems here. The weirdest thing for me was Gandalf's monologue about the Ring at the end.

 

[KatieLee]

I absolutely love this version of the hobbit and I desperately need to do a rewatch. I always did find the character designs unsettling to say the least, but I understand as a kid that it was fantasy and a part of me definitely appreciated how bizarre it all looked, because it really took me out of the real world.

The real reason I loved this movie was the music. (Same honestly for the return of king by the same company). The greatest adventure is an amazing song for the story and the rest of the music is equally eery or fun. I really can't help myself when I say this version of the Misty Mountains song will be my favorite, including gandalf speaking the rest of the poem allowed.

Speaking of the Wizard, can I just say he is terrifying! This version is the reason I have such a respectful fear of the Gandalf. It really showed me that this wasn't any old learned man, but a true force to be reckoned with that I just didn't understand.

 

[Berzelmayr]

fun fact: many of the Japanese animators of this movie later came together to form Studio Ghibli.

They were hired to animate Miyazaki's film version of Nausicaa, and after it became a hit, many of the staff followed Miyazaki and Takahata to form Studio Ghibli.

When Topcraft was disbanded, many of the staff also went to form PAC (Pacific Animation Corporation). What anime did they create? Thundercats.

 

[CheriptheRipper]

The Wood-elves fare worst of all. Just... what?

This is what I would imagine Morgoth's first batch of orcs would look like when he wanted to mess with Eru's creations.

 

[Ent]

This is what I would imagine Morgoth's first batch of orcs would look like when he wanted to mess with Eru's creations.

My, my, my... tsk tsk.

the depiction of Elves it presents seem to be rather hideous.

And My, my, my... tsk tsk. (Ents are sometimes given to repetition..!)

Perspective, perspective, perspective.
These Elves have been drawn by Dwarves, you see. They've never been overly fond of one another, so no doubt some slight exaggeration of features crept into their artwork..!

 

[Tyelkormo the Fair]

I figured this deserved a thread of its own and I couldn't find any so I created one. Mods, feel free to merge with any existing thread.

Anyway, I watched this yesterday for the first time in a while and I'm amazed at how different it seems from the last time I saw it. Things I forgot about the movie include the lack of the Arkenstone and Bilbo being fitted in plate mail to fight the Wood-elves and Lake-town army! 🙄 Instead of the whole Arkenstone bit Thorin calls Bilbo a coward for objecting to the battle. It's bizarre that I don't remember this, but even stranger is that it's in the movie. And what's with the goofy garden gnome helmets?

I'm also surprised at how much worse it seems. Actually, this is pretty terrible. For a movie that allots only 77 minutes to the story it sure seems to waste a lot of time on silly nonsense, yet still feels rushed and things happen without context or explanation. Also, much of the dialogue does not seem to come from the book. And during the Battle of the Five Armies, Bilbo actually remarks on how many armies there are; I cringed. I remember in the first Peej Hobbit movie how Bilbo falls from a great height in the tunnels and yet is none the worse for wear, and how stupid that was; but that happens in this movie too, and it is no less ridiculous here.

Another silly thing that happens in this movie is Gandalf telling Bilbo to keep a journal of his adventures from then on so that he can point out where he messed up. 🙄 [imagine facepalm emoji here]

Some of the character designs are terrible. The goblins, for instance, have horns for some reason, and silly catlike ears. The giant spiders have these ridiculous rabbit ears and vampire teeth. I have to imagine that including horns, teeth and ears increased the cost.

The Wood-elves fare worst of all. Just... what?

The voice on Gollum is pretty good, but I have to wonder why he looks like a werefrog. Also, as good as the voice is, it's not always easy to understand him. The riddle game between Bilbo and him is not done well. But very little in this movie is.

I'm kind of on the fence on how they went with Smaug. I kind of like the design but it's not what I'd have imagined and no way is that thing getting off the ground, let alone stay aloft and move through the air.

Beorn is absent but I guess they wouldn't have been able to include him no matter how good the pacing was. 77 minutes just isn't enough time to do the story justice (and 6 hours is way too much). So, thanks to New Line, we'll have a long wait before even the chance of a decent adaptation. Many seem to love this movie and I can't really understand why, aside from any sense of nostalgia, perhaps.

Anyway, if you have a video player that can play avi files, you can download the movie here.

Smaug looks ripped

 

[Jorlan Elükar]

I figured this deserved a thread of its own and I couldn't find any so I created one. Mods, feel free to merge with any existing thread.

Anyway, I watched this yesterday for the first time in a while and I'm amazed at how different it seems from the last time I saw it. Things I forgot about the movie include the lack of the Arkenstone and Bilbo being fitted in plate mail to fight the Wood-elves and Lake-town army! 🙄 Instead of the whole Arkenstone bit Thorin calls Bilbo a coward for objecting to the battle. It's bizarre that I don't remember this, but even stranger is that it's in the movie. And what's with the goofy garden gnome helmets?

I'm also surprised at how much worse it seems. Actually, this is pretty terrible. For a movie that allots only 77 minutes to the story it sure seems to waste a lot of time on silly nonsense, yet still feels rushed and things happen without context or explanation. Also, much of the dialogue does not seem to come from the book. And during the Battle of the Five Armies, Bilbo actually remarks on how many armies there are; I cringed. I remember in the first Peej Hobbit movie how Bilbo falls from a great height in the tunnels and yet is none the worse for wear, and how stupid that was; but that happens in this movie too, and it is no less ridiculous here.

Another silly thing that happens in this movie is Gandalf telling Bilbo to keep a journal of his adventures from then on so that he can point out where he messed up. 🙄 [imagine facepalm emoji here]

Some of the character designs are terrible. The goblins, for instance, have horns for some reason, and silly catlike ears. The giant spiders have these ridiculous rabbit ears and vampire teeth. I have to imagine that including horns, teeth and ears increased the cost.

The Wood-elves fare worst of all. Just... what?

The voice on Gollum is pretty good, but I have to wonder why he looks like a werefrog. Also, as good as the voice is, it's not always easy to understand him. The riddle game between Bilbo and him is not done well. But very little in this movie is.

I'm kind of on the fence on how they went with Smaug. I kind of like the design but it's not what I'd have imagined and no way is that thing getting off the ground, let alone stay aloft and move through the air.

Beorn is absent but I guess they wouldn't have been able to include him no matter how good the pacing was. 77 minutes just isn't enough time to do the story justice (and 6 hours is way too much). So, thanks to New Line, we'll have a long wait before even the chance of a decent adaptation. Many seem to love this movie and I can't really understand why, aside from any sense of nostalgia, perhaps.

Anyway, if you have a video player that can play avi files, you can download the movie here.

I loved LOTR & ROTK from Rankin Bass

 

[Radaghast]

Saw an ad for this on Pinterest. Wouldn't have imagined there were any action figures for this adaptation.