Why is the cartoon Lord of the Rings so weird?

[@whitleypedia]

it was really missing an upbeat song about the plight of the average orc not wanting to go to war

[@jeremysolomon7791]

Where there's a whip there's a way!

[@josephnash2081]

Peter Jackson's LoTR films actually followed the Bashki film pretty closely. The Rankin-Bass Hobbit + Ralph Bashki LoTR + Rankin-Bass "Return of the King" for better or worse do relate the core of Tolkien's story.

[@USALibertarian]

Without this animated version we probably don't get the live-action films. At least they would be very different.

[@ricardocastillo5485]

I'm not defending it at all, I'm just saying you needed to be alive then to experience the zeitgeist of the 70's to get it.

[@untrustworthyshelfing9953]

I thought this was a well-done video, even if I don't agree with all the opinions. Like other commenters have said, the animated Hobbit is worth reconsidering. There's no flab, and it is so vastly superior to the atrociously inflated Jackson Hobbit trilogy that it should, in my opinion, be considered the definitive adaptation of The Hobbit for the time being. We are at a strange moment where many of us remain fascinated by the LotR universe, so we want more of it. But what exactly "more" of it means is kind of unclear. We still don't have good cinematic representations of a lot of moments from the books: Tom Bombadil, the Barrow Wights, the night in Beorn's cabin, Rivendell, the culling of the Shire... And by the same token, I think we have all had enough of Kili to last us several lifetimes. So what happens is we recover these moments from past adaptations and say, "hey, there's something to this!" Bakshi's aesthetic choices and Jackson's practical effects are so much more compelling than the already-outdated CGI of Azog the Defiler or BOLG son of Azog. Every time I see the Brother Hildebrandt LotR art, I can only say "what if!"

[@josephnash2081]

I think a lot of people balked at cute Hobbits and some of the songs.

[@Schellnino1994]

I love this film. After watching Fellowship in 2001 I was enamored with the world and we went to the local video store which had this and Rankin/Bass's Hobbit. One of the best nights of my life, cementing me as a Tolkien fan for life, a fan of Fantasy literature, a true cinephile, and a avid animation fan. Similar to the live-action Hobbit, this is just-shy of a masterpiece and only a few crucial changes (such as a bigger budget) could have resulted in something truly great! Watch Heavy Traffic to see how Bakshi can use creative backgrounds and techniques to make a dazzlingly atmospheric and euphorically well-animated film. Folding Ideas has a great video on this movie :) I think Jackson's first Middle Earth film (Fellowship) is my favorite film ever, but I am extremely glad this cartoon exists as it touches on a part of the book that was overlooked in its 2000's counterpart. Similar to how the Harry Potter films sacrifice a lot of the books' magical realism for their cinematic adaptation, the live-action Tolkien films often sacrifice the existential star-gazingly slow pace of the books (which is very much a good thing) for a more 2000-s attention span driven video game influenced pace. Theres something truly otherworldly that often influences Tolkien Art, especially that of before the Jackson films, and its completely understandable how it was relatable to the psychedelia and hippy crowd. It can be truly surreal and hypnotic. But it was the Jackson films which pointed me towards this (for lack of a better term) transcendent art work.

[@jakestopics]

For real, it really is something else.

[@Michaelpatrickwarren]

I actually love the old lotr movie. Obviously so did Peter Jackson.

[@ffarkasm]

Lord of the Rings 1978 is a stoner trip.

[@ffarkasm]

Nice coverage, but we still don't know why Aragorn and Boromir and probably many others wear no pants.

[@jakestopics]

Yeah that's weird 😅

[@Houseofweird]

That's because real men don't wear pants.

[@Durwood71]

Oddly, there are several live action bloopers in the film that the animators just traced over, probably the most infamous being when Gandalf reveals himself to be Gandalf the White, but in the actor's flourish, his robe gets wrapped around his head, and the animators just left it in! In another scene, Aragorn awkwardly trips over his own scabbard while running in an obviously unscripted moment. I'm sure there are more, but those are the only ones I can remember offhand.

[@BookofCommonTerror]

I’m shocked by your disdain for the Hobbit’s songs: I can’t imagine a Hobbit without them!

[@Timbrrrdoodle]

The Hobbit 1977 is a masterpiece

[@andrelambert7180]

⁠ ‘Where there’s a whip, there’s a way’ is a classic! 😂

[@annandune]

You are 100% correct. Songs are central to Tolkien's world. The whole world was literally sung into existence.

[@marlaballard1155]

I know the Bakshi version isn’t a good movie, but I still have a fondness for it. Boromir’s death scene and that look of desperation Aragorn gives Legolas and Gimli is just brilliant!

[@Timbrrrdoodle]

Samwise’s character in the Bakshi film was a disgrace. Although I still enjoy the film there were so many obvious blunders.

[@jakestopics]

Yeah they really didn't do Sam justice

[@lukeshoo]

Lord of the Rings live action was "unfilmable" in 1969 when the beatles asked Kubrick to make it. It's not like Hollywood thought it was unfilmable until Peter Jackson cracked it. Lol

[@tubekulose]

Why always Hollywood???

[@CalvinsWorldNews]

If I won the powerball lottery, I would absolutely fund a sequel to this. I'd imagine it would cost about $100m to do, and probably bring in $40m at the box office, but for $60m cost I'd be fine with that (assuming I'd won $1bn or sometihng). It's honestly surprising that no silicon valley types are wealthy and geeky enough to want to drop money on doing it. Same with other unfinished creative projects. I mean Paul Allen and James Cameron funded a lot of marine stuff but it's remarkable how many super wealthy people apparently have zero interest in creative stuff like buying unfinished projects to finish them, simply because they were fans growing up.

[@derricbb]

Kind of a wild take to shit on the 1977 Hobbit and it's songs, especially considering how universally loved it is

[@jakestopics]

I enjoyed the movie for what it was. I just wasn't a huge fan of the songs.

[@flensoest]

it's not universally loved.

[@Maesterful]

Universally loved? Really?

[@USN1985dos]

Wrong.

[@matthewche]

This movie is not forgotten by fans. Where do you get that? If you were of the generations who were older when Peter Jackson’s films came out, this was the best we got. Still has a great musical theme.

[@dreddpirateroberts634]

When i was a teen this was all we had, and it could have been far far worse

[@ShiceSquad]

Still preferable to the Peter Jackson films. Bakshi's bizarre mix of visual styles was an epic fantasy all in itself.

[@GlorificusInferi]

i remember watching the whole thing a few years back and the one scene that sticks out for me is when Frodo and the other hobbits are hiding from the ring wraith under the tree log and Frodo is doing some weird shaking thing like he is supposed to look scared or something and i remember thinking "what the fuck is wrong with Frodo?"

[@e.gadd.1]

Im kind of annoyed by the giant liquid eyes of some of the characters in the Rankin ones, and some of the 70s feelbad music is dreary and seemed to drag on forever. But that was common back then, heh. Other songs like "The Bearer of the Ring" were super memorable. And there were some ways here and there the animated films were better than Peter Jackson's. For those of us who saw them as kids they were unforgettable. Someone described Bakshi's film as 'ambitious and full of flaws'. I agree. All three were well done imo, must sees for anyone who is interested in LOTR. Sukt that Bakshi never finished with the other half of his film, and I was really disappointed at the time when it ended like that rather rudely pretty much in the middle. But at least Rankin Bass took up the story more or less.

[@e.gadd.1]

I remember like yesterday watching Bakshi's film for the first time, and looking at the clock and thinking, "geez, there's only 25 minutes left, 10 minutes.... how are they going to wrap up the whole story in so little time?" Well heh heh, its because they didn't. I was like what? You're stopping here?? You've got to be kidding lol. And then you find out there's no sequel. Grrr.

[@raimat66]

There are 23 years between the films.

[@baaaseman]

another Jake banger

[@jakestopics]

Heck yeah

[@jimbombadill]

bakshis movie is a masterpiece for what it is, some of the scenes are just brilliant!

[@biokido575]

between 1978 and 2003 is 30 years?????

[@Lumibear.]

This brought back memories I didn’t know I had, I must’ve watched this as a kid. Your last 3rd of the video has a few janky voiceover edits btw, just fyi.

[@chadhoy7489]

Because Ralph Bakshi was on lots and lots of hard drugs

[@annandune]

Somebody moaning about all the songs suggests somebody who really shouldn't be making films about Tolkien. You can moan about the quality of the songs if you think they are crap, but moaning about the songs and the number of them suggests you really don't have much idea about Tolkien.

[@ForTheRecordwithScottyD]

1978 > 2001 is 23 years, not 33

[@jakestopics]

Shit, you're right guess I screwed that up lol

[@nickcharles1284]

Short answer: it isn't.

[@MrCripsy]

What a rambling repetitive review. 😒

[@richarddecredico6098]

it's not weird you are

[@jakestopics]

Dang, you're right

[@logisticsnerd76]

Boo!