I am 53. I did grow up with it. My favorite moment is from the sequel tv special. The orcs are marching along singing "We Don't wanna gonto work today, but the lord of the lash says nay nay nay. We're gonna march all day all day all day. Where there's a whip there's a way." I have randomly started singing this in many inappropriate times and places ever since I first heard it.
I'm right there with you! "Where there's a whip there's a way... left, right..." I also kind of love the tune they have for "The Road Goes Ever On and On" better than the official one.
53 here also. This one and "15 birds in 5 Fir trees, their tails were fanned, by a fiery breeze" are my favs. The orcs had the best music! I listen to metal now...is there a connection? hmmmm
I LOVE this version. The music goes through my mind quite often. I first saw this when I was maybe 7? Mid 80s. And it's what got me to read The Hobbit. I've been a huge fanatic ever since!
This is based on the *original* version of the book, before Tolkien made the revisions to make it more in line with events of LOTR. Gandalf's lines at the end aside. This version always struck me as the last gasp of the hippie ownership of Tolkien. It's very pastoral and trippy, with backgrounds that wouldn't look out of place on a Led Zeppelin album. We were deep in Star Wars mania when this debuted (1977 was ground zero for many a burgeoning young nerd), we were on the cusp of the explosion of epic fantasy (Sword of Shannara was published the same year), and D&D was about to explode into the mainstream, which meant Tolkien was about to be embraced by the masses. No doubt helped by how many of us watched this and immediately demanded our parents buy as the book.
My understanding was that in the original version of the book, Gollum was less hostile, played the riddle game straight, and gave Bilbo the ring as a prize for winning. I won't pretend to have read that version myself, but I'm not clear what you're talking about here? In what way does this line up with the original vs the later edit?
A minor point. I believe the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were already popular, and were having a 60s/70s resurgence before the 1977 movie. See, for example, songs by Led Zeppelin (Ramble On, Misty Mountain Hop, Battle of Evermore), Rush (Rivendell, The Necromancer), Black Sabbath (The Wizard), and Leonard Nimoy (The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins).
@@richarddoan9172 I think those were more cases of popular bands referencing Tolkien more than instances of Tolkien himself being popular. Led Zeppelin and Rush have a lot more non-Tolkien content than songs that reference him.
I am about to turn 50 this weekend, and I can safely say that the Gollum from this film still gives me the absolute willies. The Orc songs still slap as hard as when i first heard them in the early 80s. For kids of my generation this is a classic.
The animation in this IS gorgeous, it was animated in Japan so it's technically an Anime, though obviously it was an American production. The guy that voiced Gollum is Brother Theodore and his is my favorite voice for Gollum. Brother Theodore really brings out a sort of insanity I love.
Brother Theodore is underrated as Gollum. I really liked how in the 1980 animated Return of the King he balanced the strange slimy otherworldly aspect of Gollum with the more sympathetic pitiable side.
The first time I watched this movie I was 4 years old and at my grandparents' house. When Gollum appeared, I was so frightened that I began crying and my parents had to take me home! But a year later, it became my absolute favorite film. I still think it's beautiful and emotional. They obviously had to trim down the story, but I think they did so deftly. This movie inspired a love of LotR and a love of nature in me.
I liked the Peter Jackstand version of LOR, but this was my childhood introduction to Tolkien and I liked it many times better than the Jackstand hobbit.
That's exactly how I pictured Legolas and all the elves when I read Fellowship in '77. When Bakshi's version of Legolas was shown in '78 I was like ...wut?
The Hobbit has my favorite description of Elrond: "In those days of our tale, there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors and Elrond, the master of the house, was their chief. He was as noble and as fair in face as an elf lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves and as kind as summer."
I have a nostalgia softspot for this film. I really adored The Hobbit and so seeing this was fascinating and I got to see it reimagined in a totally different way. I find the art style incredibly endearing and as you mentioned, it's great to see takes on Middle-earth before Jackson's vision became "the standard". Another great vid!
Same here. You can definitely tell they are trying to rush along and hit all the important story points so they can fit it all into one film, but I still really enjoy it.
Oh yeah, even as a 90s kid this movie was a major influence on me. I'm sure I learned how to use the rewind function on the VHS specifically for the Hobbit. That, or Watership Down, or The Last Unicorn... one of those three.
This was a great TV movie. As a child, it made me fall in love with the sword and sorcerer.. I can still as an adult ( 55years old) watch this today. I have shared it with my children and they enjoy it as well..
As far as Bilbo's likability, I agree that Martin Freeman was better. He knocked it out of the park in that role. The "Riddles in the Dark" scene is the best part of the whole PJ trilogy. Unfortunately the live action films were changed into "Grumpy Dwarf wants Revenge and his Nephew is in a Love Triangle." This film, while imperfect (or at least dated), is the best on-screen version of the story I have seen. A lot of the stuff like the "spinning down the drain" was done to de-emphasize the fact that folks and critters were getting straight up killed.
The way the cartoon makers disguised the killing is remarkable. Everyone understands what's going on, and it's rather unique way of showing death in animation.
One of the best summaries of Jackson's Hobbit Trilogy I've come across, though Martin Freeman's Hobbit struck no sparks for me either. He wasn't actively unlikable, he was just a bit 'meh'.
Is "Grumpy Dwarf wants Revenge and his Nephew is in a Love Triangle" not better than "The Dwarves are all greedy useless cowards. Which one's Thorin's Nephew, you ask? Why would you care which one's THORIN, let alone any of the others?"
There are few rabbit holes deeper than that of Hobbit Fan Edits that try to match the book(s). Many great editors have tried. M4, Maple Films, etc. However, there is one edit I consider the *quintessential* edit. “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again,” by ‘The Hobbit Fan Editor’ On top of the extensive trimming and re-editing to remove Peter Jackson’s fluff, much effort went into *reinserting* ideas and concepts that *didn’t* make it to the films. It is a spectacle to behold imho.
PJ himself said once he would be interested in seeing a "Godfather Saga" style fan edit of the LotR trilogy with every scene in chronological order and no flashbacks or flashforwards. Such a project would be even more complicated and interesting if it included both trilogies.
This is still the best filmed adaptation of the book. When I introduce people to the lord of the rings, I recommend they watch this first I especially like that in this the dwarves shown as the really are, greedy arrogant clueless old men wrapped up in the fantasy of their own entitlement who blunder their way from one mess to another, utterly unprepared for any reality that doesn't fall in line with their delusions of grandeur. Overall what makes this the best adaptation is that the hobbit was a children's book and this is a children's movie and that sensibility is preserved
Sure, and indistinguishable horde of antisemitic stereotypes that aren't even characters in their own right, just set dressing in Bilbo's light hearted romp through middle earth (oh, people died? well it wasn't Bilbo, so who cares, right kids?), are better than a band of real people who are complicated and varied with an empathisable goal that get's tragically twisted. Yes, this is the better adaption of the book, but that's just a rather damning indictment of the BOOK, not the Jackson version.
You and the above account only mention the negative qualities mentioned, but they were also touted as honorable, skilled warriors and artisans, etc. They are generally shown to be good, likable people. @@mousinge
One of the biggest sins (besides having the dwarves be brave and try to "fight" Smaug) that awful trilogy made, was literally robbing Bilbo of his one truly heroic moment in the story. Instead of having him be the one to save the dwarves from the Mirkwood Spiders, randomly elves show up and do so instead. Really lame.
@@mousinge 1. The book is a damn masterpiece. And 2. Get out of here with that "antisemetic" crap. Dwarves, in the mythologies they originate from (which had nothing whatsoever to do with Jews or any other humans), were notoriously stingy and greedy miners and shrewd craftsmen. And the Dwarves in The Hobbit ARE both obsessed with reclaiming their treasure (moreso than their old home), to a fault, and ARE quite cowardly, refusing more than once to help Bilbo, or send him in to dangers they aren't willing to face themselves. They only show bravery at the end, with a dwarf army showing up to back them, when it comes to fighting for their treasure horde against elves and men. They have some honor, they're hardly BAD people. But they're definitely flawed, and not at all heroic. Which is the irony of the story in the first place: that a tiny hobbit, who has no desire for treasure or adventure, just a quiet life in his little town, is forced to become a brave hero, going on a grand adventure full of danger and wonder. Because Bilbo IS the main character of the story, not the dwarves.
I was 12 when this aired and checked the book out of the library the next day. After, I read TLoTR. This is intended for children just as the book was. It’s important to remember that this book was written for his boys. I suggest this any time someone expresses interest in watching “The Hobbit.” It is far better than the Jackson Hobbit trilogy.
We watched this so many times as kids in the 80s. Had the LP record too. Dad read us the book when I was five or six and after that I read it on my own pretty much annually. I also listened to the BBC audio version incessantly. The best thing about the animated movie in my opinion was the scene with Gollum and the songs. We always paused the video right when he was shrieking in rage at his loss… funny expressions. Roads go ever on was one of my favorite songs for years
I grew up watching this on laser disk at my elementary school. I’m not actually that old but the player would get wheeled into the classroom when we had a substitute and needed to fill some time. I have so much nostalgia and love for this adaptation
I saw this when I was ten yo in the 70’s at an open-air theatre. It is among my favorite childhood memories. I love the music. Back then when there was no cable TV, streaming video, or even video rentals, we’d need to read through every new issue of the TV Guide searching for a new airing of the movie on one of the five TV channels we got radio reception for. Then, we needed to make sure our parents did not make any plans at that time which would prevent us from watching it - because you either watched it then, or you missed it. It was like live TV. You couldn’t pause. We were glued to the TV so that we didn’t miss a moment. Holding onto the TV antenna if necessary to get reception. … a show like this was such a rare treasure.
My favorite part of the music was realizing that the bass voice in the goblin songs was provided by Thurl Ravenscroft… better known as Tony The Tiger 😊
As someone who watched this as a kid when it came out, my two cents is that any critique of this film needs to keep in mind that it was created to be a kids movie by 1970's standards and created with 1970's animation technology. A lot of the cheesy dialogue that was criticized was put in there as the only way to tell the audience what was going on in a short period of time. For instance, the need to explain the "moon letters" was for the audience's benefit, and especially for the children who would not have been able to figure this out. The same goes for the black arrow dialogue. And yes, a lot was left out, but considering they had to condense the book to one hour, such sacrifices had to be made. Sad, but reality. I loved the music and the songs and how they integrated it into the film. The one thing I didn't like was how they animated the elves. It was weird reading the book The Hobbit after watching this animation and discovering that the elves wee fair beings, beautiful in appearance, and all that! I would like to ask the animators why they uglified the elves, especially the wood elves(!). Oh, how they showed Bilbo as transparent rather than invisible when he put the ring on was because the animators obviously wanted the audience to see Bilbo. We were used to such in animation back then (ever see Space Ghost and how the characters looked when they made themselves invisible?).
The reason this is the best version is that they didn't change any of the motivations of the characters. It wasn't "What would a hobbit in 2023 (or 1977) do if he was forced to become a thief and had his home invaded by 13 dwarves and a wizzard.
I wouldn't say the Jackson changed the motivations of characters as gave them ones to begin with. The only clear motivations any of them have in this are greed and "a Wizard was shouting at me".
I actually think that it's a pretty good, overly straightforward adaptation of the book. I much prefer it to PEter Jackson's versions weirdly. It's just a sort of 7/10 across the board, nothing crazy. Also, Down Down to Goblin Town...
I get annoyed by the refrain so many people make , "why don't they have the eagles come get them...". The eagles aren't running a taxi service, they don't jump up just because Gandalf snaps his fingers, they don't serve him. Furthermore, the eagles aren't necessarily friendly to everyone, most men fear them. Gandalf helped Gwahir so he has the eagle's goodwill but that's not something to squander.
I did grow up with this. The songs are a bit much, but my wife and I still watch it frequently. We troll it like you did. We always laugh when Gandalf informs the Dwarves he’s leaving because, “I have pressing business away south.”
This was my intro to Tolkien. Saw it when it was on TV. Then somehow ended up with a tape of it. It's pretty impressive but it plays very well as an audio only media. To this day THAT'S the voice I hear when I recite Gandalf lines in my head.
I think they cut out certain scenes from the book, mainly because the target audience was probably 7 to 15 year olds, and because it was a tv special. Rankin and Bass were competing with Disney who made hour long animations and felt people simply wouldn't sit for more than an hour and a half tops for an animated film.
@@SkylersRantsmaybe you did. I sat on the couch at home. When it was released. It had a rather high minute count of commercials for the time, aimed at kids and Dads. It has played in Theaters over the years after the initial television release.
@@loringmsuess Yeah. I didn't know it until fairly recently. He was also the narrator of that old Haunted Mansion Halloween record that Disney put out a long time ago. Ron Howard played the male lead and he would have been a teenager back then if I remember right.
In the original story, of all the hobbits in Hobbiton, Bilbo would have been *the most likely* to leave town. Since Hobbits are famous for being homebodies. Also, as a hobbit his sent would be unknown to Smaug and he'd have no overt / blind loyalty to get in the way of his judgment. I loved this movie when it came out (yes, I'm that old) and I still love it today. It's from the same animation house that would go on to give us "the Last Unicorn" and "The THUNDERCATS".
this film is honestly my favourite tolkien based movie. i borrowed it from a local public library when i was like 5-6 years old, and after that i borrowed it every month or two for over a decade. at least until they got rid of it when they removed their VHS tapes. the music is my favourite part, something about the style and melodies just resonates with something, i still remember all the songs perfectly. the whole riddles in the dark sequence is the best part of the movie for me. it was just so eerie and tense, and you get that soft voice singing one of the riddles echoing in the caverns. i get chills just thinking about the scene, it just hits all the right notes, emotions, and style for me
Great Review. I am a child of the 70s, kind of since I was born in '76, so this was a staple fantasy (along with other Rankin Bass productions like Flight of Dragons and The Last Unicorn). I feel like we had to rent the video player from the rental location to watch movies (don't think it was VHS, probably Betamax). There was also a companion cassette and read-a-long book for this and many other movies at the time (I had one for this one, The Return of the King, several Star Wars movies and others I am forgetting). I showed this movie to our boys and then read the Hobbit to our older two boys before they watched the live action. We read the Prydain Chronicles (Disney movie The Black Cauldron is a very loose adaptation of two of the books) first before the Hobbit because the language was simpler, then we read the Chronicles of Narnia and then moved on to the LOTR trilogy. They watched the cartoon versions prior to us introducing them to the live action versions. There is also a Ralph Bakshi roto-scoped animated version covering events from The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers which I also greatly enjoy that came out prior to the Return of the King cartoon. You can see in various parts where Peter Jackson appears to have been influenced by the style and imagery of the LOTR cartoon. You should review the LOTR cartoon and then the Return of the King cartoon!
I remember being pretty excited when this first aired. I was about ten years old, and had read The Hobbit, or my mother read it to us. Even at that age we thought the 'Greatest Adventure' singer was hysterically funny and imitated him for weeks afterwards.
Smaug's boast from this version is one of my all-time favorite moments in cinema. (I'm among those who grew up with this movie so I fully admit nostalgia is a factor.)
The music is from a book called "The road goes ever on" a collaboration between J. R. R. Tolkien and the composer Donald Swann so you get a chance to hear this in the film as it was intended and for that reason alone these made for TV versions are totally worth it
Keep in mind , that this was made for kids. So sometimes things might get over-explained, plus battles/killings are toned down or completely removed. Also, I Subscribed to you for doing this reaction and renting it.
I first saw this when I was a child when it aired on tv. Pretty sure it was a rerun. I've this version of The Hobbit has always had a special place in my heart, and always will.
I love this movie. I grew up with it, back when it was truly a forgotten gem. I'm an animation buff, so I discovered it long before I ever heard of Lord of the Rings. When the Jackson movies came out in the 2000's, I told my sister about this, and she said "Oh, it's a prequel." We went to watch it together, and she got so mad. She said it was ugly. The elves were particularly offensive to her, as they did not look like Orlando Bloom. lol
That's not a stretch. This is better than The Hobbit: An Unexpected Trilogy by far. I couldn't even finish watching that wretched bloated fan service filled Mario jumping spectacle of a trilogy. I saw the first part in the theater and decided I wasn't interested in more but then the second part came on TV and I decided I would give it another chance. I turned off during the barrel ride sequence. Absolute garbage.
It is, by far. But that's also not hard, considering those films (needlessly and greedily stretched out to a trilogy), was so full of made up fluff it was sickening. Like literally 50%, at least, of what is shown on screen in those movies, isn't in the book at all. And not a single bit of the made up nonsense, IMO, was a worthwhile addition. It was literally just padding to make 3 films, so they could make 3 times the money.
This was thoroughly enchanting watching it as a child. It opened the door to a world of adventure that I have never shut. Bilbo was an everyman thrust into adventure. From that point of view, he’s just dealing as best he can under the circumstances. I’m not fond of the portrayal of the elves, but I did like Gollum. He was a kind of generic bogeyman meant merely to frighten. Readers wouldn’t learn his full story until years later. As a children’s movie, though, this was top notch. It might have skipped some incidents, but it was a remarkably faithful adaptation and that’s a rarity in the art form. One of my favorite fantasy films ever. People can gripe about anything, but there’s more here to like than not and it was the gateway to the novel for a whole generation. Remember, too, that in the Hobbit, the ring was merely of invisibility. It wouldn’t acquire the character of the One Ring until the Lord of the Rings, so it was a lighter hearted affair despite its darker moments. As others have noted, the film was based on the original edition of the Hobbit, which was a more childish book. It was later revised to be closer in character and tone with LOTR. A fun popcorn flick for sure.
Remember who this was for, it was on TV for kids. Thus spinning for dying, and yhey had to chop down for allowed time. They put a lot of heart into it, snd was 10x better than the Peter Jackson adaptation. And it captured Bilbos growth, the theme of focusing on building bridges to others and sharing versus covering and selfishly withholding. Id put above other kids oriented specials being produced at rhe time or in general. This was the era of Star Wars Holiday specials, as abother famous example. I actually respect this one as lot and watched it with my young kids around 5. They loved it just like they enjoyed watching Avatar the Last Aur Bender.
I watched The Hobbit when it came out, I was 14, and it suffered from one big issue. It was done for the 70s audience so it had to be one hour to fit in the time slot and couldn't be two parts. No 70s audience was going to sit through a 2 hour children's show and no TV company was going to gamble on the audience tuning in the next week for the 2nd half. I think a 2 hour "true to the original story" animated version would go over really well now.
As it is, this version is pretty damn true to the original story. It barely alters anything, and includes almost every major element from the book. A longer version that included everything would be wonderful. But for what they had to work with back then, this film was actually pretty amazing.
Ill be honest. By far a better adaptation than what was made recently. Ill go back to this version everytime then go into the LOTR live action films. Gollums voice and look tripped me out as a little kid. This whole movie did.
Hi PTH! The most perfect adaptation I've yet seen of The Hobbit was this adorable stage show that toured around a couple decades ago. It was Peter Jackson-aware, but not overblown - in fact, all of its acting and sets were very much rooted in small theatre rather than big splashy production. But I seem to remember that they may have gotten a little visual and audio effects help from the team at Weta. That's not to compare it to the LOTR PJ trilogy - but it still felt like the most authentic version of the story, bar reading the actual book.
This was basically my introduction to all things fantasy. I think my dad gave it to me at some point like, "You might like this." I love this adaptation both for nostalgia and even just as a representation of The Hobbit. I don't mind the removal of Beorn. I truly love the music and the animation style. I'd definitely encourage checking out The Last Unicorn, also by Rankin and Bass, that was another staple of my childhood. Very fun times!
I do kind of like the goblins looking like moblins from Zelda and sort of this odd bulldog art style! Same I as I like Gollum being sort of an amphibious frog man. The songs are also mostly fire in this, IMO
This was adapted for children. That's why this has so many moments of Bilbo spelling things out so obviously. The soundtrack rocks, and this Gollum is my favorite. I love how he does the riddles. There's also a lot left out that is explained in the books, like the whole way Bilbo was introduced to the dwarves, and Beorn, who was a bear, NOT a stupid werewolf. Also, notice that the dwarves aren't a clown show. Once you read the book, you'll realize that the hobbit trilogy was basically trashed so they could stretch it out.
The movie was directed by Rankin and Bass, who up to this point had made mostly just holiday specials, and to this day are more well known for Christmas Specials like Rudolf, Frosty, Drummer Boy, and many many many Santa movies. The animation house they went to was a Japanese one, and not only would make The Hobbit and Return of the King (after the Ralph Bakshi movie failed to finish The Lord of the Rings), but they would go on to make several other specials and movies with Rankin/Bass, but also did several shows including Thunder Cats, and Silver Hawks, but also would make more native shows/movies in Japan, and were given the OK to make little back ground mentions of their English work, including an add sign that had a Thunder Cat in it on Bubblegum Crisis. In the 90's the American side of the studio got bought by Disney and used for their cheap sequels before disbanding in the early 2000's, the Japanese side of the studio would mostly join with Studio Ghibli after making Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Miyazaki's break out directorial film. As a kid, I only ever knew this flim, and was my main in for fantasy and magic, and things of the like. It wasn't until I was about 11 or 12 that I found out about Lord of the Rings, and in particular saw the Return of the King film, and the Ralph Bakshi film that more or less takes place between films. Of interesting note, Ralph Bakshi was a big pusher of rotoscoping, which is more or less tracing live actors for animation, which helps with the realistic look and movement to animation, while trying to help make it faster, and easier to make. All his monsters, and most of his action moments in Lord of the Rings are all rotoscope. Making a very uncanny valley effect when the monsters are on screen, kind helps with the creepyness of them I feel. As for Return of the King I quite like it, it very much fallows the same methods of The Hobbit, don't add BS, just use what we can, and cut the rest for time. The music is still good as well, a lot of the same artists.
I watched this when I was younger before I was allowed to watch the movies, and I would constantly sing the songs ad think of the images in my head in part while reading the books. Also, just a note, in the troll scene it was technically not Bilbo playing for time in the books, but he was hiding in the bushes while Gandalf used his powers to make it seem the the trolls were arguing with eachother.
I was sixteen when this was first broadcast on TV and I loved it! It was my introduction to Tolkien. We found the books at our local department store and I read them every fall until Sir Peter's LOTR came out. I am sorry to say that this cartoon was much better than Del Toro's Hobbit.
I watched this for the first time as an adult, and I will say that "The greatest adventure" is among my favourite songs. But, the best adaption I have come across, must be the radio drama from 1968 🙂
The South Park creators recycled "The Greatest Adventure" in their episode about Lemmiwinks. I can't hear hear this song without thinking of Lemmiwinks's "great adventure" as he struggles up Mr. Slave's alimentary canal.
That audio drama was the first thing I was introduced to of Tolkien and middle earth. It was enchanting and I'm glad to have found im not the only one who favors it. :)
I absolutely loved this adaptation as a kid. This holds a very special place in my heart because it was my gateway into fantasy, role playing games, and Tolkien. Completely opened my eyes and mind to so much fun. I love the music (still listen to it from time to time on RUclips), Gandalf, the orcs, and Smaug. When I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings as a teenager, I always tried to mimic John Huston's Gandalf voice in my head. Though it lacks a lot from the original story, because it was my entry to Tolkien, I am so thankful that it was made.
Fun fact! This cartoon adaptation was what got me HOOKED on LOTR as a kid. I used to run around with a ring I got from one of those gumball machines and pretend it was magic. These started my lifelong obsession with this world!
The lyrics of all the songs are actually from the book, appearing in italics when characters are signing them, and written by Tolkien himself. The filmmakers just wrote music and set the lyrics to it, and yeah, they did alright with it. I thought so too.
No matter how much shade one might throw at Rank & Bass's _The Hobbit,_ it still captures Tolkien storytelling 1000X better than Bakshi's binfire. You can thank Japan's 'Top Craft' for the superb designs & landscapes - many of their artists went on to form Ghibli. So it deserves respect. For all the time restraints they were stuck with working within the limited '70's TV animation genre, it is an impressive piece of work.
This take is just ignorant of history. The book was revised. The adaptation was based on the Hobbit as written before LOTR. Before he retconned it to make it more consistent.
I don't think that's a fair assessment. I like the RB Hobbit more than Baksni's LOTR, but his film is still pretty great. And it was, for the most part, VERY accurate to the source material. Calling it a "binfire", when it features some top notch rotoscoped animation, and some beautiful scenes besides, is doing the art a disservice. IMO, in a "perfect world", we would have gotten both parts of Bakshi's film, and RB also would have made a whole animated LOTR trilogy series of their own, instead of just a ROTK (which is still pretty great).
I would have been just less than five years old when this movie was released, and I know I saw it in the 1970s, and being a fantasy nerd/D&D player with my friends and family, we all watched in many times in the 80s and even through the 90s. I still have this on DVD and have seen that a few more times this millennia, and I think its about time I watch it again! I love the artwork in this film. The water color backgrounds and design of the characters, are so beautiful. Likewise, I love the music. The worse part, and I don't even find it that bad, just of their time, is that the actual animation isn't always smooth, and some of the stylization is a bit silly (like your comment about how gravity works, or the spiders dying by kaleidoscope). It's fine, especially when you consider this is meant to be a children's story. Glad you and your friend enjoyed the movie, too!
I’m an older millennial who will be 40 this year. I grew up with this as a periodic rerun on cable. It was my first introduction to the Legendarium and I will love it forever for that reason. I have always loved that Bass and Rankin fantasy movie style of this film, RotK, the Last Unicorn, and the forgotten gem the Flight of Dragons. The designs for the spiders, goblins, and Gollum legitimately freaked me out on my first viewing and stuck with me forever. Another bit that stuck with me was the badass Black Arrow speech. Watching it now just reminds me of how badly the Jackson trilogy whiffed that scene in its adaptation… or lack there of as it were.
Love this whole series y'all are doing, such a fun project! The music is my favorite part (though I agree with you on that vibrato) I like to hum Road's Go Ever On and On or Fifteen birds in five fir-trees to myself when I'm anxious, and it's a cozy, nostalgic little distraction!
Hey! I always loved this movie as a kid, I'm 25 now. It's so engrained in my brain that when I watch it, I can say almost every line 😅 My grandparents introduced me to a lot of older movies and books which kindled my love of cinema and books (especially Lord of the Rings) They had this movie on VHS and I'd rewatch it all the time. I always really liked the music, and alot of the songs are word for word lyrics from the book which I always thought was cool. The spiders always scared me when I was like 6! The goblins and Gollum were one of my favorite parts. I also think they did a nice job with Thorin letting go of his greed at the end. Nice video, can't wait for you to watch Return of the King as that was one of my favorites as a kid too! Love your channel!
I must admit I have a big bias to The Hobbit. I was 5 and was going in an out of the hospital do to being sick (was later diagnosed with Childhood Leukemia. I was up stairs sick in bed and wanted attention because everyone was down stairs so my mom came up and tossed a book on my bed. The Hobbit. Although was not able to read much of it at the time I loved the maps, ruins and picture. Was so intrigued by it. Just before I was hospitalized again I saw this version of the Hobbit and well fell in love with JRR Tolkien. Was always my dream to see Tolkien's work come to the big screen so Jackson's version was a dream come true but this will always have a place in my heart and soul.
I'll be honest. I really like this movie. But as a wee lad, i was so scared of this movie because of Gollum. It had everything to do with the fact that i was about 3 when my dad showed it this movie to me. I remember asking my Dad what a Hobbit was, and he said, "Oh, they're little people. About your height, son." I think he was trying to make me feel good. But Gollum scared me half to death. So much so that for a very long time, i was afraid of the dark. I appreciate the design of him now.
The vibrato singer is Glenn Yarbrough, a folk singer from Milwaukee Wisconsin. As folk singers go, he's pretty famous - I'd recommend downloading an album or two if you like folk music at all.
At last, the algorithm recommends me something good. I've been watching all these reactions and love them. It's clear you're very knowledgeable and very passionate about all things Tolkien. Keep up the great work. I vaguely remember catching parts of this on Cartoon Network years ago when they'd play movies late at night. Or maybe it the Return of the King cartoon? I must have been 7 or 8. I was raised on Disney, and this movie's dingy colors and moody tone caught me off guard. I had no idea what was happening, but it intrigued me enough to check out the books.
When I was going to see the Hobbit movies in theaters, I distinctly remember saying to my dad that I hoped they would do frog-like Gollum from this, rather than Jackson's interpretation in LotR (though I probably didn't realize PJ was behind both trilogies, if I knew who he was at all at that age). To this day I imagine the whole section with the goblins and Gollum in a way that is very heavily inspired by this adaptation, though I barely remember the film now; the goblin's song in particular is still awesome and pops into my head unprompted with some regularity. If I remember anything from this well it's the music, I love seeing people put lots of care into the songs from the books; that you sing your own interpretations of these songs whenever they come up is one of my favorite things about your channel by the way, it's beautiful!
I grew up with this movie and is still one of my favorites of all time. The soundtrack was written/performed by Glenn Yarborough who died in 2016 Funny thing about the map is the animation confused the runes meant to be moon letters, though the script says “this hand points through these runes” when none are there and the actual moon letters are visible. Also in the official art of the cover for the vinyl soundtrack, Smaug is green and Bilbo’s design is a bit different. They also released an illustrated copy of The Hobbit using the art from this movie. In that they actually have Beorn
The animated Hobbit movie was a childhood favorite of mine and my only exposure to Tolkien prior to seeing Fellowship of the Ring in 2001. I loved it and enjoyed seeing the similarities on screen.
I grew up with this version of "The Hobbit" and prefer it to Peter Jackson's monstrosity. It's not perfect, but I like that it kept to the main story and didn't add a lot of made-up stuff. I'm fine with adding some background about the Necromancer and I'd be fine with the Orc-Dwarf vendetta history if it was handled better. However, the biggest thing I like about the Rankin Bass version over Peter Jackson is the music. This version of "Far Over Misty Mountains Old" is canonical to me.
I absolutely adore this movie. My dad showed it to me when I was around 5 or 6 and I loved it so much that he started reading the book to me at bedtime. This movie was the thing that got me into Tolkien and fantasy in general. To me this movie is perfect.
This was magical and the path to fantasy for many of us GenX'rs. I'm 51 and if I hadnt seen this and lived for every time it would show. Remember we had 3 networks and 1 public broadcast channel and this would only be on the networks once in a blue moon on a weekend. That was it. So each time it came on it was special. John Huston/Gandalf is Angelica Huston/Morticia Adams dad. His voice is always my go to Gandalf voice. It's a kids show so they were aiming at that audience. I love it and think they did a great job for the time and some of the detail beats modern animation and being drawn takes us into a past that modern can't. Meh couldn't get into your content. Good luck.
This was a nice suprise to see in my feed as I just watched this version for the first time a few nights ago. Great video as usual, I always enjoy your reactions together!
This was my VERY first taste of anything to do with LOTR. I was six at the time. It started me on a long road of adventure that I never truly returned from. I love it!
You could say that this movie, among other events, changed my life. I had no idea what I really wanted to do with my life, so I took a job that I disliked from my first day but stayed bc I felt it was what I deserved for my indecisiveness. For three years, I was tired, stressed, depressed, and angry. Then, on a whim, I bought a copy of The Hobbit cartoon since it was one of my favorite movies as a child and I hadn't seen it in close to 20 years. As soon as the song "The Greatest Adventure" played in the opening credits, I was crying bc I was basically being Bilbo without a journey bc I was afraid of failing to be more like who I felt I was. I finally started applying to schools and jobs to get out of that place of disappointment and guilt. It's been a long 10 years since I left that job, and while the road has been far from smooth, I'm glad that 4 year-old me was wise enough to make my future self remember this movie and to move along the path to get where I am today.
This is my all time favorite Tolkien adaptation to date , above anything else including the Jackson films. There is a lot of nostalgia in it for me but I also love it's quirky even bizarre hippie-ish aspects that conjure up memories of reading the book as a kid, to me it is better than anything else.
5:40 based on the Silmarillion, kinda checks out actually, Elves are very much associated with stars, and putting more detail into the way they're drawn to depict that they're more refined than the other races kinda works too.
I am 53. I did grow up with it. My favorite moment is from the sequel tv special. The orcs are marching along singing "We Don't wanna gonto work today, but the lord of the lash says nay nay nay. We're gonna march all day all day all day. Where there's a whip there's a way." I have randomly started singing this in many inappropriate times and places ever since I first heard it.
I'm right there with you! "Where there's a whip there's a way... left, right..." I also kind of love the tune they have for "The Road Goes Ever On and On" better than the official one.
53 here also. This one and "15 birds in 5 Fir trees, their tails were fanned, by a fiery breeze" are my favs. The orcs had the best music! I listen to metal now...is there a connection? hmmmm
🎶Where there’s a whip there’s a way… hey hey 🎶
That’s the only version that got the watchers right. I still love it.
Wait… was it work? I always heard it as “We don’t wanna go to war today…”
This and Bakshi's Lord of the Rings was my introduction to Middle Earth so they hold a really special place in my heart
I LOVE this version. The music goes through my mind quite often. I first saw this when I was maybe 7? Mid 80s. And it's what got me to read The Hobbit. I've been a huge fanatic ever since!
This is based on the *original* version of the book, before Tolkien made the revisions to make it more in line with events of LOTR. Gandalf's lines at the end aside.
This version always struck me as the last gasp of the hippie ownership of Tolkien. It's very pastoral and trippy, with backgrounds that wouldn't look out of place on a Led Zeppelin album. We were deep in Star Wars mania when this debuted (1977 was ground zero for many a burgeoning young nerd), we were on the cusp of the explosion of epic fantasy (Sword of Shannara was published the same year), and D&D was about to explode into the mainstream, which meant Tolkien was about to be embraced by the masses. No doubt helped by how many of us watched this and immediately demanded our parents buy as the book.
My understanding was that in the original version of the book, Gollum was less hostile, played the riddle game straight, and gave Bilbo the ring as a prize for winning. I won't pretend to have read that version myself, but I'm not clear what you're talking about here? In what way does this line up with the original vs the later edit?
A minor point. I believe the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were already popular, and were having a 60s/70s resurgence before the 1977 movie. See, for example, songs by Led Zeppelin (Ramble On, Misty Mountain Hop, Battle of Evermore), Rush (Rivendell, The Necromancer), Black Sabbath (The Wizard), and Leonard Nimoy (The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins).
@@richarddoan9172 I think those were more cases of popular bands referencing Tolkien more than instances of Tolkien himself being popular. Led Zeppelin and Rush have a lot more non-Tolkien content than songs that reference him.
58 here, had already read the book. Have had the vinyl box set for years. This was indeed released at an opportune time. I was a DM by 79.
My mother already owned the book...she got it from a children's literature class in college.
I am about to turn 50 this weekend, and I can safely say that the Gollum from this film still gives me the absolute willies. The Orc songs still slap as hard as when i first heard them in the early 80s. For kids of my generation this is a classic.
The animation in this IS gorgeous, it was animated in Japan so it's technically an Anime, though obviously it was an American production. The guy that voiced Gollum is Brother Theodore and his is my favorite voice for Gollum. Brother Theodore really brings out a sort of insanity I love.
The art studio that worked on this eventually became Studio Ghibli.
@@papabearlives9995 Amazing, isn't it?
Brother Theodore is underrated as Gollum. I really liked how in the 1980 animated Return of the King he balanced the strange slimy otherworldly aspect of Gollum with the more sympathetic pitiable side.
@@Strideo1Oh, agreed! 10,000%! He did all that all while maintaining that underlying insanity of his. The guy was amazing.
For 1977 it IS great. Mostly held back by whatever TV or sound system most people had for VHS. Sad the original audio was destroyed by a fire.
The first time I watched this movie I was 4 years old and at my grandparents' house. When Gollum appeared, I was so frightened that I began crying and my parents had to take me home! But a year later, it became my absolute favorite film. I still think it's beautiful and emotional. They obviously had to trim down the story, but I think they did so deftly. This movie inspired a love of LotR and a love of nature in me.
I liked the Peter Jackstand version of LOR, but this was my childhood introduction to Tolkien and I liked it many times better than the Jackstand hobbit.
I saw this as a child and it was my first introduction to Tolkien and have been a fan ever since! It will always have a special place in my heart!
Same
Fun Fact
The Elf King of Mirkwood is the father of Legolas...so, imagine HIM animated in this style
That's exactly how I pictured Legolas and all the elves when I read Fellowship in '77. When Bakshi's version of Legolas was shown in '78 I was like ...wut?
Elrond is accurate. He's described as being crowned with a ring of stars. The interpretation of that is pretty cool in my eyes.
The Hobbit has my favorite description of Elrond:
"In those days of our tale, there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors and Elrond, the master of the house, was their chief. He was as noble and as fair in face as an elf lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves and as kind as summer."
I would argue the beard though. Don't think he had one.
I have a nostalgia softspot for this film. I really adored The Hobbit and so seeing this was fascinating and I got to see it reimagined in a totally different way. I find the art style incredibly endearing and as you mentioned, it's great to see takes on Middle-earth before Jackson's vision became "the standard". Another great vid!
Same here. You can definitely tell they are trying to rush along and hit all the important story points so they can fit it all into one film, but I still really enjoy it.
Oh yeah, even as a 90s kid this movie was a major influence on me. I'm sure I learned how to use the rewind function on the VHS specifically for the Hobbit.
That, or Watership Down, or The Last Unicorn... one of those three.
This was a great TV movie. As a child, it made me fall in love with the sword and sorcerer.. I can still as an adult ( 55years old) watch this today. I have shared it with my children and they enjoy it as well..
As far as Bilbo's likability, I agree that Martin Freeman was better. He knocked it out of the park in that role. The "Riddles in the Dark" scene is the best part of the whole PJ trilogy. Unfortunately the live action films were changed into "Grumpy Dwarf wants Revenge and his Nephew is in a Love Triangle." This film, while imperfect (or at least dated), is the best on-screen version of the story I have seen. A lot of the stuff like the "spinning down the drain" was done to de-emphasize the fact that folks and critters were getting straight up killed.
Yes, G rated made for TV kid's fare dictated it.
Martin Freeman had 0 development.
The way the cartoon makers disguised the killing is remarkable. Everyone understands what's going on, and it's rather unique way of showing death in animation.
One of the best summaries of Jackson's Hobbit Trilogy I've come across, though Martin Freeman's Hobbit struck no sparks for me either. He wasn't actively unlikable, he was just a bit 'meh'.
Is "Grumpy Dwarf wants Revenge and his Nephew is in a Love Triangle" not better than "The Dwarves are all greedy useless cowards. Which one's Thorin's Nephew, you ask? Why would you care which one's THORIN, let alone any of the others?"
There are few rabbit holes deeper than that of Hobbit Fan Edits that try to match the book(s). Many great editors have tried. M4, Maple Films, etc. However, there is one edit I consider the *quintessential* edit.
“The Hobbit, or There and Back Again,” by ‘The Hobbit Fan Editor’
On top of the extensive trimming and re-editing to remove Peter Jackson’s fluff, much effort went into *reinserting* ideas and concepts that *didn’t* make it to the films.
It is a spectacle to behold imho.
I was unaware this was even a thing. 🤯 people do edits of the PJ hobbit trilogy to make it match the books more closely?? 😱
Where can I watch it?
PJ himself said once he would be interested in seeing a "Godfather Saga" style fan edit of the LotR trilogy with every scene in chronological order and no flashbacks or flashforwards. Such a project would be even more complicated and interesting if it included both trilogies.
@@itzakpoelzig330 Search for the name I put in quotes on its own line. Logo is black and blue
This is still the best filmed adaptation of the book.
When I introduce people to the lord of the rings, I recommend they watch this first
I especially like that in this the dwarves shown as the really are, greedy arrogant clueless old men wrapped up in the fantasy of their own entitlement who blunder their way from one mess to another, utterly unprepared for any reality that doesn't fall in line with their delusions of grandeur.
Overall what makes this the best adaptation is that the hobbit was a children's book and this is a children's movie and that sensibility is preserved
Sure, and indistinguishable horde of antisemitic stereotypes that aren't even characters in their own right, just set dressing in Bilbo's light hearted romp through middle earth (oh, people died? well it wasn't Bilbo, so who cares, right kids?), are better than a band of real people who are complicated and varied with an empathisable goal that get's tragically twisted.
Yes, this is the better adaption of the book, but that's just a rather damning indictment of the BOOK, not the Jackson version.
You and the above account only mention the negative qualities mentioned, but they were also touted as honorable, skilled warriors and artisans, etc. They are generally shown to be good, likable people. @@mousinge
One of the biggest sins (besides having the dwarves be brave and try to "fight" Smaug) that awful trilogy made, was literally robbing Bilbo of his one truly heroic moment in the story. Instead of having him be the one to save the dwarves from the Mirkwood Spiders, randomly elves show up and do so instead. Really lame.
@@mousinge 1. The book is a damn masterpiece. And 2. Get out of here with that "antisemetic" crap. Dwarves, in the mythologies they originate from (which had nothing whatsoever to do with Jews or any other humans), were notoriously stingy and greedy miners and shrewd craftsmen. And the Dwarves in The Hobbit ARE both obsessed with reclaiming their treasure (moreso than their old home), to a fault, and ARE quite cowardly, refusing more than once to help Bilbo, or send him in to dangers they aren't willing to face themselves.
They only show bravery at the end, with a dwarf army showing up to back them, when it comes to fighting for their treasure horde against elves and men. They have some honor, they're hardly BAD people. But they're definitely flawed, and not at all heroic. Which is the irony of the story in the first place: that a tiny hobbit, who has no desire for treasure or adventure, just a quiet life in his little town, is forced to become a brave hero, going on a grand adventure full of danger and wonder. Because Bilbo IS the main character of the story, not the dwarves.
I was 12 when this aired and checked the book out of the library the next day. After, I read TLoTR. This is intended for children just as the book was. It’s important to remember that this book was written for his boys. I suggest this any time someone expresses interest in watching “The Hobbit.” It is far better than the Jackson Hobbit trilogy.
We watched this so many times as kids in the 80s. Had the LP record too. Dad read us the book when I was five or six and after that I read it on my own pretty much annually. I also listened to the BBC audio version incessantly. The best thing about the animated movie in my opinion was the scene with Gollum and the songs. We always paused the video right when he was shrieking in rage at his loss… funny expressions. Roads go ever on was one of my favorite songs for years
I still have my LP. This was one of my favorite movies as a kid and I still listen to the soundtrack from time to time.
the art is fantastic in this, really cool designs.
I grew up watching this on laser disk at my elementary school. I’m not actually that old but the player would get wheeled into the classroom when we had a substitute and needed to fill some time. I have so much nostalgia and love for this adaptation
I saw this when I was ten yo in the 70’s at an open-air theatre. It is among my favorite childhood memories. I love the music.
Back then when there was no cable TV, streaming video, or even video rentals, we’d need to read through every new issue of the TV Guide searching for a new airing of the movie on one of the five TV channels we got radio reception for. Then, we needed to make sure our parents did not make any plans at that time which would prevent us from watching it - because you either watched it then, or you missed it. It was like live TV. You couldn’t pause. We were glued to the TV so that we didn’t miss a moment. Holding onto the TV antenna if necessary to get reception.
… a show like this was such a rare treasure.
Glen Yarborough did some of the music. The greatest adventure was one of them. I loved this movie when I was a kid. Apparently nothing's changed.
My favorite part of the music was realizing that the bass voice in the goblin songs was provided by Thurl Ravenscroft… better known as Tony The Tiger 😊
That's awesome 😆 or should I say "grrrrreat!"
As someone who watched this as a kid when it came out, my two cents is that any critique of this film needs to keep in mind that it was created to be a kids movie by 1970's standards and created with 1970's animation technology. A lot of the cheesy dialogue that was criticized was put in there as the only way to tell the audience what was going on in a short period of time. For instance, the need to explain the "moon letters" was for the audience's benefit, and especially for the children who would not have been able to figure this out. The same goes for the black arrow dialogue.
And yes, a lot was left out, but considering they had to condense the book to one hour, such sacrifices had to be made. Sad, but reality.
I loved the music and the songs and how they integrated it into the film.
The one thing I didn't like was how they animated the elves. It was weird reading the book The Hobbit after watching this animation and discovering that the elves wee fair beings, beautiful in appearance, and all that! I would like to ask the animators why they uglified the elves, especially the wood elves(!).
Oh, how they showed Bilbo as transparent rather than invisible when he put the ring on was because the animators obviously wanted the audience to see Bilbo. We were used to such in animation back then (ever see Space Ghost and how the characters looked when they made themselves invisible?).
The reason this is the best version is that they didn't change any of the motivations of the characters. It wasn't "What would a hobbit in 2023 (or 1977) do if he was forced to become a thief and had his home invaded by 13 dwarves and a wizzard.
I wouldn't say the Jackson changed the motivations of characters as gave them ones to begin with. The only clear motivations any of them have in this are greed and "a Wizard was shouting at me".
I actually think that it's a pretty good, overly straightforward adaptation of the book. I much prefer it to PEter Jackson's versions weirdly. It's just a sort of 7/10 across the board, nothing crazy. Also, Down Down to Goblin Town...
The Black Crack
Here down in the valley
It's not weird to prefer RB Hobbit to PJ Hobbit. I was so disgusted with PJH2 that I didn't even bother to watch PJH3.
I get annoyed by the refrain so many people make , "why don't they have the eagles come get them...". The eagles aren't running a taxi service, they don't jump up just because Gandalf snaps his fingers, they don't serve him. Furthermore, the eagles aren't necessarily friendly to everyone, most men fear them. Gandalf helped Gwahir so he has the eagle's goodwill but that's not something to squander.
Also, they are both servants of Manwë.
I did grow up with this. The songs are a bit much, but my wife and I still watch it frequently. We troll it like you did. We always laugh when Gandalf informs the Dwarves he’s leaving because, “I have pressing business away south.”
This was my intro to Tolkien. Saw it when it was on TV. Then somehow ended up with a tape of it. It's pretty impressive but it plays very well as an audio only media. To this day THAT'S the voice I hear when I recite Gandalf lines in my head.
"Hear Hear!"
I think they cut out certain scenes from the book, mainly because the target audience was probably 7 to 15 year olds, and because it was a tv special. Rankin and Bass were competing with Disney who made hour long animations and felt people simply wouldn't sit for more than an hour and a half tops for an animated film.
Exactly. I was going to mention the fact that it was made for commercial TV and they had a time limit to meet.
I’m pretty sure I saw it at the theater when it first came out.
@@SkylersRantsmaybe you did. I sat on the couch at home. When it was released. It had a rather high minute count of commercials for the time, aimed at kids and Dads.
It has played in Theaters over the years after the initial television release.
@@SkylersRantsOdd because it aired on TV.
I was disappointed that the Battle of Five Armies was animated as it was and more so that Bejorn was not included.
The goblins were great singers in this movie. "Down, down to goblin town" & "Fifteen birds in five fir trees!" They rocked!
I believe Thurl Ravenscroft AKA Tony the Tiger provided the singing voice of the goblins.
@@Bryan198026 Well, that is cool trivia!
@@loringmsuess Yeah. I didn't know it until fairly recently. He was also the narrator of that old Haunted Mansion Halloween record that Disney put out a long time ago. Ron Howard played the male lead and he would have been a teenager back then if I remember right.
In the original story, of all the hobbits in Hobbiton, Bilbo would have been *the most likely* to leave town. Since Hobbits are famous for being homebodies.
Also, as a hobbit his sent would be unknown to Smaug and he'd have no overt / blind loyalty to get in the way of his judgment.
I loved this movie when it came out (yes, I'm that old) and I still love it today.
It's from the same animation house that would go on to give us "the Last Unicorn" and "The THUNDERCATS".
this film is honestly my favourite tolkien based movie. i borrowed it from a local public library when i was like 5-6 years old, and after that i borrowed it every month or two for over a decade. at least until they got rid of it when they removed their VHS tapes. the music is my favourite part, something about the style and melodies just resonates with something, i still remember all the songs perfectly. the whole riddles in the dark sequence is the best part of the movie for me. it was just so eerie and tense, and you get that soft voice singing one of the riddles echoing in the caverns. i get chills just thinking about the scene, it just hits all the right notes, emotions, and style for me
I love that you keep talking about the music. I think that is my favorite part of this hobbit movie! I’ve loved watching this movie since I was 3.
So 2 great directors John Huston and Otto Preminger were voices in this movie...
The actor Richard Boone was the voice of Smaug
Great Review. I am a child of the 70s, kind of since I was born in '76, so this was a staple fantasy (along with other Rankin Bass productions like Flight of Dragons and The Last Unicorn). I feel like we had to rent the video player from the rental location to watch movies (don't think it was VHS, probably Betamax). There was also a companion cassette and read-a-long book for this and many other movies at the time (I had one for this one, The Return of the King, several Star Wars movies and others I am forgetting).
I showed this movie to our boys and then read the Hobbit to our older two boys before they watched the live action. We read the Prydain Chronicles (Disney movie The Black Cauldron is a very loose adaptation of two of the books) first before the Hobbit because the language was simpler, then we read the Chronicles of Narnia and then moved on to the LOTR trilogy. They watched the cartoon versions prior to us introducing them to the live action versions. There is also a Ralph Bakshi roto-scoped animated version covering events from The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers which I also greatly enjoy that came out prior to the Return of the King cartoon. You can see in various parts where Peter Jackson appears to have been influenced by the style and imagery of the LOTR cartoon.
You should review the LOTR cartoon and then the Return of the King cartoon!
I remember being pretty excited when this first aired. I was about ten years old, and had read The Hobbit, or my mother read it to us. Even at that age we thought the 'Greatest Adventure' singer was hysterically funny and imitated him for weeks afterwards.
Exactly! Too much vibrato for sure.😛
Smaug's boast from this version is one of my all-time favorite moments in cinema. (I'm among those who grew up with this movie so I fully admit nostalgia is a factor.)
The music is from a book called "The road goes ever on" a collaboration between J. R. R. Tolkien and the composer Donald Swann so you get a chance to hear this in the film as it was intended and for that reason alone these made for TV versions are totally worth it
Keep in mind , that this was made for kids. So sometimes things might get over-explained, plus battles/killings are toned down or completely removed. Also, I Subscribed to you for doing this reaction and renting it.
I was 11 in 1977, and being a major Tolkien fan it was wonderful to see the Hobbit come to life.
I first saw this when I was a child when it aired on tv. Pretty sure it was a rerun.
I've this version of The Hobbit has always had a special place in my heart, and always will.
I love this movie. I grew up with it, back when it was truly a forgotten gem. I'm an animation buff, so I discovered it long before I ever heard of Lord of the Rings. When the Jackson movies came out in the 2000's, I told my sister about this, and she said "Oh, it's a prequel." We went to watch it together, and she got so mad. She said it was ugly. The elves were particularly offensive to her, as they did not look like Orlando Bloom. lol
I'd go so far as to say that it's better than Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy in totality
100%.
That's not a stretch. This is better than The Hobbit: An Unexpected Trilogy by far.
I couldn't even finish watching that wretched bloated fan service filled Mario jumping spectacle of a trilogy. I saw the first part in the theater and decided I wasn't interested in more but then the second part came on TV and I decided I would give it another chance. I turned off during the barrel ride sequence. Absolute garbage.
easily
It is, by far. But that's also not hard, considering those films (needlessly and greedily stretched out to a trilogy), was so full of made up fluff it was sickening. Like literally 50%, at least, of what is shown on screen in those movies, isn't in the book at all. And not a single bit of the made up nonsense, IMO, was a worthwhile addition. It was literally just padding to make 3 films, so they could make 3 times the money.
This was thoroughly enchanting watching it as a child. It opened the door to a world of adventure that I have never shut. Bilbo was an everyman thrust into adventure. From that point of view, he’s just dealing as best he can under the circumstances. I’m not fond of the portrayal of the elves, but I did like Gollum. He was a kind of generic bogeyman meant merely to frighten. Readers wouldn’t learn his full story until years later. As a children’s movie, though, this was top notch. It might have skipped some incidents, but it was a remarkably faithful adaptation and that’s a rarity in the art form. One of my favorite fantasy films ever. People can gripe about anything, but there’s more here to like than not and it was the gateway to the novel for a whole generation. Remember, too, that in the Hobbit, the ring was merely of invisibility. It wouldn’t acquire the character of the One Ring until the Lord of the Rings, so it was a lighter hearted affair despite its darker moments. As others have noted, the film was based on the original edition of the Hobbit, which was a more childish book. It was later revised to be closer in character and tone with LOTR. A fun popcorn flick for sure.
Remember who this was for, it was on TV for kids. Thus spinning for dying, and yhey had to chop down for allowed time. They put a lot of heart into it, snd was 10x better than the Peter Jackson adaptation. And it captured Bilbos growth, the theme of focusing on building bridges to others and sharing versus covering and selfishly withholding. Id put above other kids oriented specials being produced at rhe time or in general. This was the era of Star Wars Holiday specials, as abother famous example. I actually respect this one as lot and watched it with my young kids around 5. They loved it just like they enjoyed watching Avatar the Last Aur Bender.
I grew up watching the Hobbit when it first came out on TV. I own it now along with the other two animated features that they made.
The music in this movie is so wonderful
I watched The Hobbit when it came out, I was 14, and it suffered from one big issue. It was done for the 70s audience so it had to be one hour to fit in the time slot and couldn't be two parts. No 70s audience was going to sit through a 2 hour children's show and no TV company was going to gamble on the audience tuning in the next week for the 2nd half. I think a 2 hour "true to the original story" animated version would go over really well now.
As it is, this version is pretty damn true to the original story. It barely alters anything, and includes almost every major element from the book. A longer version that included everything would be wonderful. But for what they had to work with back then, this film was actually pretty amazing.
i love that old cartoon so much. goood stuff. glad to know it's appreciated by others!!
Ill be honest. By far a better adaptation than what was made recently. Ill go back to this version everytime then go into the LOTR live action films. Gollums voice and look tripped me out as a little kid. This whole movie did.
The "What are moon letters?" line is a literary tool used by writer to explain their mcguffins/ Duex ex Machinas.
*stops at 0:48 … *has to watch the Transformers movie now before coming back to this video…
I am almost 42. I used to rent this movie for free from the local library whenever it was in, and I still fall asleep to it almost every night lol
Hi PTH! The most perfect adaptation I've yet seen of The Hobbit was this adorable stage show that toured around a couple decades ago. It was Peter Jackson-aware, but not overblown - in fact, all of its acting and sets were very much rooted in small theatre rather than big splashy production. But I seem to remember that they may have gotten a little visual and audio effects help from the team at Weta. That's not to compare it to the LOTR PJ trilogy - but it still felt like the most authentic version of the story, bar reading the actual book.
This was basically my introduction to all things fantasy. I think my dad gave it to me at some point like, "You might like this." I love this adaptation both for nostalgia and even just as a representation of The Hobbit. I don't mind the removal of Beorn. I truly love the music and the animation style. I'd definitely encourage checking out The Last Unicorn, also by Rankin and Bass, that was another staple of my childhood. Very fun times!
That one's dark. But yeah, really good in the same way as the Hobbit.
I love how Peter Jackson reference the songs by making his blunt the knives and Misty Mountains referential without sounding like a copy or rip off
I do kind of like the goblins looking like moblins from Zelda and sort of this odd bulldog art style! Same I as I like Gollum being sort of an amphibious frog man. The songs are also mostly fire in this, IMO
This was adapted for children. That's why this has so many moments of Bilbo spelling things out so obviously. The soundtrack rocks, and this Gollum is my favorite. I love how he does the riddles. There's also a lot left out that is explained in the books, like the whole way Bilbo was introduced to the dwarves, and Beorn, who was a bear, NOT a stupid werewolf. Also, notice that the dwarves aren't a clown show.
Once you read the book, you'll realize that the hobbit trilogy was basically trashed so they could stretch it out.
You know she’s already read the book, right?
To be perfectly fair, Tolkien literally wrote the book for his kids, so it was intended as a "children's story" to begin with.
The movie was directed by Rankin and Bass, who up to this point had made mostly just holiday specials, and to this day are more well known for Christmas Specials like Rudolf, Frosty, Drummer Boy, and many many many Santa movies. The animation house they went to was a Japanese one, and not only would make The Hobbit and Return of the King (after the Ralph Bakshi movie failed to finish The Lord of the Rings), but they would go on to make several other specials and movies with Rankin/Bass, but also did several shows including Thunder Cats, and Silver Hawks, but also would make more native shows/movies in Japan, and were given the OK to make little back ground mentions of their English work, including an add sign that had a Thunder Cat in it on Bubblegum Crisis. In the 90's the American side of the studio got bought by Disney and used for their cheap sequels before disbanding in the early 2000's, the Japanese side of the studio would mostly join with Studio Ghibli after making Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Miyazaki's break out directorial film.
As a kid, I only ever knew this flim, and was my main in for fantasy and magic, and things of the like. It wasn't until I was about 11 or 12 that I found out about Lord of the Rings, and in particular saw the Return of the King film, and the Ralph Bakshi film that more or less takes place between films. Of interesting note, Ralph Bakshi was a big pusher of rotoscoping, which is more or less tracing live actors for animation, which helps with the realistic look and movement to animation, while trying to help make it faster, and easier to make. All his monsters, and most of his action moments in Lord of the Rings are all rotoscope. Making a very uncanny valley effect when the monsters are on screen, kind helps with the creepyness of them I feel. As for Return of the King I quite like it, it very much fallows the same methods of The Hobbit, don't add BS, just use what we can, and cut the rest for time. The music is still good as well, a lot of the same artists.
I watched this when I was younger before I was allowed to watch the movies, and I would constantly sing the songs ad think of the images in my head in part while reading the books. Also, just a note, in the troll scene it was technically not Bilbo playing for time in the books, but he was hiding in the bushes while Gandalf used his powers to make it seem the the trolls were arguing with eachother.
I was sixteen when this was first broadcast on TV and I loved it! It was my introduction to Tolkien. We found the books at our local department store and I read them every fall until Sir Peter's LOTR came out. I am sorry to say that this cartoon was much better than Del Toro's Hobbit.
You have to realize, in 77’ there was NOTHING else on TV. This was an oasis in a sea of awfulness.
I watched this for the first time as an adult, and I will say that "The greatest adventure" is among my favourite songs.
But, the best adaption I have come across, must be the radio drama from 1968 🙂
The South Park creators recycled "The Greatest Adventure" in their episode about Lemmiwinks. I can't hear hear this song without thinking of Lemmiwinks's "great adventure" as he struggles up Mr. Slave's alimentary canal.
That audio drama was the first thing I was introduced to of Tolkien and middle earth. It was enchanting and I'm glad to have found im not the only one who favors it. :)
I absolutely loved this adaptation as a kid. This holds a very special place in my heart because it was my gateway into fantasy, role playing games, and Tolkien. Completely opened my eyes and mind to so much fun. I love the music (still listen to it from time to time on RUclips), Gandalf, the orcs, and Smaug. When I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings as a teenager, I always tried to mimic John Huston's Gandalf voice in my head. Though it lacks a lot from the original story, because it was my entry to Tolkien, I am so thankful that it was made.
Smaug's boast in this is one of my favorite things in cinema ever
Fun fact! This cartoon adaptation was what got me HOOKED on LOTR as a kid. I used to run around with a ring I got from one of those gumball machines and pretend it was magic. These started my lifelong obsession with this world!
This version of the Hobbit is one my personal favorite movies it along with the 1978 Lord of the rings introduced me to Tolkien
“This bad adaptation”
This was never a bad adaptation wtf
The lyrics of all the songs are actually from the book, appearing in italics when characters are signing them, and written by Tolkien himself.
The filmmakers just wrote music and set the lyrics to it, and yeah, they did alright with it. I thought so too.
No matter how much shade one might throw at Rank & Bass's _The Hobbit,_ it still captures Tolkien storytelling 1000X better than Bakshi's binfire.
You can thank Japan's 'Top Craft' for the superb designs & landscapes - many of their artists went on to form Ghibli. So it deserves respect.
For all the time restraints they were stuck with working within the limited '70's TV animation genre, it is an impressive piece of work.
This take is just ignorant of history. The book was revised. The adaptation was based on the Hobbit as written before LOTR. Before he retconned it to make it more consistent.
@@gedcaeneus4628 Looks like you're on the wrong thread, ged. Nothing I stated above contradicts with when these came out.
I don't think that's a fair assessment. I like the RB Hobbit more than Baksni's LOTR, but his film is still pretty great. And it was, for the most part, VERY accurate to the source material. Calling it a "binfire", when it features some top notch rotoscoped animation, and some beautiful scenes besides, is doing the art a disservice.
IMO, in a "perfect world", we would have gotten both parts of Bakshi's film, and RB also would have made a whole animated LOTR trilogy series of their own, instead of just a ROTK (which is still pretty great).
I would have been just less than five years old when this movie was released, and I know I saw it in the 1970s, and being a fantasy nerd/D&D player with my friends and family, we all watched in many times in the 80s and even through the 90s. I still have this on DVD and have seen that a few more times this millennia, and I think its about time I watch it again!
I love the artwork in this film. The water color backgrounds and design of the characters, are so beautiful. Likewise, I love the music. The worse part, and I don't even find it that bad, just of their time, is that the actual animation isn't always smooth, and some of the stylization is a bit silly (like your comment about how gravity works, or the spiders dying by kaleidoscope). It's fine, especially when you consider this is meant to be a children's story.
Glad you and your friend enjoyed the movie, too!
John Huston has such a fantastic voice
Favorite line:
Bilbo saying,
“Whatever are…
…runes?”
I’m an older millennial who will be 40 this year. I grew up with this as a periodic rerun on cable. It was my first introduction to the Legendarium and I will love it forever for that reason.
I have always loved that Bass and Rankin fantasy movie style of this film, RotK, the Last Unicorn, and the forgotten gem the Flight of Dragons. The designs for the spiders, goblins, and Gollum legitimately freaked me out on my first viewing and stuck with me forever. Another bit that stuck with me was the badass Black Arrow speech. Watching it now just reminds me of how badly the Jackson trilogy whiffed that scene in its adaptation… or lack there of as it were.
Love this whole series y'all are doing, such a fun project! The music is my favorite part (though I agree with you on that vibrato) I like to hum Road's Go Ever On and On or Fifteen birds in five fir-trees to myself when I'm anxious, and it's a cozy, nostalgic little distraction!
The music was so much fun! I love seeing the musicality of Tolkien's text truly represented on film
The voice acting in this Hobbit is par excellence.
This is my favorite piece of animation, movie or series, that I have ever watched; it is a work of art.
Hey! I always loved this movie as a kid, I'm 25 now. It's so engrained in my brain that when I watch it, I can say almost every line 😅 My grandparents introduced me to a lot of older movies and books which kindled my love of cinema and books (especially Lord of the Rings) They had this movie on VHS and I'd rewatch it all the time. I always really liked the music, and alot of the songs are word for word lyrics from the book which I always thought was cool. The spiders always scared me when I was like 6! The goblins and Gollum were one of my favorite parts. I also think they did a nice job with Thorin letting go of his greed at the end. Nice video, can't wait for you to watch Return of the King as that was one of my favorites as a kid too! Love your channel!
I must admit I have a big bias to The Hobbit. I was 5 and was going in an out of the hospital do to being sick (was later diagnosed with Childhood Leukemia. I was up stairs sick in bed and wanted attention because everyone was down stairs so my mom came up and tossed a book on my bed. The Hobbit. Although was not able to read much of it at the time I loved the maps, ruins and picture. Was so intrigued by it. Just before I was hospitalized again I saw this version of the Hobbit and well fell in love with JRR Tolkien. Was always my dream to see Tolkien's work come to the big screen so Jackson's version was a dream come true but this will always have a place in my heart and soul.
I'll be honest. I really like this movie. But as a wee lad, i was so scared of this movie because of Gollum.
It had everything to do with the fact that i was about 3 when my dad showed it this movie to me. I remember asking my Dad what a Hobbit was, and he said, "Oh, they're little people. About your height, son."
I think he was trying to make me feel good. But Gollum scared me half to death. So much so that for a very long time, i was afraid of the dark. I appreciate the design of him now.
The vibrato singer is Glenn Yarbrough, a folk singer from Milwaukee Wisconsin. As folk singers go, he's pretty famous - I'd recommend downloading an album or two if you like folk music at all.
At last, the algorithm recommends me something good. I've been watching all these reactions and love them. It's clear you're very knowledgeable and very passionate about all things Tolkien. Keep up the great work. I vaguely remember catching parts of this on Cartoon Network years ago when they'd play movies late at night. Or maybe it the Return of the King cartoon? I must have been 7 or 8. I was raised on Disney, and this movie's dingy colors and moody tone caught me off guard. I had no idea what was happening, but it intrigued me enough to check out the books.
I love how Dillon matches your freak. I never watched this as a kid but my dad did and I know he really loved it
When I was going to see the Hobbit movies in theaters, I distinctly remember saying to my dad that I hoped they would do frog-like Gollum from this, rather than Jackson's interpretation in LotR (though I probably didn't realize PJ was behind both trilogies, if I knew who he was at all at that age). To this day I imagine the whole section with the goblins and Gollum in a way that is very heavily inspired by this adaptation, though I barely remember the film now; the goblin's song in particular is still awesome and pops into my head unprompted with some regularity.
If I remember anything from this well it's the music, I love seeing people put lots of care into the songs from the books; that you sing your own interpretations of these songs whenever they come up is one of my favorite things about your channel by the way, it's beautiful!
I grew up with this movie and is still one of my favorites of all time.
The soundtrack was written/performed by Glenn Yarborough who died in 2016
Funny thing about the map is the animation confused the runes meant to be moon letters, though the script says “this hand points through these runes” when none are there and the actual moon letters are visible.
Also in the official art of the cover for the vinyl soundtrack, Smaug is green and Bilbo’s design is a bit different.
They also released an illustrated copy of The Hobbit using the art from this movie. In that they actually have Beorn
The animated Hobbit movie was a childhood favorite of mine and my only exposure to Tolkien prior to seeing Fellowship of the Ring in 2001. I loved it and enjoyed seeing the similarities on screen.
I grew up with this version of "The Hobbit" and prefer it to Peter Jackson's monstrosity. It's not perfect, but I like that it kept to the main story and didn't add a lot of made-up stuff. I'm fine with adding some background about the Necromancer and I'd be fine with the Orc-Dwarf vendetta history if it was handled better. However, the biggest thing I like about the Rankin Bass version over Peter Jackson is the music. This version of "Far Over Misty Mountains Old" is canonical to me.
I absolutely adore this movie. My dad showed it to me when I was around 5 or 6 and I loved it so much that he started reading the book to me at bedtime. This movie was the thing that got me into Tolkien and fantasy in general. To me this movie is perfect.
This was magical and the path to fantasy for many of us GenX'rs. I'm 51 and if I hadnt seen this and lived for every time it would show. Remember we had 3 networks and 1 public broadcast channel and this would only be on the networks once in a blue moon on a weekend. That was it. So each time it came on it was special. John Huston/Gandalf is Angelica Huston/Morticia Adams dad. His voice is always my go to Gandalf voice. It's a kids show so they were aiming at that audience. I love it and think they did a great job for the time and some of the detail beats modern animation and being drawn takes us into a past that modern can't. Meh couldn't get into your content. Good luck.
I'm 52 this year, and the music still sticks with me today. "Where There's A Whip There's A Way" and "The Bearer of the Ring" still echo in my heart.
This was a nice suprise to see in my feed as I just watched this version for the first time a few nights ago. Great video as usual, I always enjoy your reactions together!
I hope you enjoyed your watch through! It was a ton of fun
This was my VERY first taste of anything to do with LOTR. I was six at the time. It started me on a long road of adventure that I never truly returned from. I love it!
You could say that this movie, among other events, changed my life. I had no idea what I really wanted to do with my life, so I took a job that I disliked from my first day but stayed bc I felt it was what I deserved for my indecisiveness. For three years, I was tired, stressed, depressed, and angry. Then, on a whim, I bought a copy of The Hobbit cartoon since it was one of my favorite movies as a child and I hadn't seen it in close to 20 years. As soon as the song "The Greatest Adventure" played in the opening credits, I was crying bc I was basically being Bilbo without a journey bc I was afraid of failing to be more like who I felt I was. I finally started applying to schools and jobs to get out of that place of disappointment and guilt. It's been a long 10 years since I left that job, and while the road has been far from smooth, I'm glad that 4 year-old me was wise enough to make my future self remember this movie and to move along the path to get where I am today.
This is my all time favorite Tolkien adaptation to date , above anything else including the Jackson films. There is a lot of nostalgia in it for me but I also love it's quirky even bizarre hippie-ish aspects that conjure up memories of reading the book as a kid, to me it is better than anything else.
My sister and I rented the VHS of this movie many times when we'd go to Hollywood Video on Fridays.
This will always be in my top 10 favorite movies of all time. I bet I've seen it 20 times or more.
Just found your video on the Soviet LOTR. Haha. Awesome channel guys!
5:20 literally me. I will go wild for any map.
5:40 based on the Silmarillion, kinda checks out actually, Elves are very much associated with stars, and putting more detail into the way they're drawn to depict that they're more refined than the other races kinda works too.
Always loved *Smaug with Snarf's face.*
This cartoon has a special place in my heart.