The Hobbit (Animated): 1977

Dananjaya

Dananjaya

The Shire
Greetings!

Yesterday, I got the chance to watch The Hobbit animated version for the first time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4XyTkQ4klg

I enjoyed it thoroughly and the music was quite nice as well. Although, I would have preferred more orchestral based music in battle sequences.

Have any fellow dwellers of Middle-earth watched this before? (I am sure most of you have) What is your impression of it? Any childhood memories about that cartoon?
 
Last edited:
I only came across the animated versions after Jacksons trilogy came out - so they aren't nostaglic or anything like that (for me).

As for an animated film in the 1970s, its not bad. It's watchable, fairly enjoyable and at least captures the majority if the book. The music really grates against me. Not sure why, I just can't stand it [cool] I also don't understand why they killed more dwarves at the end.
 
Yes, I have to agree with you on that.. for me also, music was bit strange sounding, but wasn't so off putting. But I must say the battle sequences, wasn't feeling so 'epic', due to the absence of an orchestral suite. (Maybe we all have grown used to it now..)
 
I haven't watched it in quite some time, but I probably will do before the film comes out this year.

The details I remember are a little hazey.
 
I waited on pins and needles and was right in front of the TV when it first aired. I was in grad school.

To me John Huston will always be the voice of Gandalf and Richard Boone the voice of Smaug.

I didn't care much for the look of the hobbits, or the Mirkwood elves, and the dwarves looked too much like prunes. (Though I did like the hobbit's girth. Hobbits are supposed to be round!)

Smaug's car headlight eyes looked weird too, though they were in the book. ("He was just about to step out on to the floor when he caught a sudden thin and piercing ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug’s left eye.") An early lesson in adaptation: "Just because it's in the book doesn't mean it will work on the screen,"

Weaver was leading a discussion of the film on The Hobbit board, but she hasn't posted in a while.
 
Last edited:
I too was glued to the TV watching it. I remember it being such a big event that grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins gathered to watch it together. I still enjoy Glenn Yarbrough's "The Greatest Adventure".

That brings back memories...
 
There wasn't very much out there in Tolkien-land when this came out... and Bakshi's LotR. While there are several places in this that make me cringe, I'll always love it for being such a great piece of the evolution of Tolkien's works from page to screen.

I'm glad you like it! :D Thanks for this link!
 
I thought the wood elves are depicted as evil.. I also liked the Eastern-European accent of wood elves. [laugh]

Also, the narrator sounded bit like Leonard Nemoy.

Gollum looks really scary as well.
 
I was sure that this cartoon would bring back some nostalagic memories of lot of fellow tolkien fans. I was interested about knowing how were they as I got the chance to see these recently..
 
in 1992 or '93. It's pretty strongly engrained in my mind since I saw it right after I read the book the first time.

In general I think it's made pretty well. It works much better than their ROTK adaptation.
 
Back in the day when they were little (About 1990-93?). Wore out a tape, and I believe broke a VCR with it. Recently my son watched it again after almost two decades, and he can still sing all the songs and recite quite a bit of the dialogue. I am surprised how well the scenery and music holds up, actually. Although the character depictions are not exactly what I envisioned, it was a decent introduction to Tolkien for my little geeks.
 
many years ago...I had to go to the library in the town next to my hometown to rent it. Would have been the mid '80s I believe? I wasn't fond of the animation, but it was all I had when it came to The Hobbit (other than the book of course).
 
The music is standard Rankin and Bass music; all the Rankin/Bass cartoons - mostly Christmas specials like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Clause is Coming to Town etc. - had this exact kind of music. Yes, the music is cheesy, but even though I don't remember watching The Hobbit, this music brings back fond memories of those specials that I used to love as a kid :)
 
I honestly don't remember seeing it as a kid, but I think I must have. When I read LOTR months before FOTR came out in 2001 I kept imagining the elves, especially Legolas, like the elves in this cartoon. I could never understand why because the way they are described in the book is nothing like the image I had in my head. It drove me crazy [crazy] I certainly couldn't believe that everyone would be captivated by the beauty of Arwen and Galadrial if they looked *anything* like the elf image in my head. Now I know where that image came from! LOL!

Thanks Dananjaya! A long time mystery has been solved.
 
but my first exposure to Tolkien as a kid came from the coffeetable book adaptation of this feature which my sister always had proudly displayed, so it does have significant sentimental value to me [heart]
 
and found it charming. Loved the music and songs. That was after seeing the disasterous, to me, Lord of the Rings film that came out back then.
 
I saw it at age 7. I was really into it. After seeing the cartoon, it was imperative that I get the book (with illustrations and prints from the cartoon). I was so attached to my copy of TH that I brought it with me everywhere, including recess at school (it got worn out really quickly). That was before I had even heard of LOTR or the Sil.
 
I just had a knock at the door a little while ago, and received a small gift and a request from two hobbity young cousins...to come over tomorrow and watch the animated Hobbit again! The older one told me he'd read through the book again, all on his own. I'm so proud!

The younger one will finally get his copy from me just before school starts up again. (It's a 4th-grade tradition, starting with me.) He couldn't be kept out of our reading sessions the first time around, and so couldn't be denied viewing rights, either. They're already Star Wars fans, too, so they just might turn out as geeky as their guide! =)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top