This film is a "precious" memory. I actually recorded the audio back in the 80's on cassette to fall asleep to at night. Brings back a lot of memories from simpler times. Thank you both for picking this one. 😺
Omg, I do that too! Like, I still do. I've actually tested it and unless I'm absolutely bushed, I cannot fall asleep without it in one earbud. Do I need therapy?
"Who talks in riddles?" You kind of HAVE to when you're talking to a Dragon. Many Dragons in mythology are highly intelligent and can use language and words as weapons, so there are specific rules you often have to follow when you speak to them. One of the biggest is if they ask you for your name, do NOT tell them. However, language is also somewhat of a Dragon's only weakness, because they are fascinated by riddles and riddling talk. So if you keep them guessing, you might get out of there alive.
"Who talks in riddles?" In Tolkien's world, that's how you talk to a dragon if you don't want to get eaten. They can't resist riddles, so the longer Bilbo could keep that up, the longer it would be before Smaug decided that he would be crunchy and good with ketchup.
I thought the radio play of The Lord of the Rings with Ian Holm as Frodo had quite a good Gollum. Peter Woodthorpe's interpretation was much better than this one to be sure.
I have one riddle from the boom that wasn't used in this. "Thirty white horses on a red hill, first they chimp, then they stamp, then they stand still." Also, I know it's been a long while now, but y'all should check out the 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings, directed by Ralph Bakshi. It was pretty much a great starting point to Peter Jackson's making of the those movies, he even took shots from it in inspiration. Though there was only one movie of it, telling Fellowship and half of Two Towers, then a sequel was never made as studios were very persistent back then and "nobody would want to pay to see half of a film". How the times have changed.
If you haven't already seen Leonard Nimoy's "Bilbo Baggins" video/song, check it out. Tolkien invented entire languages for Elvish, Dwarvish, etc. You can actually learn to speak, read, and write them.
BTW, September 22 is known as "Hobbit Day" because its both Bilbo and Frodo's birthday in universe. And this year is the 20th anniversary of Fellowship coming out. Good time to do the Hobbit trilogy as well. Do the extended ones too. They're more complete films because of some big production issues behind the scenes.
10:49 - "He hasn't really stolen anything, he's just kind of happened upon . . . things." So, entering someone's home and . . . "happening upon" a gold ring isn't theft.
Fan-edits of PJ's trilogy of it don't suck either... several of them are pretty good and might surpass this animated version (which I've adored my entire life since 1980 or so).
This is my first time seeing reactors doing the cartoon version of the LOTR stuff instead of the usual Live action from Peter Jackson's edition!! I love it.. TOtally unexpected.
Mrs.Movies had a hard time keeping her eyes open at the beginning it seems. :) I think its a good idea to start the whole Peter Jackson marathon with the old animated movie. Cant say I have a favourite dwarf, been long since I read the books, but from the recent movies portrayals its the older guy who dies in the Mines of Moria.
The television special had to fit everything within 90 minutes (with advertisements), so it had to take a lot of shortcuts, including cutting out entirely the chapter with Beorn the skin-changer and the subplot involving the Arkenstone. As opposed to Peter Jackson exaggerating the significance of the Arkenstone and concentrating much more on Thorin Oakenshield.
I know many are, but I'm not a Rankin/Bass cel animation fan. Figured the Ewoks had soured you on animation, but since that's not the case, how about... Akira? And re: Mrs "I don't like spiders" - I think that means you have to do Arachnophobia (sorry, not sorry, Mrs)! It won't be fun for her, which would be a lot of fun for us. We're mean that way!😂👍🏼❤️
Thank you thank you thank you. Had the children's book that came with it's own record as a kid. It would come on t.v. every year around Christmas. Still have it on VHS but sadly no VCR to play it on anymore. You have to watch the animated LOTR next
I grew up with Tolkiens works. My fourth grade teacher read us The Hobbit...I loved it....then, in junior high my best friend let me know..."hey, there's a continuation to the Hobbit.....Know what it is?" "No", I said. "The Lord of the Rings." and I shortly lost myself in that story. Now no disrespect to Peter Jackson..he DID create the authoritative visual representation of LOTR. But....I don't care who disagrees with me, and many do...the Rankin Bass animated version of the Hobbit is HEADS AND SHOULDERS above Peter Jackson's money grab bloated, monsterous trilogyl
13 witch i was born on in May 13th at 3 months early at 900 grams(less the 2 pounds) then had a BrainHemrig the second day... is Not a BAD LUCK NUMBER...it in Fact is the Luckyist Number you can be Born Under...13 was for 100's of years a good luck number but along with Black Cat during the DarkAges in Midevil times was man bad Luck BUT it still is not.
It's truer to the spirit of the book as well as the content. Jackson does some great work but even in the Lord of the Rings films he often rejected Tolkien's vision for his own. Frodo sending Sam away because Gollum tricked him by throwing the lembas over the cliff? What grade school nonsense is that? Jackson had all the resources to do things right and decided he knew best, time and again. If he liked the books so much, why change them so much?
@@oaf-77 The same book that's vague on a lot of details compared to LOTR and where Bard, Thranduil, the Master of Laketown, and most of the Dwarves come off as cardboard cutouts? That one? 🤨
@@oaf-77 ... which would've felt really weird to a lot of people if it _was_ presented as a bedtime story, and, thus, so tonally from the previous LOTR trilogy??
The name of the Japanese studio was called Topcraft who made these films for Rankin/Bass. When R/B finally dissolved, so did Topcraft, whose animators went off and created a new company by the name of Ghibli Studios.
This was my introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien when I was a kid, and I absolutely loved the story. I also remember an animated version of Rudyard Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi, which was also a favorite story of mine as a child.
This movie is why I think I prefer The Hobbit trilogy and not The Lord of the Rings trilogy, even though I agree that The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the superior of the two.
Sadly, we lost two BILBO BAGGINS performers last year; Orson Bean from this version (who seriously got hit by a car at age 92) and Ian Holm (of the Peter Jackson films) last June from Parkinson's
I first saw this as a little kid, probably around 5 or something. When I first saw a trailer for Lord of the Rings, it blew my mind. I was like “Wait, were those Hobbits? Is that Gandalf?! Is this an epic live action sequel to The Hobbit?!” And it was, and I loved it.
I absolutely adore the Rankin/Bass adaptation of The Hobbit. I realize that many of the more superficial aspects of the production may not be to everyone’s taste, or even be precisely accurate to J.R.R. Tolkien’s descriptions. I also realize that, due to time constraints, certain elements of the narrative were either condensed or excised altogether( adios Arkenstone, so long Beorn ). But I still find so many things to like about it: The mission statement by the producers to not imbue the film with their own interpretation of Tolkien’s text. The decision to base the characters and overall aesthetic on the illustrations of Arthur Rackham, whom Tolkien liked and thought would be a suitable illustrator for his world. The whimsical tone. The moral subtext. And those moments that manage to capture the more lyrical portions of the book, such as Bilbo’s view from the top of the tree in Mirkwood or the rapprochement between Bilbo and Thorin during their final encounter, which I found quite moving and poignant. Yes, Thranduil is green and sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger. But that was done primarily to distinguish him and the Mirkwood elves from Elrond and the Rivendell elves. Overall, the film is still light years closer to Tolkien’s book than Peter Jackson’s abortions are. What many critics of the film fail to understand is that The Hobbit is a children’s book. It is a fairy tale. It is whimsical, light-hearted, and fast-paced. While it has some serious and epic elements, particularly at the end, these are exceptions to the general tone of the book, and they manage to work organically. The climax of the story, in which little Bilbo becomes swept up in the great events of the world, was part of what made the little book so special. I’m thankful that Rankin and Bass obviously appreciated how special it is as well.
Tolkien fun fact: Before Tolkien's stories, the proper English plural of dwarf was dwarfs, but because he didn't like the way dwarfs and elves looked on the page, he used "dwarves" as the plural, and over time it has become the accepted usage. Tolkien also changed the word elfin to elven, so he has actually altered the English language.
And it wasn't just because of the way it looked on the page, he believed it was more correct than the normal form. Though he also called it "a piece of private bad grammar" in a letter to his publisher.
9:08 In total there were 20 rings of power: Three for the elves Seven for the dwarves Nine for the humans And the One for Sauron Gandalf actually posesses one of the elven rings, the Ring of Fire. The One was kept by Gollum until it was found by Bilbo, who then passed it to Frodo. The nine were given to nine human kings, which over time transformed them into the ringwraiths. The seven dwarven rings were scattered and lost over time, three of them were eaten by dragons
"Is he the first to write about these dwarves?" Actually, I recently found a book called "The Annotated Hobbit." It's the story of the Hobbit unabridged as Tolkien wrote it, but it also has footnotes about where Tolkien drew his inspiration for certain characters and events in the story, like how Smaug was based off of 3 different dragons from old Legends, like Sigurd and the Dragon Fafnir, which was his childhood favorite story, the dragon from Beiwulf, and I can't really remember the third one off the top of my head, but if you're interested in where Tolkien was drawing from and where the concepts for these creatures come from, it's an amazing book.
"May the hair on his toes never fall out." Hobbit feet are large, with skin as thick as leather and covered in hair to keep them warm so they never need shoes. And they take great pride in it, almost like dwarves take pride in their beards
Tolkien took inspiration from a LOT of earlier mythologies when he was creating Middle-Earth, particularly from Norse Mythology. A prime example of this is Smaug himself. The book version, the animated version, and the Peter Jackson version all try to portray Smaug the exact same way, and they all succeed, and that way is as follows: Smaug is directly inspired by two specific Dragons from mythology--The nameless Dragon from the epic poem Beowulf, and Fafnir from Iceland's Volsung Sagas.
I had forgotten how well this movie was animated! Such a cool movie from my childhood. Not everyone’s cup a tea, but it was a great memory for me. See you two on the next movie! Cheers!
@@kiillabytez I’m not entirely sure what you mean. If you’re implying that I think the animation is lacking because it’s old, then no, that’s not true in the slightest.
"How's a bird gonna tell him?" Bard is descended from a line of humans who frequently used Thrush as messengers and can understand their language. Not sure how Bilbo knew that in this. In the book, the thrush just overheard them talking and went to Bard on his own.
Just saying about the style--Rankin/Bass also did The Last Unicorn in a similar style. They also made a less-known cartoon of just The Return of the King. (Probably because Ralph Bakshi had animated a Lord of the Rings movie that only covered the Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Ralph Bakshi's film was received pretty well at the time, as I remember, but over time has become mainly known for its awfulness.)
6:19 Sunlight turns trolls into stone in nordic folklore, there are in fact many rock-formations here in Norway that are believed to be petrified trolls. On that note: you guys should definitely check out Troll Hunter, a found-footage film that is a love letter to norwegian folklore 👍
Balin is my favorite of the dwarves. He is also the Dwarf that the fellowship finds in The Fellowship of the ring laid to rest in the Mines of Moria. He led a group of dwarves to retake Moria and held in for a time.
This is it, this is how I first stumbled upon Tolkiens works I was 12 years old like 92/93 watching TV on a Saturday afternoon and this aired as a matinee special, I hadn't seen anything like it I loved it. Two weeks later they aired Return of the King (cartoon version like this one).
It seems the Mrs wasn't too interested in this movie, her reactions were pretty blah. The animated style of the movie was a bit odd, the characters not well drawn. But for those that had read the books, this movie was a chance to actually see the book come to life instead of trying to visualize in your mind what you had read.
While a lot of people nowadays are kinda turned off by Smaug's design in this film, it's actually quite unique and a nice callback to very ancient depictions of dragons, back when they looked like Frankenstein monstrosities composed of felines, canines, birds and snakes
odd that they are going back to that giving dinosaurs feathers and hair so now they look sorta dragon like just cross some necks and wings and you're already there
Well, three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf-Lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power. For within these rings was bound the strength and the will to govern each race. But they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made. Deep in the land of Mordor, in the Fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged a master ring, and into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life. *_One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them._* -JC
Ok......so there's 6-8 hours to the animated trilogy(2 by Rankin Bass, 1 by Ralph Bakshi). IMHO they're INFERIOR AF to the extended Peter Jackson middle Earth saga. Arguably the Jackson saga is around 18-20 hours.....but it IS superior in casting, script, the cinematography and of course the score are ALL superior. Also it is a single person's vision (as opposed to the animated trilogy). I say screw what the haters say(most don't watch it in chronological order....aka the right way). It is a great pity your opinions were colored by the haters
I felt that Topcraft really nailed the atmosphere and ambience. Characters were believable. I agree this version is the true Hobbit that captured Tolkiens world the best. I don’t however agree about The Lord of the Rings animated film. I feel Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Lord of the Rings is extremely solid.
This version of Gollum freaked me out as a kid, I don't think I watched the movie more than once or twice, and I'd skip the Gollum part in the Read Along Record lol.
I have a huge soft spot for this film. There’s something so oddly good about it even though it’s not a good Adaptation of the book. Also I can relate to the sleepy feeling the movie gave you, there’s something oddly relaxing about this cartoon
I think it's a great adaptation of the book- captures the spirit of it quite well, all things considering (70s-era animation and all). Some of the songs are lyrics directly lifted from the poem/songs in the book. If anything, the Peter Jackson version strays quite a lot in comparison for this simple Rankin/Bass production. And John Huston has such a perfect storytelling voice for this, as is his portrayal of Gandalf.
@@uclagymnastx-ing I agree, this is the best film adaptation of the book that I’ve seen or heard of. The problem with the Hobbit novel is that it’s too long for one movie, but too short for two.
Probably reading the book helps to watch this. Or seeing it at a certain age. My parents recorded this off tv for me in the mid-eighties when I was like 5. We also recorded The Return of the King animated movie off The Disney Channel. Haven't seen either one in a long time.
I loved this rendition of the Hobbit, and was really hoping to see the book come to life when Jackson made it. The end result was soooo disappointing. The only thing that wasn't disappointing was the CGI of Smaug, and the general clothing and depictions/scenery.
No one really thinks American folks wear cowboy hats and say 'Howdy folks' but you are proof they do Same as in France with the 'Ooh la la' You think it would be a stereotype but when you get there you do in fact hear I all the time
Hmmm, that spider kinda looks like an eight-legged rabbit..... with rabies..... I haven't watched this movie in decades. Actually I had completely forgotten about it. I think I may have to give it a re-watch some time soon.
Wow never thought these films would be on your channel but really glad they are, my favourite dwarf is Balin because he befriends Bilbo and looks out for him, also he's Gimlis cousin once removed it's mentioned in the first film, also going to be interesting seeing your wife react to a certain scene in The Return of the King, are you reacting to the Peter Jackson films or the 70s animated film I've seen both and prefer the PJ trilogy personally.
At 7:43, allow me to introduce you to Hans Steininger, who held the world record for the longest beard (4.2 feet) in 1560. He died of a broken neck in 1567 after tripping on his beard while running from a fire.
You should really read the books. We need more reading and less watching. Hobbits are actually half the size of humans (Dwarves are 2/3 the size of humans), thus they are called Halflings. Hobbits also have leather on the bottom of their feet and don't need shoes. One example of why you need to read the books: In the book, Bilbo is knocked unconscious by a falling rock during the Battle of Five Armies immediately after seeing the eagles arrive to help. In the movie, perhaps due to an anti-war bias at the time of filming, Bilbo states that he "simply doesn't understand war" and then hides behind a stone, using the ring to become invisible and watching the entire battle. When asked about his whereabouts Bilbo lies and says that he had "a bump to the head" and was "out for hours".
The battle of the five armies is so short in the book that it doesn’t warrant a whole film (looking at you, PJ). It’s barely there because Tolkien had seen the horrors of war and didn’t want to glorify it in his works. Yoda sums it up perfectly, “Wars not make one great.” It’s one of the difficulties with translating the books to film, JRRT glosses over the battles, which is good in a book to keep the story moving but is bad in film to keep the audience engaged.
ngl the whole 1 book made into 3 movies issue is such a fundamentally flawed complaint. The og book is pretty rushed and not as detailed considering how mich happens in it. Its only logical to adapt it they way they did. Pushing it into 1 or even 2 movies would’ve felt incredibly rushed. And who doesn’t want to spend more time in middle earth. And in terms of events happening DURING the events of the hobbit but not actually in the book why the hell shouldn’t they include them, if we know they happen? I love those movies and I really feel like people are treating them too harshly and looking at them with a wrong point of view. Edit: Also just because doesn’t 100% stick to the book doesn’t mean it’s instantly bad. Might be a worse adaptation then but it doesn’t make it a lesser film. Plus there’s a lotta stuff the movies improved upon.
That's what I keep saying. There's not nearly as much detail in the "Hobbit" book as in LOTR. I mean, Bard, Thranduil, the Master of Laketown, and most of the Dwarves all feel like cardboard cutouts in the book, whereas they're given much more character in the movies. And the world-building in the "Hobbit" trilogy is just as good as if not better than in LOTR. While I admit that Legolas and Tauriel should've probably been less prominent and that Azog and Bolg should've probably just been one character (Bolg from the book with an expanded role, basically), I certainly won't piss and moan about these liberties taken. My only real gripes with the "Hobbit" trilogy are how underwritten Fíli was (given his fate) and Glóin also (given his ties to LOTR), the lack of closure given to Tauriel's character, and the lack of any sort of explanation as to why Radagast was MIA during the events of LOTR.
Rankin and Bass came to the same animation company from Japan to do the Thundercats series, after that the same company made a popular Cyberpunk Anime called Bubblegum Crissis, and in the first episode you can see Panthro from Thundercats on a billboard.
Movies from the 70s have a really slow pacing to them, especially when you’re used to modern cinema. The live action movies from the 2000s are quite a bit different.
10:03 *OH FOR THE LOVE OF…!* (Deep breath; inhale… exhale.) …Clam down, look at my dogie, pet the dogie, be calm, peasant and understanding. (exhale. Click Play Botton.)
"He hasn't really stolen anythng..." As another reactor once observed: "Oh, come on! If I drop my phone, and you come along and see it, and keep it, you just stole my friggin phone!"
If Gollum had ASKED for the ring back, Bilbo would have given it to him. But Gollum jumped to conclusions and attacked him, and the ring slid on his finger by accident. If you are crawling around in the dark, find someone's cell phone and absentmindedly shove it in your pocket, and they try to kill you before you even know it's their phone and you get away, then how are you in the wrong?
@@jean-paulaudette9246 No, you found a lost item. Gollum's short short-sightedness for not having a Lost and Found box and being a homicidal maniac isn't Bilbo's problem.
@@RedwoodTheElf I feel like you're excusing wrongdoing because of your affection for a character, while using your dislike for another character as an excuse.
@@jean-paulaudette9246 I feel like you're trying to impose your morality on a fictional culture set in a fictional land. It's not like Bilbo deliberately stole the ring (and, in fact, the ring itself was influencing him, since it wanted to get away from Gollum)
I like both Peter Jackson's version and this version. Admittedly, I have a *lot* of nostalgia for all things Rankin/Bass and I like how Jackson included a lot from the rest of Tolkien's legendarium.
The Hobbit Trilogy is much better than this movie. The people who told you to watch this instead are just nostalgic. The Down down to Goblintown fucking slaps, though.
I saw this movie when I was a a bit young and loved it. When I saw Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring for the first time I didn't realize it was a Hobbit sequel until like 5 minutes into the movie, and Tolkien's works have fascinated me ever since.
It isn't just that they drug out the live action trilogy version, though that is also true in places, but this animated version cut out bits of the book while the live action version kept a lot more of the original book and also added things from other Tolkien writings about what was happening in the background of the original story to make them work as films coming out after the LOTR trilogy (for instance, in the Hobbit book Gandalf disappears for awhile and comes back having dealt with a villain called "The Necromancer." That character who is briefly mentioned turns out to be the main villain of LOTR trying to regain his power. You can't have that happen off-screen in a film version, especially one that came out after the LOTR films). It had to work not just as a prequel to the LOTR films but as a followup to them in real world chronology. They also added unnecessary sub-plots and action, but that was mostly the fault of the studios forcing Jackson to make three films instead of the two he planned for and shot footage for. By the end he was making up stuff on the day because he didn't have time to plan everything out. I actually still enjoy the films and they are not anywhere as bad as some people like to complain about. The first film is especially good in my opinion and you should at least watch it to see if you like it.
This film is a "precious" memory. I actually recorded the audio back in the 80's on cassette to fall asleep to at night. Brings back a lot of memories from simpler times. Thank you both for picking this one. 😺
Bombur was my favorite dwarf.
Omg, I do that too! Like, I still do. I've actually tested it and unless I'm absolutely bushed, I cannot fall asleep without it in one earbud. Do I need therapy?
"Who talks in riddles?" You kind of HAVE to when you're talking to a Dragon. Many Dragons in mythology are highly intelligent and can use language and words as weapons, so there are specific rules you often have to follow when you speak to them. One of the biggest is if they ask you for your name, do NOT tell them. However, language is also somewhat of a Dragon's only weakness, because they are fascinated by riddles and riddling talk. So if you keep them guessing, you might get out of there alive.
Your also not to flat out refuse to tell them either, it'll make them go into a rage.
"Come hang out, watch The Hobbit and all of our other crap!" LOL, I'm sold! 😂🤣😂🤣
"Who talks in riddles?"
In Tolkien's world, that's how you talk to a dragon if you don't want to get eaten. They can't resist riddles, so the longer Bilbo could keep that up, the longer it would be before Smaug decided that he would be crunchy and good with ketchup.
Andy Serkis did a great job as Gollum, but nothing will ever match Brother Theodore's performance in this.
I thought the radio play of The Lord of the Rings with Ian Holm as Frodo had quite a good Gollum. Peter Woodthorpe's interpretation was much better than this one to be sure.
Agreed!
I have one riddle from the boom that wasn't used in this. "Thirty white horses on a red hill, first they chimp, then they stamp, then they stand still." Also, I know it's been a long while now, but y'all should check out the 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings, directed by Ralph Bakshi. It was pretty much a great starting point to Peter Jackson's making of the those movies, he even took shots from it in inspiration. Though there was only one movie of it, telling Fellowship and half of Two Towers, then a sequel was never made as studios were very persistent back then and "nobody would want to pay to see half of a film". How the times have changed.
Thank you for watching the Animated version.
If you haven't already seen Leonard Nimoy's "Bilbo Baggins" video/song, check it out.
Tolkien invented entire languages for Elvish, Dwarvish, etc.
You can actually learn to speak, read, and write them.
Wow! I brought this vhs to my first grade class movie day in 1990. Can't believe I can still remember the songs and so much of the dialogue.
The wonderful singing of Glen Yarborough.
BTW, September 22 is known as "Hobbit Day" because its both Bilbo and Frodo's birthday in universe.
And this year is the 20th anniversary of Fellowship coming out. Good time to do the Hobbit trilogy as well. Do the extended ones too. They're more complete films because of some big production issues behind the scenes.
Watch Ralph Bakshi's Lord Of The Rings! It's pretty impressive!
Eh, it's a bit slow in parts, and there are some highly dubious visual designs, but why not?
An unexpected reaction.
10:49 - "He hasn't really stolen anything, he's just kind of happened upon . . . things."
So, entering someone's home and . . . "happening upon" a gold ring isn't theft.
Yaaaaay, the version of The Hobbit that doesn't suck!
Be gone, Tolkien purist. 🙄🙄🙄
Fan-edits of PJ's trilogy of it don't suck either... several of them are pretty good and might surpass this animated version (which I've adored my entire life since 1980 or so).
Rankin/BASS CARTOON??! Those are the same guys who did Thundercats and Silverhawks!!! My childhood faves too!
Love me some Thundercats! HO!!!
And rudolf the red nosed reindeer
This is my first time seeing reactors doing the cartoon version of the LOTR stuff instead of the usual Live action from Peter Jackson's edition!! I love it.. TOtally unexpected.
Ok I suggest Trollhunter (2010. A hidden gem of a movie. (and funny in a dark way) 13 is my favorite number.
Mrs.Movies had a hard time keeping her eyes open at the beginning it seems. :)
I think its a good idea to start the whole Peter Jackson marathon with the old animated movie.
Cant say I have a favourite dwarf, been long since I read the books, but from the recent movies portrayals its the older guy who dies in the Mines of Moria.
The television special had to fit everything within 90 minutes (with advertisements), so it had to take a lot of shortcuts, including cutting out entirely the chapter with Beorn the skin-changer and the subplot involving the Arkenstone. As opposed to Peter Jackson exaggerating the significance of the Arkenstone and concentrating much more on Thorin Oakenshield.
I fall asleep to this every night, or Sword in the Stone (the disney movie from back in the day)
Audience is growing every day 🤣!!),👍
I know many are, but I'm not a Rankin/Bass cel animation fan. Figured the Ewoks had soured you on animation, but since that's not the case, how about... Akira? And re: Mrs "I don't like spiders" - I think that means you have to do Arachnophobia (sorry, not sorry, Mrs)! It won't be fun for her, which would be a lot of fun for us. We're mean that way!😂👍🏼❤️
I still own the vhs of this. That said, I don’t own a vhs player 🤣
There's nothing WRONG with The Hobbit Series!
Never even knew this existed. 😂
Thank you thank you thank you. Had the children's book that came with it's own record as a kid. It would come on t.v. every year around Christmas. Still have it on VHS but sadly no VCR to play it on anymore. You have to watch the animated LOTR next
My favorite dwarf is Balin!
Also notice how South Park copied the songs for Lemmiwinks.
Totally forgot about that. YES!
I grew up with Tolkiens works. My fourth grade teacher read us The Hobbit...I loved it....then, in junior high my best friend let me know..."hey, there's a continuation to the Hobbit.....Know what it is?" "No", I said. "The Lord of the Rings." and I shortly lost myself in that story. Now no disrespect to Peter Jackson..he DID create the authoritative visual representation of LOTR. But....I don't care who disagrees with me, and many do...the Rankin Bass animated version of the Hobbit is HEADS AND SHOULDERS above Peter Jackson's money grab bloated, monsterous trilogyl
Please read the novels.
without watching this review to the end I'm assuming by the constant scowl that it will not be favorable. Too bad.
13 witch i was born on in May 13th at 3 months early at 900 grams(less the 2 pounds) then had a BrainHemrig the second day... is Not a BAD LUCK NUMBER...it in Fact is the Luckyist Number you can be Born Under...13 was for 100's of years a good luck number but along with Black Cat during the DarkAges in Midevil times was man bad Luck BUT it still is not.
It took me a long time to like the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, because of this sing songey movie.
I love this version from my childhood but there's NO WAY that it is "better" than the Peter Jackson films.
Well, having bad taste is a weird thing to be proud of, but you do you.
It's truer to the spirit of the book as well as the content. Jackson does some great work but even in the Lord of the Rings films he often rejected Tolkien's vision for his own. Frodo sending Sam away because Gollum tricked him by throwing the lembas over the cliff? What grade school nonsense is that? Jackson had all the resources to do things right and decided he knew best, time and again. If he liked the books so much, why change them so much?
this is nowhere near as good as the peter jackson version
This version is better and more faithful to the book by many orders of magnitude
@@oaf-77 The same book that's vague on a lot of details compared to LOTR and where Bard, Thranduil, the Master of Laketown, and most of the Dwarves come off as cardboard cutouts? That one? 🤨
@@ComeOnIsSuchAJoy that’s the one, the simple children’s book that was a prelude to the Lord of the Rings.
@@oaf-77 ... which would've felt really weird to a lot of people if it _was_ presented as a bedtime story, and, thus, so tonally from the previous LOTR trilogy??
@@ComeOnIsSuchAJoy the way Jackson made it did feel really weird to a lot of people. It was bloated and overblown.
yeah someone needs to keep me awake if we're watching lord of the rings
The name of the Japanese studio was called Topcraft who made these films for Rankin/Bass. When R/B finally dissolved, so did Topcraft, whose animators went off and created a new company by the name of Ghibli Studios.
They made The Thundercats cartoons too
This was my introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien when I was a kid, and I absolutely loved the story. I also remember an animated version of Rudyard Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi, which was also a favorite story of mine as a child.
Same
Me too watched this when I was in fourth grade in 1987.
That one (Rikki Tikki Tavi) was a Chuck Jones cartoon. Really good!
Yo he messed that cobra up !
This movie is why I think I prefer The Hobbit trilogy and not The Lord of the Rings trilogy, even though I agree that The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the superior of the two.
'Down down to Goblin Town,' that song slaps. Almost as good as 'where there's a whip, there's a way.'
Fifteen Birds is my jam.
@@Mitheledh Yeah, that's not a bad one either.
"But I could not argue... my contract is vague on several points." The Rankin Bass version is hilarious, but in a very 70's kinda way.
The humor is dry and the delivery is incredibly performed
Sadly, we lost two BILBO BAGGINS performers last year; Orson Bean from this version (who seriously got hit by a car at age 92) and Ian Holm (of the Peter Jackson films) last June from Parkinson's
I first saw this as a little kid, probably around 5 or something. When I first saw a trailer for Lord of the Rings, it blew my mind. I was like “Wait, were those Hobbits? Is that Gandalf?! Is this an epic live action sequel to The Hobbit?!”
And it was, and I loved it.
I absolutely adore the Rankin/Bass adaptation of The Hobbit. I realize that many of the more superficial aspects of the production may not be to everyone’s taste, or even be precisely accurate to J.R.R. Tolkien’s descriptions. I also realize that, due to time constraints, certain elements of the narrative were either condensed or excised altogether( adios Arkenstone, so long Beorn ). But I still find so many things to like about it: The mission statement by the producers to not imbue the film with their own interpretation of Tolkien’s text. The decision to base the characters and overall aesthetic on the illustrations of Arthur Rackham, whom Tolkien liked and thought would be a suitable illustrator for his world. The whimsical tone. The moral subtext. And those moments that manage to capture the more lyrical portions of the book, such as Bilbo’s view from the top of the tree in Mirkwood or the rapprochement between Bilbo and Thorin during their final encounter, which I found quite moving and poignant. Yes, Thranduil is green and sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger. But that was done primarily to distinguish him and the Mirkwood elves from Elrond and the Rivendell elves. Overall, the film is still light years closer to Tolkien’s book than Peter Jackson’s abortions are. What many critics of the film fail to understand is that The Hobbit is a children’s book. It is a fairy tale. It is whimsical, light-hearted, and fast-paced. While it has some serious and epic elements, particularly at the end, these are exceptions to the general tone of the book, and they manage to work organically. The climax of the story, in which little Bilbo becomes swept up in the great events of the world, was part of what made the little book so special. I’m thankful that Rankin and Bass obviously appreciated how special it is as well.
Well said.
Very well said.
Tolkien fun fact: Before Tolkien's stories, the proper English plural of dwarf was dwarfs, but because he didn't like the way dwarfs and elves looked on the page, he used "dwarves" as the plural, and over time it has become the accepted usage. Tolkien also changed the word elfin to elven, so he has actually altered the English language.
This. This is priceless information.
And it wasn't just because of the way it looked on the page, he believed it was more correct than the normal form. Though he also called it "a piece of private bad grammar" in a letter to his publisher.
Also, he had a barf reaction to Disney's Seven Dwarfs & didn't want to associate his characters with them too closely.
9:08
In total there were 20 rings of power:
Three for the elves
Seven for the dwarves
Nine for the humans
And the One for Sauron
Gandalf actually posesses one of the elven rings, the Ring of Fire.
The One was kept by Gollum until it was found by Bilbo, who then passed it to Frodo.
The nine were given to nine human kings, which over time transformed them into the ringwraiths.
The seven dwarven rings were scattered and lost over time, three of them were eaten by dragons
"Is he the first to write about these dwarves?"
Actually, I recently found a book called "The Annotated Hobbit." It's the story of the Hobbit unabridged as Tolkien wrote it, but it also has footnotes about where Tolkien drew his inspiration for certain characters and events in the story, like how Smaug was based off of 3 different dragons from old Legends, like Sigurd and the Dragon Fafnir, which was his childhood favorite story, the dragon from Beiwulf, and I can't really remember the third one off the top of my head, but if you're interested in where Tolkien was drawing from and where the concepts for these creatures come from, it's an amazing book.
I've had that a few years. It's an excellent source.
"May the hair on his toes never fall out."
Hobbit feet are large, with skin as thick as leather and covered in hair to keep them warm so they never need shoes. And they take great pride in it, almost like dwarves take pride in their beards
Tolkien took inspiration from a LOT of earlier mythologies when he was creating Middle-Earth, particularly from Norse Mythology. A prime example of this is Smaug himself. The book version, the animated version, and the Peter Jackson version all try to portray Smaug the exact same way, and they all succeed, and that way is as follows: Smaug is directly inspired by two specific Dragons from mythology--The nameless Dragon from the epic poem Beowulf, and Fafnir from Iceland's Volsung Sagas.
I had forgotten how well this movie was animated! Such a cool movie from my childhood. Not everyone’s cup a tea, but it was a great memory for me. See you two on the next movie! Cheers!
The Lord of the Rings animated film was better.
It’s not particularly that well animated though.
@@lalalarose8197 A lot of films from that era wasn't compared to the 21st century.
@@kiillabytez I’m not entirely sure what you mean. If you’re implying that I think the animation is lacking because it’s old, then no, that’s not true in the slightest.
@@lalalarose8197 I didn't think is was terrible especially since they didn't have a Disney budget back then
"How's a bird gonna tell him?"
Bard is descended from a line of humans who frequently used Thrush as messengers and can understand their language. Not sure how Bilbo knew that in this. In the book, the thrush just overheard them talking and went to Bard on his own.
we can give a watsonian explanation that maybe belladonna was such adventurer she knew lots of foreign folk, in such tales as she told bilbo
Just saying about the style--Rankin/Bass also did The Last Unicorn in a similar style. They also made a less-known cartoon of just The Return of the King. (Probably because Ralph Bakshi had animated a Lord of the Rings movie that only covered the Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Ralph Bakshi's film was received pretty well at the time, as I remember, but over time has become mainly known for its awfulness.)
My first introduction to the lord of the rings and the hobbit, awesome memories.
Better than the movie version was, and the animation is still cool for even today.
This is such a classic cartoon I'm surprised you are reacting to it
If by classic you mean boring then yes, it is VERY classic
@@kiillabytez sounds like you are from Mordor. Trying to trick me with thou dark magic.
@@nebulous8389 I only speak what my master compels.
@@kiillabytez Everybody knows Sauron is a douche.
6:19
Sunlight turns trolls into stone in nordic folklore, there are in fact many rock-formations here in Norway that are believed to be petrified trolls.
On that note: you guys should definitely check out Troll Hunter, a found-footage film that is a love letter to norwegian folklore 👍
Great movie!
Troll Hunter is great. Best found footage film in years.
Balin is my favorite of the dwarves. He is also the Dwarf that the fellowship finds in The Fellowship of the ring laid to rest in the Mines of Moria. He led a group of dwarves to retake Moria and held in for a time.
This is it, this is how I first stumbled upon Tolkiens works I was 12 years old like 92/93 watching TV on a Saturday afternoon and this aired as a matinee special, I hadn't seen anything like it I loved it. Two weeks later they aired Return of the King (cartoon version like this one).
Lol she looks soo bored. Glad to see someone reacting to this film! There are 2 other animated films that tell Lord of the Rings from the same era.
That's how she looks for everything, lol.
"my precious" is the one liner he's referring to the ring, Mrs Movies!
I've seen this movie so many times as a kid that I can literally reenact the entire thing.
Yep me too. Got the record and picture book long before I saw the movie or read the book
Well, this is unexpected! You might say that you're on an "unexpected journey."
Yeah I expected to be the usual live action versions of it like 99% of reactors doing it!
It seems the Mrs wasn't too interested in this movie, her reactions were pretty blah. The animated style of the movie was a bit odd, the characters not well drawn. But for those that had read the books, this movie was a chance to actually see the book come to life instead of trying to visualize in your mind what you had read.
tbh this was meant for kids...i dont blame her for getting bored out of her mind LOL
"The Greatest Adventure" remains one of my favourite guitar-around-the-campfire songs.
I know Gandalf is being played here by John Huston, but it always sounds like James Coburn to me. Am I crazy?
While a lot of people nowadays are kinda turned off by Smaug's design in this film, it's actually quite unique and a nice callback to very ancient depictions of dragons, back when they looked like Frankenstein monstrosities composed of felines, canines, birds and snakes
Its more Werewolf mixed with dinosaur, but that makes it more intriguing
odd that they are going back to that giving dinosaurs feathers and hair so now they look sorta dragon like
just cross some necks and wings and you're already there
I've been waiting for someone to do a reaction to the cartoon versions. So glad one finally happened!
It just occurred to me that Jim Hensen would have made the hobbit and lord of the rings and it would have been amazing.
Well, three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf-Lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power. For within these rings was bound the strength and the will to govern each race. But they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made. Deep in the land of Mordor, in the Fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged a master ring, and into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life. *_One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them._* -JC
If more movies were done in this style, I'd gladly go back to the movies again.
Ok......so there's 6-8 hours to the animated trilogy(2 by Rankin Bass, 1 by Ralph Bakshi). IMHO they're INFERIOR AF to the extended Peter Jackson middle Earth saga. Arguably the Jackson saga is around 18-20 hours.....but it IS superior in casting, script, the cinematography and of course the score are ALL superior. Also it is a single person's vision (as opposed to the animated trilogy). I say screw what the haters say(most don't watch it in chronological order....aka the right way). It is a great pity your opinions were colored by the haters
I felt that Topcraft really nailed the atmosphere and ambience. Characters were believable. I agree this version is the true Hobbit that captured Tolkiens world the best. I don’t however agree about The Lord of the Rings animated film. I feel Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Lord of the Rings is extremely solid.
This version of Gollum freaked me out as a kid, I don't think I watched the movie more than once or twice, and I'd skip the Gollum part in the Read Along Record lol.
I have a huge soft spot for this film. There’s something so oddly good about it even though it’s not a good Adaptation of the book. Also I can relate to the sleepy feeling the movie gave you, there’s something oddly relaxing about this cartoon
I think it's a great adaptation of the book- captures the spirit of it quite well, all things considering (70s-era animation and all). Some of the songs are lyrics directly lifted from the poem/songs in the book. If anything, the Peter Jackson version strays quite a lot in comparison for this simple Rankin/Bass production. And John Huston has such a perfect storytelling voice for this, as is his portrayal of Gandalf.
@@uclagymnastx-ing I agree, this is the best film adaptation of the book that I’ve seen or heard of. The problem with the Hobbit novel is that it’s too long for one movie, but too short for two.
Probably reading the book helps to watch this. Or seeing it at a certain age. My parents recorded this off tv for me in the mid-eighties when I was like 5. We also recorded The Return of the King animated movie off The Disney Channel. Haven't seen either one in a long time.
I loved this rendition of the Hobbit, and was really hoping to see the book come to life when Jackson made it. The end result was soooo disappointing. The only thing that wasn't disappointing was the CGI of Smaug, and the general clothing and depictions/scenery.
4:29 Ironically the book Lord of the Rings has a lot of songs in it but they were mostly cut out of the movies.
No one really thinks American folks wear cowboy hats and say 'Howdy folks' but you are proof they do
Same as in France with the 'Ooh la la'
You think it would be a stereotype but when you get there you do in fact hear I all the time
Man I haven't seen the cartoon Hobbit since the early 80s!! I would have say that Balin is my favorite dwarf.
Richard Boone from Have Gun Will Travel was the voice on Smaug.
Hmmm, that spider kinda looks like an eight-legged rabbit..... with rabies.....
I haven't watched this movie in decades. Actually I had completely forgotten about it.
I think I may have to give it a re-watch some time soon.
That rabbit’s a killer! Look at the bones!
Wow never thought these films would be on your channel but really glad they are, my favourite dwarf is Balin because he befriends Bilbo and looks out for him, also he's Gimlis cousin once removed it's mentioned in the first film, also going to be interesting seeing your wife react to a certain scene in The Return of the King, are you reacting to the Peter Jackson films or the 70s animated film I've seen both and prefer the PJ trilogy personally.
We will be watching PJ's trilogy, you can catch the start on Friday. :)
@@YouMeTheMovies Cool looking forward to it.
At 7:43, allow me to introduce you to Hans Steininger, who held the world record for the longest beard (4.2 feet) in 1560. He died of a broken neck in 1567 after tripping on his beard while running from a fire.
You should really read the books. We need more reading and less watching. Hobbits are actually half the size of humans (Dwarves are 2/3 the size of humans), thus they are called Halflings. Hobbits also have leather on the bottom of their feet and don't need shoes.
One example of why you need to read the books: In the book, Bilbo is knocked unconscious by a falling rock during the Battle of Five Armies immediately after seeing the eagles arrive to help. In the movie, perhaps due to an anti-war bias at the time of filming, Bilbo states that he "simply doesn't understand war" and then hides behind a stone, using the ring to become invisible and watching the entire battle. When asked about his whereabouts Bilbo lies and says that he had "a bump to the head" and was "out for hours".
People might get confused by your phrasing. They don't "have leather" on the bottom of their feet, their feet are hard "like" leather.
The battle of the five armies is so short in the book that it doesn’t warrant a whole film (looking at you, PJ). It’s barely there because Tolkien had seen the horrors of war and didn’t want to glorify it in his works. Yoda sums it up perfectly, “Wars not make one great.”
It’s one of the difficulties with translating the books to film, JRRT glosses over the battles, which is good in a book to keep the story moving but is bad in film to keep the audience engaged.
ngl the whole 1 book made into 3 movies issue is such a fundamentally flawed complaint. The og book is pretty rushed and not as detailed considering how mich happens in it. Its only logical to adapt it they way they did. Pushing it into 1 or even 2 movies would’ve felt incredibly rushed. And who doesn’t want to spend more time in middle earth. And in terms of events happening DURING the events of the hobbit but not actually in the book why the hell shouldn’t they include them, if we know they happen? I love those movies and I really feel like people are treating them too harshly and looking at them with a wrong point of view.
Edit: Also just because doesn’t 100% stick to the book doesn’t mean it’s instantly bad. Might be a worse adaptation then but it doesn’t make it a lesser film. Plus there’s a lotta stuff the movies improved upon.
That's what I keep saying. There's not nearly as much detail in the "Hobbit" book as in LOTR. I mean, Bard, Thranduil, the Master of Laketown, and most of the Dwarves all feel like cardboard cutouts in the book, whereas they're given much more character in the movies. And the world-building in the "Hobbit" trilogy is just as good as if not better than in LOTR. While I admit that Legolas and Tauriel should've probably been less prominent and that Azog and Bolg should've probably just been one character (Bolg from the book with an expanded role, basically), I certainly won't piss and moan about these liberties taken. My only real gripes with the "Hobbit" trilogy are how underwritten Fíli was (given his fate) and Glóin also (given his ties to LOTR), the lack of closure given to Tauriel's character, and the lack of any sort of explanation as to why Radagast was MIA during the events of LOTR.
Rankin and Bass came to the same animation company from Japan to do the Thundercats series, after that the same company made a popular Cyberpunk Anime called Bubblegum Crissis, and in the first episode you can see Panthro from Thundercats on a billboard.
the actor who voiced thorin, hans conreid voiced hook for disney's peter pan.
Movies from the 70s have a really slow pacing to them, especially when you’re used to modern cinema. The live action movies from the 2000s are quite a bit different.
You also had the film Wizards come out in 1977
10:03 *OH FOR THE LOVE OF…!* (Deep breath; inhale… exhale.) …Clam down, look at my dogie, pet the dogie, be calm, peasant and understanding. (exhale. Click Play Botton.)
"He hasn't really stolen anythng..."
As another reactor once observed:
"Oh, come on! If I drop my phone, and you come along and see it, and keep it, you just stole my friggin phone!"
If Gollum had ASKED for the ring back, Bilbo would have given it to him. But Gollum jumped to conclusions and attacked him, and the ring slid on his finger by accident. If you are crawling around in the dark, find someone's cell phone and absentmindedly shove it in your pocket, and they try to kill you before you even know it's their phone and you get away, then how are you in the wrong?
@@RedwoodTheElf you took something that didn't belong to you. Someone doing something wrong to you, doesn't justify you having wronged them before.
@@jean-paulaudette9246 No, you found a lost item. Gollum's short short-sightedness for not having a Lost and Found box and being a homicidal maniac isn't Bilbo's problem.
@@RedwoodTheElf I feel like you're excusing wrongdoing because of your affection for a character, while using your dislike for another character as an excuse.
@@jean-paulaudette9246 I feel like you're trying to impose your morality on a fictional culture set in a fictional land. It's not like Bilbo deliberately stole the ring (and, in fact, the ring itself was influencing him, since it wanted to get away from Gollum)
Dwarves are substantially larger than Hobbits
This animated film introduced me to Middle Earth!
That’s the best way
I like both Peter Jackson's version and this version. Admittedly, I have a *lot* of nostalgia for all things Rankin/Bass and I like how Jackson included a lot from the rest of Tolkien's legendarium.
Trolls turn to stone.
Gandalf: "excellent"
The Hobbit Trilogy is much better than this movie. The people who told you to watch this instead are just nostalgic. The Down down to Goblintown fucking slaps, though.
I saw this movie when I was a a bit young and loved it. When I saw Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring for the first time I didn't realize it was a Hobbit sequel until like 5 minutes into the movie, and Tolkien's works have fascinated me ever since.
It isn't just that they drug out the live action trilogy version, though that is also true in places, but this animated version cut out bits of the book while the live action version kept a lot more of the original book and also added things from other Tolkien writings about what was happening in the background of the original story to make them work as films coming out after the LOTR trilogy (for instance, in the Hobbit book Gandalf disappears for awhile and comes back having dealt with a villain called "The Necromancer." That character who is briefly mentioned turns out to be the main villain of LOTR trying to regain his power. You can't have that happen off-screen in a film version, especially one that came out after the LOTR films). It had to work not just as a prequel to the LOTR films but as a followup to them in real world chronology.
They also added unnecessary sub-plots and action, but that was mostly the fault of the studios forcing Jackson to make three films instead of the two he planned for and shot footage for. By the end he was making up stuff on the day because he didn't have time to plan everything out. I actually still enjoy the films and they are not anywhere as bad as some people like to complain about. The first film is especially good in my opinion and you should at least watch it to see if you like it.
Agreed!!!
This is awesome.