APA-I #100: Index of Online Tolkien Resources

APA-I #100
An Index of Online Information about the Animated Films Based on the Work
of J. R. R. Tolkien
compiled by John Bullough (email [email protected])
The tremendous success of the recent Lord of the Rings films directed by New
Zealander Peter Jackson has got me doing a lot of childhood reminiscing about the first
Tolkien-based films - the two Rankin & Bass films The Hobbit and The Return of the
King, and the Ralph Bakshi-directed The Lord of the Rings. Together, these films form a
post hoc trilogy of sorts, although that was never intended by their creators. The
Hobbit, made as a television special, was first on the scene, faithfully translating
Tolkien's tale into a charming film that children and adults could enjoy. Then came
Bakshi's ambitious cinematic release The Lord of the Rings, employing rotoscoping
techniques over a full, live-action version he shot in Spain. Voices were provided by a
top-notch cast including John Hurt as Aragorn. While not a box-office disaster, the film
probably disappointed some in that only about two-thirds of the trilogy was translated
to the big screen, leaving many viewers hanging. It then being clear that funding was
not forthcoming for the last installment to be made by Bakshi, Rankin & Bass
conveniently televised their Return of the King special the following year, picking up
closely, but not exactly, where Bakshi left off.
Personally, having first seen these films as a nine- or ten-year-old, they've made an
impression on me. I saw these movies before ever actually reading Tolkien's books, and
for this reason, these are the characters I envision when I have re-read them over the
years. Even now, although I have enjoyed the recent live-action movies a lot, Frodo
doesn't quite seem Frodo-like enough, nor is Gollum Gollumy enough.
In the fall of 2001, Warner Brothers re-issued the animated films on VHS and DVD
individually, and as a package together, despite some of the differences between
Rankin & Bass and Ralph Bakshi. This was probably to take advantage of the publicity
the newer movies were getting, but for me it was a great opportunity to get clean,
fresh new copies of these films that captivated me so long ago.
My contribution therefore is an annotated bibliography of web sites that describe these

movies. Some are quite positive; others are downright contemptuous in their dislike for
these cartoons. Nonetheless, I encourage all to view them, if you haven't already, and
decide for yourself whether they are worth the pages this index is printed on!
I am thrilled to be a small part of APA-I's 100th mailing!
1
The List...
Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, Part One: A Critique

Here's a person who really, really seems to dislike the Bakshi Lord of the Rings movie,
picking it apart scene by scene. Even if I disagree with a lot of what this author has to
say, parts of this are funny. Contains a few images of the movie to illustrate his points.
http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/bakshi/bakshi.htm
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Review of Lord of the Rings

Your basic review of the film, from a web site attempting to recreate the Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A655508
Solar Flare's Review of Lord of the Rings

Another review, describing how most people either love or hate Bakshi's film.
http://www.sflare.com/article217.html
Fellowship of the Black Spot's Review of Lord of the Rings

A generally quite positive review of The Lord of the Rings.
http://www.ozyr.com/fbs/rev/lordofth.html
Brief Reviews of Lord of the Rings from Animated Lust

These reviews run the gamut from derision to very positive.
http://www.dragonfare.com/AL/rev/lotr.html
More Brief Reviews from Video Game Fans

Lord of the Rings was the film of the month some time in 1997 when this site was first
created, apparently. Ocelot and Cartoon Critic v3.0 both liked it!
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/7830/
The Internet Movie Database

Really, this is the first place I'll go to research any movie. Full cast lists, and interesting
details about all of the animated Tolkien movies can be found here. Use the links below
to access their listings directly.
http://us.imdb.com/Title?Lord+of+the+Rings,+The+(1978)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?Hobbit,+The+(1978)+(TV)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?Return+of+the+King,+The+(1980)+(TV)
The Rankin-Bass Hobbit Film

This is a web site with a review of the movie (thumbs up!) and scans of a booklet that
accompanied the soundtrack album of The Hobbit. Also available are larger images of
Bilbo, Gollum (I turned him into a Windows screen background), Smaug and Gandalf
that can be printed onto special paper and ironed onto a t-shirt.
http://www.snapsite.com/guests/rbh/
2
Reviews of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and Return of the King from the
Red Book of Westmarch
The Tolkien fan site, Red Book of Westmarch, has feature reviews of all three animated
Tolkien movies, including cast lists and images from the film, video tape packaging, and
posters.
http://www.geocities.com/redbookofwestmarch/bakshi.htm
http://www.geocities.com/redbookofwestmarch/rankin1.htm
http://www.geocities.com/redbookofwestmarch/rankin2.htm
Green Man Review: Reviews of the Animated Tolkien Movies

The reviewer seems disappointed by The Hobbit, generally favorable toward Lord of the
Rings, and found Return of the King unbearable. Favorable comments all around about
the background art, though.
http://www.greenmanreview.com/hobbit.animated.htm
http://www.greenmanreview.com/film/lotr.bakshi.htm
http://www.greenmanreview.com/thereturnoftheking.htm
Hollywood Jesus: Rankin & Bass versus Peter Jackson

Contains some images from the Return of the King movie, but concludes that the live-
action version is superior.
http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/lord_of_the_rings_feature_05.htm
Hollywood Jesus: Ralph Bakshi versus Peter Jackson

Bakshi doesn't win against Jackson either, according to this author. Some images of the
movie are included.
http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/lord_of_the_rings_feature_06.htm
CED Magic: Features of the Animated Tolkien Videodiscs

In the 1980s, videodisc players were popular and discs of all three animated Tolkien
movies were released in this format. This web site is astonishing in that it presents stills
covering the entire plot of the movie, with cross-referencing of the book chapters
covered (and not covered) in each film. An amazing site!
http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/tolkien/lord-of-the-rings.html
http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/tolkien/hobbit.html
http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/tolkien/return-of-the-king.html
Animated Lust: A Tribute to Lord of the Rings

The creator(s) of this guide to the Bakshi Lord of the Rings have created a love poem to
this movie, in the form of an extensive web site listing characters, scenes and packed to
the brim with pictures and stills from the movie.
http://www.dragonfare.com/AL/shows/lordoftherings.html
3
Stomp Tokyo Reviews of the Tolkien Animated Films
The creators of this web site have a range of opinions about the animated Tolkien films.
The Hobbit receives a positive review for its simplicity and charm. Lord of the Rings
gets a thumbs down; the reviewer(s) didn't seem to like anything about this film, and
indeed, seem to be influenced by the critique at the beginning of this list. The review of
Return of the King is likewise negative. The sarcastic captions surrounding the images
in this review sometimes made me chuckle, though.
http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/l/lord-of-the-rings-anim.html
http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/hobbit.html
http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/r/return-of-the-king.html
There And Back Again: The Animated Tolkien Movies and the Live-Action
Trilogy
This is an essay by Octavio Ramos describing and reviewing each film in detail. The
author speculates on an animated Silmarillion, Tolkien's biblical-seeming mythology of
his fictional Middle Earth. Generally the author is big on the Rankin & Bass efforts and
not as pleased with Ralph Bakshi's efforts.
http://www.zone-sf.com/tolkien-animated.html
Frodo Baggins' Holiday Fun Time Sing-Song Hour

This was too weird not to list. It purports to be the archive of the long-lost animated
Middle Earth Christmas special, including guest appearances by Bea Arthur, Tim
Conway and Three Dog Night.
http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0112/frodo/
Notes from the Lord of the Rings Programme

This site contains creator biographies and historical notes that must have accompanied
the premier of the movie when it first was released. The shooting and animation
processes are described.
http://www.jrrtolkien.org.uk/lotr_video.htm
New York Times Feature on J. R. R. Tolkien

Includes reviews from the Times on the animated films, of course, but also includes
other related stories about the books and about Tolkien himself.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien.html
Links About the Animated Tolkien "Trilogy"

Rather than force anyone who is still interested enough to be reading this to have to
type in all of these URLs manually, I've created a web page of my own with links to
these sites, which I will add to as I find more links!
http://www.rpi.edu/~bulloj/jrrt.html

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What animated films were made based on Tolkien's works?

What animated films were made based on Tolkien's works?

What were some of the criticisms of Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings film?

What were some of the criticisms of Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings film?

APA-I #100

My contribution therefore is an annotated bibliography of web sites that describe these

I am thrilled to be a small part of APA-I's 100th mailing!

Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, Part One: A Critique

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Review of Lord of the Rings

Solar Flare's Review of Lord of the Rings

Fellowship of the Black Spot's Review of Lord of the Rings

Brief Reviews of Lord of the Rings from Animated Lust

More Brief Reviews from Video Game Fans

The Internet Movie Database

The Rankin-Bass Hobbit Film

Green Man Review: Reviews of the Animated Tolkien Movies

Hollywood Jesus: Rankin & Bass versus Peter Jackson

Hollywood Jesus: Ralph Bakshi versus Peter Jackson

CED Magic: Features of the Animated Tolkien Videodiscs

Animated Lust: A Tribute to Lord of the Rings

Frodo Baggins' Holiday Fun Time Sing-Song Hour

Notes from the Lord of the Rings Programme

New York Times Feature on J. R. R. Tolkien

Links About the Animated Tolkien "Trilogy"

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