I still remember when this and The animated The Return Of The King movie would be shown on the local TV stations when I was a kid. I've never gotten tired of watching them.
6th grade for me. I remember seeing this on Cartoon Network back in '98. Then I went to the school library and checked out the book. Absolutely loved it.
I was hooked at age 2 thanks to my mom in Germany back in 86. It was on tv and she recorded it for me. I'll always thank her for that magic of Tolkien she introduced to me!
@@ryanpiscitelli I was going to mention that. So strange, but I guess they were trying to differentiate the wood elves who capture the dwarves from the elves of Rivendell who helped the company
It's been a while since I read the book but I do recall Bilbo did ask "What's in my pocket?" But it wasn't directly at Gollum, it was out of surprise when he felt the ring inside his pocket since he nearly forgot about it. Bilbo was in a nearly-possessed state when he pocketed the ring because the ring was influencing Bilbo. But as Bilbo asked that to himself, Gollum thought Bilbo was asking him a riddle; considering Bilbo was out of riddles, he was like, "Yeah! That's my riddle!"
It depends... In the first edition of The Hobbit, Gollum willingly forfeits the Ring because he lost the riddle game. This account was retconned by Tolkien himself after LotR was published, to bring the two stories in closer alignment with each other. I'm sure the narrator forgot to mention this fact.
@@wesltall1 yep, and Tolkien cleverly wrote this into the story, saying the original story was written in the red book by Bilbo to justify his ownership of the ring, and the later editions were written as edits by Frodo once he got the truth from Bilbo.
At long last! We're discussing a true classic here! Rankin Bass' The Hobbit has aired on CBS, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network and so on for ages, with its beautiful artwork and fantastic casting! This Film, whether it be Richard Boones Smaug, Hans Conried Thorin, John Huston's Gandalf or even the fantastic Brother Theodore's Gollum, will always hold up tremendously to the hearts of its fans as well as those who treasure Tolkien's work! ❤ 💍
Hear, hear!!!! I’ve told people about this cartoon for years. But very few of the people I know saw it. I bought a VHS copy when my son was young, so he could see it. We watched it so much that it broke. I have been saying for years that I have to buy a blu ray copy, but wasn’t able to find one. I need to search again. Love this film.
@@mhm8922 No blueray is available yet...but there are 2 versions of the dvd. Sadly they omit certain sound effects while adding new ones! It's quite weird. Try to snag another VHS copy while you can to keep its essence intact! You'll laugh at this...i still kept my Disney channel recording and still watch it to this very day!
@@LowellLucasJr. Lol. I’m not judging. I wish I had a recording to watch. But you’re right. I should get another VHS copy. But I have nothing to play it on any more. I actually told my son the other day that I was going to buy a VHS player and he vehemently rejected the idea. You should have seen the look he gave me. Lol. ☺️
Did you watch it on a reel to reel projector at school like I did? This would have been around 1980 (I was in 3rd grade) we would get so excited when they played this every year!
A masterpiece of illustrated-storytelling in animation. The entire production, voice actors to music to art to... well... everything. Absolutely top of the game, and it still, in my opinion, stands at the top along side anything made since, and in today's world of amazing CGI. I love Peter Jackson and crew's incredible movies, but if I had to pick only one among all the movies and other versions that have been done over the years, this one would be the one proudly holding place on my shelf, just as it does in my heart. For me, and I take nothing away from the other amazing works that have been done, this one sounds the Tolkien bell the loudest in my heart every time.
The movie that introduced me to the works of Tolkien. While it departed from the book in some ways, the look of the wood elves, the omitting of Beorn and the Arkenstone, it did an outstanding job in condensing the story into under two hours.
The 1977 adaptation was my first step into heroic fantasy. I saw this before I ever read a word of Tolkien's books--and in fact, I didn't even see it! A friend of my family gave me a cassette with the entire cartoon recorded on it, and I listened. (and listened and listened.) My mind painting its own pictures to go along with the voice acting and music. It was that good!
Same here, except my dad bought me the vinyl with storybook from the movie. When I finally saw the whole movie in 5th grade, I truly became a Tolkien fan.
Ya you couldn’t stream films on demand OR rent vhs tapes yet back then! I either owned the soundtrack album or took it out of the library so many times I memorized most of the dialog. The album came w lots of pages of artwork.
"What funny little birds! They have no wings! Oh, what shall we do with the funny little things!" I can still hear the song in my head, and quickly takes me back to sitting at my childhood desk and watching the video my father first rented on base. Back then, you used to rent several things to watch over a weekend. He didn't know I kept the copy in my room and watched it several times that weekend. He originally got mad at me because it would now have late fees, but when he came in to scold me, he saw the copy of the Hobbit book I checked out from the school library. I wanted to read more about the adventure. I cried at losing the movie, but when I came home from school the next day, there was a new copy on my desk and a note to wait until he got home from work so we could watch it again together. I still have the old, worn-out copy, and I bought my own replacements ever since. I think I know what I'll be doing this weekend.
I actually loved this as a kid, warts and all, one note: I noticed there is a scene missing after a commercial break, bilbo says "when i returned the elves were gone" and they have taken the dwarves, but there is no previous scene.
This is what got me into Tolkien back in 1993. I caught it on the Disney Channel while home sick from school. When I went back to School a couple days later I went to the library and checked out the book.
Oh man, Core memory unlocked here - I vividly remember watching this, Wizards and the last unicorn when I was very young. Definitely sparked my initial interest in animation and reading. Granted at that time it was just doodles lol.
I agree that this is a masterpiece, but Gollum in Peter Jackson's LOTR was the only reason I didn't leave the theatre while watching The Two Towers... Andy Serkis really captured Gollum so well.
@@andygluehere8266 💯 Serkis is excellent in Andor, but I loved the Gollum from the cartoon...and the cartoons in general. Maybe because I grew up with them.
I lived in a rural town in the era before the internet and didn't have much access to fantasy stories. I'm not sure the teachers really knew what they got when they decided to show us this instead of teaching one week before Christmas break. I guess they figured 'it's made by the same people who did rudolph the red-nosed reindeer - it must be ok'. I remember many of my classmates fell asleep. I was hooked. The idea around the Battle of Five Armies stuck with me for a long time. For years, I wanted to rewatch it but couldn't remember the name. When I got to college a bunch of us had a discussion about movies we loved as kids. I told them of this really amazing cartoon about rings that make you invisible and battles with five armies. Most of them laughed and my roommate said 'nah, that's a book'. I insisted it was a movie. He didn't say a word, just went to his bookshelf, and returned with his copy of 'The Hobbit'. It opened up a whole new world for me.
Easily the best version of Gollum! Creepy , yet, terrifyingly awesome!!! Voiced by Brother Theodore, He's easily a standout of the film as he is a terrible reminder of the corruption of the ring!
EASILY my favorite interpretation. Something I always felt like Serkis couldn’t match was the sheer madness that Theodore’s Gollum brought forth. His detachment from reality was a more deranged and dangerous portrayal than that of Serkis. That scene has stayed with me since I was a child.
When I was a child in the 80s my parents rented a film projector, and this animated version of the hobbit on film, and showed it at one of my birthday parties. Good memories!
I haven’t actually seen this before. What really struck me how the illustrations of the wood elves, Gollum, the goblins and the trolls looked EXACTLY as I pictured them when I read the book.
Loved these versions. Still have all of them on VHS. In the book, Bilbo DID ask Gollum what he had in his pocket. It wasn’t meant to be a riddle, as it felt the ring and basically was asking himself what it was. Gollum took it to be a riddle, though, and it went from there. Actually, Bilbo gave Gollum 3 guesses in the book, so there’s a bit of difference there.
I’ve loved this version of The Hobbit throughout the years, and I watched it all the time as a kid. The DVD and Blu-ray transfers of this are missing an entire layer of sound effects, and it really bothers me because I notice it’s absence. It’s enough to take me right out of the film. If you have a legal coy, it’s very much worth looking for a fan restoration called Hi-Fi Hobbit 2.0.
10:42 Technically the Wargs haven't been replaced by the eagles: both factions were present in the final battle. The difference is that the adaptation names the eagles as the fifth army, while the wargs are considered to be part of the goblin army. This is a pretty minor and understandable difference, since the goblins are riding on the wargs. When the cavalry of Rohan goes to battle, the horses aren't considered a separate army. I've seen some arguments that the eagles are technically an air force rather than an army, but it's not like Bilbo would have ever heard of such a term.
I remember as a child having one of those story books that came with a record to this version of the Hobbit. This movie first got me into Tolkien and I still enjoy this more than the newer Hobbit movies.
I still have the vhs tapes of the hobbit, the Ralph Bakshi lord of the rings, and the return of the king. Still highly treasured from my childhood. Still watch them about once a month.
The 1977 Rankin-Bass production captures the spirit of the novel better than The Peter Jackson Hollywoodized The Hobbit; far more faithful to the literary material. For a children's animation, it is so well done. John Huston's narrative voice is perfection!
What is your definition of being faithful to source material! I dont think you know what that means nothing can be like book so the book can things cartoon cant do novel nothing will be like the novel so what do have to say about that
It's important to note that many versions of this movie are missing sound effects, including the official DVD release. The old VHS version has an intact soundtrack. There was interest in fan restoration and there are a couple of versions on the internet archive that try to match the VHS audio with the DVD video. While not perfect, they're worth checking out. The lack of effects in some places really hurts this movie.
the spider death effect is awesome. I had a keyboard I bought in a pawn shop during college that was an analogue synthesizer and it had that sound saved in it haha.
The original cut of the film was destroyed in a fire, and so the DVD was restored from a different copy that didn't have all the finished sound effects. The scenes with Smaug suffer the most: in his attack on Lake-Town his face can be seen snarling, but no noise is heard. Then arrows bounce off of his scales completely silently. A big blast of fire from the dragon has only a slight hiss instead of the roaring inferno sound effect it was meant to have.
In the early 80s, I discovered Tolkien by watching this movie at a friend's house. Later, when I read the huuuge book, I was shocked how much of the book they fit into that short film. Many years later, I came a cross a VHS copy of it, which I still have to this day, though I no longer have a VCR to play it in. ;-) To me, this is the only real movie of the book. I love Peter Jackson and the LOTR, but the Hobbit movies felt to me as if Jackson sabotaged them on purpose to spite the studio. But that's just me. (The only reason I watched the 2nd and 3rd Jackson films was because they were free on the airplane) ;-) Thanks for this recap. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Hobbit was not a "huuuge" book. It was a short novel compared to the three volumes of The Lord of The Rings, the latter of which Tolkien repeatedly said that he wished his original British publisher (Allen & Unwin, Ltd.) had instead printed The Lord of The Rings in one long volume. J.R.R. never liked the fact that in the U.K. & the U.S.A. TLoTR was broken up into three separate volumes.
Remember this cartoon my favorite part about it is the Dragon Smug. I am Smug I kill what I want I am strong strong. My teeth are like swords, my claws spears, my tail a battering ram, my wings a hurricane. And my breath DEATH🔥🔥🔥
I thought it was "the shock of my tail....a THUNDERBOLT!!!" god, that still gets to me...btw, the guy that did his voice was also tony the tiger and sang "you're a mean one, mister grinch" in the cartoon, lol!
@@Torgo-and-the-Lucifer-Cat yeah more than likely it was I was just thinking of what he said all the top of my head. Learned something new I didn't know he did Tony the Tiger's voice.
Also I think they left out Beorn in this version. I was 11 in 1977 so I was the perfect age for this. Loved it. Also my brother had recently purchased the basic set of D&D and my first character was a hobbit.
I loved this cartoon as a child. It introduced me to the world of Tolkien, along with the Return of the King adaptation and also the Bakshi version of the Lord of the Rings. It really brought the world of Middle Earth alive when I was small. Thanks for the video.
This movie was my introduction to Tolkien’s world as a kid. It inspired me to read the book, and then the LOTR. The live action Hobbit would’ve been so much better if it was just a scene for scene creation of this movie
This movie was my entry point into Tolkien and fantasy in general. I was absolutely obsessed with it as a kid. To this day when I read the books it’s this cast I hear in my head, especially John Huston’s voice I hear for Gandalf and Brother Theodore as Gollum. Honestly I still think this version is the superior adaptation of The Hobbit.
Thought this and the animated LotR were a fever dream for a while. I'd seen them as a kid, but nobody I asked ever seemed to remember them existing Glad the internet is so accessible now because I managed to rediscover them~
Bilbo most definitely says “what do I have in my pockets” during Riddles in the Dark. Gollum never forgets it and mutters to himself about “what’s it have in its pockets’”
The Hobbit (book) _is_ for children, and I don't mean that in a derogatory way. The language, themes, playful use of magic, anachronisms and lighthearted puns, among other things, set it apart from the more 'serious' high fantasy of LotR. That said, Tolkien held children at very high esteem, and gave them far, *far* more credit than children's authors usually do today - just take a look at _The Father Christmas Letters_ , for instance, to see what I mean. None of this means that one can't enjoy the Hobbit as an adult - indeed, I read it for the first time during my college years. But it is primarily a children's book, and it only loosely ties into the legendarium of Middle Earth. It also subtly references themes in _Beowulf_ , Tolkien being a scholar as well as a fantasy author. An animated adaptation of _The Hobbit_ is probably much closer to the book's spirit than any grandiose feature film.
I was 7 going on 8 years old when this came out on TV. Mom bought me the record which was actually the entire movie in audio form with a cool companion storybook. I eventually put that record into a cassette tape (look it up) and listened to it so many times I could replay the movie in my mind in complete. Family doesn't like watching it with me because I finish all the dialogue with the actors.😂
This was a incredibly wonderful movie that I have enjoyed as a child and still do as an adult. I’ve shown it to my children who also love it. I highly recommend this movie
I watched this when I was living in Hawaii in 1978 and the Return of the King. And I have seen the Ralph Bankin version. And this is how I got into Tolkien and my mother read the books. And I have read the Hobbit. John Houston the reader and teacher in the War of the Planet of the Apes. Is the perfect Gandalf. And I liked what Peter did was take the books. The Franklin and Bass and the Bankin's versions and put them together.
I grew up with this animated feature and I credit it with my lifelong love of fantasy. I still have the vinyl album that included several pages of art from this film so I could read along as the record played. I have shared it with my children and they love it too.
I remember seeing this on TV when it was first released. It was like nothing ever seen, cartoons were Saturday morning fare and for kids. This was something different and really holds up today. They had great voice actors and their portrayals are awesome.
Not overlooked, I have watched this animation hundreds of times, literally hundreds on VHS tape. I use to study to this and Dune in the background every night while attending McMaster University from 1992 to 1996.
*small correction* Gandalf didnt turn the trolls to stone, he stalled for time, and the sunlight turned them to stone. I believe this happens to any troll that is exposed to the sun.
I remember they used to show is this movie on a projector when I was in middle school in the early 80s. This movie got me into reading the books and a life long love affair with Tolkien’s works. It still makes me feel nostalgic. ❤
I still have the vinyl record of this movie, along with the book that came with it, and I would listen to it before bed on many nights and fall to sleep with it on. I still listened to it as a child until 83 or 84.
Thank you for this review. I love this movie! It was my gateway into Tolkien fandom and I still find it quite charming. I see too many RU-vidrs who were raised on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings make fun of the 70s and 80s animated Tolkien movies. Yes, the style is a bit odd and old-fashioned but Rankin-Bass's Hobbit perfectly captures the spirit of the book. It's a better adaptation than the live action Hobbit films in my opinion.
Love this version of Gollum as voiced by the legendary Brother Theodore. He's wretched but legit scary - as opposed to his wretchedly "cute" portrayal in the Jackson films.
I’ll never forget watching this the first time as a kid in the mid 70’s, went all the way to my cousins house & he was sick as a dog & I was bored & it came on, forgot all about him & was so bummed had to leave before it ended but they showed it in my town the next week (used to be many small affiliates & they’d take turns showing shows) I was hooked on Tolkien ever since
This came out when I was 16 and I had just read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I always enjoyed this and the later Return of the King that came out a couple years later. The voice actors were so high level movie and TV performers and did a great job. One of my favorite things about the show are the backgrounds. So understated and moody. They were perfect for the action going on in front of them.
Best non-Tolkien Rankin-Bass is The Last Unicorn. Screenplay by the author, soundtrack by America, and an all-star cast including Christopher Lee, Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, and Alan Arkin. This was the real Red Bull, not that damn energy drink.
I always really enjoy this vision of Hobbit. Can't say the same for Return of King. Until Peter Jackson's movie. I guess, I just wanted it more like Ralph's Bakshi's version of Lord of the Rings. Which is another classic.
This movie was my introduction to Tolkein back in the 1970's. I loved the music so much that I purchased the soundtrack on 33 records. I'd still say it's actually better than Peter Jackson's bloated trilogy. Yes, it was made for children but The Hobbit itself is much lighter-hearted than the later LOTR.
this cartoon is what sparked my love for Tolkien as a child, it's great. I could watch it every day. I know every line by heart and the music is great as well. However, the same cannot be said for it's "sequel". No offense to Andy Serkis, but this is my favorite Gollum by far.
We read the Hobbit in school, just before the first Lord of the Rings movie came out. We watched this movie in class after we finished the book, and that was the only time I've ever seen it, but I never forgot it, and always wanted to re-watch it.
There is something special about oldschool fantasy art and designs. Modern fantasy just looks more like scifi, doesn't have the same charm. I don't know how to explain it, but modern fantasy just seems kinda.... off
Still the best screen version of The Hobbit. I didn’t even know there was the LOTR series till the films were coming out. I only knew of this book bc of this film.
Little known fact: Orson Bean, who voiced Bilbo, would later become father-in-law to none other than the conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart and was a major influence in his political and philosophical outlook.
Disappointed. This is still one of my favorite movies, and it seems like this guy did not even watch it, or at least is a bit unfamiliar with the story. Lots of mistakes. This movie follows the book closer than any of the subsequent tries and is richer for the effort. Rankin and Bass are awesome like that and the animation is unique to them, rather than the generic stuff you find elsewhere at the time (with the notable exception of Ralph Bakshi, but that's a different LOTR movie)- or since.
Personally prefer this over The Hobbit live action movies. I still have the vhs of this cartoon. My first experience with Tolkien's story. I would have stopped here but when I told the librarian at my grade school how much I like the cartoon she gave me a copy of The Hobbit that came in a shipment to the school. She had ordered 2 copies for the library but they sent her 3 so she gave me the extra.
I was 8 years old when this premiered on TV. My first introduction to Tolkien, and to the fantasy genre. We discovered AD&D in 1979, and I’ve been a fan of RPGs ever since. This is the most book accurate version of The Hobbit by far. Beautiful little tribute to the first novel I ever read, because of seeing this on TV.
This cartoon from 1977 totally out lasses the ill conceived movie trilogy. Sad that this could actually capture the magic of the novel and the movies were just bloated and tedious.
I remember this movie and the Return of the King Rankin-Bass movie. Yes I am as old as this movie so it definitely brings back memories of my childhood.
2:33 "When the sun rises, Galdalf returns to save them and transforms the trolls into stones." Incorrect summation, and ruins the best part. Galdalf was there before that, he did not return when the sun rose. He saved them by causing the trolls to continue arguing after they stopped, without them realizing it. Which causes them to lose track of time and staying outside until sunrise. The sun transformed them, not Gandalf.
as is often the case much is taken for granted when it comes to works translated into animation. As in the case of Ralph Bakshi's Animated lord of the rings films, of which ironically much, was taken from by Peter Jackson. Least we forget The novels were books, books and words, descriptions of its content that anyone could see in their minds eye different from one another. One people reads and see's one thing whilst another person may imagine something totally different. so in a visual sense what people forget is that animation must formulate in a visual sense everything thats descritbed on paper. The live action film must do the same as well, but here you have a body of work that descibes itself well but is so much content to bare on production. Make no mistake that those of us including peter jackson himself who grew up on Bashki's work would indeed use it as a visual guide to a live action film. think about it, visually the work was already done, problems solved, all peter had to do was to translate an already visual film into live action. And you see this thru much of cinematography in both animated and live action forms.
We have listening parties to the double vinyl boxed set with Illustrated Book. Watched this on television. I had already read the Hobbit by that time. Great video.
