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Post by Fredeghar Wayfarer on Jan 9, 2012 23:48:25 GMT -6
This has been making the rounds on a few sites today. I never even knew it existed! Apparently, there was an animated (or at least illustrated) adaptation of The Hobbit in 1966. It's rather bizarre. The plot is greatly abridged, a few characters' names have changed (no idea why the writer felt "Trolls" and "Goblins" needed alteration), and there's a princess/love interest! So Peter Jackson is not the first to add females to the script. Despite all of that, I found it kind of charming. And the story behind the production is fascinating. Check it out. io9.com/5874282/watch-the-very-first-film-adaptation-of-the-hobbit-that-was-never-released |
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Post by Stormrider on Jan 10, 2012 7:22:52 GMT -6
That was very short, including the number in the party! Could be due to copyrights that they tried to change it. Just a guess on my part: Gandalf, Bilbo, and Thorin's names may have disallowed it to be shown?
Thanks for sharing the link
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Post by Fredeghar Wayfarer on Jan 10, 2012 18:22:50 GMT -6
No, nothing like that. In the article, it says they had the rights to The Hobbit, though the producer wanted a super-rushed job so that he could meet a deadline and retain the rights to Lord of the Rings (which he ended up selling). Tolkien wasn't very knowledgeable about Hollywood contracts so the wording was vague enough that this company could get away with a barely animated 12-minute cartoon and only show it to a limited audience.
The number in the party was likely reduced to make it easier to draw. But, like I said, I'm puzzled why the names of the Trolls and Goblins would change. Those are pretty well-known, standard fairy tale creatures. Why change them? I did find it amusing that the Trolls turned into trees, given that Trolls were later revealed to be made in mockery of Ents. Interesting coincidence.
What boggles my mind most is still the fact that I'd never heard of this until yesterday. I wonder if the footage was just discovered recently.
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Post by Andorinha on Jan 10, 2012 19:03:03 GMT -6
Never heard of this version either!
Thank You, Freddie! LOL, quite delightful, a lovely tale of a "quick-change" artist scam. I liked the art work, liked the quick-pace, liked the music, liked the narrator's voice. Quite audacious, kind of like having someone do all of Joyce's Ulysses in a single Monty Python, 12 minute sketch. I'll bet JRRT would have been more upset by Bilbo picking up a princess wife than any other aspect of the whole deal. Wonder if the Old Boy ever got to see it, probably not?
FUN! Thanks again, Freddie, for posting this!
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