The New York Times found the film "curiously eclectic", but felt that whatever its failings, it warranted attention.[2] The Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson called the adaptation "execrable";[3] the author Baird Searles called it an "abomination" and an attempt that had "failed miserably", regretting the quality of the animation and of the soundtrack, and the omission of key plot points.[4]
Plot
A Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins lives in his hobbit-hole. The wizardGandalf informs him he is looking for someone to share an adventure, and introduces thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield. They invite themselves in, eat dinner, and play music. The magic in the music makes Bilbo suddenly long for adventure.
Thorin explains Bilbo is to be a lucky number fourteen for them, and tells how his dwarves were driven out of the Lonely Mountain by the dragon Smaug, who stole their treasure. Gandalf accepts the mission before the Hobbit can speak.
The company discovers a camp of three trolls, who capture all but Gandalf and Bilbo. Bilbo hides while Gandalf uses his magic to bring the sunrise, which turns the trolls to stone. In the troll's cave, Bilbo discovers some stolen treasure, which the dwarves claim. They find two swords, and a dagger for Bilbo. Gandalf shows Thorin a map of the Lonely Mountain and a key, given to him by Thorin's father. The map shows a secret passage.
Travelling through the Misty Mountains, all but Gandalf are captured by goblins. Gandalf kills the Great Goblin, and the dwarves escape. Bilbo loses the group; he finds an underground lake, where he discovers a ring, and meets the monster Gollum, who hunts him. Bilbo, discovering the ring grants invisibility, follows Gollum to the door, and escapes.
The goblins, riding Wargs, pursue the company into a pine forest, setting it ablaze. The Lord of the Eagles rescues the company, and carries them to Mirkwood; Gandalf leaves. Bilbo and the dwarves are captured by giant spiders, but Bilbo puts on his ring and drives off the spiders with his dagger. The dwarves are apprehended by the wood elves. Bilbo escapes using his ring. After weeks of searching, Bilbo pilfers a sleeping guard's keys, and floats the dwarves in barrels down the river into Laketown.
The people of Laketown nurse the company back to health. The fourteen reach the Lonely Mountain, and follow the map's instructions to enter. Bilbo goes in first, and meets Smaug, using the ring to hide. He and Smaug converse; the dragon assumes Bilbo must be a Laketowner. Bilbo discovers a patch of skin on Smaug not covered by protective scales. When Smaug attacks him for stealing, he escapes, mocking the dragon. In a rage, Smaug flies off to take revenge on Laketown. Bilbo sends a thrush to tell Bard about the bare patch, and Bard shoots Smaug with his family's black arrow. Smaug destroys Laketown in his death throes.
The Dwarves reclaim their treasure, only to find that the Lakemen and the Elves have arrived, wanting recompense for Smaug's many damages over the years. Thorin refuses to share, and declares war. Bilbo rebukes him, as they are outnumbered; Thorin is angered. Thorin's cousin, Dain, brings more dwarves. Gandalf arrives, warning that the Goblins are coming. Men, elves, and dwarves unite, and Bilbo uses his ring to hide as battle rages. The Eagles join the fight.
Bilbo finds a wounded Bombur who informs him that the battle has been won. Only seven of the thirteen dwarves are left. Bilbo is led by Gandalf to the dying Thorin, who forgives him. Bilbo accepts two small chests of gold and his dagger as payment. Gandalf escorts him home. Gandalf warns him that the adventure is only just beginning, thanks to the ring he has found.
The film was produced and directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass of Rankin/Bass Productions in New York City. It was adapted for the screen by Romeo Muller; Rankin took on the additional duties of production designer. When interviewed for the film, Rankin declared that he would add nothing to the story that was not in the original.[6]The New York Times reported that The Hobbit cost $3 million to produce.[6] In a 2003 interview, Rankin stated, "I love the Tolkien work". He explained that he was able to make the film because The Hobbit was still in the public domain at the time, despite claims to the contrary from the copyright holders.[7]
The Hobbit was animated by Topcraft in Tokyo, a now-defunct Japanese animation studio whose animation team re-formed as Studio Ghibli under Hayao Miyazaki; some of the animators went on to establish Pacific Animation Corporation. According to Rankin, the visual style of the film took its cue from the early illustrations of Arthur Rackham.[6]
While Topcraft produced the animation overseas, the concept artwork was completed at the Rankin/Bass studio under Rankin's direction.[6]Rhode Island artist Lester Abrams did the initial designs for most of the characters; Rankin had seen Abrams' illustrations to an excerpt from The Hobbit in Children's Digest.[11]
Harry N. Abrams published a large, illustrated coffee table edition of the book featuring concept art and stills.[6] Jules Bass adapted Tolkien's original lyrics for the film's musical interludes, drawn primarily from the songs in the book. He assisted Maury Laws, Rankin/Bass's composer and conductor-in-residence in the composition of an original theme song, "The Greatest Adventure (The Ballad of the Hobbit)", sung by Glenn Yarbrough: it was the film's sole original song. The folk ballad came to be associated with Yarbrough, who reprised it in the soundtrack to The Return of the King.[6]
A few days before its first airing, John J. O'Connor wrote in The New York Times that "Rankin and Bass Productions have now carefully translated The Hobbit into film. The result is curiously eclectic, but filled with nicely effective moments... The drawings frequently suggest strong resemblances to non-Tolkien characters... The goblins could have stepped out of a Maurice Sendak book. But... the Dragon and Gollum the riddle aficionado bring some clever original touches... Whatever its flaws, this television version of The Hobbit warrants attention."[2]
Criticism primarily focused on adaptation issues, including the unfamiliar style of artwork used by the Japanese-American co-production team. Some Tolkien fans questioned the appropriateness of repackaging the material as a family film for a very young audience. The scholar Douglas A. Anderson called the adaptation "execrable" in the introduction to his book The Annotated Hobbit, although he did not elaborate;[3] and a few critics said it was confusing for those not already familiar with the plot.[14] The science fiction author Baird Searles criticized the adaptation, calling it an "abomination" and an attempt that had "failed miserably". He singled out the quality of animation, the omission of key plot points such as Beorn and the Arkenstone, and the soundtrack.[4]
IGN gave the film 7 out of 10, recommending it to fans of the novel.[15]On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 71% of 17 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.70/10.[16]
Release
Before The Hobbit aired on NBC, Rankin/Bass and its partner animation houses began preparing a sequel.[6] Meanwhile, United Artists released J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in 1978, an animated adaptation directed by Ralph Bakshi, originally intended as the first part in a two-part film. United Artists's sequel would soon be cancelled after a disagreement with Bakshi.[citation needed]The Hobbit first aired as an animated television special in 1977.[2]
Disney released The Hobbit on LP with the soundtrack[6] and dialogue from the film in 1977 through its Buena Vista Records label. An edited version, along with accompanying "storyteller read-alongs", was later issued for the Mouse Factory's Disneyland Records imprint.[citation needed]
↑ The film has a running time of 78 minutes; several Internet sites list the full 90 minute air time.[1]
↑ E.g. goblets clanking and hammer-tinkering noises omitted, spider death screams, along with several lines of dialogue.[18]
Related Research Articles
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book is recognized as a classic in children's literature and is one of the best-selling books of all time, with over 100 million copies sold.
Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He is a wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse "Catalogue of Dwarves" (Dvergatal) in the Völuspá.
Bard the Bowman is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. A Man of Laketown and a descendant of the ancient Lords of Dale, Bard manages to kill Smaug, the dragon, after which he becomes king of Dale. Tolkien created the character specifically to kill Smaug, since none of the other protagonists of the story were able to fulfill this role. Bard the Bowman may have been inspired by the warrior Wiglaf in the Old English poem Beowulf.
Smaug is a dragon and the main antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit, his treasure and the mountain he lives in being the goal of the quest. Powerful and fearsome, he invaded the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor 171 years prior to the events described in the novel. A group of thirteen dwarves mounted a quest to take the kingdom back, aided by the wizard Gandalf and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. In The Hobbit, Thorin describes Smaug as "a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm".
Thorin Oakenshield is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit. Thorin is the leader of the Company of Dwarves who aim to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon. He is the son of Thráin II, grandson of Thrór, and becomes King of Durin's Folk during their exile from Erebor. Thorin's background is further elaborated in Appendix A of Tolkien's 1955 novel The Return of the King, and in Unfinished Tales.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Lonely Mountain is a mountain northeast of Mirkwood. It is the location of the Dwarves' Kingdom under the Mountain and the town of Dale lies in a vale on its southern slopes. In The Lord of the Rings, the mountain is called by the Sindarin name Erebor. The Lonely Mountain is the destination of the protagonists, including the titular Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, and is the scene of the novel's climax.
Bilbo Baggins is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit, a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings, and the fictional narrator of many of Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. The Hobbit is selected by the wizard Gandalf to help Thorin and his party of Dwarves reclaim their ancestral home and treasure, which has been seized by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo sets out in The Hobbit timid and comfort-loving and, through his adventures, grows to become a useful and resourceful member of the quest.
Thranduil is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He first appears as a supporting character in The Hobbit, where he is simply known as the Elvenking, the ruler of the Elves who lived in the woodland realm of Mirkwood. The character is properly named in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and appears briefly in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.
The Return of the King is a 1980 American-Japanese animated musical fantasy television film created by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft. It is an adaptation of part of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1955 high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It takes its name from The Return of the King, the third and final volume of the novel, and is a sequel to the 1977 film The Hobbit.
Balin is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth. A Dwarf, he is an important supporting character in The Hobbit, and is mentioned in The Fellowship of the Ring. As the Fellowship travel through the underground realm of Moria, they find Balin's tomb and the Dwarves' book of records, which tells how Balin founded a colony there, becoming Lord of Moria, and that the colony was overrun by orcs.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the real-world history and notable fictional elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy universe. It covers materials created by Tolkien; the works on his unpublished manuscripts, by his son Christopher Tolkien; and films, games and other media created by other people.
The Hobbit is a 1968 BBC Radio adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 children's fantasy novel of the same name.
The Hobbit is a series of three fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson. The films are subtitled An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). The films are based on J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit, but much of the trilogy was inspired by the appendices to his 1954–55 The Lord of the Rings, which expand on the story told in The Hobbit. Additional material and new characters were created specially for the films. The series is a prequel to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a 2013 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, based on the 1937 novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2012's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, it is the second instalment in The Hobbit trilogy, acting as a prequel to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a 2012 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro. It is based on the 1937 novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. The Hobbit trilogy is the first instalment in acting as a prequel to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The Hobbit, full title The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit, Across the Wild Land, Through the Dark Forest, Beyond the Misty Mountains. There and Back Again is a 1985 Soviet television play for children. It is an adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 children's fantasy novel The Hobbit by Vladimir Latyshev.
Lego The Lord of the Rings is a Lego theme based on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson and the novel by the English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. It is licensed from Warner Bros., New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The theme was first introduced in 2012. The first sets appeared in 2012, to coincide with a release of the video game Lego The Lord of the Rings. Subsequent sets based on The Hobbit film trilogy would also be released and the video game Lego The Hobbit was released in 2014. The product line was discontinued by the end of 2015. Later, the theme was relaunched in January 2023 with three new sets released as the part of the Lego BrickHeadz theme. In February 2023, The Lego Group unveiled a new Rivendell set that released on 8 March 2023 as the part of the Lego Icons theme. Further, a Barad-Dûr set released on 1 June 2024, also as part of the Icons theme.
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