The 1966 Hobbit cartoon

[Committed Hero]

Still better than The Battle of Five Armies.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The LotR movie was on Cartoon Network last night. Still as hideous as I remember.

As much as I can recognize Bakshi's LOTR as being frightfully uneven, I have a soft spot for it. It's ambitious, its reach exceeding its grasp. Many corners were cut. But every time I re-watch it, the moment the prologue hits, I'm wrapped back up in its version of Tolkien's tale. And those sinister rotoscoped Nazgul and orcs still look metal as heck.

 

[Dioltach]

And those sinister rotoscoped Nazgul and orcs still look metal as heck.

But then there's this:

 

[Dire Bare]

Still better than The Battle of Five Armies.

Sigh. No.

 

[Bohandas]

But then there's this:

IIRC Bakshi's big thing was rotoscoping, which is basically filming the whole thing in live action and then tracing over it to make it look animated, and that's probably why in flight his animated balrog looks like someone flying around on a wire in a school play, instead of actually flying

 

[Osgood]

With a masterpiece like this in the world, why were other adaptations ever made!?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

IIRC Bakshi's big thing was rotoscoping, which is basically filming the whole thing in live action and then tracing over it to make it look animated, and that's probably why in flight his animated balrog looks like someone flying around on a wire in a school play, instead of actually flying

It's a lot cheaper than traditional animation, so he used it to save money where he needed to. He clearly made some bad decisions on where to deploy it, though, as the balrog scene is one where he should have spent manhours creating something impressive.

Compare to his Wizards, which was his audition reel for Lord of the Rings, he still mixes the techniques, but the big stuff is almost all hand-drawn and he actually has a plot element for when he uses old archival film instead of traditional animation.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

But then there's this:

Yup, painful that. For every moment of greatness, there's a moment that falls short. I think my "favorite" is them keeping the person doing mocap for Aragorn tripping on his sword while running in the animation. So much for Strider.

It's a lot cheaper than traditional animation, so he used it to save money where he needed to. He clearly made some bad decisions on where to deploy it, though, as the balrog scene is one where he should have spent manhours creating something impressive.

Yeah, compare that to the Balrog's first appearance in Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring. You feel the sense of dread before you even see it. And then when it appears, it's on a scale like nothing that the Fellowship has encountered on screen yet.

Compare to his Wizards, which was his audition reel for Lord of the Rings, he still mixes the techniques, but the big stuff is almost all hand-drawn and he actually has a plot element for when he uses old archival film instead of traditional animation.

Wizards is arguably the superior work. Certainly the more cohesive. It's weird and hippy and tells the story from start to finish. It's message about the resurgence of fascism is unfortunately more applicable than ever.

 

[darjr]

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

John Huston was a great Gandalf. When they announced Ian McKellan, I was very skeptical anyone could fill Huston's shoes.

McKellan was probably even better, but with a very different take on the character.