![](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/715\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-R3VB-ku_-pE\/ULpNk6cDksI\/AAAAAAAACz0\/c0cLpVKVC7E\/s1600\/Bilbo_Baggins_from_Rankin-Bass'_The_Hobbit.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nWith Jackson\u2019s upcoming The Hobbit<\/i>, everyone is rushing about wondering what Jackson will do with Tolkien\u2019s original Middle Earth saga. \u00a0If the The Hobbit<\/i> is like Jackson\u2019s first go round, there will be much hashing and trashing of any previous attempts to bring Tolkien\u2019s delightful children\u2019s book to the big screen. \u00a0That means, mostly, it will be a hash fest of the Rankin\/Bass cartoon special from 1977.<\/p>\n
I was introduced to Tolkien through that special, and later when I read the book, I was amazed at how faithful the little TV cartoon actually was to the source material . \u00a0At no point did I have to wonder where the book went wrong. \u00a0Sure, things were missing. \u00a0But notably, nothing had been added. \u00a0Except for some strange animation choices due to the animation work at the Japanese studios, I\u2019ve always held the animated special in high regards, and still consider it the most faithful adaptation of all Tolkien\u2019s works, Jackson\u2019s attempt included. \u00a0Oh, and I adore the songs, and consider the recited version of the Dwarve\u2019s lamentation over the fall of the Lonely Mountain to Smaug, narrated by the great John Huston and Hans Conried, to be one of the\u00a0artistic\u00a0high points of any filmed version of any of Tolkien\u2019s works.<\/p>\n
Still, the modern\u00a0Internet\u00a0tendency of \u2018everything before 1992 sucked, isn\u2019t everything since 1992 so cool?\u2019 will no doubt play up the comparisons with the release of Jackson\u2019s The Hobbit<\/i> in a couple days. \u00a0This is in keeping with that post-Jackson fashionable trend to trash and hash every previous attempt at bringing Tolkien\u2019s works to life. \u00a0I can\u2019t help but notice, however, that the critics who weep over Rankin\/Bass\u2019s removal of Beorn or the Arkenstone,\u00a0seem to overlook the myriad additions, plot holes, post-modernizing of the characters and general dumbing down of Jackson\u2019s versions. \u00a0Oh, there was plenty that was good and watchable, especially at the beginning (dismissing Arwen, Warrior Elf Princess), but for every profound Tolkien dialogue or cinimatic wonder of Jackson\u2019s trilogy, we were beset with surfing elves and belching dwarves.<\/p>\n
So in thinking of what the upcoming three part movie series based on The Hobbit<\/i> will be like, I\u2019m reminded that each and every attempt to adapt Tolkien\u2019s works has had some hits and misses. And in all due respect to Jackson fans, those hits were sometimes well beyond anything that Jackson, with all his superficial over-directing of CGI battles scenes, was able to overcome. \u00a0Naturally I can\u2019t speak to upcoming The Hobbit<\/i>, but based on his first three Tolkien films, the following are scenes that he filmed, but were done much better by previous attempts, at least IMHO.<\/p>\n The Flight to the Ford:<\/b> The appeal to feminist\u00a0sensitivities\u00a0by adding Arwen, Warrior Princess to the mix was one of the glaring assaults on the story. \u00a0No movie has to stay in line with the book, and some of the greatest movies of all time are hell and gone from the original source material. \u00a0But the changes have to be for the better. \u00a0The imposition of Arwen created a story line that was later reworked,\u00a0leaving\u00a0gaps and portions of the movies that seemed to be lacking at best. \u00a0In Fellowship, Arwen shows up to flex her feminist muscles,\u00a0outshining\u00a0a bumbling Aragorn, and proudly boasting\u00a0that\u00a0she, herself, has no fear of\u00a0those\u00a0pesky Black Riders (prompting my boys to ask why she wasn\u2019t included in the Fellowship if she\u2019s the only person in Middle Earth they don\u2019t seem to scare). \u00a0Jackson\u2019s slice-and-dice editing of the chase, with the cumbersome Ringwraiths-as-living-tanks, left me wondering what was happening, only hoping the scene ended soon before any more\u00a0embarrassing\u00a0interpolations. \u00a0Next to this, while Bakshi suffers from the famous\u00a0psychedelic\u00a0sequences of vanishing landscapes, once those fade, the chase itself is far more exhilarating than the sliced up version of Jackson. \u00a0And having Arwen, Warrior Princess make the bold stand for an\u00a0out-cold\u00a0Frodo, simply added to the ongoing question of just who has what qualities in\u00a0the\u00a0story worth celebrating? \u00a0Frodo, in Bakshi and the books, has a\u00a0resiliency\u00a0that will bear him through many ordeals in the coming months. \u00a0Here, he never even makes it, and wouldn\u2019t have had it not been for a person able to overcome all odds who was, strangely, not so much as invited to come along with the Fellowship (yes, I know Jackson had other heroic plans for her, and their thankful\u00a0omission\u00a0only makes her role in Fellowship seem that much more awkward).<\/p>\n The Inn at Bree<\/b>: Like so much of Jackson\u2019s work, he seems almost bothered with having to worry about dialogue, and wants everything to involve some form of physical altercation, fighting, tumbling, belching, or something. \u00a0Bakshi shined here more than most of the rest of his animated movie. \u00a0Again, excepting the strange rotoscope technology, the interactions in the tavern, Frodo\u2019s song and dance, the introduction and interplay with Butterbur, the introduction of Strider \u2013 all of these brought forth the spirit and heart of the books, and gave great introductions to the character of Aragorn. \u00a0Jackson, on the other hand, can\u2019t help but rely on quick cut and paste editing, fast paced scene shifting, rushed dialogue, and the usual \u2018nobody speaks that they aren\u2019t threatening someone\u2019 tendency of his films. \u00a0While some parts hint of potential quality (I\u2019m\u00a0thinking\u00a0of the eerie closeup of Strider as he smokes his pipe and observes the hobbits), the later parts all melt into convoluted imagery, with a very strange\u00a0appearance by the Black Riders, rushing by a bedridden Butterbur. \u00a0In Bakshi, the scenes are similarly ordered, but the menace of the Black Riders is greater, the\u00a0tension\u00a0thicker, and the wisdom and intensity of Strider is better established\u00a0because\u00a0Bakshi is\u00a0willing\u00a0to let the dialogue do the heavy lifting. \u00a0It\u2019s not for no reason that when I read The Fellowship of the Ring<\/i>, my mind conjures the Indianesque nature-ranger of Bakshi, and not the brooding, leather and mail draped Mortenson. \u00a0On a side note, Aragorn\u2019s smack down of Butterburr as nothi The suffering of Theoden:<\/b> Nowhere was Jackson\u2019s lack of depth as a story teller more apparent than his dealing with Theoden\u2019s mental\u00a0enslavement\u00a0to the wiles of Grima Wormtongue. \u00a0Not that the actors were to blame, they did what they could with the material at hand. \u00a0But to anyone who has read\u00a0the\u00a0books, it\u2019s clear that Theoden is not captured by some satanic possession spell, but by the sweet deceptions of Saramon through his agent Wormtongue. \u00a0Just how to show this? \u00a0For the briefness of the scene, Bakshi shows it could be done as it was intended: psychological abuse and exploitation of an old man feeling the crushing weight of a world spinning wildly out of control. \u00a0Instead, what we get with Jackson is a look of demonic possession so ripe with The Exorcist<\/i> ripoffs that I was waiting for Bernard Hill to spit pea soup. \u00a0Like his battle of the two wizards in Fellowship, the over-the-top drama of Gandalf cleansing him made Max Von Sydow that much more appreciated. \u00a0A perfect example of Jackson being a mile wide and an inch deep when it comes to unpacking profound insights.<\/p>\n Gandalf and the Witch King:<\/b> Rankin\/Bass wins this one easily. Once again, a scene filled with drama and intensity by virtue of masterful storytelling is compromised by Jackson\u2019s belief that if there isn\u2019t physical brawling involved with heavy CGI effects, it must be dull. \u00a0The final confrontation between the Witch King and Gandalf at the gates of Minas Tirith is one of great dramatic high points in Tolkien\u2019s works. \u00a0After the mega-ram Grond decimates that which had never been broken, all men of sound mind and common sense flee for their lives, as a being of the supernatural, who is reputed to be\u00a0invulnerable, \u00a0marches triumphantly to seize his prize. \u00a0Pippin witnesses the event, and notices how small and bent Gandalf appears before the terror of the Nazgul Lord. \u00a0With mockery, the Witch King challenges Gandalf, and Gandalf, taken aback by the\u00a0otherworldly appearance of his opponent, looks to be making peace with his maker when, all of a sudden, a cock crows. \u00a0Invoking images of another rooster whose crowing shamed the a\u00a0delinquent\u00a0apostle, this noise\u00a0breaks the dread of the darkness, and causes the Witch King to realize that a new threat to his victory has just arrived. \u00a0Jackson, however, feels it must all boil down to a\u00a0physical\u00a0duking it out by the two parties, leaving us missing what could have been, especially after a previous scene where Jackson does shine by allowing Gandalf to comfort Pippin about what lies beyond this life.<\/p>\n Eowyn and the Witch King:<\/b> If Rankin\/Bass outdid Jackson with their version of Gandalf\u2019s encounter with the Witch King, they obliterated Jackson when it came to the the passing of the Witch King at the hands of Eoywn. \u00a0Already Tolkien has established that the Witch King is nigh on unbeatable, and R\/B did a nice job of reinforcing this with an introduction to the character in its earlier battle scenes, making sure each kid watching understands that this being is invulnerable, and that no living man can hurt it in any way. \u00a0This is one of the truly great scenes in LoTR, and when I first read it ages ago, it knocked my shoes off. \u00a0This is also a great slam against moderns and post-moderns who accuse Tolkien\u2019s works of being sexists for not beating men down and elevating the\u00a0superiority\u00a0of women. \u00a0There she is, neglected Eowyn, relegated to the kitchen by her uncle-king, but sneaking into battle to prove her worth. \u00a0In the book, her identity is hidden \u2013 though careful readers may guess something is\u00a0amiss\u00a0with the sudden introduction of the character Dernhelm. \u00a0In Rankin\/Bass, she is plopped before the\u00a0viewers\u00a0with little fanfare, but a brief explanation of her identity courtesy of Merry. \u00a0 Jackson has plenty of time to introduce the struggling warrior wannabe, but in typical Jackson form, he concludes his audience won\u2019t get it unless he clubs them over the head and reveals her identity from the get go. \u00a0So it\u2019s no surprise who she is at the point of the battle.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nng other than a \u2018fat\u00a0innkeeper\u00a0who only knows his name because people shout it at him all day\u2019, which\u00a0demonstrates\u00a0the urgency of the mission, was again sorely missing from Jackson\u2019s film, which preferred Jackson\u2019s own contributions, such as the ever-famous \u2018let\u2019s hunt some orc!\u2019 <\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n