this was the first time i saw this cartoon. its interesting to see the differences w/ the movie.

anyways, it ended w/ helms deep battle. are there more? any info on this cartoon, ie when it was made, who, etc.

how about some of the other versions of LOTR cartoons? i know i saw one where they actually had songs but the look was different.

thanks!

Ralph Bakshi made the one you saw. He also directed Fritz the Cat, American Pop and Wizards. He only made one of these because the one you saw was not too well recieved by anyone. It was released theatrically in 1978. It was filmed using rotoscopping aka animation being drawn over live action footage.

The team of Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. made The Hobbit (1977) and The Return of the King (1980). They were animated traditionally. These were aired on TV and never released theatrically.


I hope that helps.

"Frodo of the nine fingers and the Ring of Doom..."

And in case you didn't see it on the schedule, that version of Return of the King airs on Cartoon Network on Sunday May 30, 7pm EDT.

thanks for all the great info. i saw the hobbit cartoon last weekend also and ROTK months back.

the bakshi version was pretty good, its too bad he couldn't do the whole trilogy. having never read the books, its nice to see the artistic differences.

2 Weeks ago there was a cartoon of "The Hobit". Last week was "Lord of the Rings". I looked on Cartoon Network for this week, but there are no more. I actually enjoyed those cartoons.

Found "The Hobbit" "Lord of the Rings" and "Return of the King" all animated on amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...v=glance&s=dvd

The best thing about the Bakshi version in my opinion was the music, vastly superior to the film score to Jackson's version. Even though severly trunscated, the script for Bakshi's film had some moments that resonated better in terms of some of the characters and plot devices - notably the whole dialogue exchange betweem the fellowship before trudging up the snowy mountain to the Mines of Moria. The Bakshi version also retains the original book's version of Frodo breaking off from the group to continue his quest alone.

The Rankin/Bass 'Return of the King' also wonderfully retains the great line from Eowyn to the Witch King: "Begone foul Dwimmerlake, Lord of the Carrion, leave the dead in peace" and her final line "Uncle, I have avenged thee". As well as: the meeting and dialogue between the WitchKing and Gandalf and the Mouth of Sauron sequence (all of this will be eventually be scene when Jackson's extended edit of ROTK is released on video later in the year).

There are some people who really appreciate the 1978 Bakshi LOTR, but I am not one of them, and I AM a Bakshi fan in general. That movie was the first step in his career becoming derailed.

You might enjoy this site:

http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/bakshi/bakshi.htm

Oddly enough, I was listening to this CD this morning... before I even saw this thread.

Well, I don't care if I'm the last man on earth who appreciates this film. Quirks and all, I love it. Perhaps because I saw it during its initial theatrical run. Something about the times and seeing it on a big screen...and the water.

I caught it for the first time on Cartoon Network and totally fell in love. It was cheesy and all that business, but I just couldn't change the channel. It was like the Cliff Notes of LOTR but it was fun all the same.

Can't wait to see the animated ROTK.

Thats pretty funny and insightful at the same time.

RotK is supposed to be on right now... but all I see is Tom & Jerry

Great movie. I heard they remade this recently? Damn Hollywood and their lack of new ideas.

lol. That site is hilarious. I have no idea how many times I have seen this movie. I thought it was horrible, but I couldn't stop watching it.

Does anybody have memories of when this was released into theaters?

I've read some material about fan uproar due to the fact the film was promoted as a feature covering the entire trilogy, but in actuality, the film only goes through two of the books.

Share some stories!

Here in DC, the film played at the Dupont Circle theatres, so after church one Sunday, my sister and I, two friends and their Mom took us to see it, I really liked it even though I felt jilted where they ended the film. My sister still owns the promotional pin that was made for the movie "Frodo lives" As noted before, I loved the film score, went out and bought the vinyl - yes CD's weren't the norm then, listened to it excessively.

Anyone know if they're going to rerun Return of the king on cartoon network? I have to see this version again for the Casey Cassum voice.

Forgot about American Pop. That was a great movie.

he also did "Heavy Traffic" and "Streetfight" - the latter in particular I hope someday gets released onto DVD.

Wizards is finally out on DVD now, and I just appreciate the film more and more as the years pass.

The extra material with Bakshi is great, too. He is just full of stories, as manic and passionate as his films.

I've tried to forget about American Popby drinking the liquids under the kitchen sink but I ended up in a gutter with a headache and blood on my shirt.

is the film really that bad?

....wasn't The Last Unicorn also done by Rankin-Bass?

Yes, it was.