...no, not the Peter Jackson one. That comes later. Much, much later.
The Hobbit, for those of you who have been in a bunker somewhere since the 1920's (in which case you might wanna go back, this Coronavirus shit is starting to make that whole Spanish Flu thing look amusingly quaint. Also, how did you live for a century in a bunker?), is the story of one Bilbo Baggins (voiced by Orson Bean). As a hobbit, Bilbo concerns himself with smoking his pipe, eating cake, and sitting on his porch while smoking his pipe and eating cake.
Sounds like the life, huh? Too bad Gandalf the Grey (voiced by John Houston) decides that he needs to party with thirteen dwarves named after characters in Beowulf (voiced by Hans Conreid, Jack DeLeon, Don Messick, and John Stephenson) and go kill a dragon (voiced by Richard Boone). Needless to say, Bilbo finds himself in quite the pickle as he's dragged out of his comfortable home to go nearly die on various occasions thanks to a bunch of ungrateful dwarves who you honestly are surprised could have gotten anything done themselves at all.
Also, after this, I don't want to hear jack about party balance. Thirteen dwarven fighters, a wizard, and a halfling rogue went through some shit to get to where they got to and it worked out fine. Eventually.
I just feel really bad for their DM and I realize while he limited them to nine the next time, but we'll get to that later on.
So, being that this is an adaptation of another work, my Rule of Adaptation kicks in. If you've read the Hobbit, then you'll know that several things are missing. This doesn't really affect the story all that much seeing as all the important plot points are still hit. It's understandable that certain things would be cut, given that it's an adaptation of a novel into television format. This film was originally a television special created by the one and only Rankin/Bass, who you probably know more for their claymation Christmas specials. As such, several things had to be cut for time, adapted out, and so on.
Arthur Rankin, Jr., one of the producers and directors on the film alongside Jules Bass, had declared his intention to see that nothing was added in that wasn't in the original story, either. This is some advice that Peter Jackson seriously could have had when making his version, but that comes later.
Much, much later.
So naturally, some things are out. What, however, remains in? Quite a bit, actually. The only two big removals are Beorn before the group enters Mirkwood and Mirkwood itself being highly expedited to get the dwarves to the elves and then to the barrel trip to Laketown.
Yes, and the whole Mayor of Laketown subplot and all but the barest bare bones of Bard's subplot is sacrificed. It's really not that big of a deal.
Apart from that, you have a unique animation style done by a joint Japanese-American team from an animation studio called Topcraft (now defunct). You also have the music, one of the biggest draws of the film. Besides "The Greatest Adventure (The Ballad of the Hobbit)" performed by folk singer Glenn Yarbrough, every piece of music within the film is taken from Tolkien's novel, Tolkien being one to include lyrics to songs that we can't actually hear in his books.
It's because of this film that these are what I hear when I read them now.
The voice acting, as we've seen above, is bursting with the big names of the day, including Don Messick (who you might remember as the original voice of Scooby-Doo, Bamm-Bamm, Astro, Boo-Boo and Ranger Smith, Dr. Benton Quest, the list just goes on...) and writer and director John Huston (most known for his behind the camera work in films like The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as well as many, many others). It's top-notch, and despite the reputation that Rankin/Bass often gets for being hokey and ridiculous in spots (particularly in the aforementioned Christmas Specials), no expense was spared and no performance was given anything less than the best.Also, Richard Boone's Smaug has it all over Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch is a fantastic actor, don't misunderstand me (I was so delighted when he got Doctor Strange over Joaquin Phoenix), but even his deep gravelly evil voice can't hold a candle to the sheer menace that seems to drip from every syllable of Boone's performance. Is it possible to be frightened of an animation? Yes. Either way, neither voice is one I'd like to hear while I'm walking down a dark alley.
Not that I would be stupid enough to walk down a dark alley.
If you want a pretty faithful adaptation of The Hobbit told within a little over an hour, then this is a good way to go about it. I dare say it'd even be a good introduction to the novel. It's made with kids in mind, certainly, but it is something I can unironically say can be enjoyed by all ages and serves as an effective primer to it. It's a film that resonates strongly with me as it does with many who have seen it and seen it as their first adaptation of Tolkien's novel. The music, the animation, the overall just sense of adventure in its purest form. The one film written specifically for the film sets the tone for it all, the greatest adventure is what lies ahead. The Hobbit isn't the greatest adventure, but it's still a pretty damn good one with lots of heart.
Rankin/Bass would plan to do a sequel given that this was very popular, based on Tolkien's next work - The Lord of the Rings. However, someone beat them to it, and their next stab at the series would be the 1980 The Return of the King. We'll be getting to that later on as well.
Next time, however, we're going to look into the story of that someone who beat them to it, a man who is a cult figure in animation, a unique voice that is spoken of in hushed tones with reverence, someone who has inspired generations of animators that followed in his wake.
I am speaking, of course, of Don Bluth.
...just kidding, it's Ralph Bakashi. His The Lord of the Rings is what we'll be covering next time.
The Hobbit is brought to us by Rankin/Bass, Topcraft, and ABC Video Enterprises.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
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