BBC Dramatization of LotR

[davem]

Just dredging this up to add a link for anyone one who's interested. Brian Sibley, one of the adaptors of the series, has added an article to his site about the series & how it came about.
http://www.briansibley.com/Broadcast...GoesEverOn.htm

[Mithalwen]

Thanks for this link ...... I have loved this version since I heard it's second broadcast just after I first read LOTR - I managed to buy it a couple of years ago having worn out my tape of the music!!! Bilbo's last song and A Elbereth Gilthoniel I love especially .... Only thing that grates is Aragorn particularly in the early scenes - I think Viggo is much better at showing that Aragorn could be perceived as a dangerous outlaw......

However the main strength is surely the Frodo / Sam combination which I think is superb and so much better than in the film... Ian Holm is surely a latter day hobbit... and Bill Nighy who is having a amazing surge in his career at the moment (Bafta for Love Actually,I capture the castle, Shaun of the Dead, just about everything on Britiush T V) seems much more resourceful and feisty and closer to the book.....

Sir Michael Hordern (Gandalf) as well as Shakespeare was probnably best known for being the voice of Paddington Bear.

Peter Woodthorpe was a police pathologist in the early "Inspector Morse"

Peter Vaughn "Denethor" seemed to specialise in sinister characters "Bleak House" and "Porridge"

Richard O'Callaghan made 2 Carry On films - strange but true...

David Collings (Legolas) had a few, usually minor film roles Delius, 39 Steps, and is seen occasionally on TV but is still heard frequently on Radio 4 drama,,,his voice is so distinctive...... However he has acheived cult fame as the voice of "Monkey"

Several of the surviving minor chars / regular extras also crop up on Radio 4 on a regular basis.

The non-cast singers have all had successful carreers - David James (counter tenor) as a member of the Hilliard Ensemble who collaborated with Jan Gaberek of Officium (Amazing stuff)

The treble Matthew Vine is now coming to the fore as a tenor .....adult voices not maturiong till mid thirties!) whereeas Oz Clarke the baritone is now best known as a TV wine expert....!!!!

Sadly the composer Stephen Oliver died from AIDS in 1990 - Oz Clarke sang at his funeral.

[davem]

Thanks for that info. I've probably listened to the series as many times as I've read LotR - 15??. I still have a soft spot for it - it captures the mood of LotR in a way that the movies just don't for me.

I also like what Sibley did with the adaptation of Adventures of TB, which shows that it can be dramatised! I would really like to get some (period) pictures of the LotR cast - I printed a couple off the Beeb w/s (now sadly removed), which are now tucked away with my LotR CDs.

(Have to say, I'm also a fan of the Hobbit series, which I know a lot of people don't like).

[Mithalwen]

Well they had the luxury of 13 hours and didn't waste time say on a 20 minute troll battle that takes a short paragraph int he book....... I think they used music well to move on action ie the battle scenes or to heighten emotion..... and the imagined monsters were more scary than the CG ones for me.......

[davem]

(OK, Esty! I know this isn't the movies forum, but this is really a discussion about the merits of different adaptations of the book, focussing on the Radio series, & there isn't a Radio board! I will make clear by the end that this is a Book related point!)

I think its also that so much of the original language was used. It shows that if you trust Tolkien, & tell the story as he wrote it, you'll communicate the story far more effectively. I still feel there's a lot of wisdom in the review of 'Towers' in Mallorn (Tolk. Soc. journal) that Jackson seems to have been under the impresion that LotR is an action movie in book form!

Verlyn Flieger summed up the movies recently (in the 3rd progress report for next years Tolkien 2005 anniversary conference):

Q 'What is your opinion of the Peter Jackson films?'
A 'I have seen films 1&3. I think they are big, noisy, special-effects-filled action movies. They don't come anywhere near the subtlety & psychological complexity of Tolkien's book. The liberties Jackson took with plot & character are indefensible, & his additions to the story unnecessary'.

(I know, quit beating around the bush Ms Flieger, & just tell us what youreally think!)

I must be fair, though, & say that Tom Shippey, another Tolkien expert who I admire, said: 'They were about as good as could be managed, especially given the financial constraints'. He then says that a fuller explanation of his views is currently in press for a forthcoming book.

I don't know if anyone has opinions on why a particular adaptation of LotR/Hobbit is successful (or otherwise) for them, what it has to contain, what the particular 'mood' or atmosphere of, say, LotR is - I can't really put it into words, except to say, when I finish reading LotR, I'm in a certain 'mood', a mixture of sadness, nostalgic regret, not just for the world of Middle earth, but maybe for my own younger self (ie, every time I re read it, I find memories surface of other times & places I've read it, kind of linking me back to who I was nearly 30 years ago) - all that, & something more. A 'Tolkienesque' melancholy, or something.

Ok, now, for me, the radio series, for all its faults & limitations, does that, produces that same effect, though not so strongly. The movies don't - & that's not simply down to my not having 30 years of 'history' with them. I think there are certain 'moments' which are necessary - the one that springs instantly to mind is Sam returning home to Bag End, & Rosie welcoming him in & placing Elanor on his lap - IT HAPPENS AT NIGHT, MR JACKSON!!!!!!!!!! - (Deep breath, calm, calm, calm...) That moment has to be just as Tolkien describes it for it to work for me. If it doesn;t happen exactly as in the book, that feeling doesn't communicate, & the 'spell' isn't cast.

Any other aspects of the book which others feel communicate the 'spirit' & mood of the book, & which any successful adaptation must keep exactly as Tolkien wrote them (I'd say everything between p1 & p1069 should be kept as is, but adaptors should be free with anything else ).