bbc radio production

[Elladan and Elrohir]

I don't have quite as high an opinion of BBC LOTR as some of you do. For the most part, I thought it was very well done; the adaptation was nearly flawless. The "nearly" is noteworthy; obviously, Tom Bombadil and Gildor get left out; we hear a brief scene at the very beginning where Gollum is caught near Mordor; and there's some other small changes. The narrator didn't appear nearly as much as I would have liked; I think with a story like LOTR you can depend on narration a little more than Sibley and Bakewell did. Other than that, it's awesome.

The cast was great. One exception for me would be Gollum (Peter Woodthorpe). Others may like it, but I call it a pretty pitiful effort, as far as the voice itself goes. Andy Serkis all day long, baby! Another exception would be Aragorn (Robert Stephens). He's got a beautiful voice, to be sure, but his Shakespearean lisp is definitely not how I picture Aragorn. I just didn't like him.

Other than that, like I said, the cast is great. Ian Holm (Frodo), Sam (William Nighy), Merry (Richard O'Callaghan), and Pippin (John McAndrew) are absolutely awesome, capturing the essence of the four hobbits.

The sound is not awesome; this was after all made in 1980. Any time there's screaming, whether it's Nazgul, orcs, or Gollum, it makes you want to cover your ears because it sounds horrible, and not in a good way. The Knife in the Dark scene is pitiful, in my mind. Others have commented on the score; I can't remember because it's been a while, but to me it wasn't particularly impressive: certainly the main theme wasn't.

Sorry that I'm sounding negative; I don't want to. In some ways this is a great radio adaptation, and in some ways it's not. Without a doubt, though, it captures Tolkien's work like nothing else I've ever seen. I am certain that it can be improved upon. Perhaps one of these days Focus on the Family Radio Theatre will do The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, to go along with their awesome adaptations of The Chronicles of Narnia.

My $0.02.