Microphones in Middle-earth...the BBC Lord of the Rings

[davem]

Originally Posted by Brian Sibley

Anyway, on the subject of Frodo's absence: this is one of the effects of the re-editing of the series from 26 half-hours to 13 one hours. I wasn't involved in or consulted about this process, but I imagine that a couple of Frodo scenes would have been shifted from one half hour to the next so that the scenes could run longer in the hour-format.

I really wish it were possible for people to listen in the original format, but alas...

My memory is so hazy regarding the original broadcasts - I only managed to tape teh last three episodes & I've long since lost the tapes . Considering the number of times I've listened to this version I was quite surprised how long it took before we got to Frodo & Sam - not quite as long as the book, but it started to feel that way! I did like the longer scenes with Frodo/Sam/Gollum though. I know the episodes were re-edited again when the film was released to bring them more in line with the books - we're they actually edited to match the books, with the Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli/Merry & Pippin storyline complete & then the Frodo/Sam/Gollum storyline following on? I wouldn't mind hearing it done that way.

"Always be careful, my boy, what you make up. Life's more full of things made up on the Spur of the Moment than most people realise. Beware of the Spur of the Moment. It may turn & rend you." Frank Baker: 'Miss Hargreaves'.

Dave - Nice to see you quoting Miss H!

Well, you put me onto that one (via the Church House recording). I'd love to hear your adaptation - though I bet it was never made available... don't want to risk Esty's ire by taking the thread off topic, but I'm wondering if Tolkien read Miss H. Its certainly the kind of thing that he was interested in (cf Flieger's 'A Question of Time') & the whole idea of the power of imagination changing reality has echoes in his time travel writings (Notion Club Papers especially). I think the situation as regards getting hold of the novel is about as bad as you indicated when you spoke 20 odd years ago - I got a second hand copy from the limited edition of 300 which came out a few years back & it cost me £30 - well worth the money though. I recomend the book wholeheartedly, btw.

And for anyone who wants to know more about the book, here's a nice essay by Brian http://www.frankbaker.co.uk/sibley.htm

[Estelyn Telcontar]

OK, I would like to join in on the discussion, as I do have some time to listen to the recordings, but I'm having trouble figuring out where the episodes you number start and stop - my box has 10 CDs, but obviously episode 6 and CD 6 are not the same, as I listened to the latter and it's way ahead of what you're discussing here. Is this an idiosyncracy of the German edition I'm using, or is there some way for me to coordinate my recordings with yours?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

OK, I would like to join in on the discussion, as I do have some time to listen to the recordings, but I'm having trouble figuring out where the episodes you number start and stop - my box has 10 CDs, but obviously episode 6 and CD 6 are not the same, as I listened to the latter and it's way ahead of what you're discussing here. Is this an idiosyncracy of the German edition I'm using, or is there some way for me to coordinate my recordings with yours?

Hmmm.. I don't know how many versions of this adaptation there are.....

The one Mith, Arathornjax, Hookbill & I are using is the 13 episode series, re-edited from the original 26 episodes (which was later re-re-edited into a slightly different form in response to the Jackson movies), so we're using the 'middle' one. Check the transcripts I've been linking to at the start of my introductions for each episode.

[Mithalwen]

I believe they were edited to correspond more closely with the book sequence. But otherwise 26 tape sides to 10 cds would mean surely that you should look at the end of 4 and beginning of 5.

[Brian Sibley]

Originally Posted by davem

Hmmm.. I don't know how many versions of this adaptation there are.....

The one Mith, Arathornjax, Hookbill & I are using is the 13 episode series, re-edited from the original 26 episodes (which was later re-re-edited into a slightly different form in response to the Jackson movies), so we're using the 'middle' one. Check the transcripts I've been linking to at the start of my introductions for each episode.

Someone ought to try and work out the differences - even I don't know! The original 26 episode version was re-edited into 13 hours although this only affected the episodes following the Breaking of the Fellowship until Mount Doom.

As I've said, I wasn't involved in that process - in fact, I don't think I was even told it was going to happen. The producer had pretty much got tired of me - I was constantly picking away about things that weren't right during recording until she finally lost patience! I think that the short scenes cutting back and forth between Frodo, Sam and Gollum and the Others were lumped together into longer scenes. I have read that new linking narration was added, if so then Michael Bakewell must have written it; certainly I wasn't asked!

When the films came out, the BBC wanted to issue the series in three 'volumes' but of course this is difficult, since chronologically events in TTT overlap with events in TROTK. I think very little was changed for this new release, other than the fact that the openings and closings were dispensed with altogether - hence the difficulty people with this recording have of knowing where one episode (under the old ordering) begins and ends.

For this release I was asked to write new head- and tail-pieces for Ian Holm which I did and, on the day or recording, they realised they had forgotten to book an announcer to read the new opening and closing announcements to each of the three volumes, so I read them!