What do you think of the Bakshi cartoon?

[Essex]

frodo of the nine fingers song was not in bashkie's LOTR. It was, I believe, in Rankin/Bass Return of the King.

I believe the REAL Sam is a mixture of the 'bumbling idiot' as you call him in bashki's version, and the TOO clever/wise Peter Jackson version we get.

Sam does start the books as a sort of, how can I put it, not too bright sort of character. The point of this is that he grows into a more 'greater' character as the books progress. I don't think Jackson's version shows this change quite enough.

[PaleStar]

Is that really how you feel, Essex? Granted, Jackson's Sam is not exactly as described, but that's closer than you'll find in any of the cartoons.
Of course the 'Nine Fingers' song is in the R/B version...everyone sings in that...

[The Only Real Estel]

Sam does start the books as a sort of, how can I put it, not too bright sort of character. The point of this is that he grows into a more 'greater' character as the books progress. I don't think Jackson's version shows this change quite enough.

I think we got Sam's 'not so brightness' in the movie from the frightened nonsense he railed off when Gandalf pulled him in through the movie, & we got some of his simple, inexpierenced character from the 'farthest outside the Shire' bit. I thought PJ's Sam was pretty much right-on, a little brighter than the books perhaps, but there really was more about Book Sam than there seemed to be at first glance also...but I think I'm a little of topic .

[Aredhel]

You've got it all right. I agree with you 100% on everything that you said about the movie as well as the cartoons.

My favorite thing about Bakshi's work was the voice of Aragorn, played by (the british) John Hurt. His growling low voice was so wonderful, plus- his accent is genuine! I am a fan of Sir Robert Stephens, who did the voice of Aragorn in the BBC radio plays. Once again, it is his low, warbling, noble-sounding voice and accent that made the character one of my favorites. At least in the Bakshi version, Aragorn's lines are not changed so significantly as to detract from the character's good and noble heart.
One can see that Bakshi's Aragorn might even have been modeled on Sir Stephen's face - perhaps he was whom Bakshi wanted originally. But that's okay.
You know, I wasn't phased by the shortness of Aragorn's tunic, either. I did, however, wonder how he kept the bugs from sneaking up his crotch!

I do believe that Jackson's films would not be nearly so good without Bakshi's contribution to the visualization of Middle Earth. Thank goodness for his work, else I probably would not have liked the film one bit. In this, Bakshi won....even though his animated film was a bit of a dud. Thanks, Bakshi!

[The Only Real Estel]

You've got it all right. I agree with you 100% on everything that you said about the movie as well as the cartoons.

a perfect 3-for-3? That's pretty rare for me

[Encaitare]

I watched the LotR cartoon just out of curiosity and thought it to be terrible but entertaining (and this from a chick who has "Plan 9 from Outer Space", dubbed the worst movie ever made, on DVD, so perhaps my opinion is not valid )

But yes, Pantless Aragorn, Viking Boromir, and "Aruman" were all just too much to handle. BTW, they called him "Aruman" because Bakshi thought Sauron and Saruman sounded too much alike and it would confuse people.

[InklingElf]

Originally Posted by Encaitare

I watched the LotR cartoon just out of curiosity and thought it to be terrible but entertaining (and this from a chick who has "Plan 9 from Outer Space", dubbed the worst movie ever made, on DVD, so perhaps my opinion is not valid )

But yes, Pantless Aragorn, Viking Boromir, and "Aruman" were all just too much to handle. BTW, they called him "Aruman" because Bakshi thought Sauron and Saruman sounded too much alike and it would confuse people.

Oh it's dizzying. I agree with you Encaitare And the fact that they used a bit of real people for the fighting scenes and the works is really disturbing.