bbc radio production

[Morsul the Dark]

not quite movies not quite books but leaning more towards here so let's have a go shall we?

I believe the radio production was much more magical than the movies because it guided you as far as audio was concerned(duh) but let the images come to you.

What I loved in it is because it was all audio the acting was more intense.

This was a lovely well done piece of work the scores are amazing in fact last summer(as you may recall was the time i spent 24 hours a day here ) I listened to the music disk over and over. any thoughts on this piece of dramatimization?

[davem]

I have to say this is my favourite adaptation of LotR by far. Recently I found this review

One thing the radio series does supremely is disprove the movie scriptwriter's points that a character like Faramir cannot be dramatised believeably. In the radio adaptation he works perfectly & is convincing.

As to dramatisation of 'undramatisable' characters, Brian Sibley (one of the two adaptors of the radio series along with Michael Bakewell) also adapted the Tom Bombadil/Barrow Downs episode very well for his 'Tales from the Perilous Realm' radio series (also available on CD) & shows how that episode can be done effectively.

Anyone wanting some background on the Radio LotR might be interested in Sibley's account here

Don't know if anyone would be interested in a proper discussion of the radio adaptations of LotR, TftPR or The Hobbit? One interesting point is that Christopher Tolkien actually supplied a cassette of pronunciations for the cast of LotR, so it seems he wasn't always opposed to dramatisations of his father's work.

[Morsul the Dark]

What I like is the fact that minor charactors are given more of a voice and the score(Except in the hobbit) is amazing Although I must say done quite excellently it makes my trip to work much more enjoyable i listen to them in my car if you couldn't guess

[Morsul the Dark]

Unfortunately only one flaw exists in this version the first time you hear the ringwraiths its really funny because they are not scary...

but at any rate I enjoy the fact that they put all...or most of the songs in the dramatization(i will never spell this right) from dark dunharrow(being my favorite) gil-gilad's lament,,,or the song sam sings

[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.