Recap of Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 6:29 pm
The Game Attempts-Part One
The film we will be covering was released 1978 and it covers roughly the first two-thirds of the book, in which the all of the events of The Fellowship of the Ring and part of The Two Towers are covered. The film ends immediately at the end of the Siege of Helm's Deep and before Frodo and Sam encounter Faramir or enter Shelob's Lair.
Before the film can be combed, the history behind its conception and Pre-Production must be covered. In the late 1950s, the Tolkien family had financial problems and the rights to make a movie out of the book were sold for a large sum.
It was around this time that Bakshi became acquainted with the work during his time at Terrytoons and thought it would make for an excellent animated TV series. However, the rights were out of his reach at the moment as others were trying to get a Lord of the Rings film off the ground at the moment. None of them ever left the planning stage of production (how fortunate or unfortunate is up to you) and the rights were eventually sold to United Artists Entertainment LCC. This task of making the film was handed over to Stanley Kubrick and John Boorman* to try to adapt it…as a single film…starring The Beatles as Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin. This thankfully did not get made, either.
It was in the Mid-1970s, after Bakshi had achieved box office success that he approached the studio for the rights to make the film. He got them at the cost of $3 million. Bakshi's original proposition was to create a three-part animated adaptation, each film covering a volume. However, the deal was changed after one of the producers brought on board was fired. A new producer was brought in and had Bakshi redo the deal to two films.
During Pre-Production, the film was given a budget of $8 million (Boxofficemojo will say it's currently $4 million, but it keeps changing to be less and less. Take from that what you will.). Chris Conkling and book author Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn) were brought on board to write the screenplay, several college students (including a young Tim Burton) were hired on as animators, and Leonard Rosenman was hired to compose the music. Soon, with a limited budget, and a greatly condensed story, production was underway. The following is the result of Bakshi and company's attempt to adapt Tolkien's most beloved book. It ended up being two hours and eighteen minutes long and it covers all of The Fellowship of the Rings and the majority of The Two Towers.
Note: Bakshi actually met with Tolkien's sons and daughters to properly discuss how to make the film and promised them to stay as close to the films as possible. Keep this in mind at all times.
Originally, the entire film was supposed to be fully animated via rotoscoping. As explained before, rotoscoping is essentially Motion-Capture's traditional animation distant ancestor. Live-action actors and sequences are filmed then drawn over frame by frame. Due to limited budget, Bakshi soon ran out of money to make the film fully animated and made due with shooting the film at High Contrast to give it a more animated look. This was met with little success. The first signs of production decay are actually evident during the first scene of the film.
The opening scene is a narration about the history of the One Ring of Power. According to the film, the Rings of Power were first forged by elves and divided amongst the other races of Middle Earth. Then sometime afterwards the Dark Lord Sauron learned the secret of art of ring-making and made his own ring to conquer all the other rings. Within the first few minutes, it's shown that evidently reading the book and speaking with Tolkien's children is not enough to stay true to the book for Bakshi. This change has baffled several people who have seen it. Would it have taken longer to explain that Sauron, using trickery, fooled the elves into creating the Rings so that he could use the Master Ring to rule all the other ones? What was this change's purpose? Was it to make Sauron look pettier? Apparently, changing shape and tricking others into constructing the artifacts of their own doom just wasn't considered low enough.
Moving on, the opening scenes only get worse. The sequence is not animated. It is filmed behind a red window shade with live-action actors dressed in cheap costumes who perform like amateur stage actors with wooden swords throughout the scenes of the Ring making and battles. Stage lights shine behind the action so shadows on a red screen are all the audience can make out. If this was all it took to film an epic narrative, we'd all be doing it.
As for that battle scene, it appears as if about a dozen or so men are having a random fight somewhere, rather than the epic battle of The Last Alliance of men and elves that joined forces against Sauron. Which, according to the narration, by the way, "fell beneath [Sauron's] power". Also in this rendition, instead of facing Sauron head on and breaking his father's sword Narsil in the process of separating the Dark Lord from his Ring, Isildor is described as "a heroic shadow who slipped in" and cut the Ring from Sauron's hand while he wasn't looking. The action of this being done is even less impressive. The anonymous silhouette that was supposed to be Isildor weakly hits the other silhouette that was supposed to be Sauron with a sword that visibly wobbles while the latter clutches his hand as if his school teacher had just smacked his wrist with a ruler.
"Sauron Harold Darkside, have you been trying to conquer the world again?!"
"No, ma'am!"
Narsil, by the way, looks like it survived this, intact, yet is seen broken in later scenes. So, needless deviation number 3 in just three minutes.
Moving on, Sauron is so underplayed that he leaves no lasting impression. He's not intimidating or mysterious at all as portrayed in the books or the Jackson films. He's just some figure with a horned Viking helmet no more or less vague or mysterious than anyone else in this sequence. By the way, I think this is the very same helmet Boromir wears later.
As the rest of the narration continues on it is explained that because Isildor did not destroy the Ring, Sauron's spirit endeared and he went into hiding to recover his strength (though why it works this way is leftunexplained). Isildor was eventually ambushed by orcs near a river and the Ring lies forgotten and hidden there for two and a half thousand years.
The rest of the narration is word for word true to what happened in the books, though Gollum looks like the Grinch and sounds vaguely like Peter Ustinov for some reason.
After the opening narration, the audience is greeted with the first actual animation in the movie as of yet in the entire film, and it is actual animation.
For the next hour, the film actually follows the book reasonably well with a few noticeable discrepancies, which will be covered as they come along. For example, the filmmakers completely neglect to call Gandalf "Gandalf the Grey", and have him in bright blue. Also, the animation while present is hideous. The extra hobbits look like deformed garden gnomes, Frodo has an odd resemblance to Alvin the chipmunk with big 80s hair on his head, and Bilbo looks like he suffers from Down syndrome.
Cosmetics aside, the followings play out as they did in the books. Gandalf arrives in Hobbiton to celebrate the 111th Birthday of Bilbo, his old friend. Although it is greatly condensed, the filmmakers still managed to keep Bilbo's infamous speech and even manage a humorous moment with Mr. Proudfoot which would later be reflected in Jackson's take. However, as for the speech, instead of being played out endearingly and cleverly, it comes off drunken and almost incoherent. Bilbo tells the Hobbits at the party about how he "must" leave the Shire, though the audience is never told why. This gives one reason to surmise that Bakshi and company just assumed everyone who would see the film had already read the books AND had recently reread them or had a really good memory of everything that happens in the 1,000+ page book.
In the books, Bilbo's reasons for leaving the Shire were a combination of his adventurous side taking hold again and the Ring having an effect on him to try to use him to get back to its master. For the most part, though, his adventurous side is the main cause and he still succumbs to it when he leaves the Ring behind because of his growing boredom and weariness of the Shire via a "late"-life crisis ("I need a holiday, a long holiday…", Bilbo Baggins). He revisits the places of his younger days before settling down in Rivendell. All of this is completely left out in this film, leaving Bilbo without a real motive for doing any of the things he did at his 111th birthday party. Namely, slipping on the Ring and disappearing right in front of his relatives leaving poor Gandalf to take the blame for "spiriting him away". Which is what the other hobbits assumed happened in the book. We also never hear of this.
The other thing of note in this scene is that instead of merely disappearing, the action of putting on the Ring causes Bilbo to go up an in explosion of bright sparkles. In the book, Gandalf was responsible for the flashy part, but here it appears that the old wizard had no idea Bilbo would do this and is furious. Also, get used to overblown effects for magic like this, because every magical effect is like that in this film. I apologize in advance.
Bilbo reappears at Bag End to pick up his things, but before he can Gandalf also makes an appearance and begins badgering him on how dangerous using the Ring can be, all the while wagging his finger at the hobbit as if he were his mother.
In response to this, Bilbo throws a fit. He waves his arms around in the air as if he had gone into a seizure and claims that Gandalf just wants to get his hands on "his precious" and this is passed off as horrifying. Well, it is, but not for the reasons Bakshi intended.
Since the filmmakers omitted why Bilbo suddenly calling the Ring his "precious" is a bad thing it is to any audience member who is unfamiliar with Tolkien's works to guess why. In the books, this was to show that he was becoming obsessed and exhibiting the same symptoms Gollum had. The Jackson films even took this plot point a step further than the books by having Isildor do the same thing. "The Ring is 'precious' to me." –The memoires of Isildor from the Jackson adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Nevertheless, Gandalf shakes his fist roaring for Bilbo to not repeat that phrase. Bilbo quickly changes his tone, leaves the Ring behind as Gandalf suggests, and the scene fades to Bilbo waddling away from the Shire in a fashion similar to a penguin with a contented smile on his leads a donkey bearing his luggage along. Remember, although the filmmakers do not state this directly, but the Ring keeps its wearers from aging, so Bilbo in the same physical condition as he was when he faced Smaug.
Then the scene cuts to a wide shot of Hobbiton with the caption "seventeen years pass sleepily in the Shire", and the screen begins to fade between the four seasons of the year. Alright, simple enough, this would have been just fine. Alas, the powers that be then suddenly decided to jump cut through nine more seasons for 1 ½ seconds. Neurological seizures were probably abounded in the theater back in 1978. So, a caption that read, "17 years later", then simply fading to Frodo in Bag End just wouldn't have sufficed, huh, Bakshi and company?
Speaking of which, Frodo is sleeping in a chair when he awakened by someone knocking at the front door. He lazily stretches and answers it. Of course, it's Gandalf. Frodo does a little dance while he exclaims that he's happy to see the wizard. Gandalf states the painfully obvious for those still suffering from the seasonal jump cuts earlier and barges in without invitation.
He begins telling Frodo about how the Ring of Invisibility that Bilbo passed down to him might be the One Ring of Power. He sits down by the fireplace as he did in the book, and asks Frodo for the Ring. Frodo reluctantly hands it over and Gandalf takes the Ring into his hands whereas in the books he refused to even touch it. Then Gandalf asks him if he can see anything on it. Of course, it looks like a plain old Ring. So Gandalf casually throws it into the fireplace. Frodo is horrified and tries to retrieve it. Alright, a couple of things. The Ring of power has the ability to entice and corrupt it's bearers to the point where they become hopelessly addicted to it with little to no hope of breaking themselves of it. The more powerful the victim, the better, because then the Ring could use them get it's master's attention. As such, Gandalf is very well aware of the risk of even handling the Ring once. So, as you can imagine, he didn't exactly go around handling the blasted thingg with his bare hands a whole lot like they showcase him doing here.
As Frodo as an over-the-top reaction to the Ring being flung into the fireplace Gandalf tells him that he already desires the Ring too much, which Frodo denies. Gandalf then stands up and the lecture begins. Of course, his hands wave around, milking the giant cow, and his eyes bulge as he speaks. No, really. He also hilariously over-pronounces everything in ways that would make William Shatner and Sylvester McCoy jealous. Gandalf tells Frodo about Sauron, the Ring's effect on its users, and tells the young Hobbit that the responsibility of the Ring has fallen on his shoulders.
Gandalf then reaches into the fire with his bare hands and pulls the Ring out. He hands it back to Frodo who notes that it isn't even hot. Then Gandalf begins reciting the famous poem. He is clearly doing this from memory, because Frodo does not see the inscription on the Ring as none shows and declares it is the One Ring. Based on what? Because it stays cool in fire? Wouldn't all the Rings of Power do that? Yes, Bakshi and company introduced the plot point of throwing the Ring into the fire from the book and then failed to follow up on it. After being directly exposed to flame, the incantation on both the inside and outside of the Ring was supposed to become visible and the filmmakers completely skip and ignore this!
The scene gets worse as Gandalf madly gestures while reciting the poem as he practically chases poor Frodo around the room then ends his rant by spinning on one of his heels like a ballerina and as he says the words, "…and in the darkness bind them", suddenly stops, facing forward, and dramatically wraps his arms around himself. I've seen animated characters give very physical performances before, but I've never seen one who did an interpretative dance before. He then tells Frodo that Sauron has returned, he is looking for the Ring, and if he ever finds it, he will return to full power and conquer the world.
Next, instead of having Frodo and Gandalf discuss their plans quietly while sitting by the hobbit's fireplace like in the book and like two individuals trying to keep things under wraps would do, anyway, the Bakshi film moves the remainder of the scene outdoors so the two can loudly announce their secret plans to the entire neighborhood.
Here, Gandalf informs Frodo that Sauron has learned the name 'Baggins' via Gollum. Frodo of course makes his infamous claim about how Bilbo should have killed him, but the wizard makes his assertion about how "even the very wise cannot see all ends" and that Bilbo was moved by "pity and mercy" to spare Gollum. In this instance, the Bakshi Gandalf actually carried the line fairly well and one almost gets a sense of the real Gandalf here.
They decide that they must figure out what to do with the Ring, and Frodo immediately tries to give it to Gandalf who has a momentary spasm at the gesture, proclaiming that he can't take the Ring.
Following this display, Gandalf casually wanders over to a rustling bush and pulls out…Sam. First of all, one of the unfortunate results of having Gandalf and Frodo go for a walk in the middle of the night (it wasn't even night to begin with in the book, it was the middle of the day while the two sat at Frodo's fireplace), is that when Gandalf discovers Samwise eavesdropping, it is not under a window where Sam had the excuse of gardening. In the Bakshi film, they instead find him hiding out in a lone bush where Gandalf and Frodo just happened to be. Secondly, what was Sam doing even there? Or do I really want to know? Third, we are never told who Sam is. This is the first time the audience is introduced to him. That Sam is both Frodo's gardener and an old friend are not established. Yeah, a single sentence that could have been delivered over the course of five seconds was just too difficult for Bakshi to fit in. Anyone who hadn't read the books or had not done so recently would not know or might not remember at all. Last, this is where the film takes a turn for the worse.
Tolkien's Samwise Gamgee was a dynamic, honest, pure-hearted, strong-willed, courageous, and loyal character who is the embodiment of the best friend anyone, anywhere, could ever have. He overcomes his own shortcomings to support Frodo through hellfire and brimstone. He becomes an essential player in the grand scheme of things and the quest to destroy the Ring would have failed without him. By contrast, this Samwise Gamgee is a short, squat midget, even among hobbits, and he is an odious moron with a goofy sounding voice and a voice actor who either phones in his lines or carries on inanely. He's also been designated to comic relief in a Eisner-style "artistic" decision. If I remember correctly, Bakshi once said that he wouldn't leave Disney to be like Disney. Yet here he is, making the exact same choice one of the most reviled figures (Eisner) in animation would have in the same situation.
Also at absolutely no point does Sam ever play an important role in this movie or do anything useful.
Anyway, upon being pulled out of the bush (Ew!), Sam begins goose-stepping around babbling about he's afraid that Gandalf will turn him into "something unnatural". He isn't already? Frodo and Gandalf look on with indulgent smiles, telling the viewer that this is somehow supposed to be endearing. It is not.
Then Sam utters the line that has sparked many a "Sam the Mind-Reader" joke in several reviews of this film: "Well, I heard a deal that I didn't rightly understand, about an enemy and rings, and about elves, sir!" A cookie to anyone who spots the gaping hole in the writing here. At no point in their conversation did Frodo or Gandalf mention elves. Either this was the result of poor editing in which the parts of the conversation concerning elves from the book were actually recorded, then ended up on the cutting room floor, or someone made an equally huge mistake during the writing process. No matter what happened behind the scenes, this is a blatant display of ill-care for the project and many have stated how that they couldn't believe Bakshi, the writers, the editors, the producers, and anyone else who saw the film during screenings let slip by them.
Sam exclaims that he'd "love to go see elves", and unfortunately, Gandalf takes this cue to send him along with Frodo on his journey. Of all the times Bakshi picked to stick to the books, it was the time most audiences wished he hadn't. Take note that the Bakshi Sam's behavior exhibits a far more perverse reason for wanting to see the elves than many have been comfortable with as opposed to the Tolkien Sam's innocent wonderment towards them.
At this point, Gandalf announces that he must go and consult the head of his order…Aruman. In the books, the Head of the Order of Wizards was named Saruman. To explain this, test audiences were confused by the names Sauron and Saruman. So, the producers made Bakshi change the White Wizard's name via removing the 'S', part of the time. Unfortunately, as many have pointed out Bakshi was not consistent with this change and the characters revert to calling him Saruman the other half of the time.
Gandalf takes his leave after giving Frodo instructions to meet him at the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree. After the wizard leaves Samwise does a little chicken dance and struts way like a wind-up toy loudly raving about he's going to go "see the elves" with a tone reminiscent of Lenny from Of Mice and Men.
Next, cut to Gandalf's journey to Isengard, or at least cut to an animation of Gandalf riding around on his horse pasted in front of a poorly done Matte painting. Gandalf marches into (s)Aruman's tower and begins attempting to order the head of the order of wizards around. As for (S)Aruman, as it has been noticed by most viewers, he has the appearance of an Evil Santa Claus dressed in red robes with huge 70s hair and a voice about as smooth and charismatic as Yosemite Sam's. Yet he is still referred to "(S)Aruman the White" for whatever reason. Also, remember, in the books, Saruman had an enchanting voice that could persuade many over to his side.
(S)Aruman, who will be called Santaman from this point hence, says nothing for most of this scene, but when he does, he manages to out ham Gandalf at every turn. Then, after revealing that he has changed alliances, he raises his arms in the air, opens his robe at Gandalf (!), and gray/blue wizard and the audience are assaulted with an overblown light-show. This display of all manner of flashing lights and other weird things must have been inspired by a drug trip the filmmakers went on during production. Subtly, thy name is Bakshi.
The walls begin to fade, although the floor stays exactly the same, and suddenly the two are on the roof. Santaman walks off (to where?), leaving Gandalf just staying frozen in position for whatever reason and his prisoner roars the traitor's name as full volume. Santaman laughs evilly and the camera pans out to reveal how huge the tower is in comparison to Gandalf. Also, there's a giant disco ball encompassing the entire sky. It's out of focus, but to anyone who has ever seen an old John Travolta movie, there's no mistaking one when you see it.
Now, the scene is not clear about this, but Santaman put Gandalf up there to trap him and force him to switch sides as well. Also, in the books, Gandalf's staff was taken from him to give him a handicap in escaping as a wizard's power is channeled or at least enhanced through his staff. Gandalf's staff remains firmly in his grasp throughout this scene.
Fade back to the hobbits, Frodo and Sam. They are already leaving the Shire for Bree under the deception of Frodo moving to a home in Bywater, and have been joined by Merry and Pippin. The problem, though, is that we never learn which one is which for many scenes to come.
The viewer is taken through a montage of their travels, including one point where one of them has a guitar (?!) and the other three are merrily dancing to the music. By music, I mean tuneless "tra-la-la".
There's also some dialogue passed between them about how they need to use the name "Underhill" when referring to Frodo. However, before they can talk too much more, they hear something coming towards them on the road and they hide under some tree roots protruding out from the side of the steep hill that neighbors the road. This sequence is mirrored later in the Jackson version, which took a few cues from Bakshi's rendition.
As for the approaching visitor, it is of course one of the Nazgul, referred to as the Black Riders at this point in the saga. Now, where to begin? First of all, the rider is not wearing black. The rider is wearing brownish-gray. Secondly, instead of the swift and merciless killing machines they were in the books, this thing moves like one would expect a zombie or retiree to. It also makes a terrible wailing sound. No. Not a terrifying wailing sound, just a terrible one. The wraith leaves without checking the area properly. Jackson's version had a remedy for this. Merry distracts the wraith via throwing his pack and once it quickly rushes over to the source of the noise the hobbits make a break for it. Here, it's a wonder that version's Sauron was ever able to make 'The Last Alliance fall beneath his power' at all.
Once the 'danger' is gone, Frodo and his cousins have an argument. Anyone who has read the books knows that Merry, Pippin, Samwise, and a fourth hobbit named Fatty were all part of a conspiracy to uncover the truth about Bilbo and his disappearing act when the old hobbit once put the ring on while Merry was watching unnoticed. Bakshi actually keeps this detail but it comes out right here in the woods for any random passerby to overhear, instead of in the privacy of Frodo's 'new home', like in the books. Actually, come to think of it, it's no wonder Sauron was ever to threat to this Middle Earth. Everyone here is an idiot.
Frodo is angry at Sam and his cousins for spying, initially, before giving in after they declare that they'll stick with Frodo all the way (oh, joy.). Then they once again begin discussing their plans out in the open, just in case there were a few people who hadn't listened in yet.
The film skips over Farmer Maggot, the Old Forest, Old Man Willow, Tom Bombadil, and the Barrow Wights, so the hobbits are in Bree upon the very next scene. Although during their time at Farmer Maggot's, the hobbits learn that the Black Riders are searching for them, most of these chapters have absolutely nothing to do with the primary plot. Dropping the events in this part of the book is actually an understable deviation, one that would also be mirrored in later renditions.
Now, at the Prancing Pony, the next hint of just what a small budget Bakshi was working with is shown. There are a grand total of six animated characters in this scene, the four hobbits, Aragorn, and Butterbur the bartender. The rest…the rest are live-action actors with a visible effect put over them to try to make them look more like illustrations. This attempt, however, fails miserably. Oh, well, at least Aragorn still sits rather inconspicuously in the corner smoking his pipe like one would expect of a ranger. We also catch hint of some other characters from the books who whisper to each other as if they suspect who the hobbits really are. In the books, these three were Tom Ferny and his two cohorts who slipped off to contact the wraiths.
As per the books, Merry decides to go for a stroll in which he encounters the wraiths. Before he leaves he loudly reminds Frodo and the others to keep the secret. You know, just in case any of the other patrons of the Prancing Pony couldn't hear them. Wall banger much?
I also only know this is Merry because I read the books. If the film is anything to go on here, it could be either Merry or Pippin.
Moving on, Frodo soon finds himself at the center of attention and is called to sing a song. Unlike in the book in which he was inspired to do so to halt Pippin when his tongue was getting a little too loose, here Frodo just kind of does it. At least it's the same song from the books, though. Also, if you ever get a chance to watch this film, (and I wouldn't) closely observe the people who clap and cheer to Frodo's song. One of them is a midget dressed like John Wayne sitting next to what looks like Ronnie Dio dressed as a pirate.
Meanwhile, back with Merry on his stroll, the Raingwraiths sneak up on him and burp blue mist in his face, causing him to lose consciousness and then they just wonder off. More amazingly, they don't kill Merry or just stab him to turn him into a Wraith. In the books, they put Merry under the fear which paralyzes mortals in the Nazgul's presence right when they were probably about to search or interrogate him when they were caught by one of Butterbur's employees, Bob. They quickly ran off to avoid their presence being exposed. It would seem Bakshi just stuck this in here for bragging rights that he kept all the scenes from the book. No never mind that these scenes all had to serve some kind of purpose.
Back in the tavern, everyone is still dancing and cheering to Frodo's table dance, when he suddenly trips, falls over, and disappears via slipping the Ring on. This little scene makes sense, because Frodo, like in the books, was playing with the Ring in his pocket (in fact, he is visibly doing this while dancing here) and it accidentally slipped onto his finger when he fell.
However, instead of slinking away to reappear while no one is looking, as per the books, Frodo stupidly reappears while everyone is still watching. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen. Butterbur orders the hobbits upstairs to their room, and they comply. Anyone who has read the books will know Aragorn accompanies them.
Also, the hobbits have heavy pounding footsteps while walking down the hallway. As opposed to, you know the quick and quiet hobbits from the books.
Once they enter their room, they find that they have a guest waiting for them, Aragorn. Aragorn, thus far, has gotten the worse of the deal here. While some people attempt to advocate his appearance here by saying things "What would you expect from a guy who roughs in the wilderness all the time. He isn't going to be a pretty boy like Mortensen." Actually, he would be. Aragorn isn't just your typical ranger roughing it in the wood. He was raised by the elves, has a little elvish blood in him, and is of the high human race of the Numenoreans. No, there is no excuse for Aragorn to still not look handsome and almost beautiful as Tolkien states he is. Of course, people who advocate Bakshi was backing up Bakshi, not Tolkien, the person they should be defending. In this film, though, Aragorn looks like the half-bit superhero Apache Chief, from the Superfriends, in a sleeveless tunic and a mini-skirt with a dark drown cape and yellow boots. Unfortunately, we also catch a peak or two of what he's wearing under the skirt a couple of times. Fan disservice panty shots? He is voiced by John Hurt, whom you would know as the guy who got his chest-burst in the original Alien, Hellboy's adoptive father, and as The Elephant Man.
Unfortunately, the one thing Bakshi chose to stick to from the books is that Aragorn runs around with the broken sword, but no other weapon. This worked in Tolkien's original work, but here, it just looks ridiculous. Jackson's version also took care of this by giving Aragorn as full sword. Another problem with Aragorn's sword here is that Bakshi never explains its importance, nor is Gondor even given identity. I repeat it didn't even look like Narsil even broke in the opening narration when it cut the Ring from Sauron's hand.
In the book, Aragorn's sword Narsil belonged to Isildor, the King of Gondor, who was the man who cut the Ring from Sauron's hand. The sword was broken in the encounter. It is the heirloom of Isildor's bloodline and is passed down to his heir's. Aragorn is the only living descendant of the line as of the present, though. Gondor is the kingdom of the Numenors who have since then fallen from grace and are in need of their king, but only after Sauron is defeated can Aragorn be their king because Sauron will raze Gondor to the ground before he'll see their king returned to the throne. He's kind of a jerk that way.
Back to the film, the first thing Aragorn does is start lecturing the hobbits on their mistakes. This is very, VERY justified as Bakshi was portrayed all the hobbits as having not even half the intelligence they did from the books. The problem is that he makes Aragorn come across as a prick while he does this. While he's still lecturing them, Butterbur comes in with Merry, who was sedated earlier, and Aragorn yells at him (Butterbur), too. Samwise doesn't think they should trust Aragorn. You know, when the idiot starts making sense, the end must truly be near.
In response to this, Aragorn declares himself a friend to Gandalf. Take note that the letter Gandalf sent them in the books detailing who would come to meet them in Bree if he himself could not is left out altogether. So, long story short, Aragorn has absolutely no proof that he ever even met Gandalf and the hobbits are left with only his 'charismatic' personality to go on. However, the hobbits still decide to trust him. The Jackson film also had this problem, but they justified it by making the situation tense enough that the hobbits just didn't have a choice in the matter.
Later, the wraiths enter Bree and somehow teleport into the hobbits' room. The beds appear to be occupied, so they begin stabbing the lumps under the sheets. Of course, the beds turn out to be empty and the wraiths tear the room apart before throwing off their robes (?!) and revealing their true forms, which should actually be invisible to the naked eye. The whole reason for the robes was to give them corporeal form so that they could journey across the land to search for the Ring. They could not act otherwise.
Cut to the room Aragorn moved the hobbits to the thwart the wraiths' attack. They are safe and sound while the wraiths think that the hobbits have taken to the woods again, and leave town to find them. For once, Bakshi actually stuck to the books in a way that was both understandable and it doable without explanation. Savor it while you can.
The following day, Aragorn and the foursome leave Bree and make their way to Rivendell. Cue another montage of travel and one confusing scene in which they visibly see the wraiths chasing them, but nothing comes of this (?).
At the end of the traveling sequence, the scene fades to Aragorn telling the hobbits the moving love story of Beren and Luthien a couple that mirrors Aragorn and Arwen. Or would, had Arwen the elf maiden actually been featured in this version at all. While he tells them the story, Frodo and Sam snuggle up and get a little too friendly with each other. This is potentially the source of all the "Frodo and Sam are gay" theories. They are all dead wrong, of course, as Sam ends up with about fifteen children that he has with Rosie Cotton (another love interest not featured in this movie) and Frodo is mostly asexual in the books aside from a handful of times he was smitten by the elven beauty of Arwen and Galadriel.
Fortunately, the moment is interrupted before anything too unnatural can happen (this is not a dig at homosexuals. It's just that the thought of anyone getting it on with this Sam is a horrible image I am endlessly glad the wraiths rescued us from), when the group is attacked by the wraiths. The ringwraiths approach looking transparent and brown for some reason. Frodo is tempted to put the Ring and does so. Of course, the wraiths find him quickly because he did so and he is soon stabbed in the shoulder. On an interesting note, the one who stabbed him grabs him as he falls and sets him down on the ground tenderly. Ever the gentlemen!
Aragorn pounces at the wraiths all the while waving two flaming sticks in the air, scaring them off. Another thing not explained by Bakshi: the ringwraiths fear fire and those who wield it.
On Frodo's shoulder wound: Anyone who has read the books will know that the blade was enchanted with dark magics that will turn Frodo into a wraith before long and that he must be rushed to Rivendell for treatment. Fortunately, Bakshi is uncharacteristically clear about this.
Soon after this attack, the group is met on the road by another horseback visitor. Unlike in the books, it is not Glorfindel. Jackson's version has the same deviation, but they, at least, made it work. Here, Bakshi just simply displaces another one of Tolkien's characters for the sake of saving time and not having to introduce anymore new characters than necessary.
The rider is this rendition is Legolas, who is reduced from being the Prince of the Mirkwood elves to being Elrond's servant. His clothes look suspiciously identical to Luke Skywalker's wardrobe from the majority of the first Star Wars film. Legolas also has a flat face with a big nose that sticks out, and big Bambi eyes. He's also voiced by Anthony Daniels, who played C3-P0 in all the Star Wars films. Needless to say, this is the worse Legolas EVER!
Samwise is very enthusiastic about finally being able to see an elf up close. He grins widely, showing the audience the worse teeth since Steve Bescemi. Then giggles like a girl while hopping around excitedly like a child. The horrors never cease, do they, Bakshi?
After some talk about the wound inflicted on Frodo from the Morgol blade the group arrives at a riverbank. Here, they are attacked by the wraiths once again, and the background becomes live-action clouds colored purple, for some reason. Frodo is bid to go ahead on horseback and the infamous chase scene from the books begins. Not before Aragorn gets tripped up by the wraiths after he proclaims that he will try to slow them down, though. This is not the last moment of complete incompetence on this Aragorn's part, I am afraid.
Frodo finally arrives at the border of Rivendell after a long and confusing chase scene in which his horse seems to die and be resurrected. Yes, really. The wraiths bid him to go to back to Mordor with them, but Frodo pathetically resists, pulling out his sword and waving it around in the air like an old man might wave a cane at children playing on his lawn.
The wraiths, all nine of them now gathered at the riverbank, start to head towards Frodo when they're overtaken by Elrond's tidal wave that takes the form of horses. Frodo passes out.
to be continued...
After notes:
John Boorman, when he couldn't adapt The Lord of the Rings, instead made a film titled Zardoz, which starred a bikini-clad Sean Connery, giant floating heads which spit guns, and an opening speech about how "the penis is evil, but the gun is good". The film was of the 'I am not making this up' variety, so say the least. Check it out, its insanity will not fail to disappoint.
The film we will be covering was released 1978 and it covers roughly the first two-thirds of the book, in which the all of the events of The Fellowship of the Ring and part of The Two Towers are covered. The film ends immediately at the end of the Siege of Helm's Deep and before Frodo and Sam encounter Faramir or enter Shelob's Lair.
Before the film can be combed, the history behind its conception and Pre-Production must be covered. In the late 1950s, the Tolkien family had financial problems and the rights to make a movie out of the book were sold for a large sum.
It was around this time that Bakshi became acquainted with the work during his time at Terrytoons and thought it would make for an excellent animated TV series. However, the rights were out of his reach at the moment as others were trying to get a Lord of the Rings film off the ground at the moment. None of them ever left the planning stage of production (how fortunate or unfortunate is up to you) and the rights were eventually sold to United Artists Entertainment LCC. This task of making the film was handed over to Stanley Kubrick and John Boorman* to try to adapt it…as a single film…starring The Beatles as Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin. This thankfully did not get made, either.
It was in the Mid-1970s, after Bakshi had achieved box office success that he approached the studio for the rights to make the film. He got them at the cost of $3 million. Bakshi's original proposition was to create a three-part animated adaptation, each film covering a volume. However, the deal was changed after one of the producers brought on board was fired. A new producer was brought in and had Bakshi redo the deal to two films.
During Pre-Production, the film was given a budget of $8 million (Boxofficemojo will say it's currently $4 million, but it keeps changing to be less and less. Take from that what you will.). Chris Conkling and book author Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn) were brought on board to write the screenplay, several college students (including a young Tim Burton) were hired on as animators, and Leonard Rosenman was hired to compose the music. Soon, with a limited budget, and a greatly condensed story, production was underway. The following is the result of Bakshi and company's attempt to adapt Tolkien's most beloved book. It ended up being two hours and eighteen minutes long and it covers all of The Fellowship of the Rings and the majority of The Two Towers.
Note: Bakshi actually met with Tolkien's sons and daughters to properly discuss how to make the film and promised them to stay as close to the films as possible. Keep this in mind at all times.
Originally, the entire film was supposed to be fully animated via rotoscoping. As explained before, rotoscoping is essentially Motion-Capture's traditional animation distant ancestor. Live-action actors and sequences are filmed then drawn over frame by frame. Due to limited budget, Bakshi soon ran out of money to make the film fully animated and made due with shooting the film at High Contrast to give it a more animated look. This was met with little success. The first signs of production decay are actually evident during the first scene of the film.
The opening scene is a narration about the history of the One Ring of Power. According to the film, the Rings of Power were first forged by elves and divided amongst the other races of Middle Earth. Then sometime afterwards the Dark Lord Sauron learned the secret of art of ring-making and made his own ring to conquer all the other rings. Within the first few minutes, it's shown that evidently reading the book and speaking with Tolkien's children is not enough to stay true to the book for Bakshi. This change has baffled several people who have seen it. Would it have taken longer to explain that Sauron, using trickery, fooled the elves into creating the Rings so that he could use the Master Ring to rule all the other ones? What was this change's purpose? Was it to make Sauron look pettier? Apparently, changing shape and tricking others into constructing the artifacts of their own doom just wasn't considered low enough.
Moving on, the opening scenes only get worse. The sequence is not animated. It is filmed behind a red window shade with live-action actors dressed in cheap costumes who perform like amateur stage actors with wooden swords throughout the scenes of the Ring making and battles. Stage lights shine behind the action so shadows on a red screen are all the audience can make out. If this was all it took to film an epic narrative, we'd all be doing it.
As for that battle scene, it appears as if about a dozen or so men are having a random fight somewhere, rather than the epic battle of The Last Alliance of men and elves that joined forces against Sauron. Which, according to the narration, by the way, "fell beneath [Sauron's] power". Also in this rendition, instead of facing Sauron head on and breaking his father's sword Narsil in the process of separating the Dark Lord from his Ring, Isildor is described as "a heroic shadow who slipped in" and cut the Ring from Sauron's hand while he wasn't looking. The action of this being done is even less impressive. The anonymous silhouette that was supposed to be Isildor weakly hits the other silhouette that was supposed to be Sauron with a sword that visibly wobbles while the latter clutches his hand as if his school teacher had just smacked his wrist with a ruler.
"Sauron Harold Darkside, have you been trying to conquer the world again?!"
"No, ma'am!"
Narsil, by the way, looks like it survived this, intact, yet is seen broken in later scenes. So, needless deviation number 3 in just three minutes.
Moving on, Sauron is so underplayed that he leaves no lasting impression. He's not intimidating or mysterious at all as portrayed in the books or the Jackson films. He's just some figure with a horned Viking helmet no more or less vague or mysterious than anyone else in this sequence. By the way, I think this is the very same helmet Boromir wears later.
As the rest of the narration continues on it is explained that because Isildor did not destroy the Ring, Sauron's spirit endeared and he went into hiding to recover his strength (though why it works this way is leftunexplained). Isildor was eventually ambushed by orcs near a river and the Ring lies forgotten and hidden there for two and a half thousand years.
The rest of the narration is word for word true to what happened in the books, though Gollum looks like the Grinch and sounds vaguely like Peter Ustinov for some reason.
After the opening narration, the audience is greeted with the first actual animation in the movie as of yet in the entire film, and it is actual animation.
For the next hour, the film actually follows the book reasonably well with a few noticeable discrepancies, which will be covered as they come along. For example, the filmmakers completely neglect to call Gandalf "Gandalf the Grey", and have him in bright blue. Also, the animation while present is hideous. The extra hobbits look like deformed garden gnomes, Frodo has an odd resemblance to Alvin the chipmunk with big 80s hair on his head, and Bilbo looks like he suffers from Down syndrome.
Cosmetics aside, the followings play out as they did in the books. Gandalf arrives in Hobbiton to celebrate the 111th Birthday of Bilbo, his old friend. Although it is greatly condensed, the filmmakers still managed to keep Bilbo's infamous speech and even manage a humorous moment with Mr. Proudfoot which would later be reflected in Jackson's take. However, as for the speech, instead of being played out endearingly and cleverly, it comes off drunken and almost incoherent. Bilbo tells the Hobbits at the party about how he "must" leave the Shire, though the audience is never told why. This gives one reason to surmise that Bakshi and company just assumed everyone who would see the film had already read the books AND had recently reread them or had a really good memory of everything that happens in the 1,000+ page book.
In the books, Bilbo's reasons for leaving the Shire were a combination of his adventurous side taking hold again and the Ring having an effect on him to try to use him to get back to its master. For the most part, though, his adventurous side is the main cause and he still succumbs to it when he leaves the Ring behind because of his growing boredom and weariness of the Shire via a "late"-life crisis ("I need a holiday, a long holiday…", Bilbo Baggins). He revisits the places of his younger days before settling down in Rivendell. All of this is completely left out in this film, leaving Bilbo without a real motive for doing any of the things he did at his 111th birthday party. Namely, slipping on the Ring and disappearing right in front of his relatives leaving poor Gandalf to take the blame for "spiriting him away". Which is what the other hobbits assumed happened in the book. We also never hear of this.
The other thing of note in this scene is that instead of merely disappearing, the action of putting on the Ring causes Bilbo to go up an in explosion of bright sparkles. In the book, Gandalf was responsible for the flashy part, but here it appears that the old wizard had no idea Bilbo would do this and is furious. Also, get used to overblown effects for magic like this, because every magical effect is like that in this film. I apologize in advance.
Bilbo reappears at Bag End to pick up his things, but before he can Gandalf also makes an appearance and begins badgering him on how dangerous using the Ring can be, all the while wagging his finger at the hobbit as if he were his mother.
In response to this, Bilbo throws a fit. He waves his arms around in the air as if he had gone into a seizure and claims that Gandalf just wants to get his hands on "his precious" and this is passed off as horrifying. Well, it is, but not for the reasons Bakshi intended.
Since the filmmakers omitted why Bilbo suddenly calling the Ring his "precious" is a bad thing it is to any audience member who is unfamiliar with Tolkien's works to guess why. In the books, this was to show that he was becoming obsessed and exhibiting the same symptoms Gollum had. The Jackson films even took this plot point a step further than the books by having Isildor do the same thing. "The Ring is 'precious' to me." –The memoires of Isildor from the Jackson adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Nevertheless, Gandalf shakes his fist roaring for Bilbo to not repeat that phrase. Bilbo quickly changes his tone, leaves the Ring behind as Gandalf suggests, and the scene fades to Bilbo waddling away from the Shire in a fashion similar to a penguin with a contented smile on his leads a donkey bearing his luggage along. Remember, although the filmmakers do not state this directly, but the Ring keeps its wearers from aging, so Bilbo in the same physical condition as he was when he faced Smaug.
Then the scene cuts to a wide shot of Hobbiton with the caption "seventeen years pass sleepily in the Shire", and the screen begins to fade between the four seasons of the year. Alright, simple enough, this would have been just fine. Alas, the powers that be then suddenly decided to jump cut through nine more seasons for 1 ½ seconds. Neurological seizures were probably abounded in the theater back in 1978. So, a caption that read, "17 years later", then simply fading to Frodo in Bag End just wouldn't have sufficed, huh, Bakshi and company?
Speaking of which, Frodo is sleeping in a chair when he awakened by someone knocking at the front door. He lazily stretches and answers it. Of course, it's Gandalf. Frodo does a little dance while he exclaims that he's happy to see the wizard. Gandalf states the painfully obvious for those still suffering from the seasonal jump cuts earlier and barges in without invitation.
He begins telling Frodo about how the Ring of Invisibility that Bilbo passed down to him might be the One Ring of Power. He sits down by the fireplace as he did in the book, and asks Frodo for the Ring. Frodo reluctantly hands it over and Gandalf takes the Ring into his hands whereas in the books he refused to even touch it. Then Gandalf asks him if he can see anything on it. Of course, it looks like a plain old Ring. So Gandalf casually throws it into the fireplace. Frodo is horrified and tries to retrieve it. Alright, a couple of things. The Ring of power has the ability to entice and corrupt it's bearers to the point where they become hopelessly addicted to it with little to no hope of breaking themselves of it. The more powerful the victim, the better, because then the Ring could use them get it's master's attention. As such, Gandalf is very well aware of the risk of even handling the Ring once. So, as you can imagine, he didn't exactly go around handling the blasted thingg with his bare hands a whole lot like they showcase him doing here.
As Frodo as an over-the-top reaction to the Ring being flung into the fireplace Gandalf tells him that he already desires the Ring too much, which Frodo denies. Gandalf then stands up and the lecture begins. Of course, his hands wave around, milking the giant cow, and his eyes bulge as he speaks. No, really. He also hilariously over-pronounces everything in ways that would make William Shatner and Sylvester McCoy jealous. Gandalf tells Frodo about Sauron, the Ring's effect on its users, and tells the young Hobbit that the responsibility of the Ring has fallen on his shoulders.
Gandalf then reaches into the fire with his bare hands and pulls the Ring out. He hands it back to Frodo who notes that it isn't even hot. Then Gandalf begins reciting the famous poem. He is clearly doing this from memory, because Frodo does not see the inscription on the Ring as none shows and declares it is the One Ring. Based on what? Because it stays cool in fire? Wouldn't all the Rings of Power do that? Yes, Bakshi and company introduced the plot point of throwing the Ring into the fire from the book and then failed to follow up on it. After being directly exposed to flame, the incantation on both the inside and outside of the Ring was supposed to become visible and the filmmakers completely skip and ignore this!
The scene gets worse as Gandalf madly gestures while reciting the poem as he practically chases poor Frodo around the room then ends his rant by spinning on one of his heels like a ballerina and as he says the words, "…and in the darkness bind them", suddenly stops, facing forward, and dramatically wraps his arms around himself. I've seen animated characters give very physical performances before, but I've never seen one who did an interpretative dance before. He then tells Frodo that Sauron has returned, he is looking for the Ring, and if he ever finds it, he will return to full power and conquer the world.
Next, instead of having Frodo and Gandalf discuss their plans quietly while sitting by the hobbit's fireplace like in the book and like two individuals trying to keep things under wraps would do, anyway, the Bakshi film moves the remainder of the scene outdoors so the two can loudly announce their secret plans to the entire neighborhood.
Here, Gandalf informs Frodo that Sauron has learned the name 'Baggins' via Gollum. Frodo of course makes his infamous claim about how Bilbo should have killed him, but the wizard makes his assertion about how "even the very wise cannot see all ends" and that Bilbo was moved by "pity and mercy" to spare Gollum. In this instance, the Bakshi Gandalf actually carried the line fairly well and one almost gets a sense of the real Gandalf here.
They decide that they must figure out what to do with the Ring, and Frodo immediately tries to give it to Gandalf who has a momentary spasm at the gesture, proclaiming that he can't take the Ring.
Following this display, Gandalf casually wanders over to a rustling bush and pulls out…Sam. First of all, one of the unfortunate results of having Gandalf and Frodo go for a walk in the middle of the night (it wasn't even night to begin with in the book, it was the middle of the day while the two sat at Frodo's fireplace), is that when Gandalf discovers Samwise eavesdropping, it is not under a window where Sam had the excuse of gardening. In the Bakshi film, they instead find him hiding out in a lone bush where Gandalf and Frodo just happened to be. Secondly, what was Sam doing even there? Or do I really want to know? Third, we are never told who Sam is. This is the first time the audience is introduced to him. That Sam is both Frodo's gardener and an old friend are not established. Yeah, a single sentence that could have been delivered over the course of five seconds was just too difficult for Bakshi to fit in. Anyone who hadn't read the books or had not done so recently would not know or might not remember at all. Last, this is where the film takes a turn for the worse.
Tolkien's Samwise Gamgee was a dynamic, honest, pure-hearted, strong-willed, courageous, and loyal character who is the embodiment of the best friend anyone, anywhere, could ever have. He overcomes his own shortcomings to support Frodo through hellfire and brimstone. He becomes an essential player in the grand scheme of things and the quest to destroy the Ring would have failed without him. By contrast, this Samwise Gamgee is a short, squat midget, even among hobbits, and he is an odious moron with a goofy sounding voice and a voice actor who either phones in his lines or carries on inanely. He's also been designated to comic relief in a Eisner-style "artistic" decision. If I remember correctly, Bakshi once said that he wouldn't leave Disney to be like Disney. Yet here he is, making the exact same choice one of the most reviled figures (Eisner) in animation would have in the same situation.
Also at absolutely no point does Sam ever play an important role in this movie or do anything useful.
Anyway, upon being pulled out of the bush (Ew!), Sam begins goose-stepping around babbling about he's afraid that Gandalf will turn him into "something unnatural". He isn't already? Frodo and Gandalf look on with indulgent smiles, telling the viewer that this is somehow supposed to be endearing. It is not.
Then Sam utters the line that has sparked many a "Sam the Mind-Reader" joke in several reviews of this film: "Well, I heard a deal that I didn't rightly understand, about an enemy and rings, and about elves, sir!" A cookie to anyone who spots the gaping hole in the writing here. At no point in their conversation did Frodo or Gandalf mention elves. Either this was the result of poor editing in which the parts of the conversation concerning elves from the book were actually recorded, then ended up on the cutting room floor, or someone made an equally huge mistake during the writing process. No matter what happened behind the scenes, this is a blatant display of ill-care for the project and many have stated how that they couldn't believe Bakshi, the writers, the editors, the producers, and anyone else who saw the film during screenings let slip by them.
Sam exclaims that he'd "love to go see elves", and unfortunately, Gandalf takes this cue to send him along with Frodo on his journey. Of all the times Bakshi picked to stick to the books, it was the time most audiences wished he hadn't. Take note that the Bakshi Sam's behavior exhibits a far more perverse reason for wanting to see the elves than many have been comfortable with as opposed to the Tolkien Sam's innocent wonderment towards them.
At this point, Gandalf announces that he must go and consult the head of his order…Aruman. In the books, the Head of the Order of Wizards was named Saruman. To explain this, test audiences were confused by the names Sauron and Saruman. So, the producers made Bakshi change the White Wizard's name via removing the 'S', part of the time. Unfortunately, as many have pointed out Bakshi was not consistent with this change and the characters revert to calling him Saruman the other half of the time.
Gandalf takes his leave after giving Frodo instructions to meet him at the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree. After the wizard leaves Samwise does a little chicken dance and struts way like a wind-up toy loudly raving about he's going to go "see the elves" with a tone reminiscent of Lenny from Of Mice and Men.
Next, cut to Gandalf's journey to Isengard, or at least cut to an animation of Gandalf riding around on his horse pasted in front of a poorly done Matte painting. Gandalf marches into (s)Aruman's tower and begins attempting to order the head of the order of wizards around. As for (S)Aruman, as it has been noticed by most viewers, he has the appearance of an Evil Santa Claus dressed in red robes with huge 70s hair and a voice about as smooth and charismatic as Yosemite Sam's. Yet he is still referred to "(S)Aruman the White" for whatever reason. Also, remember, in the books, Saruman had an enchanting voice that could persuade many over to his side.
(S)Aruman, who will be called Santaman from this point hence, says nothing for most of this scene, but when he does, he manages to out ham Gandalf at every turn. Then, after revealing that he has changed alliances, he raises his arms in the air, opens his robe at Gandalf (!), and gray/blue wizard and the audience are assaulted with an overblown light-show. This display of all manner of flashing lights and other weird things must have been inspired by a drug trip the filmmakers went on during production. Subtly, thy name is Bakshi.
The walls begin to fade, although the floor stays exactly the same, and suddenly the two are on the roof. Santaman walks off (to where?), leaving Gandalf just staying frozen in position for whatever reason and his prisoner roars the traitor's name as full volume. Santaman laughs evilly and the camera pans out to reveal how huge the tower is in comparison to Gandalf. Also, there's a giant disco ball encompassing the entire sky. It's out of focus, but to anyone who has ever seen an old John Travolta movie, there's no mistaking one when you see it.
Now, the scene is not clear about this, but Santaman put Gandalf up there to trap him and force him to switch sides as well. Also, in the books, Gandalf's staff was taken from him to give him a handicap in escaping as a wizard's power is channeled or at least enhanced through his staff. Gandalf's staff remains firmly in his grasp throughout this scene.
Fade back to the hobbits, Frodo and Sam. They are already leaving the Shire for Bree under the deception of Frodo moving to a home in Bywater, and have been joined by Merry and Pippin. The problem, though, is that we never learn which one is which for many scenes to come.
The viewer is taken through a montage of their travels, including one point where one of them has a guitar (?!) and the other three are merrily dancing to the music. By music, I mean tuneless "tra-la-la".
There's also some dialogue passed between them about how they need to use the name "Underhill" when referring to Frodo. However, before they can talk too much more, they hear something coming towards them on the road and they hide under some tree roots protruding out from the side of the steep hill that neighbors the road. This sequence is mirrored later in the Jackson version, which took a few cues from Bakshi's rendition.
As for the approaching visitor, it is of course one of the Nazgul, referred to as the Black Riders at this point in the saga. Now, where to begin? First of all, the rider is not wearing black. The rider is wearing brownish-gray. Secondly, instead of the swift and merciless killing machines they were in the books, this thing moves like one would expect a zombie or retiree to. It also makes a terrible wailing sound. No. Not a terrifying wailing sound, just a terrible one. The wraith leaves without checking the area properly. Jackson's version had a remedy for this. Merry distracts the wraith via throwing his pack and once it quickly rushes over to the source of the noise the hobbits make a break for it. Here, it's a wonder that version's Sauron was ever able to make 'The Last Alliance fall beneath his power' at all.
Once the 'danger' is gone, Frodo and his cousins have an argument. Anyone who has read the books knows that Merry, Pippin, Samwise, and a fourth hobbit named Fatty were all part of a conspiracy to uncover the truth about Bilbo and his disappearing act when the old hobbit once put the ring on while Merry was watching unnoticed. Bakshi actually keeps this detail but it comes out right here in the woods for any random passerby to overhear, instead of in the privacy of Frodo's 'new home', like in the books. Actually, come to think of it, it's no wonder Sauron was ever to threat to this Middle Earth. Everyone here is an idiot.
Frodo is angry at Sam and his cousins for spying, initially, before giving in after they declare that they'll stick with Frodo all the way (oh, joy.). Then they once again begin discussing their plans out in the open, just in case there were a few people who hadn't listened in yet.
The film skips over Farmer Maggot, the Old Forest, Old Man Willow, Tom Bombadil, and the Barrow Wights, so the hobbits are in Bree upon the very next scene. Although during their time at Farmer Maggot's, the hobbits learn that the Black Riders are searching for them, most of these chapters have absolutely nothing to do with the primary plot. Dropping the events in this part of the book is actually an understable deviation, one that would also be mirrored in later renditions.
Now, at the Prancing Pony, the next hint of just what a small budget Bakshi was working with is shown. There are a grand total of six animated characters in this scene, the four hobbits, Aragorn, and Butterbur the bartender. The rest…the rest are live-action actors with a visible effect put over them to try to make them look more like illustrations. This attempt, however, fails miserably. Oh, well, at least Aragorn still sits rather inconspicuously in the corner smoking his pipe like one would expect of a ranger. We also catch hint of some other characters from the books who whisper to each other as if they suspect who the hobbits really are. In the books, these three were Tom Ferny and his two cohorts who slipped off to contact the wraiths.
As per the books, Merry decides to go for a stroll in which he encounters the wraiths. Before he leaves he loudly reminds Frodo and the others to keep the secret. You know, just in case any of the other patrons of the Prancing Pony couldn't hear them. Wall banger much?
I also only know this is Merry because I read the books. If the film is anything to go on here, it could be either Merry or Pippin.
Moving on, Frodo soon finds himself at the center of attention and is called to sing a song. Unlike in the book in which he was inspired to do so to halt Pippin when his tongue was getting a little too loose, here Frodo just kind of does it. At least it's the same song from the books, though. Also, if you ever get a chance to watch this film, (and I wouldn't) closely observe the people who clap and cheer to Frodo's song. One of them is a midget dressed like John Wayne sitting next to what looks like Ronnie Dio dressed as a pirate.
Meanwhile, back with Merry on his stroll, the Raingwraiths sneak up on him and burp blue mist in his face, causing him to lose consciousness and then they just wonder off. More amazingly, they don't kill Merry or just stab him to turn him into a Wraith. In the books, they put Merry under the fear which paralyzes mortals in the Nazgul's presence right when they were probably about to search or interrogate him when they were caught by one of Butterbur's employees, Bob. They quickly ran off to avoid their presence being exposed. It would seem Bakshi just stuck this in here for bragging rights that he kept all the scenes from the book. No never mind that these scenes all had to serve some kind of purpose.
Back in the tavern, everyone is still dancing and cheering to Frodo's table dance, when he suddenly trips, falls over, and disappears via slipping the Ring on. This little scene makes sense, because Frodo, like in the books, was playing with the Ring in his pocket (in fact, he is visibly doing this while dancing here) and it accidentally slipped onto his finger when he fell.
However, instead of slinking away to reappear while no one is looking, as per the books, Frodo stupidly reappears while everyone is still watching. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen. Butterbur orders the hobbits upstairs to their room, and they comply. Anyone who has read the books will know Aragorn accompanies them.
Also, the hobbits have heavy pounding footsteps while walking down the hallway. As opposed to, you know the quick and quiet hobbits from the books.
Once they enter their room, they find that they have a guest waiting for them, Aragorn. Aragorn, thus far, has gotten the worse of the deal here. While some people attempt to advocate his appearance here by saying things "What would you expect from a guy who roughs in the wilderness all the time. He isn't going to be a pretty boy like Mortensen." Actually, he would be. Aragorn isn't just your typical ranger roughing it in the wood. He was raised by the elves, has a little elvish blood in him, and is of the high human race of the Numenoreans. No, there is no excuse for Aragorn to still not look handsome and almost beautiful as Tolkien states he is. Of course, people who advocate Bakshi was backing up Bakshi, not Tolkien, the person they should be defending. In this film, though, Aragorn looks like the half-bit superhero Apache Chief, from the Superfriends, in a sleeveless tunic and a mini-skirt with a dark drown cape and yellow boots. Unfortunately, we also catch a peak or two of what he's wearing under the skirt a couple of times. Fan disservice panty shots? He is voiced by John Hurt, whom you would know as the guy who got his chest-burst in the original Alien, Hellboy's adoptive father, and as The Elephant Man.
Unfortunately, the one thing Bakshi chose to stick to from the books is that Aragorn runs around with the broken sword, but no other weapon. This worked in Tolkien's original work, but here, it just looks ridiculous. Jackson's version also took care of this by giving Aragorn as full sword. Another problem with Aragorn's sword here is that Bakshi never explains its importance, nor is Gondor even given identity. I repeat it didn't even look like Narsil even broke in the opening narration when it cut the Ring from Sauron's hand.
In the book, Aragorn's sword Narsil belonged to Isildor, the King of Gondor, who was the man who cut the Ring from Sauron's hand. The sword was broken in the encounter. It is the heirloom of Isildor's bloodline and is passed down to his heir's. Aragorn is the only living descendant of the line as of the present, though. Gondor is the kingdom of the Numenors who have since then fallen from grace and are in need of their king, but only after Sauron is defeated can Aragorn be their king because Sauron will raze Gondor to the ground before he'll see their king returned to the throne. He's kind of a jerk that way.
Back to the film, the first thing Aragorn does is start lecturing the hobbits on their mistakes. This is very, VERY justified as Bakshi was portrayed all the hobbits as having not even half the intelligence they did from the books. The problem is that he makes Aragorn come across as a prick while he does this. While he's still lecturing them, Butterbur comes in with Merry, who was sedated earlier, and Aragorn yells at him (Butterbur), too. Samwise doesn't think they should trust Aragorn. You know, when the idiot starts making sense, the end must truly be near.
In response to this, Aragorn declares himself a friend to Gandalf. Take note that the letter Gandalf sent them in the books detailing who would come to meet them in Bree if he himself could not is left out altogether. So, long story short, Aragorn has absolutely no proof that he ever even met Gandalf and the hobbits are left with only his 'charismatic' personality to go on. However, the hobbits still decide to trust him. The Jackson film also had this problem, but they justified it by making the situation tense enough that the hobbits just didn't have a choice in the matter.
Later, the wraiths enter Bree and somehow teleport into the hobbits' room. The beds appear to be occupied, so they begin stabbing the lumps under the sheets. Of course, the beds turn out to be empty and the wraiths tear the room apart before throwing off their robes (?!) and revealing their true forms, which should actually be invisible to the naked eye. The whole reason for the robes was to give them corporeal form so that they could journey across the land to search for the Ring. They could not act otherwise.
Cut to the room Aragorn moved the hobbits to the thwart the wraiths' attack. They are safe and sound while the wraiths think that the hobbits have taken to the woods again, and leave town to find them. For once, Bakshi actually stuck to the books in a way that was both understandable and it doable without explanation. Savor it while you can.
The following day, Aragorn and the foursome leave Bree and make their way to Rivendell. Cue another montage of travel and one confusing scene in which they visibly see the wraiths chasing them, but nothing comes of this (?).
At the end of the traveling sequence, the scene fades to Aragorn telling the hobbits the moving love story of Beren and Luthien a couple that mirrors Aragorn and Arwen. Or would, had Arwen the elf maiden actually been featured in this version at all. While he tells them the story, Frodo and Sam snuggle up and get a little too friendly with each other. This is potentially the source of all the "Frodo and Sam are gay" theories. They are all dead wrong, of course, as Sam ends up with about fifteen children that he has with Rosie Cotton (another love interest not featured in this movie) and Frodo is mostly asexual in the books aside from a handful of times he was smitten by the elven beauty of Arwen and Galadriel.
Fortunately, the moment is interrupted before anything too unnatural can happen (this is not a dig at homosexuals. It's just that the thought of anyone getting it on with this Sam is a horrible image I am endlessly glad the wraiths rescued us from), when the group is attacked by the wraiths. The ringwraiths approach looking transparent and brown for some reason. Frodo is tempted to put the Ring and does so. Of course, the wraiths find him quickly because he did so and he is soon stabbed in the shoulder. On an interesting note, the one who stabbed him grabs him as he falls and sets him down on the ground tenderly. Ever the gentlemen!
Aragorn pounces at the wraiths all the while waving two flaming sticks in the air, scaring them off. Another thing not explained by Bakshi: the ringwraiths fear fire and those who wield it.
On Frodo's shoulder wound: Anyone who has read the books will know that the blade was enchanted with dark magics that will turn Frodo into a wraith before long and that he must be rushed to Rivendell for treatment. Fortunately, Bakshi is uncharacteristically clear about this.
Soon after this attack, the group is met on the road by another horseback visitor. Unlike in the books, it is not Glorfindel. Jackson's version has the same deviation, but they, at least, made it work. Here, Bakshi just simply displaces another one of Tolkien's characters for the sake of saving time and not having to introduce anymore new characters than necessary.
The rider is this rendition is Legolas, who is reduced from being the Prince of the Mirkwood elves to being Elrond's servant. His clothes look suspiciously identical to Luke Skywalker's wardrobe from the majority of the first Star Wars film. Legolas also has a flat face with a big nose that sticks out, and big Bambi eyes. He's also voiced by Anthony Daniels, who played C3-P0 in all the Star Wars films. Needless to say, this is the worse Legolas EVER!
Samwise is very enthusiastic about finally being able to see an elf up close. He grins widely, showing the audience the worse teeth since Steve Bescemi. Then giggles like a girl while hopping around excitedly like a child. The horrors never cease, do they, Bakshi?
After some talk about the wound inflicted on Frodo from the Morgol blade the group arrives at a riverbank. Here, they are attacked by the wraiths once again, and the background becomes live-action clouds colored purple, for some reason. Frodo is bid to go ahead on horseback and the infamous chase scene from the books begins. Not before Aragorn gets tripped up by the wraiths after he proclaims that he will try to slow them down, though. This is not the last moment of complete incompetence on this Aragorn's part, I am afraid.
Frodo finally arrives at the border of Rivendell after a long and confusing chase scene in which his horse seems to die and be resurrected. Yes, really. The wraiths bid him to go to back to Mordor with them, but Frodo pathetically resists, pulling out his sword and waving it around in the air like an old man might wave a cane at children playing on his lawn.
The wraiths, all nine of them now gathered at the riverbank, start to head towards Frodo when they're overtaken by Elrond's tidal wave that takes the form of horses. Frodo passes out.
to be continued...
After notes:
John Boorman, when he couldn't adapt The Lord of the Rings, instead made a film titled Zardoz, which starred a bikini-clad Sean Connery, giant floating heads which spit guns, and an opening speech about how "the penis is evil, but the gun is good". The film was of the 'I am not making this up' variety, so say the least. Check it out, its insanity will not fail to disappoint.