Difference between revisions of "The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)"

Latest revision as of 18:39, November 7, 2023

The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's popular book by the same name. It mainly adapted The Fellowship of the Ring, but it also had some of The Two Towers as well. The film wasn't well received, and due to a change of leadership during the film's production, a sequel which would have covered the rest of the story was never released.

Plot

The Fellowship of the Ring

After a prologue telling the Ring's history, and being found by Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey arrives in the Shire for Bilbo's 111st birthday party, and he sees Bilbo disappear to his frustration. Gandalf arrives at Bag End, and reminds Bilbo to leave the Ring for his nephew Frodo while he goes to Rivendell. Bilbo refuses, calling the Ring his precious, which gets Gandalf to snap, and Bilbo then leaves the Shire, leaving the Ring in Bag End. 17 years later, Gandalf returns to Bag End to speak with Frodo about the Ring, and after confirming it is Sauron's ring, he tells Frodo about the evil powers of it, and tells Frodo to go to Rivendell, and sends his friend Samwise "Sam" Gamgee with him after he caught him eavesdropping. While Gandalf will go south to Isengard to speak with Saruman the White who is the head of his order. At Isengard, Gandalf tells Saruman about the Ringwraiths coming to the Shire to look for the One Ring, Saruman reveals he joined with Sauron, and after a failed attempt to win him over, Saruman traps Gandalf at the top of Orthanc. Meanwhile, after a stop in Buckland, Frodo's cousins Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck and Peregrin "Pippin" Took join the group to go to Bree, but on the way there, they encounter a Ringwraith, and manage to hide from it under a tree. Merry tells Frodo he and Pippin will stick with Frodo to the end, and he reveals that he knew about the Ring for awhile. Frodo reluctantly accepts, and the four Hobbits make for Bree.

After they get to the Prancing Pony, Merry goes out for a walk, while the Innkeeper insists that Frodo should sing a Shire song. During the song, the Ringwraiths attack Merry, and after the song ends, Frodo slips off the table, and the Ring slips on his finger, to the shock of all the customers at the Inn. The three Hobbits go to their room, to find a man who calls himself Strider. Strider tells them that he's a friend of Gandalf, and that the Ringwraiths know they're here, and the must leave early the next morning. After Sam questions Strider's intentions, Strider introduces himself as Aragorn, and if he wanted the Ring he could easily take it. Merry also returns, and tells the group that the Ringwraiths are here. The four Hobbits and Aragorn sleep in the stables, while the Ringwraiths slash the beds the Hobbits would have slept in. Aragorn takes the Hobbits to Weathertop, and they get into a fight with the Ringwraiths, and it ends with the Witch King of Angmar stabbing Frodo in the shoulder with a Morgul blade before being driven off by Aragorn. The five continue their quest, and they meet Legolas who was looking for them under Elrond's command. Frodo is moved to Legolas' horse, then the Ringwraiths appear, and give chase to Frodo. After Frodo crosses the Bruinen, the Witch King knocks him out, and after the Nine Ringwraiths make it halfway across the river, the river grows, and drowns all of them.

Frodo wakes up in the House of Elrond, to see Gandalf looking over him. Gandalf reveals to Frodo that Saruman betrayed him, and he had to call on the Eagles to save him from being stranded on Orthanc. Frodo then journeys across Rivendell, and sees his Uncle Bilbo again. And after Bilbo sees the Ring again, he goes crazy, and then gets depressed for dragging Frodo into this mess. The two Hobbits are called to a secret meeting with Elrond and tons of others. They all discuss what to do with the Ring with Boromir of Gondor suggesting they use it against the forces of Mordor, which gets vetoed by Elrond. It is decided that Frodo will continue to hold the Ring, while eight others (Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir) will follow him to Mordor to destroy it. After a failed route through Caradhras, Gandalf and Aragorn argue whether they should go through the Mines of Moria, or make for the Gap of Rohan. Frodo follows Gandalf's advice, and the Fellowship go to Moria, and find out that the Dwarves there were killed by Orcs long ago. Then, Orcs appear, and fight the Fellowship, and a big Orc tosses a spear into Frodo, apparently killing him, but is still alive thanks to the Mithril shirt given to him by Bilbo. The Fellowship go to the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, and encounter a Balrog. Gandalf tells the rest of the group to run away, while he fights it. He breaks the bridge with his staff, but the Balrog whips Gandalf's legs, causing him to fall with it.

The remaining members go to Lothlórien, and after resting there, they go to Amon Hen to decide if they should continue to Mordor, or go to Minas Tirith with Boromir. Frodo wants an hour to himself to think, so he goes. Boromir then talks to him later, and after failing to convince Frodo to go to Minas Tirith, he tries to take the Ring, but Frodo gets away. Boromir is at first angry, but quickly becomes sad because of what he has done. He tells Aragorn Frodo ran away, and Merry and Pippin run away to find him. Aragorn tells Boromir to follow the two Hobbits, while he and Sam will find Frodo. Sam quickly gets separated from Aragorn, and thinks Frodo will be by the boats. He goes there, and sees a boat moving on it's own. He gets in, and Frodo and Sam continue their journey to Mordor, while being followed by Gollum.

The Two Towers

Aragorn

Merry and Pippin continue looking for Frodo, but run into Orcs. The Orcs give chase, but Boromir arrives saving them, but is quickly shot by arrows, which kills him. The Orcs take Merry and Pippin, and by the time Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas find him, the Orcs are long gone. Aragorn decides that Frodo must go to Mordor alone, while the remaining members of the Fellowship follow the Orcs to save Merry and Pippin. After the Orcs stop for rest, the Riders of Rohan attack, and Merry and Pippin get away, and find an Ent named Treebeard, and they tell him their story so far. Aragorn and the others are in the forest, still tracking Merry and Pippin, but then find a white figure that appears to be Saruman. To their surprise, it was Gandalf. Gandalf tells them how he fought the Balrog after being separated in Moria, and they should go to Edoras in Rohan to save King Théoden from Saruman's deception. They go inside Théoden's castle, and see his minister Gríma Wormtongue, who is easily defeated by Gandalf. Théoden then gets his battle armor ready, and goes to Helm's Deep. Meanwhile, Saruman tells his Orc army to wipe out Rohan, and after that, they'll go East, and all of Middle-Earth will be his. When Helm's Deep is ready, the Orcs appear, and the battle starts. It goes well at first, but the tides turn when Saruman shoots fire balls from Orthanc, and destroys the wall, causing the Rohirrim to fall back. After Théoden coninvces Aragorn to make a final stand, they run out, and when all seems lost, Gandalf returns with the Riders of Rohan, and kill all of the Orcs, and they start their march to Isengard.

Frodo and Sam

After climbing down a mountain in Emyn Muil, Frodo and Sam realize Gollum is very close behind. They catch him, and he promises to serve the master of the precious, and will guide them to Mordor. At the Dead Marshes, the three encounter a Ringwraith with a new beast to ride being a Fellbeast. Gollum then hatches a plan to get the Ring for himself, which will be guiding the Hobbits to Cirith Ungol, to meet Shelob. Frodo tells Sam that even though the Ring is heavy, and there is a great chance they'll never see the Shire again, he'll continue to fight on. Gollum tells them to get a move on before Orcs or Ringwraiths find them. They follow Gollum to the stairs of Cirith Ungol, unware of his true intentions.

Cast

Christopher Guard as Frodo Baggins

William Squire as Gandalf^[1]

Michael Scholes as Samwise Gamgee

John Hurt as Aragorn/Strider

Simon Chandler as Meriadoc Brandybuck

Dominic Guard as Peregrin Took

Norman Bird as Bilbo Baggins

Michael Graham-Cox as Boromir

Anthony Daniels as Legolas

David Buck as Gimli

Peter Woodthorpe as Gollum/Sméagol

Fraser Kerr as Saruman

Philip Stone as Théoden

Michael Deacon as Gríma Wormtongue

André Morell as Elrond

Alan Tilvern as Barliman Butterbur^[2]

Annette Crosbie as Galadriel

John Westbrook as Treebeard

The film also used many character actors and actresses in their rotoscoping technique.

Issues

One of the major issues is the name of Saruman. Saul Zaentz thought that the names Sauron and Saruman sounded too similar, so the latter's name was changed to Aruman. However, the change wasn't made consistently, so the characters go back and forth calling him Saruman and Aruman.

Widely due to a $4 million budget, a lot of animation errors are present. When Gandalf walked into Meduseld during The Two Towers, he’s Gandalf the Grey although by that point, he’s established as Gandalf the White. Other errors throughout the film include some of the characters looking just like real life humans thanks to the rotoscoping technique.

Changes made to the book

Like most adaptations, Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings changed a few things from the source material. Most notably, Tom Bombadil as well as the Old Forrest and the Barrow Downs are removed from the Hobbit’s journey to Bree.

It’s stated in the prologue that Sauron learned the craft of ring making to make the One Ring, but he’s the one who taught the Elven smiths in making the Rings of power in the first place.

1. ↑ Squire also narrates the film.
2. ↑ Credited as "Innkeeper."