Just noticed that the videos
davem linked to in his original post seem to have been deleted from YouTube
, but I found episodes 1-4 and the beginning of 5 with English subs
here - are those by any chance your work,
Greenie?
Anyway, this is a very interesting version: very gloomy (most of it makes Fassbinder's
Berlin Alexanderplatz look brightly lit by comparison), very minimalistic in it's use of scenery and sfx (you can tell it evolved from a theatre play and was probably made on a small budget), relying mainly on atmosphere, music and acting, its visual side about as far removed as you can possibly get from the popular images PJ, Howe & Lee, the Hildebrandts e tutti quanti have implanted in our heads. They condensed the story a lot, of course (e.g. by cutting from the Nazgûl attack on Weathertop straight to Frodo awakening in Rivendell, so no Glorfindel), but they kept Tom Bombadil (bonus points for that!, even though he looked nothing like I imagine him), and all in all I think they captured the gist of the story quite well.
Some of the highlights: Frodo looks like an adult and indeed quite tough, Gollum is scarily mad and depraved and utterly uncute, and Gandalf is an impressive wizard even without the usual yardlong beard. And I love the idea of having the whole story told/read by old Sam Gamgee to his kids (or grandchildren?); that actor did a great job - the wistful smile when he first mentions "Frodo Reppuli" has all his love and dedication to his former master in it, all the fond memories of the good and hard times they shared, it's brilliant.
(Side-note: I watched the first three episodes without the subs while they were still available, and it's marvellous how much you can understand even without knowing the language, just by knowing the story; if nothing else, I've picked up that "ring" is "sormus" in Finnish. Learn a foreign language with LotR - not a bad idea, is it?
)
I'm curious how they handled the later parts of the story - especially the Elves, but also the development of Sam's character - , so I hope whoever made the subbed versions will go on uploading the remaining episodes.