What do you think of the Bakshi cartoon?

[SteamChip]

>What a load of moaners<
Bush gets more respect
>Frodo's always being stupid with the Ring<
Yeah that totally ruined the theater –DVD release extended-version for me that I went out and bought each episode of and saw six times each to see if that would change… one of these days I’ll go on an internet rampage


Alright, let me get this straight

People who like the Bakshi creation are historical sentimentalists who appreciate bold expressions of artistic experimentation and creative thought applied to the grandiose work --Lord of the Rings. They are, however, put off that the work was not completed.

People who don’t like Bakshi’s work (critics) are upset:

1. --The artwork was not run through a 3d ray tracer
2. -–Bakshi’s gollum and how the critics imagined gollum are different
3. --Gandolf pointed out a few things too many times

Is that it?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by SteamChip

>What a load of moaners<
Bush gets more respect
>Frodo's always being stupid with the Ring<
Yeah that totally ruined the theater –DVD release extended-version for me that I went out and bought each episode of and saw six times each to see if that would change… one of these days I’ll go on an internet rampage

Wait...you're being sarcastic, aren't you?

Originally Posted by SteamChip

>Alright, let me get this straight

People who like the Bakshi creation are historical sentimentalists who appreciate bold expressions of artistic experimentation and creative thought applied to the grandiose work --Lord of the Rings. They are, however, put off that the work was not completed.

People who don’t like Bakshi’s work (critics) are upset:

1. --The artwork was not run through a 3d ray tracer
2. -–Bakshi’s gollum and how the critics imagined gollum are different
3. --Gandolf pointed out a few things too many times

Is that it?

Hmmm...I'm pretty sure you're being sarcastic.

I thought Bakshi's LotR was good at the time (having seen it at the theater on its release); unfortunately, it has not worn well with age (more like a refrigerated bottle of Zinfandel than a nice, tawny port), and the animation is rather garish in spots. When considering a list of classic animation, Bakshi's LotR is certainly not at the top of the charts (although, as I stated previously, it is miles ahead of the grotesque Rankin-Bass TV version).

In addition, I thought Bakshi's version adhered better to the original plot than Jackson's (which is a plus for me -- far fewer jarring story deviations). Oh, and I was very disappointed that the film ended in midstream (or mid-Rohan more precisely). Now I'll never know if Frodo destroys the ring!

[Sauron the White]

Steam Chip - having read this thread, I do not see anyone who expressed the feelings that you posted here.
I did not like it because
1 - it was a visual hodge podge of styles that ended up a mess
2- certain scenes looked as if they had been developed as negatives (orcs) and were just plain disturbing on the eyes
3- turning Boromir into a Viking and Aragorn into a Native-american tracker was way too much for my tastes
4- the battle scenes were simply terrible on almost any level

[A Little Green]

Originally Posted by skip spence

Did you notice the similarity of some of the scenes in R/B's and PJ's films?

Nice that you pointed it out, because yes, in fact I did. The pillow scene is one, and also the one where the Nazgûl is searching for the hobbits in the Shire and they hide under a tree-root... It is strikingly similar, especially because it's not described that way in the book. I found it very interesting.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by A Little Green

Nice that you pointed it out, because yes, in fact I did. The pillow scene is one, and also the one where the Nazgûl is searching for the hobbits in the Shire and they hide under a tree-root... It is strikingly similar, especially because it's not described that way in the book. I found it very interesting.

Supposedly, Jackson studied the Bakshi film and used several of the same camera angles and set up scenes in the same manner as the cartoon.

[Formendacil]

It has been an equally long time since I've watched either Bakshi's LotR or Jackson's LotR, and (I think) about as long since I saw the Rankin-Bass cartoons.

I say "thank goodness" to all three of them.

Unlike just about anyone in my age group, I saw the Bakshi and Rankin-Bass movies before Jackson's movies ever came out, and I had already read the books a few times--unusual since I'm right in that college-aged group that was the upper end of the "saw Tolkien for the first time in Jackson's movies" aged group.

My reactions, when I first saw Rankin-Bass and Bakshi were that they got it all wrong. Even so, I was young and foolish enough that I watched them two or three times, or more. At the time, I was rather annoyed at the liberties taken with the storyline. Legolas!! Where's Glorfindel? As a result of those movies, when Jackson's movies came out I was, on the one hand, really looking forward to what sort of a good job could be done in terms of visuals... but also burned once about storylines, and went in very wary.

Looking back after half a dozen years and more since FotR first came out, I have a different appreciation for the Bakshi movie and the Rankin-Bass Hobbit (the Rankin-Bass RotK, on the other hand, plays so poorly, it is a joke). At this point in my life, I have not watched Jackson's movies in a couple years, and I don't want to. My mental vision of the LotR was scarred first by Bahshi then by Jackson, and I've done my utmost to forget the ravages of both. But they are different sorts of ravages, I would say. Bakshi, and Rankin-Bass, scarred me in their visuals and audios. They simply did not have the clarity or seriousness or colour that I imagined in Middle-earth. Nobody looked quite like I imagined, and no place looked grand enough.

Jackson, on the other hand, captured many (almost all) of the visuals spot on. The scores were exactly the epic feel LotR deserved. But... it wasn't Middle-earth anymore. It was comic Merry, Pippin, and Gimli, girl-power Arwen, angsty Aragorn, and teen Frodo. Not that these were NECESSARILY the artistic presentations Jackson was trying to give, but they have a distinct flavour of it to me.

By contrast, I have a renewed appreciation for the Bakshi attempt. The audio-visual of the movie fails abysmally, and the movie can scarcely be redeemed since, after all, movies ARE an audio-visual medium; but it has my respect, at least, for a serious, faithful job. Much of the problem is simply monetary.

Things like pantsless Aragorn and Viking Boromir, I suspect, are as much elements of the movie being dated as we'll start noticing things about Jackson's movies in twenty years.

Nowadays I've just sworn the movies off altogether.

[Mithalwen]

It is so long ago .. I remember being terribly astonished that it just finished - I don't think any warning was given on the box! I remember that Galadriel was big eyed and a bit tarty. I had forgotten about "Aragorn where's your troosers?"

Lol...