Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy may be the pinnacle of fantasy adaptations today, but the three films arrive nearly 50 years after JRR Tolkien published his acclaimed work. In the early 80s, fans only had three animated films to immerse themselves in Middle-earth… which the British BBC changed in 1981 with a 13-hour work that was faithful to the books.
In 1981, the BBC produced a 13-hour Lord of the Rings adaptation as a radio play
Ralph Bakshi’s animated film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings from 1978 unleashed a new wave of Lord of the Rings love. This led to a breath of fresh air beyond book sales in other media, such as the detailed radio adaptation of the original saga not just an audio book read aloud, but a real radio play with music and different speakers.
Brian Sibley wrote with Michael Bakewell 26 half-hour episodeseach of which ended on a cliffhanger. They tried to stay as close to the Lord of the Rings novel as possible, even if some details (like Tom Bombadil) ultimately had to be omitted. Due to the 13-hour story (Peter Jackson’s extended editions total 11.5 hours), the adaptation was still as close to the books as no other dramatization before. JRR Tolkien’s son Christopher Tolkien reviewed the final scripts, recorded cassettes with pronunciation instructions of Middle-earth words and approved each episode of the audio series.
After the studio recording in 1980, the radio play was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 every Sunday from 12 to 12:30 between March 8 and August 30, 1981. Even today we still know some stars from the Lord of the Rings cast at the time: Peter Jackson’s Bilbo actor Ian Holm voiced Frodo. Bill Nighy lends his voice to Sam Gamgee. Michael Graham Cox and Peter Woodthorpe returned as Boromir and Gollum, having previously voiced those roles in Bakshi’s animated adaptation
So you can still hear the Lord of the Rings adaptation today
Of course, the BBC dramatization of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is not and was not broadcast on German radio, which is why few people in this country know it. Nevertheless, you can bring this adaptation to your ears: for example, by purchasing the audio CDs from Amazon * or from the audio book provider Audible. Of course, to enjoy this, you have to be fluent in English.
Incidentally, Sibley’s adaptation was not the first radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: the BBC had already adapted the story for the first time in 1955 and in the USA NPR (National Public Radio) began a dramatization in 1979 – this adaptation of The Mind’s However, Eye omitted a lot and repeatedly confused Sauron and Saruman.
The most complex German radio play adaptation The Lord of the Rings was made in 1992 on SWR with over 100 reels and lasted 12.5 hours. Although the high quality was praised, there were also complaints about incorrect pronunciation, the lack of detail in the beginning and the increasing tightening of the ending. (Fun fact: Harry Potter reader Rufus Beck spoke Pippin here). You can also find it on Audible and Amazon *.
Which Lord of the Rings film adaptations are there?
Meanwhile, the Middle-earth stories that penetrate Tolkien’s world in film and series form are more densely sown: The List of all Lord of the Rings film adaptations now comes to 14 entries if we count future cinema projects such as this year’s anime The Battle of the Rohirrim and the announced Gollum adventure.
Lord of the Rings series podcast: Rings of Power finale and what awaits us in season 3
After 8 episodes, the second season of Amazon’s big fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has come to an end. Middle-earth fans Esther from Moviepilot and Sebastian from Filmstarts draw conclusions after the grand finale and discuss highlights and missteps of the return.
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Did the wizard reveal succeed? Does the great battle deliver what it promised? And what do Sauron, Galadriel and Co. plan to do next as we look at Season 3 theories?
A thematically similar article appeared on our sister site Allociné.
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