April 05, 2021

25. You Can Have Well-Written Music in a Kid’s Movie!

1 hour 36 minutes

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: the 1977 Rankin-Bass

version of The Hobbit. Produced by the Rankin-Bass team and animated by

Japanese animation studio Topcraft, 1977’s The Hobbit was a widely promoted

effort for mainstream American network TV. As a result, it gave Tolkien’s work

its highest profile in the US to that point, winning awards and eventually

prompting a further Rankin-Bass sequel drawing on The Return of the King.

However, it swiftly became more of a cult classic curio, more known of than

known, deemed a product of its time and the attendant limitations the creative

team had to work with by default. However it retained fans and, especially in

the wake of Peter Jackson’s own three-film adaptation of the book, it gained a

new wave of reappreciation in contrast to both that and the source text. What

were some of the decisions made in the course of simplifying and adapting the

story, and how did they change the overall impact of the effort as a result?

Are the songs and musical performances handy complements to the whole or are

they too perhaps just a little too much even in context? Are there any notable

vocal acting performances among the ensemble and do they stand up to more

familiar actors in other versions? And is there any final way to determine

exactly why and how Rankin-Bass were actually able to create the film in the

first place given that they didn’t have any formal license from the current

rights-holders at the time?

Show Notes.

Jared’s

doodle. Burn

baby burn, Lake-town inferno.

It really has been two years since we

started! If you’ve been along with

us for the whole ride, we thank you again.

Deadline’s report on Wayne Che Yip

joining the Amazon production.

The production’s

photo from the

unknown New Zealand beach.

Tom Budge’s Instagram post about

leaving the production and the subsequent IndieWire

story.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is

definitely a thing. No Tolkien connection...yet.

News on the new Tolkien-illustrated

edition of The Lord of the

Rings via TheOneRing.net.

Yup, this trailer is twenty

years old. Pre-YouTube downloads were where it was at.

Rick Goldschmidt’s history of Rankin-Bass is very much available.

Russell A. Potter’s key article about the making of The Hobbit can be found in

Hogan’s Alley #20. There’s some extra illustrations

included at this link.

The Rankin-Bass

Hobbit can be viewed

online various ways via streaming services/rentals. If you’d like to do what

Ned did and replicate his youthful listening experience after that first

broadcast, enjoy!

Luke Shelton’s 2020 piece about the shadowy 1960s Hobbit

animation gives what info you need about that cryptic effort.

Here’s Middle-earth Enterprises’ own

timeline for the general

rights—worth remembering again that Rankin-Bass’s production was not licensed

from them.

The major ‘in the moment’ preview feature for the Rankin-Bass Hobbit appears

to have been John Culhane’s New York Times

piece that ran just a day or two before the broadcast. Not only are

Arthur Rankin and Orson Bean interviewed with a variety of anecdotes but also,

regarding his own separate production, Ralph Bakshi.

Rick Goldschmidt’s interview with Arthur Rankin Jr. from

2003—The Hobbit is discussed

starting around 12 minutes in.

Arthur Rackham’s influence

continues in various ways, but thankfully the 21st century has a much wider

scope.

A quick and useful explainer about the Japanese animation connections in The Hobbit.

It really did win a Peabody!

The briskly-told barrel

sequence from Rankin-Bass

Walt Simonson is quality.

That W. C. Fields Philadelphia

line, apocryphal as it might be.

It’s true...the Rankin-Bass

Elves are very odd

looking.

Brian Froud is good quality. And

of course a collaborator with Alan

Lee!

How the Rankin-Bass Elvenking sits on his

throne is DEFINITELY not

how Lee Pace does.

Pantsless Lake-men

indeed. In this cel,

Bard’s on the left, fancy armor and no pants.

More of our recent thoughts on

orcs.

Shin Godzilla IS very great.

Smaug at his best in the film is pretty

terrifying!

Brother Theodore was truly

remarkable. Enjoy Penn Jillette’s

memories and the compilation of Theodore’s Letterman

appearances.

Diagetic music is something

you know even if you don’t know it.

Thurl Ravenscroft, the

legend.

Glenn Yarbrough’s Wikipedia

page is...odd. Here’s him

with the Limeliters in the

initial splash of his fame.

Our fellow Megaphonic podcast This Is Your

Mixtape is well worth your time. Here’s

Ned’s episode, and Oriana’s should be up

soon.

Kermit singing “The Rainbow Connection” at

Newport rules.

The whole Ace/Ballantine Lord of the Rings paperback

situation is truly as important as is claimed!

Support By-The-Bywater via Patreon.

(Thanks!)

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By Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett

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