The Hobbit cartoon - no…the OTHER one!
If I asked you – have you ever seen the original The Hobbit cartoon, I am sure you would immediately say “Of Course I have seen the Rankin and Bass classic”…to which I would respond….Not so fast!
You see, way back in 1967 – there was another adaptation to The Hobbit, am dot was until 2012 that fans were really able to see it.
The story goes that William Snyder (of Rembrandt Films) had purchased the film rights to all of Tolkien’s works from 1964 – 1967. He had visions of making a full length animated version of the Hobbit to be backed by 20th Century Fox. With funding lost, and time running out, Snyder then produced a 12 minute short and premiered it on June 30th 1967, the day before his film rights ran out. Grabbing people of the street and providing them the money to watch (a mere dime) – he then had them sign statements that THEY had paid to the see the film (thus generating “revenue), allowing Snyder to further retain the rights to the films….which he then sold back to the Tolkien estate for a $100,000. These movie rights were then sold to United Artists in 1969.
J.R.R. Tolkien
Seeing how shady this all is, no wonder Christopher protected his father’s estate with such zeal. That being said JRR was not adverse to making a little money:
“I should welcome the idea of an animated motion picture, with all the risk of vulgarization; and that quite apart from the glint of money, though on the brink of retirement that is not an unpleasant possibility,” Tolkien wrote one of his publishers that year. (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter No. 198)
As for the 1967 release - for decades this film was lost. The only members of the public to have seen it were the handful of people collected on the New York City streets. The film was rediscovered by Adam Snyder, William Snyder’s son, who found the film reel in his father’s film archive. The film differs greatly from the book, with the following being just a few of the differences:
The Dragon is named Slag instead of Smaug.
There is a prophasy in the Great Book saying they needed a Hobbit to destroy Slag.
Instead of 13 dwarves, you only have Thorin (pronounced as Torin – as the British do) Oakenshield, PRINCESS Mika and another dwarf.
Instead of the three trolls, we meet two “Groans”, and Bilbo saves everyone.
Goblins are called Grablins, and Gollum is called Goloom.
Bilbo steals the Arkenston, crafts a bow and slays Slag by shooting the Arkenstone through his heart.
Bilbo and Princess Mika marry.
The dragon Slag Unnamed Dwarf, Thorin(Torin) and Prices Mika Gandlaf and Bilbo The two Groans
While I find a lot of this pretty egregious (and I am sure JRR did as well), one has to keep in mind it was a hastily put together film (not even really animation – just moving stills) that was not intended for a general release. It does add another piece to the puzzle, and gives us lovers of works something different to examine.
You can watch the clip below – and let us know what your thoughts are in the comments section.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed
