rankin bass lord of the rings the return of the king gollum bites off frodo's finger

The problem is Bakshi had a lot of background characters rotoscoped to look like three dimensional, live action human (or Orc) characters. Sam’s temptation by the Ring and Éowyn’s defeat of the Witch-King of Angmar in the Rankin/Bass film are also really exciting moments that are well-adapted.

rankin bass lord of the rings the return of the king gollum bites off frodo

Gollum/Smeágol’s debate with himself is also well done, and a clear influence on Jackson’s films.

The attack on The Prancing Pony in Bree, the Black Riders chasing Frodo across the countryside, and the dramatic Battle of Helm’s Deep are all impressive sequences. The performances are mostly pretty good, especially John Hurt as Aragorn in Bakshi’s film. The Rankin/Bass Hobbit film is seriously underrated these days, and there is good stuff in the two films based on The Lord of the Rings as well.

Instead, Rankin and Bass released a made-for-television sequel to their Hobbit film under the title The Return of the King, which finished off J.R.R. The studio (United Artists) refused to put Part 1 on the title though, and never greenlit Part 2.

But filmmaker and animator Ralph Bakshi beat them to it in 1978 when he directed an animated feature film, The Lord of the Rings, which he intended to be Part 1 of 2. and Jules Bass, known for their holiday season specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, had directed an animated dramatization of The Hobbit for television, broadcast in 1977 and they were planning a sequel, also for television, based on The Lord of the Rings. By the late 1970s, there were two major animated adaptations of The Lord of the Rings in development.

Rankin bass lord of the rings the return of the king gollum bites off frodo's finger