I am 53. I did grow up with it. My favorite moment is from the sequel tv special. The orcs are marching along singing "We Don't wanna gonto work today, but the lord of the lash says nay nay nay. We're gonna march all day all day all day. Where there's a whip there's a way." I have randomly started singing this in many inappropriate times and places ever since I first heard it.

This is based on the *original* version of the book, before Tolkien made the revisions to make it more in line with events of LOTR. Gandalf's lines at the end aside. This version always struck me as the last gasp of the hippie ownership of Tolkien. It's very pastoral and trippy, with backgrounds that wouldn't look out of place on a Led Zeppelin album. We were deep in Star Wars mania when this debuted (1977 was ground zero for many a burgeoning young nerd), we were on the cusp of the explosion of epic fantasy (Sword of Shannara was published the same year), and D&D was about to explode into the mainstream, which meant Tolkien was about to be embraced by the masses. No doubt helped by how many of us watched this and immediately demanded our parents buy as the book.

The animation in this IS gorgeous, it was animated in Japan so it's technically an Anime, though obviously it was an American production. The guy that voiced Gollum is Brother Theodore and his is my favorite voice for Gollum. Brother Theodore really brings out a sort of insanity I love.

I LOVE this version. The music goes through my mind quite often. I first saw this when I was maybe 7? Mid 80s. And it's what got me to read The Hobbit. I've been a huge fanatic ever since!

Fun Fact The Elf King of Mirkwood is the father of Legolas...so, imagine HIM animated in this style

As far as Bilbo's likability, I agree that Martin Freeman was better. He knocked it out of the park in that role. The "Riddles in the Dark" scene is the best part of the whole PJ trilogy. Unfortunately the live action films were changed into "Grumpy Dwarf wants Revenge and his Nephew is in a Love Triangle." This film, while imperfect (or at least dated), is the best on-screen version of the story I have seen. A lot of the stuff like the "spinning down the drain" was done to de-emphasize the fact that folks and critters were getting straight up killed.

The first time I watched this movie I was 4 years old and at my grandparents' house. When Gollum appeared, I was so frightened that I began crying and my parents had to take me home! But a year later, it became my absolute favorite film. I still think it's beautiful and emotional. They obviously had to trim down the story, but I think they did so deftly. This movie inspired a love of LotR and a love of nature in me.

I saw this as a child and it was my first introduction to Tolkien and have been a fan ever since! It will always have a special place in my heart!

This is still the best filmed adaptation of the book. When I introduce people to the lord of the rings, I recommend they watch this first I especially like that in this the dwarves shown as the really are, greedy arrogant clueless old men wrapped up in the fantasy of their own entitlement who blunder their way from one mess to another, utterly unprepared for any reality that doesn't fall in love with their delusions of grandeur. Overall what makes this the best adaptation is that the hobbit was a children's book and this is a children's movie and that sensibility is preserved

Elrond is accurate. He's described as being crowned with a ring of stars. The interpretation of that is pretty cool in my eyes.

I get annoyed by the refrain so many people make , "why don't they have the eagles come get them...". The eagles aren't running a taxi service, they don't jump up just because Gandalf snaps his fingers, they don't serve him. Furthermore, the eagles aren't necessarily friendly to everyone, most men fear them. Gandalf helped Gwahir so he has the eagle's goodwill but that's not something to squander.

I have a nostalgia softspot for this film. I really adored The Hobbit and so seeing this was fascinating and I got to see it reimagined in a totally different way. I find the art style incredibly endearing and as you mentioned, it's great to see takes on Middle-earth before Jackson's vision became "the standard". Another great vid!

My favorite part of the music was realizing that the bass voice in the goblin songs was provided by Thurl Ravenscroft… better known as Tony The Tiger 😊

The reason this is the best version is that they didn't change any of the motivations of the characters. It wasn't "What would a hobbit in 2023 (or 1977) do if he was forced to become a thief and had his home invaded by 13 dwarves and a wizzard.

I did grow up with this. The songs are a bit much, but my wife and I still watch it frequently. We troll it like you did. We always laugh when Gandalf informs the Dwarves he’s leaving because, “I have pressing business away south.”

There are few rabbit holes deeper than that of Hobbit Fan Edits that try to match the book(s). Many great editors have tried. M4, Maple Films, etc. However, there is one edit I consider the *quintessential* edit. “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again,” by ‘The Hobbit Fan Editor’ On top of the extensive trimming and re-editing to remove Peter Jackson’s fluff, much effort went into *reinserting* ideas and concepts that *didn’t* make it to the films. It is a spectacle to behold imho.

I grew up watching this on laser disk at my elementary school. I’m not actually that old but the player would get wheeled into the classroom when we had a substitute and needed to fill some time. I have so much nostalgia and love for this adaptation

I actually think that it's a pretty good, overly straightforward adaptation of the book. I much prefer it to PEter Jackson's versions weirdly. It's just a sort of 7/10 across the board, nothing crazy. Also, Down Down to Goblin Town...

We watched this so many times as kids in the 80s. Had the LP record too. Dad read us the book when I was five or six and after that I read it on my own pretty much annually. I also listened to the BBC audio version incessantly. The best thing about the animated movie in my opinion was the scene with Gollum and the songs. We always paused the video right when he was shrieking in rage at his loss… funny expressions. Roads go ever on was one of my favorite songs for years

Goillum going apeshit after Bilbo escapes with the One Ring ("THIEEEEEF! THIEEEEEEEEEEF! WE HATES IT!") freaked me out so badly as a kid.

I am about to turn 50 this weekend, and I can safely say that the Gollum from this film still gives me the absolute willies. The Orc songs still slap as hard as when i first heard them in the early 80s. For kids of my generation this is a classic.

Glen Yarborough did some of the music. The greatest adventure was one of them. I loved this movie when I was a kid. Apparently nothing's changed.

This was my intro to Tolkien. Saw it when it was on TV. Then somehow ended up with a tape of it. It's pretty impressive but it plays very well as an audio only media. To this day THAT'S the voice I hear when I recite Gandalf lines in my head.

the art is fantastic in this, really cool designs.

I saw this when I was ten yo in the 70’s at an open-air theatre. It is among my favorite childhood memories. I love the music. Back then when there was no cable TV, streaming video, or even video rentals, we’d need to read through every new issue of the TV Guide searching for a new airing of the movie on one of the five TV channels we got radio reception for. Then, we needed to make sure our parents did not make any plans at that time which would prevent us from watching it - because you either watched it then, or you missed it. It was like live TV. You couldn’t pause. We were glued to the TV so that we didn’t miss a moment. Holding onto the TV antenna if necessary to get reception. … a show like this was such a rare treasure.

I'd go so far as to say that it's better than Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy in totality

In the original story, of all the hobbits in Hobbiton, Bilbo would have been *the most likely* to leave town. Since Hobbits are famous for being homebodies. Also, as a hobbit his sent would be unknown to Smaug and he'd have no overt / blind loyalty to get in the way of his judgment. I loved this movie when it came out (yes, I'm that old) and I still love it today. It's from the same animation house that would go on to give us "the Last Unicorn" and "The THUNDERCATS".

I remember being pretty excited when this first aired. I was about ten years old, and had read The Hobbit, or my mother read it to us. Even at that age we thought the 'Greatest Adventure' singer was hysterically funny and imitated him for weeks afterwards.

This was a great TV movie. As a child, it made me fall in love with the sword and sorcerer.. I can still as an adult ( 55years old) watch this today. I have shared it with my children and they enjoy it as well..

I think they cut out certain scenes from the book, mainly because the target audience was probably 7 to 15 year olds, and because it was a tv special. Rankin and Bass were competing with Disney who made hour long animations and felt people simply wouldn't sit for more than an hour and a half tops for an animated film.

I was 11 in 1977, and being a major Tolkien fan it was wonderful to see the Hobbit come to life.

This and Bakshi's Lord of the Rings was my introduction to Middle Earth so they hold a really special place in my heart

The goblins were great singers in this movie. "Down, down to goblin town" & "Fifteen birds in five fir trees!" They rocked!

So 2 great directors John Huston and Otto Preminger were voices in this movie...

I watched this for the first time as an adult, and I will say that "The greatest adventure" is among my favourite songs. But, the best adaption I have come across, must be the radio drama from 1968 🙂

I love this movie. I grew up with it, back when it was truly a forgotten gem. I'm an animation buff, so I discovered it long before I ever heard of Lord of the Rings. When the Jackson movies came out in the 2000's, I told my sister about this, and she said "Oh, it's a prequel." We went to watch it together, and she got so mad. She said it was ugly. The elves were particularly offensive to her, as they did not look like Orlando Bloom. lol

Smaug's boast in this is one of my favorite things in cinema ever

I first saw this when I was a child when it aired on tv. Pretty sure it was a rerun. I've this version of The Hobbit has always had a special place in my heart, and always will.

I watched The Hobbit when it came out, I was 14, and it suffered from one big issue. It was done for the 70s audience so it had to be one hour to fit in the time slot and couldn't be two parts. No 70s audience was going to sit through a 2 hour children's show and no TV company was going to gamble on the audience tuning in the next week for the 2nd half. I think a 2 hour "true to the original story" animated version would go over really well now.

I am almost 42. I used to rent this movie for free from the local library whenever it was in, and I still fall asleep to it almost every night lol

This was adapted for children. That's why this has so many moments of Bilbo spelling things out so obviously. The soundtrack rocks, and this Gollum is my favorite. I love how he does the riddles. There's also a lot left out that is explained in the books, like the whole way Bilbo was introduced to the dwarves, and Beorn, who was a bear, NOT a stupid werewolf. Also, notice that the dwarves aren't a clown show. Once you read the book, you'll realize that the hobbit trilogy was basically trashed so they could stretch it out.

This was basically my introduction to all things fantasy. I think my dad gave it to me at some point like, "You might like this." I love this adaptation both for nostalgia and even just as a representation of The Hobbit. I don't mind the removal of Beorn. I truly love the music and the animation style. I'd definitely encourage checking out The Last Unicorn, also by Rankin and Bass, that was another staple of my childhood. Very fun times!

I love how Peter Jackson reference the songs by making his blunt the knives and Misty Mountains referential without sounding like a copy or rip off

Smaug's boast from this version is one of my all-time favorite moments in cinema. (I'm among those who grew up with this movie so I fully admit nostalgia is a factor.)

Great Review. I am a child of the 70s, kind of since I was born in '76, so this was a staple fantasy (along with other Rankin Bass productions like Flight of Dragons and The Last Unicorn). I feel like we had to rent the video player from the rental location to watch movies (don't think it was VHS, probably Betamax). There was also a companion cassette and read-a-long book for this and many other movies at the time (I had one for this one, The Return of the King, several Star Wars movies and others I am forgetting). I showed this movie to our boys and then read the Hobbit to our older two boys before they watched the live action. We read the Prydain Chronicles (Disney movie The Black Cauldron is a very loose adaptation of two of the books) first before the Hobbit because the language was simpler, then we read the Chronicles of Narnia and then moved on to the LOTR trilogy. They watched the cartoon versions prior to us introducing them to the live action versions. There is also a Ralph Bakshi roto-scoped animated version covering events from The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers which I also greatly enjoy that came out prior to the Return of the King cartoon. You can see in various parts where Peter Jackson appears to have been influenced by the style and imagery of the LOTR cartoon. You should review the LOTR cartoon and then the Return of the King cartoon!

The music is from a book called "The road goes ever on" a collaboration between J. R. R. Tolkien and the composer Donald Swann so you get a chance to hear this in the film as it was intended and for that reason alone these made for TV versions are totally worth it

I'll be honest. I really like this movie. But as a wee lad, i was so scared of this movie because of Gollum. It had everything to do with the fact that i was about 3 when my dad showed it this movie to me. I remember asking my Dad what a Hobbit was, and he said, "Oh, they're little people. About your height, son." I think he was trying to make me feel good. But Gollum scared me half to death. So much so that for a very long time, i was afraid of the dark. I appreciate the design of him now.

The voice acting in this Hobbit is par excellence.

This was thoroughly enchanting watching it as a child. It opened the door to a world of adventure that I have never shut. Bilbo was an everyman thrust into adventure. From that point of view, he’s just dealing as best he can under the circumstances. I’m not fond of the portrayal of the elves, but I did like Gollum. He was a kind of generic bogeyman meant merely to frighten. Readers wouldn’t learn his full story until years later. As a children’s movie, though, this was top notch. It might have skipped some incidents, but it was a remarkably faithful adaptation and that’s a rarity in the art form. One of my favorite fantasy films ever. People can gripe about anything, but there’s more here to like than not and it was the gateway to the novel for a whole generation. Remember, too, that in the Hobbit, the ring was merely of invisibility. It wouldn’t acquire the character of the One Ring until the Lord of the Rings, so it was a lighter hearted affair despite its darker moments. As others have noted, the film was based on the original edition of the Hobbit, which was a more childish book. It was later revised to be closer in character and tone with LOTR. A fun popcorn flick for sure.

this film is honestly my favourite tolkien based movie. i borrowed it from a local public library when i was like 5-6 years old, and after that i borrowed it every month or two for over a decade. at least until they got rid of it when they removed their VHS tapes. the music is my favourite part, something about the style and melodies just resonates with something, i still remember all the songs perfectly. the whole riddles in the dark sequence is the best part of the movie for me. it was just so eerie and tense, and you get that soft voice singing one of the riddles echoing in the caverns. i get chills just thinking about the scene, it just hits all the right notes, emotions, and style for me

I watched this when I was younger before I was allowed to watch the movies, and I would constantly sing the songs ad think of the images in my head in part while reading the books. Also, just a note, in the troll scene it was technically not Bilbo playing for time in the books, but he was hiding in the bushes while Gandalf used his powers to make it seem the the trolls were arguing with eachother.

The "What are moon letters?" line is a literary tool used by writer to explain their mcguffins/ Duex ex Machinas.

John Huston has such a fantastic voice

Ill be honest. By far a better adaptation than what was made recently. Ill go back to this version everytime then go into the LOTR live action films. Gollums voice and look tripped me out as a little kid. This whole movie did.

I'm 52 this year, and the music still sticks with me today. "Where There's A Whip There's A Way" and "The Bearer of the Ring" still echo in my heart.

I grew up watching the Hobbit when it first came out on TV. I own it now along with the other two animated features that they made.

No matter how much shade one might throw at Rank & Bass's _The Hobbit,_ it still captures Tolkien storytelling 1000X better than Bakshi's binfire. You can thank Japan's 'Top Craft' for the superb designs & landscapes - many of their artists went on to form Ghibli. So it deserves respect. For all the time restraints they were stuck with working within the limited '70's TV animation genre, it is an impressive piece of work.

i love that old cartoon so much. goood stuff. glad to know it's appreciated by others!!

I absolutely adore this movie. My dad showed it to me when I was around 5 or 6 and I loved it so much that he started reading the book to me at bedtime. This movie was the thing that got me into Tolkien and fantasy in general. To me this movie is perfect.

I love that you keep talking about the music. I think that is my favorite part of this hobbit movie! I’ve loved watching this movie since I was 3.

I'm 52, and this is one of my favorite movies of all time. Watched it every year on Thanksgiving growing up.

You could say that this movie, among other events, changed my life. I had no idea what I really wanted to do with my life, so I took a job that I disliked from my first day but stayed bc I felt it was what I deserved for my indecisiveness. For three years, I was tired, stressed, depressed, and angry. Then, on a whim, I bought a copy of The Hobbit cartoon since it was one of my favorite movies as a child and I hadn't seen it in close to 20 years. As soon as the song "The Greatest Adventure" played in the opening credits, I was crying bc I was basically being Bilbo without a journey bc I was afraid of failing to be more like who I felt I was. I finally started applying to schools and jobs to get out of that place of disappointment and guilt. It's been a long 10 years since I left that job, and while the road has been far from smooth, I'm glad that 4 year-old me was wise enough to make my future self remember this movie and to move along the path to get where I am today.

I would have been just less than five years old when this movie was released, and I know I saw it in the 1970s, and being a fantasy nerd/D&D player with my friends and family, we all watched in many times in the 80s and even through the 90s. I still have this on DVD and have seen that a few more times this millennia, and I think its about time I watch it again! I love the artwork in this film. The water color backgrounds and design of the characters, are so beautiful. Likewise, I love the music. The worse part, and I don't even find it that bad, just of their time, is that the actual animation isn't always smooth, and some of the stylization is a bit silly (like your comment about how gravity works, or the spiders dying by kaleidoscope). It's fine, especially when you consider this is meant to be a children's story. Glad you and your friend enjoyed the movie, too!

Favorite line: Bilbo saying, “Whatever are… …runes?”

Have such wonderful memories of this. Used to watch it with my dad all the time. Thanks for the video

The movie was directed by Rankin and Bass, who up to this point had made mostly just holiday specials, and to this day are more well known for Christmas Specials like Rudolf, Frosty, Drummer Boy, and many many many Santa movies. The animation house they went to was a Japanese one, and not only would make The Hobbit and Return of the King (after the Ralph Bakshi movie failed to finish The Lord of the Rings), but they would go on to make several other specials and movies with Rankin/Bass, but also did several shows including Thunder Cats, and Silver Hawks, but also would make more native shows/movies in Japan, and were given the OK to make little back ground mentions of their English work, including an add sign that had a Thunder Cat in it on Bubblegum Crisis. In the 90's the American side of the studio got bought by Disney and used for their cheap sequels before disbanding in the early 2000's, the Japanese side of the studio would mostly join with Studio Ghibli after making Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Miyazaki's break out directorial film. As a kid, I only ever knew this flim, and was my main in for fantasy and magic, and things of the like. It wasn't until I was about 11 or 12 that I found out about Lord of the Rings, and in particular saw the Return of the King film, and the Ralph Bakshi film that more or less takes place between films. Of interesting note, Ralph Bakshi was a big pusher of rotoscoping, which is more or less tracing live actors for animation, which helps with the realistic look and movement to animation, while trying to help make it faster, and easier to make. All his monsters, and most of his action moments in Lord of the Rings are all rotoscope. Making a very uncanny valley effect when the monsters are on screen, kind helps with the creepyness of them I feel. As for Return of the King I quite like it, it very much fallows the same methods of The Hobbit, don't add BS, just use what we can, and cut the rest for time. The music is still good as well, a lot of the same artists.

So both my dad and I grew up with this adaptation. My dad watched it when it firsted aired as a Saturday/Sunday morning TV special. He also bought the companion book that came with it. It's "The Hobbit" but illustrated with scenes from the movie and concept art for the sections that didn't end up in the final cut of the film. It was the first big purchase he ever made, doing odd jobs and saving up birthday money to get it. He would later get the VHS and that's what I watched growing up. As a kid I really enjoyed the music with the "Barrel Song", "Goblin Town", and "Funny Little Things" being my favorites. As for the plot I enjoyed it. Whenever you're a kid you're suspension of disbelief is higher so ,"oh we're going on an adventure," is perfectly fine. As a kid and even now I enjoyed Gandalf's entrance with the lightning flash and thunderclap along with Bard shooting Smaug. We still have a DVD version of the movie and I personally think it's the best movie adaptation of the book. They do lose the plot alittle bit with "The Return of the King" however.

Hi PTH! The most perfect adaptation I've yet seen of The Hobbit was this adorable stage show that toured around a couple decades ago. It was Peter Jackson-aware, but not overblown - in fact, all of its acting and sets were very much rooted in small theatre rather than big splashy production. But I seem to remember that they may have gotten a little visual and audio effects help from the team at Weta. That's not to compare it to the LOTR PJ trilogy - but it still felt like the most authentic version of the story, bar reading the actual book.

This movie was my first introduction to Tolkien- a childhood favorite, and Bilbo was my hero.

Love this whole series y'all are doing, such a fun project! The music is my favorite part (though I agree with you on that vibrato) I like to hum Road's Go Ever On and On or Fifteen birds in five fir-trees to myself when I'm anxious, and it's a cozy, nostalgic little distraction!

I'm 54; this is what introduced me to Tolkien and ... well, I love it still. I read the books immediately after this and I've never looked back.

I had a 2 disc vinyl box set version of this before VHS was available. I wore out the needle on my family record console stereo. I have the whole thing memorized. Later that year I blew out the speakers playing the Star Wars soundtrack at full blast. 1977 was a good year. The Silmarillion came out then too and the story of Turin Turumbar was as equally exciting as the hobbit. My 4th grade teacher read it to us in class for story hour over the course of days. Needless to say, Middle Earth has been a huge part of my life ever since. Thanks for this reaction

Just found your video on the Soviet LOTR. Haha. Awesome channel guys!

I’m an older millennial who will be 40 this year. I grew up with this as a periodic rerun on cable. It was my first introduction to the Legendarium and I will love it forever for that reason. I have always loved that Bass and Rankin fantasy movie style of this film, RotK, the Last Unicorn, and the forgotten gem the Flight of Dragons. The designs for the spiders, goblins, and Gollum legitimately freaked me out on my first viewing and stuck with me forever. Another bit that stuck with me was the badass Black Arrow speech. Watching it now just reminds me of how badly the Jackson trilogy whiffed that scene in its adaptation… or lack there of as it were.

This will always be in my top 10 favorite movies of all time. I bet I've seen it 20 times or more.

I like that introduction song after the dwarf visit, where Bilbo is dreaming of himself being the king under the mountain. The lyrics and music really set the mood, and the scene is unqiue in its' way. Most of the songs in this cartoon are beautiful, of course.

for better or worse, this was my 1st portal into Middle Earth, decades ago. Went straight to the books after watching this. I am thankful for that.

This is my favorite piece of animation, movie or series, that I have ever watched; it is a work of art.

The music in this movie is so wonderful

The animated Hobbit movie was a childhood favorite of mine and my only exposure to Tolkien prior to seeing Fellowship of the Ring in 2001. I loved it and enjoyed seeing the similarities on screen.

As someone who watched this as a kid when it came out, my two cents is that any critique of this film needs to keep in mind that it was created to be a kids movie by 1970's standards and created with 1970's animation technology. A lot of the cheesy dialogue that was criticized was put in there as the only way to tell the audience what was going on in a short period of time. For instance, the need to explain the "moon letters" was for the audience's benefit, and especially for the children who would not have been able to figure this out. The same goes for the black arrow dialogue. And yes, a lot was left out, but considering they had to condense the book to one hour, such sacrifices had to be made. Sad, but reality. I loved the music and the songs and how they integrated it into the film. The one thing I didn't like was how they animated the elves. It was weird reading the book The Hobbit after watching this animation and discovering that the elves wee fair beings, beautiful in appearance, and all that! I would like to ask the animators why they uglified the elves, especially the wood elves(!). Oh, how they showed Bilbo as transparent rather than invisible when he put the ring on was because the animators obviously wanted the audience to see Bilbo. We were used to such in animation back then (ever see Space Ghost and how the characters looked when they made themselves invisible?).

I absolutely loved this adaptation as a kid. This holds a very special place in my heart because it was my gateway into fantasy, role playing games, and Tolkien. Completely opened my eyes and mind to so much fun. I love the music (still listen to it from time to time on KZfaq), Gandalf, the orcs, and Smaug. When I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings as a teenager, I always tried to mimic John Huston's Gandalf voice in my head. Though it lacks a lot from the original story, because it was my entry to Tolkien, I am so thankful that it was made.

When I was going to see the Hobbit movies in theaters, I distinctly remember saying to my dad that I hoped they would do frog-like Gollum from this, rather than Jackson's interpretation in LotR (though I probably didn't realize PJ was behind both trilogies, if I knew who he was at all at that age). To this day I imagine the whole section with the goblins and Gollum in a way that is very heavily inspired by this adaptation, though I barely remember the film now; the goblin's song in particular is still awesome and pops into my head unprompted with some regularity. If I remember anything from this well it's the music, I love seeing people put lots of care into the songs from the books; that you sing your own interpretations of these songs whenever they come up is one of my favorite things about your channel by the way, it's beautiful!

I saw this as a pre-teen shortly after it was released and it made me very interested in reading the book. I have a soft spot in my heart for this movie.

This was my VERY first taste of anything to do with LOTR. I was six at the time. It started me on a long road of adventure that I never truly returned from. I love it!

Fun fact! This cartoon adaptation was what got me HOOKED on LOTR as a kid. I used to run around with a ring I got from one of those gumball machines and pretend it was magic. These started my lifelong obsession with this world!

I was 12 when this aired and checked the book out of the library the next day. After, I read TLoTR. This is intended for children just as the book was. It’s important to remember that this book was written for his boys. I suggest this any time someone expresses interest in watching “The Hobbit.” It is far better than the Jackson Hobbit trilogy.

I love this version. We had it on vhs, and my dad watched it with us kids, so I grew up with it despite being born 27 years after its release. I _was_ scared of gollum as a kid, but now that im older I can really appreciate this film, its art, and ive always loved its music. You guys would totally love the Rankin Bass RotK.

This movie was my first and only introduction to tolkien's world as a child, then moving on to the books when i was older and good enough at reading to understand them. So much nostalgia.

This version of the Hobbit is one my personal favorite movies it along with the 1978 Lord of the rings introduced me to Tolkien

I was sixteen when this was first broadcast on TV and I loved it! It was my introduction to Tolkien. We found the books at our local department store and I read them every fall until Sir Peter's LOTR came out. I am sorry to say that this cartoon was much better than Del Toro's Hobbit.

This is my all time favorite Tolkien adaptation to date , above anything else including the Jackson films. There is a lot of nostalgia in it for me but I also love it's quirky even bizarre hippie-ish aspects that conjure up memories of reading the book as a kid, to me it is better than anything else.

This film is pretty much the best way to get young kids interested in Tolkien.

34, grew up with this one. Loved it. Smaug was incredible as a kid.

Remember who this was for, it was on TV for kids. Thus spinning for dying, and yhey had to chop down for allowed time. They put a lot of heart into it, snd was 10x better than the Peter Jackson adaptation. And it captured Bilbos growth, the theme of focusing on building bridges to others and sharing versus covering and selfishly withholding. Id put above other kids oriented specials being produced at rhe time or in general. This was the era of Star Wars Holiday specials, as abother famous example. I actually respect this one as lot and watched it with my young kids around 5. They loved it just like they enjoyed watching Avatar the Last Aur Bender.

I saw this when I was in 2nd grade or so around Christmas time and it kicked off my love for the hobbit ever sense

Hey! I always loved this movie as a kid, I'm 25 now. It's so engrained in my brain that when I watch it, I can say almost every line 😅 My grandparents introduced me to a lot of older movies and books which kindled my love of cinema and books (especially Lord of the Rings) They had this movie on VHS and I'd rewatch it all the time. I always really liked the music, and alot of the songs are word for word lyrics from the book which I always thought was cool. The spiders always scared me when I was like 6! The goblins and Gollum were one of my favorite parts. I also think they did a nice job with Thorin letting go of his greed at the end. Nice video, can't wait for you to watch Return of the King as that was one of my favorites as a kid too! Love your channel!

I'm 47 years old. The librarian at my school made my class watch this movie when I was in 5th grade, probably about 10 or 11 years old. This movie is what made me want to read the books! Love it!❤

My Mom rented this movie and showed it to me when I was 6. She saw it on TV when it came out and still claims it’s the best Hobbit related movie. She also had a 45 rpm record with the songs from the movie on it. Also, the way Gollum was depicted in this movie was how I default pictured him until the Peter Jackson films came out.

This is a gem❣ Loved it since my teens 👌🙏❣