I don’t think it can be Bakshi’s elves; they are light, bright, and sparkly (see the pictures in the flyingmoose review linked above).
It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but I do recall that Tharanduil (King of the Mirkwood Elves and Legolas’s dad) as he appears in the R/B Hobbit rather resembles a stick insect, and the idea of his inspiring the Gremlins isn’t too farfetched.
As I said in my original message, there is a passage in the book where 3 hobbits get off the road and hide behind a tree, and is the obvious inspiration for this scene, but isn’t as similar as the two film scenes are to each other. I’m at work now, but will look this up when I get home.
As a proud owner of the Bakshi film on DVD, I will check out the voiceover at the ending this evening too.
What chapter is that in? A Shortcut to Mushrooms? I’ll read it tonight to see how far off I am. But I have a distinct memory of watching RB the first time and thinking “Yep, that’s how it happened.”
I’m not certain of the chapter, but it’s well before they get to Buckland and meet up with Merry, and not too long after they leave Bag End. I think it’s just before they encounter the elves; I may be misremembering, but I believe that the arrival of the elves drives the Black Rider away.
“Gondor has no pants! Gondor needs no pants!” is still the greatest “quote” from that movie!
From that page:
Heh heh. Someone knows their “BotR”.
She certainly is hotter (no offense, Catey).
Absolutely hotter. In a Marsha Brady sort of way.
On quick comment about the Rankin/Bass version of RotK – I can understand wanting to make the Nazgul cute and fluffy, but did they have to make them cuddly as well? And what was up with Denethor’s mutton chops?
Hey, the Rankin-Bass Hobbit actually wasn’t pathetically bad. It was a disappointment, sure, for anyone who had read the books, but when the worst you can say about a movie is “It wasn’t as good as the book”, that’s not too shabby (especially when the book is The Hobbit).
But for the Bakshi movie, the one truly unforgiveable sin, in my opinion, is making Sam into a drooling asylum escapee with an IQ of 6 (and yes, I’m sure that it’s Bakshi to blame for that one, not Rankin/Bass). Yes, his name means “halfwit”, and yes, he himself says that his brain is not the best part of him. But he’s too modest. Remember, he alone of the Fellowship figures out where Frodo is going, on the shore of the Great River. He’s the one who managed to eavesdrop on Frodo and Gandalf, and figure out the pieces left out. He’s the one who manages to bluff a tower full of Orcs into thinking he’s a great mighty Elf-hero.
I can forgive a Balrog wearing fluffy bunny slippers. I can forgive a half-naked Viking Boromir. I can forgive the budget troubles that made him plan for only two movies, and only finish one of them. But I can’t forgive what he did to Sam.
Posted at 12:28 (PDT)
I hate my slow-ass computer and its slow-ass dial-up internet connection. I swear, the first thing I do when I win the lottery is bring my family and all of our possessions into the twenty-first century.
I have a sudden, chilling image of a hive mind. A (mostly) friendly hive mind, but a hive mind nonetheless.
DD
What I want to know is…how does Leonard Nimoy feel about it? I feel that his adaptation was the most faithful to Tolkien.
THE PAIN!
Curls up in a fetal position
That’s worse then almost everything Shatner ever did.
Once again, I must disagree. I thought it was a fun characterization, and rather endearing. So much so that I was pretty disappointed with Sean Astin. Besides, the Bakshi Sam looks a little like my niece. How can you hate that?
Alrighty! I’m home now and have FOTR open before me, and the Baskii DVD playing. (and if this isn’t total geek immersion, I don’t know what is!)
Now that I look at it, I see there are actually two scenes in the book that are conflated to inspire the scene as it appears in both films. Both are in “Three is Company,” a few pages apart.
The first is a few paragraphs after Frodo recites “The Road goes ever on and on…” He, Sam, and Pippin are walking along the road in the woods, when they hear a horse approaching; it could be Gandalf–or maybe not. At Frodo’s advice, they get off the road; Sam and Pippin “ran quickly to the left and down into a little hollow not far from the road.” Frodo lingers `til the sound of the hooves gets closer, then “threw himself down in a patch of long grass behind a tree that overshadowed the road Then he lifted his head and peered cautiously above one of the tree roots.”
When the Rider comes up, he pauses on the road above Frodo and sniffles, but does not get off his horse. Frodo feels a desire to take the Ring out of his pocket, but doesn’t. And then the Rider passes on.
A few pages later, after the hobbits have gone on awhile and it’s now night, they hear footsteps again. (You can find this just after the long song that starts “Upon the hearth the fire is red…” ). This time, Sam and Pippin crouch behind a “large tree bole” (bole = trunk, not roots) and Frodo “crept a few yards back toward the lane.” The Rider arrives leading his horse, and gets down to sniff along the road; as the Rider gets close to him, Frodo feels an even stronger desire to put the Ring on, but just as he reaches for his pocket, the Elves show up and the Rider retreats.
So, I can see the elements of the scene as it plays in both films: Frodo peeking out from the tree roots with the Rider above him, for example, and the Rider later crouching down on the road. But there is no point where all 3 hobbits hide under a tree root together as they do in both movies (and never mind the films’ addition of Merry, since both versions change how the hobbits start out anyway). Unless there is some illustration that inspired both, I’m going to stick with my original contention that Jackson’s scene is an homage to Bashki’s.
As for the ending of Bashki’s film, Gandalf throws his sword in the air, and the narrator proclaims: “The forces of darkness were driven forever from the face of Middle-earth by the valiant friends of Frodo. As their gallant battle ended, so too ends the first great tale of The Lord of the Rings.”
Which does suggest a sequel, although one has to wonder how important Frodo’s quest is now that “the forces of darkness were driven forever from the face of Middle-earth.”
It’s Jessica Rabbit, in her first major motion picture role!
I too have seen the illustration/painting you remember. Jackson was quite open about his sets and photography being inspired by the numerous Tolkien-drawers that have been around over the years. I cannot say if Bakshi admits the same thing.
I recall seeing the painting and thinking “Wow! Just like the movie!” then I realized that the painting pre-dated the Bakshi-nonsense.
Hmmm, too much Colloidial Silver was consumed by Galadriel it seems.
Easy. The makers of on-line storage media, needed to store umpty-zillion “is too!”-“is not!” posts are the hands-down winners.
I also have to say that I liked Bakshi’s conception of Hobbits much better, though Jackson was constrained by the use of live actors, so his hands were somewhat tied. And Bakshi did a far better job with Gimli. But his orcs were pretty lame, as was his Grima. Brad Dourif was stellar in that role.
Except that he made him about six feet tall.