History Westernanimation / TheReturnOfTheKing

The third film in a loose trilogy of animated films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth stories, ''The Return of the King'' is [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin-Bass]]'s adaptation of the third ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' volume of the same name. The film serves as a follow-up to [[WesternAnimation/TheHobbit their earlier adaptation of]] ''Literature/TheHobbit'', and as a conclusion of sorts to the Creator/RalphBakshi adaptation of WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings, which covered ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' and most of ''The Two Towers''[[note]]due to where Bakshi's film leaves off, if you try to use this film as the conclusion to the story, the difference between the two involves a major "cut", jumping from the end of the Battle of Helm's Deep to the Siege of Minas Tirith, with no explanation of how Gandalf and Pippin got there, as well as the encounter with Shelob being excised, with Frodo suddenly a prisoner of orcs[[/note]].

The third film in a loose trilogy of animated films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth stories, ''The Return of the King'' is [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin-Bass]]'s adaptation of the third ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' volume of the same name. The film serves as a follow-up to [[WesternAnimation/TheHobbit their earlier adaptation of]] ''Literature/TheHobbit'', and as a conclusion of sorts to the Creator/RalphBakshi adaptation of , which covered ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' and most of ''The Two Towers''[[note]]due to where Bakshi's film leaves off, if you try to use this film as the conclusion to the story, the difference between the two involves a major "cut", jumping from the end of the Battle of Helm's Deep to the Siege of Minas Tirith, with no explanation of how Gandalf and Pippin got there, as well as the encounter with Shelob being excised, with Frodo suddenly a prisoner of orcs[[/note]].

* AdaptedOut: Due to large portions of [[''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' The Two Towers]] being skipped over, Shelob does not appear despite being hinted at by Gollum at the end of Ralph Bakshi's ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings''.

* AdaptedOut: Due to large portions of {{''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' The Two Towers}} being skipped over, Shelob does not appear despite being hinted at by Gollum at the end of Ralph Bakshi's ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings''.

* AdaptedOut: Due to large portions of {{Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Two Towers}} being skipped over, Shelob does not appear despite being hinted at by Gollum at the end of Ralph Bakshi's ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings''.

The third film in a loose trilogy of animated films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth stories, ''The Return of the King'' is [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin-Bass]]'s adaptation of the third ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' volume of the same name. The film serves as a follow-up to [[WesternAnimation/TheHobbit their earlier adaptation of]] ''Literature/TheHobbit'', and as a conclusion of sorts to the Creator/RalphBakshi adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings'', which covered ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' and most of ''The Two Towers''[[note]]due to where Bakshi's film leaves off, if you try to use this film as the conclusion to the story, the difference between the two involves a major "cut", jumping from the end of the Battle of Helm's Deep to the Siege of Minas Tirith, with no explanation of how Gandalf and Pippin got there, as well as the encounter with Shelob being excised, with Frodo suddenly a prisoner of orcs[[/note]].

* AnimatedAdaptation: Of the [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings last book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy]], covering the last book. It has its own interesting history as it's technically the sequel of the [[WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings Ralph Bakshi's work, which covered the previous two books]] before several issues led to that production being left unfinished and [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin-Bass]] complete the adaptation of the last book. Even though it differs from the previous movie in both tone and art style.

* BSODSong: Subverted with ''Leave Tommorrow 'Till it Comes," which is sung at a point where Sam and Frodo have fallen down a hole and are too exhausted to get out. Sam lets out a desperate prayer to the Valar for help, while Frodo falls into a nightmare-haunted sleep that gradually eases into a dream of a happier future. The song is about the futility of worrying about tommorrow.

* {{Camp}}: (cue disco beat) Where there's a whip * WHIPCRACK* there's a way. Where there's a whip * WHIPCRACK* there's a way.

* AdaptationDistillation:
** Made for TV after the failure of Ralph Bakshi's ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings'' by a completely different studio. It attempts to adapt the work, with no reference to the previous two titles, which results in a very disjointed effort. But individual scenes like Éowyn's confrontation with the Witch-King are adapted almost word for word from the book.
** At the end of the piece, Gandalf asserts that the Hobbits will grow taller with each generation and merge with the race of Men. This is not a Tolkien-derived idea, but purely from the scriptwriter.

* ContinuityLockout: You had better know the basic story and major characters, or this makes no damn sense.

* {{Disneyfication}}: Compared to the original text, there is more an attempt to include musical numbers with mixed results, light-hearted scenes, a brief dream sequence of orcs being friendly to Sam and Frodo and the violence is toned down from the original material.

* DarkerAndEdgier: In spite of the {{Disneyfication}}, it is this compared to [[WesternAnimation/TheHobbit The Hobbit]]. The main duo are in constant danger of either being captured, discovered by the enemy or being DrivenToMadness by the Ring. A war is shown in more detail with both sides taking noticeable deaths. And the tone has a more dismal and hopeless feel to it for most of the runtime.

The third film in a loose trilogy of animated films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth stories, ''The Return of the King'' is [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin-Bass]]'s adaptation of the third ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' volume of the same name. The film serves as a follow-up to [[WesternAnimation/TheHobbit their earlier adaptation of]] ''Literature/TheHobbit'', and as a conclusion of sorts to the Creator/RalphBakshi adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings'', which covered ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' and most of ''The Two Towers''.

** Averted. The song, "Where There's A Whip, There's A Way" basically says that they fight because they're ''being made'' to, not because they ''want'' to. This suggests that only ''the higher-ranking orc officers'' are truly malicious and evil, whereas the rank and file are [[SlaveMooks brutalized slaves]].

* LyricalDissonance: The line about Bilbo’s enemies knowing “the power of the hobbit and his Ring” is accompanied by an image of a terrified Bilbo falling into an abyss.

* MelancholyMusicalNumber: ''It's so Easy not to Try,'' which is about how just drifting through life sounds easy, but is mere survival; as opposed to the rich life that comes from facing adversity and making friends

* MelancolyMusicalNumber: ''It's so Easy not to Try,'' which is about how just drifting through life sounds easy, but is mere survival; as opposed to the rich life that comes from facing adversity and making friends

* MelancolyMusicNumber: ''It's so Easy not to Try,'' which is about how just drifting through life sounds easy, but is mere survival; as opposed to the rich life that comes from facing adversity and making friends

* MelancholyMusicNumber: ''It's so Easy not to Try,'' which is about how just drifting through life sounds easy, but is mere survival; as opposed to the rich life that comes from facing adversity and making friends

* MelancholieMusicNumber: ''It's so Easy not to Try,'' which is about how just drifting through life sounds easy, but is mere survival; as opposed to the rich life that comes from facing adversity and making friends

* VillainSong: Of the PunchClockVillain variety. "Where There's A Whip There's A Way", all about orcs forced to march into battle.

* ATasteOfTheLash:.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/return_of_the_king_rankin_bass_dvd_cover.jpg]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: [[http://tolkiengateway.net/w/images/e/e3/The_Return_of_the_King_%281980_film%29_-_cover.png The DVD cover]] only seems to vaguely represent the film's contents, if it indeed represents them at all. It features two generic chubby hobbits, ''neither'' of which look quite like Samwise or Merry, let alone Frodo or Pippin. They are riding on a horse, despite the fact that there is no scene featuring hobbits riding horses (only significantly smaller ponies). Also prominently featured are two dwarves who do not appear in the film ''at all'', and do not clearly resemble any of the dwarves who appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TheHobbit'' either, although one of them does resemble ''[[http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll151/Sasayaki_Itami/lol-1.png?t=1341659393 Grumpy.]]'' In the background are two vaguely-portrayed palace-like structures -- one light and one dark -- that clearly do not resemble Minas Tirith, Cirith Ungol, Barad-dûr ''or'' the Black Gate which appear in the film. All in all, the cover looks like it was drawn by someone who really hasn't seen the film or read the books ''at all'' but merely slapped something random together with short people, dwarves, knights, castles and a dragon.