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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bakshi_lotr.png]]
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3The Creator/RalphBakshi adaptation of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is a combination of the first book, and half of the second book. It was released in 1978 and meant to be three films, but was forced to be shortened to two, with the intention of finishing with the sequel. Due to ExecutiveMeddling, the original title, ''The Lord of the Rings Part I'', was tossed out, resulting in ''[[NeverTrustATrailer heavy]]'' [[NeverTrustATrailer disappointment]] from viewers who expected closure to the story. And while the film did well at the box office, grossing more than enough to break even (which was ''very rare'' for non-Disney animated feature films at the time) the rest of the second book and the third book was never completed by Bakshi. Later, [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin-Bass]] produced a version of ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfTheKing'',[[note]]If you want to use the Rankin/Bass version to "complete" the story, it jumps from the Battle of Helm's Deep directly to the attack on Minas Tirith, with no reason for or explanation of Gandalf and Pippin's presence there. Shelob is gone entirely, and Frodo is just suddenly a prisoner of the Orcs[[/note]] and Creator/PeterJackson did [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings his own take on the story]].[[note]]Though, Jackson stated that he was a fan of the film -- see below.[[/note]]
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5The film mixes bits of {{rotoscoping}} and live-action footage. There's also a ''little'' bit of traditional animation that doesn't use rotoscoping, but it's one of those blink and you'll miss it moments in the film.
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7If you pay attention, Creator/PeterJackson borrowed some things from this movie for his series-- particularly the famous shot of the hobbits hiding from the Ringwraith in the roots of a tree and the shot where a Hobbit has his very large feet propped up on a table during Bilbo's birthday speech.
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9On a more trivial note, this movie was a record-holder as the longest animated film in the history of Western cinema, clocking in at 2 hours and 13 minutes, for 34 years until it was surpassed by the independent film ''WesternAnimation/ConsumingSpirits'' in 2012. It continued to be the longest animated film from a major American studio for 45 years until it would be surpassed by ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'' in 2023.
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11!!Provides Examples of:
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13* AdaptationalBadass: Saruman. In the book (and the [[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers Jackson film]]) of ''The Two Towers'', the "fire of Isengard" that breaches the Deeping Wall is explosives. Here it's interpreted as Saruman literally shooting fireballs ''all the way from Isengard'' like guided missiles to blow up the wall, a feat neither his novel or Jackson versions are capable of.
14* AdaptationalComicRelief: The film turned Samwise into a goofy, incompetent oddball of a hobbit, but in the books, he is brave and loyal. He was meant to become more serious in the second film, which was never made, although he does start taking some more control in the last third of the film. The turning point comes at Galadriel's Mirror when he's pressed by Galadriel whether he would go home but abandon Frodo; his answer is a resigned, heavy "no." When snarking at Gollum or being Frodo's support when the latter is beginning to falter from the weight of the Ring, he's lost his "golly gee wow!" personality and is more serious, short-fused, and brave.
15* AdaptationalUgliness: In the books, Sam was described as being a normal-looking, if heavyset, hobbit. Here, he's a downright {{gonk}}.
16* AdaptationalWimp: Gandalf does much worse fighting the Balrog than his counterpart in the books. In the books, Gandalf breaks the Balrog's sword before destroying the bridge. Here, Glamdring is broken by the Balrog's sword and the Balrog is only stymied by Gandalf breaking the bridge.
17* AdaptationDyeJob:
18** Unlike in the books, Gandalf wears blue, rather than gray.
19** In the books, Saruman originally dressed in white, later changing his wardrobe to one of many colors. Here, he wears red, which combined with his long white hair and beard, makes him look almost like a thinner, hippie version of SantaClaus.
20* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: More than a few.
21** Probably the most glaring is the missing ring inscription. How does Gandalf know this is the One without seeing the inscription?
22** Aragorns broken sword is never explained and is suddenly repaired after Rivendell thanks to Narsil's story being cut.
23** Boromir's line about hiding and destroying at the Council of Elrond is pure nonsense, since they cut the lines discussing their options for doing this.
24* AdaptedOut:
25** Just like in the live-action films by Peter Jackson, Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, as well as the Barrow-Wights, don't make any appearance here with the film skipping stright to Bree.
26** Gildor Inglorion and his Elves don't appear either.
27** Glorfindel does not appear; Legolas takes his role in transporting Frodo to Rivendell.
28** Arwen is never seen in this film at any point.
29* ArtShift: The film wildly jumps between traditional animation, rotoscoping, and live-action footage with filters placed over it.
30* AsideGlance: After Frodo wakes up in Rivendell.
31* BattleChant: Done by the Orcs from Isengard when they assault Helm's Deep.
32* BattleOfTheStillFrames: Gandalf's battle against the Balrog. It more than makes up for the lack of animation with absolutely ''jaw-dropping'' paintings.
33* BigRedDevil: Sauron vaguely resembles one, having horns and a beard.
34* BlindIdiotTranslation: There's a line delivered by either Merri or Pippin saying "...and nothing for poor Grishnákh, Gollum." The Finnish subtitles translated the VerbalTic as "or Gollum either." The German dub did that, too...the tic becomes "just think of Gollum."
35* BreachingTheWall: Saruman sends huge bolts of magic energy that destroy the wall of Helm's Deep.
36* CompositeCharacter: Legolas takes Glorfindel's place as the rider that Aragorn and the Hobbits meet on the way to Rivendell, and he is portrayed as an Elf of Rivendell (like Glorfindel was in the book) instead of Mirkwood since he answers to Elrond and he is never mentioned to be a Wood-elf.
37* CompressedAdaptation: It just about doesn't come more compressed. At times, it feels like Peter S. Beagle sliced up whole pages of dialogue and left in only the lines that most people remember. Almost nothing is given a full explanation, and what we do get is usually rushed and leaves out important details. For example, Gandalf asks Frodo if he sees any writing on the ring. When Frodo says he doesn't, Gandalf tosses the ring into Frodo's fire, then pulls it out a moment later, remarking that it is still quite cool. However, he doesn't bother looking for the writing he was attempting to reveal. Later, after several lines stating outright that the ring is indestructible, Elrond declares that the ring must be taken to the fires of Mount Doom. What he doesn't tell us, unfortunately, is that this is the only fire capable of melting it. Without that line, non-readers have no idea why the Fellowship is undertaking this quest. (Interestingly, it ''does'' include scenes that Jackson left out, such as the "who you can trust" scene.)
38* DeathByAdaptation: Unlike the books [[spoiler: it's implied with Bill the Pony. The last we see of Bill is a whole bunch of tentacles about to ensnare him. Shortly afterwards, Poor Sam is lamenting "Poor old Bill. Poor old Bill." Although Bill didn't return until far later in the actual story, so it's also mixed with WhatHappenedToTheMouse, since the story never reaches the part where Sam and Bill reunite.]]
39* DefiantToTheEnd: Boromir and Frodo.
40-->'''Frodo:''' By all the Shire, you shall have neither the Ring nor me!
41* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler: Boromir]] is shot by three arrows. He pulls them out and keeps fighting. It takes another ''four'' to finally take him down.
42* EvilCripple: An interesting idea not seen in the Peter Jackson films--both Saruman and the Ringwraiths walk with noticeable limps. Subverted for the latter; the Ringwraiths only ''pretend'' to be limping, since they later begin walking upright once they shed their hooded cloaks after the attack on the Prancing Pony. Inverted with Gandalf, a protagonist with a severe limp.
43* GagDub: The Walking Tacos Screwed Up Dub. (Which may still be available on Youtube.) Has several [[RunningGag running gags,]] like Gandalf rolling his "R"s, Pippin squawking like a peacock, and the inability of the characters to remember if Saruman is called Aruman (eventually the character starts calling himself Saru-Aruman). While devolving to random muttering silliness from time to time, the dubmakers ([[BreakingTheFourthWall while voicing the characters]]) DO discuss the importance of the film, ultimately deciding that it is an honest, if flawed, attempt at making the story come to life.
44* GilliganCut: After Boromir voices his objections to going to Lothlorien and Aragorn chides him, the movie smash-cuts immediately to Galadriel and Celeborn welcoming them.
45* {{Gonk}}: Oh, Sam, what did they ''do'' to you? At least part of this case stems from Sam having Creator/BillyBarty for an InkSuitActor.
46** The orcs are even uglier than they are in the Peter Jackson movies, with glowing red eyes and apelike faces.
47* HornsOfBarbarism: Boromir wears a horned helmet and a BeardOfBarbarism for reasons not entirely clear, as Gondor is generally portrayed as anything but barbaric. None of the Gondorians wear it, and had he appeared, it was likely to differentiate Faramir from Boromir.
48* ICanSeeYou: The second Frodo puts on the Ring at Weathertop, the Nazgûl immediately snap their attention to him, complete with ScareChord.
49* IfIWantedYouDead: Aragorn gives a potent ImpliedDeathThreat that if he ''really'' wanted the Ring, he could just slaughter the hobbits and take it for himself.
50* ImColdSoCold: Frodo says words to this effect after getting stabbed by a Ringwraith. He gets better.
51* InconsistentDub:
52** Saruman vs. Aruman, enforced due to ExecutiveMeddling -- apparently the head honchos decided halfway through that the names Sauron and Saruman sounded too similar, so they rewrote the remainder of the script to pronounce it as Aruman. By the time anyone who might've thought to rerecord the earlier lines learned of the change, it was too late to do so.
53** The film's original Hungarian dub is mostly faithful to the translations of the novels, but Rivendell is strangely referred to by its original English name. Apart from the first, long-discarded translation of ''Literature/TheHobbit'', all other translations of Tolkien's works changed Rivendell to "Völgyzugoly".
54* LargeHam: Gandalf is a more subdued example, being a very animated speaker, almost constantly moving his arms when speaking, and being extremely dramatic when explaining the One Ring to Frodo.
55* LeftHanging: Softened by the later Creator/RankinBass adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfTheKing'', but the remainder of ''The Two Towers'' was still untouched by either studio. Children of the late 1970s and early 1980s who saw this were left pondering things like "Who is Treebeard and is he good or bad?" and "Who is 'she'?"[[note]]Shelob, of course, but they never got that far.[[/note]]
56* LighterAndSofter: Compared to the four previous Bakshi films, content-wise.
57* LimitedWardrobe: It's not too much of an issue for most of the movie, but it's particularly glaring when the Fellowship is trying to cross the Pass of Caradhras.
58* MilkingTheGiantCow: Boromir makes this motion while trying to convince Frodo to give him the ring. For Gandalf, it's a way of life.
59* MsFanservice: The film's version of Galadriel is a very sexy [[EveryoneLovesBlondes blonde]] lady whose low cut dress offers us a very lovely view of her impressive front.
60* NonAnswer: When Théoden asks Aragorn if there's any hope, Aragorn remains silent for a long while, then rides off.
61* NothingIsScarier: Unlike in Jackson's adaptation, we never really see Sauron, only his shadow and his eye in Galadriel's mirror. "Do not touch the water!"
62* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Oddly enough averted, Gimli is human-sized and Moria has some of the most hideous faces on ''its'' walls.
63* RaceLift: Aragorn looks more Native American than Caucasian.
64* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Nazgûl and all of the orcs have glowing red dots for eyes.
65* {{Rotoscoping}}: Pretty well done for the most part, but there are still plenty of examples of bad rotoscoping. For example, during the opening exposition that is visually delivered in silhouette, it's painfully obvious that Gollum is a guy in a big rubber mask and gloves. However, the most jarring example has to be the Prancing Pony scene.
66* ScaryImpracticalArmor: After the Ringwraiths attack the Hobbits' bedroom in Bree, they remove their hoods, revealing frightening masks and black armor underneath their cloaks.
67* ScreamingWarrior: Boromir, literally. After getting shot by orcs, he leans on a tree and then lets rip a roar so intimidating the orcs are startled back dramatically.
68* SequelHook: This was supposed to have been titled ''The Lord of the Rings Part I'', but due to ExecutiveMeddling[[invoked]], this was deleted from the posters. However, the end still retained a voiceover stating that this film was the end of the first part. The home video editions redubbed a new voiceover without the hook.
69* ShadowedFaceGlowingEyes: The Nazgûl or Ringwraiths.
70* SlidingScaleOfAdaptationModification: Type 4 (Near Identical Adaptation): while a ''lot'' of content from the books [[CompressedAdaptation was forced to be removed]], Bakshi was passionately adamant that what content that ''did'' get in would be very faithful to ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' and ''The Two Towers'', and it is. Unfortunately, that content is so haphazard and patchwork that viewers unfamiliar with the story would find it difficult if not impossible to follow. A less faithful adaptation might have produced a more coherent film.
71* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Much like the books, this movie is more on the idealistic end of the scale, which is pretty different for Creator/RalphBakshi who usually makes more political, cynical films.
72* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Saruman vs. Aruman. It's corrected to Saruman in the DVD subtitles, but the blu-ray subtitles are accurate to the dialogue.
73* TimePassesMontage: "Seventeen years passed sleepily in the Shire."
74%%* ThoseTwoGuys: Merry and Pippin. %%(Zero-Context Example)%%
75* ToBeContinued: Unfortunately left hanging.
76* TooDumbToLive: Merry and Pippin, at one point in the movie, just run into a camp of orcs.
77* UnexplainedRecovery: It isn't explained as to how Gandalf got Glamdring reforged after it was broken by the Balrog.
78* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The film doesn't make it clear what happened to [[spoiler: Bill the Pony]], though it implies that [[spoiler:the Watcher in the Water takes him]]. Similarly, Merry and Pippin disappear from the movie after they meet Treebeard in his one and only scene. Likewise, Theoden makes a point of introducing us to his niece, Eowyn, as if she's going to be important, but the movie ends before she gets a chance to do anything.

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