History Narm / TheLordOfTheRings

* Creator/RalphBakshi made an AnimatedAdaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in 1978, a time when he was in love with the technique of {{rotoscoping}}. He filmed much of the movie in live-action and then traced over it, creating an [[UncannyValley odd-looking form of animation]]. The result of this process is, depending on your point of view, either a cavalcade of creepiness or a perfect storm of Narm.

!!Books:

* The duel between Gandalf and Saruman in Orthanc. Just everything about it.

** Saruman making Gandalf telekinetically spin on his shoulder on the ground, for no apparent reason, before launching him up the tower's stairwell. This is seen in part from above, by the way. If there were any piece of drama left in the duel, that should have killed it dead.
** On the Extended Edition commentary, Peter Jackson indicates this was all intentional on some level, as he hates the cliched scene of wizards throwing fireballs and such at each other and instead opted for “two old guys beating the hell out of each other” which he finds an inherently funny image.

* "Crebain from Dunland!" ItMakesSenseInContext, but since that context isn't elaborated on in the film, it just seems like a really weird way for Legolas to yell "Uh oh, ''birds!''"

* Gimli's reaction to seeing [[spoiler: Balin's tomb]] in the Mines of Moria. In the book, he merely puts a hood over his face to hide his tears. In the movie, he sobs vociferously like a wino for what seems like several minutes.

*** It may even depend on the specific shot. When Galadriel was shot from the front, her arms were pointed in an awkward position, and her slightly upturned face, along with the negative colours, made her nose look like a pig's snout. It made her look like a weird scarecrow. But then it shifted to a view from the side, and suddenly she looked impressive and scary.

* The callback to the wizard duel (see above) when Gandalf whacks Theoden (who has fallen under Saruman's influence) on the head. The action cuts to Isengard where Saruman crumples under the blow.

* The Orc runner who carries the torch to set off the charges that breach Helm's Deep. For one thing he's completely shirtless and running down a trench of cheering, roaring Orcs. It is not clear if it is a deliberate, twisted reference to the Olympics, but whether it is or just an unintentional resemblance (up to debate which option would be narmier), it is greatly ridiculous.

** When Deagol picks up the One Ring, he used his whole hand and took ''lots'' of dirt from the bottom of the river more than he logically should have - he's only attracted by the Ring there; why wouldn't he just use two fingers to pick it, instead?

* [[spoiler: Denethor's death scene.]] Gandalf lays the beatdown on him with his staff, Shadowfax kicks him in the head right onto his son's funeral pyre, and ''then'' he catches fire and runs all the way into the courtyard, through the garden (which looks like a helipad from the top down), and ''off the cliff of Minas Tirith''.
** [[NarmCharm Best part of the movie]].
** What makes it worse/better is the cliff is a good 50-to-100 metres from the nearest building, leading to {{Fridge|Logic}} Narm when you realise [[spoiler:Denethor]] must be quite the athlete as he did the 100 metre sprint, wearing armour and on ''fire'' during the cut between locations.

* Returning to HoYay... Aragorn is met by a procession of elves after being crowned king. At the very front is Legolas, and again, from the way the scene is shot it looks like Aragorn is about to marry him.

!!Ralph Bakshi Animated Films:

* The Orcs sap their credibility as a threat through excessive MookChivalry, frequently preferring to wave their weapons and shuffle around theatrically rather than attack, and even dealing the occasional clumsy team-kill.

* During the chase to the ford, a Nazgûl has to take a moment out from menacing our heroes to stop his horse from spinning around like a dog chasing its own tail.

* Aragorn showing himself to Sauron through the Palantir, holding the restored sword of Elendil, looks like he's just trying to take a cool selfie. (To be fair, the scene in the book wasn't much better.)

* Certain lines, especially "Let's hunt some Orc", "Nobody tosses a dwarf!" and the all-too-obvious [[TitleDrop title drops]]. Not to mention how Jackson worked in some rather ham-fisted allusions to the book's ''chapter titles''. "It was only a detour. A shortcut!" "A shortcut to what?" "Mushrooms!"\\

* "With that (Théoden) seized a great horn from Guthláf his banner-bearer, and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder". It sounds good in print, but just try picturing it without the whole scene silly. You can imagine Théoden staring at the destroyed horn in confusion before shrugging and throwing it away.

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1641642077091357100
%%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.

%%Subpages are limited to one image only. Do NOT add images in the subsections.

%%Subpages are limited to one image only. Do NOT add images in the subsections.

* Saruman ditching his white robe for one of many colors is really silly to picture. That's probably why he stayed white in the film. In [[Videogame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline the MMO based on the book]], Saruman ''does'' appear with a cloak/robe that iridesces slowly through all the colors of the rainbow, and while with a decent graphics card it's really a very nice effect, it definitely confirms that "let's just stick with white" was the right decision, because it makes him look like he's stopped by on his way to the Rainbow Pride parade.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kylnv0eTsGc The Unscary Balrog]]''. While some of the rotoscoped aspects, such as the Ringwraiths, their horses, and even some of the orcs, do portray them as very ominous and unnatural, the Eldritch Abomination from the books that struck fear and dread into Gandalf is a hilariously bad lion costume, with butterfly wings[[note]]Which also makes why it doesn't just fly back up after the bridge is destroyed a mystery.[[/note]] and fuzzy boots. And it looked really unconvincing even back then; there are many other older animated film monster and demon designs, [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} even one]] from the ''1940s'' that looked a ''whole'' lot better than this live action rotoscoped catastrophe. Remember, they could have easily used conventional animation at any time during the production.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kylnv0eTsGc The Unscary Balrog]]''. While some of the rotoscoped aspects, such as the Ringwraiths, their horses, and even some of the orcs, do portray them as very ominous and unnatural, the Eldritch Abomination from the books that struck fear and dread into Gandalf is a hilariously bad lion costume, with butterfly wings[[note]]Which also makes it a mystery why it doesn't just fly back up after the bridge is destroyed.[[/note]] and fuzzy boots. And it looked really unconvincing even back then; there are many other older animated film monster and demon designs, [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} even one]] from the ''1940s'' that looked a ''whole'' lot better than this live action rotoscoped catastrophe. Remember, they could have easily used conventional animation at any time during the production.

* Whoever played Gandalf in the reference footage must have been instructed to [[MilkingTheGiantCow overact as much as possible]]. He doesn't get through a single sentence in his monologues without flailing his arms about like a madman. Indeed, he looks like an extra in a [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Harold Zoid]] movie; and Frodo often looks like he wants to run away.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kylnv0eTsGc The Unscary Balrog]]'' While some of the rotoscoped aspects, such as the Ringwraiths, their horses, and even some of the orcs, do portray them as very ominous and unnatural, the Eldritch Abomination from the books that struck fear and dread into Gandalf is a hilariously bad lion costume, with butterfly wings[[note]]Which also makes it a mystery why it doesn't just fly back up after the bridge is destroyed.[[/note]] and fuzzy boots. And it looked really unconvincing even back then; there are many other older animated film monster and demon designs, [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} even one]] from the ''1940s'' that looked a ''whole'' lot better than this live action rotoscoped catastrophe. Remember, they could have easily used conventional animation at any time during the production.

Examples of {{Narm}} in ''The Lord of the Rings'' media.

* Creator/RalphBakshi made an AnimatedAdaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings'' in 1978, a time when he was in love with the technique of {{rotoscoping}}. He filmed much of the movie in live-action and then traced over it, creating an [[UncannyValley odd-looking form of animation]]. The result of this process is, depending on your point of view, either a cavalcade of creepiness or a perfect storm of Narm.

Examples of Narm in ''The Lord of the Rings.''

!! ''The Books''

!! ''Ralph Bakshi Animated Films''

!! ''Peter Jackson Films''

--> '''Galadriel''': ''Victory was near...''
--> '''Elendil''': RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
--> '''Galadriel''': It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword.
--> '''Isildur''': NRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

--> "A BALRRRROG OF MORRGOTH!"

--> [[CaptainObvious "A diversion!"]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frodofan14_normal_3celsbalrog.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: He's flying and he ''still'' fell off a bridge.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2018_08_25_lord_of_the_rings_funny_google_search.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"This one's for Tinder"]]

* The Elvish words Frodo speaks to illuminate the Light of Ëarendil sound a little like "I need another CANDY BAR."

* "With that (Théoden) seized a great horn from Guthláf his banner-bearer, and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder". It sounds good in print, but just try picturing it and it looks silly. You can imagine him staring at it in bemusement before throwing it away.

* The Extended Edition reveals that the Dead Men's first answer to Aragorn's summons was an avalanche of skulls. Apparently they had been piling them up for just such an occasion??
** Shortly followed by another scene (thankfully also deleted from the theatrical release) where Aragorn and friends make it out of the mountain. The emotion swells, Aragorn collapses to his knees in despair... only to reveal an extremely dull shot of the King of the Dead striding through the wall, blandly stating "We fight." Which makes you wonder why he tried to murder the trio a minute ago.

%% * Hey, Samwise, what do you think about your portrayal in this adaptation?
%% -->'''Sam:''' "Oh, ''my''. Oh, HOO-''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpjyNIoJ0V4 RAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!]]''"

%% * The magnificent Treebeard, which, also, [[http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/akinna13/ahhhh.jpg must be seen to be believed.]]

* Gollum's PreInsanityReveal has several:
** Deagol's overjoyed, goofy reaction to getting a fish on the line. Yes, you've got a fish. Is that really such a novel experience for you?

* Gollum's PreInsanityReveal has at least two: