Brother Theodore's Gollum

[Zephyr]

[Zephyr]

I thought that this would make for a most interesting post…

Clip 1

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Ya gotta love Rankin/Bass! XD I’m sure that most of you guys have seen The Last Unicorn, but what about their other hand-drawn works such as The Hobbit, The Flight of Dragons, and The Return of the King? The bulbous noses and weathered faces kind of remind me Brian Froud’s art for Jim Henson, and I know that the designs for The Flight of Dragons took inspiration from illustrator Wayne Anderson. (My avatar is a Wayne Anderson illustration by the way) Did anyone here grow up on this trippy stuff, and if so, how did it inspire you? I know that many people from my generation were first exposed to the fantasy classics through these sorts of cartoons. What do you think of the Rankin/Bass vocal and design interpretation of Gollum?

Here’s the famous Gollum/Smeagol schizophrenic scene performed by Andy Serkis from Peter Jackson’s trilogy for comparison.

[Pegasi1978]

Did you know that Peter S. Beagle (author of The Last Unicorn) wrote the screenplay for the animated version of The Lord of the Rings and was paid next to nothing for it?

[Zephyr]

pegasi1978 wrote:

Did you know that Peter S. Beagle (author of The Last Unicorn) wrote the screenplay for the animated version of The Lord of the Rings and was paid next to nothing for it?

Yes, come to think of it, I do remember hearing about that. I also remember coming across the mentioned page several years ago and reading about the situation he’s been in regarding The Last Unicorn film royalties, etc. 🙁 (I think I first saw the page before the 25th anniversary DVD came out though) I’ve also seen a lot of what is probably unofficial Last Unicorn merchandise on eBay as well. A live-action film adaptation was in the works I believe, but to my knowledge the project has since fallen apart.

[Pegasi1978]

Yep the live action movie fell apart…and if I recall correctly the company that was trying to do it was doing so without Mr. Beagle’s permission/input. The website for the live action movie is still up though.

[Zephyr]

I just read about what might be another design inspiration for the Rankin/Bass studio. In this case, for the studio’s first production, The Hobbit (1977).

From http://brer-powerofbabel.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html:
Rankin/Bass Bilbo Design Inspiration

Quote:

Arthur Rankin, Jr. always asserted that they looked to the work of Arthur Rackham for inspiration on the design of The Hobbit (1977), and here is the proof. Here in a detail from Rackham’s early illustrations of Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle we see the inspiration for their original design for Bilbo, with unmistakeable snub nose and buck teeth. The “little men” on either side of this proto-Baggins easily contain elements used in the Rankin/Bass conceptions of Thorin, Balin, and Gandalf as well. The design for Bilbo as actually animated was modified, making his features rounder and younger looking; this look for “THE” hobbit has descended on to Sierra Entertainment’s The Hobbit video game, right down to his rusty red-brown hair.

Neat eh?

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