Peter Jackson is a Hack

This Christmas I bought myself the original T.V. version of The Lord of the Rings on DVD. This version was made in 1978 and was directed by Ralph Bakshi. I didn't expect a whole lot out of this movie because I have seen Peter Jackson's versions countless times and consider them some of the best movies ever made, but I thought it would be near to see what the 1978 version was like. Well, much to my amazement the 1978 version is strangely similar to Peter Jackson's version. In fact, it is so similar that I am surprised that no one in popular media has mentioned it. Now when I say that they are similar I don't mean just storyline. This would be ridiculous since the movies are based on a book and there is only so much deviation you could do before 2 versions of the same book begin to look similar. What I am talking about is the characters and scenes which are almost spot on what we see in the most recent versions.

Take Frodo and Sam, their voices and mannerisms are almost identical in both versions. I can say with some confidence that the actors in Peter Jackson's version most definitely viewed the original version and based a great deal of their characters on the original. Also, the scenes in the 1978 version again are very similar to the 2001 version. Again, I realize that both of these versions are based upon the same novel, but I have read the novels and there is only so much information one can get about what certain landmarks and scenes look like. Also, scenes from the 1978 version are almost identical in terms of cinematography to the 2001 version.

I admit I am not a film expert, but if you watch Ralph Bakshi's 1978 version you will notice unmistakable similarities to Peter Jackson's 2001 version. I would even say that if Bakshi had the technology of today back then he might have even been able to do a better version.