Customer Reviews

The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The story itself is on four CDs, the fifth CD contains several songs. This audio production won't replace reading the book, but may serve as an overview of the book. The sound effects at times seem a bit overdone - you'll hear a lot of huffing and puffing. As a previous reviewer noted, children may enjoy this set of CDs more than adults and the sound effects can help to hold their attention. Gollum sounds rather spooky, and Bilbo sounds as if he were out of breath most of the time.

This wonderful set of audio CDs has been a delight in my family. About 10 years ago we got rid of our television, and we spend a lot of time listening to audio drama and reading to each other. My five children have spent countless hours listening to this series, with its fantastic dramatizations of Tolkien's characters. The music and sound effects are also a real treat. It's also a great companion to the BBC's other Tolkien series, "The Lord of the Rings."

It's my precious!!

This telling of the classic story seems to have had good intentions, however the attempt to bring the action to life through the use of actors portraying elves, dwarfs etc. leaves the listener confused as to who is saying what and exactly what is going on in the story. Having not read to book I found myself having to listen and re-listen to certain portions to prevent losing the plot in all the ruckus and jabbering voices. Additionally, many of the main charactor voices sounded so similar that it was hard to know who was speaking. For fans already familiar with the story or children who may enjoy the sound effects this could be a good option, but for those wanting to hear the plot unfold unencumbered the classic reading would definitely be a better choice.

This is a disappointing offering from the usually stellar BBC Radio Presents series. The sound effects are so overbearing that they interfere with the dialogue. There is not enough distinction among the voices of the characters - thereby making the story tough to follow. Our family (ages 40 + and 6 and 9 ) were displeased by this present from "Santa." NOTE: This is a review of the BBC audio version only and not the always-wonderful classic story.

To the best of my knowledge, there are three dramatizations of The Hobbit extant. A very conventional animated cartoon was produced for American television about 30 years ago, using American actors, including Orson Bean as Bilbo Baggins. There is an American "Mind's Eye" audio production, which I have never heard. And there is this BBC radio production. From what I have read, it was originally broadcast in 1968. Some time later, it was discovered that the BBC had inadvertently destroyed the original masters, and the show was recovered from an off-air taping by a private citizen. The "original" tapes had a lot of tape hiss, which unfortunately is quite audible on the cassette version I own. Turning on the Dolby noise reduction helps, but you also have to turn the volume way up. Modern digital remastering should fix this. However, the poor sound is not the least of the problems of this production. I don't know much about the culture in the BBC radio division in the sixties, but the producers of this show, I think, tried to turn Tolkien into Shakespeare, which was a mistake. The music is Elizabethan or Jacobean in style and performed with period instruments such as krumhorns and viols, with very dissonant melodies that are unpleasant and distracting, not to mention not sung very well. The script is often declaimed in a sort of Globe Theatre style that is not appropriate to the story. The script abridgments sometimes leave confusing gaps in the story, although for the most part it's a straightforward adaptation of Tolkien's book. The director seems to make a point of having the actors mispronounce many of the proper names, putting the accent on the last syllable instead of the first: Thorin becomes Toréen, Gandalf is Gandálf, Gollum is Gollóom, etc. But by far the biggest problem is the woeful misdirection of the actors voicing the major characters: Bilbo comes across as a breathless, dithering, bumbling twit; Gandalf sounds like an effete, supercilious butler rather than a vigorous wizard whose whimsy conceals a lord of great reverence; Thorin is much too operatic, etc. All of the dwarves and the elves have high, thin, choleric old men's voices that are almost impossible to distinguish and everyone chatters incessantly, cutting off everyone else's lines. The actor playing Bard of Laketown does pretty well.

Unfortunately for this production, any dramatization of Tolkien's works will inevitably be judged against the greatest of them all: The magnificent BBC radio adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings" done in the late 1970s and first broadcast in the States about 1980. That production was far superior to Peter Jackson's dreadful New Line film trilogy, which were visually splendid but so badly miscast and which took so many liberties with plot, characterization and dialogue that you wonder why they even bothered. Alas, listeners hoping for a version of The Hobbit that measures up to the BBC LOTR will be disappointed here.

This audio version is loud and shrill and often hard to understand. The 5th cd is only some music. I am certain I would prefer the unabridged reading of this novel. This does not deliver the real drama and excitement of the book.

J.R.R. Tolkien's classic, "The Hobbit" is definately a 5-star affair. Having read, and re-read this wonderful tale many times, I was distinctly disappointed with the performance quality of this BBC audio production. The somewhat hokey background sounds distract from the storyline, and often are so loud that you cannot hear what the performers are saying anyway. The Hobbit is a classic, endearing story. I would not recommend this performance.

Having listened to the NPR "Minds Eye" production umpteen times before hearing this one, I have to admit I have developed a partiality to the voice characterizations of the former (Especially Bilbo, Thorin, and Gandalf).
But this was a good rendition of the book.

My main complaints are chiefly Gandalf, he sounds far from the authoritarian, quick resourceful old "busybody" portrayed so well by Bernard Mayes in both Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings NPR productions. Instead he sounds like a whiny, self-absorbed smartalic (Note, in the BBC Lord of the Rings, a different Gandalf was used). His "I shall light my staaaaph" skitto, repeated many times through the book, is quite corny. Bilbo is good, although his nonsensical "hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!!" giggling, even in the grim face of spiders in dark forests, is just plain cartoonish and often ruins the moment. Thorin and Gollum are also passable, although Gollum sounds much more civilized and intelligent. His "gollum", which is supposed to be a choking rendered eternally on him by Deagols dying attempt to strangle him before he got the ring- is just plain dumb.....youll have to hear it. The forest scene was cut too short.

However, the dragon is better and more dangerous. The goblins and music scores are better done and more entertaining; and this reading sometimes captures the sense of suspense and urgency in the adventure better, even if the storyline is less straightforward- which I could probably attribute to the NPR version's great old time radio style narration by Gale Chugg. The trolls to me in this one were a bit more scary and outlandish. In short, both renditions have their positive points but if I could only own one, I'd choose the former. This is definitely worth listening to; but I would not miss hearing the Minds Eye wooden boxed set.

If you are a fan of "The lord of the rings" audio version by the BBC, BE ADVISED THIS IS NOTHING LIKE THAT! This version of The Hobbit sounds like a group of elementarry children put it together.I realize that the hobbits are little,but the way their voices are on this version is similar to the lollipop guild from the wizard of oz. Very irritating. This is truly a version for children.

People all over the world should read this book because it is exciting and full of little people.It is a good travel book because it is so long and I coulden't put it down!!!!!!!!!!!!!