Until not too long ago, the only The Lord of the Rings adaptation I was aware of was, you know, the famous one. The critically acclaimed and beloved version starring Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, and more incredibly talented individuals. The series of films that we all know and love, and not the rendition of The Lord of the Rings that came from Russia which has just made it onto the internet.
Spotted by Fansided and GameSpot, this Russian adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's fantasy world was released back in 1991 and now Russia's Channel 5 has brought the TV adaptation to YouTube for our enjoyment. The entire thing feels more like a stage play or even a pantomime than it does a TV series so don't go watching this thing with any high expectations. A a matter of fact, scrap any expectations.
If you're interested in watching this version, it's actually really entertaining, in an "I'd watch this with some friends for a laugh" sort of way. I can't speak a word of Russian, but because I know the story pretty well, it's not a struggle to understand what's going on. There aren't anywhere near the number of high-cost visuals, forced perspective tricks, luxe costumes or anything like that, but it's still, you know, The Lord of the Rings I guess. For example, Bilbo Baggins does indeed use the one ring to slip away from his own party, but rather than making him invisible, the camera cuts to some confused faces and then back to where Bilbo was standing. Wow, innovation at its finest, right?
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You know I can't be too harsh on this thing - it's certainly a project that many people slaved over when it was originally made. It's not their fault that a superior set of films came out in 2001, and it's not like I could make a film much better if I was in Russia in 1991, and not in any small part because I wasn't alive yet.
Go give the first 50-minute episode a watch if you've run out of things to watch on Netflix. However, bear in mind, that we'll be getting the Amazon The Lord of the Rings series in the future, so we'll be holding out for that.
Topics: News, The Lord Of The Rings