This 13 part BBC radio dramatization was great fun. I have no quarrel with it. It sounded to me like they used Tolkien's dialogue for the script. The tinkering they did with it was minor to my ear. Yet, the voice talent and sound effects were excellent.

Last weekend my mother-in-law gave the set to me along with The Hobbit and a disk of music using Tolkien's writings for lyrics while doing Spring-cleaning to her house. She knows how much I like Tolkien. I like it well enough that it got to the top of my to listen to list and I got all of the way through it in a week. That should say something about how good I think it is and how much pleasure I got from listening to it.

Oh, the two main things that were left out were Tom Bombadil (poor guy always seems to get cut) and the scene with the primitive man.

Read these after I saw the movie, though typically the books come first for me. This is one of the only times I like the movies better. I found the books a little hard to follow even with the movies as a guide. Maybe a smidge too much detail.

This BBC dramatization, in 13 chapters of 1hour each, was quite a nice way to get into that story once again. Great performances, including those of Ian Holm who plays Frodo and Bill Nighy as Sam Gamgee.
There's quite a bit of screaming at some point, and that can be a bit painful though! Particularly when it happens during the Sam/Frodo episodes, who tend to be told in a lower softer voice (so you would have cranked up the volume to hear better maybe, and then your ears starts bleeding from the screaming).

But overall it was nice. Very nice indeed.

Long time fan of the movies, had never read the books. This teleplay was made in the 80s, so the films didn't exist yet, and hell, this probably informed Peter Jackson. The production, voice acting, and musical scoring were all phenomenal. Though I knew the story shape going in, I found every minute just as gripping and beguiling.

banger

Loved it, thought it would lose a lot in compression, but actually managed to adapt the story fairly well, without feeling like a lot was missing. The guy who did Gollum was pretty great, and I loved the little touch of dialogue at the end with Sam coming home.
It was great that they included a lot of the poems and songs as well.

Always 5 stars, but this rating is also for the audiobooks read by Andy Serkis. Stellar performance that brought the books to life in a new way!

Overall I really liked it. I did occasionally get confused with Ian Holm playing Frodo rather than Bilbo, but that's a me problem, he did a great job. My only complaint is the celebration music in Gondor at the end.

I was really excited when I discovered this BBC audio dramatization of Tolkien's classic Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was highly recommended by a staff member at the Ventura County Library in Ventura, California. Even though sections from the original books had been cut and altered for the dramatization, she said that it was an experience that any Tolkien fan would enjoy.

The box and the CDs are beautiful! They have images, maps, and other useful information about the trilogy and author on each case. On the back of the box it reads:

This stunning dramatized BBC production of Tolkien's classic is presented in thirteen hours on thirteen compact discs. Starring Ian Holm and featuring a cast of 25 performers, specially composed music and sound effects, this beautifully packaged boxed set is a perfect gift for every Tolkien fan.

This introduction and every colorful display on the CD cases kept my excitement high as I listened through the entire series with my husband during our long car rides. It didn't take long to breeze through the discs.

One aspect that made the experience less enjoyable was the fact that the library copy contained badly scratched CDs. Often, the car player wouldn't recognize that there was a CD in it, and we would spend countless minutes cleaning them until they could be played. Ventura library should invest in a DVD doctor or a similar device. Since this collection is so popular, they need to maintain the quality of the discs.

I enjoyed the dramatic presentation more than my husband, who kept comparing it to Peter Jackson's films. In all honesty, this audio book cannot compare to the films. Thus, it's really important not to expect a similar Hollywood/movie experience. Otherwise, you will not enjoy the dramatization. I kept thinking about radio dramas and radio shows. That constant reminder made it easier to get wrapped up in an auditory experience where my imagination roamed free.

All the actors in the production were amazing! I especially liked Frodo, played by Ian Holm, and Sam, played by William Nighy. My least favorite actor was Peter Woodthorpe, who played Gollum. The problem wasn't the actor, per say, but the way that Gollum was presented to the listener. The character mumbles a lot, screams, and makes other random noises that make it difficult to determine what is happening in the audio drama. Too much sound can be a detriment, and that was the case with Gollum. We paused the production numerous times to ask each other questions about what was going on with Gollum. These moments happened at important points in the story too, which was unfortunate. For example, at the end of the book, the characters are on Mt. Doom. Gollum's actions during this section was very confusing! Luckily, we knew what was going to happen because of the films. Gollum's actions and speech were equally unclear. In order to understand what Gollum was saying, we had to go back to previous tracks and put the volume up really loud to understand his mumbling.

The sound effects were spectacular! I really felt drawn into the story, as if I was on the journey with Frodo. The music, however, was hit or miss. Most of the songs weren't as good as we had hoped, especially compared to the epic score from Jackson's films. We both agreed that Sam's singing was the best; he also had the best lyrics for his songs. There was one song that was sung by a single young boy that was really moving. The music at the end was decent too. My favorite score was the one they played when introducing and ending each disc, which is probably why they reused it so often.

As I haven't read the original books in a long time, I can't comment on how authentic the dramatization was in comparison nor indicate where the sections were altered and cut. My husband did complain that there wasn't enough narration and that there was too much character dialog. From what I know about radio dramas, this is often the case. The listener wants to hear the voices of the characters rather than being read a story. However, more narration would have made it easier to understand what the characters were doing. Unfortunately, they mainly used the narrative sections as an opportunity to transition segments of the story and to show the progression of time rather than as a tool for telling the story.

The breakdown of the CDs compared to the original books is as follows:

CDs 1-6: The Fellowship of the Ring

CDs 7-9: The Two Towers

CDs 10-13: The Return of the King

The division was perfect, and our favorite section was the fist book, CDs 1-6. The end felt drawn out, but this is also how I felt when I read the books. So, I wasn't as surprised as my husband.

When it comes down to it, there are a lot of reasons to listen to this audio book. First, from what I have read, it is the best radio drama on Tolkien's infamous trilogy. The drama provides another way to experience the books; this one was produced in 1999. Peter Jackson's first film wouldn't be made until 2001. Second, the actors did a stupendous job! Ian Holm is the star, as he received top billing, but every voice actor provided a new, dynamic element to the dramatization. Third, the music. Even though it's hit or miss, some of the songs were moving (absolutely loved Sam's song about The Shire). Finally, how can you not want another production of Tolkien's trilogy, especially with one as artfully created as this was? The production received numerous awards, such as the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award (2009) and The Big Read, BBC (2003). These awards were not given to a sub-par production!

Even with all this praise, there are still some cons to consider before you listen to the audio dramatization. First, make sure you have high quality CDs! Our low quality discs really soured our listening experience. Plus, it was just plain frustrating having to stop the CDs so often in order to clean them. Second, be forewarned that some of the actors might be difficult to understand. For us, it was Gollum. However, there are other characters that might be difficult to hear or understand with all the dramatic special effects and music. Third, it's not an unabridged version. If you are a stickler for unabridged reading experiences, you will not enjoy this rendition. Lastly, if you are not a fan of Tolkien or fantasy novels, I recommend viewing Jackson's films over listening to this audio book. There are places where the history of Middle Earth will cause the drama to lull. A lot of these moments are not included in Hollywood's rendition.

Overall, I am happy that I took the time to listen to this book, and I would listen to it again if I owned a copy of it. In fact, I wonder how better my experience would be if I had an undamaged set (Perhaps some of the audio sections would be easier to understand too). I would love to own this as part of my literary collection. Unfortunately, I don't think my husband was as thrilled or that he would listen to it again with me. It's definitely not for everyone.

2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge: a book with a made-up language
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This BBC radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings blows the NPR radio adaptation completely out of the water. What a difference that a set of professional actors and a soundtrack with a full orchestra makes!

No Tom Bombadil in this one unfortunately, but in comparison to the quality of everything else, that;s pretty forgivable. It has The Scouriing of the Shire, which is a huge plus!

I read it about three year ago. Hobbit was actually part of our school curriculum and I started this series right after. It was lovely and refreshing because of its unique written style and the mind blowing plot and storyline. It one of my favourite series of all.

n  Review of the BBC dramatized audio version:n

While on a massive road trip this summer, our family listened to the BBC's dramatized audio edition of The Lord of the Rings. It was first produced in 1981, airing on BBC Radio 4 in 26 half-hour episodes. CD releases, including the 1999 reissue that we listened to, have remixed the content into 13 hour-long episodes. Though I've been a fan of Tolkien for most of my life life, and I've heard good things about this dramatized version, this was my first time listening to it--and I loved it. The two obvious questions are how it compares to the original books, and how it compares to Peter Jackson's film versions. Predictably, I'll say that it's not as good as reading the books, but it's a lot better than the movies. There's no substitute for immersing oneself in Tolkien's creation through savoring the words on the page. However, the audio drama did an excellent job of presenting the story, and even drawing out some aspects of it that I might not think about so much in my own personal readings. The dramatized version follows the book very closely--though still, sadly, leaving out Tom Bombadil, the barrow-wights, and various other details that I've grown fond of in the books.

The comparison to Jackson's movie trilogy: At the time the films were released in theaters (can it really be almost 14 years ago now?), I loved them. I saw each movie multiple times in the theater, and on DVD, and on extended edition DVD, and even once at an all-night marathon in a theater. I recently re-watched the trilogy with my two oldest sons, and I find it hard to remember how I liked the movies so much a decade ago. They haven't aged well, and the clunky expositional speeches and odd changes from the books are more annoying to me now than they were then. The BBC audio version tells the story much better in a number of ways. With 13 hours, there is time for the slower, introspective moments that are so important in the story. The words, mostly straight from Tolkien, convey the weight of Middle-Earth history in a way that I find more satisfying than the visual spectacle and attention to detail from the films.

What do the movies do better than the audio drama? The big battle scenes are of course much more exciting in the purely visual format of film; the audio drama minimizes the time spent on the battles, because just the sounds without the visuals don't really work so well. The other thing I continue to love about the movies is Howard Shore's score, which will always be the way I hear The Lord of the Rings musically. The music in the BBC production is fine, and some of the songs are very appropriate to the story, but overall the music is not one of the standouts of the production.

A great script, such as adaptor Brian Sibley has crafted, requires really good voice acting, and this production is excellent. Ian Holm plays Frodo, which is initially jarring since he played Bilbo in the films; but I quickly got over that and thoroughly enjoyed his performance. The way he portrays Frodo's transformation as the ring takes over, especially as he nears Mount Doom, is astounding. I liked this take on Frodo much better than Elijah Wood's performance in the movies. Most of Holm's scenes also feature Bill Nighy as Sam, and Nighy--one of my favorite actors--is amazing as Sam. He really makes the story into the story of Sam's development, which is a wonderful way to understand The Lord of the Rings. When the story ends with Sam's return to the Shire, it makes perfect, poignant sense. The supporting cast is great. The listener feels that this is a cast that is putting their full creative energy into the performance--not simply reading the lines. (In fact, so many of the voices in this production are so similar to the way Jackson directed the films, it sometimes feels almost like Jackson was plagiarizing the BBC audio drama.) The last episode had me in tears (as the end of The Lord of the Rings always does), reaching into the depths of what Tolkien was writing about--beauty, sacrifice, sadness, duty, truth, .

In short: I loved the BBC audio drama of The Lord of the Rings, and will very likely listen to it regularly, in addition to my regular read-throughs of the books. I highly recommend it to Tolkien fans with the patience to spend some hours listening to Tolkien's world. A note for anyone considering listening to this in the car: the CDs are mixed rather softly, and sometimes unevenly. We had to turn the volume in the minivan up a bit louder than usual for other CDs, and there is a lot of up and down in the volume of the production, so that we sometimes had to adjust the volume in the middle of an episode (and were then sometimes startled by a very loud sound effect or voice!). Also, we felt that the hour length of episodes was a bit long (though some episodes went by very quickly). Half-hour segments, as originally broadcast, might have been a better way to break up the story.