Rankin/Bass' The Hobbit (A Gathering)

Because we are nearing the Thanksgiving season, we are also nearing the anniversary of the 1977 Rankin/Bass The Hobbit (Nov. 27). Kenny pointing out those new figures of Bilbo and Gollum brought it to my mind. People (not myself) seem to be of mixed opinions about its quality. I find it at least as faithful in an hour and thirty minutes to the source material as the Peter Jackson Hobbit trilogy (extended edition) is in eight hours and fifty-two minutes, if not more so. Still, comparisons are odious.

Probably the first merchandise we got was the boxed two record LP set (at JC Penny’s, I think). I also got that Hobbit poster (which we had to get through Susan’s Weekly Reader order). That little single was available, but I only got that lately; Susan found it at a garage sale. I got that hardback Abrams book as one of my first purchases from the Science Fiction Book Club (maybe 1979?); John got the paperback version of the same book from a Starlog (or was it Fantastic Films?) magazine order. The Hobbit game came out after the Bakshi movie and inside used a lot of artwork from the same; I think there is one tiny scrap from it left over.  

Strangely enough, the special is still producing merchandise. While I had a VHS copy taped off of Showtime, I only got a DVD copy many years later. There was a very fine series of miniature (for games?) from RN Estudios (this was in 2024). And now these? The road goes ever, ever on.