Two years before Star Blazers, and likely to be on the radar of fantasy fans, if not sci-fi fans. Did people realize The Hobbit movie was animated in Japan?
I don't really remember how I would have come across it. Was it a VHS at the library? TV syndication? (Who would have been showing it?) It firmly sat in a spot by itself in my mind, singing dwarves (who now sound suspiciously like they could have also sang the Star Blazers song if requested), Gollum and Sting, all separate from anime. I only realized it was animated in Japan later. Was this the sort of thing that they would have shown at old C/FO meetings, a variety movie in between the giant robot shows and furry cartoons? Or did it never jump the gap back then the way that things like Star Blazers did?
How did old-school fans view the 1977 animated The Hobbit movie?
How did old-school fans view the 1977 animated The Hobbit movie?
mbanu: What's between Old School and New School?
runesaint: Hmmm. "Middle School", perhaps?
runesaint: Hmmm. "Middle School", perhaps?
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davemerrill
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Re: How did old-school fans view the 1977 animated The Hobbit movie?
the Rankin/Bass Hobbit film aired on American network television at 8pm Sunday, November 27, 1977 on NBC. I can't remember if I saw it that night - it was up against "Six Million Dollar Man", which was a favorite of mine at the time - but I know I saw it on TV on another broadcast that I believe was during the summer, because I remember seeing it on a tiny black and white TV that was the only television in the mountain house we were vacationing in.
As far as realizing the film's Japanese production, I can't say that it crossed my mind at the time, but I was seven. Certainly it didn't look like the Japanese cartoons I was watching in the afternoon, like Speed Racer. To be honest, in 1977 there wasn't a lot of Japanese animation screening anywhere that looked like The Hobbit. The film certainly is a step up from anything else Japan was producing at the time, which in 1977 was mostly unsophisticated TV shows. The Space Battleship Yamato compilation film had hit theaters that summer, but the animation resulting from the "Yamato boom" hadn't yet started to arrive in movie theaters or on TV.
Our local anime club never screened it at any of our anime club meetings, but it's a safe bet to assume it was shown at some point in an anime fandom context.
As far as realizing the film's Japanese production, I can't say that it crossed my mind at the time, but I was seven. Certainly it didn't look like the Japanese cartoons I was watching in the afternoon, like Speed Racer. To be honest, in 1977 there wasn't a lot of Japanese animation screening anywhere that looked like The Hobbit. The film certainly is a step up from anything else Japan was producing at the time, which in 1977 was mostly unsophisticated TV shows. The Space Battleship Yamato compilation film had hit theaters that summer, but the animation resulting from the "Yamato boom" hadn't yet started to arrive in movie theaters or on TV.
Our local anime club never screened it at any of our anime club meetings, but it's a safe bet to assume it was shown at some point in an anime fandom context.
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Drew_Sutton
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Re: How did old-school fans view the 1977 animated The Hobbit movie?
Yeah, agree with Dave. I didn't see it when it originally aired (due to not being alive) but I think we had an early VHS copy of it as my dad really liked Tolkein works, though I remember watching the adaptation of Return of the King a lot more.
I was certainly older when I realized the Top Craft animators were all Japanese and could understand concepts of outsourcing/offshoring (same with a lot of other 80s cartoons I loved growing up). Never watched it in an anime club but to be fair, most of my anime club days were just before Peter Jackson's first Lord of the Rings film, so anything having to do with hobbits was quickly overshadowed by that.
I was certainly older when I realized the Top Craft animators were all Japanese and could understand concepts of outsourcing/offshoring (same with a lot of other 80s cartoons I loved growing up). Never watched it in an anime club but to be fair, most of my anime club days were just before Peter Jackson's first Lord of the Rings film, so anything having to do with hobbits was quickly overshadowed by that.
Akihabara Renditions: Japanese Animation of the Bubble Economy
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Re: How did old-school fans view the 1977 animated The Hobbit movie?
I consider this (and the related 'The Last Unicorn') as interesting border cases. You can call them anime, and there is sufficient arguments for it. You can call it 'Western animation' and there is certainly enough support for that argument as well. I have seen similar discussions / arguments online as to whether 'Avatar the Last Airbender' "counts" as anime... or even stuff like 'Clone Wars'.
My personal opinion is the same as when people ask if reading comic books or listening to audiobooks "counts" as reading.
It is good to read. There is no 'tier' where a novel is better than a short story is better than a comic book or anything like that. If you want to count it as reading, do so. If you want to count it as anime, do so =)
o/~ The greatest adventure...is what lies ahead.
My personal opinion is the same as when people ask if reading comic books or listening to audiobooks "counts" as reading.
It is good to read. There is no 'tier' where a novel is better than a short story is better than a comic book or anything like that. If you want to count it as reading, do so. If you want to count it as anime, do so =)
o/~ The greatest adventure...is what lies ahead.