But I have a new suggestion for Rings fans who might want to shake things up, or put an all-ages-friendly spin on the tradition: 1977’s The Hobbit. Animated for Rankin/Bass by Topcraft ...

In particular, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass’ 1977 TV movie of The Hobbit, with a screenplay by Romeo Miller, gets a lot of things right that Peter Jackson’s three-part live-action film ...

D: Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.; with the voices of John Huston, Orson Bean, Otto Preminger, Hans Conried, Don Messick, John Stephenson, Brother Theodore, Richard Boone. A note to readers ...

Even though it was a school night, I got to stay up late on November 27, 1977, so I could watch The Hobbit. I had just ... close to 20 years), I gave the Rankin/Bass animated version a re-watch ...

Jules Bass, the co-producer and co-director of such animated classics as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman” and “The Last Unicorn,” died Tuesday of age-related ...

Peter Jackson's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies made J. R. R. Tolkien's story a household name but took to live-action to ...

In 1977, Bass and Rankin produced and co-directed the animated musical TV-movie The Hobbit for NBC, an early entry in the roster of Tolkien screen adaptations. Bass largely retired from directing ...

Well, I’m hoping we can get at least one good Hobbit movie out of this. Although I have a hard time imagining anything replacing the 1977 Rankin-Bass TV version (above) in my heart. Contact us ...