THE HOBBIT OR NOT MY
RADIGAST
This little fellow, we called him Pipkin, fell from a tree. He is a bit stunned in this photo.
Happily, he survived to make his own little nest in a hollow tree one day.
It never ceases to amaze when screenwriters think their plots and vision of a classic book improve on the original. If you saw Peter Jackson's first installment of The Hobbit, and heard the syllables of annoyance at the end, you know. The beloved story has been stretched like a rubber band to include "selective" back story. Could we at least have Tolkien's back story from the book? Fans know the story. Those who don't shouldn't be told what is going to happen before it does. It's called suspense.
Now for Tolkien fans, like me, you want to listen to the BBC radio version made in 1968 with a standout performance of Bilbo by Paul Daneman. He's my Bilbo with no apologies. The recording is a real treat.
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Hobbit_%281968_radio_series%29
Run don't walk and get yourself a copy. Smaug and the raven are so well voiced. Mr. Daneman was able to convey a Bilbo panic attack over the radio which was funny and most convincing. The "good morning" sequence is so well played. It revealed Bilbo's kind and yet insincere nature which he conquers. We see ourselves in him. Bilbo doesn't want to help Gandalf so he gets rid of him but invites him to tea tomorrow to save face. Then slams the door. Haven't we all done that? But tomorrow comes. "Tea! Gandalf! Better get another cup and saucer!" Poor Bilbo answers the door expecting one guest and gets 14. Jackson's dwarfs simply barge in like a band of thieves. The politeness was markedly cut. No, "Your servant and your family's,..." Jackson's miscast lithe dwarfs are a mystery. The only explanation for their youth and irreverent humor? Was it was done for an audience of young men who usually purchase the largest number of cinema tickets? (We took my 83 year old father who was the only person of his age group in the cinema complex. A few fifty year olds and the rest all under 30. So you see the age group catered to.) Dwarfs, even young dwarfs, have an aspect of dwarfism and long beards. They look old. This was a bunch of 20 to 30 something men with long arms and fingers. In Lord of the Rings, Gimli was doubled and had the proportions of a fictional dwarf. What happened in The Hobbit? I cannot guess but funny hats and hairdos do not a good dwarf make. No, the invitation to tea was cut from Jackson's movie. Did Jackson think it too English, too old fashioned or too sophisticated for an audience of today? So it doesn't make a lot of sense when Bilbo allows these totally unexpected dwarfs to come in on him and to patiently tolerate them wrecking the house.
There is something criminal about taking a short children's novel about mercy, innocence and a plea for peace on earth and turning it into three three hour slash'em ups complete with characters who never existed. Characters who we know and love were so changed we don't recognize them. One would think in three hours they would at least be faithful and use everyone's favorite scenes. Nope. Where is the talking wallet? Where were the talking worgs and their worg queen? Where is the delightful scene with the trolls? The character development with Bert and his companions was genius. In the original they were better than the Three Stooges. Poetry. So they did a re write. Why wasn't Bilbo afraid? After all Bilbo is a very small person in a wide world, he is a little
Hobbit, a little Englishman who has led a sheltered comfortable life and
does miss his little Hobbit hole. It is only after he must summon all
his strength, swallow his pride, and sacrifice himself for his friends
that he changes into a heroic figure. He is scared to death throughout the book. His character develops and improves with each adventure. The actor taking over for Ian Holm, as if any actor could take over for him, did a fine job. My only criticism is this. He was so relaxed, even blase. So the thought of the journey scared him but imminent dismemberment and death did not? Golem, Andy Serkis' magnum opus, icky and tricksy as ever, was fine. Now imagine Bilbo is lost in a dark cave. He sees Golem very violently kill a goblin he intends to eat for supper. Bilbo needing an ally to find his way out engages in conversation, then a challenge at riddles. Golem says if Bilbo loses then, "we eats it." Martin Freeman's Bilbo, thinks sagely, and agrees as if he'd just bet on a football match. And who flat ironed Bilbo's hair? Compare his hair with Ian Holm's Bilbo.
Barry Humphries, of Dame Edna fame, was never better as the Goblin King. I didn't know he had such a terrific range and hope to hear him in even better roles. My only disappointment besides his character's violent end was they didn't use Mr. Humphries' own face but used a computer animation instead. O well.
Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Christopher Lee all turn up along with Ian Holm and Ian McKellan. Sadly, all but Cate and Hugo look a good ten years older. Not good considering this action happens decades before Lord of the Rings. And Lady Galadriel's appearance, albeit lovely and nostalgic, will confuse because wood elves are not like the angelic high elves. Wood elves? Think Laurence Olivier's Richard III on a bad day.
The Radigast segment, looked like a page out of Brian Froud's and Alan Howe's Fairy Book. Did it not? A sleigh drawn by hares? Darling,... if it had been in another movie. The movie Radigast was Sauruman's idea of "Radigast the Fool." But anyone Sauruman called fool was actually a good person. I regard the character from the novel as a sort of Tolkeinized St. Francis. A tall, noble, red bearded gentleman in brown robes looking out for the animals. My impression anyway. This comic relief Radigast just didn't fit the bill albeit the actor Sylvester McCoy did a fine job with the script he was given. Ian McKellan's Gandalf was nuanced as smoking something that did more for Radigast than tobacco. Many critics remarked on this. If it was meant as a drug culture moment, it was irresponsible and out of place. If it was a comic relief, I didn't hear anyone laughing. I did love the little hedgehogs and there just better be animals setting the table at Beorn's house, that's all I've got to say....
The redoubtable and charming Ian McKellan defends gay marriage saying
the blessing thing is just a bit extra - defining marriage as a legal
contract. But there wouldn't be legal contracts to define marriage if not for the hardness of our hearts. I love Sir Ian's Gandalf. I can't imagine another actor in the role. However, on the marriage issue, he's got it backwards. Marriage is a Sacrament between a man and a woman, defining them and all of us. When that is considered an afterthought, you have two people with a piece of paper betwixt them. We are not just souls and not just bodies. We are both. Men and women. When we reduce each other to terms like "fetus", "plumbing" and "property" we deny our sexuality and our identity as human and become things to be used.
Until next time Pope Fiction or The End is Near.
Peace,
Citizeness Journalist
