The Unexpected Party Never Ends: #TolkienReadingDay & Why The Hobbit Is Still Special

Happy Monday everyone!

We’re mixing up our normal alternating Friday/Saturday schedule to bring a special “broadcast” (it’s a blog post) for a fledgling tradition here on A&A, #TolkienReadingDay.

Yes, it was decided in 2003 that March 25th, the day in which The One Ring was destroyed should be a day of celebration, in which we read and spread our love for all things J.R.R. Tolkien.

Last year, I reviewed the 1968 BBC Radio adaptation of The Hobbit, quite by accident as I ordered the wrong audio edition of the story from the library. It was an unexpected party and despite some cringe worthy dialogue and confusing sound design (for which the BBC won many awards), I did enjoy the presentation overall. It would seem that Tolkien’s worldbuilding and characters are enough regardless of the medium through which the story is told.

This year, I got my act together, and managed to get a physical copy of The Hobbit, again from the library. Apparently it was the 175th printing (published in 2020) of the story. I make note of this, because apparently there are many editions of the story floating around, with the biggest changes to the story occurring in editions of the story published after The Lord of The Rings came out. (which makes some sense)

The forward in the 2020 edition makes note of some small continuity changes like correcting inconsistencies in dwarf naming and lineage, but also notes that the “Riddle Game” (in this edition chaptered Riddles in the Dark) as set down in the ‘Red Book’ (I’m guessing the original edition?) by Bilbo has changed after the true events were “eventually revealed (under pressure)”. But ultimately the reader should not concern themselves with the changes if it is their first outing in Middle Earth.

My inner history nerd wanted to fall down a research (hobbit) hole, attempt to find this ‘Red Book’ so I could compare the differences and see what affect the changes had on my understanding of the story, but I decided to forego all that in order to accomplish what I originally set out to do . . . simply enjoy the book.

And enjoy it I did!

What first stood out to me as I was reading was just how humorous and whimsical Tolkien’s writing can be. Perhaps I’ve been over influenced by Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies (I’m actually wondering if I ever saw The Hobbit Trilogy in full), but any happenings in Middle-Earth have always seemed like a rather serious affair to me. Yes, there is some humor in those movies, but in general it is all very grim and severe.

There is a way in which The Hobbit (book) moves towards this more stoic attitude as the story goes onward, but in the beginning it is quite whimsical. The infamous unexpected party reads almost like the opening of Disney’s Snow White, and the following tidbit of in-world history feels more like a Terry Pratchett book than Tolkien:

“…and knocked their king Golfimbul’s head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards and went down a rabbit hole, and in this way the battle was won and game of golf invented at the same moment”

Lolz. I fully imagine something like this happening to Carrot Ironfoundersson of The Watch but not as much to some Middle-Earthian King. In any case I was delighted by its inclusion.

Something else which surprised me, was how relevant the story felt to a modern audience. There’s a way in which all speculative fiction, whether set in the past or in the future, is actually about the time in which it was written and reading old books can sometimes feel akin to digging up a time capsule from beneath an ancient oak or perhaps in some extreme cases, shining a light into a dusty old tomb.

I’m always a little nervous when reading a ‘classic’ work that what we’ll find is at best irrelevant to a modern audience (looking at you Dune Part 2) , or worse actively harmful. We’ve seen a few examples of the latter on this blog with works such as The Island of Dr. Moreau, and Death on the Nile so I feel relatively justified in my apprehension.

If The Hobbit embodies any embarrassing ideals, they are not obvious. It seems there is active debate on the use of race in its sequels, The Lord of the Rings, but within this volume, nothing really jumped out at me (although a more critical look at Goblins within the story might be warranted).

I can’t recall any women in the story (something I think The Hobbit films attempt to address), but it does not feel like a malicious omission.

For a story that is little more than a mere decade away from its 100th birthday (although I suppose it’s the one hundred and eleventieth birthday that matters), I’d say that this is actually pretty surprising and kind of refreshing. And as I mentioned earlier, there were actually a few parts which felt quite modern.

For instance, after Lake-town is attacked, we have the following call for a change in leadership:

“We have had enough of the old men and the money-counters!” And people further off took up the cry: “Up the Bowman, and down with Moneybags!” pg 252.

With the ages of presidential candidates in the U.S. being in their late 70s and early 80s, I think many might share this sentiment in regards to having had “enough of the old men”. With the top 1% of earners making more than the other 99% combined, “down with Moneybags!” also feels quite relevant (although perhaps this is a somewhat timeless maxim).

So is it Worth It All These Years Later

Yup! Middle-Earth is a vast and perhaps overwhelming prospect, but The Hobbit is the perfect toe in the water. Not too grim, not too silly, a story which in a lot of ways feels just right. I’ll admit that Tolkien’s humor and whimsy were somewhat surprising but ultimately much needed. And while many stories from ‘back in the day’ have not aged well, I felt this one stood the test of time with remarkable prescience.

Certainly a perfect read for #TolkienReadingDay

What do you all think? Is this still a beloved classic? Or was there something I missed? What’s your favorite part of the story? Leave your answers in the comments!

Until next time!

Celebrate #TolkienReadingDay With a Review of the 1968 BBC Radio Broadcast of The Hobbit!

People of the world rejoice!! Sauron has been defeated!!

If you’re wondering why I’m brining this up now, well the answer is that according to the Tolkien Society, March 25th is in fact (fiction?) the day in which The One Ring was destroyed, thereby completing Frodo’s quest and defeating Sauron. Since 2003 the society has encouraged fans to celebrate and promote the life and works of J.R.R Tolkien on this day even going so far as to dub the holiday Tolkien Reading Day.

So what better way to celebrate the father of modern fantasy, then to review The One Book which started it all, The Hobbit.

Or attempt to do so, but instead talk about a 1968 BBC Radio adaptation of Tolkien’s 1937 classic because you didn’t realize the audiobook you requested from the library was not the original work until about a half hour in when you’re wondering why there are all these breaks, musical interludes, and repeated sections.

And by ‘you’ I mean me. This is what I did. This was the mistake I made.

Anyway, rather than request the original and have to wait several weeks for it to come in (thereby missing this incredible holiday), I just decided to give the radio version a listen and see what was good.

I have no doubt that in the late 1960s, this radio adaptation was the cat’s pajamas, but I’m wondering if modern audiences would find the broadcast somewhat jarring. For me, this discomfort has no better example then after the eagles come to rescue bilbo et al, from the wargs and goblins who have set the forest aflame to try and smoke them from their hiding place within the trees. They soon land on the Great Shelf and speak with the Lord of the Eagles. I’ve done my best to transcribe the encounter:

Lord of Eagles: Raaahhckkk! Gandaaalllfff my old friend. What a pleasant surprise to see you again Raaahhckkk!

Gandalf: I am honored lord of the eagles, may I present Thorin Oakenshield, son Thrain, son of Thror, and his followers.

Lord of Eagles: Son of Thrain, Son of Throrrr, Raaahhcckkk. It be a great pleasure to meet the head of such a famous family of goblin slayersss. Raahhcckk.

I think that is enough to get the gist of the conversation (Raahhcckk!!).

For comparison, here is the same section from The Hobbit book:

“As Bilbo listened to the talk of Gandalf he realized that at last they were going to escape really and truly from the dreadful mountains. He (Gandalf) was discussing plans with the Great Eagle for carrying the dwarves and himself and Bilbo far away and setting them down well on their journey across the plains below.”

So obviously a book is able to simply tell its audience some things in summary when doing so in a radio production would absolutely kill the momentum of the story, however, summary is not completely absent from the BBC adaptation which included effectively two narrators (Bilbo and the true narrator). This means that somewhere along the way it was decided that this conversation was important enough to SHOW rather than TELL.

So far I’m in agreement. Giant sapient eagles who have kings and fight goblins is just about one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard of. Definitely a SHOW moment. Only that moment becomes laughable with all the elongated pronunciations and squawking (isn’t that a parrot thing anyway?).

Most of the show’s depictions of magical creatures (spiders, elves, goblins, trolls etc.) seem to suffer similarly from the overproduction of their audio. This combined with two narrators, who often speak over each other, while dwarves are cheering or having side conversations in the background (and all of that often set to music as well!) led to a pretty confusing sound picture which I felt actually detracted from the story rather than added to it.

What I did find striking however, was how similar Gollum sounded to his Peter Jacksonian counterpart (LOTR movies) and Bilbo’s characterization really stood out to me as well. I don’t know if I ever actually saw the Hobbit movies in which Martin Freeman plays the character, but now I’m very curious whether or not they are similar, and if Freeman used the 1968 radio broadcast as an inspiration.

So . . . Worth a Listen?

Despite my relatively negative review of the broadcast so far (and during a celebration no less), I would say it is still worth a listen. The story of a small hero going on a big adventure is always going to be entertaining, and despite the kinks introduced by its adaptation to another medium, The Hobbit is still a fascinating story.

I’ll admit that I had forgotten just how much I enjoy Tolkien’s characters and while middle-earth — with all its histories and legends, cities and places — can sometimes seem vast and overwhelming, this story is a much more digestible place to start.

At the very least, listening to the BBC’s 1968 adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit, reignited my interest in Tolkien’s writing . . . which seems to me is exactly the point of Tolkien Reading Day.

Has anyone listened to this broadcast? What are your thoughts? Did they stick the landing or does the adaptation fall flat? What were your favorite parts? Are you doing anything to celebrate Tolkien Reading Day? What is your favorite Tolkien work?

Please leave your answers in the comments. Looking forward to talking about this one!

Ta ta for now!