The Lord of the Rings (Hardcover)

The cast is superb; interestingly, it features prominent connections to both film versions of the story. Ian Holm, who plays Bilbo in Peter Jackson's films, makes a fine Frodo, only occasionally betraying the fact that he is perhaps a little too old for the role. Meanwhile, Peter Woodthorpe builds interestingly on the conception of Gollum that he first presented in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version. Woodthorpe's characterization is wonderfully effective, giving full expression to the pathos, the menace, and the humor of this extraordinary and complex character.

The pivotal roles of Gandalf and Aragorn are both brilliantly - one might even say definitively - played by Royal Shakespeareans Michael Hordern and Robert Stephens. Their performances could scarcely be bettered. William Nighy, an actor who, on the evidence of his work here, deserves to be far better known in this country, is excellent as Samwise, nicely delineating the character's growth from a simple gardener into a truly heroic figure. The other hobbits are also very well played. Further standouts in what is truly a first-rate cast include Peter Howell as Saruman, David Collings as Legolas, Andrew Seear as Faramir, Jack May as Theoden, and Peter Vaughan as Denethor.

Brian Sibley's adaptation of Tolkien's masterpiece is as good as any we are ever likely to encounter. With the exception of the the Old Forest/Tom Bombadil/Barrow-Downs loop (which, let's be honest, is not likely to be missed too keenly), all of the major plot threads are preserved. Better still, Sibley and his co-writers have presented the tale largely in Tolkien's own words, taking much of the dialogue and narration verbatim from the books. In a few places, especially early on, Sibley does deviate from Tolkien's text - not by changing the story, but rather by staging scenes which are only hinted at in the books. Not surprisingly, these are among the production's weaker moments. The Ringwraiths, in particular, suffer from their extra scenes; the dialogue (and, in some cases, the voices of the actors playing them) makes them rather too solidly human, and they lose some of the spectral menace that Tolkien sustained so beautifully by keeping them mainly in the shadows. But these brief additions are nearly all confined to the first two episodes, and do not detract much from the overall impact of even these installments. After Episode Two, nearly every scene comes directly from Tolkien. Apart from a handful of misjudged moments, everything comes off quite splendidly, and overall the adaptation is really as good as anyone could have wished. Among its many delights, perhaps the most unexpected of all is that the destruction of the Ring takes place around halfway through Episode Twelve - leaving fully an episode and a half for Tolkien's long and very satisfying denouement.

Stephen Oliver's music is lovely and effective, and there are some particularly fine settings of Tolkien's own poetry. The sound effects are generally fairly good, though they could have been used less sparingly in places; however, this economy allows the marvelous cast to come through that much more clearly, so it is difficult to object.

On the whole, this is an intelligent, exciting, and superbly acted dramatization of "The Lord of the Rings." It is unquestionably a must-have for all Tolkien fans. One final word of warning, however: please do not confuse this brilliant BBC adaptation with the abominable American version produced by The Mind's Eye. The latter adaptation, which was apparently aimed at developmentally challenged toddlers, is to be avoided at all costs.

1 star or less to this edition (paperback with faded tower of Gondor on the cover ISBN 0395974682). It broke at second read, inspite of the fact that I treated it very, very gently.
I read this specific volume once and it held up fine. Since then about two years have elapsed and it broke apart almost immediately after opening it. Loose pages everywhere.
I'll have to buy a better edition.

Possibly, next time I'll buy three separate volumes because one-volume editions are heavy to read while in bed.