Rankin/Bass are Tolkien the mickey with this one.

We might be about to enter the fourth age of Tolkien animations, but you don’t need to search the archives of Minas Tirith to retrace the ancient past of cartoon Middle-earth. The 1977 Rankin/Bass adaptation of The Hobbit is an legendarily oddball delight—a spirited attempt to bottle Tolkien’s world in a way that feels like a child’s storybook come to life. Crafted by the creative team best known for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, this animated version has a folksy, handcrafted quality that’s equal parts charming and bewildering. For all its quirks, it remains a touchstone for many fans, especially those whose first found their way to Middle-earth through this distinctly surreal lens.

The backstory of how The Hobbit landed in Rankin/Bass’s hands is almost as peculiar as the film itself. By the mid-1970s, the rights to Tolkien’s works had been scattered across various studios, leaving Rankin/Bass with The Hobbit and The Return of the King but none of the intervening material. With just 77 minutes to tell the tale, Rankin/Bass wasn’t aiming for the epic scope or depth that Tolkien devotees might expect. Instead, this adaptation feels like a campfire retelling—a pared-down, child-friendly rendition that leaps from set piece to set piece, loosely tethered to the original story’s finer details.

And loose it is. Major elements are either missing or simplified to the point of absurdity. Beorn is nowhere to be found, and the intricate politics of Mirkwood are flattened into broad strokes. Yet Rankin/Bass fills these gaps with whimsical inventions of their own. The soundtrack, peppered with cutesy tunes, gives the film a sing-song quality that feels like it embraces Tolkien’s penchant for a folk song or two a little to eagerly. “The Greatest Adventure,” the film’s unofficial anthem, is emblematic of this approach—a campy, cheerful tune that’s either endearing or grating, depending on your mood.

Visually, Rankin/Bass’s Middle-earth is distinctive, if not strictly faithful. The character designs are memorable for all the wrong reasons—or perhaps the right ones, depending on your taste for the surreal. Gandalf appears as a kindly old man with a faint mischievous twinkle, more magical neighbour than towering wizard. Gollum, meanwhile, is a bizarrely amphibian figure with saucer-like eyes, unsettling yet oddly adorable in his grotesqueness. The most confounding reimagining is Smaug: rendered as a bright orange, catfish-like creature with fur and whiskers, he looks more like a Dr. Seuss creation than Tolkien’s awe-inspiring calamity. Even in 1977, this choice puzzled viewers, and it remains as baffling today.

The animation itself, crafted by the Japanese studio Topcraft (a precursor to Studio Ghibli), is a mixed bag. The hand-drawn style exudes a folktale charm, but its wobbly lines, simplified backgrounds, and pastel palette lend the film a dreamy, surreal quality. Middle-earth here is a soft-edged storybook fantasy, and whether that heightens nostalgia or feels overly simplistic depends on the viewer. The sense of grandeur and peril Tolkien’s tale demands is often absent; danger becomes playful, as in the cartoonish skirmishes with goblins or the sing-songy encounters with spiders. Even Smaug, despite his menacing voice, feels too benign to truly frighten.

Yet, for all its oddities, this Hobbit captures the heart of the story. Rankin/Bass may skim over subplots, inject campy songs, and cut corners, but Bilbo’s journey from timid homebody to reluctant hero remains intact. The tug between the comforts of home and the lure of adventure—the essence of Tolkien’s narrative—is rendered with a tender simplicity. This adaptation treats Middle-earth with a gentle hand, transforming the epic into a fable while remaining true to Bilbo’s growth.

It’s a strange, unpolished adaptation that might leave Tolkien purists scratching their heads. But for those of us who first encountered it with wide-eyed wonder, it’s a nostalgic treasure—a throwback to a time when fantasy didn’t feel the need to be gritty or hyper-realistic. Rankin/Bass’s The Hobbit is Middle-earth with a twist: more bedtime story than grand saga, yet wholly enchanting in its peculiar, offbeat way.