Truly the definitive adaptation. I had wished they would have kept Tom Bombadil, but it was otherwise wonderfully executed all-throughout. ( )

Really great dramatization. The cast and production did a wonderful work bringing this story to life. ( )

Summary: A battle is fought and Isildur cuts the ring from the finger of Sauron. The ring is later lost but, centuries later it is found by a hobbit named Deagol, who is killed by his relative Smeagol who steals the ring. Smeagol is kicked out of his country and lives under a mountain for hundreds of years where the ring transforms him. The ring changes him into evilness and is called Gollum. He loses the ring as well.
Personal Reaction: This book is great. It is full of twists, surprises and creativity. This is a must read for older children. This book is a page flipper and it takes your imagination to new heights.
Classroom extension ideas:
1. Watch the movie and compare the differences.
2. Use the handouts made by http://www.teachervision.fen.com/fantasy-fiction/resource/64352.html to help expand vocabulary words and help to understand the chapters more easily.

It is very very good, and I strongly recommend it. Ian Holm as Frodo, Bill Nighy as Sam, Michael Hordern as Gandalf, and John Le Mesurier as Bilbo are excellent in their roles. (Shout out also to Stephen Thorne as Treebeard and Jack May as Théoden.) But the two key performers, in my view, are Robert Stephens as Aragorn and Peter Woodthorpe as Gollum/Sméagol.

I would say the biggest performance gap between the audio and the Peter Jackson movies is that between Stephens and Viggo Mortensen. Stephens' Aragorn is tough, damaged, wise, and (as far as we can tell) not even particularly good-looking. He carries every scene he is in, and invests dignity and authority in every line, be it Tolkien's original words or new material from Bakewell and Sibley. (And unlike the Peter Jackson films, Aragorn's story is left pretty much intact.)

The gap between Peter Woodthorpe and Andy Serkis is smaller but it is still in Woodthorpe's favour. Gollum's internal dialogue (ie his habit of talking to himself) works well for audio, and indeed here we get a number of extra scenes with Gollum's adventures away from the main storyline. In his penultimate scene, told by Frodo that he can never have the Ring back, he complains bitterly that 'nassty hobbitses has no idea how long 'never' is', a moment where he almost engages our sympathy. His final moments shortly afterwards are gorgeously manic and rightly expanded considerably from the few lines Gollum's demise gets in the original text.

I remember a few years back seeing an archive interview with Tolkien where he stated with an air of elderly innocence that the books were 'all about Death, really.' I wondered about this at the time, since to an extent I still read the book through my own nine-year-old eyes, and it's not such an obvious concern of the Peter Jackson films. But it's clearly a theme of the audio. Boromir's funeral, to a minor key variation of the theme tune; Denethor's suicide; Frodo and Sam facing up to death in Mordor (rather than bickering); Bilbo gradually slipping into old age; not to mention the various actual battles; these are all real and awful events in the BBC version. And the music is good, too. It is truly gripping. Get it if you can. ( )

Over the years that I've had this set I've listened to it several times. It never grows old and is so well done I get sucked right into the story everytime.

This BBC Radio production of Lord of the Rings is still one of my favourite renditions of the story (aside from the books). The acting and characterizations are, by far, the best available.

I highly recommend this production for your next long road trip or as an excellent alternative to airplane movies. ( )