JRR Tolkien
BBC 1981-82
In 1981, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in 26 half-hour stereo installments. This followed a previous 12-part BBC Radio adaptation in 1955 and 1956, of which no recordings are known to have survived, and a 1979 recording by National Public Radio in the USA. (Elsewhere on Times past)
The Lord of the Rings is the story of an epic struggle against the Dark Lord Sauron of Mordor, the primary villain of the work, who created a Ruling Ring to control the nineteen Rings of Power, and an alliance of heroes who join forces to save the world from falling under his shadow.
Each of the original 26 episodes received two broadcasts per week, individual evening broadcasts of the 30 minute episodes with an hour long "omnibus" repeat on Sunday mornings – standard practice for many BBC radio serials even today. The first broadcast of Episode 2 was blacked out across a large part of southeast England because of a transmitter failure (a very rare occurrence even then).
The series was also broadcast in the US on NPR with a new synopsis preceding each episode, narrated by Tammy Grimes. (Does anyone have the US version? NOT the NPR adaptation) It was also aired in Australia.
A soundtrack album featuring a completely re-recorded and in some cases expanded, suite of Stephen Oliver's music was released in 1981.
The 26-part series was subsequently edited into 13 hour-long episodes, restoring some dialogue originally cut for timing (since each hour-long episode is actually around 57 minutes, as opposed to 54 minutes for two half-hour episodes with overlaps and extra credits removed), rearranging some scenes for dramatic impact and adding linking narration and music cues. Even so, a small amount of material was also lost, notably a minute long scene featuring Gandalf and Pippin on Shadowfax discussing the beacon fires of Gondor.
I will be posting the 13-hour BBC presentation as well as the 2002 CD version, which has some dialogue differences and a new score.
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Thank you! A very nice upgrade to the poppy copy I have.
Bows to codepop!! ;-)
DOWNLOADS: (I just uploaded this, I put all 13 episodes into 2 zip files, (I ripped from the CD set I own, the links will be good for about 2-weeks)
DL Link #1
https://www.sendspace.com/file/4mat1p
DL Link #2
https://www.sendspace.com/file/zsk2ch
My profound Thanks to my favorite downloader. Your Thank Yous are "WONDERFUL" I am attempting to give back Thanks with the profound grateful feeling that you convey to me and I am failing miserably at it. -------- R
Rick you DA MAN and just trying to help where I can Brother!!!!!
;-)