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From Russia with Rings
Soviet nostalgia. Their own version of Lord of the Rings from 1991 has been found in an old TV-archive, digitized and uploaded to YouTube. It looks just like what one could expect from a eastern European puppet show from decades ago -- even if it's live action. It only aired once before the collapse of the Soviet Union, not that they are related events. While it doesn't have the production value of the Jackson version, it does have things he chose to cut from the books.
Khraniteli1: The Soviet take on Lord of the Rings
Soviet TV version of Lord of the Rings rediscovered after 30 years
Keepers, Part 12
Keepers, Part 23
1 Keepers
2 Хранители | Часть 1 | Телеспектакль по мотивам повести Д.Р.Р.Толкиена - Keepers | Part 1 | Teleplay based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
3 Хранители | Часть 2 | Телеспектакль по мотивам повести Д.Р.Р.Толкиена - Keepers | Part 2 | Teleplay based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
[Ed Note - Translations via Google Translate. Please provide any corrections in the comments.]
Soviet TV Version of Lord of the Rings Rediscovered After 30 Years
The Guardian reports that a Soviet television adaptation of The Lord of the Rings — thought to have been lost to time — was rediscovered and posted on YouTube last week, delighting Russian-language fans of JRR Tolkien.
The 1991 made-for-TV film, Khraniteli, based on Tolkien’s "The Fellowship of the Ring", is the only adaptation of his Lord of the Rings trilogy believed to have been made in the Soviet Union. Few knew about its existence until Leningrad Television’s successor, 5TV, abruptly posted the film to YouTube last week [part one | part two], where it has gained more than 800,000 views within several days.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07 2021, @01:24AM (9 children)
It is not a film, TV or not. It is "Телеспектакль", which was a (not very popular at all) genre during the soviet times. It literally means "play on TV" or "TV play" or "theater TV play" - you get the idea, and that is what it is - a theater play filmed and edited for TV presentation, with couple scenes filmed outside. Cheap to make, and provided some degree of entertainment. Being familiar with most of the soviet time classics (I grew up there), I cannot recall a single "TV play" that I watched or liked while growing up. None. It was always an obscure thing, serving to fill up air time on the two TV channels we had, with something, anything.
Some posters above suggested a "fan effort translation" for subtitles. Sure, I could do that in a weekend or two, but... it is horrible. The acting and dialog are abysmally bad. It is not worth anyone's time, no idea why it is even news. If every mediocre thing ever created in the Soviet Union was newsworthy, SoylentNews editors would have job security for 10 years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07 2021, @01:47AM
"SoylentNews editors would have job security for 10 years."
LOL, good one.
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday April 07 2021, @01:47AM (2 children)
You mean... the Soviet TV did have mediocre programs too? (grin)
(as a kid, I used to enjoy those [youtube.com]. No need of translation then, neither today)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday April 07 2021, @02:09AM
Cosmoball [imdb.com] was quite decent for cinema nowadays, Russian or not. Which is to say it's a passable way to kill an evening when you don't have anything you genuinely enjoy doing lined up. So better than most of the absolute garbage coming out of Hollywood lately but not as good as the extremely rare good stuff they somehow manage to accidentally make.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07 2021, @02:13AM
That one is, indeed, a classic. Widely believed to be strongly inspired by "Tom and Jerry" cartoons, it was immensely popular among the kids (and adults too) during the soviet era. And, as you noticed, it was only, or one of the few, Soviet cartoons without spoken dialog in it. Unfortunately, as most things in the USSR, it was rationed. In twenty years of living there, I don't think I had a chance to watch every episode made. I remember getting the weekend newspaper with TV schedule for the next week and circling the 10 minute intervals simply titled "Cartoon" for the week, hoping they would play an episode of "Nu Pogody" ("Just you Wait!") that you linked. Or some other decent one. But that was rare.
(Score: 2, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday April 07 2021, @02:02AM (2 children)
Job security? We already chain them to their desks. How much more secure can we make them?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07 2021, @02:09AM (1 child)
Liar.
You don't got no desk, you can't afford'em.
(Score: 1) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 08 2021, @05:04AM
Or chains either, which is why we make them bring their own.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Wednesday April 07 2021, @09:37AM
I'm moderately curious how the story was modified to account for Russian culture and if any Soviet core values made it into the adaptation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07 2021, @08:05PM
I was tracking and agreeing with you until you got to this line. Personally I think it's very reasonable that this was posted. It's "Lord of the Rings," which inherently makes it more interesting to "nerdy" people, of which there is a disproportionately large number here.
It's like saying, "why is it newsworth that Steve Jobs died? Are we going to cover every CEO death from now on?"
I say that as somebody who did find this article interesting and am glad it was posted... and considering the non-trivial number of people who responded to the article, I can't be the only one.