Middle-Earth On Film: A Visual History

3. The Lord Of The Rings (1978)

Coming less than a year after The Hobbit, although not related in any real way, Ralph Bakshi's The Lord Of The Rings adapts The Fellowship Of The Ring and The Two Towers in a highly stylised animation that relied heavily on rotoscoped live-action footage.

For a long time this was deemed the best screen adaptation Tolkien fans could hope for, remaining pretty faithful to the book. Today, however, some of it (especially Sam) look a bit silly.