Beyond Andy Serkis - Other Audiobook Versions of Tolkien's Works

Hello, welcome to MythMakers, the podcast for fantasy creatives and fantasy fans. Now my name is Julia Golding and I'm the director of the Oxford Centre for Fantasy who brings you this podcast. And we've promised to keep on ranging around all the themes to fantasy but today I thought I'd go back a little bit to an episode we did a couple of weeks ago about audio versions of Lord of the Rings. This was prompted by Andy Circus, producing his mammoth work, doing all the voices, but that may be go back and have a look at the other Tolkien inspired audiobooks out there beyond Lord of the Rings. So I thought I'd give you a rundown of the ones I know well and also I delved into some of the ones I don't yet know just so you know what's out there. Now we have to start again with Andy Circus because he did a version of the Hobbit last year in 2020. Now I think I remember him doing this as a lockdown project where he was doing like a reading as a sponsored reading. So clearly I think he must have then gone into the studio and done it under slightly more less pressurised circumstances. It's very much as you expect if you have listened to his Lord of the Rings reading you get a very pleasant romp through the Hobbit. It's a more what I would say more of an avuncular tone than Lord of the Rings which is inspired by the fact that the narrator is more present in the Hobbit than he is in Lord of the Rings. It has a bedtime story feel. But you also get the performance aspect with Andy Circus, you know, watch out for the riddle game with Bill Bowen-Gollum of course. That must be the set piece that everyone wants to listen to. I think when I'm listening to it what always comes into mind are the films because very often he hits exactly the same cadence on a piece of dialogue which has made it into the script channeling the actor who originally played it. Now that's absolutely fine to be expected because of course he was one of the assistant directors on the films but of course it does then bring to mind images from the film and if that's the experience you want as close to the Peter Jackson films as possible then obviously this is the version to go for but you do have a couple of other easily available options if you're going through the audible route for buying your audiobooks and that is going backwards in time 2005 Martin Shaw's version. This is a straightforward reading from an actor who's very well known here in the UK. He was someone I had a crush on when I was little because he was part of the professionals which was like a cop drama programme at the time but he's then gone on to do many roles on television in particular. When I was listening to the sample I found the sound quality wasn't that great, that might just have been the link I clicked on but if you are going to try that one do dust double check that the sound quality is what you expected. For me it seemed a little bit muffled and then going back before that there's dear old Robert Ingalls the 1991 production love this is the one that I think I can listen to again and again because it feels like Tolkien is reading to you. Very fond of the way he delivers it and I can listen to this without thinking about the film so it has that advantage but I also want to tell you about yet another version which is the Hobbit dramatized version from the BBC. Now this is actually the one my own children listened to in their bedrooms when they were little as like bedtime story tapes and I was surprised when I looked it up that the date on this is 1968 which predates me and I think now I know that I can sort of sense it in the production because you've got the BBC radio phonics workshop doing some music in the background and putting some of the voices through synthesizers, acquired taste maybe, it's fun but it's got a very jokey film more like almost a cartoon version of the Hobbit. It's a bridge two three and three quarter hours which might help if you're playing this for younger listeners and I think the strongest part of this for me is the interpretation between the narrator and Bilbo so you've got an actor called Anthony Jackson doing the storytelling role the sort of Tolkien role and then amusingly you've got bursting in and disagreeing or laughing or chuckling or even sort of gainsaying the character playing Bilbo who is an actor called Paul Daneman. Another thing that I've thought was noticeable about this is the casting of Gandalf by an actor called Heron Carvick and it shows that we are before the Michael Horden or the in McKellen versions in that he sounds more like a character, more like an Elrond character younger and somehow more, something more sinister in fact, more poised to him so which I thought was really interesting coming back to it now after and having listened to it for quite a few years. So definitely worth a listen just to see what 1968 made of the Hobbit and it still stands up today I think as a as a listen. Okay so moving on from the Hobbit let's go to the next big book that you might want to listen to and this is a Silmarillion. Now the best game in town is Martin Shaw's Reading and I think this might possibly be my favourite of all the audio versions out there of everything. It's extremely well presented it's got nice breaks in between the different books. Martin Shaw does a very steady and listenable reading and it also helped me who you know Silmarillion wasn't the book I would rush to but listening to it I suddenly realized how the pros worked that it is it is really written to be read out. I really love this and I dip back into it again and again so definitely put that on your wish list if you want to get to grips with the Silmarillion particularly if it's always been a book that you've been a bit scared of or had trouble with. Right so the next big and going on from there is the unfinished tales. Now this has only just come out in 2021 and you get almost 22 hours of listening and this is what I'm currently listening to at the moment. What's delightful about this collection of the manuscripts edited by Christopher Tolkien is they've done it as a two-hander between the father and son actor team Samuel and Timothy West so you get Timothy West saying the editorial parts and Samuel West telling the story so it makes it very clear does get over the problem of what to do with footnotes. I love this I really think it's worth a listen so for example in this you've got things in there like the story of Turin and there you've got wonderful descriptions of the journey to the sea which really brings alive the beauty of the landscape that Tolkien is evoking there so definitely one to look up it sort of makes the unfinished tales feel quite finished actually they're lovely lovely stories. So just to reiterate I think this is really worth your time particularly because I think there's a feeling sometimes when you're getting into the the weeds of the Tolkien manuscripts as is it worth my time I've read the Silmarillion why should I read us another version of the same tales and what what what more can I get and it's more than just an expansion it's more of a dip into the poetry of Tolkien that you get listening to it like this so definitely have a listen. Now going on of course we've got lots of the little well not that little really because they often end up at about eight hours of listening time but there are the other manuscripts that cover quite a lot of the same material but were edited by Christopher Tolkien and put out a separate works. So we've got as well highlight amongst this is the Children of Turin of course which came out in 2006 read by Christopher Lee so if you can't get enough of your Sarah Mann obviously this is the one to go for I found it very moving how much he enjoys saying the names of places and also I was amused when sometimes a word would come up which chimed with something he said as Sarah Mann like the word power and immediately I can see him in his white robe obviously a much missed actor so a little bit of classy Christopher Lee in that and then another of in a sort similar area is the Fall of Gondolin which is one of the main events of the first age and here it's produced in 2019 and they use the Timothy West Sam West combination for that I haven't listened to this all the way through it sounds a very you know if you if you're particularly interested in the Fall of Gondolin it sounds a great way to actually hear that story because the the the way they split it between the two makes it very clear but it does look as though there is quite a lot of editorial comments so it becomes an audio book about the process of of editing manuscripts so it probably is more of a specialized interest that one than those who were just going for a story and again another of these first-age stories is Berrin and Luthian which is of course a central story for Tolkien he had the name Berrin and Luthian on his tombstone with his wife Edith so it's their story in a sense a love story and here we get the West's out again it was only done in 2020 similar things you may feel you've already heard the story of Berrin and Luthian in the various places but the two team of the team of two narrators is very strong again not the first one I'd buy I think I'd go for the unfinished tales if you're looking for the Sam and Tim West version go for that first not least because it's huge and lots of listening but yeah why not it's it's pretty much a beautiful story isn't it okay now the here are some smaller ones which are worth looking into there are several versions of tales from the perilous realm now that's the name given to a collection of stories which includes roverandum farmer giles of ham the adventures of tom bomberdill leaf by niggle and smith of wooden major these can also be bought separately so be careful you're not buying the same thing twice this particular edition the straightforward reading is read by the wonderful Derek Jacobi who delivers it suitable for I mean it's a sort of a these are children's tales particularly roverandum and that is the the feel of those though of course actually leaf by niggle is much more of a philosophic work it's about a man man's creativity and the squizziness which he draws a single leaf and trying to put all the beauty into that so it's very amazing essay story essay written by Tolkien these are lovely but as I said the big warning here is don't buy it twice so you can buy the collection where you get them all and then you wouldn't need to go and buy the separate titles but I found in this little troll that there is also a version of tales from the perilous realm which was done by the BBC I didn't know this existed till I started looking all this up it's got Michael Horden in it as Gandalf he obviously plays Gandalf in the BBC dramatized version of Lord of the Rings and as he died quite a long time ago it puts us back at that time back in the 80s it's definitely got a top team of voice talent um Brian blessed is in there James Grout these are all you know wonderful voice actors and there is an added audio portrait of Tolkien put together by Brian Sibley which draws on the BBC resources of interviews with the author himself and with others so I haven't yet listened to that yet but I think I'm just going to put that on my wish list now because it sounds a great listen so that's the little run through just a recap I think for me um possibly my favourite hobbit might be the robbing ghouls one my favourite summer rillian in fact the only game in town really is Martin Shaw but it's the my favourite of all the audio books and I think unfinished tales by the west is the one I would go to to listen to for them of all the various readings they they're doing now I always in all these podcasts end with where in the best where is the best to go in a fancy world for something and we've done forests and ins and places to be ill um places to be a woman and today I decided I'd pick on places to be a singer because one of the things that comes out in audiobooks is how good the readers can sing poor old Annie circus is where he's challenged on this robbing ghouls does a very good job and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop does an interesting treatment shall we say of the songs you have to listen to them just to get get the vibe if you know the theme tune for Doctor Who you can get a sense of the area in which they're working electronically it was the new thing back in 1968 anyway so I was thinking where in all the fancy worlds is the best to be a singer and I've just been listening over the last couple of weeks to a series by a new writer to me a lady called Michelle Diner who writes sci-fi fantasy and in her class five series I think it's a great place to be a singer now the concept of this is that we're in a a universe where humans have been abducted as part of a scientific mission by the bad guys in this world and they get rescued over the various books the people taken as specimens but the wonderful thing is that to the race who rescues them human singers any of us any of us can sing a tune are amazing because in that culture they have very few singers and it's a highly prized art so they've got sort of five singers for all the planets in their system and so these human women coming along are a real shop to the system and they have great fun in this book by people at various times saying happy birthday to you and because they put someone's name in it it becomes like an astounding cultural revelation there's some very funny moments where they sing always look on the bright side of life which in a very dull moment are people astonished that they're able to sing at these times anyway I love the humour of that and the concept that you didn't have to be a very good singer but in this world you are your Beyonce you are Adele your Kavarotti as far as they're concerned oh yeah and look out for the rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody that's probably a very high moment anyway I love the comedy of that so hands down the best place to be a singer is in the sci-fi fantasy world of Michelle Dynas class five series so thank you very much for listening and I hope you enjoy the audio versions I've mentioned goodbye thanks for listening to MythMakers podcast brought to you by the Oxford Centre for Fantasy visit Oxford Centre for Fantasy.org to join in the fun find out about our online courses in person stays in Oxford plus visit our shop for great gifts tell a friend and subscribe wherever you find your favourite podcasts worldwide