Audio Treasure

Sometimes you come across some treasure you have forgotten about. In this case I was seeking for something to listen to as a change from music. I wanted something to occupy my mind that would keep it busy and take it off into a another world, rather than being stuck in this one with all it's issues and problems. Something we do when we read a book or watch television. A escape from all that troubles us. The solution was simple, the radio version of Lord of the Rings recorded by the BBC which I hadn't listened to for years.

With the coming of the film, like many I guess, your version of the story becomes that of the film. The visual imaginary just makes it more memorable than a book or a radio versions of the story.  The effect of this is quiet interesting since the film is adaptation of the story and not the story itself. It follows the main storyline well but does change elements of it completely. For example Saruman the White in the film is no more than a puppet of the Dark Lord while in the main story he is also in competition with him wanting the ring to have complete power to himself. Although the radio version again omits elements of the story but it does this with changing the main story line at all.  The result is that the radio version is closer to the original work than that of the film.

Nearly every one has praised the film version of the story and rightly so, but the radio version has been forgotten in the wake of it's popularity. Listening to it again after seeing the film version you fell the richness of the radio version of the story fills in some of the blanks and adds twists to the tale that have been left out from the film. As an example of this the first three hours of the radio version is compressed into one and half hours of the film and there are loads of the story in the film missing, some of which is taken up by visuals shots alone, something that is clearly missing from the radio version. It goes without saying that the only way to understand the full story is to read the book, but the radio version preserves more of the story than the film and is a more true representation of the story.

It not just the fact that their is more to the story that make the radio version a little treasure, it is the way that story is told too. Like the film the cast was carefully picked and the acting is second to none. I have always thought the whole cast of the film deserved an award for their work. Their team work was amazing and it was never recognised, something that can be said of the Harry Porter films too. The film industry might make stars of people, but stars don't make films, it is the whole cast in acting terms that tell the story that makes a great film. The same is true of the radio version. Their love of the story and they way they work together shines through the words that sinks you into the world of Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves and Men as the fight the great evil from the West. Where the pictures are missing from the film the way the story is told makes your own pictures in your mind to fill the void.

If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings, then like Bilbo in the story of the Hobbit, you should really seek out this treasure and listen to it. It won't leave you with a nasty surprise like Bilbo was left with the ring but it will give you a better understanding of the story if you haven't read the book. If you love the film know it compliments it. It is wonderful price of work.