The Fellowship of the Ring (Dramatized)

By: J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrated by: An Ensemble Cast

Length: 3 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Here is the original American full dramatization, as broadcast on National Public Radio.

In the ancient lands of Middle-earth, a place of elves and dwarves, Orcs and wizards, the darkest evil and the brightest good, a hobbit named Frodo Baggins embarks on a perilous quest: to carry the One Ring, ruler of all the Rings of Power, into the shadowy land of Mordor and destroy it in the fires where it was forged.

They're precious! Listen to all of our classic NPR dramatizations of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series:

The Hobbit (Dramatized)

The Two Towers (Dramatized)

The Return of the King (Dramatized)

©1979, 1994 Christopher R. Tolkien, Michael H.R. Tolkien, John F.R. Tolkien, and Priscilla M.A.R. Tolkien (P)1979, 1994 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"The best available." ( Booklist)
"This collection...is a masterpiece." ( The Courier)
"Spirited productions...stirring music." ( Washington Post)

could be Better

easy to lose interest. readers need to be more prolific in their reading. it could be read a little better.

Kept me entertained all the way through

Very good listen! Readers are amazing and keep you immersed the whole book.! Can’t wait to listen to the next few books.

For kids only

This is a really good way to introduce the younger set to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, who may find it difficult to read the books or to young to watch the movies.

I didn't realize this was geared for kids when I dowloaded it. As an adult, I was unable to finish listening to this narration because I found the voices annoying. If you listen to this with your children, be aware that many of the characters have high pitched voices, sounding like the Smurfs or munchkins (which of course, children love!). The narration of the start of Frodo and Co.'s journey seemed to go and on and they hadn't left the realms of Hobbit lands yet. I think they should have cut this down a bit so children don't start to get bored with the narration.

None-the-less, if you have a young one that you want to get into the science fiction realm, this is the perfect thing to listen too. When they get older, show them the movies and let them read the books for the complete Lord of the Rings experience.

Highly abridged version

if you have not read the book or seen the movie previously, this version will be very hard to follow. it is highly abridged.

I finally found it!

This was the first audiobook I ever heard. Given to me by a family friend when I was 10. The compact discs were used and in poor condition and I admit I lost a few of them. This may not be the most complete or definitive version of LOTR but it kindled my love for audiobooks and therefore will always hold a special place in my heart and now in my audio library as well.

Good story but the performance I'd lacking

Story was great as I expected, but the voice action in this isn't good at all. In my opinion, the BBC version is far superior.

Classic stuff!

I used to listen to these on tape when I was a kid, and when I saw them here, I had to download 'em. They're almost as great as I remember. Some of the voice acting is a little off (I'm looking at you, Elrond -- whose idea was that?), but the main characters are great, and the selection of material is excellent. One and three-quarters thumbs up.

Safe for Children

I’m really enjoying listening back to the radio broadcasts. It reminds me of a simpler time.

assumed it was a good book for me and you ...

yes!.... it was a good book and I was going to be a little heads up in the book

Minus some stars for overusing some actors but...

I don't feel this program is the travesty many believe it to be. This could of course be because this was my first exposure to Middle-Earth and I was only ten or so at the time. Even now at 31 I still have a soft spot for this program, even after hearing the BBC's version. Of course this soft spot could also be due to the fact that despite its flaws this program still remains most faithful to the books and features a reasonably well-performed version of one of my favorite parts, that being the scenes with Tom Bombadil, which the 1981 BBC radiodrama, released three years or so after this version, omits entirely as does the 2001 film, much to the displeasure of many fans.
But if you enjoyed the American performance of The Hobbit, you may enjoy the rest of the series just as much since old favorite actors such as Ray Reinhardt (Bilbo), Tom Loose (Thorin and now Aragorn), and Bernard Mayes (Gandalf), return in this program alon with newcomer James Arrington as Frodo and, strangely enough, Saruman as well. I wasn't entirely thrilled with the guy who portrayed Elrond, since he always sounded to me as though he constantly had a frog in his throat. I will however acknowledge the fact that he sounds somewhat less like that in the LOTR trilogy than he did in The Hobbit itself. The only cast member I really didn't like was Lu Bliss, the lady who plays Sam. I don't know if it was the New York/Jersey accent or what, but I could never get into her performance. One other thing I found rather unnerving about this version to say the least, was the almost overwhelming presence of Sci-Fi-like laser effects whenever Gandalf used his magic. Granted this is more in reference to Two Towers and Return of the King than in Fellowship, but it does become distracting in those later programs. Aside from that though, the sound effects are actually quite good, the horses' hooves not least of all. In the BBC version they sounded much more like tapdancers in my opinion than actual horses.