In Soviet Middle Earth, Adventure finds you!

December 8, 2012 12:55 PM

The subtitles aren't accurate, but that shouldn't stop your enjoyment of this Russian adaptation of 'The Hobbit'.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (18 comments total)

The subtitles aren't accurate, but that shouldn't stop your enjoyment of...

They are stopping my enjoyment, as it's difficult to follow when one is crying with laughter. F'ing pink shirt et al.
posted by Wordshore at 1:00 PM on December 8, 2012 [2 favorites]

I think this got mentioned in a comment before. But it's great all the same. I saw this over a year ago and love it, from narrator grandpa in his darkened infinite cafe to slightly sinister Gandalf. Wait until you get to the goblins and their ridiculous dance!
posted by JHarris at 1:03 PM on December 8, 2012

Ah, but those jokey subtitles are terrible, and harm the experience. It'd have been better without. YOU'RE NOT MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 MORONS, DON'T EVEN TRY.
posted by JHarris at 1:04 PM on December 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

Stop laughing. I care for weed.
posted by srboisvert at 1:06 PM on December 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

This Huffington Post article has the original. (Warning: ad before show starts.)
posted by JHarris at 1:11 PM on December 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

(The subtitles might actually be clever, I've not seen more than a few seconds... but I would have preferred a way to see it without the peanut gallery. Say what you want about MST, but they never gave you the impression that you'd rather be seeing the film without them, they were at least that respectful.)
posted by JHarris at 1:16 PM on December 8, 2012

Oh, dear. Those hobbit feet...
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 1:30 PM on December 8, 2012

Or the original on YouTube, without ads or hard subs.
posted by Martijn at 1:33 PM on December 8, 2012 [4 favorites]

Oh, dear. The dragon.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 1:35 PM on December 8, 2012

Ah, thanks Martijn!
posted by JHarris at 1:35 PM on December 8, 2012

Thanks JHarris and Martijn.

Part of what made MST3K work was that Joel, Mike and the bots were in the audience one row in front of us laughing at the screen. They didn't turn around and tell us what we should think of the movie.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 1:37 PM on December 8, 2012 [2 favorites]

Oh, dear. The dragon.

It may be useful to know that this isn't strictly speaking a movie. It's a "телеспектакль," or a stage play filmed for broadcasting on television.
posted by Nomyte at 2:00 PM on December 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

I wrote a bit more about Russian Bilbo's feet in this comment.
posted by Nomyte at 2:03 PM on December 8, 2012

The blue comes thru and amen to soviet cinema.
posted by vrakatar at 6:21 PM on December 8, 2012

Man, the new high-frame-rate digital projection really does look rough...
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:46 PM on December 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is great.. last time I saw this was about 15 years ago! I like it much better now.
posted by rainy at 7:06 PM on December 8, 2012

Man, the new high-frame-rate digital projection really does look rough...

Must be your connection. It looks f***ing astonishing on my box.




Oh, wait a minute. I guess there was some residual DMT in that pipe.
posted by philip-random at 7:13 PM on December 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

I love this. I skipped directly to the URL for the Youtube upload. I have a deep fondness for watching shows in languages I don't speak, particularly Russian cartoons, so this was a natural fit for me.

The goblin dance, as noted, is magnificent.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:35 PM on December 8, 2012 [1 favorite]