Hobitit
Genre	Miniseries
Written by	Timo Torikka
Directed by	Timo Torikka
Starring	Matti Pellonpää Martti Suosalo Vesa Vierikko Ville Virtanen Kari Väänänen Leif Wager
Composer	Toni Edelmann [fi]
Country of origin	Finland
Original language	Finnish
No. of episodes	9
Production
Producer	Olof Qvickström
Production locations	Ryhmäteatteri theatre,Yle
Running time	9 × 30 minutes
Production companies	Yle Ryhmateatteri [fi]
Original release
Network	Yle TV1
Release	29 March (1993-03-29) – 24 May 1993 (1993-05-24)

Hobitit (The Hobbits) is a nine-part Finnish live-action fantasytelevision miniseries directed byTimo Torikka, originally broadcast in 1993 onYle TV1.^[1]

It is based on a six-hour play,Taru sormusten herrasta (The Lord of the Rings), put on by Ryhmäteatteri theatre company at the Suomenlinna Summer Theatre, with many of the same actors; the play was in turn an adaptation ofJ. R. R. Tolkien'sThe Lord of the Rings. The series quite faithfully adapts the events untilThe Council of Elrond, and then focuses on the journey of theHobbitsFrodo Baggins andSam Gamgee. The series was praised in the Finnish press. The Finnish Tolkien society wrote thatHobitit had captured the book's spirit and atmosphere, despite its small budget.

The series is based onJ. R. R. Tolkien'sThe Lord of the Rings, in nine episodes. It omits the parts where the HobbitsFrodo Baggins andSam Gamgee are not present. The narrator is an older Sam, who tells his story to an audience of young Hobbits several years after the events of theWar of the Ring.

In the first episode, titledBilbo, Sam provides a brief account of the origin of theOne Ring and how it came intoGollum's possession.Bilbo Baggins finds the Ring and defeats Gollum in a game of riddles on his way to theLonely Mountain. In episode 2,Tie ("The Road"), Bilbo celebrates his birthday and leaves the Ring to Frodo. OnGandalf's advice, Frodo and Sam leave theShire; their friendsMerry Brandybuck andPippin Took join them. In episode 3,Vanha metsä ("The Old Forest"), the Hobbits travel through theOld Forest, getting into troubles withOld Man Willow and then with aBarrow-wight. They are saved in both cases byTom Bombadil. Meanwhile, Gandalf heads forIsengard, where he discoversSaruman's betrayal.

In episode 4,Pomppiva poni ("The Prancing Pony"), the Hobbits arrive atBree's Prancing Pony Inn, where the hostBarliman Butterbur gives them a message from Gandalf. They meetStrider (Aragorn), who guides them towardsRivendell, but theBlack Riders start to pursue them.In episode 5,Konkari ("Strider"), the Black Riders wound Frodo but the party manages to reach Rivendell, where Frodo is healed. AtThe Council of Elrond it is decided that the Ring must be destroyed and theFellowship of the Ring is formed.In episode 6,Lorien, the Fellowship travels south viaMoria, where theOrcs attack them and Gandalf apparently dies in a fight with aBalrog. The others flee under the leadership of Strider toLothlórien, where they meetGaladriel. After travelling further south along theAnduin, the Fellowship breaks up: Frodo and Sam continue the journey toMordor on their own, while Merry and Pippin are captured by theOrcs andBoromir is killed.

In episode 7,Mordor, Frodo and Sam travel through the Emyn Muil to Mordor and face Gollum, who they force to be their guide. It is mentioned (but not shown) that Pippin and Merry freed themselves and helped theEnts destroying Isengard and exiling Saruman; they rejoined with Aragorn,Legolas andGimli, as well as with Gandalf, who managed to survive the fight with the Balrog.In episode 8,Tuomiovuori ("Mount Doom"), Gollum guides Frodo and Sam to theBlack Gate, which proves to be impassable, and then brings them toCirith Ungol, where Frodo is paralysed byShelob.

Finally, in episode 9,Vapautus ("Liberation"), Sam saves Frodo and helps him to reachMount Doom. At the last moment Frodo declares the Ring as his own, but Gollum bites it from his finger and falls into the mountain's fire, destroying the Ring. Sam and Frodo wake up inGondor, where they are reunited with Gandalf, Pippin and Merry, and hear that Aragorn has become King of Gondor. The Hobbits head home with Gandalf, who leaves them after reaching Bree; they have tofree the Shire fromSaruman's rule. Frodo travels to theGrey Havens to leave theMiddle-Earth, and Sam concludes his story, hinting that he will soon do the same.

The production was based on a six-hour play,Taru sormusten herrasta (The Lord of the Rings), put on by Ryhmäteatteri theatre company at the Suomenlinna Summer Theatre in 1988 and 1989, directed byRaila Leppäkoski [fi] andArto af Hällström [fi]. The broadcasterYle had the option of adapting the play directly to television, but this approach was rejected as making no sense on screen. An alternative approach that was considered, was producing a children's series centered onToni Edelmann [fi]'s musical arrangements ofTolkien's poems that had been used in the play, but it proved difficult to relate them to the story, and the idea was abandoned. Instead, it was decided to tell the story from the Hobbits' perspective, cutting other parts of Tolkien's narrative. The series was written and directed byTimo Torikka, who had played Pippin in the play, and co-written by Edelman, who had composed the play's music.^[1]

Hobitit featured nine episodes of 30 minutes each; these aired from 29 March to 24 May 1993, and rerun in 1997–1998.^[3] Most of the actors repeated their roles from the play, with fresh talent ofJari Pehkonen [fi] as Pippin andLeif Wager as Elrond. Filming locations included theRyhmäteatteri theatre company's stage inHelsinki andYle's studio production facilities. Some sequences were shot outdoors with natural backgrounds, while a large number of scale models were used for scenes such as ofthe Shire and the village ofBree. Studio sequences were filmed using bluescreen, allowing landscapes to be added digitally bychroma key compositing.^[4]

The series focuses on the quest undertaken by the Hobbits Frodo and Sam to destroy the Ring. Accordingly, it omits the parts of Tolkien's novel, such as the epic battles, that are not seen by these characters.^[1][2]

In a review inHelsingin Sanomat,Jukka Kajava praised the new family series for its strong story. He admired the acting, includingKari Väänänen's Gollum andPertti Sveholm [fi]'s Sam Gamgee.^[5] Four years later, when the series was rerun, Kajava was more critical, stating that the concreteness of the television adaptation might limit the viewer's imagination too much compared to the original work.^[6]

Juho Gröndahl, writing in the Finnish Tolkien Society's magazineLegolas in 2004, recalled thatHobitit had succeeded in "capturing the atmosphere and spirit of the book" despite the fact that it was created "on a small budget in quite shocking sets". In addition to the successful acting and "pensive appearance", he attributed the success of the series to a clear choice of perspective, not trying to tell the whole story of Tolkien's novel but focussing on Frodo and Sam's journey. Similarly, Gröndahl was doubtful ofPeter Jackson'sThe Lord of the Rings film trilogy, as he felt that the "epic and flamboyant side of the book that is emphasized in [Jackson's] film adaptation is not the most enduring and interesting aspect" of Tolkien's work.^[2]

The series's cast included the following actors and their roles:^[7]

• Hobitit atIMDb
• Hobitit playlist onYouTube

• 1993 Finnish television series debuts
• Finnish television miniseries
• Television series set in Middle-earth
• Works based on The Lord of the Rings
• Yle original programming

• CS1 Finnish-language sources (fi)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Good articles