So, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is out in theatres, bringing to a close one of the most ambitious film projects in recent history. This isn’t the first time that J.R.R. Tolkein’s trilogy has been brought to the silver screen, though. I’m sure most of us have fuzzy memories of watching the 1978 animated version, titled simply The Lord of the Rings. It’s not a true adaptation, though, as it ends about halfway through The Two Towers. But still, it seemed to ride on the wave of independent, adult-oriented animation that sprung up in the late 1970s and early 1980s.