Many Tolkien fans were disappointed when Ralph Bakshi's 1978 adaptation of "Lord of the Rings" covered only the first two books of Tolkien's trilogy. When it became clear that Bakshi would not produce a sequel, Rankin and Bass finished the story for him with this TV movie, disappointing fans even more due to its poor, rushed quality. This TV movie is considered by many fans to be vastly inferior to Bakshi's 1978 movie.