Trivia / J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit

• Ashcan Copy: This was made for this purpose (more info here). According to Deitch it was screened only once in June 1966 to an audience of about six people to fulfill the part of the contract saying the film had to be shown in public. Despite being the only screen adaptation of Tolkien's book produced when he was still alive, he never saw it (leading Deitch to say "Thank God!").
• Creator Backlash: Director Gene Deitch himself felt that Executive Meddling had forced him to ruin what could have been a fine feature-length animated film, turning it into something he was glad J. R. R. Tolkien went to his grave without watching.
• What Could Have Been: As mentioned on the main page, the original plan was to do a full-length animated musical, but due to the books lack of popularity at the time, it couldn't be done. By the time the book became popular enough for an adaptation, time was running out, giving us this.