April 04, 2006
More Random Commuter Observations
Dee Cee locals will know all about Ronnie Mervis of Mervis Diamond Importers and his radio commercials that end "Nobody pays retail anymore - Why should you?"
Mervis, a South Efrikan, has never quite got the American patois down and his narratives of the Mines back home "commanded" by his brother Kenny have always seemed a bit lurid to me.
On top of that, the musical selections accompanying these ads has always seemed, well, odd, a combination of Broadway musical, Euro-Vision Song Contest entry and Hitchcock thriller.
Anyhoo, I bring all this up because the latest Mervis ad is backed up by, of all bizarre choices, the soundtrack from Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings. (Yes, I had a copy of the album. Shut up.)
Now I can't help imagining Ronnie breaking out with, "Diamondses....we wants them! Preeeecioussssss.........."
I always enjoyed the Bakshi version of LOTR, as full of holes as it was. It's nice to see at least one part of it being recycled, however strange the circumstances.
Posted by Robert at April 4, 2006 12:26 PM | TrackBackHa.
Mai brethe Kenny alwehs selects the verry best diamends, willeng teh exercise the bukllwhip teh ensure the finest qualeteh ...
Posted by: Bill from INDC at April 4, 2006 12:56 PMOk, the only thing I remember from these movies (which I have on VHS but never get around to re-watching) is "Where there's a Whip, There's a Way." Well, that and "Frodo of the 9 Fingers."
I can't see either of those being particularly good backdrops for Ronnie. Thought it might be funny.
Posted by: beth at April 4, 2006 01:40 PMI shall now put on my Geek hat.
You're thinking of the Rankin & Bass cartoons of The Hobbit and The Return of the King. The R&B Hobbit was what got me to read the books in the first place. The R&B ROTK, from which those songs you remember came, was an abomination. (Trivia: Pippin was voiced by Casey Kasim.)
The Bakshi movie really did have some good points about it and indeed (he said, ducking under the desk) did some things better than did Peter Jackson. Unfortunately, it stopped just after the victory at Helm's Deep and the remainder of the story was never filmed. You should rent it some time just as a curiosity.
Posted by: Robbo the LB at April 4, 2006 01:56 PMGotta disagree with you on the Bakshi version, Robbo. I wouldn't watch it again at gunpoint.
Wizards, maybe.
Posted by: The Colossus at April 4, 2006 01:59 PMHey, I said just as a curiosity.
It's been well over twenty years since I saw it last, so I don't remember many details. I didn't much care for the funky cinematography stuff, but when it was being a straight-forward cartoon, I thought it had some good moments.
Posted by: Robbo the LB at April 4, 2006 02:08 PMWow. Who knew there were two cartoon versions? Mea culpas all around - though I guess it's good to know that I'm not super high on the LOTR geek scale. Cause, well, that would just be geeky.
That said, I have an uncle who looks just like Gollum in the cartoon that I've seen. It always makes me laugh a little when I see him. Never have come up with a plausible excuse for my snickering.
Posted by: beth at April 4, 2006 02:20 PMBakshi did a lot of interesting things with animation, which gives the thing an odd feel to it. It's too bad they ran out of money to complete the story, though.
Posted by: Lysander at April 4, 2006 02:31 PMI don't care for the drawing in R&B's Hobbit. Bakshi's animation was very cool, but I think he muddled the story. OK, I saw his version while in college, which may have contributed to my confusion.
Posted by: rbj at April 4, 2006 02:44 PMAnd all of that pales in comparison to Leonard Nimoy's music video about Bilbo Baggins.
Posted by: mike at April 5, 2006 11:55 AM
Image courtesy of the lovely and talented 