Der Herr der Ringe (1992 German radio series)

The series aired in a single series (season) of thirty episodes, from January to April 1992.

1. Ein festlicher Abschied ("A Festive Farewell")
2. Der Ring bleibt bei Frodo ("The Ring Stays with Frodo")
3. Der Feind regt sich ("The Enemy Is Moving")
4. Hinaus in die Welt ("Into the Wide World")
5. Eine nacht unter Elben ("A Night Among the Elves")
6. Verschwörung der Freunde ("A Conspiracy of Friends")
7. Süsse Gastfreundschaft ("Sweet Hospitality")
8. Ein Waldläufer kommt ins Spiel ("A Ranger Enters")
9. Der Feind greift an ("The Enemy Attacks")
10. Der Rat Elronds ("Elrond's Council")
11. In die Tiefen der Welt ("Into the Depths of the World")
12. Durins Zeiten ("Durin's Times")
13. Im Herzen des alten Reiches ("In the Heart of the Old Realm")
14. Frodos Entscheidung ("Frodo's Decision")
15. Die Gemeinschaft zerbricht ("The Breaking ot the Fellowship")
16. Mit Horn und Trommeln ("With Horn and Drums")
17. Neue Ziele ("New Goals")
18. Ein Heer bricht auf ("An Army Breaks Forth")
19. Kampf um die Hornburg ("Battle of the Hornburg")
20. Nach Isengart ("To Isengard")
21. Sarumans Stimme ("Saruman's Voice")
22. Eine Falle für alle Hobbits ("A Trap for All Hobbits")
23. Der Feind vor der Stadt ("The Enemy Before the City")
24. Zum Tor der Toten ("To the Gate of the Dead")
25. Die Verbündeten sammeln sich ("The Allies Gather")
26. Feuer in der Stadt ("Fire in the City")
27. Der Tod des Königs ("The Death of the King")
28. Ein Köder für Mordor ("Bait for Mordor")
29. Am Schicksalsberg ("On Mount Doom")
30. Zu guter Letzt ("All's Well that Ends Well")

The series follows the storyline of The Lord of the Rings very closely and in a very faithful manner. Notably, this is one of the few adaptations of the novel in a different medium - be it radio or film - that omits very little of the original storyline, preserving even many of the minor and frequently omitted characters.

The events set after the War of the Ring are somewhat abbreviated, particularly the Grey Havens and Frodo's, Bilbo's and Gandalf's departure from Middle-earth).

Minor characters adapted from the novel include Gildor, Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, Daddy Twofoot, Farmer Maggot, Háma and Imrahil.

The series uses an abstract overarching narrator, similar to the approach of the 1980 German radio adaptation of The Hobbit and the 1981 British radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.

Manfred Steffen has a double role as Gandalf and Saruman.

Donata Höffer voices both Éowyn and Goldberry.

The series has one of the largest casts of unique actors of any Tolkien radio adaptation to date, possibly even still holding the record. The series utilised a cast of 60 actors and actresses in main character roles and 36 actors and actresses in supporting character roles.

• Based on the works by: J.R.R. Tolkien
• Written and adapted by: Peter Steinbach
• Directed by: Bernd Lau
• Music: Peter Zwetkoff (composer), Kammersprechchor Zürich (choir, vocals and songs)
• Sound engineers: Roland Seiler, Udo Schuster
• Recording director: Johannes Hertel
• Editing: Christiane Köhler, Regina Kraus, Regine Schneider
• Produced by: Südwestrundfunk (SWR) / Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

The series' total runtime of twelve and a half hours were recorded in three recording studios in parallel, using the direct cut method on a computer. This radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings therefore became Germany's first digital radio play.

The overall production costs for the radio series amounted to nearly 500.000 € in today's currency.

The music for the series was composed by Peter Zwetkoff. It has an emphasis on traditional and orchestral instrumentation.

To date, there are two published book translations of The Lord of the Rings into German. The first, 1969-1970 translation by Margaret Carroux, Der Herr der Ringe ("The Lord of the Rings"), and the second, 2000 translation by Wolfgang Krege, equally titled Der Herr der Ringe.

Due to the year the Der Herr der Ringe radio series was produced in, it used the terminology and excerpts from the earlier and longer established translation by Carroux.

Though the German radio series has been praised for its handling of the source material and the translated terminology, it has also received some degree of criticism in German Tolkien fan circles, for sometimes ignoring the correct pronunciation of some place-names and personal names in Tolkien's constructed languages.

To date, this radio series has been commercially released on home media and for digital purchase by several publishers. The series was first published in 1992, after its first broadcast, by audio drama and audiobook publisher Cotta’s Hörbühne on 15 audio cassettes (in the Normal Edition) and 9 audio cassettes (in the Special Edition). In 1993, Cotta’s Hörbühne followed up the cassette release with publishing another home media edition on 10 CDs. This was one of their last major releases, as the publisher was disbanded by its parent company in 1993. Subsequent re-releases of the series on home media since 1993 have been handled by audio drama and audiobook publisher Der Hörverlag, with their re-releases of the series published on 11 CDs. In more recent years, the series has also been made available for digital purchase and download at Audible.de. The series has a total runtime of 756 minutes.

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