The Oathbreakers don't show up at the Pelennor Fields in the book either; they keep the Corsair Fleet from attacking Pelargir, allowing Aragorn to enlist a relief force from the Fiefs of Gondor. And Gollum falling into the Crack of Doom on his own is also faithful to the book.
I still prefer some of this to what Peter Jackson did. I think it's so much better when Gollum gets so overjoyed at being reunited with the ring that he dances it and himself to their doom. I never liked Peter Jackson having Gollum and Frodo struggling for it and both going over. I wish we could have got a whole Rankin/Bass LotR trilogy. Glenn Yarbrough has such a great voice, every song from The Hobbit and this is a banger. I was singing along to Where There's A Whip, There's A Way while driving yesterday. I've been watching this since I was, maybe 3 years old.
I guess it’s time to dive into the more obscure LOTR stuff now? The 1967 Hobbit cartoon short, the 1971 Swedish LOTR TV specials, the Finnish 1993 ”Hobitit” series...
"Who's directing this, Deborah Chow?" I spit my beer lmfao.
The Hobbit, animated LOTR, and Return of the King make the strangest "trilogy" ever.
The army of the dead is really only in flashback in the book and they never come to Minas Tirith.
@okami36