2001 Pán Prsteňov (Slovak Radio & Rádio Twist)

The Lord of the Rings

Release Date: 2001.11.10 – 2003.12.27
Reader: Full Cast Dramatisation
Language: Slovakian
Translator: Stanislava Pošustová
Organization: Rádio Twist
Copyright: Slovak Radio
Duration: 13 hours 28 minutes
Unabridged: No
Country: Slovakia
Licenced: No
Format: Radio

In 2001, 2002 and 2003, the three volumes of the novel were adapted into a Slovak radio series, consisting of three annual series of fully cast radio plays, each of six episodes. The eighteen episodes were produced as a co-production between the public broadcaster Slovak Radio (now Radio and Television Slovakia) and the private broadcaster Rádio Twist (later known as Rádio Viva). The two radio stations broadcast the episodes simultaneously. The director, Jaro Rihák, recorded each actor separately, so that they would not be influenced by their acting partners.

The first part began broadcast on November 10, 2001, just before the release of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring film appeared in cinemas. The Two Towers was recorded in the summer of 2002 and subsequently broadcast in the fall of 2002 together with a rerun of The Fellowship of the Ring. In the fall of 2003, the last part, The Return of the King, was recorded . The complete entire trilogy was broadcast every Saturday from August 30 to December 27, 2003.

Dušan Cinkota, who plays Frodo in this production, also narrates the 2023 Slovart produced unabridged reading of The Hobbit.

To help promote the production, Rádio Twist had 10 rings produced as prizes in competitions. According to the creators, it was the largest Slovak radio production to date. Sadly there has been no official release of the recording – they had apparently tried to acquire the licensing rights but were unable to do so.

In 2007, Czech Radio broadcast the entire trilogy in the original Slovak version. There was an accompanying article in Domino magazine which discussed the radio play and its creation, the life of Professor Tolkien and comparisons with the film trilogy. For the article, the singer Miro Žbirka helped to translate into Czech any Slovak words which younger listeners might not know.