It was my introduction to the whole Middle Earth thing. Half the kids in my school were walking around carrying either The Hobbit or one of the Lord of the Rings books, but I refused to read them just because everyone else was. It honestly never occurred to me that I might be missing out on something good, because if that many people were into it, it had to be bad. Good stuff rarely has such mass appeal.
Anyway, I saw it on TV, and was impressed that Rankin & Bass could crank out such a high-quality animated film. I thought the elves looked kinduv evil and sinister, though, and elves are supposed to be all happy-go-lucky, but other than that, it was a great film. I eventually did pick up the book The Hobbit, then Lord of the Rings, then The Silmarillion. I've read them each maybe three times. Great stuff.