While we're waiting for the live-action adaptation of The Hobbit to figure out what the heck it's doing, here's Hobitit, the 1993 Finnish miniseries that's one of the few live-action adaptations of Middle Earth.

The Hobbit is in development hell, so enjoy some live-action Tolkien to tide you over. Hobitit was a nine-episode miniseries that covered The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy. It didn't actually take place in Helsinki, but it did depict Gollum as a Finnish man imitating a homeless lime. Here's the subtitled first episode. It's not bad for a modestly budgeted early 90s TV movie — also, please pay heed to Gandalf's totally boss 'stache.

You can watch the rest of the first episode here and here. The entire series is online, but it's all in Finnish. Here's Sam, Frodo, and Gollum yukking it up at Mount Doom.

For more Scandinavian visions of Middle Earth, check out Tove Jansson's illustrations from the 1962 Swedish edition of The Hobbit. Thanks for the tip, Søren!