Hippies dug it.
Misty woods, pointed ears and little people smoking pipeweed.
What’s not to like?
Of course, as I said, it is at its core a story of the nobility of pain, suffering in a battle against evil. Not to mention self-sacrifice to save one’s friends and the world.
Which doesn’t fit well into an ethos of changing the world by getting high and screwing around.
(You may be able to figure out from this that I’m not a fan of hippiedom. Not then or now.)
Me either...I was just a bit young for the hippie generation and of course now I’m just too smart for it.