No, it’s not a joke; this was the early cartoon version, although the cartoons were based upon images from real locations; among them the Castle of Belmonte, which was used as the scenario of the final battle at Helm’s Deep, where this version of the epic ends, long before anybody set foot in New Zealand.
Our thanks to Cuenca teachers Jesús D. Aragón, Antonio Claver Espada and Pedro Pablo Jiménez Fernández for their help in providing information about Cuenca and Belmonte. Pedro Pablo was an extra in Lord of the Rings.