LOTR TV series

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Jul 27, 2008
19,425
3,400
Stirlingshire, Scotland
#1
The Lord of the Rings novels are set to become a TV series, Amazon has announced

Based on J.R.R Tolkien’s original novels, the television adaptation will include new storylines which precede the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring.
The deal also includes the rights for a potential additional spin-off season, dependent on the success of the show.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment ... spartandhp
 

RathDarkblade

Moderator
City Watch
Mar 24, 2015
15,992
3,400
47
Melbourne, Victoria
#2
Yes, I saw this in this Register article. (For those who don't know - The Register is an online British IT-and-other-stuff magazine. The LOTR article, naturally, comes from the other stuff section). ;)

I'm in two minds about it. Obviously, Amazon could see that fantasy is currently very popular, and wanted to do something to get better ratings. Now if this turns out to be a "Game of Thrones" clone (i.e. gratuitous blood splashing everywhere, and neverending T&A) - which it could so easily do - then we could all shrug and say "We told you so".

On the other orc, if Amazon does the right thing and treats LOTR with the respect it deserves as the granddaddy of modern fantasy, then perhaps all will be well. There are heaps of stories that could be told: we haven't even seen the First Age yet, or the story of Beren and Luthien, or the Fall of Morgoth, or Hurin's Children or.... well, anything other than the very good-looking LOTR and the long-on-spectacle-but-short-on-character-development "Hobbit". (And TBH, what the **** was Legolas doing in the Hobbit anyway? Not to mention Tauriel - and where the **** did she come from, anyway? But that's another rant).

If Amazon decides to revisit the events of LOTR (i.e. the hobbits, Aragorn etc.), then I hope we might finally get to see Tom Bombadill. Am I the only one who thinks so? :-(
 

RathDarkblade

Moderator
City Watch
Mar 24, 2015
15,992
3,400
47
Melbourne, Victoria
#3
Any ideas what is happening with this (if anything)? The last thing I saw was this: Why Amazon's LOTR will be a flop.

I don't agree with this article; there are major differences between, and different audiences for, GoT and LOTR.

Furthermore, the article writer opines that GoT's battle scenes are all about the hugely influential, one-on-one battles, which is why it was so successful. (What?) He further opines that LOTR's battle scenes are all about army vs. army, not one-on-one battles. (Again, I repeat: what? Quite a few LOTR battles are battles of willpower as well as strength - just think Aragon vs. Sauron in the palantir; Samwise vs Shelob; Saruman the White vs. Gandalf the Grey; Gandalf vs. the Balrog, etc. etc.)

What do the rest of you think? :)
 

raisindot

Sergeant-at-Arms
Oct 1, 2009
5,125
2,450
Boston, MA USA
#4
The problem with "TVifying" LOTR is that, other than the hobbits, Gimli, Gollum and the feudin' wizards, nearly all of the characters of the trilogy are wooden, humorless, and one-dimensional, especially the humans. There's just no shading to them. You're either good or evil. Unless they add narrative bits that make the characters more interesting, it will be slow slogging.

What made Game of Thrones such a huge hit from the start (the earlier seasons had few large-scale battle scenes) is that fact that every character is flawed in some way or another, and that none of them are fighting for any true noble cause (except maybe Jon Snow, and he's one of the more duller characters in the series). The characters and the sloggy, corrupt, dangerous world are what gives GOT its appeal. LOTR was written in a different time, and its "heroic" narrative style lends itself better to the big screen superhero than to TV, which is much more immediate and character driven.
 

Quatermass

Sergeant-at-Arms
Dec 7, 2010
7,736
2,950
#5
raisindot said:
The problem with "TVifying" LOTR is that, other than the hobbits, Gimli, Gollum and the feudin' wizards, nearly all of the characters of the trilogy are wooden, humorless, and one-dimensional, especially the humans. There's just no shading to them. You're either good or evil. Unless they add narrative bits that make the characters more interesting, it will be slow slogging.

What made Game of Thrones such a huge hit from the start (the earlier seasons had few large-scale battle scenes) is that fact that every character is flawed in some way or another, and that none of them are fighting for any true noble cause (except maybe Jon Snow, and he's one of the more duller characters in the series). The characters and the sloggy, corrupt, dangerous world are what gives GOT its appeal. LOTR was written in a different time, and its "heroic" narrative style lends itself better to the big screen superhero than to TV, which is much more immediate and character driven.
You raise a pretty good point there. Keep in mind, though, the characterisation is partly because Tokien's writing style is drier than the Sahara. He probably has the characters' backstories in his head or in the appendices or the Silmarillion, he was just absolutely pants at putting it on the page at times.

That being said, one-dimensional characters aren't always bad, it just depends on how they're used. If we're talking about fantasy series, look at, for example, the likes of Overlord, where many of the characters were originally NPCs created for a computer game, so many of them are relatively simple in some regards, or else reflections of the humans who created them. While they have the capacity to change and grow, some of them generally don't quite have that capacity...or else their character development takes a turn for the worse. Demiurge, for example, is basically the most evil character in the show, and he simply doesn't have any inclination to be anything BUT evil. But because he is smart and loyal to the main character Momonga/Ainz, and is capable of quite complex planning, we're drawn in by him anyway.
 

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