Amazon gets Tolkien TV series

[Darth Hauntruss]

Amazon Sets ‘The Lord of the Rings’ TV Series In Mega Deal With Multi-Season Commitment

http://deadline.com/2017/11/amazon-the-lord-of-the-rings-tv-series-multi-season-commitment-1202207065/

“the television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring” Matt Galsor, a rep from the Tolkien estate also added that the series would bring to life a number of “previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.”

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Considering how negative the Tolkien estate has been about tie-ins and adaptations, I'd call this a good sign.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Darth Malpherran"]
Plenty of space for stories there, and GOT has shown that epic fantasy TV is good business.

I hope they get good people though behind and in front of the camera.

 

[Saine Kela]

Very exciting news - and here I was hoping someone would create a Silmarillion series - but this is just as good!

 

[Jor Kvall]

Plenty of space for stories there, and GOT has shown that epic fantasy TV is good business.

Just because there is room for stories to be told doesn't mean they *should* be told.

And the thought of them turning Lord of the Rings into anything like Game of Thrones makes me want to vomit.

They're probably going to.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Jor Kvall"]
Not saying it will be anything like GOT in tone or style, no one knows that. But the structure, the format, clearly works if done well.

 

[Ellie Mors]

The idea of 60 minute episodes in a 10~ or so episode-long season (or more) to tell small stories from untouched works is exciting to me. I'd love to see the fall of gondolin on screen.

 

[Stephanie Swail]

 

[Cyrus Tregessar]

Oh boy, can't wait to see how they fuck it all up this time.

That this comes at the same time as Christopher Tolkien resigning from being director of the Tolkien Estate is not a coincidence, I'm sure. My complete lack of faith in further adaptions aside (wtf happened with the Hobbit?) can't we touch on one of the dozens of other fantasy series that are more than worthy (and far easier to adapt) than something pre-Lord of the Rings?

 

[Jor Kvall]

[member="Cyrus Tregessar"] Thank you, some sense.

I didn't know that Christopher Tolkien had resigned. It all makes much more sense now. The Tolkien estate used to be very protective in doling out the rights to Tolkien material. Whoever is in charge of the estate now must not care as much.

Lord of the Rings is a complete story. It needs no prequels or sequels, or else J.R.R. would have written them.

 

[Cyrus Tregessar]

[member="Jor Kvall"]

Well I mean, there's the Hobbit. And lots of stuff in the appendices and so on.

I would love to see First Age stuff, or the Akallabeth, or whatever, I just don't trust it to be done right anymore. Not after the Hobbit or Shadow of War. And given that, and the huge amount of quality, comparatively easy-to-adapt fantasy writing out there, why not give some other author a shot in the limelight?

Not including Rothfuss, who's series I couldn't care less about getting made into a show.

 

[Jor Kvall]

[member="Cyrus Tregessar"] Exactly my feelings. I only saw the first of three Hobbit movies (why were there three?) and it was the only time I've literally fallen asleep in a movie theater. I just remember being shocked at what straight garbage it was.

If we lived in another age I would almost be excited about the prospect of some more Tolkien material, maybe a spinoff that had nothing to do with LotR. But I have no faith in the film or tv industry.

 

[Darth Hauntruss]

“previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.”....

As long as we dont get a Shadow of Mordor Fan-Fiction story, I think this will be an interesting enterprise. There is definitely a lot of good talent in writing and directing out there for TV right now, and I think more so TV than Movies, would a Tolkien story thrive as there is more time to dig deep into lore, locations, characters, and story where its fit. My hope is that we get some neat stuff from maybe the Second Age: like the Rise of Sauron, or the complete War of the Last Alliance. Or hell Children of Hurin would make for a fantastic TV series.

I think if they play it smart, and Amazon will have to if they want to rival Netflix, the only thing they take away from GoT is its gorgeous cinematography and really work to gather the very best in talent in TV.

 

[Cyrus Tregessar]

Well a major issue there is that besides the Children of Hurin, all those other events are very vague in the Silmarillion. You have the Lost Tales and Unfinished Tales of course, but those aren't strictly canon works, all being early drafts. Basically that means anything the TV writers come up with is going to have lots of makework and fanfiction attached (excepting, again, Children of Hurin, though even that is fairly sparse on a lot of details).

If the Hobbit movies are the best example we have of what people can come up with, I'd just rather not. Especially (as mentioned before) given the INCREDIBLE amount of other fantasy fiction out there that's more than worthy of a TV adaption.

 

[Arahael]

Any visual adaptation of Tolkien's books will fail to satisfy any majority of his fans. Part of the problem is Tolkien's tendency to sometimes be very vague in describing huge events, coupled with the many stories he never finished or began to properly write. I mean, era-ending battles occur over one or a few sentences. I guess that's partly good if you want to leave a lot to the imagination. Then you have the endless questions that are only answered in individual letters sent to him decades ago.

Really, all this will come down to is expensive Tolkien fan-fiction. Can't we just create an original fantasy world?

 

[Taa Nul]

Just give me Ian Mckellen as Gandalf one more time and I'll be happy.

 

[Aiwaz Khath]

Omg.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

Got attracted to this topic. Read the Hobbit and Lord of the Ring trilogy a while ago, but couldn't get through The Silmarillion. It was so hard to stay in focus and I gave it thrree attempts but only got through maybe a few chapters before giving up. It just didn't flow right to me with so much going on. I couldn't stay focused.

I'm not saying it was bad, no. I just found it hard for me to read and follow. I wish I had put another effort into it. But I'd have to either buy a hard copy again or download it on Kindle.

Would love to see more of Tolkien's work on screen. And like others here have said, if quality and details are put in with good screen writers then it may be as good or even better that GOT.