Lord of the Rings TV series gets multi-season order at Amazon

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

??? Aren't they basically saying it'll be *actual* fan-fiction?

... which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The media is littered with sequels and 'adaptations' which are original works by people who enjoyed the source. The current crop of Star Wars films; the MCU; the various 'modern Sherlock Holmes' series; every Star Trek since DS9.

None of them represent what the creator would have written: rather, they take us on a visit to that world as visualised by a new writer. The same thing applies here: it won't be Tolkien - but nothing except the books ever will be (unless Christopher reveals that his father penned a secret movie script before he died).

I think I would rather have a good 'new tale of Middle-earth' series than a bad or even mediocre direct adaptation. No, it won't give us the scenes we love - we won't get to see a proper rendition of Frodo's stand at the Fords of Bruinen, or Gandalf's confrontation with the Witch-King (side-note: apparently my favourite scenes all involve defiant people on horseback, that's kinda weird) - but, to paraphrase Sam: they can take us to see Elves, Mr. Frodo. Elves!

I will gladly let them have the Adventures of Young Strider Meeting Everyone With a Name, if they will let me spend an hour in Lothlorien.

hS

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

but, to paraphrase Sam: they can take us to see Elves, Mr. Frodo. Elves!"

But will it be anything remotely recognizable as Tolkien's elves?

[Huinesoron]

If it's good, yes. If it's not, no. If instead of 'good original vs mediocre adaptation' the choice is 'bad original or bad adaptation'... then I just won't watch it.

hS

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

... which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The media is littered with sequels and 'adaptations' which are original works by people who enjoyed the source. The current crop of Star Wars films; the MCU; the various 'modern Sherlock Holmes' series; every Star Trek since DS9.

Weel... not all of us consider your examples to be necessarily good things either, Huey.

None of them represent what the creator would have written: rather, they take us on a visit to that world as visualised by a new writer. The same thing applies here: it won't be Tolkien - but nothing except the books ever will be (unless Christopher reveals that his father penned a secret movie script before he died).

I think I would rather have a good 'new tale of Middle-earth' series than a bad or even mediocre direct adaptation. No, it won't give us the scenes we love - we won't get to see a proper rendition of Frodo's stand at the Fords of Bruinen, or Gandalf's confrontation with the Witch-King (side-note: apparently my favourite scenes all involve defiant people on horseback, that's kinda weird) - but, to paraphrase Sam: they can take us to see Elves, Mr. Frodo. Elves!

I will gladly let them have the Adventures of Young Strider Meeting Everyone With a Name, if they will let me spend an hour in Lothlorien.

hS

But how *likely* is The Adventures of Young Strider Meeting Everyone With A Name to be actually good? As opposed to an orgy of (possibly enjoyable) fan-service?

[Herald of Mandos]

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[Inziladun]

Just saw a new article about the proposed series.

They describe it as a "partnership" between Amazon and the Estate (wonder how CT feels about that).

One quote that stands out:

The studio head said the only thing she knows for sure is the show will land somewhere between being completely original and being a faithful adaptation.

I just wonder about the balance there...

[Huinesoron]

The deal Amazon landed with the estate gives it access to nearly all of the material in the Middle Earth saga (although not 100% of it).

??? I'm going to assume this is just plain wrong, as Hobbit+LotR is nothing like 'nearly all', and I still don't believe the Estate would hand over the Silm+UT. I suppose it's possible CoH, B&L, and FoG could be included, as they're 'standalone' books... but I still don't think so.

The rumours I've seen are that they've approved 5 seasons (risky!), with the first probably being Young Aragorn. I think it's likely that the other seasons will follow the first, chronologically, which means... well, what are the options?

-Adventures of the Old Took. Obviously a bit out of its timeline, but viable, and a hilarious notion.
-Adventures of Tom Bombadil. ^_^
-Adventures of Balin in Moria. A bit of a downer.
-Adventures of Not-So-Young Legolas (And Tauriel). Time to reuse those Hobbit movie sets!
-Adventures of Evil Saruman. C'mon, we could definitely have a season of Saruman's fall into darkness. (Again, serious timeline issues, but this is Movie-earth.)
-Adventures of Young Imrahil. If Young Aragorn doesn't cover the Corsairs, then this Dol Amroth-centric series will.
-Adventures of Young(??) Galadriel. Who wants to stay in the woods when you can go be shiny at people?
-Adventures of Young Theoden. Horses! ... more horses!
-Adventures of Young Talion. Because what we really need is Mordor the Green and Pleasant Land, right? ... right?!
-Adventures of The War In The North. I suppose we should pay lip service to the whole plot of the books, yeah? In which case...
-Adventures in Scouring the Shire. Hey, PJ left it out, so we get to put it in.

And, finally...

-Adventures in Gardening. Just a whole season of Master Samwise peacefully tending his garden, looking after his kids, and being the best dang mayor the Shire has ever had.

hS

[Rhun charioteer]

Regarding the young Aragorn point-the appendices do give some material to work with.

My attitude towards this is cautious neutrality-if it turns out to be good and faithful both the lore and spirit of the work then I will be pleased. If its mediocre then well at least it wasn't terrible, if its terrible well then I will be unhappy but unsurprised.

[Andsigil]

I was thinking about this thread the other day. Assuming that this series doesn't become a cesspool of intersectional politics, I'd genuinely like to see all original characters and storylines, with the known Tolkien characters in the background or in cameo appearances.

The reason for this is because we already know the fates of the existing characters, which takes some of the adventure out of the story.

Example: Aragorn is in a cliffhanger ending. Well, it's not really a cliffhanger because we know that, no matter what, Aragorn will survive to appear later in Rivendell and save Middle Earth afterward.