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

[Snowdog]

Amazon isn’t planning a conventional adaptation of “Lord of the Rings” along the lines of Jackson’s movies. Instead Amazon has declared it will make a “Lord of the Rings” prequel with new plot material.

Sounds pretty good to me in the fact it will not be a clone of the PJ fanfic crap.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Snowdog

Sounds pretty good to me in the fact it will not be a clone of the PJ fanfic crap.

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

[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]

Latest news here! Check it out!

[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