LotR as a Series

OK, this idea may have been thought of before and some may think it to be ridiculous, but i personally think it to be the best way to portray the Lord of the Rings trilogy as close to Tolkien's story as possible. The idea has been suggested by Ian McKellen for The Hobbit - a miniseries on television so that all the pieces of the story could be included. This would be a much larger undertaking for the Lord of the Rings, but if done right, i think it would have pleased tolkien fans much more than the current trilogy from Peter Jackson and co. Don't get me wrong, i love jackson's trilogy and it will forever be among the greatest achievements in film. <BR>I know this is farfetched but i have given this a lot of thought and i think it would work.<P>-it could be a 3 year tv series (fellowship, towers, and rotk - 1 each yr), maybe on HBO or something<BR>-length would not matter like it does for the movies<BR>-everything that tolkien fans missed from the movies could be added in with norestrictions for pacing<BR>-each episode could have its own 'adventure' if u will, (ie. Tom Bombadil/barrow downs, weathertop/flight to the fords, etc), while still being one large story<BR>-amount of characters would not matter as much - more time to explain all of them (dunedain, Imrahil, Glorfindel, Bombadil, and all the others left out of the films would be able to be in it)<BR>- the first episode could be a 1 hr prologue w/ things like the last alliance, gladden fields and a more in depth history of the ring<BR>- the scouring of the shire could easily be in<P>i have more ideas, but i just wanted to see what you guys thought of it. I only hope that if LotR is ever remade in the future, that it will be done this way with as good of a director and crew as Jackson's trilogy had, but more devoted to Tolkien's exact words.

[The Only Real Estel]

Interesting thought, although it'd be cooler to find a channel willing to do it that is more wide-spread :/. An interesting thought, though.

[Eothain Elfwine]

I think that's a splendid idea because it would create the ability to put in all the lovely plot points PJ and Co. were not able to get to. If it were to happen, I would not want it to be soon because it would create a sort of rivalry between the movies and the series. But when the movies have become old classics, it would be grand! As long as it follows the books.

[mollecon]

In connection with the discussions about the movies, I did bring up the fact that a TV-series probably could do more justice to LotR, in terms of the <I>storyline</I> that is. The problem is that the story in itself is only half of it - the other half is that great universe created by Tolkien. And I simply don't think that a TV-series could come up with enough financing to even remotely do justice to that - we would get some discount version of Middle Earth, far from satisfactory.

Splendid idea! I should like to see that.<P>But could they REALLY include everything? Think about it, you have to factor in holidays, summer, "hour long specials," they'd be getting the same amount of criticism for cuts. And the television world won't be as interested in LotR, because most people who watch television all the time don't have the attention span to watch the subplots and such.<P>But still, I'd watch.

[Kransha]

Very interesting.<P>Depending on lengths, there could be chapter episodes. They couldn't have everything, but it would be much more accurate to the books. Of course, this would eat up tons of money and time. Of course, (just like most series' that have exhausted their point) they could also over the Unfinished Tales, but not the Silm.

[Lobelia]

Hmm, I'm not sure I'd enjoy LOTR The TV series! The visual experience is always going to be different from the book experience and that's fair enough. I saw DUNE the movie and DUNE the mini-series and while I appreciated the mini-series and it was a lot more faithful to the novel, it was also much slower-moving precisely because it tried to get in so much. Would you really want this for LOTR? I know we were all disappointed at having favourite bits left out, but it made, in the end, for a much faster-paced, exciting visual experience. I will probably get lynched for saying this but I didn't miss Tom Bombadil one bit in the movie, though I liked the sequence in the book, and I know of no dramatization of LOTR that included him. You'd have to put him back in a TV series. Also, think of all the awful ads you'd have to put up with!;-)

[Essex]

The audio book UNABRIDGED version of the whole of Lord of the Rings lasts for 54 hours.<P>54/3 = 18 hours per "season"<P>How many episodes do you have in the usa for a season? It's something like 22 isn't it? <P>With all of your adverts I think you get something like 48 minutes per hour's episode? (I might be wrong, I'm thinking how long each episode of 24 was when it was on the bbc with no adverts)<P>so, 18 * 60 to get minutes per 'book' is 1080.<P>1080 / 48 is 22.5 episodes.<P>So, therefore, you could fit each episode into 3 seasons of lord of the rings. You could even have a narrator's voice in the series to explain the things you can't do via action nor dialouge (i.e. how Merry's sword cleaved the undead flesh that held the witch king's unseen sinews to his will)<P>I know the books are weighted differently in size, but I'm sure this could be fixed some how.<P>It's funny I was thinking something like this in the car today before I saw this thread. Great minds think alike!

[Burzdol]

I've also thought about this and think it's an awesome idea. But they'd have to get the same actors from the movies, that might be the hardest part.

[Iris Alantiel]

I think this is a really interesting idea. It would be exciting to see LotR as a TV series and I would definitely make a point of watching it, though I'm not normally a TV person.

I kind of wonder if it would really resolve the problems people have with the movies, though. It would still be totally dependent on a director's interpretation of the books. And the truth is, I don't think its possible to ever get across the real grandeur of Tolkien's work in a movie or TV format. As Mollecon said, "The problem is that the story in itself is only half of it - the other half is that great universe created by Tolkien". I mean, sure they could get some of that across, as they did in the movie, in the way they styled ME, but it would be virtually impossible to get the entire scope of Tolkien's universe into any visual medium. And then you have to start cutting things out for clarity in case people haven't read the books and wouldn't understand . . . it becomes a much more difficult task than it initially seems.

Also I kind of wonder if it would be feasible, budget-wise, to make a LotR TV series. Generally movies have a much higher budget than television shows; there would have to be a lot of sacrifices that way. The series couldn't be as elaborate as the movie was because there just wouldn't be enough money. I would worry that the series would look kind of tacky as a result and would tarnish our image of Middle Earth.

Personally, I think I just want to stick with the books.