Posted on 11/04/2017 7:37:48 AM PDT by EdnaMode
Has Amazon found the Game of Thrones it’s been seeking?
A Lord of the Rings TV series is in the very early development stages, according to The Hollywood Reporter, from Warner Bros. Television, whose feature-film division produced the LOTR movies. There’s no writer attached to the project yet — Warner Bros. is still looking to nail down the rights from the estate of book author J.R.R. Tolkien — but Amazon Studios has already emerged as an potential home.
Rings, of course, has already been adapted into a trilogy of films directed by Peter Jackson, which grossed nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office and won a total of 17 Oscars. The fantasy epic is set in the fictional Middle-earth, where hobbit Frodo Baggins leads a fellowship of do-gooders on a quest to destroy an all-powerful ring. (But is it possible to stretch Frodo’s story far enough to accommodate an ongoing TV series?)
In any case, a LOTR TV series sounds like just the kind of thing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was looking for when he directed his TV division to find the next Game of Thrones — i.e., a high-end drama with global appeal. That directive led to Amazon scrapping plans for a second season of the Christina Ricci period drama Z: The Beginning of Everything.
I disagree about the latter clause. Tolkien was a World War I vet. I think his battle scenes are businesslike with flashes of brilliance. Our homeschool association had a Hobbit Club for a year in anticipation of the first movie, and I drew battlefield maps of the "Battle of Five Armies." The text gave all the information necessary to track groups of soldiers as well as key individuals.
In my opinion, a big problem is "scale" in terms of text vs. film. In the books, going from here to there took weeks. On film, that has to be done in establishing-shots of less than a minute. This compresses a continent into a theme-park, so to speak.
I agree with you view about character. One of things I disliked about the Hobbit movies was that Bilbo's big psychological moments - under the Misty Mountains, the episode with the spiders, the dungeon scenes, etc. - were turned into fight sequences. You never got to see the way the seeds of his character grew into a profoundly consequential figure.
I found the almost complete lack of sex or romance in the books a relief, and I was disappointed when unnecessary complications were *invented* by Mr. Jackson.
Peter Jackson left out Tom Bombadil and the Barrows, the Scouring of the Shire, and shortened other scenes such as Saruman’s attempt to charm the Fellowship at Orthanc. A TV version would have plenty of unfilmed material to draw from.
What???? I assume you're talking about the confrontation with the Nazgul? That wasn't about her being "Wonder Woman;" it was about the power of the Elflands to turn back evil.
Strider as self-doubting, not wanting to be king?
I don't know where you got that Aragorn didn't want to be king. Yes, he was self-doubting; he had a crushing legacy to live up to. A legacy that had long been denied him. And it didn't look like he had much of an army behind him to help him reclaim his throne. I will say that the poor casting of that idiot Vigo Mortenson as Aragorn was a mistake, but I don't know that that was Jackson's doing.
Frodo turned into a whining weakling?
Frodo never intended to be a hero. He was a Hobbit, a dreamer, a simple Shireman. Being tasked with arguably the saving of the world -- along with the burden of bearing the Ring -- would probably weaken just about everyone. I don't think Elijah Wood overplayed Frodo's doubts or his humanity.
Jackson does action sequences. Character development is beyond him.
Jackson didn't have to develop any characters. Tolkien did it for him. All he had to do was stay true to the narrative. Which I'm convinced he did -- within cinematic limits.
Yes there was and it was pretty good. There was also a Hobbit cartoon. Whoever did the voice of Smaug was brilliant.
“What???? I assume you’re talking about the confrontation with the Nazgul? That wasn’t about her being “Wonder Woman;” it was about the power of the Elflands to turn back evil.”
No. It was supposed to show Frodo - meek hobbit that he was - had the strength to TRY to resist, although he was then saved by his friends. It was one of those critical moments when Frodo’s strength was revealed - his strength of character, not physical power.
Frodo defies the Witch-king of Angmar. He would have lost without his friends because he wasn’t a mighty warrior - but he had the strength to resist. To try. Even while badly wounded.
Giving that to Arwen robbed Frodo. By repeatedly robbing Frodo, Jackson left him with nothing to do but snivel.
More to my point, those movie episodes DID NOT HAPPEN in the book. The events were made up by Peter Jackson and/or the re-writers he employed.
A movie or tv program that included only material in the texts would be very different.
I’m afraid that your reading is way different than mine. But that’s the beauty of literature: it’s open to interpretation.
About “Better Call Saul”... thanks for the recommendation. I watched the first episode, and didn’t get into it because it seemed to be referring to BB, and hanging on BB’s reputation. But, I’ve heard it gets better as it goes on, and you’re another positive reviewer. Maybe I’ll check it out again.
GOThrones is porn. Dreary. I dread the same people touching Tolkien.
Better Call Saul is as good as BB and in its own way might even be better.
“GOThrones is porn. Dreary. I dread the same people touching Tolkien.”
I don’t think it would be the exact same people. The producers would be different, for instance. And if Jeff Bezos has any brains at all, he will not add nudity, sex, cursing, or excessive gore to the LOTR because the fans of LOTR are not looking for that. If they were, they wouldn’t be fans of LOTR in the first place.
The word is that somehow they don’t have the rights to all the character, which could be a problem.
Wasn't it all LGBT?
Yes, but Jackson had to leave out the Old Forest, Tom Bumbadil, the Barrow Downs and especially the Scouring of the Shire.
I really wish he had done the Scouring. It makes the change of the 4 Hobbits after their ordeal so much more worthy.
Remember the geniuses who decided to do a 2016 remake of Ben Hur? That movie was a MASSIVE bomb and it cost over $200 million dollars to make. The 1959 Ben Hur won 11 academy awards, and Chuck Heston was and always will be the only true Ben Hur. There was no way the 2016 version could have improved on the 1959 version.
The Return of the King also won 11 academy awards. Where will the knuckleheads planning a remake find a better Gandalf than Ian McKellan? A better Legolas than Orlando Bloom? A better Samwise Gamgee than Sean Astin? A better Gollum than Andy Serkis? A better director than Peter Jackson?
No LOTR remake PLEASE! Stop the madness.
Oh goody. My children and I are dedicated fans of the books and the movies.
This will be so preciousss.
Great 10 hours of walking.
#BoycottHollywood
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