Lord of the Rings on Prime Updates (Thanks Varking!)

[Varking]

Worse, the writers who ruined GOT are rumored to be circling like vultures around LOTR...


CL

They officially signed with Netflix today.

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

They officially signed with Netflix today.

Great, now they can ruin Narnia!


XD XD XD

CL

 

[Arthfael]

Hi all, mae govannen, I've been watching for a thread about this, I enjoy all the different opinions coming out of the making of this new series. (@Varking I do hope it's alright that I'm adding this, please let me know. )

I found a link, here, that gives a whole lot of information about what's going on with the series so far. The biggest/most interesting/important looking things I've seen so far are these:

"On July 3, Amazon announced that J.A. Bayona, who directed 2018's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, is directing the first two episodes of the Lord of the Rings show."

"...the Amazon team has "exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien's original writings." THe series will be taking place in the Second Age.

"Amazon reportedly paid close to $250 million for the rights, making it the most expensive TV series ever. That doesn't, of course, include the money it'll cost to hire the actors and crew and actually make the sure-to-be-pricey show. The Hollywood Reporter speculates that the whole shebang could cost more than $1 billion."

Hope that gives more info!
Na lû e-govaned vîn

 

[Miguel]

Apparently, they have green light to make things up as long as they're in tune with Tolkien's writings. However, Tolkien Estate also has green light to say: 'How dare you, remove this!.

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

However, Tolkien Estate also has green light to say: 'How dare you, remove this!.

That's a relief!


CL

 

[Miguel]

That's a relief!


CL

I think is a good thing, freedom inside restriction.

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

I think is a good thing, freedom inside restriction.

Amen to that!

CL

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Found this article on what they're forbidden from changing:

Tolkien Scholar Reveals the Changes Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series Is Banned From Making

Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey is working on the Amazon series and says the first season will run 20 episodes.

www.indiewire.com

 

[Varking]

Hi all, mae govannen, I've been watching for a thread about this, I enjoy all the different opinions coming out of the making of this new series. (@Varking I do hope it's alright that I'm adding this, please let me know. )

I found a link, here, that gives a whole lot of information about what's going on with the series so far. The biggest/most interesting/important looking things I've seen so far are these:

"On July 3, Amazon announced that J.A. Bayona, who directed 2018's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, is directing the first two episodes of the Lord of the Rings show."

"...the Amazon team has "exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien's original writings." THe series will be taking place in the Second Age.

"Amazon reportedly paid close to $250 million for the rights, making it the most expensive TV series ever. That doesn't, of course, include the money it'll cost to hire the actors and crew and actually make the sure-to-be-pricey show. The Hollywood Reporter speculates that the whole shebang could cost more than $1 billion."

Hope that gives more info!
Na lû e-govaned vîn

You are more than welcome to add stuff here. It’s hard to keep up with everything when sharing to 3-4 sites, 2 discord’s and a subreddit while still trying to remember to eat and breath . Thanks for contributing!

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

"We feel like Frodo, setting out from the Shire, with a great responsibility in our care".

That Frodo set out on a quest to destroy something lends a bit of an ominous tone to that statement -- intended or not.

On the upside (for me at least), no PJ.

 

[Olorgando]

In the first JRRT site I joined back in 2013, I found this news tidbit:
“It seems that actor Will Poulter (from The Maze Runner series) has been cast as a lead role in the upcoming LoTR TV series.”

As I’m seriously non-current on things filmmaking since about the year 2000 (except PJ’s JRRT fanfics), I popped over to Wikipedia for some enlightenment. Which led to my following comment to the above post in that other JRRT site:

“Yikes, what a pup! (he’s only 26 years old, but seems to have been in some “Narnia” film, besides the "Maze Runner" stuff mentioned above.)
Though by some of JRRT's writings about the aging of the Númenóreans of the royal line (those 400-year-olds) he could play an 80-year-old.
But still, barring the use of heavy prosthetics, are Amazon gearing this to the teenie market? *shudder*”

Actually, I’m only posting my curmudgeonly comment in the hope of getting Erestor Arcamen out of boredom as declared in a post to my introductory thread: “So glad, I was getting bored not having to moderate anyone since yinz all behave so well.” (Though mayhaps I’m just too old for a revolutionary …)

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

In the first JRRT site I joined back in 2013, I found this news tidbit:
“It seems that actor Will Poulter (from The Maze Runner series) has been cast as a lead role in the upcoming LoTR TV series.”

As I’m seriously non-current on things filmmaking since about the year 2000 (except PJ’s JRRT fanfics), I popped over to Wikipedia for some enlightenment. Which led to my following comment to the above post in that other JRRT site:

“Yikes, what a pup! (he’s only 26 years old, but seems to have been in some “Narnia” film, besides the "Maze Runner" stuff mentioned above.)
Though by some of JRRT's writings about the aging of the Númenóreans of the royal line (those 400-year-olds) he could play an 80-year-old.
But still, barring the use of heavy prosthetics, are Amazon gearing this to the teenie market? *shudder*”

Actually, I’m only posting my curmudgeonly comment in the hope of getting Erestor Arcamen out of boredom as declared in a post to my introductory thread: “So glad, I was getting bored not having to moderate anyone since yinz all behave so well.” (Though mayhaps I’m just too old for a revolutionary …)

This post is a riot.


He played Eustace Scrubb in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.


CL

 

[Olorgando]

Another tidbit from that other JRRT site, this time dealing with "Amazon's writing ream!"

"After hearing some of the details about the upcoming Amazon Middle Earth production, I'm getting nervous. Mainly, the writing team has me cringing: two Abrams Star Trekkers (J.D. Payne, Patrick McKay) and a Game of Thrones and a Breaking Bad writer each. Quite a rogues gallery, IMHO. How could you get more unlike the High Tory Luddite pre-Vatican II monarchist J.R.R. Tolkien than that? After watching Amazon's "Carnival Row" with its rough, crude GoT vibe, I fear such a low-brow approach for any ME they'd do. I always felt that Jackson et al. just barely stumbled across the finish line, but with these Amazon philistines? Alas...."

Both named writers as well as named shows draw a complete blank with me. The shows may be on some of our private TV channels, and I may have seen that in our TV's internal "TV guide" while scrolling through. But as for content - nada.

So my question: should we start worrying, or like the above poster, get nervous?

 

[CirdanLinweilin]

Another tidbit from that other JRRT site, this time dealing with "Amazon's writing ream!"

"After hearing some of the details about the upcoming Amazon Middle Earth production, I'm getting nervous. Mainly, the writing team has me cringing: two Abrams Star Trekkers (J.D. Payne, Patrick McKay) and a Game of Thrones and a Breaking Bad writer each. Quite a rogues gallery, IMHO. How could you get more unlike the High Tory Luddite pre-Vatican II monarchist J.R.R. Tolkien than that? After watching Amazon's "Carnival Row" with its rough, crude GoT vibe, I fear such a low-brow approach for any ME they'd do. I always felt that Jackson et al. just barely stumbled across the finish line, but with these Amazon philistines? Alas...."

Both named writers as well as named shows draw a complete blank with me. The shows may be on some of our private TV channels, and I may have seen that in our TV's internal "TV guide" while scrolling through. But as for content - nada.

So my question: should we start worrying, or like the above poster, nervous?

Yes.





CL

 

[Linden]

The twitter posts of the maps quote the ring poem. Suggests to me that the forging of the rings is something they will explore. Not sure how much freedom they will have to mix up the timeline. Including Numenor on the map is also likely not accidental. The rings were intended to give power over the environment, time/aging, and other beings and the rise and fall of Numenor deals with pride and arrogance and the quest for immortality. These are all themes that could be explored within the setting of SA ME (along with the traditional love/loss/honor/betrayal). Weren't the rings forged in Eregion, near the gates of Moria? There is the awakening of the Balrog of Moria and the closing of the borders of Lorien and the estrangement of dwarves and elves. They have 5 years and a billion dollars and are hoping for GOT type popularity and reach - so a look at what worked well to keep up popular interest should give a sense of the type of series to expect, generally speaking. I believe I read that PJ offered to help if it seemed appropriate. Whatever one thinks of his films he did pull off a remarkable technical feat, and the cast and crew seemed pleased and happy generally with the work environment he created. While I don't care personally for the LOTR films as a whole, they each include some beautiful cinema and all were both popular and financially successful - not a trivial achievement. I expect Amazon's take to be large on character development and interpersonal drama and shorter on spectacle than PJ's films - this is what makes for good 'TV' if you will.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Some good points, Linden -- and welcome to the forum! As always, you can indroduce yourself on the new members thread, if you like, and say something about your own particular interests; others may be able to help direct you to specific forums here -- there are so many, it gets a bit confusing! It's here:

https://thetolkien.forum/forums/new-members.58/

I haven't been keeping up with all the news on this series. One thing I'm wondering: is this just "the LOTR Project" or is "The Lord of the Rings" in the title? If so, it would seem necessary to have Sauron as the central figure, and the casting would be crucial, as he would need to project a great nobility; otherwise, his seduction of both the Elves and Numenoreans would not be very convincing.

 

[Linden]

I'm sure Sauron will be a central figure, and perhaps it won't be clear, at first, who he is. As the story goes he gave knowledge to the elves, and they to him, but he had no part in the forging of the three. The one was forged in Orodruin in Mordor in secret. I can't remember the temporal juxtaposition of the forging of the rings of power and the fall of Numenor, but if the include both these threads then I would expect them to overlap in the series. Alternatively they could have different time lines going. The corruption of the bearers of the nine could also figure in. Sauron lost his fair form at the fall of Numenor I believe, so the ring creation would preceed that...

I participated in discussions about PJ's movies as they were being created, and of course read the books long ago. I am curious to see what the Amazon effort produces.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

S.A. 600 return of first Numenorean ships to Middle Earth

c. 1200 Sauron begins seduction of Elves. Numenoreans begin permanent havens

c. 1500 Elves begin forging Rings of Power

1590 The Three Rings

1600 Sauron forges the One

1693 War of Elves and Sauron begins

1700 Sauron defeated, returns to the East

1800 Numenoreans establish dominions on the coasts

c. 2251 Nazgul appear

3261 Ar-Pharazon lands at Umbar

3319 Downfall of Numenor

There could well be some overlapping, but I'd expect the stories of the Rings and the corruption of Numenor to be covered by different seasons.

 

[Olorgando]

… There is the awakening of the Balrog of Moria ...

Thank you for your update, Linden.
But the Balrog of Moria does not appear until the year 1980 Third Age, according to Appendix B in RoTK, "The Tale of Years", section "The Third Age".
So if Amazon is "doing" the Second Age, no (awake) Balrog in Moria.
But then what does "Hollywood" (used as an extensive term) care about accuracy … 🤨

 

[Linden]

Thanks for those timelines both. It's been a while since I looked at the apendicies. I was just offering an opinion based on reading press accounts of the past few months, so not really an update with new information. One piece suggested that Brexit uncertainty figured into the decision to go to New Zealand, which has studios, landscape, and expertise with this type of project.