Lord of the Rings - The possible Amazon tv show

[Small Man Big Horse]

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-1202606519/

'Lord of the Rings': Amazon, Warner Bros. in Talks for Series Adaptation (EXCLUSIVE)

Warner Bros. Television and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien are in talks with Amazon Studios to develop a series based on the late author's "The Lord of the Rings" novels. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is said by sources with knowledge of the situation to be personally involved in the negotiations, which are still in very early stages. No deal has been set. The studio and the Tolkien estate have been shopping a series based on the classic fantasy novels and their assortment of hobbits, wizards, and warriors, sparking a competitive situation from which Amazon has emerged as the frontrunner. Representatives for Amazon and Warner Bros. declined to comment.

It is uncommon for Bezos — known to be a fan of high fantasy and science fiction — to involve himself personally in dealmaking for Amazon Studios. But talks for "The Lord of the Rings" come at an uncommon moment for the e-commerce giant's video-entertainment division. Last month Amazon Studios flushed its executive ranks, with president Roy Price, head of scripted Joe Lewis, and head of unscripted Conrad Riggs all departing. Price's departure came just days after he was suspended on the heels of a sexual harassment allegation made against him by a producer on the company's original series "The Man in the High Castle." Lewis and Riggs' departures followed a week later.

But the pursuit of "The Lord of the Rings" is in line with a new programming mandate dictated this year by Bezos, who, months before Price departed, ordered him to shift Amazon Studios away from niche, naturalistic series such as "Transparent" and "Mozart in the Jungle" and toward large-scale genre programming with potential for broad international appeal. As part of that shift, Amazon canceled two series, "Z: The Beginning of Everything" and "The Last Tycoon," and began shifting resources away from Lewis' development team and to a unit led by event-series exec Sharon Tal Yguado. With Lewis' departure, Tal Yguado was named head of scripted series, reporting to Price's interim replacement, Amazon Studios COO Albert Cheng.

The fact that a "Lord of the Rings" series is being shopped by Warner Bros. marks a thaw in the relationship between the studio and the Tolkien estate, which in July settled a massive lawsuit that had dragged on since 2012. The dispute, with Tolkien's heirs and publisher HarperCollins on one side and Warner Bros. — which produced director Peter Jackon's live-action feature film adaptations of "The Lord of the Rings" and its prequel, "The Hobbit" — on the other, stemmed from the use characters from the movies in online slot machines and other games.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but a legal filing stated that no fees or costs were to be awarded by the court and that no party was entitled to recover fees or costs.

Fucking awful idea, right? Does anyone want this, even hardcore Rings fans? Let's find out!

[Dex Sawash]

I would watch a version of Skins set in middle earth.

[thraxx]

I would watch a version of Gimme Gimme Gimme set in Middle Earth.

Great news for Hobbit-heads.

[greenman]

I do tend to think that Tolkiens story is naturally more "cinematic" given the way it focuses so heavily on building atmosphere and general grand heroic romance yet a longer format adaptation would obviously have time to include a lot of material Jacksons films couldn't.

[touchingcloth]

Isn't this just game of thrones?

[Replies From View]

Lord of the Rings fans aren't bored by much, so this will be a success.  The original movies are basically just a list of random monsters until the arbitrary point where the ring gets thrown in a volcano, so I don't see why that list of monsters couldn't last for several years if needs be.  Just keep stuffing in more and more diversions like a Ronnie Corbett anecdote.

[newbridge]

Tom Bombadil show, yes. Anything else, no.

[Replies From View]

It is uncommon for Bezos — known to be a fan of high fantasy and science fiction — to involve himself personally in dealmaking for Amazon Studios.

They could call one of the monsters 'Bezos'.

[thraxx]

I think they should have a series called Lord of the Ting Tings.  In which the Ting Tings bicker over who is the leader of the group.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

As long as they watch The Battle of the Five Armies and resolve to make it as unlike that as possible.

The first film with its fantasy adventure/horror leanings should be the visual and storytelling inspiration for any series.

It's more likely to end up being wisecracking FX-heavy breathlessly monotone millennial wank like Star Wars/new Star Trek.

Thing is, if they redo LOTR they simply chain themselves to a narrative that obviously works best in film form.

[touchingcloth]

I think they should have a series called Lord of the Ting Tings.  In which the Ting Tings bicker over who is the leader of the group.

They should get Dapper Lol to star in Lad of the Rings.

[greenman]

Isn't this just game of thrones?

Martins books are I think much easier adaptations for TV though, there naturally down to earth in their story/characters(if not always there setting) with a lot of lengthy dialog and complex plotting. Tolkien spends far more time building up atmosphere though and has more in the way of high fantasy like characters.

Fellowship is probably the easiest book to imagine a TV adaptation of I'd say since its pretty linear, something like...

Episode 1 - The party and the Nazgul chase in the shire
Episode 2 - The Old Forrest, Tom and the Barrows.
Episode 3 - Bree and the Escape to Rivendell
etc

The further you go though I think having to create some kind of dramatic climax every episode would become quite difficult.

[Replies From View]

Episode 1:  Bollit, Willop and Chunt go off into the woods and discover a ferocious Spandock guarding a spooky cave.
Episode 2:  Tall Wizard 6 breaks his wand and enters the woods to find a new one.
Episode 3:  Bimbiff The Brave finds a new entrance to the woods and decides to explore where it leads.


Riveting stuff.

[thraxx]

The problem with the books for all Tolkein's stuff is that it's the same repetitive 'talk, eat, fight,' loop over and over again.  There's very little intrigue or nuance outside the Fellowship.  The Two Towers and Return of the King are the worst for this.  Unless they do some drastic rewriting or make up entire new stories in Middle Earth realm there's no way it can improve on the films.

What I'd like to see is a series of the Dragonlance or Drizzt trilogies.

[Replies From View]

What's the main difference between Lord of the Rings and Ricky Gervais' Flanimals?

[Dex Sawash]

Isn't this just game of thrones?

That's just Cassie from Skins in Middle Earth

[BlodwynPig]

Episode 1:  Bollit, Willop and Chunt go off into the woods and discover a ferocious Spandock guarding a spooky cave.
Episode 2:  Tall Wizard 6 breaks his wand and enters the woods to find a new one.
Episode 3:  Bimbiff The Brave finds a new entrance to the woods and decides to explore where it leads.


Riveting stuff.

GO NORTH

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The problem with the books for all Tolkein's stuff is that it's the same repetitive 'talk, eat, fight,' loop over and over again.  There's very little intrigue or nuance outside the Fellowship.  The Two Towers and Return of the King are the worst for this.  Unless they do some drastic rewriting or make up entire new stories in Middle Earth realm there's no way it can improve on the films.

What I'd like to see is a series of the Dragonlance or Drizzt trilogies.

There are various side stories with widely used themes that could be expanded in a TV series, off the top of my head:

Smeagol having a fight with what is essentially mental illness
Faramir the scorned son and his relationship with Denethor, Boromir the chosen favoured elder brother
Aragon and Arwen
The corruption of Theoden by Saruman
The scouring of the Shire
Gandalf's mistreatment of Pippin and his attempt to strive for honour in his own right through serving Denethor
Gandalf's own story could be expanded on given he is absent for long periods
The Elves role in the story given they are preparing to leave for good
Lots more Mordor stuff, internal politics and so on
How Gondor deals with the looming threat
Rohan's mistreatment of the Dunland folk
All the Easterlings/pirates/Umber stuff barely touched on

However, I think to make it an interesting series and not on-rails they need to take the characters off-piste and heavily invest in the idea that large amounts will be new and basically made up whether Tolkein purists want it or not. To work, I would imagine 2/3 episodes at a time where we don't even see Frodo and Sam, then others where they are almost the only two on screen for the whole episode, that sort of pacing.

There is a ton of folklore to draw on to sustain conversations and make the world feel rich in culture.

[thraxx]

Episode 1:  Bollit, Willop and Chunt go off into the woods and discover a ferocious Spandock guarding a spooky cave.
Episode 2:  Tall Wizard 6 breaks his wand and enters the woods to find a new one.
Episode 3:  Bimbiff The Brave finds a new entrance to the woods and decides to explore where it leads.
Episode 4.  Sodbin sets fire to the tavern and goes on the run from the Watch.  Tyskie the bard sucks of a Drow and must save against poison or die.  Meanwhile Eggmund Guff has a dirty choice to make.

[thraxx]

There are various side stories with widely used themes that could be expanded in a TV series, off the top of my head:

Smeagol having a fight with what is essentially mental illness
Faramir the scorned son and his relationship with Denethor, Boromir the chosen favoured elder brother
Aragon and Arwen
The corruption of Theoden by Saruman
The scouring of the Shire
Gandalf's mistreatment of Pippin and his attempt to strive for honour in his own right through serving Denethor
Gandalf's own story could be expanded on given he is absent for long periods
The Elves role in the story given they are preparing to leave for good
Lots more Mordor stuff, internal politics and so on
How Gondor deals with the looming threat
Rohan's mistreatment of the Dunland folk
All the Easterlings/pirates/Umber stuff barely touched on

However, I think to make it an interesting series and not on-rails they need to take the characters off-piste and heavily invest in the idea that large amounts will be new and basically made up whether Tolkein purists want it or not. To work, I would imagine 2/3 episodes at a time where we don't even see Frodo and Sam, then others where they are almost the only two on screen for the whole episode, that sort of pacing.

There is a ton of folklore to draw on to sustain conversations and make the world feel rich in culture.

That sounds good.  It may not even have to have a plot, it could be an anthology type series.

[touchingcloth]

Falconhoof: The Series.

[biggytitbo]

Bored of the Rings.

[thraxx]

Bored of the Rings.

[BlodwynPig]

The greatest disappointment was finding out that Hobbits were small human like creatures and not Eewok-a-likes

[Replies From View]

Should be 'bored with the rings'.

[tookish]

Mm...I feel like a really faithful Lord of the Rings might work better as a TV series than as a series of films, but it would probably also be boring as shit, so...hm. It really depends which notes they're hoping to sound.

I'll obviously watch it, but I won't necessarily be happy about it.

[tookish]

Isn't this just game of thrones?

Yes, but without any sex or intrigue.

[biggytitbo]

Well?

[Replies From View]

Well?

PROUST DAMSEL

[Viero_Berlotti]

Isn't this just game of thrones?

Yes, it's just a cynical attempt to fill the void after GoT finishes and further Amazon's world domination drive. Which is why it will be shit and must be avoided at all costs.