The Lord of the Rings TV series.

So, Amazon is producing a Lord of the Rings television series. This isn't new news, as it's been known for quite some time, but it piqued my interest after reading a recent article. It's not going to be based on LotR but rather the Second Age of Middle Earth as described in The Silmarillion.

It's apparently going to be the most expensive TV series to date. The first season alone has a budget of over $400 million US. It's set to premier sometime in 2021 on Amazon Prime.

I have mixed feeling here. I'm a huge fan of Tolkien, but I despise Amazon. I love that something outside of the Third Age (The Hobbit, LotR) is finally getting a media adaption, so there's no way I'm not going to check it out.

Yeah I read about those licensing/budget fee's this week and almost spit out my coffee on my monitor. Hope Amazon recoups those profits in ads and membership fee's.

Plus side though is it's set in a different age. No hobbit or dwarf heroes this time.

It could be nice to get new Tolkien material! But yeah, Amazon Prime is not my favourite.

I don't know the directors, one is Wayne Yip, who's apparently directing another Amazon Prime series, The Wheel of Time (based on Jordan's series). That could also be interesting.

250 million just to buy the rights from the Tolkien Estate. Once Christopher Tolkien died, the Tolkien Estate was open for business.

JDR13 said:

It's not going to be based on LotR

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Yet it holds that same title and sells under it as all scams do.
I'm gonna skippit.

joxer said:

Yet it holds that same title and sells under it as all scams do.
I'm gonna skippit.

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No it's still LotR just set in a different age. There's been more then one dark lord. Even Sauron was once human who served a master before ascending. So no it's not a scam.

Amazon seems to have money up the wazoo to throw around. Of course, with the tax breaks it's getting, and the monopoly practices it performs. I wonder how much of that is from their direct pocket, and how much are they from loans which companies of that caliber receive with 0% interest, or close to that.

Unfortunately, as they've demonstrated in the gaming department, just throwing loads of money at the problem doesn't solve it. You also have to have the right people working. And sometimes the right people are either busy with something else, or not for sale.

I'm curious as to what will come out of it. But one thing is for sure, if that money is not managed properly it'll just be wasted on a lot of opportunists trying to milk the budget as much as possible. Fortunately, companies of this caliber have also proven that you can fail upwards.

In other lastest news on this tv series, I believe I've read that New Zeeland offered a hundred or so million dollars in tax rebates just for choosing to film there. New Zeeland really has become a place exploited by the film industry. In some documentary on the Hobbit, I believe they also mentioned the anti-labour lobbying of Hollywood, to which the local government gave in. So I'm sure Amazon wants to take them up on that also. Just in keeping with its own internal practices, I guess.

Personally, I'm more interested in HBO's Last of Us tv series. Especially with the lastest news as to some of the directors. At least HBO has a decent track record of producing good series.

https://deadline.com/2021/04/the-la...ct-hbo-series-based-on-video-game-1234742491/

danutz_plusplus said:

In other lastest news on this tv series, I believe I've read that New Zeeland offered a hundred or so million dollars in tax rebates just for choosing to film there. New Zeeland really has become a place exploited by the film industry. In some documentary on the Hobbit, I believe they also mentioned the anti-labour lobbying of Hollywood, to which the local government gave in. So I'm sure Amazon wants to take them up on that also. Just in keeping with its own internal practices, I guess.

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That's correct. NZ is giving Amazon approximately $116 million US to film there. The overall budget is quite amazing when you consider that Peter Jackson's movie trilogy was $280 million combined. And it's not a particularly long season either. It's only 8 episodes.

danutz_plusplus said:

Personally, I'm more interested in HBO's Last of Us tv series. Especially with the lastest news as to some of the directors. At least HBO has a decent track record of producing good series.

https://deadline.com/2021/04/the-la...ct-hbo-series-based-on-video-game-1234742491/

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I find it interesting that they're going the series route here, but I'm not sure what to expect. It's apparently based on the first game, so we already know what happens. Plus video game to TV/movie adaptions have a long and consistent history of suckiness.

JDR13 said:

That's correct. NZ is giving Amazon approximately $116 million US to film there. The overall budget is quite amazing when you consider that Peter Jackson's movie trilogy was $280 million combined. And it's not a particularly long season either. It's only 8 episodes.

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And I seriously doubt it will have the scope that the LOTR movies had. And amount of work put into them. So it does beg the question where that money is going. But I'm prepared to eat crow, if I'm stupified by how awesome they managed to do it. But I very much doubt it.

Plus, since it's happening during the Second Age, and there's no much story from Tolkien on that, except for mythology and world building. That means they're gonna create their own stories inside the world? I have a bad feeling about that.

With the way television and movies seem to be these days, I couldn't have lower expectations for this series. I grew up reading and loving the books, especially the Silmarillion, and you're not likely to find a harsher critic than me. Even Jackson's films, while there's much to admire, did not cut the mustard with me, when you do a strict comparison. Don't even mention the hobbit flicks.

So, the bar is low for me, doesn't mean it cannot be achieved. I honestly wish them nothing but success, and I do hope they pull off something astonishing.

danutz_plusplus said:

And I seriously doubt it will have the scope that the LOTR movies had. And amount of work put into them. So it does beg the question where that money is going. But I'm prepared to eat crow, if I'm stupified by how awesome they managed to do it. But I very much doubt it.

Plus, since it's happening during the Second Age, and there's no much story from Tolkien on that, except for mythology and world building. That means they're gonna create their own stories inside the world? I have a bad feeling about that.

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Actually, I think it has a chance to be much better than Jackson's films, but that's going to depend almost entirely on the writers. Since the Second Age is more lore than actual narrative, it gives them more possible ways to tell a story.

I think the films are overrated, and I despise some of the liberties Jackson took with certain scenes. The Hobbit movies were even worse in that way, and I thought the last two were pretty much shit.

Couchpotato said:

No it's still LotR just set in a different age.
… So no it's not a scam.

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LotR = Tom Bombadil + Barrow-wights + the key weapon in the story.

Jackson's trilogy *is* a scam.
I cannot explain by any logic why he decided to remove key story elements, even russians did not do that in their horrible otherwise low budget adaptation.

The show that obviously can't have three things from above does not deserve LotR title. It is as simple as that.
Call it The Silmarillion or something then I won't be yelling "scam".

Couchpotato said:

No it's still LotR just set in a different age. There's been more then one dark lord. Even Sauron was once human who served a master before ascending. So no it's not a scam.

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Nitpick: Sauron was never human, but a Maia.

Nonetheless, you may make the case that Sauron was around and meddlesome enough during the second age, and he did craft the rings and thus deserves to be referred to as the LotR even at that time...

But still, joxer is probably right in assuming that the decision to name this a "LotR" TV series has as at least as much to do with cashing in on the more popular franchise and not wanting to risk scaring off viewers due to the undeserved reputation of the Silmarillion as an Elvish telephone book as it does with any actual considerations of the plot.

Technically, it was the elves who created the rings after Sauron taught them the art. The only one he crafted himself was the master ring.

His influence existed in all the rings though except for the three made for the elven kings.

Couchpotato said:

Yeah I read about those licensing/budget fee's this week and almost spit out my coffee on my monitor. Hope Amazon recoups those profits in ads and membership fee's.

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Why? Amazon could burn money for fuel from now until the end of the century and barely notice. They could pay for this show with the loose change in Bezos' couch cushions.

danutz_plusplus said:

Personally, I'm more interested in HBO's Last of Us tv series. Especially with the lastest news as to some of the directors. At least HBO has a decent track record of producing good series.

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I hope it's good and does well in the larger demographic of people who aren't familiar with the games, but I don't know how interested I am in actually watching it. I'm perfectly happy with the story I've already been told by Naughty Dog.

Couchpotato said:

No it's still LotR just set in a different age. There's been more then one dark lord. Even Sauron was once human who served a master before ascending. So no it's not a scam.

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Maia, not human. He was a Maia who followed Morgoth the Valar. He just took over as BBEG once Morgoth was defeated for good.

Well nice to see members who rarely comment in years nitpick my comment.

I feel so honored right now.

JFarrell71 said:

Why? Amazon could burn money for fuel from now until the end of the century and barely notice. They could pay for this show with the loose change in Bezos' couch cushions.

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True that but the price just to rent the IP was insane. It even comes with certain rules to follow. IE the evil guys can not win. Ask EA about the Middle Earth RTS games.

azraelck said:

Maia, not human. He was a Maia who followed Morgoth the Valar. He just took over as BBEG once Morgoth was defeated for good.

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Yeah my bad forget he was mix of god/demon/Angelic blood.

danutz_plusplus said:

Personally, I'm more interested in HBO's Last of Us tv series. Especially with the lastest news as to some of the directors. At least HBO has a decent track record of producing good series.

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We'll see I hope it's not more feminist SJW crap that Naughty Dog loves to promote. Don't believe me just go read the developers tweets & interviews for proof.

Nothing but a bunch of soy-boys and girls that developer.