Lord of the Rings series!?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I think you might be able to guess whether I would consider it better or worse.

[Alatar]

I can indeed. But as a transcendentalist, I think you might enjoy it anyway.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Well, I (mostly) enjoyed the Hobbit films, so I guess there is hope for me.

Obviously, this is going to take a fair amount of imaginitive thinking, since the "source material" is so bare-bones. The key question is going to be who is in charge, which we probably won't know for a while. Interestingly, despite the twitter posts, there is still nothing posted at TORN's home page.

[Inanna]

Oh, she is Shape-shifting. Ok. Cuz spiders ain’t sexy, whatever you might do. To humans, that is. They are, presumably, sexy to other spiders.

[Dave_LF]

Pretty much the only way they could go. Established character to draw in casual viewers. Also, this was my prediction from day one, so yay me...

Heck; I predicted it right after seeing that little "oh, by the way" at the end of BO5A. But I was expecting another film.

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[Anduril]

Hold on, is this in movie canon or not? It seems to be, given PJ's involvement. But if it is, Aragorn has no reason to journey far and wide and serve in other lands. He was never challenged by Elrond to be worthy of the kingship in order to marry Arwen, and he doesn't want to be king at all until Arwen's life is bound to the Ring for some reason.

[Beutlin]

The unrealistic hope should be to expect not merely an entertaining series but something that has some kind of artistic merit as an adaptation. Otherwise what is the point...apart from feeding dull, undemanding TV junk food to the gluttonous consumer? The latest news, while short to say the least, does not bode particularly well. The producers apparently decided to take the safe route by choosing Aragorn as their protagonist. The obvious route for something that is primarily a product, intended to be sold, and one might add, safety does not easily square with great art. As V indicated, it is still too early to pass an educated verdict on the production however. Head writers and main cast still have to be revealed to push this in the "bad stuff department".

But yeah, I am fully expecting either a "lighthearted", rather trashy, young Aragon-goes-on-neatly-packaged-adventures (look at those zany sidekicks) series, or a "more mature" (ie adolescent) series that focus on characters "who are not black and white", something that could very likely turn into the same narrative piece of nonsense as the named video game.

Ultimately, the best that a TV series in our current cultural climate can possibly offer are small snippets to the more profound elements of Middle-earth. What matters is the ratio: if one needs to watch 600 minutes of dreck to find 5 minutes of decent material in there, it would be probably better to return to other activities.

[Beutlin]

One more positive point: this could indicate that we have here at our hands an anthology series which would serve the source material well and would open up room for more noticeable qualitative improvements in later seasons. Who knows...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Hold on, is this in movie canon or not? It seems to be, given PJ's involvement. But if it is, Aragorn has no reason to journey far and wide and serve in other lands. He was never challenged by Elrond to be worthy of the kingship in order to marry Arwen, and he doesn't want to be king at all until Arwen's life is bound to the Ring for some reason.

It remains to be seen. So far as I have been able to determine, Jackson's involvement has been limited to allowing permission to use some material from the films. That certainly does not mean that they would feel it necessary to adhere to the aspects of the films that veered so wildly from the true canon. I can't say I'm optimistic, but I'm not giving up hope yet.

[Cerin]

I keep remembering the quote about wanting the next 'Game of Thrones,' which I think is the closest thing we have to a declaration of intent. I took that to mean, wanting something that will be similarly popular. Considering what it is that makes GoT popular might be the best way to predict the sort of show we are going to get.

[Inanna]

Oh Krishna. That sounds awful.

[Beutlin]

According to the German IGN website, Peter Jackson will be somewhat involved in, presumably, the initial stages of the upcoming series. The editors had a phone call with Jackson in which he said the following:

"Ich hatte diesbezüglich ein Telefonat mit Amazon – ich glaube, das war vor gut einem Jahr. Und es hat sich danach angehört, als würden sie [mit der Serie] genau das Richtige tun, sie haben sehr gute Absichten damit. Für mich hat sich das alles sehr faszinierend und aufregend angehört.
Ich würde allerdings nicht derjenige sein wollen, der für die komplette TV-Serie verantwortlich ist – und zwar einfach aus dem Grund, weil ich eine [so langfristig] laufende Serie noch nie zuvor in meinem Leben zu verantworten hatte. Es wäre also nicht besonders schlau, wenn ich dafür die Rolle des Showrunners übernehmen würde.
Was ich im Grunde momentan tue, ist, dass ich das kreative Team [hinter der Serie] zusammenstelle."

Rough and to avoid any misunderstandings very literal translation

"I had on this matter a phone call with Amazon - I believe that was one year ago. And it sounded as if they [with the series] did the exact right thing, they have very good intentions with it. For me this all sounded very fascinating and exciting.
I however would not like to be the one who will be responsible for the entire TV series - and simply for the reason that I have never handled such a [so long term] running series in my life. Therefore it would not very sensible, if I were to take over the role as showrunner.
What I am basically doing at the moment is to assemble/put together the creative team [behind the series]"

So what does the creative team all entail? "Merely" production design? Writers too? It is clear that the German text given in the link is not a complete, exact translation of the call they had with him, so there is room up for debate.

Source: http://de.ign.com/tv/129313/interview/p ... r-herr-der

[Primula Baggins]

If PJ's picking the creative team, he's going to have a big impact on the series even in absentia.

[Beutlin]

It seems it is very much in doubt if Peter Jackson is involved in any way or form in the series. As you might have already heard a French website posted an article in which Jackson he denies that he is part of the show ("Je ne suis pas impliqué du tout sur la série du Seigneur des Anneaux. Je comprends que mon Nóm puisse être cité, mais il n'y a rien qui se passe avec moi sur ce projet").

Another German website then approached IGN and asked for the audio recording of the interview with Jackson. They then confirmed that the translation is accurate and Jackson really said what IGN wrote.

A British website however subsequently claimed that they "went to Jackson's representatives on Thursday (June 7) for clarity and they told us that the director is not involved in Amazon's project at this time."

So this is all a rather good opportunity to refresh your French and German, but apart from that it really remains doubtful if Jackson will play a role. The second German website speculates in its article that Jackson might serve as some sort of advisor for the series; and that at least seems quite possible.

French article: http://www.allocine.fr/article/ficheart ... 73483.html
2nd German article: http://www.filmstarts.de/nachrichten/18519192.html
British article: http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a ... gs-series/
Additional article on a German fansite: https://www.herr-der-ringe-film.de/v3/d ... 122176.php

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I would say that everything is uncertain, even including TORN's twitter report that the first season would be focused on "young Aragorn". After all, not only has there never been any kind of official announcement to that effect, the information was apparently never deemed solid enough to be posted on TORN's home page. I still think that is the most likely path forward, but I certainly do not considered in confirmed.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke hosted a Q&A where she discussed some of the plans for their Middle-earth series. The deal was finalized last month and the show is expected to premiere in 2021.

- Article at Deadline.

-Article at Variety.

- Article at The Hollywood Reporter.

- Article at The New York Times.

From the piece at Variety:

The Tolkien deal covers most, but not all of the material connected to the author’s Middle Earth saga. Salke said that it is still too early to say what shape, exactly, the series will take. But, she added, “It’s not a remaking of the movies, and it’s not a whole new thing. It’s something in between. It’s not, ‘Oh, it’s “Lord of the Rings” but you don’t recognize anything in it,’ but it’s not totally familiar to you either. So it’s original.”

This suggests that, as I have suspected, the previous reporting on TORN's twitter account that the series was going to start with "young Aragorn" was premature.

[kzer_za]

Still cautiously pessimistic, but that they're still working the storyline out actually gives me a little more confidence that they aren't just rushing things for a quick cash-in.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

It is also encouraging that the Estate, and particularly Simon Tolkien, is taking an active role.

[yovargas]

I have no idea what "not a remake, not new, not different, not the same" could possibly mean. Is this supposed to be a game of Riddles in the dark?

[Inanna]

It is also encouraging that the Estate, and particularly Simon Tolkien, is taking an active role.

Uzziden?

Or who’s he then (in Pratchetteese)?