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Huge LOTR/Tolkien fan ever since I was a kid, loved the Ralph Bakashi animated LOTR film from the 70's(great rotoscoping and creepy mood), absolutely loved the
by subsubzero 4y ago
Huge LOTR/Tolkien fan ever since I was a kid, loved the Ralph Bakashi animated LOTR film from the 70's(great rotoscoping and creepy mood), absolutely loved the Peter Jackson trilogy, liked the hobbit animated films Rankin and Bass(good music!, weird animation?), even found enjoyment in the newer Hobbit trilogy(3 movies for 1 small book? Smaug was great though!).
After seeing this amazon trailer though I am beyond disappointed in what they are creating and with the budget they have it is really sad. I could be mistaken but I feel like this will be looked at as a gigantic flop for amazon. The story looks like its not even based on anything Tolkien written, which is beyond me given there are so many interesting tales Tolkien wrote that have not seen the screen(Beren and Luthien, the fall of Numenor, the silmarils and Elvish wars of the 1st age).
And like the parent above mentioned it is alarming that the actors are all unheard of and there are no connections to the successful franchises that Peter Jackson created, where is this roughly half a billion going? The CGI looks lackluster so its not there.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago> there are so many interesting tales Tolkien wrote that have not seen the screen Beorn! Completely left out of the Hobbit movies https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Beorn https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Beorn
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- subsubzero 4y agoBeorn was in the 1st Hobbit briefly, but he could have more screen time! I forgot about one character that never saw the light of day in any film(cartoon or movie) Tom Bombodil, he was a strange character even for Tolkien's universe and was rumored to be a demi-god. I would rather see stories about him than what amazon is sending out.
- thaumasiotes 4y ago> Tom Bomb[a]dil, he was a strange character even for Tolkien's universe and was rumored to be a demi-god. The theory is usually that he's one of the major gods, not a demigod. I feel like there was a Maia who mated with an elf, but I don't remember with any certainty. Demigods aren't a major feature of the world. EDIT: https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Melian https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Melian is the Maia who mated with an elf. Their daughter, Luthien, is a normal elf, in much the same way that Elrond is a normal elf while Elros is a normal Numenorean. (Though Luthien doesn't seem to have been given a choice.)
- philsnow 4y ago> The theory is usually that he's one of the major gods, not a demigod It's probably too blatant for Tolkien to have cone up with but Tom Bombadil has the same number of letters in first/second names as Eru Iluvatar. The ring has absolutely zero effect on him, but that would probably be true of any of the Valar just as much as Eru himself.
- red369 4y agoI think the theory that Tom Bombadil is Eru is fun, but in letter 181, Tolkien said: “There is no ’embodiment’ of the Creator anywhere in this story or mythology.”
- boringg 4y agoAgreed more about Tom Bombadil would have been the way to go. Can't believe he didn't make the cut. Not sure how they managed to do that. If this was built as if it was MCU they would have had a small cameo then a full movie on Tom Bombadil.
- twiddling 4y agoA Taiki Waikiki directed Tom Bombadil series would be epic
- prepend 4y agoOr a Taiki Waikiki short of Tom Bonbadil would be great. I’ve been expecting a 15-20 shirt put out that would fit into Fellowship with just Tom Bombadil and Elijah Wood et al. The cast and effects should be minimal so would be a great student project that would probably attract the few actors needed to make it.
- ryantgtg 4y agoNo he wasn’t. He’s in 2/3 of them.
- aidenn0 4y agoI didn't see the Hobbit movies, but the fact that they had to leave anything out of a 474 minute adaptation of a book that was 300 pages long is mind-boggling to me.
- XorNot 4y agoUnheard of actors is generally a good thing when doing a new series: there isn't really a series where it's felt like a good thing that it was being initially run as "starring <well known actor>". If they're any good at all (and most actors are absolutely fine) then they'll be good. The CGI on the other hand I agree though I can put my finger on exactly the issue: the virtual sets "feel" small in the footage I've seen. There's a certainly quality to the limitations of CGI which generally constrains the camera because you can't actually pull out far enough to make it feel large (I suspect getting the lighting to cast onto the actors right is also a subtle challenge here).
- blakebreeder 4y agoidk, all of the best characters in game of thrones were the established actors. ned stark, Robert baratheon, roose Bolton, tywin lanister.
- tptacek 4y agoThere are "established actors", if Michael McElhatton is the standard we're using, in the new show. Sean Bean was the biggest draw in GoT and was gone after the first season. When we're quibbling over the resumes of character actors, we've conceded the main point, which is that GoT didn't use star power to attract its following.
- blakebreeder 4y agoI'm not quibbling over anything. I disagree with "Unheard of actors is generally a good thing when doing a new series" and the logic provided. It's just ridiculous on its face. Generally, people with more experience produce better results. Generally, people who have a history of producing better results produce better results. Who would have thought?
- tptacek 4y agoThat's wildly not the case in the performing arts; just, like, a crazy thing to say. Stars get cast over and over again because audiences are comforted by familiar faces, not because the stars themselves are somehow the best actors in the world. Ben Affleck is a leading man, for Christ's sake.
- smsm42 4y agoNumenor alone has enough to make a good series - you've got epic characters, great events, powerful kings, beauty, love, treachery, doom, magic, battles, betrayal and ruin. I've seen decent series done on much less than that.
- subsubzero 4y agoSo agree, its such a tragic story, the people of Numenor had life so good, until Sauron tricked them into throwing it all away. For me it was one of Tolkien's strongest stories and I always felt like it should have major screen time as it was a truly epic tale.
- bombcar 4y agoI'm really surprised they didn't try to milk the Silmarillion (I've heard rumors of not being able to get the rights or something), because those tales are detailed enough to tell you how the plot goes, but sparse enough that you could write in tons of things if you wanted to.
- codeduck 4y agoBeren and Luthien would make a fantastic tale as well. Disguising themselves as a vampire and a werewolf to steal a Silmaril from Morgoth in the pits of Angband? Makes the quest of Mt Doom look like a picnic. Pity we'll never see it
- kergonath 4y ago> Beren and Luthien would make a fantastic tale as well. And the fall of Gondolin. And the Children of Húrin. Though not with a happy ending, both of them. Still, Gondolin has a great journey, love, betrayal, and an epic siege with mechanical dragons and balrogs. Húrin is more of a greek tragedy than an American TV series, but I'd still love it.
- cromulent 4y agoDid you ever see the Finnish LoTR series Hobitit? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobitit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobitit
- adynaton 4y agoOr the Soviet adaptation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khraniteli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khraniteli
- danso 4y agoBesides Sean Bean — who was far from A-list — how many of the Games of Thrones cast were well-known? Jason Momoa and Pedro Pascal, who’ve probably had the most post-GoT success so far (and who were two of the most popular/memorable characters on GoT), didn’t have widespread recognition before GoT.
- err4nt 4y agoI haven't seen GoT but Jason Momoa was already a decently well known name before that show, he has been in other things and he is so unique, once you've seen him you never forget him.
- georgeecollins 4y agoFamous for Stargate Atlantis? He was great in that but not well known.
- wmil 4y agoHe was on Baywatch and North Shore before that. Famous is probably the wrong word, but he was known in the TV industry. Basically if you were adding an "exotic beefcake" to an ensemble cast someone would suggest Jason Momoa.
- dragonwriter 4y ago> Besides Sean Bean — who was far from A-list — how many of the Games of Thrones cast were well-known? None A-list, obviously, but (in no particular order) Lena Headey, Iain Glenn, Natalie Dormer, Peter Dinklage, Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, & Charles Dance, arguably.
- wmeredith 4y agoGame of Thrones was packed with a murderer's row of character actors from British stage and screen.
- 4y ago
- odessacubbage 4y agothinking back to the bakshi film really makes me wish we could get an animated tolkien anthology like the animatrix or heavy metal. imo that would be a very good way to handle something like the silmarillion.
- karmasimida 4y agoTechnicality wise, I think the show looks solid that you can smell the money. I am not sure about your last complaint, the original LOTR is 20 years old, the actors/actress involved are in their 50s/60s (Sean Bean!), I am not sure what is your argument there, like what connection you want to establish?
- havblue 4y agoWhile Tolkien certainly has plenty of material that could be filmed, most of it seems to be in short story format where each story would be an hour or two. Amazon is assuredly looking for another Game of Thrones and I don't think they can get that from Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales or Children of Hurin.
- radicalbyte 4y agoOnly there is no material to work from - so they've basically taken the same strategy as the final season of GoT did but they're doing that from the start.
- kergonath 4y agoThere is loads of material to draw from. The Unfinished Tales, the 13 tomes of the History of Middle Earth, some drafts that emerged later. The Lord of the Rings is tiny in comparison. Some of the endings are missing, and some are only roughly sketched, but having the general outline of millennia of history really helps filling the blanks.
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- visarga 4y agoWith that kind of money they could have bought DeepMind in 2014.