Of all the stories, I’d be most interested in the Beren and Luthien one. An extended miniseries could definitely do that saga full justice. If, of course, they don’t completely eff it up…
We’ve never seen Morgoth, and we’ve never seen Sauron when he was still fair to look upon. Those might be interesting casting/makeup choices in a mini-series like Beren and Luthien. I would hope they would make Angband very different from Mordor and Barad-Dur.
Now you’ve got me getting my hopes up for something good. That’s never a good thing.
Obviously Game of Thrones is the bar thats been set.
Legend of the Seeker (Wizards First Rule) was not horrible, at least I thought it was okay for the most part.
The Shannara Chronicles ( Sword of Shannara, Wishstones etc.) I like it, and think its caught the spirit of whats really a stand alone book that continues on after Sword. However lots of people are getting Roid Rage over this show not being true to the book , etc. People can have an opinion, but at worst we need an example of how not to do a show, and at least on Reddit, this is the poster child for such.
Outlander (Dianna Gambledon) Only seen about half of the first season, but it only got edged out by other shows that were more interesting to me. Otherwise, a nice adaptation so far.
Vikings , no relation to any work of fiction, but its one of the non fantasy series that can at least do a period piece. If LOTR or something gets made, its pretty much gonna have Vikings and GOT props. Its a show, that I think LOTR will look like for a third of the books.
Either the proposed show will do the novel justice, or walmart is going to sell out its stock in pitchforks.
We are discussing resurrecting the old “Middle Earth Liberation Front*” that we organized when we heard they were making the movies, the weapons and explosives should still be in the caches since we thankfully didn’t need them in 2001…
- (Or was it the Liberation front of Middle Earth?)
Crowd: “Gloin!”
I never recommend the Silmarillion to anyone without telling them that it’s OK to skip the first part. Of course, it’s also OK to read it, and now that I’ve matured some, I love it too… but a lot of people think it drags and just want to get to the action, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
…and this gives a clue as to why this is happening now:
In historic move, Christopher Tolkien resigns as director of Tolkien Estate
in case you don’t know, Christopher Tolkien hated Peter Jackson’s movies, and is strongly opposed to anything similar.
Here’s his exact words: *"They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25,” *Christopher said of “The Lord Of The Rings,” revealing he turned down an invitation to meet Jackson. “*And it seems that ‘The Hobbit’ will be the same kind of film.
*
I dunno if that is “hate”. More like a disaste for some aspects. I mean even if you hate the action scenes, which is fair, there’s the beautiful scenery and the great acting.
You may not see it from that one quote, but it was a lot more than distaste. It’s clear from what I’ve read over the years that he deeply hated them - as JRR himself would have done. Christopher refused even to meet Jackson, or to have anything whatsoever to do with the movies.
My own opinion is, fuck the ‘beautiful scenery’ and the acting. Jackson certainly fucked Tolkien’s work. It’s an orc-like distortion of Tolkien’s vision. The only mercy is that Tolkien didn’t live to see it. It would have broken his heart.
Sorry, but I feel strongly about this. And, no, I’m not attributing my own feelings to Christopher Tolkien - he does feel the same.
Meh, Tolkien deliberately set out to invent a “missing link” of English mythology that would be similar to the cultural and literary impact of, say, the Norse sagas and other Germanic poetry/folklore. As a scholar of medieval literature, he knew full well how epics and myths get adapted and recast over time, sometimes to the point of near-unrecognizability, to reflect different cultural preoccupations and artistic trends.
My personal feeling is that Tolkien would have viewed the Jackson movies, like all the previous LOTR dramatization attempts that he was involved with, as unsatisfactory and largely unfaithful to the books. Nonetheless, it should be remembered that he recognized a distinction between adapting the works of a living author and appropriating those of a dead one:
But LOTR and Middle-earth in general now have “passed into the public property of the imagination” to join the ever-mutating universe of mythology. They are no longer just his own words and ideas, but everybody’s “toy to play with”.
Ultimately, I think Tolkien would have been aware of and resigned to the prospect of multiple conflicting interpretations of his seminal works, rather than expecting his own original vision to rule them all forever.
If by “fucked” you mean “massively improved” you might be closer to the truth.
Wait - how old does he think people are when they first read Lord of the Rings? Because to me, 15 to 25 sounds about right.
Presumably he meant young people who have not read LOTR.
Or maybe he is just a grumpy old guy. 
Doorwarden! Pray fetch GreenWyvern’s sword and DigitalC’s axe. And a goblet of yon fire-blasted parched kernels of Southron maize.
Dude, you are so going to find a balrog in your room. :dubious:
I am an English teacher now, but I tried to read it at 12 and I am not embarrassed to admit that I could not get past Gandalf’s fall at Moria. It slowed down too much for me and my reading level must not have been high enough.
I read it through around 18-20 and had no issues. I re-read it once at age 30 and I think that second full read really is the one that blew me away.
The Hobbit, on the other hand, I read in 7th grade and loved it. It’s written much more for young people.
I tried and couldnt read either of them thru high school - I appreciated what tolken was doing and had created - but could not get past the style.
THanks to the movies (LOTR specifically) - I attempted to re-read them and found them much more enjoyable, but still a slog to read at times. I’ve since read them a couple of times and the hobbit several.
I still enjoy all 6 movies for what they are - I agree there are a few spots where the changes are quite aggervating (moreso in LOTR than in the Hobbit) and I agree that the Hobbit shouldnt have been done ‘quite’ in the style it was - but I enjoy it none the less for what it is.
I’ve now read the Silmirillian and am working thru lost tales, etc as I have time to read.
But were it not for the movies - I doubt any of that would have happened.
I see what you did there in that last sentence. 
I say Fuck Christopher Tolkein. He does’t speak for his papa, and he certainly doesn’t speak for me. I thought the LotR films by Jackson were brilliant, and a fantastic retelling. The casting was superb, the set design magnificent and the CGI wonderful. Andy Serkis is a genius of an actor.
The Hobbit moves were bad. Well, I was surprised by the first one in that I liked it more than I thought I would having read the reviews. The other two were virtually unwatchable. Very bad.
I liked all six. I’m pretty darn sure we will never see better.
I can’t figure, though, how a TV series would work. Would it follow the books, or “fill in” with “stuff that was happening at the same time?” Would there be drama in Lothlorien, with Galadriel and Celeborn, before the arrival of the Fellowship? Would there be drama in Rivendell, long after the Fellowship departed?
Would there be an “epoch” – say, the trip through Moria – where the whole series takes place? Or would there be time-compression, time-dilation, and violation of simultaneity?
(We can use it in a Relativity textbook…)
What if they get really near the end, but ratings are high? Add a big slice of time between Pelennor Fields and the Battle of the Morannon?
Well, they could tell the retaking of Moria and eventual re-loss of it.
yOU have the Rangers (and Strider) patrolling/protecting north of the Shire
you have gandalf searching for Gollum
THere are a number of things we know happened between the Hobbit and the Fellowship that could be told.