Seriously though, I would be completely on board with a show based on the pre-LOTR adventures of Aragorn.
When the Marvel Cinematic Universe debuted in 2008 with the first Iron Man film, the Tony Stark was a third tier character that was basically unknown to the general movie-going public, but by excellent casting, a well-paced (if not particularly original) storyline, and injecting self-deprecating humor into the script they Marvel Studios launched multibillion dollar franchise. Star Wars started off life as a knockoff Flash Gordon story. The Mission Impossible franchise was (loosely) based upon a mostly forgotten ‘Sixties television show. Developing a property just because it has name recognition is about the laziest argument for selecting it.
Now, admittedly a thematically-faithful adaptation of Elric might be tough even in an era where anti-heroes have become accepted but Ringworld (and the Known Space universe in general) has endless potential particularly if you ignore Niven’s meandering storylines and just use it as a general setting. Of course, if the people developing it make as much of a hash of it as that Apple+ adaptation of Foundation, then it may be better that people just continue to churn out loosely referenced Tolkien-branded products of varying quality.
Stranger
I completely agree.
Tolkien sold the adaptation rights (film, stage, and merchandising) to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in 1968; that was, as I understand it, just as the books finally started to become really popular. He sold those rights, at that time, likely because he needed the money (this web site indicates that it was so that he could pay a tax bill), rather than because he was eager to see his books adapted.
That was, of course, several years before The Silmarillion was finally (and posthumously) published, in 1977, and so, rights to that book weren’t included in the 1968 deal. My understanding is that Tolkien’s family was never thrilled about the rights to the earlier works being out there (it probably didn’t help that Saul Zaenz, who held those rights for decades, was kind of a jerk), and had no interest in any sort of similar deal for adaptations of The Silmarillion.
Oh, absolutely. OTOH, most film executives are risk-averse, and are more likely to greenlight something that they believe will have a built-in audience.
Along those lines, I’ve read recently where the Chronicles of Amber is under development as a prestige TV series, with Stephen Colbert and his production company recently joining the project. Hope this comes to pass and is well done and popular enough to spark interest in adapting more of Zelazny’s canon, rather than just using it as a front for CIA exfiltration missions.
Nathan Lane IS Tom Bombadil.
Far too old now, and if we were going to cast Tom Bombadil disregarding time, a young Ian Anderson was perfect.
Ben Schwartz IS Tom Bombadil.
First was Who?
So I looked him up.
…
So you’re a Bombadil hater?
I love Ben Schwartz.
How is he a good candidate for Bombadil?
He embodies otherworldly cheerfulness and whimsy. He’s an benevolent agent of chaos who loves to sing out loud.
Jack Black is Tom Bombadil?
I like that better than Schwartz, he’s a fairly good fit.
I love the idea of Schwartz or Jack Black - those are hilarious ideas. I always pictured someone a little portly and Renaissance Faire-ish - so Black would be great. I also think since Tom and Goldberry seem to be plucked out of some other world, it’d be funny to cast them with Mark Addy and Lena Headey.
Two. That is what PJ wanted to make. Mind you putting in Tauriel was a good idea, but the love story was not.
There were Negative reactions even to Jacksons LotR masterpiece.
Still even the Hobbit scored 64 on Rotten tomatoes,… and 83% by the audiences.
I admit the first couple of episodes needed some serious editing, like cutting back Galadrials floating around on the raft by 90%, it got much better pretty fast, and has 8#% on Rotten Tomatoes. But yeah, a LOT of bigots hated it, voting one star due to it being “woke”.
Yeah, but other than the bigots and the hardcore fanboys, that number is pretty damn small.
Run the film up to the time he rescues the Hobbits, and that would be fantastic. I understand why PJ decided not to film it, but I still missed it.
I agree that Rings was not LotR, and it got off to a really bad start. But it got better and better.
Yeah, that could be done in 90 minutes quite nicely.
Or the Adventures of the Blue Wizards- that could be great.
How about the wanderings of Aragorn just up to the Prancing pony?
Yep. The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, then his serving serving in the armies of King Thengel of Rohan and of Ecthelion II, the Steward of Gondor. His raid on Umbar. The hunt of Gollum. That is three films right there, or a mini-series.
Those annoying rhymes in the books might sound awesome done in Jack Black’s over-the-top power ballad voice. Especially if he does “air lute” along with it.
This might actually take me out of the Bombadil hater camp.
I thought it got worse, not better. A common topic amongst friends and colleagues is “TV you’ve recently watched” plenty of shows get rave reviews and eager chatter. ROP got little above a meh!.
Heck, as an Amazon show it has been well beaten in the UK by the second series of “Clarkson’s Farm” and that checks out for me in real life as there is plenty of complimentary discussion and binge-watching of that, nothing of the sort for ROP that I’m aware of.
Well, as long as you understand that that is just your opinions, and not an opinion held by many.
Thing that pisses me off is when someone hates a show, then claims that show is terrible, everyone hated it, etc, when their opinion is in the distinct minority. I hated Breaking Bad, but I cant claim it was a terrible show. I can state it is totally unrealistic.
Well of course, everyone’s opinions on entertainment is just a personal opinion. However, it certainly does seem to be an opinion held by many and the distinct lack of award honours suggests it is hardly pulling up tree stumps.
I don’t claim everyone hated it, I was personally extremely bored and it was not a show that anyone I know even bothered talking about about. Certainly not in the way that other shows are discussed. It just has barely been mentioned. As I say, the majority opinion (in my experience) has been meh!, in a way that shows like Breaking Bad clearly are not.