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Amazon Is Making a 'Lord of the Rings' Prequel Series (techcrunch.com)
Amazon is making a Lord of the Rings prequel TV series for its Amazon Instant streaming service. The show, which already carries a multi-season commitment, will "explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring." TechCrunch reports: It's possible the new series will mine the ponderous but rich Silmarillion for material, as fan fiction writers and lore aficionados have done for decades. The exploits of the Elf-Lords of old would make for a stirring epic, while many would thrill at the possibility of seeing Moria at the height of its grandeur. So much depends on the quality of the adaptation, though. Amazon has been pretty good about its Originals, but this will be an undertaking far beyond the scope of anything its studios and partners have yet attempted. Amazon is partnering with New Line Cinema, which of course was the film company behind the much-loved trilogy that began in 2001, and the Tolkien Estate, as well as HarperCollins for some reason. The deal also "includes a potential additional spin-off series," presumably if it's popular enough.
Personally, I loved reading it - but I'm not sure there's a huge television market of people wanting to watch stories where everyone eventually gets killed by the bad guys.
In comparison to The Silmarillion, the Game of Thrones is a feel-good epic.
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There are just to many too many streaming platforms out there. Much less a lot of HBO like ones that have shows on them I don't want to have to buy / deal with 4-5 different stores / ui's / apps / offline rules.
HBO
amazon prime
youtube red
CBS All Access
netflix
etc
Hobbit was a tale of small town heroes adventuring away, whereas LotR was an epic tale of the plight of humanity against malicious and demonic adversaries. Huge scale difference.
With this prequel, they could potentially create something on par with LotR in terms of scale. However, few of the original LotR actors would be involved in the prequel... so the success or failure is going to depend upon the direction, the story and the casting. The LotR franchise (including The Hobbit) are on thin ice though. If there is a whiff of any garbage getting into this new series, it will lose its audience faster than Sauron losing everything with the loss of his ring finger.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Never mind...
Don't knock it, Bored of the Rings was hilarious... although it was a better read in the late 70's than it would be now; it really didn't age well.
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And i always thought the name of the prequel to the Lord of the Rings was: The Hobbit.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
After the travesty of the Hobbit. I would not wish for this.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
If they're actually going to the Silmarillion, then that could be something. It would be quite something to see Tuor's journey to Nevrast and meeting with Ulmo, Lord of the Waters, or Ungoliant's poisoning of the Two Trees, and Nírnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, would make any other filmed fantasy battle look like a game of Stratego in comparison. Go to the Second Age, a full recounting of the Fall of Numenor would make for an extraordinary sequence.
But probably it will just be about young Thorin traipsing about Middle Earth, or Bullroarer's licentious joinings with busty Hobbit lasses.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.