TXAG 05 said:

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redline248 said:

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Didn't they break into the bank? And Harry had tea with Nagini? and RIP Dobby.

you monster!

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Starts with the chase, when Harry leaves his Aunts and Uncles house, then the attack at the wedding, then sneaking into the ministry, then going to Harry's hometown and attacked by the snake, then going to Lovegoods, then getting captured and escaping, leading to Dobbys death. Other than that, you're right. Nothing really happened.

I really recommend reading the books. The movies just didn't do them justice.

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I can't wait for the eventual tv series remake.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Really enjoyed his explanation of Gandalf The Grey's role as opposed to The White.

Basically...be a bro to all people.

If you're not down with getting high with Gandalf, you can get out of my face.

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It's memes like this that make me want to detest the movies.

But in other news, Amazon just dropped 20 new cast members for their show: https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-series-amazon-cast-1234845274/

Rumor has it that between episodes two and three there is significant cast turnover, denoting either a setting change or a time jump, or a good number of people are killed off, though I think the last one is least likely.

pretty great thread, ill just post the first one so i dont clog the internet pipes with ranch:

Picked up the 4K extended version of the LOTR trilogy that came out the other day. Will be nice to see it in high def instead of potato.

Welp, I officially need a 4K tv.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Welp, I officially need a 4K tv.

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I just don't want to buy a 4k dvd player.

I'll probably get a PS5.

Wonder why the Blu Ray extended cut seems to have weird filters turned on.

Will have to go back to my set and see if it looks like that. I've seen some re-releases in the past where they made previous releases look worse to make the new version look better in comparison videos.

powerbelly said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Welp, I officially need a 4K tv.

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I just don't want to buy a 4k dvd player.

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As someone who made the upgrade very recently I gotta say it's pretty awesome.

Edit: But I'm also a big physical media person so when I do buy this upgraded set of LOTR, it will not be the only thing that get's played on it.

Some actual news:

Looks like The One Ring.net managed to get their hands on the official synopsis of the Amazon production.

maybe i'm being too critical, but that sounds like the copy to promote a LOTR MMORPG.

Cool to see Lindon come to life, I'm assuming that means Gil-galad is in this thing?

Considering the 2nd age setting and since Gil-galad is the last of the Noldor kings, I would imagine he would show up somehow,

Fat Bib Fortuna said:

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maybe i'm being too critical, but that sounds like the copy to promote a LOTR MMORPG.

Cool to see Lindon come to life, I'm assuming that means Gil-galad is in this thing?

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I don't disagree: If you remove the explicit mentions of Tolkien and his setting, it will read like a synopsis of generic fantasy.

The interesting bit is that this is confirmation that the show is about the rise of Sauron and the Rings, rather than the later Akallabeth and Last Alliance.

With the mention of Numenor, I suspect you'll get to see Elendil and his sons, and watch Sauron cause the downfall of Ar-Pharazon.

I can't picture an ending for this that won't contain the Battle of the Last Alliance. They have to leave with the Ring in Isildur's possession (or in the Anduin).

tallgrant said:

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With the mention of Numenor, I suspect you'll get to see Elendil and his sons, and watch Sauron cause the downfall of Ar-Pharazon.

I can't picture an ending for this that won't contain the Battle of the Last Alliance. They have to leave with the Ring in Isildur's possession (or in the Anduin).

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There are two main "epochs" in the Second Age: The forging of the Rings and the initial wars, and then there is the Downfall of Numenor and the Last Alliance, with about 1500 years between those two. Plenty of stuff occurs in that 1500 year period: more battles between Sauron, Elves, and Numenor, the rise of the Nazgul, and growing Numenorian imperialism in Middle-Earth.

You could be right, but I hope not. I don't want to see a massive compression of the timeline. Sauron was supposed to such a threat that even 3000 years after his first major defeat, even the rustic and insular Hobbits new his name. Reducing his reign of terror from millennia to a scant decade will undermine his threat.

I'd rather Amazon use this show to tell the story of one of those epochs, and then option a spinoff (the rights agreement apparently allows for this) to tell the other.

I'm not sure how much they'd really compress. If I were plotting out five seasons, I'd do:

1. Set the kingdoms for the second age, establish Sauron's punishment/choices and end with the Forging of the Rings of Power and Sauron making the One Ring.
2. Document the War of Sauron and the Elves, and finish with the Numenorians helping defendLindon
3. Show Numenor establishing itself, splintering into the factions and bring in Ar Pharazon.
4. Show the capture of Sauron, ultimate corruption and Fall of Numenor and the escape of Elendil
5. Establish Gondor/Arnor, make the Last Alliance of Elves and Men and the end of the second age.

In this setup, you carry forward the important Elvish characters through the series (Cirdan, Galadriel, Gil galad, Elrond), you get the major Numenorians you need by the end of Season 3, and have a linear progression that can be followed by someone who is not a Tolkien devotee.

Obvious doesn't put in everything, but this I think could do it justice. As much as I love the story of early Numenor and gradual decline, I'm not sure it makes for compelling television.

I am wondering how much of the Valar would be shown or done. I always liked how much they're kept out of sight in LOTR.

tallgrant said:

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I'm not sure how much they'd really compress. If I were plotting out five seasons, I'd do:

1. Set the kingdoms for the second age, establish Sauron's punishment/choices and end with the Forging of the Rings of Power and Sauron making the One Ring.
2. Document the War of Sauron and the Elves, and finish with the Numenorians helping defendLindon
3. Show Numenor establishing itself, splintering into the factions and bring in Ar Pharazon.
4. Show the capture of Sauron, ultimate corruption of Numenor and esca of Elendil
5. The Last Alliance of Elves and Men and the end of the third age.

In this setup, you carry forward the important Elvish characters through the series (Cirdan, Galadriel, Gil galad, Elrond), you get the major Numenorians you need by the end of Season 3, and y have a linear progression that can be followed by someone who is not a Tolkien devotee.

Obvious doesn't put in everything, but this I think could do it justice. As much as I love the story of early Numenor and gradual decline, I'm not sure it makes for compelling television.

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I used to post a lot on the subreddit dedicated to this production, and I once favored a format like that. Now I'm more in favor of a longer drama focused on a single epoch. I still like the usage of time jumps to juxtapose the perspective of the immortal elves/Sauron, long-lived numenorians and dwarves, and relatively short lived men, but I don't expect Amazon to do anything too unconventional here.

I'd love something that really shows the differences in perspective and thought processes of mortals and immortals. Those who can wait, and those who cannot afford to.

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I am wondering how much of the Valar would be shown or done. I always liked how much they're kept out of sight in LOTR.

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Their presence was incredibly subtle in the books too, or maybe that was what you were initially referring to.

I think there needs to be at least a basic explanation of the mythology of the setting, because it also gives backstory to Sauron, outlines the situation of the elves, the significance of Numenor, as well as the "why" behind the need for Rings of Power or something equivalent. Hopefully, not in the form of a massive prologue/exposition dump like the movies, but a little here, a little there.

Besides, The Valar do not intervene directly in Middle-Earth because the last time they did, it broke a continent. Sauron only acts because he does not fear their opposition. That hands off approach casts a shadow over the entire conflict, which is why it is such a shock to everyone (Numenorians and Sauron) when they (well, technically Eru) destroy Numenor and reshape the world.

But personally, I don't want to see the Valar. Even in an adaptation of the Silmarillion I don't want to see them, unless it is incredibly stylized like this comic of the Ainurlindale.

These are a good watch.

Thanks to Brian Earl Spilner posting a few times, I rewatched Fellowship over the past few nights and got hooked again. I'll play the other two today in the background while working on reviewing engineering plans. The music alone will get me by for sure!

This is somewhat old news, but I don't recall seeing it discussed here. Interview is from last summer. What I found most enlightening was his comments on the rights.

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The First and Third Ages are "off-limits", you can't have the First Age. Events could be mentioned at the most if they explain the events of the Second Age. But if it is not described or mentioned in the Lord of the Rings or in the appendices, they probably cannot use it. So the question is to what extent they may hint at events that took place, for example, in the First Age, but still continue to affect the Second Age. There are several maps authorized by Tolkien, not just the ones we're are familiar with, and some of those maps have places on them which are not in the other maps. But if Tolkien authorized them then that's okay. So it's it's a bit of a minefield. You have to tread very carefully but at the same time there is quite a lot of scope for interpretation and free invention.

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If this is the case, it means that referencing the individual Valar by name is mostly out. I recall specific callouts to Orome, Varda (as Elbereth in a few places) and mentions of Morgoth in the Appendices. Manwe gets mentioned as the "Elder King" in a couple of spots too, but I don't recall any others.

The plotline item this makes me wonder about is what they show for the corruption of Numenor.. Akallabeth is pretty specific that they build a temple to Morgoth, but as that isn't called out in the ROTK appendix I'm not sure they can show it.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Sam berg got about three words in that interview.

tallgrant said:

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This is somewhat old news, but I don't recall seeing it discussed here. Interview is from last summer. What I found most enlightening was his comments on the rights.

Quote:

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The First and Third Ages are "off-limits", you can't have the First Age. Events could be mentioned at the most if they explain the events of the Second Age. But if it is not described or mentioned in the Lord of the Rings or in the appendices, they probably cannot use it. So the question is to what extent they may hint at events that took place, for example, in the First Age, but still continue to affect the Second Age. There are several maps authorized by Tolkien, not just the ones we're are familiar with, and some of those maps have places on them which are not in the other maps. But if Tolkien authorized them then that's okay. So it's it's a bit of a minefield. You have to tread very carefully but at the same time there is quite a lot of scope for interpretation and free invention.

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If this is the case, it means that referencing the individual Valar by name is mostly out. I recall specific callouts to Orome, Varda (as Elbereth in a few places) and mentions of Morgoth in the Appendices. Manwe gets mentioned as the "Elder King" in a couple of spots too, but I don't recall any others.

The plotline item this makes me wonder about is what they show for the corruption of Numenor.. Akallabeth is pretty specific that they build a temple to Morgoth, but as that isn't called out in the ROTK appendix I'm not sure they can show it.

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The working assumption of most people closely following the show is that Amazon at the very least has rights to Unfinished Tales. Why? The official announcement for the show consisted of maps of Middle-parth containing details that only exist in Unfinished Tales.

Additionally, I would not be surprised if the Tolkien Estate (who is the primary recipient of the $250 million to acquire rights to this franchise) is also allowing Amazon to look at relevant resources from the Silmarillion, most notably "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" as well as the Akallabeth.

Sorry if I missed it between pages 8 and 17, but my phones about to die on me, so I'm jumping the gun...

My main complaint with the trilogy is that I feel like jackson cheated us out of the Scourginfg of the Shire... I really felt like that brought Merry and Pippin into their own, and connected Sam to Rosie in a far better way than "well, after all that, I finally have the nerve to ask out the beer wench..."