TV series set in Middle Earth may be coming

[Otaku-sempai]

I agree the 9 films are what we have for screen treatments of Tolkien.

9 films? Are you including the Bakshi film and the pair of animated TV movies?

Personally I would love to see a well done animated production of "Farmer Giles of Ham".

Agreed, but that isn't (strictly speaking) Middle-earth. I've thought that The Adventures of Tom Bombadil would make for a delightful animated television special, a nice companion piece to the Rankin/Bass films. However, neither would be suitable for a full series.

[Otaku-sempai]

Oh, yay! Yet another thread turns into a critique of the films....

:-/

It was a minor digression, and the discussion was still taking place in the context of Amazon's Middle-earth series.

Stop being such a grump!

[Glorelendil]

Oh, yay! Yet another thread turns into a critique of the films....

:-/

It was a minor digression, and the discussion was still taking place in the context of Amazon's Middle-earth series.

Stop being such a grump!

What I was really responding to was not the topic so much as the condescension/derision that always seems to go along with the topic. Of which I have also been guilty, but I don’t think it makes for a welcoming/inclusive community. Some people here have expressed that they like the movies; we need to respect that sentiment.

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I am looking forward to it greatly, with only one real worry. How are they going to handle the tone? More serious, like LotR? Or more silly, like The Hobbit? And I am referring to both the books and the movies on this. If they can find the right balance between the two, that would be good. But I would much rather them err on the side of serious, so as to not overdo the silly.

[DavetheLost]

Yes, I was counting the animated ones, parts of which I liked, parts of which could have been better. Much the same could be said of PJ.

I would prefer to see a more serious treatment of ME from Amazon, but not without touches of humor. I think the Hobbit ended up too far into silly, even in scenes that were pehaps not intended to be silly. Some of the fight scenes for instance just got so over the top that they became comedic. I think the LotR movies did a good job of showing what Middle Earth with modern production values can look like.

[Otaku-sempai]

What I was really responding to was not the topic so much as the condescension/derision that always seems to go along with the topic. Of which I have also been guilty, but I don’t think it makes for a welcoming/inclusive community. Some people here have expressed that they like the movies; we need to respect that sentiment.

Fair enough; there is plenty that can be fairly critiqued in the Jackson films, but it is easy to take it too far. I'm sure that this will be equally true of the new show, whatever form it takes.

[Rich H]

Some people here have expressed that they like the movies; we need to respect that sentiment.

We can all respect an opposing opinion but we don't have to keep silent/agree. I personally think the films are pretty poor on the whole. LotR are average to good action movies but I could rip them apart as adaptions. The Hobbit film trilogy is just... plain awful. At the end of the day, people can air differing views and still remain respectful. I'm not seeing anything here that suggest this isn't the case and it feels like a natural tangential discussion given the nature of the thread, doesn't it?

[Rich H]

Not that it will ever happen, but I'd love to see the Silmarillion done as an epic mini-series or film. Hardly any dialogue, just imagery, and a strong narrative over it where necessary.

[Terisonen]

I'd like LOTR both in film and in books. It's very difficult to adapt a book (and LOTR is a monument...) in a movie. In that, overall it's a good adaptation. More less for The Hobbit. But the work made was amazing in the movies.

[Glorelendil]

Not that it will ever happen, but I'd love to see the Silmarillion done as an epic mini-series or film. Hardly any dialogue, just imagery, and a strong narrative over it where necessary.

I agree, but the book we call “The Silmarillion” is really an eclectic compendium of tales that have a different feel. Not so different from “The Bible”, structurally. I could see several great movies and TV series, none of them actually named “Silmarillion”.