TV series set in Middle Earth may be coming

[Otaku-sempai]

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”.

Since the copyright for The Silmarillion is still held by Christopher Tolkien as co-author, it seems unlikely that we would see any movement on any adaptation of any part of this work any time soon.

[torus]

I did express my view quite strongly, but no intention to insult anyone. As I said the films are not without merit and I think if a TV series wanted to pick up on their look and feel, it would be a perfectly good place to start. If anything, I'd prefer a much more free adaptation than something which purports to represent the books but then wrecks key aspects. Tolkien created a world, let talented script writers use their imagination to explore it.

In fact my initial concern with TOR as a game was that it hewed too closely to the particular stories and themes Tolkien had in his books, rather than allowing players to explore a rich setting. Even without crudely mangling the source material, there is a balance to be struck between secondary creation and stifling faithfulness to canon. But on the whole, I think TOR has struck the balance pretty well.

[Glorelendil]

Since the copyright for The Silmarillion is still held by Christopher Tolkien as co-author, it seems unlikely that we would see any movement on any adaptation of any part of this work any time soon.

So we can fantasize about wizards and dragons and magic swords, but not about a screen adaptation of Beren and Luthien? That’s just too unrealistic?

[DavetheLost]

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.

Well, we do have a band who took their name after the Silmarillion. Perhaps they would be willing to do a soundtrack?

[Otaku-sempai]

So we can fantasize about wizards and dragons and magic swords, but not about a screen adaptation of Beren and Luthien? That’s just too unrealistic?

Sure, we can fantasize about it. Just don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen!

I would not be surprised if Christopher Tolkien has made some provision that would prevent any movie or television adaptation of The Silmarillion from being made until the book falls under public domain.

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I discovered Tolkien in the mid-70's, before I was even a teen, but my memory is fuzzy on whether I sought out the books because I saw the animated Hobbit movie or if I found the books before that came out in 1977. I thought the animated movies were good, though I hated the pseudo live-action stuff that was used for the enemies in Lord of the Rings.

I thought the Lord of the Rings live-action trilogy was very good, despite the tweaks and the parts left out completely (looking at you, Tom Bombadil). Sure, when details were first announced all those years ago, I did not like the idea of Arwen being more active and taking tasks given to other characters in the books, but by the time I saw the films, I was fine with those changes too.

I thought The Hobbit trilogy was decent, but would be good if it were edited down to two movies. I thought the addition of Tauriel was fine, but removing the silly love angle with a dwarf would make her a much better character. I enjoyed her being a foil/love interest for Legolas. I was also fine with the side story of investigating the Necromancer, though a bit anti-climatic, since anyone who knew the books or the LotR movies, knew that he would not be defeated. And yes, the dwarfs in the book were comedic and were there so that Bilbo could find his heroic side in constantly rescuing them. But the movie went way overboard on the slapstick and overdone comedy. If only one dwarf had been silly and the rest more serious, then that dwarf would have been the Jar Jar of the trilogy.

In summary, if they can get close to the quality of the LotR movies and the good parts of The Hobbit movies when they make the TV show, while avoiding the bad parts, I will be very happy. So has anyone heard yet if WETA will be working on the show?

[Er-Murazor]

Can I just say that I pray to Eru that the Tv series doesn't use WETA's ridiculous High Medieval/Renaissance costuming. A Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) is perfectly fine looking that way since its inspired (heavily) by The Hundred Years War and The War of the Roses. I'm tired of Plate Armor. I'm tired of Hand-and-a-Half Swords being used by Plate Armor wearers who still carry Norman Kite Shields. I don't want The Knights of Dol Amroth to be lance-wielding tourney knights (assuming they are even shown/mentioned). I don't want a giant flaming eyeball for Sauron. I sure as drek don't want the Black Numenorean known as The Mouth of Sauron being some weird mutant.

[Terisonen]

Don't forget movie are not book with animated image... Sometime choice had to be made to adapt book to movie.

[Er-Murazor]

Don't forget movie are not book with animated image... Sometime choice had to be made to adapt book to movie.

That's true, but given the relative success of Tv productions like Vikings and The Last Kingdom (among others), it shows you can almost completely skirt the High Medieval nonsense of Jackson's version (even if there are distressing amounts of anachronisms in Tv both shows).

[Stormcrow]

[So we can fantasize about wizards and dragons and magic swords, but not about a screen adaptation of Beren and Luthien? That’s just too unrealistic?

Sometimes, Tolkien's secondary world is more convincing than the primary world.