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Amazon buys up Middle-earth, it searches the One Ring! (Rings of Power news thread)


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On 1/9/2020 at 1:46 AM, Stefancos said:

 

It feels like Amazon is just doing GOT without tits and swearing.

That's what puts me off the show. Something about having them in fantasy stories rubs me the wrong way.

 

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Yeah, the only real unknowns were Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and perhaps some of the Australian/New Zealand talent, though obviously you'd have been more familiar with the likes of Miranda Otto, David Wenham and John Noble if you were from those parts.

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I actually prefer newcomers and unknowns for parts of the cast (there only really needs to be a couple of established thesps to bring the class), but a bit of text spelling out someone's name on Twitter or wherever else is a lazy and uninspired method of breaking the news.

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I should say that I have no qualms about the casting for this series; I don't really care who plays who as long as the writing is good.

 

Could you imagine the billions they'd lose if this series flops? 

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2 hours ago, KK said:

For the most part, he casted no-names. Worked out great for him.


And, in keeping with the casting philosophy of the films, they seem to be casting mostly from the British Commonwealth, too.

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Not that name value matters, but the only name on that list that I recognize is Nazanin Boniadi, who was excellent in her brief role on Homeland like eight years ago and, from the real life gossip pages, briefly one of Tom Cruise's Scientology-cast girlfriends.

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  • 3 months later...
On 6/16/2020 at 8:01 PM, Jurassic Shark said:

At least there's plenty supply of sheep.


Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer,

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2 hours ago, Barnald said:

Even if Shore joined in a limited way (i.e., write a few new themes), that would be something.

 

And instruments! Middle Earth is as defined by the unusual instrumentation as it is by the thematic content. I'd love for Shore to write a few themes and sketch them for a couple of new instruments that we haven't heard before in these scores.

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Kept listening past the 20 minute mark. Apparently John Howe is no longer part of the project - all he did was create the map. The chief illustrator and concept artist are instead two former 'researchers' (not even involved in creative) who worked on The Hobbit films. If true, wow. If that doesn't set off alarm bells, I don't know what will.

 

I appreciate these two have gone on to do other things, but still, trading a visionary like John Howe seems like a hell of a downgrade. Also feels like they're trying to get people they can manipulate in key creative roles (like the inexperienced showrunners).

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On 16/09/2020 at 2:12 PM, Barnald said:

Apparently John Howe is no longer part of the project - all he did was create the map.

 

They've said this before, and it sounds like bollocks.

 

It could be that Howe, being a conceptual designer, was only required during preproduction, and TheOneRing.net guys misconstrue this as him having been only imployed for the sake of the map/"meet our Fellowship" video. Certainly, this seems to be very much in the Howe style:

 

Durin.png


Wouldn't be the first time TORN is way off of the mark.

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I dunno, some of Howe's designs have proven controversial in the past. The look of Jacko's balrog for example, is a point of contention amongst Tolkien diehards. I don't think Howe's input is the be all and end all of this. 

 

Is Alan Lee involved at all btw? 

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13 minutes ago, Quintus said:

I dunno, some of Howe's designs have proven controversial in the past. The look of Jacko's balrog for example, is a point of contention amongst Tolkien diehards. I don't think Howe's input is the be all and end all of this. 

 

Is Alan Lee involved at all btw? 

 

No. At this point there's no suggestion that any notable Middle-earth artist is involved (if indeed Howe has departed).

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Isn't the Tolkien estate heavily involved as part of the deal?  I'd consider that a sign that they will stay fairly faithful to the spirit of the source material.  I would hope the directorial excess of the Hobbit movies and late ROTK won't be a problem with this, for the same reason.

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6 hours ago, mstrox said:

Isn't the Tolkien estate heavily involved as part of the deal?  I'd consider that a sign that they will stay fairly faithful to the spirit of the source material.  I would hope the directorial excess of the Hobbit movies and late ROTK won't be a problem with this, for the same reason.

 

Perhaps I'm being cynical, but I seriously doubt they give a shit about the source material, so long as Amazon keep slipping them the cash. Seems to me like they were just waiting for Chris to step aside so they could finally make some serious money.

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I think we don't have sufficient information to know how closely the Estate is monitoring this. On the whole, I'd say letting someone from the literary world steer a TV series isn't the wisest of things. Accurate to Tolkien isn't the same as good filmmaking.

 

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On 9/16/2020 at 6:29 PM, Chen G. said:

Accurate to Tolkien isn't the same as good filmmaking.

 

Maybe, but neither are the two concerns mutually exclusive in any quantifiable manner. And surely faithfulness to Tolkien—nailing the unique feel of his world—will be an important ingredient in how this project is received.

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They are partially mutually exclusive when the way a book is told and the way a story flows in a novel is so instrictically different to the way it does onscreen. To make a good film out of a novel, you need much more than just abridge the novel down to a suitable length: you need to make the story work for a different medium. As such, adaptations can only be considered faithful insofar as they adapt the themes and core narrative of the source material, rather than the intricacies of its plot and characters.

 

Besides, what is there to be faithful to with regards to the timeframe selected by Amazon? If you complied all the writings across all of the different versions of the story of the Forging of the Rings it may amount to two pages of text.

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