ROP SDCC trailer

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here's a report from Rolling Stone, though predictably it doesn't really have much information.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/ ... n-1386877/

[narya]

Yes, it doesn't sound bad at all.

HOF has one of the highest concentrations of people who want to see a show where every shot is true to a Tolkien line and does not contradict anything in any of the texts. But, that population is small enough that V probably knows all of it personally.

It makes sense to make the show for people who just want to see more elves and hobbits. That so much attention is paid to the first group is quite encouraging, really.

Well, I'm in the second group, but am in awe of the arcane knowledge of the first group. This will be like M00bies on steroids. In a good way Where's my popcorn....

[Anduril]

I confess I'm not sure what is objectionable about a prologue summarizing the major events of the First Age.

Huh? I mean, them showing First Age stuff isn't going to hook me in. They've done enough for me to opt out, like with the first Hobbit trailer back in the day. But the problems I had with that seem so simple or more minor now. Doesn't make them any less worse in context of the Hobbit, but in some ways now they're the kind of the same problems magnified in context of the Second Age. They have their sandbox, but I don't think they're using it properly, they have their priorities mixed up. Well in some ways it's also kind of the inverse of the Hobbit approach, where expanding it into an epic prequel wouldn't do the core Bilbo story any favors. (Like Rankin-Bass was pretty good and kept it simple.) Here, I would've welcomed expansion as long as it stays more or less compatible with the already defined parts, and what they've shown and how they've acted or how they've allowed others to act goes far beyond my threshold and makes me not care about parts that don't test my limits, to the point I can only sigh. I will always maintain they could have gotten what they wanted out of the material without changing as much as they have. They should have expanded more in other avenues instead, and I think the decisions they're making now will impact the strength of possible future plots in future seasons.

[Eldy]

I think I get what you mean. Though, for my part, I think one of the many problems with the Hobbit films was PJ wanting to have it both ways: trying to make an epic fantasy prequel to his first trilogy while still retaining elements of the book that fans would expect to see in the film, even if they had no place in the story he was trying to tell (for example, Beorn). The result was an untenable waffle that failed to deliver on either front, as an adaptation of the book or as a prequel to the LOTR films. With ROP, McPayne have a far greater degree of freedom since they have to invent almost all the details of the show (and would still have to even if they were determined to be as faithful to the text as possible). So I think they have better odds of success at crafting quality entertainment, even if I wish they had been content to adapt part of the Second Age rather than smushing the whole thing into a fraction of a single human lifespan.

[Snowdog]

I have watched this a few times now, and I have to say I'm more optimistic about this series than I was in February, and then I got more optimistic that I was a year or two ago. The trailer clearly says that it is "based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien" which is quite true. It has the approval of the Tolkien estate, and I believe Simon Tolkien is actually actively involved in it. It's going to be good entertainment, and working with the material they have and get approved on a conditional basis by teh Estate, I think they are doing a pretty good job. I get a little tired of the self-appointed "Tolkien Expert" gatekeepers circle-jerking with the 'Woke BS' clique on most of the forums and groups whenever anything about this series is mentioned. I've pretty much given up on Tolkien Forums since they seem to let the haters say and do what they will while locking down threads that try and discuss the series without the above circle-jerkers clogging it up in a dogpile.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I'm not going to bolt-count this series as they will add and subtract things for artistic reasons just as PJ did twenty years ago. The good thing here is it is on Amazon Prime, which I already pay for shipping and other shows, so technically this series won't cost me a cent, unlike PJ's fanfics where I had to buy movie tickets to see. Come September 2 I'll be watching, and at this point, I'll be watching it through unless they really stuff something up along the way. Every indication I've seen tells me they won't.