Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[Triceron]

Lmao. Why wouldn't you have to prove a claim you are making?

He was against getting involved in film adaptations by the time he sold the liscencing rights. What more evidence do you need?

Again, if you're implying that if Tolkien were alive today, he'd suddenly revert to a more inexperienced version of himself who would be open to adapting a Rings of Power story himself for lack of any reasons to pursue so other than 'he read screenplays and was okay with them', then that's quite delusional even as speculation goes.

[bledgor]

Finally something happened this episode. As predictable as most of it was.

I think I actually dig Adar. Galadriel wasnt as insufferable, though her speech to Adar sounded pretty darn evil, glad he called her out on it.

The writing is still a mess though.



To be fair this was a big red flag in the halo TV show and um...that ended up with chief committing a war crime while cortana watched.

That show managed to be worse than 343's handled of the halo franchise, in all the worst ways. It was actually impressive how bad that show was.

[rhorle]

He was against getting involved in film adaptations by the time he sold the liscencing rights. What more evidence do you need?

Of course The L.R. does not belong to me. It has been brought forth and must now go its appointed way in the world, though naturally I take a deep interest in its fortunes, as a parent would of a child. I am comforted to know that it has good friends to defend it against the malice of its enemies. (But all the fools are not in the other camp.) With best wishes to one of its best friends. -Letter 328

You have nothing to say he was against film adaptations. When he sold his works he didn't seem to wish ill will against it and what it would become in any form. It is silly that you think he would just because he was older. It also ignores how he choose to sell the rights so others could create adaptations. Again you are letting your bias against the show make you think you know what Tolkien would want. Just like another person in this thread has. Yet both of you are not Tolkien and are the peak of arrogance if you believe you do speak for him. No one can speak for him and what he may or may not think of recent adaptations of any form (film, video game, pen and paper, etc)

[Triceron]

You have nothing to say he was against film adaptations.

I said he wouldn't support them, and we have evidence of his attitude towards film adaptations of his work after he sold the rights. He distanced himself from them entirely. I clarified this position at the first reply to you.

Again, you are arguing for the sake of arguing.

[rhorle]

I never said he was against film adaptations, smartass.

He wasn't even supportive of LOTR adaptations for the most part, defaulting to selling the rights entirely and deeming it unfilmable.

The proof is that he wouldn't have supported any adaptation directly, just as he was hands off with LOTR adaptations after he sold the rights.

Tolkien never intended the appendices or Silmarillion or the 2nd Age to be adapted...Where can you point to Tolkien being okay with the 2nd age being adapted at all?...The reason Amazon are free to adapting the 2nd age now, without staunch criticisms from the creators, is because JRR Tolkien snd Christopher Tolkien are both dead.

You did. You keep saying he wouldn't be involved with an adaptation. You honestly believe that if he were alive today he wouldn't write a letter or offer his opinion? Or that Amazon wouldn't consult with him? They are literally consulting with Simon Tolkien which means they would with JRR Tolkien if he were still alive. He even corresponded with Boorman who was adapting LotR after Tolkien sold the rights. Of course Tolkien would have hated that version for reasons that become clear if you read about it. You can call me all the names you want but it doesn't give you any validity. It just makes you look desperate and unable to admit you are wrong.

Boorman had wanted Tolkien to have a cameo in his film, and corresponded with Tolkien about the project, telling him he intended to make it with small people playing the Hobbits and in live-action, which Tolkien preferred. He considered having children dressed with facial hair, dubbed by adult actors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle...m#John_Boorman

[Triceron]

You did. You keep saying he wouldn't be involved with an adaptation. You honestly believe that if he were alive today he wouldn't write a letter or offer his opinion? Or that Amazon wouldn't consult with him? They are literally consulting with Simon Tolkien which means they would with JRR Tolkien if he were still alive. He even corresponded with Boorman who was adapting LotR after Tolkien sold the rights. Of course Tolkien would have hated that version for reasons that become clear if you read about it. You can call me all the names you want but it doesn't give you any validity. It just makes you look desperate and unable to admit you are wrong.

Not being involved and not supporting does not mean he would be against them.

You have been arguing if I had been saying he would be against them even being made. I said he wouldn't involve himself in their production after he had already sold the rights.

Letter 201 was written in 1957. He sold rights to United Artists in 1968. How is Letter 201 relevant to 'if Tolkien were alive today' exactly? Not at all, because he had distanced himself from all film productions after he sold the rights.

Reading Booorman's script and saying 'that's nice' doesn't equate to getting himself involved and consulting on the project.

What are you confused about here? Stop arguing for the sake of arguing.

[InfiniteCharger]

Tolkien never intended the appendices to be adapted by themselves into a history of the 2nd age. And the only reason such a project even exists is because of a loophole that the Tolkien Estate exercised and tried to shop around in order to make some money. The Tolkien Estate itself was looking for a way to get more money out of the IP because the film rights were sold for a relatively small sum to United Artists. And after New Line Cinema released the Peter Jackson films, the Tolkien Estate had to sue for a share of the profits of the film. So their idea was to use the appendices as the basis for a new set of global television rights that could be purchased by a studio who would commit to making multiple seasons and a potential spin off series based on the appendices to Lord of the Rings. Which is odd because these television rights do not cover all of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit but only the appendices and not the Silmarillion or Unfinished tales. So basically they gave the rights to use the name "Lord of the Rings" to a studio with limited source material, which means the rights to make up mostly whatever they want.

In July 2017, a lawsuit was settled between Warner Bros., the studio behind the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies, and the estate of author J. R. R. Tolkien upon whose books those films were based. With the two sides "on better terms", they began offering the rights to a potential television series based on Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings to several outlets, including Amazon, Netflix, and HBO, with a starting price of US$200 million. Amazon emerged as the frontrunner by September and entered negotiations. Uncommonly for programming developments at the studio, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was personally involved with the negotiations. A fan of the franchise, Bezos had previously given Amazon Studios a mandate to develop an ambitious fantasy series of comparable scale to HBO's Game of Thrones which made Amazon the lead contender for the project.

On November 13, 2017, Amazon acquired the global television rights for close to US$250 million. Industry commentators described this amount—before any production costs and without any creative talent attached to the project—as "insane",although some considered the project to be more of a reputational risk for Amazon than a financial one due to Bezos's wealth. Amazon's streaming service Prime Video gave a multi-season commitment to the series that was believed to be for five seasons, with the possibility of a spin-off series as well. Despite this, Prime Video had to give a formal greenlight to future seasons before work could begin on them. The budget was expected to be in the range of US$100–150 million per season, and was likely to eventually exceed US$1 billion which would make it the most expensive television series ever made. Warner Bros. Television was not involved in the project because Amazon Studios wanted to produce it themselves. Amazon was working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins, and New Line Cinema (the Warner Bros. division who produced the films). New Line was reportedly included to allow the series to use material from the films. The Tolkien Estate imposed some creative restrictions on the series, and the deal stipulated that production begin within two years.

The film rights were sold to United Artists and they never actually made a live action film with them because many directors thought it was unfilmable and they then started looking into an animated version. And it was only because Ralph Bakshi had an interest in making an animate version that the first actual adaptation was created, but again, also animated.

In 1969, the rights were passed to United Artists, where an "elegant" Peter Shaffer script was abandoned. Denis O'Dell was interested in producing a film for The Beatles, and approached directors David Lean (busy with Ryan's Daughter), Stanley Kubrick (who deemed it "unfilmable") and Michaelangelo Antonioni. John Boorman was commissioned to write a script in late 1969, but it was deemed too expensive in 1970.[2]

Bakshi approached United Artists when he learned (from a 1974 issue of Variety) that Boorman's script was abandoned. Learning that Boorman intended to produce all three parts of The Lord of the Rings as a single film, Bakshi commented, "I thought that was madness, certainly a lack of character on Boorman's part. Why would you want to tamper with anything Tolkien did?" Bakshi began making a "yearly trek" to United Artists. Bakshi had since achieved box office success producing adult-oriented animated films such as Fritz the Cat but his recent film, Coonskin, tanked, and he later clarified that he thought The Lord of the Rings could "make some money" so as to save his studio.

In 1975, Bakshi convinced United Artists executive Mike Medavoy to produce The Lord of the Rings as two or three animated films, and a Hobbit prequel. Medavoy offered him Boorman's script, which Bakshi refused, saying that Boorman "didn't understand it" and that his script would have made for a cheap film like "a Roger Corman film".[16] Medavoy accepted Bakshi's proposal to "do the books as close as we can, using Tolkien's exact dialogue and scenes".

Although he was later keen to regroup with Boorman for his script (and his surrogate project, Excalibur), Bakshi claimed Medavoy didn't want to produce his film at the time, but allowed him to shop it around if he could get another studio to pay for the expenses on Boorman's script. Bakshi attempted unsuccessfully to persuade Peter Bogdanovich to take on the project, but managed to gain the support of the then president of MGM Dan Melnick. Bakshi and Melnick made a deal with Mike Medavoy at United Artists to buy the Boorman script. Bakshi said later that "The Boorman script cost $3 million, so Boorman was happy by the pool, screaming and laughing and drinking, 'cause he got $3 million for his script to be thrown out." Boorman, however, was unhappy with the project going to animation after Tolkien once wrote to him, pleased that he was doing it in live-action. He never saw Bakshi's film, and after it was released, tried to remake his live-action version with Medavoy.[17]

Work began on scripts and storyboards. When Melnick was fired from MGM in 1976, Bakshi's studio had spent between $200,000 and $600,000. The new executive Dick Shepherd hadn't read the books and, according to Bakshi, did not want to make the movie;[16] Shepherd obliviously asked whether The Lord of the Rings was about a wedding. Bakshi then contacted Saul Zaentz (who had helped finance Fritz the Cat), asking him to produce The Lord of the Rings; Zaentz agreed.[11]

....

Cancelled sequels

The film was originally intended to be distributed as The Lord of the Rings Part I. Initially a trilogy was planned, but this was revised to two planned films because of the limited budget. Arthur Krim resigned from United Artists and was replaced by Andy Albeck. According to Bakshi, when he completed the film, United Artists executives told him that they were planning to release the film without indicating that a sequel would follow, because they felt that audiences would not pay to see half of a film. Bakshi stated that he strongly opposed this, and agreed with the shocked viewers who complained that the film was unfinished. In his view, "Had it said 'Part One,' I think everyone would have respected it."

Although UA found that the film, while financially successful, "failed to overwhelm audiences", Bakshi did begin working on a sequel, and even had some B-roll footage shot. The Film Book of J.R.R. Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings, published by Ballantine Books on October 12, 1978, still referred to the sequel in the book's inside cover jacket. Indeed, in interviews Bakshi talked about doing "a part two film picking up where this leaves off", and even boasted that the second film could "pick up on sequences that we missed in the first book". Zaentz went so far as to try to stop the Rankin-Bass The Return of the King TV special (which was already storyboarded before Bakshi's film came out) from airing, so as to not clash with Bakshi's sequel

.....

Reception
Box office, awards, and nominations

The Lord of the Rings was a financial success. Reports of the budget vary from $4 to $8 million, and as high as $12 million, while the film grossed $30.5 million at the United States and Canadian box office. It thus made a profit, having kept its costs low. In the United Kingdom, the film grossed over $3.2 million. Despite this, the reaction from fans was hostile; Jerry Beck writes that they "intensely dislike[d]" the film's "cheap-looking effects and the missing ending", having been misled by the title to expect the film to cover the whole of the book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lo...gs_(1978_film)

The actual truth is that Tolkien was right in that at the time, making a faithful live action version of his work was almost impossible. So he sold the rights to United Artists but they were never able to actually create a live action film and it was only because of the dedication and determination of Ralph Bakshi that an animated version got made. And it is due to those efforts that Saul Zaence was brought on to finance the project and this is how he got the film rights to Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and television series with less than 8 episodes. After the animated film, it took 20 years before a live action film was begun and in both cases, the only reason they came to be is because of the dedication and passion of those behind these projects.

Through Tolkien Enterprises, now Middle-earth Enterprises, Saul Zaentz owned the worldwide film, stage, and merchandise rights to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.[15] It also includes "matching rights" should Tolkien's estate film The Silmarillion or The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth.[16] What it did not include was the rights for televisions shows (for any show longer than eight episodes).[16]

In 1976, Zaentz acquired certain rights as regards The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit from United Artists, who had in turn purchased them directly from Tolkien eight years prior. In 1978, Zaentz produced an animated version of The Lord of the Rings, written chiefly by Peter S. Beagle and directed by animator Ralph Bakshi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Zaentz

Tolkien himself never published the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, so therefore he would never have approved of adapting something he never published. Not to mention that outside of those works he never published, the only record of the history of the 2nd age comes from the appendices and I doubt very seriously that he intended those appendices to be used as the basis for an entire television series or even movie. The appendices were written as footnotes and references to past events or future events.

Also, when it comes to the quote of Tolkien intended his work to pass through "many hands" he was referring to the use of a "frame story" where a fictional mythology or history is told from the point of view of different characters writing their own accounts of what transpired.....

Tolkien's frame stories are the narrative devices that J. R. R. Tolkien chose to use throughout his Middle-earth writings, especially his legendarium, to make the works resemble a genuine mythology written and edited by many hands over a long period of time. He described in detail how his fictional characters wrote their books and transmitted them to others, and showed how later in-universe editors annotated the material.

The frame story for both Tolkien's novels published in his lifetime, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, is that the eponymous Hobbit Bilbo Baggins wrote a memoir of his adventures, which became The Red Book of Westmarch. This was continued by his relative Frodo Baggins, who carried the One Ring to Mount Doom, and then by Frodo's servant, Samwise Gamgee, who had accompanied him. The Lord of the Rings contains an appendix, "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen", which, being written by Men rather than Hobbits, has its own frame story.

The legendarium, the body of writing behind the posthumously-published The Silmarillion, has a frame story that evolved over Tolkien's long writing career. It centred on a character, Aelfwine the mariner, whose name, like those of several later frame-characters, means "Elf-friend". He sails the seas and is shipwrecked on an island where the Elves narrate their tales to him. The legendarium contains two incomplete time-travel novels, The Book of Lost Tales and The Notion Club Papers, which are framed by various "Elf-friend" characters who by dream or other means visit earlier ages, all the way back to the ancient, Atlantis-like lost civilisation of Númenor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien%27s_frame_stories

[Orby]

Once this season is over I gotta match it up to Wheel of Time, overall Season 1 of Wheel of Time I gave a 5/10 on imdb. I do feel with however the season ends at this point Rings of Power will probably get higher. my individual scores for each episode of RoP is higher than WoT. I wouldn't be surprised if Rings of Power ends up with an overall 6/10.

Its fair to say I am not finding it as much of a chore to get through as I am Wheel of Time, Wheel of Time was rough, at least with Rings of Power it has better effects and more things to like. Also I already decided to pass on Wheel of Time season 2, I might be won over just enough to tune into Season 2 of Rings of Power.

[Triceron]

Once this season is over I gotta match it up to Wheel of Time, overall Season 1 of Wheel of Time I gave a 5/10 on imdb. I do feel with however the season ends at this point Rings of Power will probably get higher. my individual scores for each episode of RoP is higher than WoT. I wouldn't be surprised if Rings of Power ends up with an overall 6/10.

Its fair to say I am not finding it as much of a chore to get through as I am Wheel of Time, Wheel of Time was rough, at least with Rings of Power it has better effects and more things to like. Also I already decided to pass on Wheel of Time season 2, I might be won over just enough to tune into Season 2 of Rings of Power.

Wheel of Time was just poorly done overall. It didn't just feel unpolished, it felt outright cheap.

[Orby]

Wheel of Time was just poorly done overall. It didn't just feel unpolished, it felt outright cheap.

I am convinced the budget for Wheel of time was cut halfway through to focus on Rings of Power, the early half of Wheel of Time look amazing compared to the horrible effects of the last few epiodes.

Neither have been as awful as the Sword of Shannara adaptations... good lord that was bad. anyone thinking RoP is a bad adaptation havent watched sword of shannara. Probably a fantasy adaptations that's earned one of my lowest scores. I think there's a reason no one ever spoke about that show :P

[Geckoo]

The last episode was good for the action, but the aftermath of the battle was stupid AF.
You have the super elven commander Galadriel chasing down Adar with the premise that the object he took was important, yet once they retrieve it she doesn't bother to ask what it is, the other elf doesn't bother to tell her what it is and it gives it back to a teenager... the outcome would've been the same, but at least it won't make them look like a bunch of fools.

[Mace]

The exceptions do prove that you are wrong in your assessment of Elves. It is as simple as that.

Sigh, you can read a quote, but lack understanding - or for understanding to come to the simple. Elves are a lot of things, but the way Rings of power writes and shows them and Galadariel does not reflect the dignity, prestige, wisdom and character attributed to them.

Jus because Tolkien points out the reason behind them staying in Middle Earth, doesn't mean we should ignore their racial character in general, and alter it entirely, nor does it mean e should forget all the positive things about them that absolutely make them who they are and ought to be CLEARLY evident.

They are not just pretty humans with less defects.

[molliewoof]

Once this season is over I gotta match it up to Wheel of Time, overall Season 1 of Wheel of Time I gave a 5/10 on imdb. I do feel with however the season ends at this point Rings of Power will probably get higher. my individual scores for each episode of RoP is higher than WoT. I wouldn't be surprised if Rings of Power ends up with an overall 6/10.

Its fair to say I am not finding it as much of a chore to get through as I am Wheel of Time, Wheel of Time was rough, at least with Rings of Power it has better effects and more things to like. Also I already decided to pass on Wheel of Time season 2, I might be won over just enough to tune into Season 2 of Rings of Power.

i pretty much agree with that, id probably give WOT 4 because for me 5 is low average 6 is higher average if that makes sense. Im probably at ROP being a strong six all subjective obviously, maybe we should mark out of a hundred ha

The episode would have been a high 8 for me had it ended immediately after the battle, the next stuff was awful although the twist did get me i must admit. the episode was probably a low seven because of the last 15 minutes.

Ive read posts down from yours and like someone else said, at least look at the fucking thing, 'whats in the cloth?' 'That crazy sword that opens dams and shit' 'the one with an ornate, large hilt?' 'yep' 'oh this feels like an axe'

i dont think it helps that i read chapter 4 of the crippled god by steven erikson a few days ago and that shows the aftereffects of battle soooo much better imho, i was reading it on a plane and nearly cried after reading the last few paragraphs. you could probably read that chapter standalone just knowing it is after a battle and still be affected by it.

[InfiniteCharger]

Just on the topic of "rights", these rights generally mean the ability to use characters, dialog, plots, settings and so forth in a derivative work. But that doesn't require any strict adherence to any specific plot and can just cover the rights to use those copyrighted concepts from another work. So "Galadriel" is copyrighted by Tolkien but the rights to use "Galadriel" in a TV show does not mean it will follow any specific narrative or plot associated with that character from the book. Same thing with "Numenor" and "The Destruction of Numenor" from Tolkien which are ideas that are copyrighted to him, but how those ideas are represented in that TV show is totally up to the studio.

Film rights are a type of intellectual property rights that allow the holder to make a film based on the existing property or idea. In order for a producer, director, writer, or production company to legally create a derivative work meant for the screen, they must obtain the film rights from the copyright holder. Film rights may be purchased outright, or may be “optioned” in an attempt to get a buyer for the full rights.

https://www.mylawquestions.com/what-are-film-rights.htm

The one difference between the rights that were optioned by the Tolkien estate and the film rights sold by Tolkien is that the television rights were exclusive, so Amazon cannot sell those rights to anybody else. Whereas the rights told to United Artists were not exclusive rights and they then sold them to Saul Zalsance.

[Shadowferal]

i pretty much agree with that, id probably give WOT 4 because for me 5 is low average 6 is higher average if that makes sense. Im probably at ROP being a strong six all subjective obviously, maybe we should mark out of a hundred ha

Wot probably should rank lower as its rewritten poorly from the book.
Whereas ROP is attempting some sort of narrative from notes of the author and doing a shoddy job.

[rhorle]

Reading Booorman's script and saying 'that's nice' doesn't equate to getting himself involved and consulting on the project.

So reading a script isn't "getting involved"? You said he wasn't involved with anything after he sold the rights. That wasn't true. Strange how you keep moving the goal posts. Also strange how you ignore Simon Tolkien consulting on Rings of Power which indicates that Christopher and JRR likely would have likely consulted if they were alive. Remember Christopher was alive to "authorize" the sale of rights to Amazon.

[molliewoof]

Wot probably should rank lower as its rewritten poorly from the book.
Whereas ROP is attempting some sort of narrative from notes of the author and doing a shoddy job.

i can agree with that from a reader's perspective.

im really just rating both of the tv shows though, i read lotr and the hobbit forever ago though and have never read WOT so can only really judge from the tv shows.

i think the main difference for me is that im more or less enjoying ROP, its mainly when i think about the plot after ive watched the episode that i realise it isnt the best, obviously there have been a couple of stinkers (5) but it isnt boring. When i watched WOT i was cleaning at the same time or maybe cooking with the TV on loud, if im honest i could probably go 3 with WOT but id have to watch it again and wouldnt want to because if i was to rewatch something, id watch the new Star Trek again or arcane which i was thinking of doing last night after a booktuber i watch recommended it.

[rhorle]

Jus because Tolkien points out the reason behind them staying in Middle Earth, doesn't mean we should ignore their racial character in general, and alter it entirely, nor does it mean e should forget all the positive things about them that absolutely make them who they are and ought to be CLEARLY evident.

So Tolkien states one thing but since it doesn't agree with your view we need to ignore it. Lol. The only one not understanding or "simple" here is yourself. You keep trying to cling to the ideal you've created for elves when that never existed in reality. Tolkien refers to Galadariel as an "amazon" in her youth. And that she rebelled against the Valar and refused forgiveness or a return at the end of the first age. So she was similar to how the show depicts her. There are already hints at her being to close to darkness that shoe learns to control by the third age when she meets Frodo.

Tolkien also intended the elves to be similar to Humans.

348 From a letter to Mrs Catharine Findlay 6 March 1973
Galadriel, like all the other names of elvish persons in The Lord of the Rings, is an invention of my own. It is in Sindarin form (see Appendices E and F) and means 'Maiden crowned with gleaming hair'. It is a secondary name given to her in her youth in the far past because she had long hair which glistened like gold but was also shot with silver. She was then of Amazon disposition and bound up her hair as a crown when taking part in athletic feats

320 From a letter to Mrs Ruth Austin 25 January 1971
I was particularly interested in your remarks about Galadriel. .... I think it is true that I owe much of this character to Christian and Catholic teaching and imagination about Mary, but actually Galadriel was a penitent: in her youth a leader in the rebellion against the Valar (the angelic guardians). At the end of the First Age she proudly refused forgiveness or permission to return. She was pardoned because of her resistance to the final and overwhelming temptation to take the Ring for herself

153 To Peter Hastings (draft)
Elves and Men are represented as biologically akin in this 'history', because Elves are certain aspects of Men and their talents and desires, incarnated in my little world. They have certain freedoms and powers we should like to have, and the beauty and peril and sorrow of the possession of these things is exhibited in them

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The one difference between the rights that were optioned by the Tolkien estate and the film rights sold by Tolkien is that the television rights were exclusive, so Amazon cannot sell those rights to anybody else. Whereas the rights told to United Artists were not exclusive rights and they then sold them to Saul Zalsance.

Amazon purchased the rights for spinoffs of the main work. So Amazon can have another production company use those rights if they don't want to create something in-house. It is why Warner Brothers continually shops derivatives of the film rights and for example partnered with a Japanese company to create the upcoming War of the Rohirrim anime. It is essentially the same thing as sub-leasing an apartment.

[Triceron]

So reading a script isn't "getting involved"? You said he wasn't involved with anything after he sold the rights. That wasn't true. Strange how you keep moving the goal posts. Also strange how you ignore Simon Tolkien consulting on Rings of Power which indicates that Christopher and JRR likely would have likely consulted if they were alive. Remember Christopher was alive to "authorize" the sale of rights to Amazon.

No, I would not say he got involved if he merely read a script and did nothing else ablut it but give his thoughts on the matter.

He could be doing the same with Rings of Power if he were alive today, and I wouldn't consider that involving himself on the production of the show.

Again, you're literally just arguing for the sake of it.

Do you think he would have written the screenplay for Rings of Power himself of he were alive today?

Also not sure why you even bring up Simon Tolkien since Christopher Tolkien practically disowned him for the very reason of wanting to collaborate/consult with film companies. They only reconciled in Christopher's last few years. Simon Tolkien has even gone on record saying he thinks JRR Tolkien wouldn't have liked the Peter Jackson films. Really bad example here.

The way it happened was the Amazon deal happened in 2017. Christopher Tolkien was still head of the Tolkien Estate at the time, and rumors say that the Tolkien estate approached Amazon for the deal. When the deal happened, Christopher Tolkien resigned from the estate around the same time the deal was being brokered (He resigned in august, Rings of Power announced Nov). The estate is now run by other family members, including Simon Tolkien who was supportive of collaborating with film productions. And guess what, Amazon's RoP has the full support of the Estate and Simon Tolkien is a major consultant on the project. Much of this publicly revealed after Christopher Tolkien's death, mind you.

From what it looks like, Christopher Tolkien is literally the King of Numenor in this situation.

[InfiniteCharger]

Amazon purchased the rights for spinoffs of the main work. So Amazon can have another production company use those rights if they don't want to create something in-house. It is why Warner Brothers continually shops derivatives of the film rights and for example partnered with a Japanese company to create the upcoming War of the Rohirrim anime. It is essentially the same thing as sub-leasing an apartment.

Says who? The spinoffs came with the original option that was floated by the rights holder, which is the Tolkien estate. And because they are the ones who floated this idea to begin with, then it likely included stipulations on whether those rights could be sold by Amazon to another party. Sub contracting to another studio to actually produce a spinoff series doesn't imply that Amazon has sold the rights, as Amazon the company has many departments, and they aren't primarily an entertainment company. So it isn't sub leasing as opposed to sub contracting to another studio to actually produce the final product, which still is owned by Amazon.

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No, I would not say he got involved if he merely read a script and did nothing else ablut it but give his thoughts on the matter.

He could be doing the same with Rings of Power if he were alive today, and I wouldn't consider that involving himself on the production of the show.

Again, you're literally just arguing for the sake of it.

Do you think he would have written the screenplay for Rings of Power himself of he were alive today?

Also not sure why you even bring up Simon Tolkien since Christopher Tolkien practically disowned him for the very reason of wanting to collaborate/consult with film companies. They only reconciled in Christopher's last few years. Simon Tolkien has even gone on record saying he thinks JRR Tolkien wouldn't have liked the Peter Jackson films. Really bad example here.

If Tolkien were alive today the rights for a multi season television series based on the appendices would never have been floated to begin. Because it is literally giving a studio free reign to make up stories to fill time for hours of television. And if he was alive today, he may have finished the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales or perhaps other work to fill in the story of the second age as something for studios to potentially adapt separate from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books.