Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[Spiffums]

They shouldn't copy Game of Thrones, since it ended in complete failure and its cultural heritage was destroyed. Even the show-runners admitted recently that they would've changed a lot of things if they could. Maybe the gratuitous nudity is one of those.

The gratuitous nudity was the least of GoT's failures.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Nudity in LOTR? Umm ok thats fine really...doesn't matter to much. I mean I don't think its Anti LOTOR, sorry I don't. If they use it in a NON GoT way and just sometimes you see it in typical real life shows(As in modern times) then I don't see much issue. All about context and how much is used. Just don't let me see naked Orcs >.> <.<

[Shadowferal]

Hmf..pretty sure they don't want to win over Tolkien fans, they want to win over GoT fans.

[Syegfryed]

I don't remember ever reading about any nudity or sexual scenes in tolkien work, i do hope this is something minor that will not force some naked elf or sex scenes just to get that GoT revenue, they don't need to resort on that at all

I honestly didn't care.
Did I like it ? Nope, not really. Did I jump on the internet to rage until my eyes bleed to let the world really know my strong disapproval of a really minor subplot of the movie ? HAHAHAHAHA

Sorry, I'm just an adult.

i don't think an adult would use hyperbole to say anyone who dislike something will bleed from the eyes

[s_bushido]

Just don't let me see naked Orcs >.> <.<

I mean...the first thing I thought of when I read these complaints was the Lurtz birthing scene. They kept it above the waist (as far as I remember) but it's not like the Uruk-hai came out of those (eggs? cocoons?) with tighty-whities on.

[Varitok]

I loved that part in Two Towers where Tolkien described Gimli's asshole in great detail.

I've already said since this was announced that it will be full on a GoT clone. Luckily, The Hobbit has already softened me to bad Middle Earth content so I will just skip out on this.

[Shadowferal]

I loved that part in Two Towers where Tolkien described Gimli's asshole in great detail.

Um......
NO...no..no.

[Kithelle]

I'll be giving it a pass, I think.

The movies weren't perfect but they were clearly made with a lot of respect and love for the source material. The entertainment industry has done very little in recent years to convince me that such a drive still exists. There's too many smug, loud voices who love the idea of trying to change things for the sake of changing them.

That or they can't write anything good themselves so they just piecemeal ideas that worked from other franchises because they think playing Dr Frankenstein will get others to watch and it typically feels like a jumbled mess.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I can't imagine anyone in the roles than the ones of the trilogy, so I'mma pass.

Bet they'll Game-Of-Thrones it to shit.

[Jastall]

Does LOTR even have sex scenes? I'm genuinely asking cause 2017 was when I last read the books and I can't recall nothing of the sort. Hell, I don't even think the Silmarillion has sex or nudity.

Couples don't even kiss on page and I think there's like one kiss in the 9+ hours of movie, between Arwen and Aragorn. The only mention of nudity I remember is Gandalf mentioning that he was nekkid in paradise for a bit after dying as the Grey, then was sent back as the White. Now that doesn't mean everyone in an eventual series must wear nun outfits and chastity belts at all times, but it does mean it would be weird to witness overt nudity and sex in a universe that was written to be very tame and prude about such things.

Some bare backs or whatever won't make me scream in virginal disgust obviously, but LOTR just isn't very conductive to nudity and themes around it by its very nature, trying to add too much of that will surely end badly if that's the plan.

[Biomega]

LotR is written differently from ASoIaF. It follows much more closely the style of classical epics, while there is a lot more naturalism in ASoIaF. That includes a lot more graphic descriptions of nudity and violence, of course, which while undoubtedly present in LotR as well (violence especially) are not treated the same way in how it's written.

Making a LotR show that's R-rated and more GoT-like would be jarring, not because there's necessarily a problem with gratuitous violence and nudity per se, but because it's in stark contrast to the original material. In much the same way, a PG-13 GoT with all the nudity and violence cut out would be equally jarring.

As someone who really didn't like the LotR movies very much I'm looking forward to new takes on the source materials, but until we know more about the production it's hard to render judgement.

[Frontenac]

When you look at the history of Númenor, especially in its waning years, you definitely get a GoTs vibe. You have brothers backstabbing eachother, factions fighting eachother and a man that usurps his cousin and marries her against her will to become King. Imagine the wedding night... And there's some scheming involved with Sauron, who could very well be portrayed, at first, like some kind of Littlefinger, manipulating Ar-Pharazôn. Also, what they were doing in Middle Earth was not very charitable either...

It's not the nudity that worries me with the show. It's that little info I've found on its wiki page.

At the start of March 2019, Amazon revealed that the series would be set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the story of The Lord of the Rings.[2] Shippey explained that the series was not allowed to contradict anything that Tolkien had written about the Second Age and would have to follow the broad strokes of his narrative, with the Tolkien Estate prepared to veto any such changes, but Amazon was free to add characters or details to fill in the gaps between Tolkien's works. The series is also only allowed to adapt and reference content from the Lord of the Rings books and their extensive appendices rather than any of Tolkien's other books that explore the Second Age such as The Silmarillion. The Tolkien Estate retained the rights to the events of the First Age while Middle-earth Enterprises held the rights to the events of the Third Age (as seen in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings films), so the series was also not allowed to explore those. Shippey felt this left the series with "a lot of scope for interpretation and free invention".

I mean, how can they make the best TV show about the Second Age without having the rights to use contents from The Silmarillion or the Unfinished Tales? If the Tolkien Estate really wants to protect Tolkien's work, shouldn't they give access to all the pertinent material available so that Amazon can make the best possible show? How can they write a good story out of only the scraps we get in LotR and its appendices? I mean, what we get in Akallabeth is already sketchy, but it's still more material than the few events mentionned in the appendices from LotR.

[msdos]

It will be easy for me to judge the new show. If it doesn't immediately immerse me in it's world and make me feel the vastness of Middle Earth, then I can instantly turn it off and write it off.

Every movie and even the games succeed at making me feel how vast the world is. If it can't even do that, then there's no point.

[Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang]

Fuck amazon...the last thing I want to see in lotr is dwarven ass.

As a matter of fact, IIRC we already had some of that in the Hobbit.

[8bithamster]

After reading some of the criticism Jackson's LOTR was doled out here in these forums, I think Amazon is going to show everyone that it could have been a lot worse.

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While I concede the plausibility of the former, the latter however? Where was this at in the books?

worse than jackson? I really didn't like the movies, despite loving the books.. especially The Hobbit, where chapters were removed and other useless stuff was added.

[Volatilis]

worse than jackson? I really didn't like the movies, despite loving the books.. especially The Hobbit, where chapters were removed and other useless stuff was added.

It could have been worse. Could easily have had m night shyamalan or Michael Bay shit all over the books for epic "twists" or "CGI action" who were both "hot" directors in the early 2000's

Be thankful for what you get sometimes is what im trying to say.

Especially for nerdy fantasy stories.

[8bithamster]

It could have been worse. Could easily have had m night shyamalan or Michael Bay shit all over the books for epic "twists" or "CGI action" who were both "hot" directors in the early 2000's

Be thankful for what you get sometimes is what im trying to say.

Especially for nerdy fantasy stories.

"Could've been worse" doesn't mean it's ok.. sometimes it's better to not make a book into a movie than to do it half assed.

[Volatilis]

"Could've been worse" doesn't mean it's ok.. sometimes it's better to not make a book into a movie than to do it half assed.

There is nothing half assed about the lotr movie trilogy though. In fact long gone are the days of hiring 300 actors to do a epic battle scene.

The scope of practical effects wont be seen again without some mad billionaire investor.

[apelsinjuice]

this is litteraly just jeff bezos trying to make his own HBO GoT competitor for amazon prime. buying an already beloved franchise and "adopting" it to be a GoT copy

[8bithamster]

There is nothing half assed about the lotr movie trilogy though. In fact long gone are the days of hiring 300 actors to do a epic battle scene.

The scope of practical effects wont be seen again without some mad billionaire investor.

lol.. "They hired a lot of actors, so it's good!".. what's next?
"You can't dislike it! It won oscars!!"?