Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[eschatological]

Gotham isn't a real city. It's pretty easy to have a fictional black family that happened to have accrued generational wealth in a fictional city. Hell, instead of being gang-related, the murder/assassination of the Waynes could have been racially motivated instead...since writers like retelling that story over and over again.



If they made him a survivor of something like the Rwandan genocide, why not. Humans aren't exactly short on horrific events to inspire characters like that...

Weirdly enough, there are black billionaires IN REAL LIFE despite the still-real need for movements like BLM to exist.

[Orby]

Going to be real funny if it turns out Sauron isn't even in this season, and the person in white is just some cultist/lieutenant.

I have been hearing that it isnt Sauron. But if it is, then oof. Not sure Sauron the brooding emo kid was on my bingo card list of things to see in this show, but there we go :P

[Nerovar]

I mean, how can I put this... authenticity doesn't appear to have been a primary concern when it comes to casting the show. But we don't even know if this guy is Annatar yet.

I'm not even sure whether that actually is a guy.

[s_bushido]

It's not. People have been posting that her name is Bridie Sisson.

[Dhrizzle]

"Sauron should be thought of as very terrible. The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic. In his earlier incarnation he was able to veil his power (as Gandalf did) and could appear as a commanding figure of great strength of body and supremely royal demeanour and countenance."

I don't know dawg but this ain't it. I also don't see how this qualifies as "fair to elven eyes"... then again I wouldn't describe the elves in this series as fair either.

Sauron had many names and wore many faces. He could be Annatar, the odd looking blonde lady/cultist, the doom lord commanding orcs, the old man talking about Sauron, the weird dust sword and just a general presence of darkness.

[Frontenac]

The only thing I cannot stand are the buzzcuts on some of the male actors. It doesn't even make sense for the time period and is just a careless decision.

What makes you so knowledgeable about what haircuts were trendy among Middle Earth Elven society during the Second Age (which lasted about 3,400 years)?

I'm not too fond of them myself, but you cannot say they are inconsistent with a very long time period of a fictional world we know barely anything about.

[Khaza-R]

What makes you so knowledgeable about what haircuts were trendy among Middle Earth Elven society during the Second Age (which lasted about 3,400 years)?

I'm not too fond of them myself, but you cannot say they are inconsistent with a very long time period of a fictional world we know barely anything about.

Because such precise cuts would be almost impossible to achieve with a scissor and guard alone. Not to mention it would be painstaking at hell and impractical.

No need to be contrarian about it. Its just a really stupid design decision.

[Frontenac]

Because such precise cuts would be almost impossible to achieve with a scissor and guard alone. Not to mention it would be painstaking at hell and impractical.

No need to be contrarian about it. Its just a really stupid design decision.

Coming from a culture able to create jewels capable to emit their own light, vials that trap the light of a star, or ropes that untie themselves just by telling Galadriel's name, or cloaks that could take up the hue of their natural background, or stones able to transmit images from other stones, or travel bread that could be kept indefinitely and sustain just as much broken than whole, or Rings of Power and so on, I believe that mastering the hidden art of the buzzcut is within their grasp.

It's just nitpicking at this point. Granted, it is much easier to pick nits in a short hairdo than in a full mane of hair...

[s_bushido]

Because such precise cuts would be almost impossible to achieve with a scissor and guard alone. Not to mention it would be painstaking at hell and impractical.

Maybe the fade the black guy has. But a "buzz cut" is pretty easy if you just shave and let it grow back.
/shrug

[Khaza-R]

Coming from a culture able to create jewels capable to emit their own light, vials that trap the light of a star, or ropes that untie themselves just by telling Galadriel's name, or cloaks that could take up the hue of their natural background, or stones able to transmit images from other stones, or travel bread that could be kept indefinitely and sustain just as much broken than whole, or Rings of Power and so on, I believe that mastering the hidden art of the buzzcut is within their grasp.

It's just nitpicking at this point. Granted, it is much easier to pick nits in a short hairdo than in a full mane of hair...

Basically just arguing that "a wizard did it". Its not compelling and unless they're going to elaborate that elves have so magic hair trimming technology that was lost in the 3rd age, its probably best not to go there in the first place.

Maybe the fade the black guy has. But a "buzz cut" is pretty easy if you just shave and let it grow back.
/shrug

Fair point, and it wouldn't be a bad thing to depict if the characters hair length actually fluctuated over the series as is natural. But we know that's not going to happen and its going to stay perfectly trimmed for months. But also just to add, your hair follicles do not all grow at an even rate. So a cut like depicted on the blond guy from the trailer would not be possible just from shaving.

[DarkAmbient]

It's not. People have been posting that her name is Bridie Sisson.

Looks like they're right. This is from her Insta last year:

[Nerovar]

Sauron had many names and wore many faces. He could be Annatar, the odd looking blonde lady/cultist, the doom lord commanding orcs, the old man talking about Sauron, the weird dust sword and just a general presence of darkness.

Well, he certainly could take the form of many things. But he didn't when he was in Númenor as Pharazôn's hostage/adviser.

No need to be contrarian about it. Its just a really stupid design decision.

Pretty sure people would defend cars driving around in the second age at this point.

[s_bushido]

But also just to add, your hair follicles do not all grow at an even rate. So a cut like depicted on the blond guy from the trailer would not be possible just from shaving.

eh, if we're talking about the white-robed character, that's basically where my hair would be if I stopped shaving for two or three weeks. you know...if i didn't have the giant bald swath down the middle that motivated me to start shaving in the first place

[Xath]

Catwoman isn't the only major Batman character that was race swapped.

Again not the main character Gordon is a great cop one of the few incorruptible ones in gotham but he isn't a main character.

Why are you so insistent on wanting to racebend characters instead of creating new ones or promoting already existing ones I really don't get it. Miles Morales is proof that people will happily play games and see movies with original characters that were created as their own character not just a race bended Peter Parker.

[s_bushido]

Why are you so insistent on wanting to racebend characters instead of creating new ones or promoting already existing ones I really don't get it.

"Make your own characters, wokelords!"
"Ok, here's a new character. Her name is Rey."
"NO!!! NOT LIKE THAT!!!"



Dumbass up there comparing hairstyles to cars, and you're over here repeating this garbage as if it means anything.

[kenn9530]

Basically just arguing that "a wizard did it". Its not compelling and unless they're going to elaborate that elves have so magic hair trimming technology that was lost in the 3rd age, its probably best not to go there in the first place.



Fair point, and it wouldn't be a bad thing to depict if the characters hair length actually fluctuated over the series as is natural. But we know that's not going to happen and its going to stay perfectly trimmed for months. But also just to add, your hair follicles do not all grow at an even rate. So a cut like depicted on the blond guy from the trailer would not be possible just from shaving.

Did you complain about the movies also with the hair because it barely changed there also, noone cares about hairsyles or if the hair grows throughout a series or a film, it really doesnt matter at all in the slightest, the only real time you do see anything different is when they go into some formal setting and the scruff gets tidied up.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Again not the main character Gordon is a great cop one of the few incorruptible ones in gotham but he isn't a main character.

Johnny Storm isn't the "main character" of the fantastic four either...

Why are you so insistent on wanting to racebend characters instead of creating new ones or promoting already existing ones I really don't get it.

I'm not "insistent" on racebending characters. I'm just pointing out that Jim Gordon being portrayed by a black actor had no negative impact on the film.

Miles Morales is proof that people will happily play games and see movies with original characters that were created as their own character not just a race bended Peter Parker.

When Miles Morales was first introduced in the comics he was greeted with the same "Why don't they just create new characters instead of replacing the originals?" backlash that hits every minority hero that dares to take the mantle of another hero.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Again not the main character Gordon is a great cop one of the few incorruptible ones in gotham but he isn't a main character.

Why are you so insistent on wanting to racebend characters instead of creating new ones or promoting already existing ones I really don't get it. Miles Morales is proof that people will happily play games and see movies with original characters that were created as their own character not just a race bended Peter Parker.

Catwoman/Gordon likely get more screen time then Johnny storm in any of the movies and the story defiantly revolves around CW more then it did Jonny in any of the FF movies so if you want to say they don’t count as main characters Johnny obviously shouldn’t either so what’s the problem?

How is it that one Johnny managed to single handily FF with his race change but Gordon cat woman and who knows how many other characters in other movies doesn’t effect them at all?

[eschatological]

When Miles Morales was first introduced in the comics he was greeted with the same "Why don't they just create new characters instead of replacing the originals?" backlash that hits every minority hero that dares to take the mantle of another hero.

Seriously, how short are people's memories? We're all old enough to remember when Miles Morales was introduced like....10 years ago. It was all "pandering" and "affirmative action" back then, cause those were the catchphrases used by people. "Why do we need a biracial Spider-Man? Peter Parker is Spider-Man!"

Like, the argument goes round and round.

[Adamas102]

Peter Jackson has stated numerous times that his intent was to stick as close as possible to Tolkien. To even compare the minor changes made by Jackson, to what is being done by Amazon is being disingenuous. Yes Peter Jackson did change some things for LOTR but overall he was faithful to the story of the books.

Oh, so the creators just have to SAY it's faithful and then they can make whatever changes they deem necessary.

If you compiled all the changes from the source material, those from the movies would far outweigh those from the show even with what little we know of the Amazon series thus far. Peter Jackson had a fully fleshed out narrative to draw from and he changed A LOT, and that is fine because a novel (especially one such as LotR) requires A LOT of editing to end up as a screenplay.

Stop calling it Tolkien is the point. People have created hundreds of works inspired by Tolkien over the last 40 years. There is no need to call it "what Tolkien would have wrote" because it is not what Tolkien would have wrote. It is not a literal continuation or expansion of his intent for the lore and history of middle earth. Other franchises have been very open about the fact that they are adapting an existing work and that they are deviating from that source in various ways. I am just pointing out the fact that this is not Tolkien and shouldn't be called "what Tolkien would have wanted". People are upset because Amazon is trying to rebrand Tolkiens world as "their world" as if somehow what they are doing is in line with Tolkien wanted when it is not. Thats the point being made. You could make a perfectly fine high fantasy story inspired by Tolkien without trying to argue that this is a literal continuation and adaptation of Tolkien because it is not. Tolkien is a meta narrative for high fantasy overall because his work inspired much of what we call high fantasy today. And some see him as a holy grail within fiction and fantasy because of that and want to try and gain the prestige of Tolkien without doing the work to earn it by being true to Tolkien's intent. And it is that lazy disrespect that I am calling out, not the idea that people cannot or should not be making changes when doing adaptations.

No one is saying this is literally what Tolkien would have written, but it doesn't need to be. It's still an extension of the source material because that's what you give when you sell the rights to your works.

In the same way the Jurassic World movies are still part of the series that began with the novel Jurassic Park (despite Michael Crichton being dead and having had nothing to do with them), this is part of the series that encapsulates the world and the stories of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and all other related notes, letters, and published works (or at least the ones that Amazon bought the rights to).

Just because YOU think some of these things deviate too much from what YOU expected of these stories doesn't change the fact that they're still firmly based on Tolkien's source material and provide new stories that reside within the world he created.