Lord of the Rings

[Orbert]

[jammindude]

 

[hefdaddy42]

[chknptpie]

First thing I see entering the thread and it did not disappoint.

[cramx3]

 

I thought this bump was going to be about the RIngs of Power coming back this September 

[HOF]

This YouTuber has a bunch of these AI generated "1950s Super Panavision" pastiches, but this one for Lord of the Rings I think is pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH59vTJFFhU

[lordxizor]

This YouTuber has a bunch of these AI generated "1950s Super Panavision" pastiches, but this one for Lord of the Rings I think is pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH59vTJFFhU

I would totally watch that movie. Looks awesome!

[Orbert]

That was really well done. 

[HOF]

The Lord of the Rings but it’s a commercial for the One Ring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMID4LOJf1s

 

[lordxizor]

[ErHaO]

This YouTuber has a bunch of these AI generated "1950s Super Panavision" pastiches, but this one for Lord of the Rings I think is pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH59vTJFFhU

Man, between music and actual videos, I wonder where a.i. will be in like 10 years. Or hell, 5. And how it will affect the industries.

I have enjoyed some fully instrumentalised/vocalised a.i. songs more than I want to admit. And some of these vids look a tad wonky but also very appealing in concept.

[jingle.boy]

Man, between music and actual videos, I wonder where a.i. will be in like 10 years. Or hell, 5. And how it will affect the industries.

I have enjoyed some fully instrumentalised/vocalised a.i. songs more than I want to admit. And some of these vids look a tad wonky but also very appealing in concept.

5?  How about next year.  The pace of change around AI is staggering.

[faizoff]

New LOTR movie in development, targetting 2026 release, starring and directed by Andy Serkis
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/new-lord-of-the-rings-movies-2026-peter-jackson-1235894513/

Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (working title)

Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav says that director Peter Jackson and his longtime writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens “will be involved every step of the way.” Boyens and Walsh will write the screenplay. The deal covers two films in the franchise.

“It is an honor and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that stinker — Gollum!,” Jackson, Boyens and Walsh said in a statement. “As life long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with [WBD film chiefs] Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”

[hefdaddy42]

Not a fan.

[Metro]

With the people involved, I have faith in it not being terrible.

That said, it’s still completely unnecessary.

[cramx3]

I'm not immediately liking this idea.  Maybe the final product will prove me wrong, but

it’s still completely unnecessary.

this

Also, is this based on Tolkien stuff or a new Golum story?

[TheOutlawXanadu]

LOTR is my all-time favorite film trilogy. I love it with all my heart and soul. I will watch it annually until the day I die. And that's all I need... I don't also need The Hobbit, TROP, and a Gollum movie. 

(I still hope this turns out better than the game, which was legendary in its fail )

Also, that meme is gold!

[HOF]

Seems like a pretty good idea, but I am sure Peter Jackson will make it as bad as the other LOTR movies or worse.

I guess Serkis is directing, which could help, but it also say Jackson “will be involved every step of the way.”

At least there is no established story for them to step all over, but if it's like The Rings of Power, it might just be a bad fantasy movie borrowing names and places from Tolkien.

[hefdaddy42]

Also, is this based on Tolkien stuff or a new Golum story?

It will be new.

[Zantera]

The LOTR trilogy is my favorite trilogy ever and among my favorite films but this does not excite me at all. Maybe it's the cynic in me but this just screams cash grab and even in the announcements for this, it doesn't feel like they're even trying to fake being passionate about this. Just another turkey they haven't squeezed dry yet.

[Orbert]

Yep.  Another creation for people who want more LOTR and are willing to pay for it, of course.  Tolkien actually wrote other stories set in Middle Earth, and of course there's The Silmarillion, but those don't directly tie to LOTR, the feeling apparently is that people won't be interested.  They know Gollum, so here's a new story featuring him.  Bleah.

[SomeoneLikeHim]

Yep.  Another creation for people who want more LOTR and are willing to pay for it, of course.  Tolkien actually wrote other stories set in Middle Earth, and of course there's The Silmarillion, but those don't directly tie to LOTR, the feeling apparently is that people won't be interested.  They know Gollum, so here's a new story featuring him.  Bleah.

I think the issue isn't so much that nobody would want to see adaptions from the Silmarillion, but that no studio has the rights to those stories. Even Rings of Power is built on rights to only the trilogy and its appendices, which is a part of the problems with the show.

[Orbert]

Ah yes, I think I read something about that.  Is the Tolkien family/estate/whatever holding out on The Silmarillion?  I thought I read that J.R.R. himself didn't want his works adapted for screen at all, but we got those animated versions back in the 70's or 80's or whatever it was, and of course Peter Jackson's films.  The Silmarillion seems like it would be the next likely work, but I figured the issue was mostly that it's written like a history book more than a story book and would be much harder to adapt into a conhesive narrative.

[jammindude]

Ah yes, I think I read something about that.  Is the Tolkien family/estate/whatever holding out on The Silmarillion?  I thought I read that J.R.R. himself didn't want his works adapted for screen at all, but we got those animated versions back in the 70's or 80's or whatever it was, and of course Peter Jackson's films.  The Silmarillion seems like it would be the next likely work, but I figured the issue was mostly that it's written like a history book more than a story book and would be much harder to adapt into a conhesive narrative.

Nah, that part is easy if you have the rights to it.  Because if you did, you don’t treat it as a singular story to tell. It’s an outline. You could pull 30 movies out of the “encyclopedia” that is the Silmarillion.  ROP isn’t a bad idea, and I don’t think it’s a particularly bad show (though I get how many purists are crying foul). But the simple idea of just taking a description of a few characters and what happened to them and then expanding what happened to them into a full story is a great idea in the right hands.

[Orbert]

...expanding what happened to them into a full story is a great idea in the right hands.

That must be what went wrong with Rings of Power.  I checked out the first couple of episodes, and I thought it looked great, but I found it really boring.  Maybe they were still laying the groundwork, but I just wasn't engaged enough to stick around.  A couple of name-drops and I think a character or two showed up that I knew, but overall it just didn't grab, and I thought I gave it a fair try.  It had a weird vibe; it's hard to describe.

Overall, I liked what Peter Jackson did with LOTR, but I can understand the criticisms on things he changed.  The Hobbit was much worse, though, and things were changed and expanded upon seemingly for no reason other than to pad things out to another trilogy, which was the wrong approach completely IMO.  That has tempered my enthusiasm for anything else PJ does, including this new Gollum thing.

[cramx3]

That must be what went wrong with Rings of Power.  I checked out the first couple of episodes, and I thought it looked great, but I found it really boring.  Maybe they were still laying the groundwork, but I just wasn't engaged enough to stick around.  A couple of name-drops and I think a character or two showed up that I knew, but overall it just didn't grab, and I thought I gave it a fair try.  It had a weird vibe; it's h

I thought the show was awesome.  Yes, it has a VERY slow build, but it pays off in the end.  It's a lot of world building in those first 4 or 5 episodes.  But all that money spent on it, shows IMO.  I feel like most people couldn't get past the slow start though.

I also thought it was based on the Silmarillion, but I never read that so I have no idea, I think I just assumed that then.

[Orbert]

I'll have to take your word for it, because I doubt I'll be revisiting it.  Not enough hours in the day to watch all the TV/movies on my list, and my list isn't that long because I try not to watch a lot of TV.

I've seen movies/shows where they start with the world-building and by the end you're amazed at how it all comes together and pays off, but they also give you enough to keep your interest while that's all going on.  Taking 4 or 5 episodes to lay the groundwork is far too long for me.  Something cool has to happen at least once in each of the early episodes to keep me on board.  And I'm not talking about the HBO trick of dropping in some graphic nudity early on to keep people watching, hoping there will be more.  That would be totally inappropriate for a LOTR-based series.  But something.  I don't even know what that would be, but expecting people to watch half a dozen episodes before things start paying off is asking a lot, and I guess I wasn't up to it.

[HOF]

The dialogue in TROP was dreadful, and I'm not sure what the point of taking all of the characters and elements of the story and rearranging them into something totally different is. Looked pretty good, I'll give them that.

[Orbert]

That's what I remember the most.  It looked great, but was boring, and they messed with the lore.  I remember recognizing one or two names, but they didn't seem like how they were supposed to be from the books.  I don't remember who they were, though.

[BlackInk]

I'm generally inclined to defend the show, or at least just assert that I enjoyed it. I'm a big Tolkien fan, and I can still see how what we got so far isn't really living up to the sense of grandure of these stories about the Second Age in the Silmarilion, but I think it's still a good time. I wasn't bored, personally. Don't really get the feverish hate some seem to have for the show (not saying anyone here's like that). Also, most of the big and most interesting stuff from the Second Age is yet to come in the show, and so I hold out some hope that they can improve with future seasons.

Although one thing I think deserves universal praise is Bear McCreary's music for RoP. That guy did such an amazing job developing themes in particular, which I'm guessing was the main focus of the composing. So many different themes, and most actually pretty memorable and grand, and did a lot to help an at-times struggling show. I guess nothing will ever quite reach the heights of Howard's Shore's original LotR score, but this is still a worthy addition. I recommend listening if you're into that sort of stuff. I personally think it's wonderful.

As many others have noted, I find the hunt for Gollum movie to be unnecessary as well. I'm not sure we need a midquel about what happened between two scenes near the beginning of the original movie. Maybe there's some interesting way to go about it, but it's nothing that wakes my interest.

[HOF]

I think the hunt for Gollum as Gandalf describes it at the Council of Elrond gives enough fodder for what could be a pretty interesting story if fleshed out. Might be better a short episodic TV series than a movie. Also wonder if people will accept new actors for Aragorn, Gandalf, etc. I'd personally be more interested if they were nothing like the previous movies of course.

[Orbert]

Also wonder if people will accept new actors for Aragorn, Gandalf, etc.

Wow, I hadn't even thought about that.  Gandalf would have to be involved, and probably Elrond, but I don't think Aragorn should be.  Of course, he's a popular character so they'll probably shoehorn him in there and thus have to recast him as well.

[HOF]

Wow, I hadn't even thought about that.  Gandalf would have to be involved, and probably Elrond, but I don't think Aragorn should be.  Of course, he's a popular character so they'll probably shoehorn him in there and thus have to recast him as well.

I might be mixing things up, but doesn't Aragorn actually capture Gollum for Gandalf?

Yeah, from wikipedia:

Elrond summons Frodo to show the Ring; Boromir is astonished it should have come to such an unlikely recipient. Bilbo tells how the Ring came into his possession, after his meeting with Gollum, described in The Hobbit.[9] Gandalf explains how the Ring had lengthened Gollum's life, how he had found a scroll written by Isildur which told how to identify the ring by its "fiery letters", and that he and Frodo had seen these in Frodo's home.[9]

Aragorn tells of his long search for Gollum, that he finally captured him and gave him to Thranduil's Elves in Mirkwood to hold in safety. At this, Thranduil's son Legolas tells of Gollum's escape. Gandalf tells the shocked meeting that Gollum may yet have a part to play.

[Orbert]

Wow, if I knew that, then I'd long forgotten it.  Of course, I don't remember much about "the hunt for Gollum" as it seemed little more than a footnote in the story.  I guess I was thinking that it was a thing that Gandalf and Elrond had put together.

[HOF]

I believe Gandalf tasked Aragorn with tracking him down once Gandalf started to suspect Bilbo's ring was the one ring. I don't think he tells much of what happened, but I would imagine the whole backdrop of Gandalf trying to figure out what the ring was while also trying to capture Gollum could make for an interesting story.