Current Events > First look at Amazon's Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power show

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/amazon-the-rings-of-power-series-first-look

Got some interesting photos and descriptions of characters in the show.

So will there be Westerosi levels of violence and sex in Amazons Middle-earth? In short, no. McKay says the goal was to make a show for everyone, for kids who are 11, 12, and 13, even though sometimes they might have to pull the blanket up over their eyes if its a little too scary. We talked about the tone in Tolkiens books. This is material that is sometimes scaryand sometimes very intense, sometimes quite political, sometimes quite sophisticatedbut its also heartwarming and life-affirming and optimistic. Its about friendship and its about brotherhood and underdogs overcoming great darkness.

This got my hopes up a little bit that the showrunners at least respect the original works.

In the novels, the aforementioned things take place over thousands of years, but Payne and McKay have compressed events into a single point in time. It is their biggest deviation from the text, and they know its a big swing. We talked with the Tolkien estate, says Payne. If you are true to the exact letter of the law, you are going to be telling a story in which your human characters are dying off every season because youre jumping 200 years in time, and then youre not meeting really big, important canon characters until season four. Look, there might be some fans who want us to do a documentary of Middle-earth, but were going to tell one story that unites all these things.

This, however, is a massive red flag. I can't imagine cramming all of this lore into one moment in time turns out well. They should have done an anthology series where each season focuses on a significant story, new human/dwarf characters but the same elvish ones. There is plenty going on in the Second Age to do that: multiple wars with Sauron, rise and fall of Numenor, rise of Gondor and Arnor, crafting of the Rings, Moria, etc.

Calling it "Rings of Power" makes it seem like an early 90s YA series

Yes, I know that's what they're called in the books, but in the context of a TV show it sounds juvenile
Something like "Robbie Radical and the Rings of Power"

Premier date

Rings of Power is a terrible name but I'll watch it

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

to make a show for everyone, for kids who are 11, 12, and 13,

Wait, I thought there was going to be nudity? Which I am completely against because Tolkien was a devote Catholic. If they aren't doing that I'm super hype.

Rings of Power is a terrible name and I won't watch it.

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

In the novels, the aforementioned things take place over thousands of years, but Payne and McKay have compressed events into a single point in time. It is their biggest deviation from the text, and they know its a big swing. We talked with the Tolkien estate, says Payne. If you are true to the exact letter of the law, you are going to be telling a story in which your human characters are dying off every season because youre jumping 200 years in time, and then youre not meeting really big, important canon characters until season four. Look, there might be some fans who want us to do a documentary of Middle-earth, but were going to tell one story that unites all these things.

At least they're not trying to do this with The Silmarillion

This show is going to suck big ass

TheDyslexicGuy posted...

This show is going to suck big balls

So it's going to be good then

Sorry, but as a gay guy these sorts of comments confuse me...

Heman in this?

Eh I dont mind it TBH. theres always going to be changes from book to tv/movie adaptions and making it not take place across 1,000 years makes a heap of sense because otherwise theyd have to reintroduce new characters constantly and build them up rather than taking established characters.

Its also not the first time. IIRC in the LotR books there is a 50 year gap between Gandalf and Bilbo leaving the Shire and Frodo setting out

Xerun posted...

Its also not the first time. IIRC in the LotR books there is a 50 year gap between Gandalf and Bilbo leaving the Shire and Frodo setting out

Among other things. The movie trilogy was great but let's not pretend it was a 100% faithful adaptation

HylianFox posted...

Among other things. The movie trilogy was great but let's not pretend it was a 100% faithful adaptation

Yeah. Balrogs don't have wings.

What gives me hope is they're not going to try and make it into some god-awful Game of Thrones wannabe

That'd just be disastrous

won't watch lol
will read children of hrin though

why doesn't the "dwarven princess" have a beard?

The Batman: Man of Bat

HylianFox posted...

So it's going to be good then

Sorry, but as a gay guy these sorts of comments confuse me...

Did you know that "sucks" is really short for "sucks dick"?

HylianFox posted...

Calling it "Rings of Power" makes it seem like an early 90s YA series

Yes, I know that's what they're called in the books, but in the context of a TV show it sounds juvenile
Something like "Robbie Radical and the Rings of Power"

To me it has a cheesy 80s metal band flavor to the name.

"Hellooooooo Clevelannnnnnd!"

"We're the Rings of Power and we're here to ROCK with POWER!"

Xerun posted...

Eh I dont mind it TBH. theres always going to be changes from book to tv/movie adaptions and making it not take place across 1,000 years makes a heap of sense because otherwise theyd have to reintroduce new characters constantly and build them up rather than taking established characters.

Its also not the first time. IIRC in the LotR books there is a 50 year gap between Gandalf and Bilbo leaving the Shire and Frodo setting out

These changes seem a lot more significant than just getting rid of some time gaps. I don't know how you can weave Numenor, Gondor, Arnor, Sauron, the Rings of Power, and the War of the Last Alliance all into one time period without this basically being a brand new story. Maybe someone more familiar with the Silmarillion than me can confirm or deny this

So, no one ever answered...

Elven titties, yes or no?

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

These changes seem a lot more significant than just getting rid of some time gaps. I don't know how you can weave Numenor, Gondor, Arnor, Sauron, and the Rings of Power all into one time period without this basically being a brand new story. Maybe someone more familiar with the Silmarillion than me can confirm or deny this

No, you definitely can't. You are gonna have to make a bunch of minor story changes that will cause a chain reaction that demands other story changes on top of them and it will become a giant shitshow ala Game of Thrones later seasons (didn't watch past season 3, so I'm assuming based on what I heard).

It's going to be a dumpster fire which is why they waited until after Christopher stepped down from managing the tolkien estate.

OVERGOATED posted...

Why the fuck don't the dwarven women have beards?
fucking done with this show.

Yeah, it's explicitly stated they have beards as well. Amazon can fuck off.

s0nicfan posted...

It's going to be a dumpster fire which is why they waited until after Christopher stepped down from managing the tolkien estate.

...By dying?

HylianFox posted...

Among other things. The movie trilogy was great but let's not pretend it was a 100% faithful adaptation

That was my point?

its an extremely popular adaption. But it isnt faithful.

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

These changes seem a lot more significant than just getting rid of some time gaps. I don't know how you can weave Numenor, Gondor, Arnor, Sauron, the Rings of Power, and the War of the Last Alliance all into one time period without this basically being a brand new story. Maybe someone more familiar with the Silmarillion than me can confirm or deny this

It will be a new story. Thats essentially what an adaption is. It wont be 1:1 stuff is 100% going to change. It wont make it bad though. Thatll be up to how well they handle the changes.

DeadBankerDream posted...

...By dying?

He resigned in 2017, before Amazon announced the project. Writers weren't brought in until 2018.

Why did they make it political?

It's physically impossible to make a 100% faithful adaptation because it would be as long as All My Children, but doing something that specifically contradicts the books is stupid.

HylianFox posted...

What gives me hope is they're not going to try and make it into some god-awful Game of Thrones wannabe

That'd just be disastrous

At least they have the complete source material and won't have to make up an ending themselves.

theAteam posted...

At least they have the complete source material and won't have to make up an ending themselves.

It's likely to be the opposite, IMO. One of the conditions the Tolkien estate levied on Amazon was that they couldn't contradict anything that was written in the books and they couldn't do the third age. That means if they want to have any mystery or tension, AND avoid continuity issues, most of the show is going to be driven by Amazon original characters involved in Amazon original plot lines.

Also I saw a note that Amazon only has rights to the Appendix from Return of the King, they don't actually have the rights to the Silmarillion... if that is true then they will need tons of original material to fill in the gaps

Looks like dog shit tbh