Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Well that was underwhelming.

Yyyyyyuuuuuppppp.

Blehhhhh

I'll play Mr. Brightside:

"Well, at least they haven't screwed anything up yet. At least they read the actual poem."

Yeahhhh...

Having seen (but did not pay for) Amazon's WOT series, my concerns have not been alleviated.

Not very impressive, to say the least.

Rob

I don't know what you're talking about guys, I can't see anything.

Elleth wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 11:25 pm I don't know what you're talking about guys, I can't see anything.

Really nothing to see, just someone reading the Three Rings for the Elven Kings............. Nothing else really, no visual of cast or world.

Analysis:
https://youtu.be/F4jKpV4Kyic

Harper wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:29 pm Analysis:
https://youtu.be/F4jKpV4Kyic

Thanks for that Harper. Good reveal in that analysis. Apparently the series rating will be TV-14, so hopefully this will put paid to the the whole Game of the Rings fears.

caedmon wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:40 pm

Harper wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:29 pm Analysis:
https://youtu.be/F4jKpV4Kyic

Thanks for that Harper. Good reveal in that analysis. Apparently the series rating will be TV-14, so hopefully this will put paid to the the whole Game of the Rings fears.

I can't claim credit--that's not me.

I didn't pay attention to the rating when I saw the trailer.

Lord Of The Rings TV Show Actor Says It Will Be Multicultural, Diverse, And Feature Strong Female Characters
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/lord- ... 0-6496973/

Harper wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 8:58 pm Lord Of The Rings TV Show Actor Says It Will Be Multicultural, Diverse, And Feature Strong Female Characters
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/lord- ... 0-6496973/

Ok. As long as they do it well and don't pull me out of my suspension of disbelief. Sounds great. (This was something only one of the PJ flicks was able to do.)

However, there shouldn't be any hobbits in the Shire this early. That's got me a little worried. However, some 'Elf Quest' style early Hobbits could be interesting and fun. ( Once again... If they do it well and don't pull me out of my suspension of disbelief. )

Our one data point on early(ish) Hobbit-like folk (i.e. Smeagol's people) suggests a possibility of matriarchy. Of course the Shire was 800-900 years old by the time that Deagol found the ring.

Honestly, "yay everything is diverse now" DOES ruin my suspension of disbelief. It [perhaps paradoxically] erases all diversity - it makes every single entertainment experience feel like just another car commercial or trip to the mall, just with funny clothes. (Likewise with projecting post-industrial/post reliable birth control sexual mores back onto pre-industrial cultures).

Hobbits aren't/weren't [recently] African-descended*. There ARE plenty of dark skinned people in Middle-earth: but they're not hobbits. Or Sindarin. Or Noldor. Probably some latter-day Numenoreans that settled points south of Gondor and interbred with the Haradrim. Tell their stories! One of things GoT did well despite all the nihilism and gratuitous prurience is to show a plot unfolding from multiple cultures at once.

That's not hating on recasting with other races as a general rule - Spock probably should have been quite dark all along, what with the whole "desert planet" thing. Heck, Luke Skywalker should have at least been super-tanned, not the California golden boy he is in the movies. Either could absolutely be played by a good actor of any race. [hrm - though now that I think about it "blond boy in a desert country" has a fish-out-of-water element that plays well with his emotional isolation in the first movie, so maybe that does work better as is. still.. with his upbringing he probably would have looked more like an Okie oilfields hand than a California surfer)

So it's not recasting per-se I've got a problem with. It's doing it without any rhyme or reason than "yay inclusiveness!!"

Casting Second Age Eriador just like 2020 Los Angeles just like Deadwood just like Imperial Han China just like Swahililand makes all of them the poorer.

... which is not to say anyone wanting to enjoy / LARP / cosplay / whatever should feel at all self-conscious about playing any role they want - this is just a goofy hobby, for heaver's sake. And I wouldn't expect to be cast for any of these parts either.

meh.




* yes, Arda is a world where peoples were literally created, not evolved, and in our real world we're all (best we know at present) ultimately African descended - but you take my point.

Very well put, Elleth.

You risk being attacked and branded.

I believe that this move on the part of Amazon is purely agenda driven--not market driven. The PJ movies made tons of money and were hugely popular all over the world (even thought they didn't have Glorfindel, Bombadil and skipped the Scouring of the Shire--some of my favorite sections of the tale).

If Amazon wanted a story with those elements which the article describes in it, they should have commissioned one to be written.