[Galadriel55]

Can I second all that has been said about good question but hard question, and needs both time to think and time to answer?

I feel like I haven't had enough of either yet, but I want to put out a couple preliminary thoughts. Firstly, the question can be broken up into two interpretations, as Hui already pointed out: 1) if we were to design any adaptation based on the SA / the Appendices / other Tolkien, or 2) if we were to design an adaptation with a similar set up or premise as ROP? Because the two have very different answers.

1) If I have my pick of story, I would actually prefer a fanfic series that focused on entirely fanfic (or very minor) characters, but which would reference some key points or people in the canon with reasonable accuracy, and then would tie back into the flow of some recognizable ME event. Born of Hope comes to mind; I only have a vague recollection of it, I think I watched it when I was still a freshly undead wight, but I am thinking of how they made a story with an internally compelling storyline which then went "and that's how Aragorn was born!" and you can make *mind blown* noises. Have people reference characters like Galadriel and Gil-galad as some distant figures. Do a cameo of some recognizable name, but don't make it the focus. Toss in some names or references that would be recognized by the "scholars". Create a story that is minimally constrained by existing material - but then ground it in widely recognizable events, so that the ending would be "and that's how the story you all know came about", a smooth return back to the existing orbit, so to speak. If it's about the Rings - then make the Rings that anchor, and have the story build up to their making. Or it could be about the Fall of Moria. Or the Fall of Numenor. But then I feel like you can get a better fanfic following some made-up Numenorian character who does this and that and only several episodes into his struggles (which are still set in the canonical setting and timeline!) he would just so happen to bump into Elendil, and trigger a chain of events that leads to the founding of Arnor and Gondor. Or, what I was initially hoping the show would be when we first heard it was Numenorian GOT - make up an entire court full of intrigue and intrigue away, and then reveal towards the end (or at least the middle) of the story that this is a direct precursor to something Isildurian. The benefits? Freedom of story and freedom of characters! Make a good story that is enjoyable to follow, in whatever genre you choose. Make the characters whatever you want, so long as they are plausible in whatever setting you choose. Go nuts! It's a fanfic that can co-exist fairly easily with both book and movie canon. The downside? You don't have the instantly recognizable names to put in your trailers, you don't have the same sort of fan draw by familiarity. That is why it would never actually be done by a large film industry. The other issue, of course, is that you actually have to make up the story, you have to be the mastermind - that is both the blessing and the curse. You can't just take an existing idea and make it happen, you have to be creative. And that is why I would not actually venture to design such an adaptation, just as Form said - it's one thing to critique and quite another to generate such things.

2) Taking the basic gist or premise of ROP - I mostly agree with what has been said. At the most superficial level, it can do with a thorough editing of the dialogue, and of the scene sequence to improve pacing and the not-really-cliffhangers which are more annoying and all over the place than intriguing. At a less superficial level - absolutely everything that has been said about making the actual story of the Rings more at the focus of the show - or at least Season 1 - instead of squishing [spoilers]Annatar's arrival, influence, and the Rings' creation[/spoilers] into a single episode. Cut some storylines, or else separate them out - perhaps delay introducing them until later seasons. And basically everything Mithadan said, I highly agree with all of that. Then, taking it to a level that I absolutely cannot mastermind but which would be really cool... Hui mentioned a couple times in his posts that up until the last couple episodes there was very little linking the storylines together, and they could be happening hundreds of years apart. I would want that. Witcher-style, or Dark-style. Wouldn't it be cool if you were following three characters, X, Y, and Z, and then you realize that based on their conversation and references they either exist in very different places or else times, and X can be an immortal Elf who connects all the storylines... That would be rather cool. And it would allow them to keep different storylines with different mortal and immortal characters in the show without squishing everything into the span of a few mortal years. Pick two climax points - as a rough proposal, the Fall of Eregion and the Last Alliance. Each has their own storyline. In order for the second storyline not to spoil the first, you have to reference it carefully so as to generate curiosity rather than spoiler effect. Perhaps establish a blooming Eregion, peaceful Elvendom, intrigue and pursuits of craft out of boredom, in contrast with an Elven society preparing for war, threatened and on brink of collapse. Then have someone from the doomsday timeline then pass through the devastated Eregion to present the audience with the question of "that was then, this is now, what happened? - and then proceed to advance both storylines to explain, both on screen and in retrospect via referencing, what happened then and how it applies to now, and finish by resolving the now. This would be a single-season stunt though, it doesn't work when stretched across multiple seasons, you need a converging of the timelines within the same chunk of the story. But if they actually made the Marring of the Southlands with Adar's line and some concurrent events one timeline, and either the Rings' creation or Numenor's arrival in ME as the other - that would just be so cool.



I am not sure that I have really answered the question. My answer is too vague of an "it would be more interesting if it was more interesting". But then I am not the one proposing to write "the book Tolkien never wrote". You put yourself forward with the scope and audacity that Amazon did, you have to be prepared to deliver. In the end, I think the main issue of the show is that it was torn between trying to accomplish too many things, arguably unnecessary things - and in the process it forgot that the chief purpose of any book or movie or show is still to tell a good story. And the fix to that is... make the story more compelling!