Wouldn't a LOTR Series Been Nice?

[Forlong the Fat]

I have been watching, and generally enjoying, Game of Thrones on HBO. Last year, when the first season was on, I bought the first book and got about 150 pages in, but realized that the show was covering basically everything and stopped reading (I will probably give it another shot eventually).

Anyway, this got me thinking how cool it would have been if LOTR got made in a similar fashion--a three year series of around 12 episodes per year (4 years if you wanted to cover the Hobbit and some "bridge" material as they are doing with the movies). They could have covered nearly everything that way, and could have spent a lot more time developing and including more characters. I suppose it wouldn't have quite the production values of the movies (though Game of Thrones is mighty impressive) but on the whole I think it would have been better--and we would have 36-48 hours of show to watch over and over.

[Aganzir]

It wouldn't work. There's not enough sex in LOTR.

Seriously though, I would have vastly preferred that to the mess Peter Jackson made in which he gave screentime to things that contributed nothing whatsoever to the plot while leaving out important parts.

However, there are differences. I think HBO's Game of Thrones is better than the books. It's partly the actors (who are fantastic) & the directing, partly the script - I feel many of the characters in the books remain shallow and superficial. And in that respect, Tolkien does a better job even though we don't see things exclusively from the characters' point of view. See, I like A Song of Ice and Fire yet I think HBO's version is better, but I have a hard time seeing that anyone could make LOTR better than it already is.

That would still be awesome though.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

See, I like A Song of Ice and Fire yet I think HBO's version is better, but I have a hard time seeing that anyone could make LOTR better than it already is.

Score!

I think as a TV show it would indeed face issues of being changed for the screen, though likely not in the same manner as the movies.

If shown on, say, American "traditional" networks such as ABC, it would probably be given a sex / and or "strong language" powerup to be considered competition for other shows it would compete against. The language bit is actually most worrisome to me, as Tolkien's singularly wonderful, archaic dialogue is truly one of the best elements of his books. I someone can't see modern networks having lines like "Fly, you fools!" It would be transposed into "Get out of here! I got it, yo!"

If it was shown on cable or satellite, I can see blood and gore maybe having more of an appearance, as well.

Why would they make those changes? Competition. Television shows have as their goal one thing: profit, which comes from advertisers. Higher-ups always have it in their minds how they're going to outdo other networks in the same time slot, and select and fashion their shows accordingly.

I don't see a lot, at least in the American market, of shows that have a similar "feel" to LOTR. Unless that began happening, I just don't think a TV show would be recognizable to the modern viewer as carrying over the well-loved books written more than 60 years ago.

[Forlong the Fat]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

It wouldn't work. There's not enough sex in LOTR.

Seriously though, I would have vastly preferred that to the mess Peter Jackson made in which he gave screentime to things that contributed nothing whatsoever to the plot while leaving out important parts.

However, there are differences. I think HBO's Game of Thrones is better than the books. It's partly the actors (who are fantastic) & the directing, partly the script - I feel many of the characters in the books remain shallow and superficial. And in that respect, Tolkien does a better job even though we don't see things exclusively from the characters' point of view. See, I like A Song of Ice and Fire yet I think HBO's version is better, but I have a hard time seeing that anyone could make LOTR better than it already is.

That would still be awesome though.

You could work in some sex

Flashback to Aragorn and Arwen "plighting their troth" (it even sounds a bit dirty)
Sam and Rosie
Sam and Frodo
In a shocker, Sam and Gollum
Obviously Gimli and Legolas
Maybe an indecent assault by Grima on Eowyn
You could make the Prancing Pony an Inn/Whorehouse and show some gratuitous happenings there
Bombadil and Goldberry

And that's just off the top of my head. Give me a week and it will be ready for HBO.

[Aganzir]

And then it would stoop even lower than Peter Jackson.

Most of all, Christopher Tolkien would never allow it.

Originally Posted by Inzil

I someone can't see modern networks having lines like "Fly, you fools!" It would be transposed into "Get out of here! I got it, yo!"

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Forlong the Fat

You could work in some sex

Flashback to Aragorn and Arwen "plighting their troth" (it even sounds a bit dirty)
Sam and Rosie
Sam and Frodo
In a shocker, Sam and Gollum
Obviously Gimli and Legolas
Maybe an indecent assault by Grima on Eowyn
You could make the Prancing Pony an Inn/Whorehouse and show some gratuitous happenings there
Bombadil and Goldberry

And that's just off the top of my head. Give me a week and it will be ready for HBO.

I think you prove the point, albeit sarcastically, for never having any of Tolkien's work presented in a serialized format. Artistic integrity is never a priority when bosoms, buttocks and bollocks sell.

[Uruk's Bane]

Originally Posted by Forlong the Fat

You could work in some sex

Flashback to Aragorn and Arwen "plighting their troth" (it even sounds a bit dirty)
Sam and Rosie
Sam and Frodo
In a shocker, Sam and Gollum
Obviously Gimli and Legolas
Maybe an indecent assault by Grima on Eowyn
You could make the Prancing Pony an Inn/Whorehouse and show some gratuitous happenings there
Bombadil and Goldberry

And that's just off the top of my head. Give me a week and it will be ready for HBO.

If a series had much at all of that junk in it that you mention, it wouldn't have anything to do with LotR. You just destroyed most of the relationships in the book.

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Uruk's Bane

You just destroyed most of the relationships in the book.

Sex doesn't always destroy a relationship. It just changes it.

That would lead to interesting consequences, though. The whole Mordor/Mount Doom part would get a whole new meaning if there was a love triangle involved...

[Uruk's Bane]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

Sex doesn't always destroy a relationship. It just changes it.

That would lead to interesting consequences, though. The whole Mordor/Mount Doom part would get a whole new meaning if there was a love triangle involved...

I didn't just mean the sex part, I meant the making Frodo/Sam or Gimli/Legolas relationships gay.

[Forlong the Fat]

Originally Posted by Uruk's Bane

If a series had much at all of that junk in it that you mention, it wouldn't have anything to do with LotR. You just destroyed most of the relationships in the book.

How dare you call my ideas junk? Personally I think every one of my scenarios makes more sense than the elves coming to Helm's Deep.

[Uruk's Bane]

Originally Posted by Forlong the Fat

How dare you call my ideas junk? Personally I think every one of my scenarios makes more sense than the elves coming to Helm's Deep.

Uh... I thought you were kidding. The problem I have is, you're taking the major characters and totally distorting their relationships with each other. Maybe you can do that for something you wrote, but not for something like LotR. That is too much change in the wrong areas.