What TV series related to the "Matter of Middle-earth" would you prefer to see?

[Twiggly the Gnome]

A show with Bombadil as the protagonist? I’m imagining it centering around his domestic scene with Goldberry with cameos from notable local personages like Gandalf, Butterbur, and prominent hobbits. The primary antagonists would be Old Man Willow and the Barrow-wights plotting against Tom incessantly, and the action would all take place in the vicinity of the Old Forest and the Barrow Downs. I suppose Tom’s development as a character would involve him being challenged to operate outside his comfort zone.

Sounds familiar

 

[Maxperson]

I have long thought the film adaptation of the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) I would most like to see would be in the form of a series of one-hour episodes, each one covering just one chapter of the book as faithfully as possible.

Another idea I've had for a LotR adjacent TV series was a prequel that covers the events in "The Hunt for the Ring" from Unfinished Tales. The main characters would be Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, the Ringwraiths, and Saruman. Act One begins with Sauron's interrogation of Gollum and follows his attempts to track Gollum to the Ring, foiled by Aragorn's eventual capture and imprisonment of Gollum in Mirkwood. In Act Two, Sauron's spies search for the home of the "halflings" but are thwarted by the Dúnedain and the treachery of Saruman, so Sauron launches a dual assault on Mirkwood and Osgiliath. Denethor, Faramir, and Boromir could feature prominenlty here. In Act Three, the Nazgȗl cross the Anduin, searching for the Ring, the Shire, and the escaped Gollum who is also pursued by Legolas and elves from Mirkwood. Gollum winds up hiding in Moria, and the Nazgȗl, unsuccessful, ride to Isengard to parley with Saruman, where it's revealed that Gandalf only just escaped before Saruman was about to turn him over to them. Gandalf is pursued by orcs and wolves of Saruman who tells the Ringwraiths where the Shire is. Riding north, they encounter the "squint-eyed southerner" who informs them that Baggins can be found in Hobbiton. They cross Sarn Ford resisted by Rangers and enter the Shire. The Witch-king, in an attempt to keep the hobbits from escaping to the east, goes to the Barrow-downs to rouse the Barrow-wights against them. Meanwhile, Boromir has the dream about the Sword that was broken and sets out for Rivendell, and Gandalf tames Shadowfax, heads north, and fights the Nazgȗl at Weathertop.

For a sequel to the LotR, I think a series about the voyage of the Ring-bearers into the West would be interesting. The main characters would be Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, Frodo, and Bilbo. I always imagined Círdan being on the boat too although he seems to have remained in Middle-earth into the Fourth Age. Maybe he sailed back and forth. Episodes would have an "island of the week" format, resembling the Odyssey or the voyages of Sinbad (or Star Trek). The voyagers would first come to the Western Isles: Tol Himling, Tol Fuin, and Tol Morwen. Tol Fuin in particular could be a dangerous place still full of giant spiders and other horrors. Around the middle of the series, the summit of the Meneltarma could be visited, from which a glimpse of Tol Eressëa might be seen. Later episodes would have the travelers journeying through the Shadowy Seas, falling prey to various enchantments as they come to the Enchanted Isles and the Twilit Isles, and eventually to Tol Eressëa and the West.

Anyway, that's enough from me for now. How about you? What Tolkien derived fiction would you like to see on TV?

I want to see the first age from the awakening of the elves through say the Battle of Sudden Flame and duel between Fingolfin and Morgoth.

 

[Parmandur]

I want to see the first age from the awakening of the elves through say the Battle of Sudden Flame and duel between Fingolfin and Morgoth.

I think thst would work great as animation.

 

[Maxperson]

I think thst would work great as animation.

Get whoever did Star Wars Rebels to do it.

 

[Hriston]

I would kill for a cinematic adaption of the "Children of Húrin". But on the other hand, that is a deeply tragic story, bleak AF, and without happy ending, so any adaption would probably butcher it to the point of unrecognizability, so I'll just cherish the book(s) and be content. If RoP has taught me anything it's that it's better to NOT have an adaption than to have a bad one.

Yeah, the problem with TV and Hollywood adaptations of popular fiction is the writers and producers think they can do a better job of telling the author's story than was originally done. It always seems like a cynical attempt to cash in on the popularity of the original work. Otherwise, if the original work is seen as having value other than popularity, why not adapt it faithfully?

 

[Hriston]

I would love to have a TV adaptation of the fall of Numenor and the War of the Last Alliance.

* watches Rings of Power *

...a good TV adaptation of the fall of Numenor and the War of the Last Alliance.

And I would love to have a good TV adaptation of the forging of the Rings of Power and the War of Sauron and the Elves.

 

[Hriston]

I don't think anynof those stories could support 50 hours of television without serious stretching: 8-12 hours would suffice.

Why settle for merely "good" when excellence is already in existence...?

So do you support "stretching" or not?

 

[Parmandur]

So do you support "stretching" or not?

This story supports stretching intelligently: the three major Silmirillion syores I don't see working that way.

 

[Hriston]

This story supports stretching intelligently: the three major Silmirillion syores I don't see working that way.

Why not?

I don't have a copy of the LotR at hand, but I'd imagine not more than a few sentences from the appendices actually made it into this show, and they were made into an entire season of television. Why is Tolkien's writing in the Silmarillion stories less worthy of embellishment?

 

[Hriston]

Sounds familiar

View attachment 264142

Hey, David doesn't happen to wear yellow boots, does he?

In fact, for Bombadil I was thinking either Saturday morning cartoon or family sitcom: "Goldberry, I'm home!"