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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday January 18 2020, @08:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the my-precious dept.

CNet:

There are four ages in Tolkien's works. Lord of the Rings was set in the Third Age, and this series will take place in The Second Age, Amazon revealed in a tweet sent in March 2019. The famous One Ring of Lord of the Rings fame was forged in this time period by the Dark Lord Sauron, who seems likely to be a major part of the new show.

Welcome to the Second Age: — The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime)

Amazon's Salke told Deadline, "we're not remaking the movies, but we're also not starting from scratch. So, it'll be characters you love."

But probably not one particular character. Tolkien fan site stirred buzz among fans in May 2018 by that the show's first season would be centered on a young Aragorn. Portrayed by Viggo Mortensen in the Peter Jackson movies, he was an acclaimed warrior and ranger who plays a major role in Lord of the Rings. But that rumor fell flat once Amazon confirmed the Second Age setting, since Aragorn wouldn't have been around then.

It is not yet clear if they're focusing on Numenor in the Second Age, or the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.


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  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Saturday January 18 2020, @08:40PM (10 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 18 2020, @08:40PM (#945076) Journal

    I've had enough fucking legolas for 2 lifetimes and the fuckin elves are the only ones who live long enough to be from the second age.

    Now bullroarer, there's a character I want to actually see some trashy hollywood backstory for.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:22PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:22PM (#945089)

      This series has Jar Jar Binks and the "Eye of Bezos".

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:38PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:38PM (#945096)

      Don't forget the Ents and the wizards. They live a *very* long time.

      • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Sunday January 19 2020, @02:44AM (2 children)

        by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 19 2020, @02:44AM (#945173) Journal

        The silmilarian is very clear that the Istari arrived in the third age.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:27AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:27AM (#945231)

          yeah, sure, but who even read that let alone understood it

        • (Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday January 19 2020, @11:35PM

          by edIII (791) on Sunday January 19 2020, @11:35PM (#945544)

          Correct, which has nothing to do with their age actually. Technically, they don't have one. They were very much alive during the 2nd age, and indeed the 1st age.

          Gandalf was Olorin, a Maiar. If they wish to represent Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast, etc., in the 2nd age, it's going to be as the primordial spirits that helped the Valar create the world in the first place. They'll have no knowledge of living in the flesh, or what wizards even are, or their names in the 3rd age.

          That's why Gandalf against a Balrog wasn't really a contest, because Gandalf had his hands tied playing the role of "wizard in a flesh suit". While technically equal (Balrogs were also Maiar), Gandalf can "respawn" indefinitely through the aid of the Valar.

          --
          Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @10:51PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @10:51PM (#945119)

      Characters in LOTR/The Hobbit that I can think of who would actually be alive during the second age:
      Elrond
      Galadriel
      Treebeard (and many other ents)
      Smaug
      Shelob
      Sauron
      Balrog(s)
      Bombadil

      It's a short list. Legolas never had an established date of birth, but he would have been well over 3000 at the time of LOTR if he had been alive in the Second Age, and he was never portrayed as being that old. The Istari (wizards) are immortal and existed then, but hadn't been sent to Middle-Earth yet. No human or dwarf could possibly live that long. Even Smeagol/Gollum had not been born yet.

      Of course there's no reason to expect the LOTR canon will be treated any better than Star Trek or Star Wars, especially with Christopher Tolkien now gone.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 19 2020, @01:09AM

        by bzipitidoo (4388) on Sunday January 19 2020, @01:09AM (#945149) Journal

        And many other elves. The few that are mentioned by name are Cirdan, Legolas' father Thranduil, Gildor, Lindir, Erestor, Galdor, and Haldir, Rumil, and Orophin. Possibly Glorfindel too, but there's no telling how long a "dirt nap" he took, so to speak. Other than that, I think you got them all. Smaug though, is too young. Smaug was young when he took the Lonely Mountain from Thorin's grandfather.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @12:20AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @12:20AM (#945140)

      Elves are Tolkien's nordic fetish.

      Funny thing, Legolas was played by a Spaniard with bleached blond hair.

  • (Score: 2) by mendax on Saturday January 18 2020, @10:13PM (5 children)

    by mendax (2840) on Saturday January 18 2020, @10:13PM (#945110)

    I wonder what the late and recently lamented Christopher Tolkien would say about such a movie project. It doesn't sound particularly appealing to me.

    --
    It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @10:19PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @10:19PM (#945113)

      This is a TV show, not movies, and it was announced in November 2017.

    • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday January 18 2020, @11:05PM

      by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Saturday January 18 2020, @11:05PM (#945122)

      I wonder what the late and recently lamented Christopher Tolkien would say about such a movie project...

      Probably something like "the fact that you can doesn't mean that you should".

      --
      It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @11:22PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @11:22PM (#945126)

      My guess is, "This can't possibly be as bad as those movies based on The Hobbit."

      • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 19 2020, @03:52AM

        by bzipitidoo (4388) on Sunday January 19 2020, @03:52AM (#945183) Journal

        Yeah, it could be worse.

        Tolkien wrote a few tales set in the 2nd age, but much more of the history is just an outline, and the studios are entirely too free to do whatever they want. I see no reason why they won't do the same as they do for everything else: pretty good eye candy, and horrible, horrible storytelling. Cheap "dwarves are short" jokes, childish hobbits who think only of their bellies, cheesy dialog ("now is the age of orcs!"), stupid plot points (Gollum frames Sam for gobbling all the food, and Frodo actually believes that, throws Sam under the bus and goes on trustingly with Gollum?! WTF??), and just silly, slapstick crap.

        Peter Jackson is not at the bottom of that. All of Hollywood does it. So, yes, fear the worst.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @01:44AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @01:44AM (#945159)

      It's probably what killed him.

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by deimtee on Sunday January 19 2020, @01:52AM (2 children)

    by deimtee (3272) on Sunday January 19 2020, @01:52AM (#945162) Journal

    Why don't they make a series from the point of view of the poor Orcs? How they were tortured and oppressed victims of genetic engineering, turned into monsters through no fault of their own, and how the smug, self-righteous, so-called 'heroes', instead of helping them, committed genocide every chance they got.

    --
    If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @02:19AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @02:19AM (#945168)

      For starters, the pre-Orcs were subjected to endless rehashings of the same warmed over turds. Similar to never-ending saga of humanity, Bored of the Rings and the need for profit.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @12:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @12:25PM (#945261)

      JRR was much criticized for the simplistic good/evil portrayal - he apparently didn't care about how/why the good is/became good and the evil evil. The whole middle earth stories are just an extended adolescent fairy tale. Don't expect anything deep/reflective.

      I suppose tv/movie adaptations can go in that direction, but it would stray far from JRR's writing.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @02:12AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @02:12AM (#945167)

    Make it stop!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @11:51AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @11:51AM (#945253)

      Just you wait.. this may make Star Wars look good.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Sunday January 19 2020, @03:02PM (1 child)

    by jmichaelhudsondotnet (8122) on Sunday January 19 2020, @03:02PM (#945304) Journal

    This is the worst thing I have ever heard.

    All prequels are bad storytelling. It hurts your brain. You know the entire story is no big deal, that it will all lead to this whole other thing, you have to literally keep two entirely different stories in your head at the same time.

    It is awful, I refuse to watch them and so should you.

    If I were to meet any of the writers working on any of these projects I would openly mock them and tell me they should give me all of their money, because I have contritubed more with one of my fingers than they have with their entire redundant, predictable life.

    This meme is better than a lord of the rings prequel. American cinema is trapped in a time loop of world war 2, star wars, superhero wars and dungeons and dragons wars, and every single bit of it is psychological propaganda that 99% of the time you don't even notice.

    They will spend a hundred millions of dollars on this and it will be reactionary, and thousands of people will be employed on this instead of anything actually foreward thinking. Which is something I at least give James Cameron for even if he can only put out a single movie every 12 years or so. Avatar was cliche before they started filming, the only story he can even try to pass on them is nothing more dramatically aware than Dances with Wolves, but compared to everything else it seems so progressive doesn't it?

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20 2020, @03:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20 2020, @03:59PM (#945856)

      That's generally because a *really good* prequel could have its names sawn away and changed, not be recognizable as part of the parent universe, and still be great. In other words, if the work is original enough to make great stories from then it never needed to be a prequel to something else.

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