The Tales That Really Mattered (inspiration and source material)

[Rex]

I am a fan of Tom and the Wind in the Willows as well. It will be interesting to see what Amazon does with Middle Earth when it finally hits the TV.

[Inferno]

I also think LOTR would have been best served as a Prime Time TV show. It never would've happened of course: the 2004 Battlestar Galactica was still around the corner, which proved that a multi-season, arc-driven, HBO-style fantasy show could work. In 1997-2001 no one would have financed a 4-6 year contract for a high budget LOTR show. And no one will finance one now because we already have the movies, and big budget TV has gone toward the streaming format, where TV shows are sold as finished packages, not as contract deals. No one would produce a faithful adaptation of LOTR hoping that they'll get paid for it after it's done.

Where there's a dollar, there's a way.

[Starbeard]

Ah, last I had heard, that show was actually going to be new stories about Young Aragorn, not the LOTR story itself. Maybe this is what I've been waiting for after all!

[OGRE MAGE]

That looks pretty sweet.

I loved the books, but I feel like the movies, though obviously epic, could have done better with some of the things mentioned so far.

But, since they were so vastly popular, I would be willing to bet they are re-made in another couple of decades, just like they do with most of the other huge money makers or nostalgic shows from the past.

I just hope I'm still around to see the remakes.

[Rex]

It does look cool, we will see once it comes out. Agreed OM, they will get remade for sure.

[Inferno]

Ah, last I had heard, that show was actually going to be new stories about Young Aragorn, not the LOTR story itself. Maybe this is what I've been waiting for after all!

Tolkien without Tolkien. Will be interesting to see.

I agree that long format TV like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos might be the only way to cover everything in the trilogy. Or the BBC radio plays, which were weekly installments. But even they cut Tom Bombadill.

[ChubbyPixie]

I was under the impression that the Amazon show would be covering material from the Silmarillion. The fall of the Númenóreans. Is that not the case?

[Inferno]

That would be great. The First Age has lots to explore, rather than creating new material.

And prequels are tough; the Star Wars' prequel trilogy, Better Call Saul, The Hobbit trilogy. In this example, you'd know Aragorn's life is never in danger, and you know where his story arc is headed.

[Starbeard]

Indeed.

Reading through that article again, it really sounds like it's going to be LOTR itself. I'd watch either of the other two, but I'd be very excited if it is LOTR. I think a Silmarillion show would be best as a hosted anthology series, somewhere between The Twilight Zone and Fargo in format.

[ChubbyPixie]

Maybe it'll end up being a sitcom entitled "Everybody Loves Bombadil," an episodic situational comedy about Tom Bombadil and Goldberry in the years her mother came to live with them.

[Inferno]

The way he's cut from every adaptation, maybe it should be called "Everybody Hates Tom."

[ChubbyPixie]

[Scott308]

The way he's cut from every adaptation, maybe it should be called "Everybody Hates Tom."

I'd probably watch this, especially if the titular character never makes an appearance, a la How I Met Your Mother.

[rredmond]

Elrond, Gandalf and Galadriel sitting in the tavern drinking ale.
"He could just take the ring, and then we'd be done with it!"
"Yeah but he couldn't be trusted, remember what happened with Goldberry."

They all nod, lifting their eyebrows and drain their glasses.

[Inferno]

In the book, at the Council of Elrond, they do consider giving the Ring to Tom Bombadil but decide against it.

[rredmond]

Yep. IIRC they don’t give it strong consideration as they know he can protect it, but would likely lose it, and in the end, when all else was gone, he and his “realm” would fall as well. I liked the Bombadil bits, as well as Piper at the Gates of Dawn like Sean said. They’re like a faerie tale within a fairy tale. Adding layers and wonder to the stories. In a different, but similar, way as the Pevensies getting to Narnia or Philip Haldane and Lucy Graham in The Magic City.

[Urson]

Wasn't there also a certain amount of concern that he might get entranced by the Ring? Or am I making stuff up?

[rredmond]

I don’t remember, but I don’t think so. At one point though, I’m pretty sure, Frodo gives it to him and he puts it on - and doesn’t disappear. He’s an interesting cat for sure.

[Rex]

No concern he could be entranced by the ring.

Speaking of Tom at the council.

"He would not have come, said Gandalf.
Could we not still send message to him and obtain his help? asked Erestor. It seems that he has a power even over the Ring.
No, said Gandalf, Say rather that the Ring has no power over him. He is his own master, but he cannot alter the Ring itself, nor break its power over others."

There are a few different theories about Tom, none of which Tolkien ever confirmed but some of which he denied. The most popular used to be that he was the Eldest of the Maiar. Tolkien knew of this theory and choose to never comment either way, which some believe gives it more credence. I took a college course on Tolkien and spent considerable time on the topic Tom (as in a couple of weeks in class discussion plus outside class research). Here are a couple of the quotes from the Fellowship that are usually cited s support for the Maiar theory. It is on Tom's Wiki page as well is the Finnish connection theory which is another that Tolkien knew of and never denied. Both could be true at the same time in fact.

"I am old, Eldest, that's what I am ... Tom was here before the river and the trees"
"Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn"

[Inferno]

Tom was here before the river and the trees"
"Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn"

To me, this can only mean that Tom is God, or Eru Ilúvatar.