@narnian78 

I think it will be a while before anyone tries to turn The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings into films or TV Series.

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit Film trilogy came out like 10 years ago, and while there were various opinions about how successful they were, I think no one else would want to try to adapt it, at least for a while.

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy came out like 20 years ago, and were successful, though not a 100% accurate. It was actually unheard of at the time, and it kicked of the genre of fantasy.

As much as I would like to see a reboot of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, possibly as episodic series, it may not happen for a while, maybe 10 to 20 years down the line.

@jasmine_tarkheena 

It probably is just as true for radio dramas.  The drama which was produced in 1981 by the BBC may be the last one for years, and as far as I concerned it may be definitive. Some people think that it competed with Peter Jackson’s movies, but they were made twenty years later, and they are different works of art based on the same books. There isn’t that much of a reason to try performing the radio dramas again since it was done so well over forty years ago. And with the movies there isn’t much sense in repeating what was done twenty years ago. I think people should be satisfied with them as they are and not try to improve on the films or the dramas. 🙂

@jasmine_tarkheena I personally don't see how it could ever be done, since the other movies are still so popular after 20 years. There haven't been any other successful shows or movies that have been redone in such a short amount of time. Even though CGI was a relatively new idea back then, they still were able to make it in such a way that it seemed like it wasn't an image generated by a computer, mainly by disguising it with the background, shadows, etc. 

There is also a nostalgia element to the other films that would be lost if they were to redo them. The characters have become too iconic to really change them or to imitate their older versions.

Even "Rings of Power" isn't nearly as popular as "The Hobbit" or "The Lord of the Rings." Most of the reviews I read about them were rather negative. I think that CGI and the ease with which someone can create a realistic image of a mythological creature have made everyone a little less creative.

There are shows from the 1930s such as "The Wizard of Oz" that are still popular and don't have any remakes that I'm aware of. It's still iconic even though it seems like a theater production with poor props by modern standards. There are some things that stand the test of time regardless of what improvements may come in the future.

(If they do redo them though, they should keep Haldir alive and not at Helm's Deep 😀 )

I haven't seen Rings of Power, but I've heard negative reactions about it. So I guess I didn't miss much.

I don't think it's likely that Peter Jackson is going to do The Similirion.

So it might be a long way off until any remake is done. I almost cringe at remakes, but it's interesting to see a different take on it.

There's always a re-do of Batman or Superman or Spider-Man. There was a remake of The Parent Trap that came out in 1998 and a remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that came out in 2005.

Though I'm not sure there would be any re-do of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings, at least not yet.

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

There's always a re-do of Batman or Superman or Spider-Man.

I don't watch superhero movies so I wouldn't know anything about that 😀 . The Lord of the Rings is a rather specific genre of entertainment, while superhero movies are fairly common. Most of the mainstream shows nowadays have really "jumped the shark" with all of their remakes and excessive backstories.

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

I don't think it's likely that Peter Jackson is going to do The Similirion.

He probably won't; he was consulted for Rings of Power but they never followed through. Having watched clips from ROP, I am rather surprised at the excessive details of the battles. It seems more graphicly violent than it needs to be, particularly for the rating, and it gets to the point where it takes from the quality of the movie. I wonder if that is how they are compensating for the poorly written storyline. Also, the music is not anything like PJ's movies. It seems too...conventional 🤔 . The various themes in Howard Shore's music seem to fit the character, place, or event perfectly, while ROP's music seems to lack the same quality.

Either way, a redo of the Narnia movies would be just as tragic. 🙂 If they should do more Narnia movies in the future that include the Pevensies, I wonder if they will attempt to find actors that resemble the characters from the other movies.

I do need to re-read The Silmarillion again! My husband is reading it now, so maybe in the latter half of this year, it'll be my turn.

Posted by: @tizzle in the Getting to Know You thread

Like many here, I’m an LOTR fan as well, though haven’t yet attempted to listen to that. The problem with listening to a book is that it’s easy to fall asleep if the reader drones a bit. But then the story keeps going without you, and when you wake up, it takes a while to figure out what you missed!

Droning can be sleep-inducing, to be sure.
Indeed, there are many Middle-earth fans here. For audio, I highly recommend Andy Serkis' dramatic reading of The LotR and The Hobbit. Wonderfully done. His voices are superb: Gollum, of course, is especially familiar. And  I believe he has just finished recording the entirety of The Silmarillion.

The BBC's The LotR and The Hobbit audio dramas are also well performed, although Gandalf's voice in The Hobbit has always irked me: it does not seem to have enough authority, and even sounds wimpy at times. Frodo in The LotR is played by the inimitable Ian Holm, a real treat! It took me awhile to get accustomed to Aragorn's voice (Robert Stephens) in this version, but I have come to quite appreciate it after a few listens.  

Do you like the old Rankin Bass movie of The Hobbit?  I have heard much criticism of it, but I kind of enjoyed it.  In fact I even own the soundtrack vinyl LP record, which was released at the time the movie was made, although I do not own the movie itself. I liked the simple animation of the film in spite of the limitations of the small budget and technology that was available in 1977. The movie is quite good for children and adults who want a simpler version of the story and are content with a lower budget animated movie. For me the only serious disadvantage other than the small budget was that the story may have been shortened too much.  I have wondered what Peter Jackson would have done with the story if he had animated it and had the same amount of money as Rankin and Bass.  🙂

@narnian78 

I have seen the Rankin Bass animated The Hobbit when I was a kid. They're good, but not anything ground-breaking.

As for Peter Jackson animating it, that's a good question. I know there were various opinions about how successful the trilogy were. Then I wonder how different it would have been if he made The Hobbit first instead of Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

I have seen the Rankin Bass animated The Hobbit when I was a kid. They're good, but not anything ground-breaking.

I saw that when I was young as well. It's a quaint cartoon and probably good for kids who aren't allowed to watch PJ's version. In some ways, I like it better because it seems to stick closer to the spirit of the book. I don't appreciate the impolite humor in the newer one. Of course, PJ's goes better with The Lord of the Rings movie. Instead of making it only about Thorin's quest for the mountain they included the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the White Council's overthrow of Sauron which was discussed a little bit in Unfinished Tales. It also mentioned Gimli being considered too young to attend at the youthful age of 60.

The Hobbit Trilogy has a lot of references to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The movie ends where the first LOTR movie begins as well as including some allusions to Aragorn (who was only 10 at the time, lol). Legolas' inclusion in the film wasn't done very well since he wasn't in the book. He could've been included as a "special appearance" since they did that with Frodo but he shouldn't have been a key character.

The comical and rather unbelievable violence was both a blessing and a curse since it made the film amusing but with less dignity than its predecessor. I appreciate how the battles were done in LOTR since it was neither cartoony nor particularly graphic, unlike some extended scenes in The Hobbit.

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

 

I think it will be a while before anyone tries to turn The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings into films or TV Series.

I'm pretty sure Warner Brothers literally already announced they were intending to move forward with a LOTR series reboot earlier this year...

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/lord-of-the-rings-new-movies-warner-bros-1235533672/

Plus you've got the animated "War of the Rohirrim" movie, set in the Peter Jackson universe I believe, due out early 2024.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14824600/

And of course you've also got the second season of Amazon's "Rings of Power," which (one awkward plot strand aside) I actually rather quite liked from a non-Tolkien purist perspective.

Either way, I don't think we're ever going to be wanting for new Tolkien adaptations as long as there is money to be made 

I finally ordered the DVD of the 1977 animated movie of The Hobbit.  I think the last time I watched the film was on VHS about ten or fifteen years ago. Hopefully, the DVD will be better.  I did enjoy Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films based on the book, but I thought it expanded the story too much even though it was generally a good series of films. I also liked The Lord of the Rings, but I liked the shorter theatrical version since I usually prefer shorter movies that condense the story without adding too much to the original book.

@icarus I'll be interested to hear about that. Please keep us up to date if more news comes out?

Did you like the music in the 1977 movie?  I thought it was it was very good with songs like “The Greatest Adventure”. I think that was one of the reasons I bought the vinyl soundtrack LP so many years ago. The movie itself seems rather primitive now, but the music added to its quaintness and gave it a kind of charm. I also have the paperback book edition of The Hobbit with illustrations by Rankin and Bass from the movie.  I guess that shows how much I liked the movie back in 1977 and still love it now in spite of how dated it looks. 🙂

@narnian78 What are the voices like in that animation? I've got the Hobbit audio drama, where some of the voices are squeaky (including Gandalf!) and some names are pronounced differently (Thorin = toreen).

@coracle

Orson Bean was quite good as Bilbo Baggins and John Huston was fine as Gandalf. Their voices were quite pleasant for listening, which is why I liked the vinyl LP’s, which had both the dialogue and music.  I also have a very good audio drama of The Hobbit, which was broadcast on National Public Radio, but the movie had more music.