{"id":135364,"date":"2017-11-16T15:18:48","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T22:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135364"},"modified":"2017-11-16T15:26:29","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T22:26:29","slug":"now-getting-lord-rings-tv-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/16\/now-getting-lord-rings-tv-series.html","title":{"rendered":"Why are we now getting a “Lord of the Rings” TV series?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because Christopher Tolkien, at 93, has retired from his role as the (very, very strict) gatekeeper of J R R Tolkien’s literary estate.<\/p>\n

I’m torn on this, because Christopher has been notoriously restrictive of any use of his father’s stories, to the point of their being choked off to just a few adaptations over the 4+ decades since his father’s death in 1973. Indeed, only 1960s contracts for movie rights, bandied about the legalsphere for years, allowed for the Peter Jackson movies to be created, for example — movies which Christopher apparently despised.<\/p>\n

And that’s where the “torn” comes in, for while the Tolkien Estate has been so strict, it’s also thus prevented dilution of the property through a variety of bad<\/i> adaptations.<\/p>\n

It’s a dilemma — the value of the literary estate, indeed even the public knowledge and appreciation of the estate, depends to a large degree on how that estate can be further presented to new generations. But to do so runs the risk of creating something that devalues the property.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, great works can overcome bad adaptations. There have been a lot of bad Shakespeare stage productions, and movies and TV adaptations, but the Bard lives on. More proximately, decades of third-rate movie and TV adaptations of Marvel’s works didn’t destroy the comics, and also didn’t prevent a set of highly successful movies being made of them.<\/p>\n

Indeed, one could argue quite successfully that Peter Jackson’s LotR and even his Hobbit trilogy have reintroduced JRRT’s works to people who would never otherwise have heard of them.<\/p>\n

Christopher Tolkien has done a remarkable job in curating and fleshing out his father’s writings, almost to a fault. If his passing the torch means that the world his father can be created can be explored by more creators, I think it worth the risk.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nIn historic move, Christopher Tolkien resigns as director of Tolkien Estate<\/a><\/span>
\nIt turns out a \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d TV series isn\u2019t the biggest Tolkien news of the week or the month or the year. Christopher Tolkien, son and literary heir of J.R.R. Tolkien, res\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because Christopher Tolkien, at 93, has retired from his role as the (very, very strict) gatekeeper of J R R Tolkien’s literary estate. I’m torn on this, because Christopher has been notoriously restrictive of any use of his father’s stories, to the point of their being choked off to just a few adaptations over the … Continue reading “Why are we now getting a “Lord of the Rings” TV series?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,79,382],"tags":[1321],"class_list":["post-135364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-media-intellectual-property","category-lord-of-the-rings","tag-tolkien"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/luthiel-and-beren.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":128437,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/25\/a-map-of-middle-earth-annotated-by-tolkien.html","url_meta":{"origin":135364,"position":0},"title":"A map of Middle-earth, annotated by Tolkien","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 25-Oct-15 9:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This is very cool.(Word has it that Christopher Tolkien will be issuing a trilogy of atlases based on it.) Tolkien's annotated map of Middle-earth discovered inside copy of Lord of the Rings Map goes on sale in Oxford for \u00a360,000 after being found at Blackwell\u2019s Rare Books inside novel belonging\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48675,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/07\/movie-review-fellowship-of-the-ring-2001.html","url_meta":{"origin":135364,"position":1},"title":"Movie Review: "Fellowship of the Ring" (2001)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 7-Dec-14 1:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I've enjoyed Peter Jackson's Tolkien adaptations all down the line -- but one can make a solid case that they have dropped in quality over the years, largely as Jackson's own content or story changes have taken up more of the story. I still like them, but I'd say this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135276,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/04\/lord-rings-tv-series-tell.html","url_meta":{"origin":135364,"position":2},"title":"A “Lord of the Rings” … TV series? Tell me more!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 4-Nov-17 12:33am","format":false,"excerpt":"This is all way preliminary, but word has it that Warner Bros. is negotiating with the Tolkien Estate over an actual TV series (likely on Amazon) set in Middle Earth. There are a lot of interesting ways this could go. A series that focused on the LotR could pull in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Frodo-and-the-Ring.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":48749,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/09\/precious-in-translation.html","url_meta":{"origin":135364,"position":3},"title":""Precious" In Translation","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 9-Dec-14 2:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that's comedy. Originally shared by +Jay Gischer: I loved this whole piece. But the sentence that made me whoop so loudly that the crows outside my office (which may or may not be from Dunland) fluttered and squawked was this: The only similar case I found was The Estate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12718,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/02\/19\/fanboy_hates_lawsuits.html","url_meta":{"origin":135364,"position":4},"title":"Fanboy Hates Lawsuits","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 19-Feb-08 11:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"Hrm.\u00a0 The Tolkien Trust is suing New Line Cinema, claiming a 1969 contract gives them 7.5% of the gross of any Tolkien movies, and where's the extra $150MM that New...","rel":"","context":"In "Lord of the Rings \/ Hobbit"","block_context":{"text":"Lord of the Rings \/ Hobbit","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/lord-of-the-rings"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135958,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/03\/20\/lovely-tolkienesque-maps.html","url_meta":{"origin":135364,"position":5},"title":"Lovely, Tolkienesque maps","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 20-Mar-18 9:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"This cartographer is doing maps of the UK's national parks in the style of Tolkien' maps in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, etc. He'll also do custom work. A Cartographer Is Mapping All of the UK\u2019s National Parks, J.R.R. Tolkien-Style Yeah, we think parks are pretty magical, too.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tolkienesque-peak-district-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135368,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135364\/revisions\/135368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}