Khamûl wrote:

If you're going to spend billions on acquiring rights you're simply not going to make anything that is anything other than commercial. And with that being the case, it will have mass appeal & will probably look & feel like most other big productions on TV/film. For all those reasons, I probably won't personally find this all that interesting.

It could be commercial and good, I guess -- but it is certainly a challenge as you only have to look at the (endless) superhero films (which are commercially highly successful) to see the kind of content the mainstream audience tends to fork out for. I'd certainly expect a lot of oversized tedious action sequences (though maybe not anything nearly as bad as PJs barrel sequence....)

Stu wrote:

Olwe wrote:

Sometimes I would wish TORn would not continously presume to speak 'for all fans' because they are one of the sources mainstream nerdsites use as rehash-content-sources, that is, they basically copy what appears on TORn.

They certainly do not speak for me.

Does anyone really care what TORn says? As (relative) nobodies [no offence], being flown to London just is way too much for the average youtube influencer to remain objective. Must admit, I've never cared about the opinions of any of these groups, really. People should form their own opinions about things and the only time we will be able to do that is once the show is out there. Until then it is all meaningless.

The new tolkien fandom being shaped under the influence of some of these sites/pods care. It's no surprise TORN is part of the PR machine since tolkien-on-screen is kind of why they exist, but the Tolkien Societys seeming lack of interest in discussing tolkiens legacy in the midst of all of this speaks volumes.

Stu wrote:

The question for me is "how did they get that preview trailer so utterly wrong?" and are they actually doing a lot of re-work right now to improve/re-position things or was the trailer simply a bad representation of what they have produced?

Amazon have a habit of this. When I saw the Man in the High Castle trailer I was so underwhelmed and the show felt nothing like the trailer, and was a lot of fun. But then the other way they made a decent trailer for a few shows and they were tripe. Amazon trailers rarely convey what we will actually see on screen.

northman wrote:

The Tolkien Societys seeming lack of interest in discussing tolkiens legacy in the midst of all of this speaks volumes.

I was not around the Society during the Lord of the Rings movies, were they more forthcoming in discussing Tolkien's legacy in the face of PJ's vision?

I think it unwise to discuss in any great detail how a show effects the primary work until one has seen said show. Surely they have to see it to judge what impact there will be on Tolkien's legacy?

I think the Tolkien "infuencers" that went are now in a tough spot if they want to stay in AmZ good graces. The trends I noticed in the feedback from them and as pointed out by y'all are the content was either good, or I'm withholding my opinion.

Of the people that went, they run the risk of hurting their brand and being seen as a mouth piece for AMZ. Not saying that will be the case, and I respect all who went, they were invited for a reason. However if the show turns out to be not so great or is schism causing these AMZ press releases they are making will not age well.

From my end I didn't really see the point, Tolkien influencers being flown out for a watch party and then reading a pre-approved statement for their followers. Accompanied by some images of them hanging out in a lounge together. Not quite sure how that convinces people who are on the fence about the show.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

I think the Tolkien "infuencers" that went are now in a tough spot if they want to stay in AmZ good graces. The trends I noticed in the feedback from them and as pointed out by y'all are the content was either good, or I'm withholding my opinion.

Exactly! No one invited to the event would express strong negative opinions publicly.

I loved what I heard from them, and I am bought into their vision and dedication.

But I don’t just want to love what I hear; I want to love what I see on screen. I know not all Tolkien readers will agree with the creative decisions the team will make, but I am looking forward to September with the hope and anticipation that we will see a TV show that we can all fall in love with, myself included.

Shaun saw the footage, and spoke with the showrunners. What he says here is "I loved what I heard from them (the showrunners)." Quite an obvious omission on the other half there, no? He then goes on to say that he hopes he will see a show he can fall in love with in September. It seems clear to me that he is not in love with it today, based on 20 minutes of footage (less than 5% of season 1). The implication is that he doesn't agree with the creative decisions he's seen, in that footage. He is still looking forward to seeing the finished product with hope and anticipation, though. The team must have made a great impression!

northman wrote:

The new tolkien fandom being shaped under the influence of some of these sites/pods care. It's no surprise TORN is part of the PR machine since tolkien-on-screen is kind of why they exist, but the Tolkien Societys seeming lack of interest in discussing tolkiens legacy in the midst of all of this speaks volumes.

I'm just not convinced the audience that is invested enough to watch these youtube videos is that big compared to the audience that will naturally pick up the show for a viewing anyway. Tolkien has an enormous passive audience (as you would expect, there has been no new genuinely complete ME written content for 70+ years) and that passive audience will happily consume all kinds of Tolkien media if it is put in front of them. I'm not convinced of the size of the active audience that will seek out every scrap of gossip and information is statistically that huge.

With regards to Tolkien's legacy, I'm in the camp that doesn't think it matters. He wrote some great fiction, which will always still exist. If people choose to read it (and maybe enjoy it) or not choose to read it (and maybe miss out), how important is that, really in the scheme of important things in the world. Tolkien's legacy is that he created some really enjoyable entertainment (the academic stuff notwithstanding) and caused a lot of derivative entertainment to come into existence, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Ligandil wrote:

Mr. Underhill wrote:

I think the Tolkien "infuencers" that went are now in a tough spot if they want to stay in AmZ good graces. The trends I noticed in the feedback from them and as pointed out by y'all are the content was either good, or I'm withholding my opinion.

Exactly! No one invited to the event would express strong negative opinions publicly.

Are you a 100% on this?

Olwe wrote:

Ligandil wrote:

Mr. Underhill wrote:

I think the Tolkien "infuencers" that went are now in a tough spot if they want to stay in AmZ good graces. The trends I noticed in the feedback from them and as pointed out by y'all are the content was either good, or I'm withholding my opinion.

Exactly! No one invited to the event would express strong negative opinions publicly.

Are you a 100% on this?

No, I’m not 100% on this or much else. I trust you Olwe, you’ve never steered me wrong before ?