All throughout this forum and undoubtably many other forums people have criticized the ways in which the original story was altered to fit inside the framework of a feature film. I am wondering if this story would have been better told through an extended mini-series like Band of Brothers, etc.

I think that a single season of say 26 1-hour episodes could possible have given the story the room to really be fully told. This way you end up with a total of about 26 hours of film, as opposed to the 12 or so that all the EE's will total. You would also get the entire story in 1-year instead of 3, and of course you could by the whole series on DVD after

I have enjoyed the films so far, but I also think that the films could have benefited from more screen time to provide more of the story from the book.

What do others think? Is it just too hard to do mini-series for tv? Is there not enough money in it, if that is really a justifiable reason? Would it have been any less of a blockbuster event if it was a tv mini-series?

9 hours is good enough for me. I really don't see how 26 hours worth would be much better and more so, I feel it might just be dragging it on a bit to much.

Also that 26 hour version wouldn't have near the production value of the movies. Honestly, there isn't as much money in it so I doubt they'd pour 300 million into that. Band of Brothers was reeally expensive, and it clocked in at like 125 million for al 12 hours or so. So, money is an issue. Could the series be great? I'm sure it would, but for myself and many watchers I wouldn't want to invest 26 hours into watching LoTR. 12 is enough for me. That's just my two cents.

also the payback on three movies versus a miniseries is vastly different.

The odds of them spending the amount of money that was spent would be far less likely than in the movie format.

I don't think that a 26 hour mini-series on these novels would be very watchable ... and I'm a pretty big fan of the written works. Film is just a different media than text, and if the hobbits spent 10 minutes of one episode singing around a campfire or just running though inner monologue, it would probably be pretty boring. There is too much thought and emotion that would have to be somehow shown on screen to make all of the material work. I think that a version that contained every word of Tolkein would be inferior to what is being produced now.

Plus who wants ADS in between Moria and Lothlorien or anywhere else for that matter?

Valerie Bertinelli as Galadriel? No thanks!

"Produced by Robert Halmi, Jr...." "From the makers of The Odyssey and Dinotopia...."

Sure, the production value probably would have been much worse than the films and the series would have made less money than the films will, but purely from the angle of what's best for the story wouldn't a mini-series have provided much more depth?

I read the books very recently and while I enjoy the films I feel they only have one tenth the depth of the books. Maybe thats what movie-goers want, they want simple and quick, but I guess I am different. I like watching a full season of a show like 24.

I think that having the books told through a longer series would have provided more room for the characters to really develop and for viewers to learn about Middle Earth. I think the characters in the films have been flat compared to the characters in the book, and while the scenery has been excellent, it doesn't seem to be as big a part of the story in the films as it is in the books.

I think a series could have provided a more immersive experience of Middle Earth and the LOTR story than the films.

well, we all know for a fact that there is a couple of hours of unused footage from each film in jackson's vaults, that we will never see. so why not give jackson 200 million, to go and do some re-shoots, ADR, finish up the effects shots, etc...and shoot some other scenes...like tom bombadil! i think that they could probably make a 15-20 hr mini series out of it. of course it would never match up with the quality of the films...but i wouldn't expect it to either, being a mini-series and all. i would want it to be done by HBO though...not CBS, TNT, etc.

just a thought

I'm guessing in 2004 they will release a super special Tolkien edition of all three movies with tons of deleted scenes reedited back in. Each movie will last around 4 hours and the whole thing will be the bane of wives and girlfriends everywhere.

well from what peter jackson said, the Extended Editions of the movies are pretty much the final product. I would hate to have had paid money for the extended editions if they were just going to double dip once more.

The "depth" of LOTR is the world he created behind the story. The story itself is actually pretty simple and is well served by a 10 1/2 hour film. 10 1/2 hours is pretty damned close to being a mini-series, anyway. I think what you're asking for is a "History of Britain" type documentary series. I'd like to see something like that for The Silmarillion, though.

One thing: can you imagine the reaction to shooting a film with an OAR of 2.35:1 (which I think is necessary for LOTR) and showing it on TV that way?

(I know it's filmed in Super 35 and could be shown with more at the top and bottom and less on the sides but that is not PJ's intended aspect ratio and not how I want to see it).

I would not want to see it filmed for and presented in full screen or even 1.78:1 (as ER and some other shows are).

There are many other good arguments against it as we have seen in this thread.

i just listened to the commentary on the EE with jackson and he was talking about how he wanted to go and redo gollum in FOTR, because how he apears in the movie is just a proto type basically and he doesnt match up with the gullum in TT. he said he was going to do it for another DVD edition down the road. and he talked alot about the different scenes that didnt even make it into the EE. i think that we will get a different cut down the road.

hopefully, they'll also put on that isolated score they cut from this version.

I could see them releasing a non-stop DVD edition, with no closing credits for any of the films, so the films basically flow into each other, with title cards to show the change of books. You would still have to switch discs, but the dramatic flow of the movies would remain intact. So basically you would have a movie that started with the first scene of FOTR and ended with the last scene of ROTK, with only disc switches in between.