Well, I get what you're saying with this, but I don't necessarily agree. Frodo's Heroic Quest has universal appeal, he's truly the little guy taking it upon himself to save the world.

quote:
Saying a product can’t evolve past its original design is the opposite of finding new and creative ways of storytelling. No genre or work of art should be pigeonholed into being one thing or another and I think LOTR has the right to diverge from Tolkien’s original path if they have found some interesting stories to tell.

Except this series doesn't get that right.

Tolkien's world is a history book. The last chapters are LOTR. This series is set a thousand years before that, roughly. In this stretch, the story is not detailed, but like I said, a couple chapters of a history book.

SPOILER

Morgoth holds power in Middle Earth. The Valar defeat him and break up most of Middle Earth in the process, and subsequently vow never to come in force again because of that.
The loyal Men are gifted Numenor as a reward, while some of the Elves choose to stay in Middle Earth. Sauron hides out, emerges, fools most and eventually gains control of the continent. Numenor comes in force, Sauron surrenders, and comes to Numenor as a prisoner. He charms his way into corrupting them, leading them to turn against the Valar. This leads to uttermost disaster, and the remmants of Numenor get washed up on Middle Earth to found Gondor and Arnor.

Those seven sentences are the history of this world. This series will translate some or all into a richly detailed tale, but nothing can be allowed to "diverge" from that. Nothing can contradict the big picture.

You can color in the details, but you have to remain true to the outline.

All that said, there is plenty of room for coloring in things. We know NOTHING of the East, of the other Istari, of lands outside the scope of LOTR. And really, very little beyond a sentence or so per decade (maybe century), in those known lands. There's a king here, a war there.