THE JOURNEY BACK MOVIE
THE JOURNEY BACK SERIES

THE JOURNEY BACK SERIES

Now, reportedly, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wanted the company to develop more original series that were geared towards a broader audience. What does Amazon hope to achieve by spending so much money on a show?ĭEGGANS: Well, this series has been under development for a long time, and it was cooked up back when the original shows on Amazon Prime Video were more quirky, and they were focused on more specialized, smaller groups of fans. GURA: I mentioned this is a hugely expensive series. And just like HBO's 'House Of The Dragon,' it's a prequel that's set long before many of the characters that fans might know from the original work - before they existed.

THE JOURNEY BACK MOVIE

Viewers are going to get introduced to new characters, new places, grand special effects, lots of makeup movie magic. Now, the series is set at a time thousands of years before 'The Lord Of The Rings' and 'The Hobbit,' so we're going to see a lot of what we call worldbuilding. Tolkien's work, including the appendices to the 'Lord Of The Rings' novel. And it's all inspired by 'Lord Of The Rings' author J.R.R. We've got elves and hobbits and dwarves and wizards all alongside humans, of course. It's set, of course, in the fictional world of Middle Earth, which is this medieval sort of land. So I can say that I've seen two episodes, and they are filled with the kind of special effects magic that fans of Peter Jackson's 'Lord Of The Rings' movies are going to expect. What can you tell us about it?ĭEGGANS: Well, I have to choose my words carefully because Amazon Prime Video has asked critics not to publish reviews of the show until Wednesday. GURA: (Laughter) You have seen two episodes of the new Amazon series, I gather.

Hey, Eric.ĮRIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: (Laughter) You're making it sound like I'm walking through Middle Earth.ĭEGGANS: Of course. Joining us now is our intrepid guide, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans. It's reportedly the most expensive show ever made. 'The Rings Of Power' is an expensive gambit for Amazon. It comes just after another fantasy series, the 'Game Of Thrones' spinoff called 'House Of The Dragon,' premiered to more than 20 million viewers.

'The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power' debuts this week on Amazon Prime Video. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, 'THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER')ĭYLAN SMITH: (As Largo Brandyfoot) One thing we can do better than any creature in all Middle Earth - we stay true to each other with our hearts even bigger than our feet. So are you ready to go back to Middle Earth?

The journey back