[rant]
Is it just me, or is anyone else losing interest in the current fantasy and science-fiction franchises? I mean, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Twilight, Aliens, and their like were all wonderfully creative in their day, but aren't you getting tired of the same old tropes, plot twists, and characterizations in what were once cutting-edge cinematics?
For instance, I first read LotR, the Hobbit, and the Silmarillion in about a year's time in the 5th and 6th grades (back in the late 1960s), endured the ridicule or reading "Fairy Tales" from my peers who were trying out for Little League, I sat through the complete Rankin-Bass animated treatment of LotR, and I just knew that the CGI "magic" from the first Star Wars movie would eventually be applied to LotR and make it practically come alive.
But now what? We're one movie away from completing the entire LotR story-arc, and it just doesn't seem interesting enough to even wait for the DVD.
Unless someone invents a working holodeck that features a full-immersion LotR world, I may never see another LotR movie, ever again.
[/rant]