Public domain, story copyright, and intellectual property laws affect the stories about Middle Earth that Amazon can tell. Could this explain why the show is suffering? — Is Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power an adaptation, or a new story? That’s a perceptive question! As of today, only the first four episodes have dropped, and my wife and I have been watching…and cringing a lot. Still, as a screenwriter, the choices the showrunners…