Does the success of LOTR bode well for future fantasy projects?
Yes. Many other projects (such as the Narnia Chronicles) are going ahead on the back of its success, and at least some of them will be good.
Or was it based, at least in part, on the legendary status of the Tolkien books?
Yes. The LOTR project probably benefited from more good will than any other project might have. But because of LOTR future projects will face less difficulties because of their genre.
Would some other adaptation fare as well, regardless of quality?
Probably not, before LOTR. Now, after LOTR, maybe.
For example, would a movie based on Guy Gavriel Kay’s masterpiece Tigana, even if accomplished on the scale of LOTR, with as good a cast, as fine an attention to detail, similar scope and beauty, be received with the same serious respect, or would it be relegated to the ghetto of escapist drivel?
I haven't read that, so I have no opinion on that particular example.
What distinguishes those fantasy projects that are taken seriously from those that aren’t?
Quality.
Why is Buffy able to make at least a bit of a mainstream breakthrough while Stargate SG-1 remains a genre show?
Because Buffy is awesome and Stargate *is* just a genre show, albeit a very competent one that looks even better than it is compared to Voyager, Enterprise, Andromeda and suchlike tosh.
Why did LOTR get full props while The Empire Strikes Back didn’t?
Because the Star Wars films aren't actually very good really? Without them there wouldn't be _Alien_ and _Blade Runner_, so they are important in getting the genre noticed. But they really aren't very good films. And the new additions are just atrocious rubbish. Well, the first one was anyway. I couldn't be bothered seeing the next one.
Even mighty Star Trek is, at best, fondly indulged as a sort of beloved childhood plaything instead of truly welcomed into full adult status.
LOL! Star Trek cannot be taken seriously. The whole franchise is insular, circumscribed and utterly lost up its own mythology. And it has rubber-headed aliens with silly names each week.
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But let’s say someone had the vision and guts to bring Titan to the big screen with all the vitality and spirit that Peter Jackson had in realizing Tolkien’s works. Would it have a chance of succeeding even half as well? Or a quarter?
Probably not.
What I am asking is, did the phenomenal success of LOTR presage a sea change in the way fantasy is perceived by the general public (including the critics),
Yes.
or was it a one-off, difficult if not impossible to repeat, even by the finest in filmed art?
And also yes :)
They now know that fantasy *can* be good, but seldom is. Remember Sturgeon's Law.
There have been genre booms in the past-almost inevitably, to be followed by “mass extinctions.” This is not to say that fantasy will disappear-but will it be permitted to stay up late with the grownups, or will it be sent to bed early and leave the adults to their more sophisticated conversation? Lord of the Rings has broken through, gloriously, and well-deserved. Will anyone else be allowed to follow, or did the hopes of fantasy fans for the respect we think we have earned melt away with the demise of the One Ring?
I think each project will have to be judged on its own merits. Many of them will be dreadful, some of them will be quite good, and with luck some might be excellent.
LOTR has raised the bar. Now if someone makes a crap genre movie they can't blame it on the genre.
And hey! What about Pirates of the Caribbean? Wasn't that a successful fantasy movie?
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