Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power [Amazon] *Spoilers*

TomSweeney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119718059#Comment_119718059

Of course it was, why do you think Disa was paraded so much in the marketing for this and she's not even in it that much, they wanted to blame the "raccccsssiiiiisssmmm".

Ironically enough she is one of the better characters in the show.

Ken Tucky

It's very hard for anyone to die in this

I find it's actually getting worse as it goes along. Don't think I can keep watching tbh.

Couldn't care less about any of the characters, after 7 episodes that's some achievement

y0ssar1an22

i still dont know the overarching idea of this show.

what has happened celebrimbor? think he was on the 1st 2 episodes?

silverharp

total filler episode , Galadriel is awesome as ever, not a singe on her hair ,just covered by some Cheetos but somehow the not Hobbits who must be a good distance away are getting hit by flaming rocks. Galadriel stays evil, just walks away with people screaming in the background lol, and all the scenes of people looking for each other didnt make sense, its not LA, then where did they get the materials to build their next camp? why was Halbrand who was laid up with a severe stomach wound able to get on a horse in the next scene for a ride that could take weeks?. The female Dwarf suddenly goes all Lady Macbeth lol, The not hobbits scene was hilariously bad, last episode they think the tall fella- is causing bad things and this episode they want to ask him to fix everything. The text of Southlands changing to Mordor, seriously? this is money laundering?, invoice fraud scam innit?

the dialogue is so disconnected and its like the writers havnt watched their own show up to this point. Overall the the show is so damaged now that its not coming back from this. Unless you coincidentally have an Amazon account , nobody is going to take out a subscription to watch the next series in two years time.

byrne249

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119719451#Comment_119719451

Loved Galadriels little twirl to avoid the horse at the start! Twas a thing of beauty! On the topic of dialogue. The episode started off with no dialogue and for a moment it felt almost good. Then they started talking again! The funniest disconnection was the female not-hobbit who demanded to take their wheels a couple eps ago is now 'always right' according to Lenny Henry. hmmm...

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119717424#Comment_119717424

The bad guys, by contrast, have understandable and relatable motives. The orcs are judged as evil by the other races because of how they look, but really they just want a place to live and not be hunted etc. Adar cares for the orcs like they are his children and exercises mercy on others. He is reasonable and is just trying to lead his people to safety. 

Maybe they're not making a prequel to LOTR but to this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer

The Last Ringbearer (Russian: Последний кольценосец, Posledniy kol'tsenosets) is a 1999 fantasy fan-fiction book by Russian author Kirill Eskov. It is an alternative account of, and an informal sequel to, the events of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...Eskov bases his novel on the premise that the Tolkien account is a "history written by the victors".[2][3] Eskov's version of the story describes Mordor as a peaceful constitutional monarchy on the verge of an industrial revolution, that poses a threat to the war-mongering and imperialistic faction represented by Gandalf (whose attitude has been described by Saruman as "crafting the Final Solution to the Mordorian problem") and the racist elves.

I can see that appealing to Bezos and techies generally...

jones

Episode 7 was definitely a filler episode after the (IMO) genuine high of episode 6. This show has a lot of issues but again I'm surprised how overly negative most people seem to be about it. While I realise it's not perfect, the writing is hit and miss, some of the main characters are just **** BUT I'm still enjoying the return to middle earth for all is faults.

On people saying about the strong reviews at the start but not much since I think that's in line with the episodes. The opening two episodes were very strong I thought, with a lull between episodes 3 and 5 before the excitement of 6.

I enjoy the harfoots scenes but they have wrung all tension out of the strangers intentions, in almost every episode there's a scene to show he's good but then something bad happens and he looks confused. We need to find out exactly who he is in the finale. They should have resolved this before now. I do think the stranger is well done just his vague motivations are a little overplayed at this point.

Elrond and Durin are great and the one actual believable relationship in the show. The King Durin is also very good and in general the dwarfs/elf relationships are one of the better elements to the show. The elf's apart from Elrond come across a bit aloof but this could be the point.

Galadriel is a problem, I think they tried too hard to give her an arc by making her so driven that it's backfired as she comes across as generally unlikeable. The whole scene with Adar was crazy as all it did was highlight Adar's cause and not the protagonist. Maybe this was the point but not sure you want the audience rooting for the bad guys in a fantasy story. She seemed to soften a bit in episode 7 so let's see what happens next week.

Elendil is a decent character but I agree with previous poster, I found it odd that Queen didn't even know him in episode 3 to him being her lead commander on the trip to the mainland. I think they have really fumbled the númenóreans in general. Isildur is another odd one, much like Galadriel he's just a bit of a **** really. The never explained the call he was hearing or even referenced where it was to. Why are two of the big historic characters in lord of the rings such fuckers. It has to be deliberate you'd think but not sure what they are going for. Insert character arc here maybe ha

As I mentioned earlier visually and musically this show is firing on all cylinders. I don't get some people saying the CGI is patchy, I've a decent OLED TV and this show in 4k dolby vision is one of the best things I've ever watched visually.

Some of it has been great but this was the worst episode of anything I've watched in a long time.

liamtech

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119717424#Comment_119717424

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119718608#Comment_119718608

Your review is spot on. 100% agree with you - My honest take is that this is a terrible show, when taken as 'simply a new TV show' - When actually compared to the source material, and Tolkien's Lore - it is abysmal. I remember seeing a reviewer look at Cowboy Bebop - he decided to watch the Netflix version first. His response to it was negative. Very poor. But when he then watched the original Anime - he responded with vitriol and rage, shouting that 'MY GOOD THEY BUTCHERED THIS'

That is how i feel. And your review covered the how, the why, and the where this went wrong. Both as a TV show, and as a Tolkien adaption

Where i would disagree with you slightly, is on the controversy - Whether or not Amazon knew it was this bad, for me is beside the point. it is 'what happened next' that really angered me

• Many Tolkien Fans, who did take offence to the ethnic changes among the elves were simply referred to as Racists
• Reviews on Amazon and IMDB were blocked, rendering IMDB hopeless as a platform IMHO
• Actors and producers addressed all criticism of the show by referencing supposed racism among 'toxic fandom'
• Shills demolish criticism of the show, by continually referring to the show as breathtaking, and fantastic.
• The show runners LITERALLY LIED THROUGH THEIR TEETH, by stating they were remaining loyal to Tolkien Canon (they did so on camera and in many print interviews)
• Specific criticisms aside from ethnicity were met with carefully prepared responses. Dont like Galadriel? You must be opposed to strong female character's in lead roles
• All criticism online was conflated with racism and review bombing, as highlighted by myself and others including @TomSweeney

https://www.nme.com/news/tv/the-rings-of-power-showrunner-addresses-patently-evil-racist-backlash-3323974

Its bad faith, spin. its absurd and very derogatory toward fans of Tolkien, and yes. It angers me quite a bit

Curse These Metal Hands

The text changing from Southlands to Mordor was one of the most cringe inducing moments of the series so far.

Homelander

I have to say I don't get the hate for the Southlands/Mordor title card thing. I didn't really think anything of it at the time, but in a show packed full of cringe moments, particularly any scene with the Harfoot, I really struggle to see how that could stand out as cringe-inducing.

The show is entertaining but I'm surprised Amazon got so much about it wrong. It looks fantastic but the cast are mostly awful, total charisma voids.

The only dynamic that actually works on some level is Elrond and Durin. Also, Peter Mullan as the Dwarf King and the guy playing Adar are excellent, but outside of that virtually everyone is so perplexingly wooden.

The only thing that really saves it - in the sense of making it watchable - are the strong visuals and scale.

corkie

“There are things in the first season that don’t pay off until Season Five. We even know what our final shot of the last episode is going to be.” ~~ Link

With the possibility we may not see season 2 for another 2 years? That is a long wait for pay off?

• Are they going to keep the puzzle box on the stranger going until then?
• Will the balrog we see in the latest episode, go to sleep for another few seasons?

Secret video of Jeff Bezos negotiating for Lord of the Rings rights!

RoP Galadriel calls Chato. "Why does everyone hate me?"

As this season of 'The Key Of Doom', story and plot has nothing worth re-watching, are they going to pack allot into the final of the season?

Conall Cernach

So Celeborn is supposedly dead too but obviously he is still alive. If he and Finrod both died then they'd be walking around Valinor anyway so why would Galadriel jump off her ship that was going there? I can't help but think that the mentioning of Celeborn was filmed after the series was otherwise completed and someone (possibly Bezos himself as he was supposed to have ordered changes after visiting the set) said "so what about Celeborn?"

I reckon Celeborn is being held by Sauron somewhere and being turned into an orc like Adar. If only there was some heroic female character that could bust in and save him just in time.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119723558#Comment_119723558

Celeborn would take away Galadriel's agency, cant have that in current year lol

corkie

I reckon Celeborn is being held by Sauron somewhere and being turned into an orc like Adar.

:-)🙃

Fans of Peter Jackson’s movies know that Celeborn is alive and well. In fact, Celeborn is part of Galadriel’s happily-ever-after in the Undying Lands at the end of The Return of the King.

AMKC

Why did only the Queen go half blind and no one else did? Then she says she wants no one to know yet it the next scene she has a blindfold on.

sekiro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119722460#Comment_119722460

It's interesting how effectively they managed to gaslight actual fans of the source material. I feel kind of bad for some of them as I think they genuinely believed that this show was being "attacked" by this weird army of internet trolls and some of them came out to honestly try and defend people in their community who were being targeted.

They even managed to get all four of the original hobbits to wear those silly t-shirts and managed to even get the official Star Wars Twitter account to retweet them about it. On one hand it's very admirable to stand up to racism. On the other hand I am deeply, deeply, suspicious about the motivations here.

The Hollywood Reporter released this fluff piece for the show: The Rings of Power Showrunners Break Silence on Fandom Backlash and Season 2 – The Hollywood Reporter

Obviously, nothing we haven't seen before for an entertainment product. A lot of these outlets exist for this kind of thing. However, there is one quote that just feels a bit sinister to me "Tolkien’s world has a long, unfortunate history of attracting fascist-adjacent admirers". For me there is a deliberate agenda being set there. If you are maybe just a little bit too vocal about not enjoying this then maybe you could be one of those people. Even worse if you object to the show as a Tolkien fan because don't you know that "Italy’s newly elected far-right nationalist leader, Giorgia Meloni, for example, has been an outspoken Tolkien fan, unhelpfully"?

Yet, if we are being honest about it, the show barely attempts to follow Tolkien's lore. They introduce a pretty expansive list of their own original characters and when we do see a named character from Tolkien there is always some kind of undermining of the source material. If Halbrand is indeed Sauron, then even something as simple as the text stating that Galadriel is the only one to not trust Sauron in his fair form is completely reversed, for some reason.

The writers can claim whatever they want but the proof is right there in the final product. They have NO intention of sticking to the source material outside of place names and character names. I mean in season one alone they've managed to somehow invent a fourth Silmaril out of nowhere AND have it be responsible for the creation of Mithril AND make it that the elves need Mithril for their race to survive. Oh but they are all about the books and respect for the source material.

sekiro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119723463#Comment_119723463

I'm beginning to think that these guys are actually just specialists in BS.

There's no way, no way at all, that they have all this stuff planned out for season five. No way that they have the final shot already planned out and nailed down. They are lying.

Regarding the show's mysteries, how much of that is actually baked into the show itself and how much of it is just coming from the internet? The show starts with a search for Sauron in Middle-Earth but there's never any set-up for an idea that one of the characters actually IS Sauron.

The way I see it is that a rumor leaked that Halbrand is Sauron but since a lot of the pop culture outlets online can't exactly come right out and spoil the show they kind of reverse engineered this "ooooooh which character is Sauron" mystery. They all bloody KNOW that this thing was leaked on Reddit so the entire "mystery" is completely fake.

Then because they've got that mystery people start to come up with others. Is Theo a Nazgul? Will Halbrand become the Witch King? Is The Stranger a wizard, a BLUE wizard, or a Balrog!? The show itself isn't really setting up these things.

What difference would it make who or what The Stranger is? Would the revelation that The Stranger is Radagast the Brown, for example, actually mean anything at all to anyone in the context of the story? It's just so fake and really kind of strange. "Oooooooh The Stranger is one of the two blue wizards woooooooo where is the other one wooooooo?" OK. So what?

I think Mystery Boxes can work in the context of a show like Lost. A completely original IP where the depth and scale of the world is an unknown to the audience. There could be time travel or vampires or monsters or surprise connections. See Haunting of Hill House with the Bent-Neck Lady as a pretty good example.

With a prequel to an existing IP the mystery box style just fails to work, really. A lot of the apparent value of prequels is really "remember the thing, well look there is a hint at the thing" and with the amount of popular content around "easter eggs" you can kind of see why.

This is a prequel to LOTR. There are major characters in LOTR that we haven't seen yet. Therefore one of these new characters must secretly be a major character in disguise. It's so basic and I don't think it really facilitates good storytelling. Even worse is we have this unnamed character known to the audience as The Stranger. We know there are a range of characters in the lore that haven't appeared on screen yet so The Stranger must be one of them! Again, this isn't really even storytelling at all. What is the possible payoff to "solving" that mystery?

From that perspective it feels like the show is designed really to run alongside social media such as Twitter and YouTube. One hour of TV full of "mysteries" to facilitate a cultural conversation that should, in theory, attract more viewers to the show. "Who Is The Stranger!?" Who cares?

corkie

There's no way, no way at all, that they have all this stuff planned out for season five. No way that they have the final shot already planned out and nailed down. They are lying.

We already know what ends the second age.

War of the Last Alliance

Isildur cuts the One Ring from Sauron's hand in the Last Combat on Orodruin

And not what we saw in PJ movies, there wasn't an outstretched hand.

conorhal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119718608#Comment_119718608

Well that question is easily answered.

J.J Abrams 'put in a good word with Bezos' for the two show runners who has previously worked for his Bad Robot production company. I swear to God, Abrams is like a metastasizing cancer in today's entertainment industry. First Star Trek, then Starwars and now Lord of the Rings, what major beloved IP will he run into the ground next? I’m genuinely astonished that people keep handing him valuable IP’s to ruin.

liamtech

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119725134#Comment_119725134

Yea i agree with you. Frankly i dont care about this show. Or at least i wont after the 'big reveal' next week - assuming it happens, and they dont just have Halbrand pretend to be nice for another few seasons. Morbid curiosity has me continue to watch, just to see what daft idea they come out with next. But im out after this season

The attack on the Fandom is what angers me, and yes, i consider myself a fan. I have read the Hobbit, LOTR, and watched the movies. Granted i have yet to conquer the Silmarillion, but i am a fan of Tolkien. Conflating dislike of the show, with racism, and or bigotry - labeling us all 'toxic fans' - its absurd, and uncalled for. What truly angers me is the Main Stream Media's acquiescence to this spin. Very few journalists have properly attacked the show, and cited the valid criticisms we all have. Instead they just toe the line. While the other side belittles those offering valid criticism (see below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okgjAaLuwGo

What infuriates me further are this shows place within the culture war. There is a 'with us or against us' tone to the whole sorry saga now. As a left wing person, i am finding some of my peers defending the show against my criticism. None of these are ACTUAL TOLKIEN FANS, yet thanks to ROP's publicity, many feel you must like this show. OR ELSE you are [insert ism of choice]. I no longer discuss it with all but two of my friends (coincidentally they are Tolkien fans)

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726691#Comment_119726691

I wouldnt have expected anything less from Noah.

A complete hack, he has run that show into the ground, he barely gets 300k viewers.

Tony EH

This has nothing to do with any particular "wing" of politics. There are people of all political shades that don't care for this TV show. Don't be suckered by cheap American culture war nonsense generated by a multi billion dollar business concern and divisive US media, both of which are interested only in their bottom line.

Never ceases to amaze me how easily people are roped into this Team A/Team B bullshit all the time. If you don't like this crap, just back out and leave it to the folk who think they actually get something out of this. You're losing nothing at the end of the day.

This show, like the vast majority of TV today, is simply "content". It's designed for people who just want to sit down and fill an hour of their life. It's not designed for anyone who's interested in more or, actual, Tolkien fans. It's an unfortunate circumstance of an extremely minor nature that the show didn't turn out as good as people hoped it would. But beyond that, it's all just noise that's undeserving of getting worked up about.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119706518#Comment_119706518

Have to agree with you there . Read the Hobbit as a youngling , and never flinched . And my kids were reared on The LoTR movies and no nightmares , except for the giant Spiders !

That blood went on spurting far too long .

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119704827#Comment_119704827

Yes, think he is Sauron . How come we didn't see him get run through in battle? . Surely as a lead player we would have. He disappeared . Think he did that to himself to explain his absence . Recovered quick enough , galloping away on horseback with Galadriel .

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119719070#Comment_119719070

Galadriel ends up with One of The Rings . She is too important to be ditched . And I think while we can't empathise with her there is a good reason .

She IS a cold heartless character , who believes herself superior to all the other elves even and was almost corrupted herself by the Ring. Cate Blanchett played this well only softening for Gandalf and Frodo because they have something ( the Ring ) in common.

We don't have to like all the characters , but I agree a lot are not well formed and too much action happens off camera and we the viewer are catching up or being rushed into catching up .

Storyrunners should be sacked .

corkie

The Rings of Power episode 8 trailer feels like one big Sauron misdirect

Furthermore, trailers are always edited in certain ways that persuade viewers to put two and two together and get five. The clips in the season 1 finale trailer, concerning The Stranger and The Mystics, have likely been edited together in such a way that makes us think The Stranger is Sauron. It creates further debate online, adds more fuel to the fan-theory fires, and keeps us talking about the show right up until episode 8 airs – and that's exactly what Amazon, the show's creators, cast, and crew all want.

JRant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119727473#Comment_119727473

I'm a little hazy on the exact details but although she gets one of the three rings for the Elves she doesn't actually use it as she distrusts them. I always remember her character as being aloof to the plight of man in particular but was very active in protecting her realm.

I never got the feeling she was a cold heartless, borderline psycho that this show has made her out to be. They had an easy winner on their hands by just sticking even remotely to her arc in LOTR lore.

Fir me, she's a symptom, not a cause for what ails this show. It's writers are somewhat incompetent, directors and editors are all over the place. In fact, this show has all the hallmarks of the studio execs having their fingerprints all over this with how disjointed the entire storyline is.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119727803#Comment_119727803

I don't disagree.

I suppose the cold heartless thing is how I found her character in LoTR but this character is more vengeful, definitely. But she is also younger and closer to the tragedy of her brothers death and as she thinks, her husband's. Maybe that would explain a bit of the viciousness in her?

Who knows.

Its a very lazily produced series.

corkie

@JRant I'm a little hazy on the exact details but although she gets one of the three rings for the Elves she doesn't actually use it as she distrusts them. I always remember her character as being aloof to the plight of man in particular but was very active in protecting her realm.

https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Nenya

Nenya's power was preservation and concealment from evil. Galadriel used these powers to create and sustain Lothlórien. After the destruction of the One Ring and the defeat of Sauron, its power faded along with the other Rings of Power. Galadriel bore Nenya on a ship from the Grey Havens into the West, accompanied by the two bearers of the other Elven Rings. With the ring gone, the magic and beauty of Lórien also faded, and it was gradually depopulated; it was deserted by the time Arwen came there to die in FO121.[4]

She was distrustful of Annatar, the "Lord of Gifts".

liamtech

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119727265#Comment_119727265

From the above:

This show, like the vast majority of TV today, is simply "content". It's designed for people who just want to sit down and fill an hour of their life. It's not designed for anyone who's interested in more or, actual, Tolkien fans.

I must respectfully disagree with you on the above statement. This show is not designed for the average viewer at all. It was planned to be 'the greatest TV series ever' - a successor to Thrones, that would outclass it in all things.

I do respect your opinion on the eventual need for critics, like myself, to just give up on it. And yes, i plan to let it go, after this season

As to it not being political, i must again beg to differ. I am not in favor of politics and cultural division invading entertainment. But it has happened. Critics of a show are being equated with Racists, bigots, and Misogynists. Tolkien fandom is being referred to as Toxic. Current year political culture has also contaminated the show itself (among others - dont even get me started on star trek having an actual Democrat Politician appear as the 'president of earth')

This is real IMHO - you are welcome to disagree, of course. But two franchises i love have been co-opted into this madness in the last 18 months. So it is real for me, and others i dare say

Tony EH

@liamtech

I must respectfully disagree with you on the above statement. This show is not designed for the average viewer at all. It was planned to be 'the greatest TV series ever' - a successor to Thrones, that would outclass it in all things.

A show becomes the "greatest TV series ever" by targeting the average audience, a group that makes up the largest viewership of the four quadrants that media companies are interested in. But, in any case, I wouldn't be putting any stock whatsoever in the empty blurbs of a billion dollar conglomerate. It is, however, very clear that Amazon had no real intention of remaining anywhere near to being true to Tolkien's worlds and therefore weren't interested in the wants of Tolkien's fans. Instead they're after a much, much, wider audience indeed.

As to it not being political, i must again beg to differ. I am not in favor of politics and cultural division invading entertainment. But it has happened. Critics of a show are being equated with Racists, bigots, and Misogynists. Tolkien fandom is being referred to as Toxic. Current year political culture has also contaminated the show itself (among others - dont even get me started on star trek having an actual Democrat Politician appear as the 'president of earth')

This is real IMHO - you are welcome to disagree, of course. But two franchises i love have been co-opted into this madness in the last 18 months. So it is real for me, and others i dare say

I know relatively little about 'Star Trek' beyond the original series and a smattering of the Next Generation. Nothing has interested me since. But frankly, I always considered the Federation to be a bit on the fascist side. But that's another story.

In any case, with regards to 'The Rings of Power', all we are seeing here is a corporate business concern using "ists" and "isms" to pre-empt criticism of their "property". That's merely a damage control limitation and certainly not anything that can be attributed to a political stance. But once again, I see people getting suckered into the support of a Team A and a Team B, largely irrespective of their actual political allegiances, assuming they have any in the first place and it is, sadly, an all too common trend these days, when all that a movie company or other business entity gives a crap about is their profit.

However, the viewer's bottom line should always be this...is it good? Yes, I'll keep watching. Is it bad, I'll tune out.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119727265#Comment_119727265

to some extent their marketing people probably try to encourage division for clicks and headlines but that only works if the product can silence the critics. Its fun watching a billion dollars p1ssed away by amateurs, making a show with a liberal sprinkling of current year wokeness in the face of a bunch of noisy fans who will denounce heresy as quickly as they did back in the middle ages. Amazon picked every way to lose

TheValeyard

While this show has some good moments, scenery and cgi.

I have to say, overall its a bit sh1te.

Not interested in all the politics behind peoples viewpoints. I Just like good TV and I dont think this is it. Which is a pity.

ixoy

I'd be curious, outside of some of the more vocal posters on the Internet, how many people are actually watching it and enjoying it? I mean I am and it is possible to do so without it meaning you've lost any sense of critical awareness - there's more than a few posters online who seem to almost look down on people liking it, or have a condescending attitude to their tastes. It's not fantastic TV at all, it's not even the best fantasy show currently airing but it's entertaining and I can't wrap my head around the "worst show ever" attitude (unless you've led a very curated TV viewing life!).

ahnowbrowncow

I don't think it's the worst show ever and there are parts that have been entertaining with the Stranger, Adar, Elrond and the dwarves etc. And most of the settings and landscapes look great too but most of that is undone with the show's flaws.

People here have mentioned the scale of the show as a positive but I'd say the opposite and it's detracted from the show and it's one of its big weaknesses.

The vast area of the Shadowlands has taken place in one small village and outpost. Numenor with all their might set out to battle the evil of middle earth with just 3 ships and 300 men. Large distances are travelled in what appears to be a matter of days. All of this leads to middle earth appearing like a small inconsequential landmass, with the battle in episode 6 being more akin to a tavern brawl than an epic battle. Halbrand then becomes King of this mighty region of 50 people.

There are also so many inconsistencies that it makes it really difficult to suspend disbelief and get immersed in the show. The most memorable of these was when Galadriel, the Elven Lord and commander of the northern armies tells Halbrand not to kill Adar, they need him alive. Literally 5 minutes later she lunges at his throat with a knife, just seconds after telling him she'll keep him alive until she kills every orc, and she's only stopped when Halbrand appears at the door.

And then Mt. Doom suddenly appears in the distance because why not, everything is just a stone's throw away.

I'm not even going to get into the plot, dialogue and the number of unlikeable characters. It's difficult to like characters when they mostly just bicker.

I really wanted to like the show and I've stuck with it in the diminishing hope of it improving but it's been bland at best and thoroughly unenjoyable at worst.

I'm curious as to what people actually enjoy about it.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119731396#Comment_119731396

"Wokeness" doesn't mean shit though. It's a nebulous catchphrase that's usually levelled at something, aimlessly, in order to disparage it. However, the problems with 'The Rings of Power' go way deeper than any bitching about "woke", or "ists" or any of that crap. It's, simply, a poorly written, poorly acted, and poorly produced TV show that has resorted to stoking division, from a multi billion dollar business concern no less, in order to manufacture some sort of hopeful longevity against all perceivable odds.

But, I agree, there is a certain schadenfreude to be had at looking at a huge American company dispose of a ridiculous amount of money on a sinking ship, and sinking ship is the only honest way to look at this at the present time. But, with that in mind, one is indulging in a rubbernecking that's never going to be enjoyable, even if it remains somewhat interesting all the same.

However, at the end of the day, Glad could be played more along the lines of the traditional Tolkienesque vision and all the female dwarves could be white and wear beards..yada yada yada. It still wouldn't make a dent in the fundamental problems with the show.

As things stand, it's been an interesting experiment, but a catastrophic failure at the same time.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119732807#Comment_119732807

wokeness is real though and if affects how they setup the characters and story line or how scenes are setup, overall the show has nerfed the male characters (unless they are "evil") so that they dont overshadow the female ones, every other scene with Galadriel for example seems to be with teenage boys, why? because teenage boys have no gravitas so she "shines" in all her scenes. It just sets up a show that cant be great cos it either encourages bad writing or forces it. So independently indeed the show is badly written out of lazyness etc but its also systemically badly written cos they set it up

The best one can do is mock these shows into oblivion and demonstrate to their money people that they are leaving too much money on the table, especially as their businesses are declining recently so they must be hurting. Anyway just a week or 2 to go and can put a lid on it and let it go down a memory hole.

sekiro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119732476#Comment_119732476

I will admit that I do have a feeling of resentment, or at least something like that, towards people who like it. I'm not exactly happy that I feel that way but there it is.

I think I can at least explain why. I loved Tolkien's books and his world from a young age. I genuinely do believe that this is the absolute gold standard in fantasy writing but I understand if others disagree. I loved the Peter Jackson movies too but for me they are nothing more than a nice summary of the LOTR books. That's the background.

Then Amazon comes along and they are going to make the most expensive television show ever based on the Second Age of Tolkien's Middle-Earth. That's promising. There is so much content there and so much potential.

What actually happens is that Amazon throws virtually everything from Tolkien aside and they just go off and do their own thing. In fact, I would go as far as saying that the showrunners attitude here is that they are critiquing and refuting Tolkien. This show is not an adaptation of the source material. They actively go out of their way to contradict and recontextualize and change. Maybe it's too conspiratorial to use the word "subversion" but sometimes I really do wonder.

Then you have the audience. People who don't know or like or understand Tolkien but are just happy if each episode has a few pretty landscape shots, maybe a bit of sword fighting, the best episode for them is the best because it has a few fights and a volcano blows up at the end. It's fine to like that stuff but, let's be honest, these people would like anything. It almost feels like gaslighting then to have this thing that simply is not Tolkien and simply is not Lord of the Rings be paraded around and have people say "ooooh I really like the new Lord of the Rings". Of course there is going to be a condescending attitude there.

The people who don't give a damn about Tolkien would have liked the show as long as it had action, some decent CGI and a few set-pieces. So there was never any reason to not just follow the source material and throw in a few action bits to keep the people who will like anything happy. The reality of this is that it's a Tolkien/LOTR based TV show that is aimed mainly at people who don't care for Tolkien's work at all and would like any kind of fantasy or CGI heavy show.

Then the cherry on top is the implication that people only hate this because of racism or sexism. A narrative enthusiastically pushed by the mainstream media and eagerly latched on to by the misinformed public. Especially on social media. It's disgusting. If people just came out and said "haha we took something the nerds all loved and destroyed it" then at least I could put it in the context of a naughty kid kicking over another kids sandcastle for the laugh. It's horrible but it happens. To hide that pettiness behind some grand goal of fighting racism or sexism is just another aspect of this awfulness.

Amazon took something beloved and revered and turned it into low-value content that is designed to appeal to the section of the audience that doesn't want to think too much. Then they pushed the idea that anyone who hates this might have an ulterior, racially motivated reason. To me that's kind of horrifying and just really, really, sad. This beautiful, poetic thing got turned into mass-marketed trash and the only people who like it are those who admit that they just consume it mindlessly and who are quick to invoke "incel" or "racist" when someone says it's a bit rubbish. How I long for the days when you were simply a geek or a nerd for caring too much about books and stuff. Yeah, I feel great annoyance towards those people. I hate that feeling and I am sorry about that but it's there and I hope this is some kind of explanation and apology.

Bandana boy

I like it , like it a lot , hence I continue to watch it , along with wheels of time its not exactly how I would have gone if I was the showrunner but I look forward to it each week and I respect the filmmakers right to make the changes they think will improve the show.

As a fan of the genre , this is the golden age of Fantasy on tv , Big books are getting big treatments with real investments behind them.

There is always a vocal crowd on here who put down every Fantasy show , see even early GOT seasons had some of the folks shouting down how crap they think it was.

I really think you should just stop watching and find a show you like and enjoy that instead of winding yourself up every week .

Mr.Nice Guy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119733173#Comment_119733173

I don't like Galadriel but this is a load of rubbish. She's been in scenes with Halbrand and the bearded lad who does be with the queen. Teenage boys have no gravitas is a weird take really. Sounds like you're getting a bit too caught up in all this stuff.

Yeah it's nothing to do with woke or any of those stupid phrases people use these days. The Hobbit films were **** as well and I don't remember anyone talking about them like they are with this.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119733173#Comment_119733173

Your whining about so called "wokeness" isn't doing anything though is it. Big multi billion dollar businesses don't care about whingers online who get upset over black people and women in their TV shows and movies. They'll keep doing what they are because they think there's money to be made. And that's the only reason they'll do anything. They want to reach as wide an audience as possible, because that means more shillings in the pocket.

Mock all you like, if it makes you feel better, but you're just crying into the wind. However the only way to get media companies to change tack is to stop watching poorly produced "content". Amazon, Disney, etc don't care whether you're watching because you like something or you hate it.

corkie

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/lord-of-the-rings-of-power-secret-code-opening-titles/

Didn't give them much thought!

seanin4711

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119735518#Comment_119735518

when the acting and the storyline are pee poor, then it deserves all the criticism it gets.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119735891#Comment_119735891

Of course.

But pissing and moaning about "woke" and continuing to watch just makes you look like a gobshite...and in the end the companies don't give a crap.

seanin4711

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119735911#Comment_119735911

I totally agree but I haven't and won't watch a second of it

jones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119735936#Comment_119735936

This is what i don't get. So you haven't watched a second of it but your saying that the acting and storyline are pee poor? Based on what?

This show has a lot of problems but some people going way OTT on it IMO.

ps not directed at you specifically

Average viewer: "This is kinda cool. I liked the bit where x did y."

Comic book guy: "Worst. Show. Ever."

My only gripe that this thing exists is that Amazon could have chucked some of the cash at a couple more seasons of The Expanse.

At the end of the day it's a bit of stuff to watch or not watch.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736160#Comment_119736160

I watched the first 5 then gave up. So I can say with some authority that at least 5/8 ths of it is "pee poor".

I've read all the books several times but I'm not bothered if the story matches up with the books. Even judged as a new story without reference to LoR its still "pee poor".

JRant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119735911#Comment_119735911

In the end, that's all there is to it really. Sure, they may come out and say we had X number of viewers but they'll already have the analytics done about who's watching, how they're watching, whether or not people are watching full episodes etc. That's where the real number crunching comes into it for streaming services. So, on face value it may appear to be doing well for them, the underlying numbers don't lie and they may already be having a rethink of the shows direction for all we know (which is very very little).

I just don't like this show because it's boring, poorly written, and has no story arc to speak of. This show may be many things but I've still to see anything that implies it has anything to do with the rings of power.