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

Apothic_Red · 09-09-2022 10:23pm

Jesus, no fun around here with your knowledge. Huge analysis that goes over my head. As a film only person I might give you pure laymans take.

Slow, slow, start, will have lost a few in that first episode.

Saw something on The Journal about the accents but didn't bother me. Lenny Henry looks like he's having a blast.

Kinda groan every time they go back to the Hobbits, giant guy is the only thing of interest.

Dwarf mine seemed very posh for dwarfes, was the Dwarf king in the Hobbit ?

Intro of the Orcs was good, every director nowadays wants to be Speilberg

Big pickup in Ep3, why did Gladriel become so cocky with the queen ?

Her raft buddy then turns into the Hulk when mad, not really explained besides inheritance.

why so little blood when first elf is killed in the camp, barely looked like he had a shaving cut

Also, if you were an immortal elf why would you care about urgent escape

The warg? dog thing, looked female & very little blood.

So, we dont know who the disposed king is or the head orc, sure all will be revealed.

Why are orcs now vampires & afraid of the sun

Anyway, just nitpicking

odyssey06 · 09-09-2022 10:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119598085#Comment_119598085

One point - this is an age before LOTR so it is not 'now' in film timelines. This is the before time.

It was a big development in LOTR that Uruk orcs were not as affected by sunlight.

https://gamerant.com/lotr-uruk-hai-orcs-differences-explained/

In LOTR book it is mentioned that orcs hated the sunlight and it seemed to weaken them. But more like Dracula in the Stoker novel as a weakening / sapping than film versions where it burned.

Mr.Nice Guy · 09-09-2022 10:50pm

I liked that episode.

The Harfoot stuff is interesting me the least thus far, so hopefully that storyline picks up a bit soon.

PhiloCypher · 09-09-2022 11:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119598085#Comment_119598085

Yeh the Harfoot accents dont bother me either, where we differ is I'm really enjoying the Harfoot sections, Nori and her friend have a great comic chemistry. Those sections serve the same purpose the Hobbit/shire sections in Lotr do , they act as a tonic from all the self seriousness and dark prophecies being fulfilled everywhere else.

TomSweeney · 09-09-2022 11:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119596159#Comment_119596159

Such disingenous rubbish from amazon.

This is not the reason it's getting bad reviews.

I think what happened was they saw the script, they knew it was sh1t and so decided to deflect from it being sh1t by using the old "racism" card.

This is why they promoted Disa so much for marketing (so far she's been in it for about 5 mins out of 3+ hours) - so they could point to racism for any criticism .. pathetic.

And ironically - so far she's been one of the best characters :D

TomSweeney · 09-09-2022 11:33pm

As for the episode , some good parts and visuals looked good - I did like Numenor, and the elf/orc stuff is decent - Warg looked ok too.

Problem is the god awful dialog - "The sea is always right - THE SEA IS ALWAYS RIGHT"

And the "Hobbits" praying, jesus it was awful cringe.

Such a shame they couldn't hire decent writers with good CV's for this show, it is a missed opportunity.

Believe it or not , I actually want this show to be good .

liamtech · 10-09-2022 8:07am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119598301#Comment_119598301

"The sea is always right - THE SEA IS ALWAYS RIGHT"

But we must never forget also that a stone, sinks. Into the sea (which is always right) - because it looks down (into the sea which is always right) - where as a boat, looks up (away from the sea, therefore, a boat is wrong to do so...)?

I mean im obviously joking, yet. I think this highlights the lousy dialogue of the show in general. The writers perhaps admire Tolkien, but when they try and imitate him - it is so far off the mark as to become embarrassing.

Tolkiens writings were beautiful and poetic - When these writers try and imitate him, they come across as parody.

PhiloCypher · 10-09-2022 10:37am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119598301#Comment_119598301

I thought the harfoot remembrance scene was pretty sweet tbh. They're pretty much nailing the Hobbit/shire vibe for me . Did you find the Hobbits scenes equally cringe in Lotr , I remember Sam wise having some equally sentimental scenes . Are you perhaps letting your dislike for the entire enterprise sour even the most inoffensive moments for you ?

johnny_ultimate · 10-09-2022 11:09am

Solid third episode.

While there’s no doubt this series has taken generous ‘inspiration’ from the Jackson version of Middle Earth, I do like how it has so far been consistently expanding on the world. It’d have been easy to just indulge in the ol’ ‘’memberberries’ and play the hits. But they’re building on the world - while it’s still familiar, it’s also new. Even the Harfoots - so obviously designed and centred to emulate hobbits - have their own very different culture and way-of-life that’s being nicely realised in both story and design terms.

Still looks the part, although there’s no doubt the seams are there. The CG in the boat sequence, for example, felt flat despite all the cinematic movement of the camera. It’s still a few steps above the likes of House of the Dragon in the technical sense, but does have the same often excessively CG sheen of a lot of modern big budget film. Thankfully it is nicely balanced with some more practical filmmaking too, and things like the epic landscape shots integrate CG in a way that does make the world seem bigger and more epic than it otherwise would.

I’m curious how the various plots now being explored will ultimately converge… or whether they will at all. While there is a broad overarching story, I’m wondering whether this’ll be a season-long case of slowly bringing some of the principle players together, or whether we can expect the stories and characters to remain largely separate from each other. Both approaches come with benefits and drawbacks, so interested to see where they settle. While I think the show’s now done a good job setting up each individual stories (although it took three episodes to get there with the orcs / Arondir plot) there’s still plenty of big picture stuff that remains elusive for now. Like other multi-thread TV shows it’s already finding itself having to leave some pivotal characters and plotlines aside for entire episodes.

It’s still a long way away from being upper-tier television, but on the basis of the most recent episodes of each I’m enjoying this more than I am HotD (which suffers a lot more from struggling to meaningfully expand on what we’ve already seen in GoT).

liamtech · 10-09-2022 11:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119599215#Comment_119599215

I dislike the harfoots - The song, stating they never leave anyone behind, is kinda undermined by their subsequent reading of a list of harfoots, who were explicitly left behind .

I know i appear extremely negative - and yes probably so. But here are the things i LIKE about the show, just for context -

The elvish Occupation of Morder, which was obviously untainted by evil, at least until episode 3. The coming of the Orcs and their tunneling - im hoping we properly end season one with Mordor turning towards what it will become.
The mark being a map - it was hinted at, and there was speculation. But i enjoyed how the revelation cut back to Mordor itself
Numenor is decent, and i find myself hoping we remain there for a time. (im interested in the lore, which depending on timeline, suggests that Numinor is rather corrupted at this time)

Tony EH · 10-09-2022 12:02pm

I dunno. Just not getting much from this at all. It doesn't feel anything like Tolkien to me. Mind you, Jackson's movies never really felt like Tolkien to me much either. More like a satisfactory "interpretation" of it, but I spose that's what it was always going to be. This show, however, just feels off.

I absolutely loathe the Harfoot storyline. It's unbelievably dull, even for a relatively dull show over all. The only thing it has that's of any interest is who Oren really is*. But everything else to do with it is a crashing bore. The Harfoot (Harfeet?) themselves are the worst TV iteration of anything Tolkien I've yet seen.

Seeing the Numenor was fine, I guess, but that felt more 'Game of Thrones' than anything else and this version of Galadriel still isn't doing it for me, even if I couldn't care less about her wearing armour and leading an army at some point during her 8000+ year lifespan. But Clark's line delivery is just grating on me at this point and the full time stroppy mare act is absolutely tiresome. But, in general, the acting has been quite poor which is really something for a TV show that has cost an obscene amount of money.

The orcs were OK? But maybe that's because they were the only things in the episode that felt like they were from Middle Earth. Everyone else just feels too human. The Elves in this show are just people with pointy ears and the Harfoot are terrible, terrible, stagey Oirish cliches. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they all hopped into Wanderly Wagons for their migration. But the only real Tolkienesque culture we've seen so far has been the Dwarves, and even that had its issues.

I'll probably stick it out for the next 5 episodes, unless something catastrophic happens, but I don't see myself sticking with this for multiple seasons. It's a slow burn, for sure, but three hours in an it's all been incredibly unexciting.

*When we see Adar come toward the camera at the end, even if he's out of focus, it looks like the same actor. Joseph Mawle.

BruteStock · 10-09-2022 12:56pm

The escape from the orcs scene was good but was a letdown in the end as it lead nowhere except a Cliffhanger for the next episode. Find a better way to introduce blurred face guy. The storytelling is basic.

Saying that it doesn't suck. It's watchable, but then forgettable.

I would say the harfoots are easily the worst part of the show. Horrible creatures.

Loafing Oaf · 10-09-2022 1:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119599521#Comment_119599521

Everyone else just feels too human. The Elves in this show are just people with pointy ears

That so struck me watching the Elrond/Celebrimbor scenes; they could easily be two moderately successful building contractors talking about their new project and trying to arrange a meeeting with a brilliant but eccentric craftsman one of them knows....

Brian? · 10-09-2022 1:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119599735#Comment_119599735

The Harfoots, although weird, are definitely not the worst part of the show IMO. At least they are novel and doing something interesting.

If they took out the Galadriel storyline the show would be hugely improved.

The White Wolf · 10-09-2022 2:33pm

Galadriel and the Harfoots are a liability to this show. When not focusing on them it actually feels like LOTR. I didn’t even finish this episode. Might return to it once all the episodes are available.

silverharp · 10-09-2022 7:00pm

its a really badly written show, nothing is naturally setup, its just one contrivance after another, for example the tree in that orc pit/tunnel or whatever it is, every other tree is cut down in the area, but they needed that tree so it could be part of the setup, and how did his friends end up being captured alive by the orcs? they went off the other way and when did orcs become vampires randomly lol. Then with Galadriel pretty much everything is off, how is one expected to believe that a 5000 year old Elf who was friends with higher beings in the past just comes across as graduating from Karen college and actually wanted to see the manager, she is patronising and unlikeable. The harfoots story line that you get left behind if you dont keep up, apart from making them comes across as asshats who dont care about their own people, again doesnt make sense, once the broken foot heals, they could catch up.

I cant see how its redeemable , it might speed up but hey wont suddenly start writing good lines and better constructed setups

odyssey06 · 10-09-2022 7:11pm

Do the elves speak so slowly and deliberately because they are immortal and have plenty of time for such things along with over-elaborate pronunciations?

When Galadriel is speaking to Numenoreans she comes across as a beat slower... maybe it's a deliberate direction to emphasize differences?

PhiloCypher · 10-09-2022 11:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119600992#Comment_119600992

One man's contrivance is another man's fiction, we don't need to know how the Elf got there anymore then we need to see Kirk go for a **** to know the Enterprise has toilets, we can infer. The Orcs have been busy little beavers and have Tunnels everywhere and clearly managed to ambush them. If they were to spoon-feed us every little thing for fear of being accused of contrivances the show would be even slower paced then it already is, which surely nobody wants . As for the Orcs, they've never liked the Sun , it's why Surumans Urak Orcs in LoTR were so special, they didn't have an aversion to sunlight.

As for Galadriel...no you're right about that , she's a total Karen atm. But I'd imagine the intention is to soften her as the seasons go on so she's on her way to being the more Zen Cate Blanchett version by the end of the series.

Darth Melkor · 11-09-2022 12:32pm

Have watched three episodes. I'm not sure if I'll continue to watch. The visuals are excellent. I thought they did a good job with Khazad dum and sailing into Numenor. My wife is enjoying it. However I feel it is confusing me. Its a pity that they didn't make a show set in the fourth age during the reign of King Elessar. They have mangled the character of Galadriel, the Harfoots are annoying but also I am trying to get my head around the timeline..it doesn't seem to make sense. It's been years since I read the books but I feel that they're compressing thousands of years in some parts but still roughly following some sort of chronology. Is Numenor currently meant to be under the leadership of Ar Pharazon? They definitely have been inspired by Kings Landing for the daily life in Numenor scenes.

The White Wolf · 11-09-2022 3:40pm

Galadriel in episode 3 was honestly reminiscent of Dany in season 2 of Game of Thrones. In other words her worst season bar the end of the series.

Bafflingly arrogant with no political nous, yet there is an excuse for Dany. Galadriel is meant to be a seasoned warrior based on the lore of the show yet goes on like a child.

BruteStock · 11-09-2022 5:04pm

Remember in episode 1 they say - "we harfoots stick together, we're safe" ..

Well the writers kinda forgot about that cos in episode 3 when they migrate, it's shown they leave people behind to perish if they can't keep up

https://youtu.be/Foihgti2lHU

is_that_so · 11-09-2022 5:52pm

Really hard to see where this is going, although there are now a few more recognisable characters from the tale of the One ring, except that it's still all about Galadriel. It's baffling that she alone of all the incredibly smart elves has spotted what's going on in the Southlands and from far across the sea. The Halbrand reveal is pretty underwhelming. The Harfoots storyline is just dreary, irrelevant and frankly awful writing and the sooner they caravan off stage left the better. All things considered it's really not getting any better.

nix · 11-09-2022 5:59pm

C'mon guys, Galadriel is only like 1500 years old in ROP.. thats gotta be like 13 in human years right? perfectly normal to still be acting the brat 🤭

Nody · 11-09-2022 6:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119604457#Comment_119604457

No, she was 1500 when the age started, the second age was 3441 years and if we cut that in half (since the timelines are compressed) she'd be around 3200 years and she leaves at the age of 8000 so yea...

Loafing Oaf · 11-09-2022 6:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119603075#Comment_119603075

It's been years since I read the books but I feel that they're compressing thousands of years in some parts but still roughly following some sort of chronology. Is Numenor currently meant to be under the leadership of Ar Pharazon?

My memories of the books are hazy like yours but I was aware this was the major departure from Tolkien's timeline. Just looked it up there and the rings of power were forged over 1500 years before King Parazone's reign. I'll wait and see thoughy, maybe they'll be able to tie it all up in a way that remains true to the spirit of JRRT

seraphimvc · 11-09-2022 8:57pm

Watched 3 episodes in one go and I had to fast forward for many moments - this is some excruciating painful experience lmao. So ya I am going to drop it here. The visuals and soundtracks are great but other than that, the acting, plot, writing etc are non-existent.

I now understand why they didn't bother to get the right of Silmarillion - because spending actual effort to adapt the source material is just too damn hard and it is way easier to just make **** up to tag on whatever from the beloved LotR trilogy ('hobbits', female frodo sam, gandalf, sauron etc) to bait people to watch. There are so much to explore and worthy to spend money to tell the stories from the First Age and Second Age ffs - but nope, they made this into a generic Karen revenge drama.

The dialogues - are literally words that make no sense and have no purpose to tell any story/plot - literally designed to drag on the screen time.

So ya we all expected this and House of the Dragon (HOTD) are some quick cash grab - somehow HOTD surprised and impressed me (it is very hard to **** up when they have the complete source material this time around...). For fantasy fans out there, I would recommend go watch HOTD instead.

corkie · 11-09-2022 9:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119581181#Comment_119581181

I know I requested a gif/meme for that but this will have to suffice?

Galadriel Feels Conflicted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-XWIqm-DzY

If they ever make a new series of this, she probably be good at doing this as well?

silverharp · 12-09-2022 6:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119605374#Comment_119605374

Reminds me of one of the faces Sheldon pulls in Big Bang Theory

pjohnson · 12-09-2022 8:38am

Yeah for the amount of money spent you'd think they'd have actually found a good cast but most of the actors are quite poor.

AMKC · 12-09-2022 8:59am

I actually thought the 3rd episode was really good. The 2nd episode was a bit boring and the 1st episode was good. I love the way they do the World building and go from one kingdom to the next. How far before the LOTRs films is this set?

is_that_so · 12-09-2022 10:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119599215#Comment_119599215

There is plenty of source material in LOTR and the Hobbit to present such scenes and they are really not out of place from the Sam character. Jackson did paint a very convincing image of The Shire. The Harfoots, on the other hand, are there to provide a thematic link through the film cycles so that viewers can say "ah Hobbits" just like they recognise Galadriel. They have little reference in Tolkien and absolutely no part to play in this Age at all. They are also a really terrible distraction from wherever the story is going.

silverharp · 12-09-2022 10:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119606760#Comment_119606760

I assume female Frodo and female Sam will head off on their own adventure either in this or a future series?

is_that_so · 12-09-2022 10:34am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119606780#Comment_119606780

Probably not, once this completes! Short of remakes of LOTR in the distant future think cinema and TV are done with Tolkien.

odyssey06 · 12-09-2022 12:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119606449#Comment_119606449

It is set an era before the events of LOTR. If you remember the flashbacks to Isildur in LOTR and how the ring was lost... this is set in that period.

silverharp · 12-09-2022 12:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119606804#Comment_119606804

I just remember she had some lines about curiosity about the outside world so there might be a side quest involving the 2?

Dufflecoat Fanny · 12-09-2022 1:24pm

I noticed the seeders for the most popular episode of House of the Dragon is more than double the most popular episode of The Rings of Scour. No meddling with ratings when it comes to the demand of torrents.

silverharp · 12-09-2022 1:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119607727#Comment_119607727

Samba TV had a X2.5 in favor of House of the Dragon in 1st 4 days, also more people watched House of the Dragon E02 while ROP was down ~20% so they couldnt be arsed hitting the button for the follow on episode

thomas 123 · 12-09-2022 1:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119606760#Comment_119606760

A thematic link? Lmao, the two main hobbits look, act and sound like Frodo and Sam. The more I think about it the more it irks me.

sekiro · 12-09-2022 2:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119605336#Comment_119605336

Who knows what kind of agreements and legal red tape is in place regarding the rights to all of this stuff. I have no idea.

It really seems like if they have the rights to so little then they should have just not bothered.

Given the title of the show and what we've heard about them having rights to the 2nd age you still have to wonder what the hell they are thinking at times.

The 2nd age is 3,000+ years so they obviously decided to fit that into 5 seasons of TV they would need to compress it all. That's a bit silly though. Why not just focus on a single major event, create a 2 season TV show and then move on to another thing? Compressing it all down is guaranteed to lose fans so why bother?

We know that the 2nd age will end with The Last Alliance of Elves and Men. We know that Elendil, Gil-Galad, Isildur, Elrond and Sauron will all be present for this and there will be an epic showdown etc. So the writers of this show decide to make Galadriel their main character? Why? Then they also decide to start messing about with not-Hobbits for their own reasons. Again, it makes little sense.

The main events of the 2nd age are Sauron convincing Celebrimbor to create the rings of power, the war of the elves and Sauron, the Numenoreans capture Sauron, Numenoreans sail to the blessed realm after being corrupted by Sauron, the world is made round and Numenor is sunk, the war of the Last Alliance.

So far the show hasn't really given much screen time to any of the major players in any of this which does raise a question of exactly what they have the rights to.

Galadriel, with her husband and her daughter, has long been established in Rivendell before the one ring is even forged and long before Elendil is even born but here we are in the show with the two characters out of place sharing screentime. Similarly, the banning of contact with elves in Numenor happens after the rings have been made and after the Nazgul have appeared but before Sauron has been captured.

The writing here is all over the place. The lore is chopped up and scattered around and I think they do not have any idea what they are doing.

I suppose it's sexist to say so but the handling of Galadriel here is just ridiculous. You really have to question the thinking behind it. As a character she should really be a side character in the story. With the main characters encountering her in much the same way as in the LOTR movies. She is a ruler. Instead they have her running around slaying trolls and attempting to swim incredibly long distances!

SURELY the most intriguing part of the 2nd Age is Sauron being captured after causing centuries of havoc in Middle-Earth but then he orchestrates the destruction of Numenor and the changing of the entire world. Yet we are spending hours focused on pretty boring stuff with a bunch of completely irrelevant characters. In a sense, the 2nd age is the story of Sauron.

Why create a TV show with the Lord of the Rings name to almost immediately turn round and say "honestly though if you do like LOTR you might hate this, if you care about Tolkien stuff at all it's just going to look like one big disjointed mess"? Why even bother?

Sleepy · 12-09-2022 2:49pm

As someone who's never read Tolkien (I gave up after about a chapter of The Hobbit as a teenager because I thought it was drivel) and who enjoyed the LOTR trilogy although I felt it would have been better if the Hobbits had been written out of large chunks of the story - I found Frodo's whinging more irritating than inspiring - and never made it past the first film in The Hobbit trilogy (honestly the only thing I was positive about in the entire film was the Dwarves singing) I'm coming to this as someone who's paid scant attention to the marketing bumf and and hand-wringing clickbait about the "Irish" accents of the harfoots being racist...

I'm only 2 episodes in but so far I'm enjoying it.

liamtech · 12-09-2022 2:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119605336#Comment_119605336

I couldnt agree more - this is a fiction set in middle earth - The deranged excuses being thrown about are also becoming tired. As is the STILL UNDERWAY Smear campaign against criticism.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119606760#Comment_119606760

If im not mistaken, the only reference to Hobbits in the Second Age - is that they exist. Where as obviously we can point to Galadriel as having been warped out of recognition. She at least plays a part in the proper lore. Everything in the Hobbit plot is made up .. excuse me... 'original content'

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119607256#Comment_119607256

The timeline is totally warped. Its set in the second age, for sure. But they have taken events, and people, from throughout this 3 thousand year period, and have jammed them together... It would be like watching a historical based show, involving Caesar, Napolean, Henry VIII, and a young Hitler. Depending on which RINGS OF POWER plot thread you look at, the rings should already exist, as should the one ring. And a war should be underway

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608154#Comment_119608154

I agree.

My own opinion. There are only a few components keeping this show together, and alive

The Spin (criticism is all racist and misogynistic)
The frankly embarrassing reviews talking about how utterly amazing it is (see below for the most cringe inducing review)
The budget (Amazon may in fact accept a loss, rather than publicly accept failure)
Those that continue to watch - i understand that we wont have legitimate viewing figures for a while (we may not get any in fact) - the figures are being enhanced by having LOTR-TROP 'auto play', when one finishes anything on Amazon Prime - thats apparently where the figure of 25 million came from

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/aug/31/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-review-so-astounding-it-makes-house-of-the-dragon-look-amateur

Title of the above article : The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power review – so astounding it makes House of the Dragon look amateur

It cannot hold a torch to HOTD - The fact that any professional author could pen the above, and stand by its publication is astounding.

thomas 123 · 12-09-2022 3:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608154#Comment_119608154

Attempting to swim distances even though she was saved from "CERTAIN DEATH" - another great line and even better decison making from the main character. Lucky that second ship came along to save her after the first one got eaten.

I think there was a big missed opportunity to show how the elves in the Southlands got captured, could have been some battle or skirmish, but instead they just appear beside our main guy who "Had" to go down the tunnel for no apparent reason - leaving his lover fend for herself.

sekiro · 12-09-2022 3:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608357#Comment_119608357

Also she gets to Numenor and demands a ship. So she wasn't planning to swim all the way when she jumped off that ship two episodes back? She's capable of swimming all the way if she has to but it would be better to have a ship?

The whole Galadriel story arc stemming from the fact that she jumped off a boat 100s of miles from land planning to swim the entire way back to Middle-Earth is kind of hilarious. Why didn't they just do a rewrite? It's the equivalent of deciding to walk home from work then the first petrol station you pass you decide to steal a car because there's no way you can get home on foot. Ah, but the CGI looks fantastic!

Tony EH · 12-09-2022 3:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608281#Comment_119608281

Frankly, this series seems to be made for people like you, and I don't mean that as a slight. It's the Tolkien fans that seem to be the ones most up in arms about what this series is and where it appears to be going. The "casuals" appear to be enjoying it more.

It's relatively clear that this series is meant to be aimed at people who liked Peter Jackson's movies as opposed to the people who buried their heads in Tolkien's work.

12-09-2022 3:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608416#Comment_119608416

I like the movies but I’ve no time for this at all. I ditched E3 half way through and will have to see if I go back. It’s got nothing of the grit and atmosphere of the movies, or the books for the matter, and some of the acting and is laughable. It’s just so light….nothing to hold your attention. I’ll probably persevere, but not without pauses to go off and watch something else.

Ive not got sky. Is House of Dragons similar?

Brian? · 12-09-2022 3:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608154#Comment_119608154

It’s like they’ve taken characters we know and put them in a completely different world. There’s a brilliant story to be told and they’ve gone for this. It’s bizarre.

The literally could have made 2 seasons out of Sauron tricking Celebrimbor up until he convinces ar Pharzon to sail west.

sekiro · 12-09-2022 3:33pm

Obviously it's not for anyone to tell others what they should and should not like.

I do think it's strange that this thing is marketed as "Lord of the Rings" but really doesn't attempt at all to do anything with Tolkien's lore. So it's really Tolkien for people who don't know enough about Tolkien to know that it's not really Tolkien.

Just makes me ask why they even bought the rights if they aren't going to do anything decent with it.

I guess it would kind of be like if myself and a friend went to a Radiohead concert and I am a big fan of the band but they don't really know much about Radiohead. The show is about to start and Chris Martin from Coldplay comes out on stage with Matt Bellamy from Muse and they do covers of Radiohead songs for two hours. I am standing there thinking "what the hell is this" but my friend is smiling saying "actually I am really enjoying it". They did play their own versions of Radiohead songs but it's not really a Radiohead concert from my perspective but my friend who just assumed that they were Radiohead is none the wiser.

That's kind of how I feel about this now. It's Amazon using the lure of LOTR and Tolkien's name to get people to pay for subscriptions but anyone with even a passing knowledge of the lore can see that it's just not Tolkien at all. I get that movies and shows always need to take some liberties when making adaptations. This is beyond ridiculous though.

I think I'm out. If they manage to go all the way to season 5 and it ends up with a stellar reputation then I might pick it up again someday. Personally I would love to see this just be a thing that years from now people will say "we don't mention Amazon's disastrous attempt to create an LOTR show". It's horrible.

Sleepy · 12-09-2022 3:34pm

No slight taken at all, those who are heavily invested in the source material are almost always going to find most at fault in the filming of any novel as they've already cast and directed it in their minds eye. I was similarly invested in ASOIAF and while delighted with the earlier seasons of Game of Thrones, my love for the adaptation quickly turned to derision as the showrunners deviated further and further from the source material.

I just thought a "casuals" view of the show might be a worthwhile contribution to the thread as I'd know many, many more people who enjoyed Jackson's LOTR trilogy than I would people who've read The Silmarillion or enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy!

UrbanFret · 12-09-2022 3:41pm

I have never watched any of the lord of the rings movies or read any of the books but i have watched this and i find it quite enjoyable except for the Harfoots whom I find childish in the extreme.

Tony EH · 12-09-2022 3:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608459#Comment_119608459

Haven't a clue.

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