Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-1202606519/

okay that was attempt #2 and i got thread glitched again, i give up.

I'm gonna be nice and help you out: do not paste the title into the title box. Type it out.

Also: this is lame. These folk do know there are other stories in that universe besides the tale about the ring, right?

Fixed the title because OP can’t even do that right.

SMH.

Like I said before...there are other stories to tackle. Gimme some 1st age shiznit.

Originally posted by Impediment
Fixed the title because OP can’t even do that right.

SMH.

thanks uhuh

There's already like 9+ hours worth of movies for LotR.

And even if it's done well I don't think it would have nearly the same amount of intrigue as Game of Thrones.

They could tell the story of Morgoth. It would be cool to see Feanor.

I'm up for it, but it will probably spend years in development he'll before we get anything due to rights wrangling with the Tolkiens

If they do a new story and if it's done well this could be pretty sweet

Originally posted by Surtur
They could tell the story of Morgoth. It would be cool to see Feanor. The Silmarillion could possibly be done

Watch this be nothing but "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", and other characters no one ever asked to learn about or care for.

I hope "preceding Fellowship" doesn't mean the years just immediately before the War of the Ring. I can't imagine anyone wants to watch the exact same characters, played by younger actors, go off on adventures that the writers have to make-up, like the Shadow of Mordor games. Actually no, there's probably too many people who wouldn't discern that huge drop in quality.


But I would watch with glee a Rome-style gritty imagining of The Sexy Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

interesting

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
I hope "preceding Fellowship" doesn't mean the years just immediately before the War of the Ring. I can't imagine anyone wants to watch the exact same characters, played by younger actors, go off on adventures that the writers have to make-up, like the Shadow of Mordor games. Actually no, there's probably too many people who wouldn't discern that huge drop in quality.


But I would watch with glee a Rome-style gritty imagining of The Sexy Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

Awhile back the Amazon CEO said he wanted a GoT-style show. If I had to guess, I'm assuming this will deal with the fall of Arnor or perhaps the kinstrife and other events of Gondor history. Either of them would allow for political intrigue and the like.

That's gonna require the invention of personal storylines, characters, characters arcs, dialogue, and plot that don't come from a Tolkien place. Nailing that down is gonna be super hard. GoT-style... f*ck. How many rewrites of the pilot episode are gonna have the word 'f*ck' in it? Or some t*ts. Or some really shitty, forced, uninteresting drama between sexy elf A and sexy man B? No wait, that was the Hobbit...


F*ck they're gonna just copy the Hobbit.

Ancalagon the Black would be cool to see.

I'm kind of excited about this. Could be very cool if done right. That's a big if, though.

Wow if this is actually happening I'm amped.

It will ultimately all depend on if they hire the right creative team to spearhead the project. Gotta get the best in the business to not fuk this up.

So Christopher resigned as the head of the Tolkien Estate.

Suddenly, everything is explained.

Who's in charge now? Oh God, it's Kathleen Kennedy isn't it? We've given you enough Kate, what more can you want?!

Apparently, Amazon has committed to five seasons and is expected to spend over a billion on this series... Christ.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/how-lord-rings-tv-series-landed-at-amazon-not-netflix-1099213

I wish amazon was adapting a different fantasy series rather then attempt to create some fan-fiction set in ME.

Also reporting that Peter Jackson may produce.

I really really really want this to be good. A middle earth TV show could be so damn cool. I just hope they put some of that budget into hiring world class writers/directors and not just CGI, costumes and environment.

F*ck yes! With over 200million being the budget per season, I'd expect some fairly top notch writers, directors and actors.

So they revealed the title:

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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Fairly decent "trailer". Apparently the voice over is done by the new Galadriel actress. Quite a downgrade from Cate Blanchett. Hopefully she does better in the show proper.

Yeah agreed, that voice didn't do it for me, didn't carry any weight. Not sure if it's the voice itself or because Blanket did it so well and it's what's been ingrained in my head as proper.

Still f**king hyped over this. They better not sodomize it like they did with The Wheel of Time.

I'm starting to feel the hype as well despite my reservations.

Agreed, the voice isn't great.

Originally posted by ares834
I'm starting to feel the hype as well despite my reservations.


https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/60116417.jpg

I wish it wasn't. I know it's likely going to suck. Heck, since it's LotR, even if it's merely mediocre I'll be disappointed.

Won't be watching...


Tom Bombadil's Songs - First line: Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dildo -or some ****ing twee shite.

You know you're going to end up watching it because it's LoTR and that was written by a proper Englishmen and Englishmen are into Englishmen

I always thought the movies were highly over-rated. Whatever though. Maybe the tv show would somehow be better

Originally posted by Robtard
You know you're going to end up watching it because it's LoTR and that was written by a proper Englishmen and Englishmen are into Englishmen I read the books, lost tales, silmarillion, Hobbit when very young, then read Dune, the Saga of exiles, Thomas Covenant etc snd realised Lord of the rings is overated the films were too long and part of my life i will never get back. Give me Conan over Hobbits dwarves and elves any day. Hed have sorted all these magic problems out in no time and not touched anyones ring, unless it was an elven girl that is.Originally posted by Stringer
I always thought the movies were highly over-rated. Whatever though. Maybe the tv show would somehow be better Agreed

Now a proper Conan show... that should happen. Could be epic with the right directors, writers, actors.

Originally posted by cdtm
Watch this be nothing but "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", and other characters no one ever asked to learn about or care for. Tom Bombadil is a ****ing treasure.

Originally posted by Robtard
Now a proper Conan show... that should happen. Could be epic with the right directors, writers, actors.


Did you ever see the live action TV show from the 90's? It was so bad it actually improves if you watch it in black and white, the hammy acting and effects feel right at home.

v7v1hIkYH24

Trailer is out.

Not much here but it looks more Hobbit than LotR...

this looks good

"Something Something wokeness

Something Something WAAAAAAAA!!!"

- The usual suspects

Not a fan of this dwarf queen idea - she's just being shoehorned in the show for no reason. Completely unnecessary.

Has Amazon released any statement concerning the show's ties (or the lack of them) to Jackson's trilogies?

This looks so bland and terrible.

https://i.redd.it/h60pdrz4v4d81.jpg

Preview looks good, will definitely check it out.

It's set thousands of years before Jackson's LoTR and Hobbit trilogies. In Middle-earth's Second Age, when the rings where forged and then everything went to shit.

We're likely going to see the great battle of the "last alliance between Elves and Men", where Sauron was defeated. Could be epic.

Shame they're using such heavy CGI effects like The Hobbit rather than the more practical effects of the original trilogy.

I'm looking forward to all the deviations from the established lore. Useless original characters, Galadriel Warrior Princess, black elf, and beardless dwarf lady were my favourite parts of the appendices. I really like the casting choices they made for Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad too, whoever those f*cking established characters are.

The dwarf princess does actually have facial hair if you look closely. Just can't see it well in that photo because of the lighting. Mutton chops.

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
This looks so bland and terrible.

Originally posted by Robtard
Now a proper Conan show... that should happen. Could be epic with the right directors, writers, actors. Good god yes, **** the Witcher. Let's go to the main vein.Originally posted by samhain
Did you ever see the live action TV show from the 90's? It was so bad it actually improves if you watch it in black and white, the hammy acting and effects feel right at home. I found it unwatchable Sam.Originally posted by Jmanghan
Tom Bombadil is a ****ing treasure. durpalm

Originally posted by BackFire
The dwarf princess does actually have facial hair if you look closely. Just can't see it well in that photo because of the lighting. Mutton chops. Ahh, we've all snagged worse.

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
I'm looking forward to all the deviations from the established lore. Useless original characters, Galadriel Warrior Princess, black elf, and beardless dwarf lady were my favourite parts of the appendices. I really like the casting choices they made for Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad too, whoever those f*cking established characters are.

It's only going to get worse. Apparently, Amazon doesn't even have the rights to the Silmarillion. Everything in this show is based only on LotR and its appendices




NOOOO!!! HOW DARE YOU INSULT THOSE POOR MEGACORPS THAT ARE BASTARDIZING BELOVED PROPERTIES FOR A QUICK BUCK!!!

Never understood why people get so angry when someone else doesn't like a show or film they like.

It's not like I need the haters' approval to enjoy something, or potentially enjoy something as is the case here. Do fear this is going to get the Wheel of Time treatment though, cos that's mostly just dirty ass.

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
Just for you, baby. I'll watch it for you.

i will blow ur horn of Gondor

Originally posted by ares834
It's only going to get worse. Apparently, Amazon doesn't even have the rights to the Silmarillion. Everything in this show is based only on LotR and its appendices

That is correct. It's hardly news. Peter Jackson had the same problem.

That's why they're introducing plenty of "extras" such as that black dwarf queen and Isildur's sister and so on.

Originally posted by Robtard
We're likely going to see the great battle of the "last alliance between Elves and Men", where Sauron was defeated. Could be epic.

Watch the beginning of FotR. You're welcome. Amazon is not topping that and they know it.

Don't really have high hopes for this show TBH, I'll watch but in the same way you might watch a child relative sing or do a backflip or something.

'That's nice/impressive.'

Then I'll carry on with my life.

The worst thing about it is that it's being made by Amazon, the most evil corporation on the planet.

Bezos is like Smaug

Originally posted by samhain
Bezos is like Smaug Sam, Bezos' is like a slang term for Vagina ending in T also.

Originally posted by StiltmanFTW


Watch the beginning of FotR. You're welcome. Amazon is not topping that and they know it.

I have watched it.. What we could get is more of it with more backstory. Amazon could definitely top it if they throw enough money and talented people at it.

But you're probably right, if it happens, it likely won't compare. I'm still reeling with what they did with the Wheel of Time series.

When is this going to air?

September 2nd 2022

thanks rob

Originally posted by Robtard
I have watched it.. What we could get is more of it with more backstory. Amazon could definitely top it if they throw enough money and talented people at it.

But you're probably right, if it happens, it likely won't compare. I'm still reeling with what they did with the Wheel of Time series.

See, it's the "backstory" I'm concerned about.

What we know so far? That the show is gonna be full with filler-type characters entirely made up by Amazon. Diverse cast for no other reason than to appeal to SJW fanatics.

Getting all of the rights from the Tolkien Estate is next to impossible... and they don't want to touch Peter Jackson's work, as they know damn well they can't match any of it. They want to be considered "canon-adjacent" to it, if possible.

Jackson had the luxury of working with the dream-cast that devoted their hearts to it, back when the Internet wasn't widely available.

Amazon just wants to get more money for the already richest creature in the world with no soul.

Originally posted by StiltmanFTW
See, it's the "backstory" I'm concerned about.

What we know so far? That the show is gonna be full with filler-type characters entirely made up by Amazon. Diverse cast for no other reason than to appeal to SJW fanatics.

Getting all of the rights from the Tolkien Estate is next to impossible... and they don't want to touch Peter Jackson's work, as they know damn well they can't match any of it. They want to be considered "canon-adjacent" to it, if possible.

Jackson had the luxury of working with the dream-cast that devoted their hearts to it, back when the Internet wasn't widely available.

Amazon just wants to get more money for the already richest creature in the world with no soul.

Come on now, is a darker skinned guy playing an elf really a problem? I'd be concerned about the acting skills of the actors and the writing being good than aesthetics like skin color or gender.

Just odd whenever there's not White actors cast, it's somehow automatically "SJW" stuff. What if the brown skinned guy just nailed the role during casting?

eg Look at The Wheel of Time series, cast with several people who could barely act, was poorly written and it had nothing to do with "SJW" appeal.

I have no problem with new/original story being mixed in as long as it's A) flows well with the LoTR theme and B) it's good to great writing.

I'm no fan of Bezos, but if this turns out to be dirty ass, I'll stop watching, it's that easy. We live in a time where there's an over abundance of television to watch.

Originally posted by Robtard
Come on now, is a darker skinned guy playing an elf really a problem? I'd be concerned about the acting skills of the actors and the writing being good than aesthetics like skin color or gender.

Just odd whenever there's not White actors cast, it's somehow automatically "SJW" stuff. What if the brown skinned guy just nailed the role during casting?

eg Look at The Wheel of Time series, cast with several people who could barely act, was poorly written and it had nothing to do with "SJW" appeal.

I have no problem with new/original story being mixed in as long as it's A) flows well with the LoTR theme and B) it's good to great writing.

I'm no fan of Bezos, but if this turns out to be dirty ass, I'll stop watching, it's that easy. We live in a time where there's an over abundance of television to watch.

Don't forget about the clean-shaven dwarf queen looking like Amanda Waller facepalm

It is a problem when it feels forced. And keep in mind I'm complaining about Isildur's sister, too.

For the record, Jackson also added some characters that never appeared in the books, but he was quite subtle about it.

Sure. But my point is that he at least had the material for what he was adapting and not only a small portion of it like is the case for this show. Now they were always going to have to make a good deal of fanfic for a Second Age show, but without the Sil they're going to have to make up (and contradict) far more than I initially thought.

Originally posted by StiltmanFTW
Don't forget about the clean-shaven dwarf queen looking like Amanda Waller facepalm

It is a problem when it feels forced. And keep in mind I'm complaining about Isildur's sister, too.

For the record, Jackson also added some characters that never appeared in the books, but he was quite subtle about it.

While I personally would have liked to see a bearded female dwarf, that again isn't something that will break the show.

Again, I'm okay with those additions as long as it flows with LoTR themes and the end product is good to great, just like Jackson's vision was.

Come Sept I'm walking into this as "inspired by LoRT", not a verbatim adaptation of Tolkein's works. Join me, lets walk into this together, friend Stilt


Though in an ideal world, some huge company like Netflix, Amazon, HBO gets the full rights to Tolkien's works and they do a long multi-season top-tier animated series that is fully faithful to the writings. That would be epic and I'd probably jizz while watching it.

Originally posted by ares834
Sure. But my point is that he at least had the material for what he was adapting and not only a small portion of it like is the case for this show. Now they were always going to have to make a good deal of fanfic for a Second Age show, but without the Sil they're going to have to make up (and contradict) far more than I initially thought.



So far, the amount of "filler" type of characters is... worrying, to say the least. And safe to say that's just the beginning.

Originally posted by Robtard
While I personally would have liked to see a bearded female dwarf, that again isn't something that will break the show.

Again, I'm okay with those additions as long as it flows with LoTR themes and the end product is good to great, just like Jackson's vision was.

Come Sept I'm walking into this as "inspired by LoRT", not a verbatim adaptation of Tolkein's works. Join me, lets walk into this together, friend Stilt


Though in an ideal world, some huge company like Netflix, Amazon, HBO gets the full rights to Tolkien's works and they do a long multi-season top-tier animated series that is fully faithful to the writings. That would be epic and I'd probably jizz while watching it.

It's "seven rings for the Dwarf-lords".

Not "Amanda Waller gets thrown by Superman so fast, she lands in Middle-Earth".

In an ideal world, Peter Jackson would be involved in this. At least in some way.

He's not:

https://www.nme.com/blogs/tv-blogs/lord-of-the-rings-tv-series-release-date-plot-cast-2170413

Originally posted by StiltmanFTW
The worst thing about it is that it's being made by Amazon, the most evil corporation on the planet. The Rings of Amazon.

I know it's just a trailer, but I really don't think it's encouraging at all. I hope the actual show is better.

Originally posted by -Pr-
I know it's just a trailer, but I really don't think it's encouraging at all. I hope the actual show is better.

You're one of those quiet, shy LotR fans.

What are your honest thoughts on the matter?

We have the rights solely to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, the appendices, and The Hobbit. And that is it. We do not have the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, or any of those other books.

Source: https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/02/16/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-showrunners-admit-they-dont-have-the-rights-to-the-silmarillion-or-unfinished-tales/

Originally posted by StiltmanFTW
You're one of those quiet, shy LotR fans.

What are your honest thoughts on the matter?

We have the rights solely to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, the appendices, and The Hobbit. And that is it. We do not have the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, or any of those other books.

Source: https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/02/16/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-showrunners-admit-they-dont-have-the-rights-to-the-silmarillion-or-unfinished-tales/

I can't claim to have read everything Tolkien wrote, but I feel like I've read enough by this point to not be very encouraged by it. From what I heard, they've already messed up The Wheel of Time, and if it's true what I've heard about this (condensing a thousand years worth of stories in to a short period, moving characters around to suit it etc), I'm not encouraged.

Jackson had to do the same thing (adapting the story to an extent to fit the project), so there's always the chance it'll be good, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Jackson worked in subtle ways, I'd say.

And I'm gonna quote Ares:

Originally posted by ares834
Sure. But my point is that he at least had the material for what he was adapting and not only a small portion of it like is the case for this show. Now they were always going to have to make a good deal of fanfic for a Second Age show, but without the Sil they're going to have to make up (and contradict) far more than I initially thought.

PS. Good job on the sig.

Originally posted by StiltmanFTW
Jackson worked in subtle ways, I'd say.

And I'm gonna quote Ares:



PS. Good job on the sig.

Oh, that's definitely true.

Another thing about Jackson is that, even if you complain about the lack of Tom Bombadil, Arwen getting beefed up or say, any general issues with the writing and such, the entire trilogy is absolutely full of how much Peter Jackson adored the source material he was adapting. That can make up for a lot even when other things might be lacking (look at the Mandalorian for example).

I'm not convinced the people at Amazon have the same, not even love, but respect for what it is they're making. I hope I'm wrong and it's brilliant, but yeah. The most impressive thing so far is that practical effect showing the metal in the mould for the rings.

Thank you.

This better not disappoint ! Fan fiction or whatever not it better not let Tolkien down!

Amazon taking a NetFlix style dump on LoTR?

Why must they "diversify" everything?

No news on this?

Or just no interest?

I'm looking forward to it, but it's still 3-4 months out. As it gets closer, I'm sure we'll get more news, more cheers and more tears.

i am looking forward to watching this.. as i hope this will be so good all the haters will cry

I hope this turns out well. But from what I've seen, it won't.

Bezos wanted another Game of Thrones, but GoT ran out of source material in the latter seasons and became a dumpster fire. This series is based on very little material, and has chosen to condense the timelines/add new content instead of meaningfully recreate existing Tolkien lore. The lack of books like the Silmarillion to its portfolio really hurts Amazon here too, because the best foundational stories are in that work. And without it, they're just writing name brand fanfiction. They just bought the name, and hope to profit despite committing insane amounts of money to the first season alone.


Plus between Xena-Galadriel, Second Age proto-hobbits, meteors which become people, black dwarf lady which doesn't look dwarven at all, and Elrond looking -nothing- like his LOTR equivalent doesn't speak well for the production. And them removing Tom Shippey, just to add a 'Tolkien scholar' who spends most of her time on Twitter accusing Tolkien fans of being racist really smacks of bad choices. I don't want political bullshit in my timeless high fantasy escapism masterpiece work, thanks. Keep that bullshit for the next MCU turd.

We get House of the Dragon 8/21/22 and The Rings of Power 9/02/22, hopefully at least one of them isn't pure dirty ass. Going too suck if we get two fantasy shows weeks apart and they're both shit.

I'm still butthurt over The Wheel of Time. That could have been so much better.

Originally posted by Robtard
We get House of the Dragon 8/21/22 and The Rings of Power 9/02/22, hopefully at least one of them isn't pure dirty ass. Going too suck if we get two fantasy shows weeks apart and they're both shit.

I'm still butthurt over The Wheel of Time. That could have been so much better.

I forgot about House of Dragons. I have HBO, so I may check it out.

As for Wheel of Time, I dodged a bullet there. Almost watched it.

I found out there's a 3rd fantasy show coming, Willow.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10278918/

The story began with an aspiring magician from a Nelwyn village and an infant girl destined to unite the realms, who together helped destroy an evil queen and banish the forces of darkness. Now, in a magical world where brownies, sorcerers, trolls, and other mystical creatures flourish, the adventure continues, as an unlikely group of heroes set off on a dangerous quest to places far beyond their home, where they must face their inner demons and come together to save their world

uYnQDsaxHZU

I mean, I guess it looks kind of cool? if you're a LOTR fan?

Certainly looked better than the 1st two trailers. The best entertainment from it is all the cry babies complaining about black elves and how it doesn't look how they want it to. God forbid someone interprets the visuals differently than Peter Jackson did.

Looks decent. Not at all a fan of the character who I'm guessing is supposed to be Sauron. The haircut is awful and he looks like Eminem.

Originally posted by jaden_2.0
Certainly looked better than the 1st two trailers. The best entertainment from it is all the cry babies complaining about black elves and how it doesn't look how they want it to. God forbid someone interprets the visuals differently than Peter Jackson did.

Not all interpretations are equally valid. Though, a black elf is relatively tame compared to some of the changes they are making like Isuldur having a sister or wizards arriving in meteors.

x8UAUAuKNcU

https://media2.giphy.com/media/cQtlhD48EG0SY/giphy.gif

After two pretty good trailers, this is what they drop... I hope this was just a **** up on the marketing department's part and not representative of the final product because this trailer was awful. It ruined whatever faith I had that they managed to gain from the past few trailers. I do wonder what clown chose that music. Good god.

Originally posted by jaden_2.0
uYnQDsaxHZU

Still hyped, can't wait. But also still wary that they'll Wheel of Time this.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Thomas Covenant or the Pliocene Trilogy would get me more stoked.

There's a Willow series coming out too, based on the 1998 film, maybe that High Fantasy will work for you

Some of the creatures look cool, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to go full nerd and actually watch this...

Maybe just to be a completist since I've seen all the others...

Originally posted by Robtard
There's a Willow series coming out too, based on the 1998 film, maybe that High Fantasy will work for you Nah dwarves are not my thing no matter what film evidence you have. I want fantasy a bit more Adult, I am looking forward to the Talisman, but the TV, Salem's lot with David Soul not withstanding always ruins a King Opus.

Originally posted by Old Man Whirly!
Nah dwarves are not my thing no matter what film evidence you have. I want fantasy a bit more Adult, I am looking forward to the Talisman, but the TV, Salem's lot with David Soul not withstanding always ruins a King Opus.

You dwarfist!

Didn't know Netflix was adapting another Steven King book, will look into it, thanks.

who all might watch tomorrow

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power First Reviews: 'Bold,' 'Ambitious,' 'Gorgeous,' 'Full of Grandeur,' Critics Say" - RT 8/31/21


I can't wait. My body and butthole are ready. Better not be another WoT.

Were you a fan of the books or Jackson's films or both?

Both

watched both episodes

liked the series premiere way much better than episode 2 but overall i enjoyed this although i've never read or listened to the novels.

It was fine. The visuals were outstanding but the pacing was a bit of a slog. Hopefully, it's because it's a slow burn and that there will be a ton of payoff later on not because it's simply a boring show. Unfortunately, I think it's going to be the later because so far it feels aimless.

I haven't been particularly impressed by any of the acting nor the dialogue and some of the writing was quite sloppy. Probably the worst was Elrond and Celebrimbor talking about going to Khazad-Dum and then in the very next scene they are there, dressed in the same clothes and they presumably walked all the way there by themselves.

As for the changes to the lore, there was one that I take a huge issue with. That is Gil-galad handing out pardons and allowing the elves to return to Valinor like prizes. This is such a fundamental change and it serves almost no purpose. There had to be far easier and better way to get Galadriel on her way to Numenor. There is no need to change such a huge part of the Silmarillion and to make Galadriel act like a retard (what was her plan to swim all the way back to ME? Really?).

And finally: "Looks can be deceiving." *wink*
Laying it a bit thick on there.

Better acted? Interesting?

The actor barely did any acting. Though that's no fault of his, it's because the character so far has been written to be bland and reserved.

The bland was a facade, he's clearly deeper than that, he wants to bed that human woman. Oh the miscegenation!

It could also be that I found several of the other elves kinda plastic-y. Elrond's okay though.

Haven't seen it yet, because I dread it worse than a root canal, but I did notice something very odd.

IMDB (owned by Amazon naturally) has some low reviews in its weighted score. But surprisingly, not a single user review under 5 is viewable. Not one. I find it extremely unlikely that even people just out to review bomb it would say exactly nothing.

Pretty suspicious behavior on that front.

And yet, despite Amazon's blatant manipulation of the review scores all the articles being written are about how it's being review bombed. It's always funny too how they ***** about review bombing but never note the opposite (review boosting?) and that RoP currently has more 10/10 scores than 1/10.

Watched 30mins, had enough. Lord of the rings is so boring.

It's pretty terrible. As I feared it bears little resemblance to any of Tolkien's actual works. Just a few familiar names of people and places sprinkled into it. The actual plot is just newly made up fan fiction. And bad fan fiction at that.

The dialog ranges from CW level mediocrity all the way down to cringeworthy.

Every second the Harfoots are on screen is a second you have to just suffer through.

The guy playing Elrond looks like a twink that should be staring in a film titled "Bathhouse Bottom Bitches IV"

And worst of all is Galadriel. They have taken one of the great epic characters of the Tolkien world and transformed her into a combination of Mary Sue, angry Karen, and Xena Warrior Princess. Going to be a tough go of it when people hate the character you are trying to present as the main hero of the show.

And last but not least it was just straight up boring. And I say that as a Tolkien geek who could just listen to someone read one of his books. These first two episodes were mostly just dull and unengaging. Other than mild upset at each point where they just absolutely raped the lore of Tolkien's second age storylines I felt nothing at all for this epic billion dollar fail.

So apparently we have some viewership data now.

According to Amazon it had 25 million views worldwide on the first day. Of course, without knowing the methodology they use that number is nearly useless. Even something as simple as does a person watching both episodes count as two views would make a massive difference.

On the other hands, Samba TV released their numbers. While they don't extrapolate to total number of viewers, they do allow for comparisons to other shows. RoP had 1.8 million views in households measured by Samba.

For comparison:
House of the Dragon was 4.8 million
Stanger Things Season 4 was 2.9 million
Moon Knight was 1.8 million
She-Hulk was 1.5 million
Kenobi was 2.14 million
Boog of Boba Fett was 1.5 million

So the numbers would be pretty impressive and good news for nearly any show... But not at all for the most expensive show ever made. If Samba's ratings are accurate, then RoP needs to greatly increase its audience or it will likely drastically reduce its budget going forward.

so what are people crying about now

Originally posted by BruceSkywalker
so what are people crying about now

Everything.

Originally posted by jaden_2.0
Everything.


figures

So a new episode came out and it's the best one yet though it's still merely fine.

Numenor looked amazing. And I was a huge fan of the Orc design. But there were plenty of problems as well...

The Harfoot storyline just flat out sucks. It kills any momentum the show starts to build up whenever it switches over to them.

Galadriel is also awful. They are trying to make her prideful but, instead of proud, she comes across as a petulant teen. She's this ancient elf born who has been raised amongst nobility, monarchs, and even literal gods and she can't manage an attempt at diplomacy with Numenor, not even a thank you for saving her life? It's ridiculous. The excuse is she is "young", but no she's not. She's younger than she is in LotR but she's still thousands of years old by this point and is one of the oldest beings alive in ME, far older than Gil-Galad or Elrond. Then there was that slow-mo horse riding scene... Yeesh. I have no clue how that got past QC.

And finally, the most damning flaw of all, it's just boring.

I heard this is SUPER WOKE because they hired some black actors.

OMG BLACK PEOPLE!! IT'S WOKE!!!!!

watched episode 3.. i like this show a lot.. such beautiful cinematography.. i can see why amazon spend a billion on first season

really good

sorry moron haters but season 2 starts filming oct 7

latest episode started out slow but moved as the hour went by

jfc. did they put the ENTIRE cast of "spartacus" in this? i've noticed a bunch of the same actors.

Originally posted by DeadpoolXXX
jfc. did they put the ENTIRE cast of "spartacus" in this? i've noticed a bunch of the same actors.


well they do have to get acting roles right,, lol

The thing of it is, the story doesn't need to be told. Just like The Hobbit really wasn't necessary, as it only serves as an appetizer to the main course.


I mean, we're being fed little wiener dog horderves when we already had the prime rib dinner in early 2000.

i enjoy this show.. last night's episode was freaking good

sorry morons but this show is getting 5 years...


https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/jennifer-salke-rings-of-power-amazon-five-seasons-mgm-1235392108/

Originally posted by BruceSkywalker
sorry morons but this show is getting 5 years...


https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/jennifer-salke-rings-of-power-amazon-five-seasons-mgm-1235392108/

The writing on this show is worse than I could do in '96, just saying.

EMPsH3rzgY0

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/0r2yrZ8ibc3RxTJ.GazWHw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MDtoPTUxNg--/https://media-mbst-pub-ue1.s3.amazonaws.com/creatr-uploaded-images/2020-06/033d4640-a3ef-11ea-b2bf-8b1674e2154a

watched latest episode earlier

wasn't bad but felt t coulda been a wee but better

I stopped watching episode 2, has it got better?

Lawl no.

I just binged half the season on 1.5x speed. It's like all the worst lines of dialogue from GoT were compounded and multiplied and shoved into an expensive looking house with LotR paint coating the outside. There is zero consideration for the source material, its timeline, its sequence of events, its feel, its prose. Nothing. The show is a shit Tolkien adaptation, and it's a shit fantasy show in general.

Nerd gripes to annoy your coworkers with:


Galadriel is f*cking ancient at this point, and is high royalty, not some "commander" or wandering vigilante. She and Celeborn have been married for 2,000 years and he's nowhere to be seen in the show. Or mentioned. They ruled over Eregion first, and travelled to Lothlorien when Celebrimbor took charge of Eregion. She's supposed to be freakishly insightful into people's souls and has godlike kindness and compassion, not some Karen c*nt b*tchiness. Her brother Finrod was killed by one of Sauron's werewolves (which he killed in turn), not Sauron himself. And that was over 100 years before Morgoth's defeat, not after and during a hunt for Sauron.

Lazy callbacks to the previous movies. Elrond said malt beer outside Moria, just like Gimli did! Remember that???? I clapped so hard because I remember that!

The Numenorean cavalry armor looks suspiiiiiiciously like the Rohirrim armor. The ~5,000 years separating the two distinct cultures means nothing apparently.

Mordor and Mount Doom already existed at least in the First Age. They weren't created by Sauron, he just took up residence there.

Elves are supposed to have long flowing hair, but most of the male elves in this are all short-haired. $750 million budget. They couldn't afford wigs?

The timeline covers ~1,600 years of the Second Age all condensed into like a couple of weeks. Elendil and Ar-Pharazon around at the same time as the Rings' forging... f*ck off.

"The Blessed Realm" isn't a portal to heaven, it's a literal landmass that you can sail to and fro. Numenor just ruins it for everyone at some point.

The Dwarves are too tall, the Elves are too short, and the Numenoreans are waaaay too short. Harfoots are Irish and need to be destroyed by season's end.


It's not a show for Tolkien fans, it's a show for casuals who don't know/care about the Legendarium, and smoothbrains with no standards for media who just like literally anything with a recognizable brand name attached to it.

Honestly, aside from what they've done to Galadriel and the timeline compression, most of those changes are fairly small and rather unimportant. But there are plenty of changes that are huge fundamental ones. And basically they've completely ****ed up the Elves.

I've already bitched about Gil-galad handing out trips to Valinor like a prizes. Then there is the issue with the Elves fading. Instead of being a lengthy process that will take thousands and thousands of years like in the books, it's incredibly fast and if they don't stop it by spring they are ****ed. And their initial plan to stop it? Mithril.

In another massive change, Mithril has been infused with the light of the Silmarils and if the Elves "saturate" themselves with Mithril (pretty sure that's the exact word Celebrimbor used) this will halt the fading. It's just all ridiculous nonsense. On the level of sexy Shelob from SoW. First, there is the whole problem with Mithril getting infused with the light of the Silmaril. The whole story about how it happened was ridiculous and can't fit in at all with what happened to the Silmarils. Secondly, there is the issue of them combing two very different concepts dealing with the Elves those being the fading of the Elves and the light Elves. Light elves refer to elves who have seen the light of the Two Trees and this light has somehow empowered them; it has nothing to do with fading, and only a very small number of Elves in ME are light Elves. By contrast fading, means pretty much exactly what it means. The Elves would weaken and fade until even their bodies were gone and they were left as nothing more than impotent spirits. So, yeah, the light has nothing to do with fading. The light Elves aren't fading and slower than the rest (if anything it's quicker for them) and saturating themselves with the light would do nothing.

Now despite all that, even these fundamental changes wouldn't be a huge problem if the show was good. But even taken on it's own, it's not. It's boring, plodding, full of stupid writing, and painfully generic. Almost nothing important has happened this season. The only important thing was that Mordor was created but even that isn't really that relevant to the story they will be telling. Having Mordor already exist for thousands of years (as it did in Tolkien's lore) wouldn't change the story that is coming. You could probably skip this entire season and miss nothing important beyond some character introductions. And it's not like these character have any depth to them yet anyway.

I can't get over what they've done to the Elves. They don't even look or feel like Elves anymore. They're just normal looking shmucks with pointy ears. Nothing magical to them anymore.

I saw something where one of the writers spoke about why they condensed the timeline of the entire Second Age into a few weeks to be essentially for convenience. "Because you'd have your mortal human characters die off every few episodes if it was covering the full time." Or something to that effect. Like they know they're incapable of writing a series with that as a plot element built into it so they took the lazy, stock approach to the characters.


This could have all been done as a short series of 6x 60-minute episodes, each episode covering different stages of the Second Age with a rotating cast of mortals and a central cast of immortals. Kind of like an anthology series all set in the same universe, offering up world exploration amidst a greater, growing conflict. That probably would have negated the lazy fantasy-drama tropes though, like the insipid interplay between randos that mean nothing, come from nothing, and contribute less.

Ep. I: Destruction of Beleriand, rise of Numenor.
Ep. II: Rise of Gil-galad, Lindon, Eregion. Establishment of the new world order. Arrival of Sauron into Mordor.
Ep. III: Emergence of Annatar and the Rings' forging. Betrayal of the Elves.
Ep. IV: War of the Elves and Sauron. Expansion of Numenorean power. Sauron retreats for a millenium.
Ep. V: Sauron returns, surrenders to Ar-Pharazon, downfall of Numenor, flight of the Faithful, death of Sauron.
Ep. VI: Establishment of the Two Kingdoms, resurrection of Sauron, lead-in to the Last Alliance.


A clear upward trend of emerging conflict and tension, like some kind of... story structure or something. Some embellishments and personal stories here and there to pad out the runtime, but they can all involve established characters, not new and terrible ones. The episodes would need to jump forward in time even during each episode, but you can write and shoot a show to accommodate that kind of framing. Bonus it would cut down on the need for extended dialogue scenes, as these writers can't seem to emulate Tolkien's style of speech and prose. Essentially what you'd have is something akin to multiple extrapolated opening scenes to LotR, with Galadriel's voiceover (or whoevers) providing context to the visuals.

Lol @ the finale. Sauron and Galadriel should just ****

They waste 7 episodes on bland and repetitive plotlines that have nothing to do with anything Tolkien wrote. But then they rush through the entire Annatar and ring forging plotline in half an episode... **** these hacks. This had the potential to be one of the most interesting parts of the series with lots of intrigue between the various elven lords but then they just ruined it. This was, along with the fall of Numenor, one of the things I was looking forward to most. I was expecting it to last an entire season. But nope, done already. They spent more time on the Hobbit girl saying goodbye. ****ing Shadow of Mordor did the ring forging better... And what? Galadriel doesn't tell anyone that Halbrand is Sauron? And not only does she not tell or chase after him, but she pushes for the creation of the rings anyways?! Ridiculous.

Oh, and the "twist" was obvious since as soon as they introduced Halbrand. Like I said previously, his first line pretty much gave the whole game away.

pretty decent finale. cinematography was nice.

i knew about halbrand a long time ago so the reveal wasn't a surprise to me.

second season is being filmed now so i'll assume it will this same time next year

Wow, Sauron turned out to be Sauron! Who could have guessed?

Originally posted by Psychotron
Wow, Sauron turned out to be Sauron! Who could have guessed?

Yeah, good thing the writers thought of this instead of that obviously stupid and unbelievable Annatar Lord of Gifts plot device.

We'll ignore the fact that the three elven rings were made first instead of last in this series, that Sauron had no hand in making the other rings, that he was mistrusted by everyone BUT Celebrimbor, etc. etc.

The idea that the showrunners think Sauron is a complex "antihero" like Walter White can only mean good things.

Originally posted by Patient_Leech
I heard this is SUPER WOKE because they hired some black actors.

OMG BLACK PEOPLE!! IT'S WOKE!!!!!

... and out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues.

- Return of the King