Television The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
- Thread starter DWelbz19
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Gotta feel for the ideologs, so determined to hate this from the start, grimacing through all this fun and sweetness, repeating a this is bad mantra as the show shapes itself into an excellent version of what they probably wanted anyway.
Galadriel is the best. She is warrior princess but a clumsy diplomat, hubristic and vulnerable. Love them Harfoots, leaning into those rustic, salt of the earth clichés. E.T. and Elliot vibes from your magical homeless there. Evil man is sinister enough.
It is a little bit ramshackled with its mixing of tones and temperaments but I think that gives it a certain energy and momentum. It doesn't have that stylistically consistent, singular vision of Peter Jackson but it feels lighter on its feet and less conservative as a result.
Galadriel is the best. She is warrior princess but a clumsy diplomat, hubristic and vulnerable. Love them Harfoots, leaning into those rustic, salt of the earth clichés. E.T. and Elliot vibes from your magical homeless there. Evil man is sinister enough.
It is a little bit ramshackled with its mixing of tones and temperaments but I think that gives it a certain energy and momentum. It doesn't have that stylistically consistent, singular vision of Peter Jackson but it feels lighter on its feet and less conservative as a result.
The dwalf and orc scenes are still the best bit about this show. Had to laugh at the table part.
The other story lines I feel are suffering to some extent due to being so slow. Really feels like they are just padding out those parts for now. Hopefully as we get closer to the end of the first season we get some meaningful pay off.
The other story lines I feel are suffering to some extent due to being so slow. Really feels like they are just padding out those parts for now. Hopefully as we get closer to the end of the first season we get some meaningful pay off.
Really enjoyed the last episode, I feel it is building nicely. Don't think we have seen Sauron yet and not sure we will this season. Lots of great characters already - Durin, Elrond, Halbrand, Gil Galad, Elendil, Arondir. I also don't get the hate towards Galadriel, she's totally fine. Maybe everyone was expecting Cate Blanchett
You're so full of surprises. Agree with you though.
What surprises, I've been attuned to this goodness from the jump. You're the one straggling out here 5 episodes deep.
That was really good. I like a bit of humor scattered like that.
Bullseye.
I mean I never know what you're gonna like or not! But with this and His Dark Materials, I can tell you've kept your childlike amazement.
When's season 3 of that coming out actually?
And I've loved RoP since the first episode, I just started late cos I was traveling in September!
Southlands will become Mordor? Then surely Halbrand is Sauron - he ticks all boxes doesn't he?
Am I the only one who prefers the series over the films? I much rather the slower pace of the series.
Newb.
Still a bit torn on this. It just doesn't really hold my attention somehow. The dialogue is too superficial. Definitely will keep watching, but eeeeeeeeh.
Don't get the Galadriel hate though, she's awesome.
Don't get the Galadriel hate though, she's awesome.
I see we got a volunteer for the newbie prison
Well above the Hobbits, well below the LOTR.
The series is allowing to see the wider world more than 10+ hours of films can, which is very enjoyable
I don't think it's that much below the films. I'd actually say it's on par with TTT and ROTK, not close to Fellowship but that is very differently paced to the show. We've barely had any action in the show yet whereas Jackson smothered the films in action from the books or bits he invented for reasons.
I was torn between saying "quite a bit" rather than "well below". The acting in the three films is far superior for sure, the visuals in this I would say are superior (bar the Warg...), and I think the music is fairly even which surprised me.
For me it's nowhere near the films (the films for me are my favourite of all time).
The writing in the series is bland and the episodes have all gone downhill (what has really happened in the last few episodes?). Don't get me wrong I'm enjoying it and still watching (It's lord of the rings!) but it's not a patch on the films.
Its the fact that when there is action in the show they resolve it very quickly. Added to that there hasn't really been any action yet where you feel like characters are in genuine peril. They're also trying to drip feed the casual viewer important lore, without it being a huge dump that scares people off. They're taking their time rather than just accelerating through the story, doing perhaps the opposite of what occurred with GoT S8, they've also thrown a bunch of storylines and characters into the show and that's meant that its taking time for the pieces to move.
I don't mind the slow pace though, it's a nice break from the fast moving storytelling, more focused on dialogue, world building and character interaction than moving from set piece 1 to set piece 2. I do understand however that this style will not appeal to the masses and it's a very different pacing to the films, which Jackson crammed full of action sequences which he took from the books and invented himself.
Which is why I preferred the extended editions especially TT. The extra dialogue really helped.
As for this show it'll show the rise and fall of Isildur and Sauron over 5 series so will naturally be slow paced. People had similar complaints about Better Call Saul but that became a truly great series.
Completely agree with this - but as with all shows of this ilk, it's all going to be about the pay-off. The character development and world building is nice as long as it amounts to something long term. But given how the show is produced (apparently storyboarded pretty much all the way through to the end) and the fact they don't have to fear being cancelled, I'm quite confident in that regard. I'm sure future seasons, especially 4 and 5, are going to have tons of action and people will be back here in 100 pages complaining about it and how season 1 was better in its pacing
I know who Sauron is…
It’s… Galadriel’s account.
The real Galadriel got off the boat with the other elves at Valinor. This one is Sauron in her body. Not charming enough for Sauron’s guise? The real one had just suffered a mutiny by her army and completely lacks people skills. This one has somehow managed to convince Numenor, a people antagonistic to elves, to fight with ‘her’ and has tamed that loveable rogue Halbrand.
The infamous gurning scene on the horse was just Sauron having a glitch in his benevolent programming and his real nature emerging through the Galadriel body. That’s the only possible explanation for that horrific scene.
(Not serious if you didn’t guess)
The real Galadriel got off the boat with the other elves at Valinor. This one is Sauron in her body. Not charming enough for Sauron’s guise? The real one had just suffered a mutiny by her army and completely lacks people skills. This one has somehow managed to convince Numenor, a people antagonistic to elves, to fight with ‘her’ and has tamed that loveable rogue Halbrand.
The infamous gurning scene on the horse was just Sauron having a glitch in his benevolent programming and his real nature emerging through the Galadriel body. That’s the only possible explanation for that horrific scene.
(Not serious if you didn’t guess)
but what character development have we had? All we know so far is Galadrial is like a petulant teenager, Isildur also similar etc.Completely agree with this - but as with all shows of this ilk, it's all going to be about the pay-off. The character development and world building is nice as long as it amounts to something long term. But given how the show is produced (apparently storyboarded pretty much all the way through to the end) and the fact they don't have to fear being cancelled, I'm quite confident in that regard. I'm sure future seasons, especially 4 and 5, are going to have tons of action and people will be back here in 100 pages complaining about it and how season 1 was better in its pacing
I don't mind slow pace either - but the characters aren't being developed, we're not seeing things progress, I mean seriously the last 2-3 episodes could have condensed into 1 and we won't have missed anything. If any of the characters died right now I wouldn't care - the same couldn't be said for the Fellowship where very quickly you started to bond with them all.
I just think the writing has been so dire. As I said earlier, I'm enjoying this - but it's a massive let down for me.
Character setting, if you prefer - they're not going to quite evolve over 5 episodes (though I'd argue that both Galadriel and Halbrand have changed a bit already, and I really don't get the focus on Galadriel). I quite disagree with your feeling on the past few episodes, and the overall assessment. It's not The Wire, but it's not dire at all.
Never said it was dire mate - I just feel it's underwhelming. The first couple of episodes were great, but it has gone downhill since.
You wrote "the writing has been dire" - that's what I was referring to, hence the nod to The Wire (which is traditionally seen as a greatly written show).
Yeah if the characters had changed a lot over the course of five episodes people would be extremely critical as well.
Sure, but it's still brilliant and would deliver Sauron's strategic genius to a new degree. Neat idea, imo.
We're only 5 episodes in chap. It's progressing fine in my view and we are getting to know the characters still.
We could wrap it up in three more eps. Halbrand becomes Sauron. Pharazon becomes the evil king and Isildur the king of men. Oh and Lenny Henry turns into a womeniser. That'd speed up the development and all.
That's just guaranteed. Every time he stares up at the sky for a few seconds and a pause, it's basically him seeing if there's CCTV on him.
Is he not already a womaniser. He has the multiple wives polygamist thing going for a start. Maybe the harfoots are a weird Lenny Henry polygamist cult and they're all married to him. Thats why they have to keep moving
And if you can't keep up that's on you.
Agree almost entirely with you. It's a 7/10 for me so far though.
I love the lore of middle earth enough to keep sticking with it and try and lose myself in fantasy for an hour for escapism. But when I try and think about standout moments, over 5 episodes you have the Orc prison camp scene and the opening montage with Galadriel, that's about it.
don’t forget isildur’s sister. i’d disappoint her something rotten.
For me the only standout moment has been Numenoir - seeing that for the first time was incredible. Just reinforces how Minas Tirith etc are shadows of the former glories of men.
Khazad'dum opening was terrific too. Love the music.
edit: Oh and Galadriel sailing to Valinor and jumping off was visually astounding.
edit: Oh and Galadriel sailing to Valinor and jumping off was visually astounding.
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