Absolutely loved it. Brilliant series.
Television The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
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Lenny Henry with a dodgy Irish accent sums it up. The script is all over the place, some of the acting is wooded and they have several directors. Confusing at times only a 5/10 for me.
I agree but I hope they take the critical criticism to heart and come back with something better.
The screenplay, dialogues and acting in the final episode was so dodgy. The critical bits were all rushed. Have to say it's a disappointing end to a season which was decent at times.
The writing itself is not terrible, but it's not great either.
But because of the quality of the source material, anything less than great has to be a failure.
They have characters like Finrod and Celembribor delegated into side characters to give a cheap romance between Galadriel and not-Sauron more focus.
And from the main characters, Elrond and Durin are the only ones that move their plot forward actively, everyone else is simply following the events (You could argue the opposite for Halbrand, but if he has a plan, it makes very little sense).
There's a lot to improve, let's hope they do a better job in season 2.
But because of the quality of the source material, anything less than great has to be a failure.
They have characters like Finrod and Celembribor delegated into side characters to give a cheap romance between Galadriel and not-Sauron more focus.
And from the main characters, Elrond and Durin are the only ones that move their plot forward actively, everyone else is simply following the events (You could argue the opposite for Halbrand, but if he has a plan, it makes very little sense).
There's a lot to improve, let's hope they do a better job in season 2.
Tolkien's writing is nothing exceptional, it's just such fundamental work within the heroic/fantasy universe than nerds are pretending it's Tolstoï or something. Also, the source material for this are the appendices, which read like an abridged history manual.
It doesn't, and it's an incredibly lazy point.
I've binged on the first series(rewatched). It's even better for it.
The pacing is perfect.
The pacing is perfect.
All shows have several directors btw.
The 1/10 reviews are more likely to come from those who oppose introducing non-white actors etc. (there's been a huge disruption online about that), not from the hardcore Tolkien fans.
I didn't mind it overall. It could have been terrific, IMO, just lacks because they decided to make its central lead and the wisest being in all Middle Earth an absolute dummy.
Sorry you're actually correct there. Those as well. I forgot that group.
However if you read some of those reviews you will see what I mean. Some very upset fans of the lore being 'tarnished' too.
I think it's people from the same group. Well according to Forbes. I'm not sure why anyone other than Tolkien fans would care about the colour of Durian's wife.
I don't think hardcore fans of Tolkien are any different to hardcore Disney fans, Marvel fans or Star Wars fans etc. A lot of them don't like change.
I really enjoyed the series and I'm a bit sad we don't have an episode tomorrow to enjoy.
Yes. Then don't watch it. The books aren't changing. Rotten Tom. viewers' rating is around 35%. Fans on here were complaining when the trailers were released - most were saying it looked as cheap as Wheel of Time. Some of the criticism has been hilarious. Sadly, it's so ridiculous the writers won't find anyone of it useful.
In season 2 you'll have talking Gandalf and who knows, maybe even the birth of famous crack pipe. Worth to stick around just for that.
You'd be surprised. If you leave in, well, a not very progressive country, you encounter a lot of those who stand oppose colour-blind casting regardless of the movie's/show's theme and source material. They don't even need to watch it to pass their judgment.
Awww come on, Harms. It was hardly The Godfather of Harlem in terms of casting. Why anyone who's got no interest in Tolkien would care is bizarre.
Don't underestimate the depth of people's ignorance.
Have you been living under a rock?
The woke agenda pushed by the UN and George Soros is killing our traditional family values. They want society to become gay and black, and they have started with the TV shows and movies. I will not sit idle.
Fair enough. Black elves' lives matter and all that.
It's a 3/10 and that's being kind. None of the characters were good, the story was a mess, the music was average. Only thing keeping it from a zero is the visual effects and some of Durin's scenes with his dad.
I went in with expectations on the floor due to Wheel of Time. I think that helped me enjoy this series as much as I did. Wouldn't say it was incredible (other than the visuals, which absolutely are), but definitely worth an hour a week. I'm a nerd generally but have never read up on the surrounding material to LOTR, seeing Numenor and such was quite cool and I don't have the lore knowledge to point out any inaccuracies that might exist.
That being said, the dialogue is brutal. I wish I could just read a synopsis of what Galadriel is doing each episode instead of listening to this poor actress breathe out terrible line after terrible line.
That being said, the dialogue is brutal. I wish I could just read a synopsis of what Galadriel is doing each episode instead of listening to this poor actress breathe out terrible line after terrible line.
Having Gandalf riff on his famous lines from LOTR felt so damn cheap I nearly puked. The attempts at weighty speeches (the one about hope in particular) and the song that butchered "not all those who wander are lost" seem like the show is trying way too hard to make me think Peter Jackson made these.
Halbrand being Sauron was blindingly obvious, and the way they've tried to pretend its some kind of reveal annoys me. In fairness, this might not be the show's fault so much as the incessant ads I've seen asking "Who. Is. Sauron?"
Halbrand being Sauron was blindingly obvious, and the way they've tried to pretend its some kind of reveal annoys me. In fairness, this might not be the show's fault so much as the incessant ads I've seen asking "Who. Is. Sauron?"
Crikey. It's only a TV series. I don't know why people were expecting movie quality in every scene. I don't think it's meant to reveal everything you want in one series anyway. It has to sustain a few more series and has the time to develop characters.
Anyone who has tried to read the Silmarillion should surely appreciate how much better this is and why it brings people along with it instead of shoves an appendices through your TV screen.
As a school kid we always argued how it would be impossible to make a movie of any quality out of the content, now it's a series! I give it 8/10 - room to get even better. Don't watch it if you hate it, there's always loads of other shit like 911 Lone Star to enjoy. That's the shit they usually make into TV.
Anyone who has tried to read the Silmarillion should surely appreciate how much better this is and why it brings people along with it instead of shoves an appendices through your TV screen.
As a school kid we always argued how it would be impossible to make a movie of any quality out of the content, now it's a series! I give it 8/10 - room to get even better. Don't watch it if you hate it, there's always loads of other shit like 911 Lone Star to enjoy. That's the shit they usually make into TV.
I'd give it a 6 or 7 of 10.
It took a while to get going, but it got better and better throughout the season imo.
Well worth a watch!
It took a while to get going, but it got better and better throughout the season imo.
Well worth a watch!
Well said. The Silmarillion has interesting snippets in it for sure, but cover to cover is an incredibly heavy read, and not a story you could easily transform onto the screen.
Cheers
and Cheers
Fully expect the hand grenades of outrageous haters incoming but did or could we have ever expected this series?
Usually TV is shit and even the good TV has some shit moments. Yes I know this is Streaming but the first series has to be setting out the Abraham begat Isaac, who begat Isildur etc etc stuff for a bit in watchable chunks.
Here, here! I saw someone on here yesterday talking about the “quality” of the source material and can only conclude he’s never even attempted to read that head feck.
Standing ovation.gif
One billion dollars is why it's not just a TV series and why people should expect "movie quality"
I would give it 3/10 only because it looked good if a bit too clean at times.
As for the writing, the acting and set pieces it was pretty shocking.
It has to be one of the biggest waste of money of all time in terms of what it cost and what they delivered
As I understand it, it's not based on a Silmarillion.
"Amazon doesn’t actually have the rights to The Silmarillion. This means the series will be based on The Appendices at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Which, admittedly, does overlap in stories between the two books, but if it is mentioned in The Silmarillion and not in the Appendices, it is off-limits. And this has to do with the rights from the Tolkien Estate and from J.R.R. Tolkien himself."
https://www.cultureslate.com/news/why-amazon-doesnt-have-the-rights-to-jrr-tolkiens-the-silmarillion
I'm not an expert on the difference between movie and TV quality of this type of project and although I expect it can't be difficult to understand I'm certain you know a lot more than me. My thinking is that most of that 1bil went to the cgi people, the list always seems endless.
All I keep thinking is that people are saying this and that were shocking and I don't recall anything shocking apart from the brilliance in getting the story out.
If more people don't like it then it'll not see a second series which will be a disappointment. 1 billion sounds shocking but I expect thats going to become quite normal unless everyone wants everything of the 911 and The Mentalist type quality.
edit. On thinking about it I do think that Elrond was a bit dodgy, looked more surprised than shocked in his scenes but it's by degrees only I expect.
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I'm usually wrong about these things. It's an awfully long time since I tried to read anything much of it. Bad fan.
I have no clue about the Mentalist and 911 you use as references but you sure as hell don't need to spend 1 billion for 8 episodes to make good entertainment. Maybe check who the writers are for Rings of Power? Because if the writing is dumb all else won't fly. To me it seems those very same writers could have worked on The Mentalist and if they'd dumped 1 billion into one season of the Mentalist who knows if there would be much differernce to see here.
If more people genuinely don't like it chances are good they improve on it rather than keeping the same dumbed down formula with shiny CGI.
Honestly, I only mention 911 and The Mentalist because I'm lazy. All I seem to see on the TV Listings being Police Procedurals and Police Chasing Scroats documentaries and that has to be cheap as chips.
I was a big fan of Firefly by Joss Whedon, when it was cancelled after one series the noise from fans a bit more invested than me seemed shocking. Of course they seemed noisy but they could have been the only ones who cared enough to be noisy.
If we want shit TV I'm sure we can run expensive interesting projects out of town on a pole. But them we're gonna be left with the cheap stuff that ends up on every channel. Amazon and Netflix at least have the money to try, while every other channel on Sky etc just dilutes the shit.
We get what we pay for, or not, if we start saying stuff is too expensive for us to watch where will it end, cheaper football clubs?
I'm usually wrong too so this may be a toss up. It might depend on how much extra info they're able to add about what's mentioned in the appendixes. I've never made it through the Silmarillion, though I've read LOTR many times.
Or am I not allowed to mention LOTR like you can't mention ASOIAF in the HotD thread?
Something tells me they're making an exception here.
No, I'm sure you know what you are talking about, I sort of believe it could have overlapped but now I also think the amount of material in The Silmarillion would have enough to go on for a very long time. The information leaving enough gaps though to go off at all sorts on tangents I can't begin to even imagine! At the moment.
Interesting point to consider if I can squeeze it into my insomnia
I watched 20 minutes of this show and haven't gone back to it, though I'm sure I will. The reviews haven't encouraged me to rush, though it's been interesting reading the reactions. If that is entertaining surely I'll get something out of the show itself.No, I'm sure you know what you are talking about, I sort of believe it could have overlapped but now I also think the amount of material in The Silmarillion would have enough to go on for a very long time. The information leaving enough gaps though to go off at all sorts on tangents I can't begin to even imagine! At the moment.
Interesting point to consider if I can squeeze it into my insomnia
When they first announced the show, I hoped they were just doing LOTR, but the long version, with everything included, over several seasons.
This may seem unnecessary, but this was the most exciting prospect to me personally. I've long wanted someone to do an anime version that covers everything. I even like the idea of having a narrator, to get the bits that don't just describe visuals.
But I would say the same thing about Game of Thrones/ASOIAF, make an animated version with everything (best to wait till he's done though). Who cares if it takes 20 seasons, is not like there's a ton of high-quality writing out there that someone can't make room in their programming schedule for it.
Somehow I never really enjoy Anime and there are some interesting shows and movies I feel sure I want to watch. Personally I'd prefer the original actors, I think it would be 100% believable then
- They're all still alive?I think when you enjoy a book so much, any book that you invest in and - we can't just have enjoyed LotR - it means so much to us from early ages we so want every detail to be included, and I get this cheated emotion when it isn't, I have to ignore it after a minute or it's no longer ours is it? You grow to accept it but it's always going to be a little disappointment or niggle.
I'm virtually certain we could get £20bil if we set up a GoFundMe page!
edit - watch it, there'll be niggles. Wouldn't be life if there weren't. I think it's great for now.