Completed The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season 1) [Amazon]

[kaw]

Warner Bros. Television and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien are in talks with Amazon Studios to develop a series based on the late author’s “The Lord of the Rings” novels. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is said by sources with knowledge of the situation to be personally involved in the negotiations, which are still in very early stages. No deal has been set.

The studio and the Tolkien estate have been shopping a series based on the classic fantasy novels and their assortment of hobbits, wizards, and warriors, sparking a competitive situation from which Amazon has emerged as the frontrunner.

Source: Variety

Spoiler

 

[jcm]

I mean, they better if they're getting half a billion dollars for making 8 episodes of a TV show... still, they fired one of the - if not the - most knowledgable and respected Tolkien scholars on the planet, Tom Shippey.
In other interviews the showrunners have basically said that they're modernising Tolkien into what the world looks today, whatever that is supposed to mean since the countries and ethnicities that exist today have been around 80 years ago.

There is obvious disregard and disrespect for Tolkien's vision when you watch/read interviews with the showrunners and producers as well as some super weird promo junkets featuring people who clearly have no idea or interest in Tolkien and were likely paid by Amazon. Amazon has deleted these from their youtube channels since they uploaded them since they were so embarrassing and counter-productive to their promo campaign. A company and showrunners who know what they're doing don't do stuff like this. It was an obvious attempt to politizise something that doesn't need politicizing. It needs to be a great story, nothing else. And the fact that they're not caring about Tolkien's vision and/or lore doesn't exactly scream potential. And yes, of course they're going to show off their "knowledge" at comic con for the fans, they would be chased out of the convention center if they said in there what they have said to media representatives leading up the shows release.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. The Peter Jackson films are some of my all time favorite movies. The reasons you mentioned above are largely why I’ll be skipping this one.

 

[mllNY]

I'm very much ready for the first episode. Only reason I can't watch it on the 1st is cause I agreed to wait to watch with some friends when it was supposed to be on the 2nd. While I agree that the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy are amazing I don't particularly think the Hobbit trilogy is something I would put up there as the best. So to just say this will be bad cause it isn't the Jackson films I guess I just want to watch it first before dunking on it.

I guess I just prefer to not discuss the politics that seem to be getting some people upset.

 

[jcm]

I'm very much ready for the first episode. Only reason I can't watch it on the 1st is cause I agreed to wait to watch with some friends when it was supposed to be on the 2nd. While I agree that the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy are amazing I don't particularly think the Hobbit trilogy is something I would put up there as the best. So to just say this will be bad cause it isn't the Jackson films I guess I just want to watch it first before dunking on it.

I guess I just prefer to not discuss the politics that seem to be getting some people upset.

I agree the Hobbit was by no means at the level of LOTR, it should have been 1, maybe 2 films and Jackson was over reliant on CGI. The practical effects and miniature give a sense that’s almost impossible to capture with CGI.

This show costs an estimated $60 million per episode and to me looks cheaper and less lived in than what HBO accomplished for a third the per episode budget with in House of the Dragon.

I think this will probably have big viewing numbers the first couple episodes out of curiosity and exponentially collapse.

Not everything is for everybody. I loved the The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and John Carter, those movies bombed at the box office. The promotional material for this doesn’t entice me but I hope you enjoy it.

 

[mllNY]

I agree the Hobbit was by no means at the level of LOTR, it should have been 1, maybe 2 films and Jackson was over reliant on CGI. The practical effects and miniature give a sense that’s almost impossible to capture with CGI.

This show costs an estimated $60 million per episode and to me looks cheaper and less lived in than what HBO accomplished for a third the per episode budget with in House of the Dragon.

I think this will probably have big viewing numbers the first couple episodes out of curiosity and exponentially collapse.

Not everything is for everybody. I loved the The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and John Carter, those movies bombed at the box office. The promotional material for this doesn’t entice me but I hope you enjoy it.

Well HBO is tops IMO, I mean GoT got bad at the end cause the showrunners were like moving on but overall I just think HBO knows what to do whereas the other streamers maybe a bit less. Though even the new HotD got political in the first episode. I completely agree not everything is for everyone but I'm just like OK then just pass on it, not everything is going to be for everyone.

 

[Space Cadet]

 

[Space Cadet]

I don't know. Everyone looks so ... do not know the right word. Too serious. "I'm in this series, I talk slowly with low tone - every move can be our last...I stare to distance...I have Joy Division in my Discman."

 

[Lollard2002]

Forget all about this and caught the first 20 minutes on Prime... I had no idea it had started... Wow lasted 20 minutes of that amazon Lord of the Rings. It really was truly dire. It made Oliver Reed trying to snog the Lesbians on the word look like epic TV.... Is this the all time record for spending money on total ****?

 

[mllNY]

Finally got to watch the first two episodes tonoght and I enjoyed them. felt the story is well paced so far and of course production value felt high which given how much was spent on the series better feel that way.

I'm interested to see

Spoiler

Sauron's introduction
Numenor
If that is Gandalf or potentially Saurman
More ents (or entwives), the small cameo was not enough

 

[5t33lb0y]

I don't expect too much from it. But so far it's quite ok. Not the best but pace feels good.

 

[kaw]

I really don't get where all this hate for the show is coming from.
Watched both episodes last night and thought it was great. The scale of this show is crazy, this is a tv show and looks like a freakin epic movie.
It is taking a bit longer for me to get into some of the characters then it did with something like Fellowship of the Ring. But I'm sure as the series goes on i'll come around on them more.

Comparing this to House of the Dragon (its hard not to). RoP story isn't quite as good but at least it has characters to root for. Everyone in HotD is pretty unlikeable. So im happy to have some characters that are actually "good guys" in this. haha. The one thing thats difficult about both these shows is that they're prequels, the stakes never feel too high with either of them.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but man the stuff i'm seeing out there... you'd think this show killed their dog or something. It's ridiculous.

 

[Stygian]

I really don't get where all this hate for the show is coming from.
Watched both episodes last night and thought it was great. The scale of this show is crazy, this is a tv show and looks like a freakin epic movie.
It is taking a bit longer for me to get into some of the characters then it did with something like Fellowship of the Ring. But I'm sure as the series goes on i'll come around on them more.

Comparing this to House of the Dragon (its hard not to). RoP story isn't quite as good but at least it has characters to root for. Everyone in HotD is pretty unlikeable. So im happy to have some characters that are that are actually "good guys" in this. haha. The one thing thats difficult about both these shows is that they're prequels, the stakes never feel too high with either of them.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but man the stuff i'm seeing out there... you'd think this show killed their dog or something. It's ridiculous.

Most likely all the same types of people that feel that anything new to do with Star Wars since the original trilogy has ruined their childhood.

For some people the Lord of the Rings trilogy is their favourite trilogy and the greatest epic of all time (don't care for it myself) and so anything done now will have the same effect for them as the Star Wars fans.

The same will be the case for Thrones stuff. Although since so many people were already turned off by the time and the way Game of Thrones ended (I liked the way it ended) those folks are just eager to dump all over it whether they watch it or not.

So many people just like to hate, crap all over and complain about everything, everywhere all the time.

 

[jcm]

I ended up giving this a watch since they released the first 2 episodes. For me it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Inevitably with this following the LOTR trilogy it is going to draw comparisons. There are moments where you can see the budget in the affects and sweeping landscapes. The writing seems really weak for a show with so much put into it. Galadriel is portrayed as unlikable and lacks the presence we saw with Cate Blanchett. The pacing was also a bit slow and could have been a more lean story, I ended up checking my watch several times. The dwarves and Kazad-dum were really the standout of these episodes but I think Elrond did a pretty good job as well. I can see why people wouldn’t like this show and how some could. Overall, I wouldn’t describe it as appointment television.

 

[vexred]

I think the hate is mainly coming from people who are disappointed that it isn’t sticking rigidly to the source material. Probably the most cinematic series I’ve seen. Looking forward to the next episode.

 

[hatredhorror]

watched house of dragon and this back to back and enjoyed house of dragons so much more.. its still okay-good, probably 6-7/10

its just not very interesting and tense, and the characters are so much less intriguing and likeable than in HotD

 

[Vega]

Most likely all the same types of people that feel that anything new to do with Star Wars since the original trilogy has ruined their childhood.

For some people the Lord of the Rings trilogy is their favourite trilogy and the greatest epic of all time (don't care for it myself) and so anything done now will have the same effect for them as the Star Wars fans.

The same will be the case for Thrones stuff. Although since so many people were already turned off by the time and the way Game of Thrones ended (I liked the way it ended) those folks are just eager to dump all over it whether they watch it or not.

So many people just like to hate, crap all over and complain about everything, everywhere all the time.

Even though these people you are talking about do exist, it is very much different with this show.
I loved the SW prequel and sequel trilogy and a big chunk of the Disney SW content (except for Obi-Wan) but this show is just a different animal all together, especially for people like me who know the literature.

The show runners have gone out of their way to create a marketing campaign that is targeted to and marketed by quite specific people, giving it the inevitable woke badge even before any piece of actual content was out.

One of many desasterous examples was the promotional campaign amazon did on their prime youtube channel with several obviously gay and ***** people, none of whom had any knowledge or interest in middle earth and were obviously casted actors (one of them even let that fact slip at one point in the video). These different videos were deleted by prime pretty quickly because they were so counter productive to the marketing campaign.

The actors, writers and producers of this show have all said that Tolkien doesn't really matter because they are doing their own thing, they are "modernizing" Tolkien - meaning putting modern political and social issues into an established and successful literary work.
Why they still call this "The Lord of the Rings" is of course clear, but never adressed by these people. They openly mutilate an existing IP instead of just creating their own one - for obvious reasons, because no one would care or watch this content in the numbers they are when the Tolkien name is added. Nothing I've seen or read about this show is in any way faithful to the actual lore in the books + appendices + further reading material. The show runners constantly say that "it's left open to interpretation" or "Tolkien never wrote about that specifically" which is in 95% of the cases they talk about simply wrong.

People are not haters for pushing back against this. This show is very open and disgustingly proud of it's political and social agenda. They could have done their own thing, written a new phantasy IP completely owned by amazon, but they had to drag Tolkiens name into it. That is why the people are pushing back.

 

[Stygian]

Even though these people you are talking about do exist, it is very much different with this show.
I loved the SW prequel and sequel trilogy and a big chunk of the Disney SW content (except for Obi-Wan) but this show is just a different animal all together, especially for people like me who know the literature.

The show runners have gone out of their way to create a marketing campaign that is targeted to and marketed by quite specific people, giving it the inevitable woke badge even before any piece of actual content was out.

One of many desasterous examples was the promotional campaign amazon did on their prime youtube channel with several obviously gay and ***** people, none of whom had any knowledge or interest in middle earth and were obviously casted actors (one of them even let that fact slip at one point in the video). These different videos were deleted by prime pretty quickly because they were so counter productive to the marketing campaign.

The actors, writers and producers of this show have all said that Tolkien doesn't really matter because they are doing their own thing, they are "modernizing" Tolkien - meaning putting modern political and social issues into an established and successful literary work.
Why they still call this "The Lord of the Rings" is of course clear, but never adressed by these people. They openly mutilate an existing IP instead of just creating their own one - for obvious reasons, because no one would care or watch this content in the numbers they are when the Tolkien name is added. Nothing I've seen or read about this show is in any way faithful to the actual lore in the books + appendices + further reading material. The show runners constantly say that "it's left open to interpretation" or "Tolkien never wrote about that specifically" which is in 95% of the cases they talk about simply wrong.

People are not haters for pushing back against this. This show is very open and disgustingly proud of it's political and social agenda. They could have done their own thing, written a new phantasy IP completely owned by amazon, but they had to drag Tolkiens name into it. That is why the people are pushing back.

OK. Interesting.

So will the people that feel that way about it, including yourself, now stop watching the show knowing this?

Or will they continue to watch hoping that there will be something, or one moment, anything at all in there that they might like at some point?

Or will they keep watching it, because it's LOTR related, hating every minute of it, and continue to complain about it?

 

[Vega]

OK. Interesting.

So will the people that feel that way about it, including yourself, now stop watching the show knowing this?

Or will they continue to watch hoping that there will be something, or one moment, anything at all in there that they might like at some point?

Or will they keep watching it, because it's LOTR related, hating every minute of it, and continue to complain about it?

I'm sure there are people who will be watching this show just to hate on it. I think that's a giant waste of time and life so - no, I will of course not be watching. That time can be better spent by doing a re-read on the fantastic and immortal writings of Tolkien himself or by watching a tv series by showrunners who have their hearts in the right places.

 

[Lenny Nero]

Amazon is worrying about their billion dollar piece of crap, sending out another questionnaire today, practically begging to explain why, oh why yousa no likey meesa show!

Meanwhile:



Enough said.

 

[Lollard2002]

Even though these people you are talking about do exist, it is very much different with this show.
I loved the SW prequel and sequel trilogy and a big chunk of the Disney SW content (except for Obi-Wan) but this show is just a different animal all together, especially for people like me who know the literature.

The show runners have gone out of their way to create a marketing campaign that is targeted to and marketed by quite specific people, giving it the inevitable woke badge even before any piece of actual content was out.

One of many desasterous examples was the promotional campaign amazon did on their prime youtube channel with several obviously gay and ***** people, none of whom had any knowledge or interest in middle earth and were obviously casted actors (one of them even let that fact slip at one point in the video). These different videos were deleted by prime pretty quickly because they were so counter productive to the marketing campaign.

The actors, writers and producers of this show have all said that Tolkien doesn't really matter because they are doing their own thing, they are "modernizing" Tolkien - meaning putting modern political and social issues into an established and successful literary work.
Why they still call this "The Lord of the Rings" is of course clear, but never adressed by these people. They openly mutilate an existing IP instead of just creating their own one - for obvious reasons, because no one would care or watch this content in the numbers they are when the Tolkien name is added. Nothing I've seen or read about this show is in any way faithful to the actual lore in the books + appendices + further reading material. The show runners constantly say that "it's left open to interpretation" or "Tolkien never wrote about that specifically" which is in 95% of the cases they talk about simply wrong.

People are not haters for pushing back against this. This show is very open and disgustingly proud of it's political and social agenda. They could have done their own thing, written a new phantasy IP completely owned by amazon, but they had to drag Tolkiens name into it. That is why the people are pushing back.

Well said but this is what i don't get. Why spend all that money for rights if you just ignore the material. Or did they even know what they were buying the rights to and what the material is about.... Did someone read the material after they paid up front and went "Huston we have a problem" It's like buying the rights to Watership Down and finding out it's more than just cute fluffy rabbits.

 

[Lollard2002]

I'm sure there are people who will be watching this show just to hate on it. I think that's a giant waste of time and life so - no, I will of course not be watching. That time can be better spent by doing a re-read on the fantastic and immortal writings of Tolkien himself or by watching a tv series by showrunners who have their hearts in the right places.

Agreed. I lasted 20 minutes and realised I'd been conned in regards the subject matter but I just went. That's enough for me, watch something else.