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

kaw

Pop!/Movies/TV Mod
Moderator
Premium Supporter
Nov 4, 2010
11,140
Vancouver Canada
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

lord_of_the_rings_logo_by_haleyhss_d6yi9hz-pre.png
 
Last edited:
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.
I think all they cared about was the Lord of the Rings IP and brand recognition. There of plenty of material that would be more suited for an anthology series. At the time the rights were acquired GoT was at its height and Jeff Bezos made it known he wanted his own GoT. The rights became available and Amazon won the bid giving them what would have been a built in large and passionate Tolkien fan base. Then several of the issues @Vega mentioned ensued.
 
I think all they cared about was the Lord of the Rings IP and brand recognition. There of plenty of material that would be more suited for an anthology series. At the time the rights were acquired GoT was at its height and Jeff Bezos made it known he wanted his own GoT. The rights became available and Amazon won the bid giving them what would have been a built in large and passionate Tolkien fan base. Then several of the issues @Vega mentioned ensued.
That makes sense..... They certainly got the "passionate Tolkien fan base" just not the one they were expecting.....
 
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.
Agreed. I think it's harder to just straight up like all characters, since some of the created characters for the show aren't characters that you've read in the books so you need to get a feel for them. But after a second watch I'm still thinking the pacing is pretty good and the visuals are obviously top notch. My only reason I may not watch every Friday at 9 is cause Fridays is my board game group night in the evenings so that conflicts. I did immediately like the Dwarves though.

From my recollection, I've only ever read the Silmarillion once and the appendix two or three times but it has been a while, not a tremendous amount was written on the second age so Amazon did buy the rights to tell stories in the world of Tolkein that fills this gap and while they did outbid other competitors they still had to submit a outline of that story to the rightsholders which was approved so I think the story will ultimately play out well. A friend I was watching the show with on Friday had actually recently caught up with the a lot of the background and started to actually point out the differences Peter Jackson introduced into the series but no one seems to be upset about those.

Very hard not to compare to HotD and agree both are prequel so ultimately the outcome is the outcome, this is why I am also somewhat less excited for the Andor series as well. There are definitely people in HotD I like though.

As I said earlier. I am excited to see
Numenor
Intro of Sauron
Figuring out if the Stranger is Gandalf (leading) or potentially Sauramon

does anyone else think the opening with the shifting sands is somewhat a nod to the Music of the Ainur and like the shifting is like when the songs keep being interrupted but then Ilúvatar integrates the disruptions into it or is that just me
 
  • Like
Reactions: kaw
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?
As much as I enjoyed what David Yates did for Order of the Phoenix I personally have always been upset with how he filmed the end of Deathly Hallows Part 2 from the duel with Bellatrix at the end, the fact that Harry and Voldemort's fight ended with just the two of them and no one else around and that Voldemort disintegrates as opposed to just being another body at the end, and most extremely egregiously that Harry didn't use the elder wand to repair his own wand, but I still watch and enjoy the movies for what they are and keep them separate enough from the books.

Plenty of other books and movies have clashing points. People should hate the Kubrik Shinning by all accounts.

Point being I'm watching this show for watching sake and will see how I feel about it by the end.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Stygian
Agreed. I think it's harder to just straight up like all characters, since some of the created characters for the show aren't characters that you've read in the books so you need to get a feel for them. But after a second watch I'm still thinking the pacing is pretty good and the visuals are obviously top notch. My only reason I may not watch every Friday at 9 is cause Fridays is my board game group night in the evenings so that conflicts. I did immediately like the Dwarves though.

From my recollection, I've only ever read the Silmarillion once and the appendix two or three times but it has been a while, not a tremendous amount was written on the second age so Amazon did buy the rights to tell stories in the world of Tolkein that fills this gap and while they did outbid other competitors they still had to submit a outline of that story to the rightsholders which was approved so I think the story will ultimately play out well. A friend I was watching the show with on Friday had actually recently caught up with the a lot of the background and started to actually point out the differences Peter Jackson introduced into the series but no one seems to be upset about those.

Very hard not to compare to HotD and agree both are prequel so ultimately the outcome is the outcome, this is why I am also somewhat less excited for the Andor series as well. There are definitely people in HotD I like though.

As I said earlier. I am excited to see
Numenor
Intro of Sauron
Figuring out if the Stranger is Gandalf (leading) or potentially Sauramon

does anyone else think the opening with the shifting sands is somewhat a nod to the Music of the Ainur and like the shifting is like when the songs keep being interrupted but then Ilúvatar integrates the disruptions into it or is that just me
I would say there is like a 80% chance of the Stranger being Gandalf simply for brand recognition. Didn’t they already introduce Sauron? I thought it was foreshadowed with that Halbrand guy when he said “looks can be deceiving.” It could be a red herring or I just overthought the scene but I took it as alluding he was not what it seems. Ironically because Galadriel has been searching for so long and there he is.
 
I would say there is like a 80% chance of the Stranger being Gandalf simply for brand recognition. Didn’t they already introduce Sauron? I thought it was foreshadowed with that Halbrand guy when he said “looks can be deceiving.” It could be a red herring or I just overthought the scene but I took it as alluding he was not what it seems. Ironically because Galadriel has been searching for so long and there he is.

I do think the liklilhood is the Stranger is Gandalf and the clues are pointing that way but I think there is a chance he is Saurman not Sauron. That said the Wizards don't come to middle-earth until the third age so if the Stranger is either of them then they really are going off track to the lore.

Sauron is already on middle-earth and after being comes back in a fair form when he starts using the elves to help craft the rings so I am not sure how they would have the Stanger be Sauron
 
I do think the liklilhood is the Stranger is Gandalf and the clues are pointing that way but I think there is a chance he is Saurman not Sauron. That said the Wizards don't come to middle-earth until the third age so if the Stranger is either of them then they really are going off track to the lore.

Sauron is already on middle-earth and after being comes back in a fair form when he starts using the elves to help craft the rings so I am not sure how they would have the Stanger be Sauron
Sauron could change his form or appearance so that’s why I thought it was implied it was Halbrand. That’s why “looks can be deceiving.”
 
Sauron could change his form or appearance so that’s why I thought it was implied it was Halbrand. That’s why “looks can be deceiving.”
Sorry I completely misunderstood your response. I thought you meant Sauron was the Stranger not that Sauron is Halbrand.
Yes, Sauron can change his appearence and does so with the elves to appear pleasing and now you mention I recall Halbrand saying that now but didn't piece that together. Could be he is Sauron

Still leaves who the Stranger is. Also clarification to my earlier comment Gandalf and Saurman came in the third age while the blue wizards did show up in the second age
 
I'm really enjoying this so far. Definitely has that same LOTR feel to it IMO and you can tell it cost them billions to make... every scene looks absolutely stunning!
 
i tried to like it, i really did..
but its hot garbage unfortunately

3-4/10 so far and only because of the production value

they shouldve released it at least 10 years away from house of dragons, which is a million times more interesting in direct comparison
 
  • Like
Reactions: psychoscot
LOL. So it's either really like it or really hate it.
I actually like it very much. I'm just wondering if it'll actually make them profit considering how much money per episode it costs them. :D
There are far more garbage series in there :D.
 
LOL. So it's either really like it or really hate it.
I actually like it very much. I'm just wondering if it'll actually make them profit considering how much money per episode it costs them. :D
There are far more garbage series in there :D.

Amazon is the last company I think "oh I hope they don't lose any money" I want them to throw money at creative people to make interesting IP's.
 
Love Nori and am fully invested in her journey! Arondir is quickly becoming a favourite too. Galadriel's storyline needs to shift it up a gear again though... just been a lot of faffing about with back and forth chatter the last couple of episodes.
 
im honestly more shocked ppl are still watching this lol.. i couldnt take it anymore after episode 4.. noticed the latest episode has a significantly higher rating, but i dont really care
 
im honestly more shocked ppl are still watching this lol.. i couldnt take it anymore after episode 4.. noticed the latest episode has a significantly higher rating, but i dont really care

They are still watching it because its really good.

I know everyone has their own taste in things. But I don't understand how anyone could call this series hot garbage.
I've watched a lot of movies and a lot of tv shows and even if you aren't enjoying it, this isn't anything close to that extreme of a review.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RMA and Noodles
Shocked more people aren't talking about last weeks episode on here. It was freaking amazing. Hands down the best episode of the season.
I haven't got around to watching it yet, but hoping to change that tonight :D
 
They are still watching it because its really good.

I know everyone has their own taste in things. But I don't understand how anyone could call this series hot garbage.
I've watched a lot of movies and a lot of tv shows and even if you aren't enjoying it, this isn't anything close to that extreme of a review.
its as generic and bland as it can get.. the characters have no (interesting) personality traits whatsoever (except the dwarf maybe), until episode 4 there was no exciting action scene (havent watched further)... when they were escaping from the orcs in the dark forest, the music, slowmo and all suggested itd be a super dramatic and emotional scene lol, but it ended with them escaping unharmed because of vampire orcs

i really dont care about tolkiens legacy and even less about continuity, but this is just boring and really, i feel embarassed when watching some of the scenes lol

production values are super high of course and it looks gorgeous, but its all down the drain for a story like this

i literally prefer 90s xena or hercules over this lol

so overall I *strongly* disagree that this is a very good series... its borderline unwatchable
 
Last edited: