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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

That's my favorite part of the whole thing so far. If it wasn't for the Harfoot and the starman who shall not be named, this would be pretty much the wheel of time in the guise of Tolkien.
 
I think these epic fantasies have a lot of heavy lifting to do in the first season. Despite knowing the films and books of LotR, I don’t know much about this world during this time. Even things like Numenor I know the name but didn’t know or recall the history. And I’d say I’m probably more knowledgeable than the average viewer. That said, I think HotD did a much better job of plopping us down in the world and letting us understand the characters and their motivations very quickly. Perhaps that comes down to the source material, both of which I’ve never read. With WoT, that first book is, IMO, not easy to adapt. It’s an “homage” to LotR for the first half and a pretty unsatisfying conclusion that would’ve been pretty silly on screen directly adapted. The conclusion we got on screen wasn’t much better, but I’m hopeful that now that the heavy lifting is done, subsequent seasons will feel less forced. I think this is true with RoP too. There’s a feeling of disconnect so far. I keep waiting for it to sort of click together. Whereas HotD had clicked by episode two for me. I really hope some of these characters aren’t who the speculation says. But again I know they’re adapting and severely contracting the timeline. I have zero issues with even wholesale changes in an adaptation if it is done for the betterment of the story for the medium. But many fans of books just want to see the book used as a direct screenplay. It’s tough not to compare the two series for me right now and there does seem to be something missing with RoP that HotD doesn’t lack. I just can’t put my finger on it yet. I’ll reserve my final judgment until the conclusion of the season. Hopefully I won’t have to wait longer than that as with WoT.
 
Moe_Syzlak said:
I think these epic fantasies have a lot of heavy lifting to do in the first season. Despite knowing the films and books of LotR, I don’t know much about this world during this time. Even things like Numenor I know the name but didn’t know or recall the history. And I’d say I’m probably more knowledgeable than the average viewer. That said, I think HotD did a much better job of plopping us down in the world and letting us understand the characters and their motivations very quickly. Perhaps that comes down to the source material, both of which I’ve never read. With WoT, that first book is, IMO, not easy to adapt. It’s an “homage” to LotR for the first half and a pretty unsatisfying conclusion that would’ve been pretty silly on screen directly adapted. The conclusion we got on screen wasn’t much better, but I’m hopeful that now that the heavy lifting is done, subsequent seasons will feel less forced. I think this is true with RoP too. There’s a feeling of disconnect so far. I keep waiting for it to sort of click together. Whereas HotD had clicked by episode two for me. I really hope some of these characters aren’t who the speculation says. But again I know they’re adapting and severely contracting the timeline. I have zero issues with even wholesale changes in an adaptation if it is done for the betterment of the story for the medium. But many fans of books just want to see the book used as a direct screenplay. It’s tough not to compare the two series for me right now and there does seem to be something missing with RoP that HotD doesn’t lack. I just can’t put my finger on it yet. I’ll reserve my final judgment until the conclusion of the season. Hopefully I won’t have to wait longer than that as with WoT.
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At the end of the day they probably should have found something else. Because now the Tolkien rights are split between various studios. So Amazon is stuck & literally cant tell certain things because they dont own the rights. This show is probably gonna get even more messy as time goes. Because good or bad they now gotta be very careful based on the rights they dont own & they will likely be changing a whole lot of shit because they dont own all of it
 
I was probably among those most sceptical about the new series and pretty much ended up checking it out out of pure curiosity, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'd be lying if I said I didn't take issue with a few things, but I'm enjoying it. I do think some of the acting/dialogue is pretty bad and I'm mildly disappointed that it's only loosely based on the source material, but Peter Jackson's versions weren't entirely faithful and I'm open to seeing what they do with it. I didn't really agree with the pacing issues most people have, though episode 3 was the first time I found it feeling like a slog. In fact I generally wasn't impressed by a lot of that episode's content.

I agree it generally looks its budget and gives off that LOTR vibe that's been brought by PJ's trilogy. There are occasions that look unforgivably cheap though. I concur that the 'stranger' that the half feet meet is quite obviously Gandalf. The music really doesn't bother me. It's nothing special and nothing is grabbing me in the same way Howard Shore's score did, but it doesn't feel out of place or cheap to me in any way. Naturally, there are motifs here and there that give off a vibe that's a bit more 2022, but not to a point where it feels completely lacking in identity.

I watched episode 4 yesterday and think it's the best so far. Some cringe to be found, but overall very enjoyable. I like the dynamic between Elrond and Durin quite a lot - that and Galadriel are the stronger portions of the series for me. This episode really gave a feeling that the season is building towards something.

On a loosely related note, I don't consider myself a "Tolkien fan", but I have read the LOTR and the Hobbit and enjoyed them to a point. I had my criticisms, but I was still curious to check out The Silmarillion one day. Flash forward 15 years later and it's the Rings of Power that provoked me to finally get around to it. I've more or less finished it and liked it a lot more than I expected, though I wouldn't recommend it lightly.

Edit: Also, yes. Too much slo mo. However, though overused, i thought it worked fairly well in the woodland chase scene in episode 4. Reminded me a bit of how it's used in the climax of The Fellowship of the Ring.
 
When the entire series wraps, I’d like someone to write a two-hour narration and add visuals, music, and some dialogue from the show to essentially be able to change whatever they want and get essentially an enormous prologue for LOTR.
 
Hal9000 said:
When the entire series wraps, I’d like someone to write a two-hour narration and add visuals, music, and some dialogue from the show to essentially be able to change whatever they want and get essentially an enormous prologue for LOTR.
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Hal: I will edit the rings of power, though I do not know the way
FE.org: if by life or death we can support you, we will
OT: you have my editing axe
Reddit: and my bow of ideas
YouTube: you're going to need us on this quest.....mission.....thing......what are we doing?
 
JohnCarlton said:
At the end of the day they probably should have found something else. Because now the Tolkien rights are split between various studios. So Amazon is stuck & literally cant tell certain things because they dont own the rights. This show is probably gonna get even more messy as time goes. Because good or bad they now gotta be very careful based on the rights they dont own & they will likely be changing a whole lot of shit because they dont own all of it
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To an extent, but this has been blown out of proportion somewhat. The Silmarillion (which they don't have the rights to) deals 90% with the first age, and this series deals with the second age. Tolkien didn't actually write a whole lot about the time just before the LOTR (40 pages at the back of a 400 page book). Certainly, they will be taking liberties, but they are also largely speculating on and embellishing a period of time that wasn't explored in as much detail as a lot of people seem to think. It actually makes more sense for them to have the rights to the LOTR appendix than it does for the whole of the Silmarillion.
 
The Scribbling Man said:
To an extent, but this has been blown out of proportion somewhat. The Silmarillion (which they don't have the rights to) deals 90% with the first age, and this series deals with the second age. Tolkien didn't actually write a whole lot about the time just before the LOTR (40 pages at the back of a 400 page book). Certainly, they will be taking liberties, but they are also largely speculating on and embellishing a period of time that wasn't explored in as much detail as a lot of people seem to think. It actually makes more sense for them to have the rights to the LOTR appendix than it does for the whole of the Silmarillion.
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At the end of the day the LOTR appendix can only last for so long. Based on the mixed to negative reaction for The Rings Of Power they may decide in not bothering once this show is finished up. Based on how this is going though not buying everything might have been smart
 
I mean everyone is entitled to their own opinions but to call this show a disaster is pretty serious hyperbole. It’s a decent show that hasn’t yet wowed me. But it’s enjoyable and seems to be have found a strong audience for Amazon, that doesn’t have the viewership of other platforms. Spending big on a high profile property seems to have been a calculated move to drive adoption of the platform and it seems to be working. 🤷‍♂️ I think anyone is free to their opinions and many don’t like it. But it definitely doesn’t seem to be either a home run nor a strike out … yet.
 
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Moe_Syzlak said:
I mean everyone is entitled to their own opinions but to call this show a disaster is pretty serious hyperbole. It’s a decent show that hasn’t yet wowed me. But it’s enjoyable and seems to be have found a strong audience for Amazon, that doesn’t have the viewership of other platforms. Spending big on a high profile property seems to have been a calculated move to drive adoption of the platform and it seems to be working. 🤷‍♂️ I think anyone is free to their opinions and many don’t like it. But it definitely doesn’t seem to be either a home run nor a strike out … yet.
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How do we know its working ? That 25 million number SAMPLED the first two episodes. No word on if they completed or liked or hated it. No word on the ratings of the other episodes. Wait for the NIelsen ratings THIS will tell the whole story. We do know that The Rings Of Power debuted #3 behind House Of The Dragon & She Hulk. How much of the audience stuck around that SAMPLED the first two episodes ? No one can say if this is a success or failure because Amazon is keeping this info from the public. We will have a better idea with the Nielsen ratings over Amazons carefully worded press release that people are ignoring the word SAMPLED. The number of how much of the audience THAT STUCK AROUND IS A HELL OF A LOT MORE IMPORTANT than people that SAMPLED the first two episodes & how many of the sampled COMPLETED the first two episodes IN FULL (we will probably never know this) & the Samba numbers were terrible so no THIS CAN NOT BE DECLARED AS A WIN UNTIL WE HAVE MORE INFORMATION
 
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@JohnCarlton as per my reminder in the ideas thread, I've moved your response to the general discussion thread as this is where the discussion should be if it continues.
 
Just finished episode 5. 90% of scenes with Isildur, his friends and his sister I can't stand, but otherwise I thought this was a solid episode. Durin and Elrond's relationship remains the highlight of the show for me.
 
I can’t put my finger in it, but this was the first time the show really felt like LotR to me. I’ve been solidly enjoying the show, but it started to click a bit more with this episode. But it doesn’t feel like anything too different happened. Perhaps it’s just that I’ve had more time with the characters and it has taken this long to settle in with them. My anticipation for future episodes still isn’t as high as with. HotD or, now also, Andor, but I’m thoroughly enjoying all three.
 
^^ I agree. There was something that felt more at home in this episode. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe it has to do with a certain character arc...
 
Ep5 gave me full body goosebumps when...

...I heard the lyrics to the final verse of the beautiful Harfoot song:

At last comes their answer, through cold and through frost,
that "Not all who wonder, or wander, are lost".
No matter the sorrow, no matter the cost,
that "Not all who wonder, or wander, are lost".

Which features elements from the poem that Gandalf included in his letter to Frodo at the Prancing Pony about Aragorn.

all%2Bthat%2Bis%2Bgold%2Bdoes%2Bnot%2Bglitter...%2Bthe%2Bcrownless%2Bagain%2Bshall%2Bbe%2Bking.jpg


I've always got a bit misty eyed when Michael Hordern reads it in the radio adaptation:


So if the stranger is indeed Gandalf, this bit implies that Gandalf's later poem was influenced by songs he heard the early Hobbits sing of their wanderings long ago. If this is all the case, I'm loving the idea that Gandalf's humble bearing is formed by his earliest time spent with the first people he meets in middle earth, rather than he just enjoyed the company of Hobbits because they happened to share his outlook on life.

TRoP might not be perfect so far but if it's going to have moments like this I'm 100% in for the ride!
 
The Scribbling Man said:
^^ I agree. There was something that felt more at home in this episode. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe it has to do with a certain character arc...
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For me it was:

The montage of the Harfoots' voyage accompanied by that song. It wasn't full on LOTR for me but the beautiful shots of the landscape together with the music and the family working together definitely had something...
 
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Really? I thought episode 5 was the worst episode so far... There's been a downward trend with each passing episode. Last episode, besides a scene that was way too reminiscent of real-life politics for my liking, I thought was still decent, but something was off. With this episode however, I felt like any and all traces of subtlety and wonder that the first two episodes had were completely gone. Every line is straightforward, no shot, lighting, costume, expression, or line carries any meaning or creativity, even the music is just leitmotif spaghetti at this point. What happened? Where's all the interesting thematic writing and clever character work? Just trying to be Game of Thrones without understanding what made Game of Thrones great (...at first) and how Lord of the Rings is DIFFERENT than GoT.

Minus the Harfoot song, I did like that, and I'm really hoping the rest of the show is like that and less like the rest of the episode.

I think what @DigModiFicaTion said in the ideas thread about the series in general summed up my thoughts on this episode:

DigModiFicaTion said:
Perhaps I'm just getting old, but so many of these shows now feel formulaic in that they intend to show in your face things that lead to something else later... or actions a character takes now that won't be revealed why until later. It's too on the nose for my taste. Subtlety that is realized if paying attention is so much more powerful, imho. That's like picking up a Where's Waldo book and Waldo says, "I'm feeling like eating a hotdog today" and the next page is street vendors and a sea of people. It's a no brainer where he's going to be.......
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I did not feel that in the earlier episodes, but I certainly felt it in this one, and that breaks my heart to say, because I absolutely loved the first two to three episodes (especially the first). Now I can only remember what the great playwright William Shakesman once said: Stop wasting my time. Stop it!
 
Just finished up the second half of episode 4 and episode 5. Still, nothing really of note in this show. The plot is still murky as ever. Characters are left anonymous to keep us wanting more? At this point I've almost completely lost interest. The last few episodes in Numenor were painfully slow and ultimately didn't do anything that couldn't have been accomplished in a single episode's length of time. Want Halbrand to be a smithy, then just say he is. DONE and move on. Want to restore the relationship between the Numenor and the Elves, either not have Numenor so stuck up or just have the tree weep when Galadriel shows up so it's a sign and they make their decision without it feeling like a neck break jump cut of a narrative change up.

In the remaining episodes I predict that
Tall grizzly half naked man is revealed to either be Gandalf or Sauron
The Dritz dark elf dude will turn out to be some lame distraction of a character to misdirect us into thinking that he may be Sauron
We'll finally get to see Theo's ears that they teased in episode 5 and it's FINALLY revealed that he's Arondir's son
Galadriel will continue to scowl and shake while doing essentially nothing in the story
Halibrand will see the Elven forge and think to himself, "hmmm, I think I could make some neat jewelry with a furnace like that"
Halibrand reveals his dark past and either is Sauron or is connected very closely to him
The Harfoot will arrive at a place that they'll call the Shire
The Numenor will arrive in middle earth and some how make it to the tower area which is no where near the sea and the calvary will take out the orcs that are already swarming the tower area but have nothing better to do than wait around until someone can show up and kill them all
The response to the series will be such that Amazon cancels season 2 and we'll all wonder why we sat through 8 hours of weak story telling coupled with a big tv budget

I'm just not digging this show. It looks fine and it's on ok tv show, but it's just not up to par with what has come before it and ultimately feels like a really big budget fan film that didn't have a handle on the source material or how to make the show at least exciting and engaging to watch.
 
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