The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Amazon | September 2, 2022

[Ozymandias]

Episode 1 is bugged, get your shit together bezos

 

[Porthos]

4 minutes ago, cax16 said:

No crash yet. lol 

 

4 minutes ago, cax16 said:

No crash yet. lol 

I had to restart the app a couple of times on my Roku to get ep 1 to show up, FWIW.   Not a huge thing, but minor teething problem nonetheless.

Edit: same thing happened to me. @Ozymandias.  The ol’ turn off turn on trick ended up working

Edited September 2, 2022 by Porthos

[Porthos]

Non spoiler comment

 

I mean, Elrond’s not wrong about Galadriel here…

[Potiki]

By the way noticed earlier this is Dolby Vision, I think most of the time Amazons originals are only in HDR. Pretty sure that is helping with this looking better than their other shows, I do wonder if they possibly upped the bitrate for this as well, as it looks significantly nicer than anything else I’ve seen on Amazon.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Potiki

[cax16]

Good first episode 

[Porthos]

4 minutes ago, cax16 said:

Good first episode 

Very good first episode, IMO.  
 

May be a lot of set up,  it set up down right.

 

Have things to do, so I’ll catch the next in a bit,but so far, so good.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Porthos

[cax16]

4 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Very good first episode, IMO.  
 

May be a lot of set up,  it set up down right.

 

Have things to do, so I’ll catch the next in a bit,but so far, so good.

Agreed, looks really nice also.

[Porthos]

47 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Non spoiler comment

 

I mean, Elrond’s not wrong about Galadriel here…

 

Now switching to spoiler mode (Ep 1 only)

 

Spoiler

I really really liked how they portrayed Galadriel's obsession.  And obsession is literally the only word for it.

 

It's an incredibly tough needle to thread, but I think they nailed it.  

 

First off, she's not wrong, and we all know she's not wrong.  But the pig-headed way she was going about it was COMPLETELY WRONG.  Burning bridges left and right, and pretty much engineering her own exile, just so folks wouldn't have to put up with her any more.

 

So, she was right... But very very wrong in how to do it.

 

...

 

How incredibly... Human.

 

Other musings

Spoiler

An angel gets its wings whenever Elves Make Boneheaded Political Decisions, and boy did they earn them here.

 

Can't Argue With Elves, indeed.  Even among their own kind. 

 

Also appreciated the not-so casual racism they were showing to humans.

 

More importantly it felt like Middle Earth, which is no small feat.

 

Just lots of little things to love.  Harfoots were ace.  Elven Intrigue, good. Incredibly long prologue to open everything.    All great.

 

Just a really really solid opening episode.  Hopefully Ep 2 will keep it going.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Porthos

[Torontofan]

Don't understand what's going on

 

 

But the scale is epic for s TV show

[MikeQ]

My initial thoughts after having just finished the first two episodes:

 

I'm very pleasantly surprised. Very.

 

It feels vibrant and full of life, and I'm already attached to multiple characters, which, for the most part, feel appropriately cast. And, for me at least, the hook is there. I'm on board. We'll see where it takes us.

 

I'll share my expanded thoughts in the next few days.

 

Peace,

Mike

[cax16]

Really cool to have this and house of dragons all within two weeks. I’m very happy ( and not making comparisons). 

[Lion Roar]

A solid 7-7.5 for me. Some of the visuals were just astounding. Really loved the dwarves. Both Durin and Disa were amazing, and the (strained) friendship between Durin and Elrond is great. And surprisingly I actually liked the Harfoots.

 

Biggest issue is with Galadriel and the High Elves. I especially hate the whole return to Valinor scene. Gil-Galad has no authority to order anyone to sail West, and certainly would not order Galadriel who is his great aunt. Also the way the scene was shot it just looked absolutely ridiculous. Not liking Galadriel's whole motivation being based on Finrod's death either, and the change to Finrod's death. It's just a weird way to go with her character. Finrod was good in the one scene he was in, still wish they gave him long hair.

 

Elrond and Celebrimbor's conversation about the Feanor and the Silmarils was great though, and you can already see the seeds being planted for where it takes the story. Looking forward to more from both of them. 

[Porthos]

Yes... This is... Very good.

 

Lots of questions.  I'm not a Tolkien nerd by any imagination.  Not like many here.  Calling me a casual would be more accurate as I've never read The Silmarillion or any of the other ancillary work, though I'm somewhat more familiar with the lore than many of the GA.

 

But.  Yeah.  I'm hooked.

 

Musing on The Stranger

Spoiler

I was thinking Radagast the Brown for a while.

 

Never mind, see below.

 

But those fireflies dying makes me... uncertain.

 

I'm sure those much much more versed in Tolkien lore have better theories.  Could even be an original creation for all I know.

 

But.  Yeah.  This should do just fine with the GA.

 

EDIT:::
 

Checking about, I guess Radagast doesn't show up until the Third Age, so never mind that.

 

Like I said, I'm a casual when it comes to Tolkien's deep deep backstory.

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Porthos

[Ozymandias]

Glad you guys enjoyed it but unfortunately I thought it was a mess.

[JustLurking]

Yeah, I also thought it was good (only watched ep1 for now). Some choices are a bit questionable but overall it works. The series really flexes its budget by the way, jesus.

[Porthos]

Lots of people have rightly talked here (and elsewhere) about the stunning visuals, but...

 

...

 

Bear McCreary, everyone.  That's it, that's the tweet post.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Porthos

[XXR & Friends]

13 minutes ago, Ozymandias said:

Glad you guys enjoyed it but unfortunately I thought it was a mess.

 

[Menor the Destroyer]

I thought it was fine. Stunning visuals and solid score but a very meandering and slow paced plot. Galadriel and Elrond have compelling plotlines, the Harfoots are okay, I don't really care about the Southlands people.

[Ozymandias]

Its meandering and often stilted with no narrative momentum.  It looks expensive, and lot of the wide land shots looked very good, but the overall visual aesthetic is kinda bland imo.

 

And you can tell they were really hamstrung by rights issues in that prologue because we don't see Melkor or Ungoliant destroy the trees of Valinor or get a glimpse at the War or Wrath with Melkor's defeat which sets the stage for the second age, or the Edain being gifted the Island Kingdom of Numenor as a reward for their aide in taking down Melkor.

[Inceptionzq]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

Lots of people have rightly talked here (and elsewhere) about the stunning visuals, but...

 

...

 

Bear McCreary, everyone.  That's it, that's the tweet post.

I think scores can be just as important as visuals, if not more at times, for really immersing me into shows/movies. This has not disappointed