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

[cax16]

2 hours ago, Elessar said:

 

Why does it alway have to be a competition?

Yup, let’s just watch stuff and enjoy it. I loved the HOD premier episode and I can’t wait to see this also. 

Edited August 24, 2022 by cax16

[Liiviig 1998]

Social media reactions have become so unreliable and hard to gauge.

 

TLT had good reactions then look how that ended up.

 

Think this will atleast be gorgeous to look at. Personally expect this to be a generic show , won't be as bad as some think it will but won't be that good either. Let's hope I'm proven wrong and turns out to be a surprise .

[Ozymandias]

Well its somewhat relieving that it looks like at the very least it won't be a mess?  But actually being great is still a huge open question to me.

 

I've learned over the last 15 years to be very skeptical of first reactions on social media when it comes to film, especially ones that use phrases like "everything about this is incredible" like our good baldy friend over at Collider who is actually one of those with a long history of being easily pleased.  Also, making early sweeping statements like that about big upcoming nerd/fan properties guarantees you a lot of notoriety on film twitter which in turn gets you lost of likes/retweets/followers, so there's also that incentive to keep in mind.  Some easy examples of early gushing reactions on twitter are Man of Steel, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi, three movies I have no interest in ever revisiting.  I will go ahead and predict that at the very least I think 'normies' who are only familiar with the Jackson films will largely enjoy the show.

 

Also, this may be the cynic in me talking, but regardless of whichever way the overall reception ends up, I do think there is going to be a contingent of those with an urge to be more favorable and defensive of this show than they otherwise would be because Rings of Power has been the target of perhaps the biggest sustained hate campaign by the toxic reactionary right wing chud industry on youtube for about 8 months now, kinda like what happened with Ghostbusters in 2016 but on a bigger scale.

 

Lastly, supposedly none of the 4 big events of the 2nd age are in this season, its all setup and character building so we won't be able to judge how they integrate those in all the stuff they're making up. 

[Lucas]

There's too little talk about the actual story in these two episodes from the reactions. The vast majority is about the spectacle and how expensive it looks, but I'm gonna need to hear some more to up my interest.

[dudalb]

12 hours ago, Elessar said:

 

Why does it alway have to be a competition?

Human Nature. People love a competion.

[dudalb]

2 hours ago, Lucas said:

There's too little talk about the actual story in these two episodes from the reactions. The vast majority is about the spectacle and how expensive it looks, but I'm gonna need to hear some more to up my interest.

My concern is this will turn out to be a routine, by the numbers, sword and sorcery movie set in Tolkien's Middle Earth.And that ain't good enough by a long shot for something based, however louosley, on Tolkien's work.

I will watch it out of curiosity since I am an Amazon prime member ( I get back my monthly fee over a year in saved shipping costs and free Kindle stuff alone) so it will cost me nothing, but am not optimistic.

Tolkien was a genius, his works are major works of literature, and I don;t think you can use the same methods and comprasions with them you can for a freaking comic book franchise ( and I read a lot of comics(.

 

[James]

 

Very positive thoughts from The Tolkien Professor.

 

I am a huge Tolkien fan (read all the books, except for a few in the HOME series), but being a fan right now is so draining. This is my most anticipated piece of entertainment in years but being excited for it when there are so many toxic people trolling it online… I don’t think I have ever seen this level of hate directed at any movie/TV show ever. And it’s annoying af to fight with people who made up their mind about something they haven’t even seen (and yes, the marketing was piss poor for the most part).

[dudalb]

2 hours ago, James said:

 

Very positive thoughts from The Tolkien Professor.

 

I am a huge Tolkien fan (read all the books, except for a few in the HOME series), but being a fan right now is so draining. This is my most anticipated piece of entertainment in years but being excited for it when there are so many toxic people trolling it online… I don’t think I have ever seen this level of hate directed at any movie/TV show ever. And it’s annoying af to fight with people who made up their mind about something they haven’t even seen (and yes, the marketing was piss poor for the most part).

 

2 hours ago, James said:

 

Very positive thoughts from The Tolkien Professor.

 

I am a huge Tolkien fan (read all the books, except for a few in the HOME series), but being a fan right now is so draining. This is my most anticipated piece of entertainment in years but being excited for it when there are so many toxic people trolling it online… I don’t think I have ever seen this level of hate directed at any movie/TV show ever. And it’s annoying af to fight with people who made up their mind about something they haven’t even seen (and yes, the marketing was piss poor for the most part).

He was'nt around for the purist vs revisionist wars when the Jackson films came out.

And I for one, am skeptical of The Tolkien Professors credentials. 

[Porthos]

 

 

[Ozymandias]

no fun in that, its either team Dragon or team Rings

[jedijake]

Is the biggest complaint about this show really the racial diversity in casting? I mean, really? Something positive is actually the biggest complaint?

 

Or worse yet, that they are ACTUALLY giving women more prominent roles?

 

Says whole helluva lot more about those complaining than it does about the show itself. And what it does say about those who complain is not a good thing.

[Ozymandias]

2 hours ago, jedijake said:

Is the biggest complaint about this show really the racial diversity in casting? I mean, really? Something positive is actually the biggest complaint?

 

Or worse yet, that they are ACTUALLY giving women more prominent roles?

 

Says whole helluva lot more about those complaining than it does about the show itself. And what it does say about those who complain is not a good thing.

 

Whining about diversity is chud 101

 

Unfortunately its been so loud thanks to the lucrative grift its become that its completely drowned out any legitimate concerns or skepticism.  This is becoming increasingly common with many IPs.

 

Mine have been about many of the costume/armor designs we've seen in the promotional material, stated lore compression/changes, some wildly miscast roles such as old androgynous librarian Celebrimbor or dweeb Elrond.  That latest trailer felt more akin to one of those YA genre movies that were popular in the early/mid 2010s than any kind of adaptation of Tolkien.

[Kalo]

On 8/24/2022 at 3:01 PM, Ozymandias said:

Well its somewhat relieving that it looks like at the very least it won't be a mess?  But actually being great is still a huge open question to me.

 

I've learned over the last 15 years to be very skeptical of first reactions on social media when it comes to film, especially ones that use phrases like "everything about this is incredible" like our good baldy friend over at Collider who is actually one of those with a long history of being easily pleased.  Also, making early sweeping statements like that about big upcoming nerd/fan properties guarantees you a lot of notoriety on film twitter which in turn gets you lost of likes/retweets/followers, so there's also that incentive to keep in mind.  Some easy examples of early gushing reactions on twitter are Man of Steel, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi, three movies I have no interest in ever revisiting.  I will go ahead and predict that at the very least I think 'normies' who are only familiar with the Jackson films will largely enjoy the show.

 

Also, this may be the cynic in me talking, but regardless of whichever way the overall reception ends up, I do think there is going to be a contingent of those with an urge to be more favorable and defensive of this show than they otherwise would be because Rings of Power has been the target of perhaps the biggest sustained hate campaign by the toxic reactionary right wing chud industry on youtube for about 8 months now, kinda like what happened with Ghostbusters in 2016 but on a bigger scale.

 

Lastly, supposedly none of the 4 big events of the 2nd age are in this season, its all setup and character building so we won't be able to judge how they integrate those in all the stuff they're making up. 

 

It's ridiculous. I just want to know if the story is actually good and it will be almost impossible to tell because the right wing (like ultra right imo)  is mad about the diverse race casting ultra tolkien nerds are mad Hobbits are in it and Galadriel has a sword and critics are almost certainly going to over rate it because it's PC.  I am a HUGE Lotr fan don't get me wrong, but I am more of a Peter Jackson Lotr nerd than a Tolkien one, I really don't care if the writers took some liberties with characters that almost no one knew anything about to begin with as long as it's done well and fits with the essence of what Tolkien created. also didn't the showrunners have limit access as far as what they could adapt? that kind of makes it not their fault if they couldn't draw from all the sources.   I think visually it looks gorgeous. o that's enough for be to at least give it a shot. but I'm a little worried about the story. I am kind of growing tired of the narrative that "Strong female characters" have to be royalty or warriors in order to be strong. and am a little worried that is where they are going here. but even that I can overlook if its done well. 

[Kalo]

On 8/26/2022 at 10:30 AM, jedijake said:

Is the biggest complaint about this show really the racial diversity in casting? I mean, really? Something positive is actually the biggest complaint?

 

Or worse yet, that they are ACTUALLY giving women more prominent roles?

 

Says whole helluva lot more about those complaining than it does about the show itself. And what it does say about those who complain is not a good thing.

'

I think it's a bit more complicate then that, ultra fans like it to be as authentic as possible and Tolkien a man of the 20th century wrote Lotr as a very European/white story.  

 

I use to have a lot more of a problem with it than I do cause I had that same belief, then I realized it was just a movie/story and they should be casting more diversely anyways.

 

I don't think too many people have a problem with woman in large roles anymore tbh. (Some do I'm sure) but they are kind of tired of woman being used in roles all the same way. basically  re-casting as a woman but giving her almost no development, which makes her feel very generic and making her too masculine. Rey in Star Wars for example. and then there is Ashoka in the Clone Wars/ Mandalorian she is such a good character. you just think of her as a great character. not a "Strong female character" a good character should not be a "Strong" character in the literally sense they should be unique or relatable so they feel authentic.

 

They are more mad about men be written as evil, dumb or weak. which does happen a lot in recent film/ movies. and imo is an issue that should be addressed. 

 

 

 

  

[Elessar]

User ratings on sites like RT or IMDB will be fun to watch. It's gonna get destroyed. I have never seen so much trolling under every youtube video and shitpostings in general than with RoP. They are all itching to plant their zeroes and ones on aggregate sites. It's also kind of sad. 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Elessar

[Ozymandias]

27 minutes ago, Elessar said:

User ratings on sites like RT or IMDB will be fun to watch. It's gonna get destroyed. I have never seen so much trolling under every youtube video and shitpostings in general than with RoP. They are all itching to plant their zeroes and ones on aggregate sites. It's also kind of sad. 

 

Like this?

 

 

WOMAN!

 

 

[jedijake]

2 hours ago, Kalo said:

'

I think it's a bit more complicate then that, ultra fans like it to be as authentic as possible and Tolkien a man of the 20th century wrote Lotr as a very European/white story.  

 

I use to have a lot more of a problem with it than I do cause I had that same belief, then I realized it was just a movie/story and they should be casting more diversely anyways.

 

I don't think too many people have a problem with woman in large roles anymore tbh. (Some do I'm sure) but they are kind of tired of woman being used in roles all the same way. basically  re-casting as a woman but giving her almost no development, which makes her feel very generic and making her too masculine. Rey in Star Wars for example. and then there is Ashoka in the Clone Wars/ Mandalorian she is such a good character. you just think of her as a great character. not a "Strong female character" a good character should not be a "Strong" character in the literally sense they should be unique or relatable so they feel authentic.

 

They are more mad about men be written as evil, dumb or weak. which does happen a lot in recent film/ movies. and imo is an issue that should be addressed. 

 

 

 

  

I understand and can even respect the idea of authenticity to an extent. However, no character was gender or race swapped. Too much expectation for this authenticity can come across as being petty if not at least a bit racist.

 

 I think what fans would have wanted to see is a balance with diversity AND love for Tolkein's work and worlds. Instead we are ONLY seeing comments about the diversity.  I am going to assume those are both there and well balanced, but certain Youtubers who are obsessed would make you think otherwise. The discussion seems to be completely dominated by incels who seem to feel threatened.

 

The RT scores will be interesting.

[cax16]

2 hours ago, Ozymandias said:

 

Like this?

 

 

WOMAN!

 

 

People are pathetic. 

[jedijake]

I just watched 3 or 4 videos about Rings of Power and "complaints" and didn't actually see anything whatsoever that would qualify as an actual legit complaint.

 

The ONLY empathy I may feel a tease of comes from the idea that hardcore Tolkein fans fear that ROP could suggest that Tolkein was a sexist and/or racist due to his lack of inclusion. But people have to also understand the world that Tolkein himself came from.

 

Organized Chao has a nice take and critique on the complaining such as that from Nerdrotic.

 

The Second Age of Man was never fully explored by Tolkein.

[Kalo]

52 minutes ago, jedijake said:

I understand and can even respect the idea of authenticity to an extent. However, no character was gender or race swapped. Too much expectation for this authenticity can come across as being petty if not at least a bit racist.

 

 I think what fans would have wanted to see is a balance with diversity AND love for Tolkein's work and worlds. Instead we are ONLY seeing comments about the diversity.  I am going to assume those are both there and well balanced, but certain Youtubers who are obsessed would make you think otherwise. The discussion seems to be completely dominated by incels who seem to feel threatened.

 

The RT scores will be interesting.

 

Yes, I've watched a few channels on TB that I can't anymore, because they do come across as at least a little racist. I fine with and think diverse casting is in most cases good as long as it doesn't take from / override the story. I do think we need to get to a point where we can cast who we like and not have to worry about being mistaken for racist/ phobic simply because there is a certain demographic is left out, not everything can be a huge ensemble. 

 

I don't think Tolkien would have gone that direction I am seeing with Galadriel. but he did write Ewyon's story and that was pretty ahead of it's time I would say. so a female warrior is not imo. outside of Tolkien's beliefs for lotr. plus Galadriel taking up of arms, seems to be a temporary feild for her character and when you live as long as her. it's not really that much of a stretch to think she has seen some action. 

 

But I really don't have a problem with lotr casting as far as diversity is concerned. and am holding any judgement until I see the show.