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

[Porthos]

Just now, Inceptionzq said:

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

 

Oh yes.  But I admit I also am a fan of his, ever since his BSG days and I wanted to make sure he got his props.

 

To further your point, I don't think Battlestar Galactica would have been nearly as good if it wasn't for his score in that show.

[Liiviig 1998]

 

Solid start to the show . Not super generic as I thought it would be . Though I wasn't bored at all ,the plot is a little meandering and slow at times even for setup episodes.

 

 

 

Visuals are stunning and soundtrack is pretty awesome ,khaza dum track got a kick out of me

 

 

 

Galadriel feels a little stiff at times but she's solid for now 

 

 

 

Didn't like some story elements with the elves 

 

 

The hartfoots are likable 

 

The best parts of the two episodes were elrond and durin

 

 

 

Still midly skeptical, need to see how sauron ,numenor plot is handled

 

 

 

7-7.5/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cap]

I have absolutely no knowledge of Lord of the rings. I didn’t like the movies, I only got through hundred pages of the hobbit before I was bored, I have not seen the hobbit series, but I turned this on because I wanted to see what $1 billion get you. So this is my completely I have no idea what the fuck is going on review:

 

- New Zealand is gorgeous. We need to preserve that to make sure it stays gorgeous. I hope this doesn’t make it overrun with Eco tourism. 
 

- The elves kind of seem like assholes. Are they supposed to? Getting that vibe.

 

- Dwarves are good people. 
 

- There are so many people and I’m just like OK. I think I might be too high to follow this.

 

- MUSIC GOOD

 

- Again, New Zealand is really really really pretty. The scope of this, and all the city designs are just gorgeous.

 

- I believe I will keep watching, but I don’t necessarily know if I want to do it week to week

[Cap]

So we have to stan any show where we properly light the night scenes!!!

[Porthos]

5 minutes ago, Cap said:

I have absolutely no knowledge of Lord of the rings. I didn’t like the movies, I only got through hundred pages of the hobbit before I was bored, I have not seen the hobbit series, but I turned this on because I wanted to see what $1 billion get you. So this is my completely I have no idea what the fuck is going on review:

 

- New Zealand is gorgeous. We need to preserve that to make sure it stays gorgeous. I hope this doesn’t make it overrun with Eco tourism. 

 

- Again, New Zealand is really really really pretty. The scope of this, and all the city designs are just gorgeous.

 

 

Got baaaaaaaad news for you about Season Two and Beyond, I'm afraid. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Porthos

[Cap]

4 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

Got baaaaaaaad news for you about Season Two and Beyond, I'm afraid. 

I assume they got all the B roll and outside coverage they need and then packed up and left. Seems rude but OK. I hope that doesn’t affect the overall vibe

[Porthos]

Initial IMDB rating:

 

Overall: 7.3/10

Ep 1:      7.9/10

Ep 2:     7.9/10

 

Not nearly as review bombed as I thought it might be.  Incredibly early days, naturally.

 

As for the episode ratings?  Fair enough.  I'm prob around 8.5/10 to 8.75/10 on both, but I'm also a notoriously easy grade.  I do have a couple of quibbles about Ep 2, for instance, so it might be better to say 9/10 and 8.25/10.  But the highs of both episodes clearly make it worth it, again IMO.

 

If I put a slight thumb on the scale for folks being... annoyed with the show, seems about right.

 

So far, at least.  See where it goes after a full 24 hours and after the fan rush of votes (though admittedly a strong chance there is a strong anti-fan rush as well).

Edited September 2, 2022 by Porthos

[JustLurking]

23 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Initial IMDB rating:

 

Overall: 7.3/10

Ep 1:      7.9/10

Ep 2:     7.9/10

 

Not nearly as review bombed as I thought it might be.  Incredibly early days, naturally.

 

As for the episode ratings?  Fair enough.  I'm prob around 8.5/10 to 8.75/10 on both, but I'm also a notoriously easy grade.  I do have a couple of quibbles about Ep 2, for instance, so it might be better to say 9/10 and 8.25/10.  But the highs of both episodes clearly make it worth it, again IMO.

 

If I put a slight thumb on the scale for folks being... annoyed with the show, seems about right.

 

So far, at least.  See where it goes after a full 24 hours and after the fan rush of votes (though admittedly a strong chance there is a strong anti-fan rush as well).

That's just because the score actually has a lot of people rating it highly which is balancing out a bit. In that 7.3 nearly 22% of the voters gave 1!

[Potiki]

As I previously said the visuals are stunning and yes the score is very good as well, I love the diversity on screen as well, everything about the production side is top notch (which is a little shocking) I’m glad it turned out well.

 

Now to the unfortunately more negative aspect, I have waited for a few hours to see how I feel about everything and yeah I feel bad but some of changes are getting to me. I will start by saying that Tolkien outside of LoTR and The Hobbit was much more of a world builder when it came to his other books regarding Middle Earth so less narrative and dialogue, more people and places; which means it is more open to interpretation than strict dialogue and precise story beats. That said there are some pretty notable changes (from what I remember, it has been years since reading them.) I wonder if only having rights to the second age (from what I understand) is having an impact here.

 

Still for me the most notable changes are with the Elves, who are my favourite race from the books/movies and also live for long periods of time so have a big impact on the world. In particular Finrod and Galadriel; Finrod died in a different manner than depicted in the show and I think using that as a character motivation for Galadriel is against who she is, from what I recall, also the lack of her Husband (Celeborn) and possibly daughter* is notable *If she had been born at this point, I remember it was some time during the second age but I also know they have truncated the story line so human characters are not dying of old age every few episodes.

 

Anyway I guess they could introduce those elements later but I also might just have to treat this as a multiverse/elseworlds version of the second age, one of multiple Middle Earths if you will. 
 

I’m sure I’ll get over it and continue watching, I didn’t hate the show by any means but just going to have to change the mindset of this being canon (for lack of a better term) 

[jedijake]

No surprises about the horrible audience scores. Immense review bombing from those who did and didn't see it. Unfortunately, the show has not generated a large amount of buzz and thus most who will review it will be the haters who have been spewing most of the media.

 

Lack of action in the first two episodes is never a good thing for longevity. Let's hope the other 6 episodes have plenty or at least a decent amount of action.

[Porthos]

9 hours ago, Porthos said:

Initial IMDB rating:

 

Overall: 7.3/10

Ep 1:      7.9/10

Ep 2:     7.9/10

 

Not nearly as review bombed as I thought it might be.  Incredibly early days, naturally.

 

As for the episode ratings?  Fair enough.  I'm prob around 8.5/10 to 8.75/10 on both, but I'm also a notoriously easy grade.  I do have a couple of quibbles about Ep 2, for instance, so it might be better to say 9/10 and 8.25/10.  But the highs of both episodes clearly make it worth it, again IMO.

 

If I put a slight thumb on the scale for folks being... annoyed with the show, seems about right.

 

So far, at least.  See where it goes after a full 24 hours and after the fan rush of votes (though admittedly a strong chance there is a strong anti-fan rush as well).

 

Wow did this get utterly slammed overnight:

 

Overall: 6.1/10 (and realistically probably still dropping)

Ep 1:      7.2/10

Ep 2:     6.9/10

 

Always a bit of a push/pull between superfans and trolls, but the sheer amount of 1/10 is striking as noted by @JustLurking.

 

10/10: 35.7%

9/10:    9.3%

8/10:    7.4%

7/10:     4.0%

6/10:    2.4%

5/10:    2.6%

4/10:    2.2%

3/10:    3.2%

2/10:    5.2%

1/10:  28.0%

 

...

 

Yeah.  Gonna be even more useless than normal to look at this rating. 

[4815162342]

I would not put it past this show to make The Stranger 

 

Spoiler

early Gandalf, even though it breaks the canon

 

Overall it is a fine start, some stuff clicking better than others

[4815162342]

The elf stuff so far has felt very stilted, and I think suffers a bit from having to dance around not having rights to the Silmarillion. Whereas the stuff in the second episode in Khazad-dum felt much more natural and flowing, for example.

 

I do like the angle of some of the peoples of Middle Earth seeing the Elves as entitled dictators, and some of the Elves leaning into that

[Porthos]

5 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

The elf stuff so far has felt very stilted, and I think suffers a bit from having to dance around not having rights to the Silmarillion. Whereas the stuff in the second episode in Khazad-dum felt much more natural and flowing, for example.

 

I do like the angle of some of the peoples of Middle Earth seeing the Elves as entitled dictators, and some of the Elves leaning into that

 

As someone who isn't particularly familiar with the greater canon in large detail, I was thinking about this last night.

 

Just how much are the folks here hemmed in by not only having the just the Appendices, but not having The Silmarillion?

 

Can they actually tread the same ground there without violating license, or do they have to be different (to varying degrees)?  Like, I doubt they'd get in trouble for following Broad Strokes, especially if they can point to things in LotR/Hobbit.  At the same time, it's a dance like you say.

 

Sure, it would almost certainly have been better for all if they could have gotten the rights for more ancillary material.  But given the, let's put it nicely and say, nearly fucking impossible task it would be to actually get them, I do personally forgive them a bit if they wander a tad.

 

Mind, I am also very sympathetic to complaints such as @Potiki's, as they are pretty much channeling the frustration I have with pretty much all Star Trek JJ Abrams and beyond.

 

But since I'm Not a Tolkien Book Nerd, I don't have that sort of in-built block.  I can just enjoy it as a more or less member of the GA and not a Super Fan.  Makes for a nice change of pace.

[4815162342]

22 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

As someone who isn't particularly familiar with the greater canon in large detail, I was thinking about this last night.

 

Just how much are the folks here hemmed in by not only having the just the Appendices, but not having The Silmarillion?

 

Can they actually tread the same ground there without violating license, or do they have to be different (to varying degrees)?  Like, I doubt they'd get in trouble for following Broad Strokes, especially if they can point to things in LotR/Hobbit.  At the same time, it's a dance like you say.

 

 

For example, not having the rights meant they significantly changed and simplified the manner of the death of Galadriel's brother.

 

Spoiler

In Episode 1 opening monologue, it is just framed as he went to hunt Sauron, and as the saying goes, if you come for the king you best not miss, and he missed.

 

In the actual canon, her brother Finrod was not hunting Sauron, he was assisting Beren of Beren and Luthien fame in the great Silmarill adventure to repay a debt owed to Beren's father, and while they encountered Sauron and fought him, what actually happened was while they are held prisoner, Finrod mano a manos a werewolf that comes to eat them, kills it, and is mortally wounded in the process, solidifying himself as the Ultimate Middle Earth Wingman. 

 

So yes, in the canon, his death comes about as a result of encountering Sauron, but Sauron is tangential to the actual purpose of Finrod's being out there in the first place.

 

I do wonder if in Galadriel's adventures with Halbarand or other humans likely to be met it gets brought up that her brother Finrod was the original Elf who befriended humanity and saw the potential in them when they first arrived on-scene. Probably not since that's again, Silmarillion stuff, but it would perhaps show a contrast between them with Finrod seeing the good, and Galadriel being more distrusting and seeing, at least in Halbarand, value in what he can do for her as opposed to anything intrinsic.

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by 4815162342

[dudalb]

1 hour ago, 4815162342 said:

The elf stuff so far has felt very stilted, and I think suffers a bit from having to dance around not having rights to the Silmarillion. Whereas the stuff in the second episode in Khazad-dum felt much more natural and flowing, for example.

 

I do like the angle of some of the peoples of Middle Earth seeing the Elves as entitled dictators, and some of the Elves leaning into that

Spoiler

TO me the biggest problem with not having the rights to the Slimarallion is they can't mention Illuvatar the Creator..God, basicallly (as a good Catholic, Tolkien made his universe monotheistic) and the Valar (the beings Iluvutar created to be guardians of his creation). THis is going to create HUGE problems if they do the Downfall of Numenor,

 

[dudalb]

16 hours ago, Lion Roar said:

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. 

I also think that, probably due they don't have the right to draw stuff from the Silmarallion,their writing out of Iluvutar (God, basically) and the Valar is going to create big problems for the show later on. particulally if they do the Downfall of Numenor.

 

[dudalb]

10 hours ago, jedijake said:

No surprises about the horrible audience scores. Immense review bombing from those who did and didn't see it. Unfortunately, the show has not generated a large amount of buzz and thus most who will review it will be the haters who have been spewing most of the media.

 

Lack of action in the first two episodes is never a good thing for longevity. Let's hope the other 6 episodes have plenty or at least a decent amount of action.

Frankly,a Middle Earth story that is just about the action scenes is not being true to Tolkien.

This should not be just another Sword and Sorcery slug fest.

[Elessar]

I've read Hobbit and LOTR multiple times but i'm not a wandering encyclopedia like some of the folks, i tend to forget a lot of the details. I'm not bothered much by changes, wasn't when the movies came out and neither am i now. What i'm looking for is a good yarn that captures the themes and messages from the original stories. If you want it exactly like in the books, read the books.

 

So far i'm enjoying what i'm seeing. A solid start.

[dudalb]

24 minutes ago, Elessar said:

I've read Hobbit and LOTR multiple times but i'm not a wandering encyclopedia like some of the folks, i tend to forget a lot of the details. I'm not bothered much by changes, wasn't when the movies came out and neither am i now. What i'm looking for is a good yarn that captures the themes and messages from the original stories. If you want it exactly like in the books, read the books.

 

So far i'm enjoying what i'm seeing. A solid start.

Problem is, not having access to the Silmarallion is going to hurt this series. A lot of the WHY the things that happened in Middle Earth History is in the Sil, not mentioned in the material in LOTR and the Hobbit.