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

[Cap]

Well, I loved it 🤷‍♀️

[Torontofan]

This show spent all this time mystry boxing and the results were as expected with no real twists 

lol 

[Ozymandias]

That entire scene in the forest with the slim shady cultists, Gandalf, and the Hobbits was maximum cringe, at no point was that better than an episode of Xena.  Everything with Sauron was terrible.  Oh my god that shot of him at the end in the black robes in Mordor felt like something out of charmed.

 

I'm not even gonna bother getting into too much details here because this episode got so stupid I thought we were being trolled, either that or the people making this shit have absolutely no self awareness whatsoever.  That end credits song holy mother of god.  Talking about lore inaccuracies at this point is giving the show too much credit.

 

The Rings of Powers supplants Game of Thrones Season 8 as the biggest disaster in TV history and its not even close, what a poorly conceived and misguided mess from top to bottom.  Imagine having access to one the greatest and beloved properties of all time with an unlimited budget and putting out hot garbage.  Its cheesy, dull, stilted, meandering, muddled, and contrived—the complexity of the awfulness is overwhelming.  I just simply don't understand how its possible to fuck up this bad.

 

How does this get 5 seasons?  If this were any other company without access to unlimited cash to burn I guarantee this would either be canceled already like that recent Resident Evil show or there would be massive, massive changes behind the scenes.

 

PS - Did anyone else get a weird pop up ad that forced you to exit the show and re-click on it?  I wonder if this is some sleazy shenanigan by Amazon to mess around with the view counts.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Ozymandias

[Valonqar]

1 hour ago, Ozymandias said:

That entire scene in the forest with the slim shady cultists, Gandalf, and the Hobbits was maximum cringe, at no point was that better than an episode of Xena.  Everything with Sauron was terrible.  Oh my god that shot of him at the end in the black robes in Mordor felt like something out of charmed.[/quote]

 

Slim Cultists are now known as Nazgirls or Nazgals whichever you prefer. 

 

Charmed is a perfect description. He didn't feel like an actual Dark Lord but like a cheap CW version of him. They even teased his hair for maximum teen fantasy villain effect. It all screamed YA but with 30somethings in teen roles (as usual). But to me the most jarring thing was that he lost his Ep 2-7 persona as if he walked in from a different show. Halbrand was a decent anti-hero with some decernable layers (decent by ROP standards of characterisation which is a low bar) but Sauron is like the most generic villanous acting ever. Immediately remote, aloof with evilish grin that's supposed to pass for seductive and tantrum finish. Skilled actors know how to merge both so that you see worse side of the same character not a character transplant. This was character transplant. The actor was good up to that point but while not a terible villanous performance in a vaccum, it was shite in the context. Also, mind trick was hilarious. They could've had the Join Me moment without it cause they were at the river so King and Queen reflection, which was the episode's money shot, would be possible right there. Part where he pretended to be her brother and came off incestous (hello GOT) was laugh and cringe. 

1 hour ago, Ozymandias said:

 

I'm not even gonna bother getting into too much details here because this episode got so stupid I thought we were being trolled, either that or the people making this shit have absolutely no self awareness whatsoever.  That end credits song holy mother of god.  Talking about lore inaccuracies at this point is giving the show too much credit.[/quote]

 

It's really hard to list all the stupidity but yes it's a literal "characters do only stupid shit to move the plot forward" show. 

1 hour ago, Ozymandias said:

 

The Rings of Powers supplants Game of Thrones Season 8 as the biggest disaster in TV history and its not even close, what a poorly conceived and misguided mess from top to bottom.  Imagine having access to one the greatest and beloved properties of all time with an unlimited budget and putting out hot garbage.  Its cheesy, dull, stilted, meandering, muddled, and contrived—the complexity of the awfulness is overwhelming.  I just simply don't understand how its possible to fuck up this bad.[/quote]

 

Hard disagree. GOT had potential to be the greatest show ever and for 4 seasons it was. It's fall from grace was tragic. ROP was always going to be fanfiction and nothing in the production - colab with Bad Robot, casting the cheapest actors possible, dubious writers - sugested it was going to be anything but. It smacked of SFX diven mediocrity at best, trainwreck at worst. I think it's worse for it that it's just really average dumb show rather than an abomination. You need some creativity for true badness and this is just creatively bankrupt shit that lifts from Star Wars, Spiderman 2, GOT, Titanic, Jackson's movies, etc. Nothign tragic here. Also, fans have books. GOT does not have finished saga and never will by the look of it. 

 

1 hour ago, Ozymandias said:

 

How does this get 5 seasons?  If this were any other company without access to unlimited cash to burn I guarantee this would either be canceled already like that recent Resident Evil show or there would be massive, massive changes behind the scenes.

 

PS - Did anyone else get a weird pop up ad that forced you to exit the show and re-click on it?  I wonder if this is some sleazy shenanigan by Amazon to mess around with the view counts.

 

I don't think this gave enough material to sustain interest for 5 seasons and since the same team is overseeing Season 2 fat chance there's gonna be an improvement, They may only double down on worst elements. I also bet that they won't clean up the house and cut off characters whose arcs were done (annoying Harfoots minus Nori, Arondir, his annoying MILF and her annoying brat) but force them into stories while adding more cast members to already overpacked cast. Never a good thing.

 

yes I got some popups few days ago but not with the finale. shit just remembered it forced me to click on Chloe Moretz show. 

Edited October 14, 2022 by Valonqar

[Brainbug]

41 minutes ago, Ozymandias said:

The Rings of Powers supplants Game of Thrones Season 8 as the biggest disaster in TV history and its not even close, what a poorly conceived and misguided mess from top to bottom.

 

Listen i can understand your frustration, but GoT Season 8 is literally the biggest shit that has ever been shitted out of a property. It absolutely ruined the whole show and whats worse it ruined a show that was once a masterpiece and thus made recommending it for many people impossible. Season 8 killed GoT off and if it wasnt for House of the Dragon to be such an unexpected (for me atleast) masterclass, the "franchise GoT" would have been completely forgotten and buried when it comes to film/TV.

 

Rings of Power wont be able to do anything near that to LotR as a property. The original trilogy is too good for that (speaking not about books in all of this, only film/TV).

Edited October 14, 2022 by Brainbug

[XXR & Friends]

Ozymandias’ handwringing has been the best thing about the show this season. What will we do without it for 2 years?

 

[Liiviig 1998]

34 minutes ago, Ozymandias said:

The Rings of Powers supplants Game of Thrones Season 8 as the biggest disaster in TV history and its not even

Uhhh No.

 

Nothing is toping that garbage fire of a season anytime soon.

 

ROP is just amateur writing for the most part with some solid moments. As an adaptation it's pretty bad but it's not even as bad as wheel of time which was a fucking disaster by the end.

 

Not that much of a lore buff. Watched PJ trilogy,hobbit trilogy, read fellowship and have watched extensive videos on first age and second age lore .

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Valonqar]

HBO should kiss the feet of HotD showrunners for turning a dead franchise GOT into a goldmine again. It truly is a masterclass may it stay that way. Which I think it will cause books are complete and there's an aamzing clear storyline. 

 

yeah, ROP doesn't ruin anythign retroactively. Not LOTR movies and books, not books it's based on, not even itself cause it's far from top standard. Unlike Season 8 that retroactively shat on the whole thing.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Valonqar

[Ozymandias]

37 minutes ago, Brainbug said:

 

Listen i can understand your frustration, but GoT Season 8 is literally the biggest shit that has ever been shitted out of a property. It absolutely ruined the whole show and whats worse it ruined a show that was once a masterpiece and thus made recommending it for many people impossible. Season 8 killed GoT off and if it wasnt for House of the Dragon to be such an unexpected (for me atleast) masterclass, the "franchise GoT" would have been completely forgotten and buried when it comes to film/TV.

 

Rings of Power wont be able to do anything near that to LotR as a property. The original trilogy is too good for that (speaking not about books in all of this, only film/TV).

 

Oh yeah I'm not concerned at all about Rings of Prime tarnishing Tolkien or the Peter Jackson LOTR trilogy, its far too removed from both of those to do any damage.  Not even The Hobbit movies could do any of that and this show makes Battle of the Five Armies look like Citizen Kane.  If anything, the show might be getting a new generation to go and visit both of those for the first time.

 

31 minutes ago, Wolverpool XXR said:

Ozymandias’ handwringing has been the best thing about the show this season. What will we do without it for 2 years?

 

 

I'm not watching unless they get new showrunners for Season 2 which isn't happening.  There's already an article in The Hollywood Reporter where Beavis and Butthead are saying Sauron is gonna be like Walter White in Season 2 so hard pass from me.

 

I ain't even mad, its actually fascinating to watch trillion dollar company light $700 million on fire and are seemingly convinced that most of the criticism and backlash against the show is just bad faith bigotry.

 

29 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

HBO should kiss the feet of HotD showrunners for turning a dead franchise GOT into a goldmine again. It truly is a masterclass may it stay that way. Which I think it will cause books are complete and there's an aamzing clear storyline. 

 

yeah, ROP doesn't ruin anythign retroactively. Not LOTR movies and books, not books it's based on, not even itself cause it's far from top standard. Unlike Season 8 that retroactively shat on the whole thing.

 

I recently read that Ryan Condal(the showrunner and co-creator for House of the Dragon) was deep into pre-production on a gritty Conan the Barbarian show for Amazon but a they ripped the carpet out from under him when they bought the LOTR rights.  Lol I bet that dude is laughing his ass of in private right now.

[Valonqar]

15 minutes ago, Ozymandias said:

 

I recently read that Ryan Condal(the showrunner and co-creator for House of the Dragon) was deep into pre-production on a gritty Conan the Barbarian show for Amazon but a they ripped the carpet out from under him when they bought the LOTR rights.  Lol I bet that dude is laughing his ass of in private right now.

 Now that's a revenge is sweet story that I can get behind! 

 

Oh and speaking of HotD, it didn't do ROP finale any favors that its Numenorean plot had the dying delirious king mistake Elendil's daughter for Miriel similar to dying delirious Viserys mistaking Alicent for Rhaenyra. But what night and day those scenes were! One is a masterclass that's going to nab buckeload of awards, the other...I'll leave the comment to imagination. 

Edited October 14, 2022 by Valonqar

[Menor the Destroyer]

I was on board this season for the most part but that was a really dumb way to end things. I'll probably still watch season 2, as it isn't irredeemable like Wheel of Time was, but...I really had hoped for a strong end to the season, instead it was the worst episode yet. 

[Elessar]

Past episode 6 the show somewhat lost me, unfortunately. Not that it was amazing or anything prior to that but it had its moments. In retrospect, the show needed more time to flesh things out, it felt rushed in spots and moments didn't land because of it. I would also echo the sentiment that some of the writing just wasn't up to snuff and some creative decisions questionable. A lot of potential, wasted, to be honest.

 

Hopefully, they truly have learned from this experience and do better in season 2.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Elessar

[Valonqar]

My sweet summer child, 100M viewers around the globe will convince them that the show needs more florists leading the villagers of the village whose logo will inevitably change into Gondor. 

 

More thoughts. Sauron and Galadriel screamfest was something else. There are meme webms and it's honestly the best meme material since logo change. I really appreciate how pasionately into it they are. AAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHR!  

Edited October 14, 2022 by Valonqar

[Ozymandias]

Here are a few basic things I think they could've done to make this show not completely suck if we're still doing a compressed timeline.

 

-The main character should've been a Tauriel type She-elf(though better written).  Perhaps even make her Celebrian, daughter of God-queen Galadriel.  Celebrimbor obviously should have a much bigger and more important role and played by someone who looks like an elf.  This would've been the Elf story-line.

 

-Isildur should be co-lead in the Numenorean story line, and he should be an Aragorn or Boromir type character and not the little bitch he is this show.  Ar-Pharazon obviously should be playing a much bigger role as head of the Kingsmen and Elendil as head of The Faithful.  This would be the main human story-line.

 

-Remove and replace the awful Arondir/Bronwyn/South lands story line with one in the kingdom of Harad south of Mordor with new and original characters.  Its crazy to me they didn't do this, you could do so much with a human Kingdom that has sided with Morgoth / Sauron in the past and explore why they chose them.  This would be the secondary human story line.

 

-Beef up the Dwarf story line to something more than just boring family drama / Mithril battery nonsense.

 

-Ditch the overall ugly aesthetic of the show and make it look more like LOTR and GOT.

 

-Cut the Harfoot Hobbit story line out entirely.  They don't belong here.

 

 

[XXR & Friends]

3 minutes ago, Ozymandias said:

-Ditch the overall ugly aesthetic of the show and make it look more like LOTR and GOT.

 

 

Ugly aesthetic? Feels like this take is just you letting your hatred for the show seep into the nonsensical because one thing ROP isn't, is ugly. 

 

[James]

12 minutes ago, Ozymandias said:

 

 

-Ditch the overall ugly aesthetic of the show and make it look more like LOTR and GOT

 

 

😂😂😂 Sorry but GOT looks dirt cheap compared to this show. Say what you will about ROP but the cinematography is stunning.

[Napoleon]

This wasn't at the same level of some great fantasy shows we have these days like House of the Dragon, the underrated His Dark Materials, and even Stranger Things at times. But it's also not any worse than those DC, Marvel, Star Wars and Star Trek shows, which all have the writing quality of broadcast network TV. I understand expectations for Rings of Power were high, given the budget and the source material, but let's not pretend this isn't on par with a lot of highly successful geek content out there.

[Brainbug]

Rings of Power is visually stunning and thats not really up to debate i think. The visual effects for the landscapes and many locations are very well made even though they still dont come close to Peter Jacksons LOTR films (then again, what does?)

 

GoT even at its worst story-telling wise - Season 8 - or budget-wise (Season 1) always looked very good, though House of the Dragon looks even more gorgeous.

[Menor the Destroyer]

13 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

This wasn't at the same level of some great fantasy shows we have these days like House of the Dragon, the underrated His Dark Materials, and even Stranger Things at times. But it's also not any worse than those DC, Marvel, Star Wars and Star Trek shows, which all have the writing quality of broadcast network TV. I understand expectations for Rings of Power were high, given the budget and the source material, but let's not pretend this isn't on par with a lot of highly successful geek content out there.

I disagree, there have been plenty of better of shows than this from all 4 of the franchises you mentioned. Andor is airing at the same time and is much better than RoP.  I didn't hate RoP, but the story really wasn't up to par considering the budget and the source material they had to draw from. I don't think we need to settle for being on par with mediocre shows when this show should do better than that (and in its better scenes has shown the potential to be better than that). 

Edited October 15, 2022 by Menor Reborn

[XXR & Friends]

In the end, I give ROP S1 a 6.5/10. Plenty good about it but comparatively lackluster. I expect S2 to be much better now that it got a few things out of the way.