Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Watched the first episode.

It's bad. Not even "it's so bad it's good". It's just not entertaining to watch. Almost all of the characters are unlikeable, either being boring as doorknobs or being actively unpleasant. The only characters I didn't dislike were the hobbit girl and the black elf archer, and even then they're not likeable, just not aggravating like the others. Dialogue is bad and there were at least a couple instances of extremely juvenile exchanges. I certainly wouldn't expect noble elves to be casually making light of human-elf relationships, or a guy literally saying "your mom cut herself, didn't she? Haha that's probably why your dad left" (I'm not joking this literally happened).

The show looks visually unappealing. The costumes either look like the artists didn't even try, or look like cheap cosplays. There are compositing problems and the CGI monsters are weightless. Also, outside of the scenes that take place at Lindon, the show has this grey desaturated look. There are also disconcerting extreme close up shots, and the camera can never seem to sit still for more than 2 or 3 seconds. In some cases there were shots that lasted barely half a second and it very disorienting. Also, the music is forgettable.

It was an hour long episode and nothing happened except a guy falling out of the sky at the end, presumably a Maia. Won't watch anymore. They had an hour to get me to care about any of the characters or interested in the plot, or even hook me with the promise of spectacle, and failed. Why bother watching this show when I could go to Youtube and watch an episode of Bonanza that has entertaining characters and tells a compelling story from beginning to end in 45 minutes? Also that show actually looks good with the colors and set design and decent cinematography.

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What boggles my mind is that this is a $700 million show. This is like, the most expensive show in the history ever, since Game of Thrones. You'd think that there would be top of the line talent on this show. Good cinematographers. Good actors. Writers who would make the dialogue not cringe. The best costume designers. The best in the CGI industry. Good musicians. Where did the money go?

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If you compare this to House of the Dragon, that show at least didn't have most of its cast being unlikeable. At least the sets looked pretty decent (even if I wished they were better lit). At least the compositing of the backgrounds was good enough. At least the dialogue wasn't embarrassing. At least some of the costumes looked good (even if they don't come through because of the color grading that sucked the colors out of everything). At least there was some stuff that was vaguely interesting in the first episode like the king's hopes and dreams being shattered. Music was trash in both, though. Seriously, why can't Hollywood hire decent musicians?

[cuafpr]

Watched both episodes and enjoyed it, felt very LotR to me so far, no I've never read the books so just basing it off the movies. Hopefully, it does well, and gets several seasons to encourage more fantasy world development and shows.

[everydaygamer]

/shrug They can get two months of a sub out of people by not releasing it all at once. Pretty much everyone does that these days.

Which is silly. Does anyone really subscribe to Prime for the streaming alone? It's a nice bonus but I'm mostly looking to save on shipping.

[Nebron]

What boggles my mind is that this is a $700 million show. This is like, the most expensive show in the history ever, since Game of Thrones. You'd think that there would be top of the line talent on this show. Good cinematographers. Good actors. Writers who would make the dialogue not cringe. The best costume designers. The best in the CGI industry. Good musicians. Where did the money go?

Haven't seen it yet, but just the quoted part - not only did it cost more than Game of Thrones... a single episode of Rings of Power cost exactly as much as an entire 8th season of Game of Thrones altogether

Nevertheless, trailer looked absolutely "overpolished" - lacked that realistic grittiness. The armor reminded me more of a Warcraft movie / the Witcher series cosplay trash than a proper, worn armor. Is that really what we get? I guess I'll find out on today's evening.

[Kumorii]

Not a fan of Galadriel and the actress. Easily the worst part of the show.

They kept the troll fight choreography which is surprising and I surely hope the rest of the fights aren't as stiff or ridiculous.

Visually most things looks good at a first glance, but you see more and more problems when you look. The Elven boat was horrendous though. Not sure what happened there, no texture on the wood. Everything looks flat.

Most young adult actors seem to deliver their lines a bit over the top for me. Like they try to sound so important. Celebrimbor was a treat however, felt more natural and not as forced. Princess Disa surprised me, though the eyes are jarring to me.

what has my curiosity so far is who the meteor man is. I assume Gandalf for now.
Celebrimbor
Theo and the sword.

The main characters just seems like the typical "cool" people. Uninteresting. Except Nori who is the stereotypical curious naive character.

I will keep watching, I hope Galadriel changes sooner rather than later. She acts a bit like a defiant teenager. Which is odd to me.

Side note:
Audience score is dropping fast on rotten tomatoes.

[s_bushido]

Is that really what we get? I guess I'll find out on today's evening.

I'm extremely tired of quibbling over opinions on the design of this or that piece of costume, but as for the presentation, that poster is basically completely full of shit. If you told someone these screenshots were from the Jackson's trilogy, and not this show that people were convinced was terrible months before anything was even shown...they wouldn't bat an eye.

Which is silly. Does anyone really subscribe to Prime for the streaming alone? It's a nice bonus but I'm mostly looking to save on shipping.

Eh. Even if the number of people who subbed like that was small, it would probably still be worth it for them to do it. And like I said, it's not just Amazon that does it this way. Every streaming service does with their original shows.

[tikcol]

Not a fan of Galadriel and the actress. Easily the worst part of the show.

They kept the troll fight choreography which is surprising and I surely hope the rest of the fights aren't as stiff or ridiculous.

Visually most things looks good at a first glance, but you see more and more problems when you look. The Elven boat was horrendous though. Not sure what happened there, no texture on the wood. Everything looks flat.

Most young adult actors seem to deliver their lines a bit over the top for me. Like they try to sound so important. Celebrimbor was a treat however, felt more natural and not as forced. Princess Disa surprised me, though the eyes are jarring to me.

what has my curiosity so far is who the meteor man is. I assume Gandalf for now.
Celebrimbor
Theo and the sword.

The main characters just seems like the typical "cool" people. Uninteresting. Except Nori who is the stereotypical curious naive character.

I will keep watching, I hope Galadriel changes sooner rather than later. She acts a bit like a defiant teenager. Which is odd to me.

We all know who meteor man is and I wish I didn't because I don't want it to be true. It's not slightly lore friendly and it's plainly ridiculous. I hope they pull the rug from under my feet but I doubt it. If they do, props to them.

Pretty visuals only go so far when the background music is so weak and the dialogue so dull.

The mystique isn't there.

[Orby]

Not a fan of Galadriel and the actress. Easily the worst part of the show.

They kept the troll fight choreography which is surprising and I surely hope the rest of the fights aren't as stiff or ridiculous.

Visually most things looks good at a first glance, but you see more and more problems when you look. The Elven boat was horrendous though. Not sure what happened there, no texture on the wood. Everything looks flat.

Most young adult actors seem to deliver their lines a bit over the top for me. Like they try to sound so important. Celebrimbor was a treat however, felt more natural and not as forced. Princess Disa surprised me, though the eyes are jarring to me.

what has my curiosity so far is who the meteor man is. I assume Gandalf for now.
Celebrimbor
Theo and the sword.

The main characters just seems like the typical "cool" people. Uninteresting. Except Nori who is the stereotypical curious naive character.

I will keep watching, I hope Galadriel changes sooner rather than later. She acts a bit like a defiant teenager. Which is odd to me.

Side note:
Audience score is dropping fast on rotten tomatoes.

She is very much the weakest part of the show for me, and I cannot point out why? Everything else around her was great, The Dwarf stuff was perfect, and the half foot stuff was very charming, I assume Nori is going to be that Frodo type of character the person we see through the eyes of to help guide us through the world. I also really am really liking Arondir character more than I thought I would, he hasn't had much screen time as the rest of the arcs shown, but I am intrigued to want to know more

We all know who meteor man is and I wish I didn't because I don't want it to be true. It's not slightly lore friendly and it's plainly ridiculous. I hope they pull the rug from under my feet but I doubt it. If they do, props to them.

Pretty visuals only go so far when the background music is so weak and the dialogue so dull.

The mystique isn't there.

you didn't like the score? I thought he musical score was epic. usually when a score is pretty bad or not good, I barely notice it, or its too distracting, but I found the score really fitting to the scenes, and everything had its unique sounds and feel. the musical accompaniment around the dwarfs blew me away.

[Kumorii]

We all know who meteor man is and I wish I didn't because I don't want it to be true. It's not slightly lore friendly and it's plainly ridiculous. I hope they pull the rug from under my feet but I doubt it. If they do, props to them.

Pretty visuals only go so far when the background music is so weak and the dialogue so dull.

The mystique isn't there.

Ah yeah the music. Forgot about that.
I found it a bit overbearing at times. Best example would be when Halbrand rescued Galadriel and they came up to the surface. That music was so over-the-top epic and loud compared to what happened.

[s_bushido]

Ah yeah the music. Forgot about that.
I found it a bit overbearing at times.

Yes, this is true. They could stand to tone the score down in a lot of places.

As for dialogue, it only really seemed to be a problem among the elves. Everyone else sounded like they weren’t trying so hard to sound “Tolkien.”

[Kumorii]

She is very much the weakest part of the show for me, and I cannot point out why? Everything else around her was great, The Dwarf stuff was perfect, and the half foot stuff was very charming, I assume Nori is going to be that Frodo type of character the person we see through the eyes of to help guide us through the world. I also really am really liking Arondir character more than I thought I would, he hasn't had much screen time as the rest of the arcs shown, but I am intrigued to want to know more

I think it's because we know she is right, but so far the only reason why she believes what she believes is because "Why don't I feel the evil is gone in here?".
Think the character so far feels pretentious, and the acting isn't exactly helping. Her stares at people when they defy her or try to talk her out of it just reinforces that feel.

When It comes to Arondir I'm more curious about what he finds, rather than him. Haven't shown much of his character except he loves a human.

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you didn't like the score? I thought he musical score was epic. usually when a score is pretty bad or not good, I barely notice it, or its too distracting, but I found the score really fitting to the scenes, and everything had its unique sounds and feel. the musical accompaniment around the dwarfs blew me away.

I think because they overuse it it feels like they are trying to tell you what to feel rather than having the pictures do so and the music reinforces it. Music isn't bad, they spent lots of money on it, I can tell that, so they probably want to use it :P

[Nebron]

I'm extremely tired of quibbling over opinions on the design of this or that piece of costume, but as for the presentation, that poster is basically completely full of shit. If you told someone these screenshots were from the Jackson's trilogy, and not this show that people were convinced was terrible months before anything was even shown...they wouldn't bat an eye.

And I am not. Apart from the visual world presentation, costumes are the biggest part of immersion for me. If they feel unnatural, it kills the whole magic. Witcher's costumes are probably the worst thing I have seen in TV series so far - these are just laughable and I couldn't stand any mages scenes for that reason alone.
Actually, funny you've sent these three stills, since they fked up the lighting

[PACOX]

Finished the 2nd episode. Liked it even more than the first. First episode should be called the prokogue, 2nd the real 1st episode.

[molliewoof]

it was ok, first episode below average second a lot better.

minor spoilers

i think maybe the first ten minutes spoiled the first episode for me, galadriels a dick 'theres a snow storm can we camp for the night?' 'no', have they just been walking for hundreds of years at that point? .. 'why isnt my torch warm?' 'this place is too evil' fuck off lol, i actually stopped and phoned a mate to laugh at that, shes a dick all of the second episode as well.

the human story was a little predictable, her kids a nob and i worked the reveal out in the first episode.

the hobbit story line is ok, a bit tired of that guy making everything dark and pulling trees in already.

who'd have thought the black dwarf that everyone was complaining about would be the best thing in the show, the side dwarfs were a bit over the top but i think that was meant, the dwarfish segments were the best overall

really liked the visual and the music most of the time

episode 1 - 4/10
episode 2 - probably a strong 7, remove everything to do with galadriel and its an 8

im looking forward to the next episode

[Rennadrel]

You'd think for a character who by the Second Age is already a couple thousand years old, Galadrial wouldn't be a pretentious twat and she'd have wisdom and proper leadership skills. Not that I wasn't at all surprised by this, because it's exactly what these hacks do to established characters, is attempt to rewrite them in their own image rather than how the creator intended them to be.

[cocomen2]

Fan of Galadriel, only her part of story interesting to me. 7/10 show

1. kid found cursed sword handle - and didn't told a thing to his mother, bad boy wants to ruin his village = MEH...boring

2. dwarf and big-head Elf are friends and acting like spy warriors against each other = boring

3. hairfoot female version of Elijah Wood trying to provoke wolf and nurse Lucifer Morningstar, who knows maybe her girlfriend Sam gonna explain how it ends badly.

4. GreyWolfWorm trying to be Gerald and seduce human single mother, kinky - but boring.

[BigToast]

You'd think for a character who by the Second Age is already a couple thousand years old, Galadrial wouldn't be a pretentious twat and she'd have wisdom and proper leadership skills. Not that I wasn't at all surprised by this, because it's exactly what these hacks do to established characters, is attempt to rewrite them in their own image rather than how the creator intended them to be.

This sort of thing is called a character arc. There has to be somewhere to go, some lesson to be learned to get to the Third Age Galadriel.

[DarkAmbient]

I think I like it just enough to see what happens next, despite some poor casting and dodgy dialogue. Visuals were sumptuous as expected, the music was great. Lenny Henry's cod Irish accent was terrible, but he's always just Lenny Henry in everything. Most of the elves don't feel particularly elfy to me, more like humans with pointed ears, particularly Arondir. I don't think the haircuts help, those hair-sprayed and blow-dried bouffant styles look like something out of a 1980s male catalogue. The characters I enjoyed the most were Poppy and Nori, although I thought Elrond was played particularly well. Galadriel's portrayal was fine. I've seen people complaining about her being portrayed as a she-warrior but that's how Tolkien described her, a commander and fierce fighter of 'Amazon disposition'.

It's obvious the one who fell from the sky is a Maiar, but it better not be Gandalf, although signs point to it being him. That would be the biggest middle finger to the lore so far if it's true. It might be one of the Blue Wizards, except he's not clad in blue and there's only one of them. So really that leaves Gandalf or a new Maiar invented for the show. Ugh.

Overall, I'd say 7/10.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Man some of y’all really sound like you’ve never seen a “consumed with revenge even at there own determinate” character before. Galadrial I’d a pretty perfect Portrayal of the archetype while also holding onto the elf nobility and not throwing a shit fit when she’s more or less banished in the firs episode.

[Triceron]

Galadrial feels so much like a Warcraft Elf character bent on revenge. I don't think she should have been Galadriel, I think they could have easily just made a completely new Elf character.

But I can see them wanting something to be recognizeable to the series, I just find it odd that this is how they choose to characterize her. I'd have zero problems if this were someone new.

Same with the meteor man. I'm already disconnected by their attempts on making obvious hints at Gandalf. I'm not sure where they are taking it and whether theres gonna be some big plot twist reveal, but I don't see it being a strong payoff. If it's Gandalf, it was too obvious. If it's any other wizard or a complete twist like being Sauron, then it'd feel like a massive bait and switch. I don't see the point of this plot arc really. Will wait and see what they do with it.