Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[Kumorii]

Hmmmm, so you call it trash, yet score it above average?

Ratings are often mishandled. When people say average they give stuff 7 and anything below 7 is often considered trash. It's weird, but it's how it is, been like this for ages now.

[Makabreska]

Ratings are often mishandled. When people say average they give stuff 7 and anything below 7 is often considered trash. It's weird, but it's how it is, been like this for ages now.

Well then, it is time to correct them how 1-10 rating really works!

[s_bushido]

pretty good wish they would drop the season and not do this bullshit weekly thing. What am i watching cable tv?

/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.

[Specialka]

/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.

Does not mean it is a good practice customer wise and that we should be ok with that.

[s_bushido]

Does not mean it is a good practice customer wise and that we should be ok with that.

If you don't like it...just wait until every episode is out. Obviously.

[Romanthony]

I find it funny that actors like Morfydd Clark (who plays Galadriel) Said before the show came out that critics and "Haters" should all Shut the F up if they didnt like how it was portrayed are now coming out and saying "I was confused by the direction they took Galadriel Like wat? Funny how she is doing a 180 now that "Real critcs" can rate the show

https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/...ings-of-power/

[Orby]

The show so far, isn't as bad as I thought it would be, and the problems I do have with it are very minor. The minor problems being the pacing and the some camera shots.

For a first episode it was pretty good, in a lot of the parts it felt very LotR. During the half foot scenes, seriously all of them are great. If it was just about them it'd be 10/10 . Its a great start I thought. I just want a half foot/hobbit TV show now. lol

I still think some of the elf casting is a bit bewildering to me, but the show makes you forget it when it gets going. I do not care for the Galadriel side of the story and I know she is supposed to be the main focal point of the show, but as far as what draws me in its the rest of the story arcs, her arc just doesn't interest me. I am not sure if its the writing or the casting of the actress, but I prefer the rest of the show, except the parts around the raft and the giant worm thing, that was awesome.

The Dwarf bits in the second episode had me happy, I love dwarfs in fantasy, and Tolkien dwarfs have always been the best to me, so seeing them here it felt like they were plucked straight out of the Tolkien or Peter Jackson works, the designs and setting go into more detail over what we have gotten from the movies and delve further into their culture and I love that.

Also the score, OH MY GOD THE SCORE. SO GOOD! I need to own this music.

Overall thoughts. The show is pretty good, I had my concerns after the disappointing Wheel of Time show, but I was surprised, maybe my expectations were so low, but I was entertained. The show isn't perfect, but it does give me Tolkien vibes and knowing that's the bare minimum that's all I was asking for. Great designs, good sweeping shots, some good acting, and Dwarfs and Half foots are awesome.

So yea, overall my episode rankings

Episode 1: 6/10
Episode 2: 7/10


Already some quotable scenes too

"Durian, have I offended you?"
"To do that we would need a longer lift"

LMAO

[s_bushido]

boundingintocomics

Does anyone take this rag seriously?

[Warning]

Didn't like the first half hour or so, but it got better after that. All the elves in Galdariels party being poor fighters and weak willed felt like trying too hard to make her the hero right away. They could show her competence without making others incompetent. Similarly I didn't like the bigoted elf talking with Arondir, elves should overall be wise and patient.
Aside from those issues I think most characters are pretty good so far. I like the dwarven couple a lot and Arondir too. He's a perfect representation of an elf. Elrond also grew on me and so did Galadriel to a slightly lesser degree. Think they did a good job showing a realistic disagreement between the dwarves and elves borne out of understandable differences and misunderstanding, and thankfully solved it in a nice way without dragging it out needlessly.

[Corvus]

Elves being bigoted is very, very much in keeping with Tolkien elves. The Silmarillion is full of elves behaving poorly.

[PACOX]

Whoaa this is looking terrible.

The mystique instilled in the books and to some extent the trilogy is all but lost. I hope the people responsible for the background CGI were generously compensated because looking at it objectively it's the only reason this fantasy trash show was so expensive.

The dialogue is so cheesy it borderlines being uncomfortable to listen to. Guyladriel as a character is just plainly annoying, to be honest it's both the writing and the personal interpretation of the character by the actress.

What's even worse about all this is that even if you forget this is supposed to be inspired by Tolkien, it would still be generic trash. Which doesn't make it any favors. I could only bear to finish it because I convinced myself midway through that I wasn't watching anything connected to Tolkien, which worked to some extent but it still made it seem terribly dull and uninspired.

6.5/10

You know Tolkien has become the standard for generic fantasy now?

[s_bushido]

All the elves in Galdariels party being poor fighters and weak willed felt like trying too hard to make her the hero right away.

I don't know... The "overzealous commander who puts their personal vendetta/crusade ahead of the well-being of those under their command" is a pretty common trope. And it doesn't paint her in the best light.

You know Tolkien has become the standard for generic fantasy now?

Tolkien has basically always been the standard for generic fantasy.

[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.

- - - Updated - - -

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?

- - - Updated - - -

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.