Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[Binks]

I just watched the first two episodes.

I didn't like it. I know most people have not read Tolkien, not even after the movie hits. I can see the quality in most things money can buy so I can understand people liking this.

To me, LOTR is very special and ironically that is what stops from enjoying this series. As an adaptation of Tolkien is terrible, really terrible. I don't care about skin colours as that is only minor cosmetic deviations but this feels like a generic fantasy world, they mangled so many things about the lore, details, characters....I cannot think about anything while watching and thus there is no enjoyment.

It didn't bring me to Middle Earth, and that was the only thing I wanted from it.

[Northern Goblin]

Watched both episodes and I'm fully bought in. Visually it's stunning, I know some of that has to be green screen, some of the sets are too impossible to do, and yet I cannot percieve where the CGI begins.

The world building is excellent, very solid "show, don't tell" storytelling, and although you can see the various intertwining plot threads and have some idea based on the books and Tolkein's notes, I still cannot see where it all leads to exactly.

The most I've been hooked on an Amazon series since The Man in the High Castle. I look forward to next week.

[Veggie50]

As much as I'd like to at least check out an episode or two because of my life-long adoration of Tolkien's work (The Hobbit was literally the first novel I ever read as a kid), the trailers and whatnot have not managed to interest my wife, who loves fantasy and the LotR movies, in the slightest. They actually pushed her away from wanting to watch it at all and I have little interest in watching anything without her, it's always much more fun to watch things together.

So, I'll be giving this a complete pass, regardless of any other issues with the show. From what I'm reading, it doesn't sound like I'll be missing much.

Hmmm would be sad if the vitriol of the vocal few would make you miss out. I loved it.

[Orby]

people crying that the reviews are bad but all in all the reviews are quite favourable. 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, 71% Metacritic and 6/10 on imdb

Personally I align more with imdb since that's been my platform for reviewing things since 2001. With that said, I am not putting my review of season 1 up until season 1 is finished, I don't like that they make you put reviews up right away. At least wait until the season is over.

[Veggie50]

I just watched the first two episodes.

I didn't like it. I know most people have not read Tolkien, not even after the movie hits. I can see the quality in most things money can buy so I can understand people liking this.

To me, LOTR is very special and ironically that is what stops from enjoying this series. As an adaptation of Tolkien is terrible, really terrible. I don't care about skin colours as that is only minor cosmetic deviations but this feels like a generic fantasy world, they mangled so many things about the lore, details, characters....I cannot think about anything while watching and thus there is no enjoyment.

It didn't bring me to Middle Earth, and that was the only thing I wanted from it.

I have read tolkien (hobbit, lotr, silmarillion, unfinished tales) and I loved it.

Yea they didn’t follow the lore 100%. That doesn’t make it BAD though.

I loved touches like the dwarves referencing Aule, or the elves relinguishing their armour/weaponry before entering valinor.

[Triceron]

Review aggregates are all over the place though.

Wheel of Time critic reviews sits at an 85% and it was mediocre at best.

[Dhrizzle]

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.

In had Prime for over a year before I put 2 and 2 together and realised I could use it to watch shows.

- - - Updated - - -

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.

I would have loved it if they'd leaned into Lenny more and made all the Harfoots speak with a brummy accent.

- - - Updated - - -

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.

This is basically the side of Galdriel that she finally banishes in LotR when she refuses the One Ring, her speech to Elrond about not wanting to take the darkness she carries to Aman basically confirms it. I do think the show has suffered slightly from their licensing agreement, lots of what happened with a telling lack of how and why. Still I loved their allusion to the First Kinslaying and it was nice to see the brief glimpse of the Oath of Fëanor.

- - - Updated - - -

I doubt it’s not Gandalf but a nice bait and switch would be to make it Saruman and actually show him when he was a good guy before his fall.

I'd be extremely disappointed if it is Gandalf and a little bit if it's Sauron or Radagast. I'm hoping it's Sauron pretending to be an Istari sent to oppose himself, but I'll happily accept a Blue Wizard.

- - - Updated - - -

The trailers suck and aren't very indicative of the series. I'd say you'd have to go both episodes to get a good gauge of it. The first episode is quite slow and doesn't have strong hooks, it feels more like a prologue with the second episode feeling more like what a first episode should be.

Only seen the first episode so far but things I worried would look a bit goofy like the Harfoots turned out alright. I did get massive Peter Rabbit vibes from Nori, especially as they showed someone carrying a huge bunny just before she scrabbled through Farmer McGregor the abandoned farm's gate.

- - - Updated - - -

Overall I just love how much this feels like Arda. Yeah the events aren't going to be 100% "canonical" but the feel of the setting is spot on and it's completely recognisable to someone who has read the Silmarillion and delved into HoMe and NoMe.

[Northern Goblin]

I think the death of all the fireflies around him was a strong hint that it is Sauron, perhaps in Annatar form (though he needs a bit of a wash and shave first)

Would explain how Galadriel could never find him, if he had removed himself from Middle-Earth.

[VMSmith]

Hmmm would be sad if the vitriol of the vocal few would make you miss out. I loved it.

I said my wife is completely disinterested because of the media that Amazon has released, nothing to do with any "vitriol" or anything. She doesn't read forums online and knows nothing about this show other than the released trailers and teasers.

It is possible for people not to like something of their own free will, you know.

Now that I've read a plot synopsis of the show I also lack interest, as both a fan of Tolkien and an enjoyer of cinema in general. Just reading the dialog gives me severe cringe vibes.

[Unforgivenn]

Would be nice if it was a Netflix series, releasing one episode per week is stupid

[Festisio]

Watched the first ep and it wasn't complete shite.

[StillMcfuu]

It's not a bad show, but it's not Tolkien. They took names and places familiar to people from the movies and made their own story.

They probably would have been better served not calling this Tolkien and making their own property, but I doubt they would have gotten the funding without the name recognition.

[s_bushido]

I think the death of all the fireflies around him was a strong hint that it is Sauron, perhaps in Annatar form (though he needs a bit of a wash and shave first)

Would explain how Galadriel could never find him, if he had removed himself from Middle-Earth.

I don't know the timeline, but my first thought was that he's actually Melkor (or a part of him) that somehow managed to escape banishment/imprisonment. But it would probably make more sense if he's just a Maiar of some sort. No point in having two cosmic baddies (Sauron and Morgoth) around in the same story like this.

[Triceron]

Would be nice if it was a Netflix series, releasing one episode per week is stupid

The series would literally be forgotten in a week if they did that.

As much as I like Netflix's model, it does terribly for the longevity of a series. If there wasn't a one-month gap between Stranger Things 4 release, no one would have continued talking about it after a couple weeks.

[DarkAmbient]

IMDb has deleted every single user review that gave a score of 5/10 or below. Fucking lol.

[Corvus]

For the amount of money they threw at this, the reviews aren't great. More concerning is the critic/audience disconnect. The critics can praise it all they like but they aren't going to be the ones paying to watch it.

6.1 on Amazon owned imdb, and that is with one third of reviews giving it 10/10.

Rotten tomatoes is 84% from critics, but just 34% from audience viewers.

Metacritic is 71 from critics but 2.3 from the audience.

[eschatological]

I mean, it's pretty obvious just looking at any of those reviews that it's being brigaded.

[infinitemeridian]

For the amount of money they threw at this, the reviews aren't great. More concerning is the critic/audience disconnect. The critics can praise it all they like but they aren't going to be the ones paying to watch it.

6.1 on Amazon owned imdb, and that is with one third of reviews giving it 10/10.

Rotten tomatoes is 84% from critics, but just 34% from audience viewers.

Metacritic is 71 from critics but 2.3 from the audience.

99% of the people complaining about this have their "critiques" boil down to identity politics. The show is fine, it's not god-tier, but it's certainly at least a 7/10. Most of the actual criticism is not very thought out and just nitpicking.

[Corvus]

It goes both ways - anyone giving it a 10/10 is not being objective either. It's not the greatest show ever made just like it isn't the worst either. It's kind of average.

For the most expensive TV show ever made you'd want more than just average though.

[bledgor]

Lets be real the brigade goes both ways, plenty of 10/10 for a show that certainly doesn't in the slightest deserve that high of a score.

I do get confused by all the people claiming it is stunning visuals, like they are good, but certainly not amazing, nothing new or stunning. Like 7 of 10 at best.