Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[Kumorii]

Just watched EP03.

And yeah, worst episode so far.
VFX seems to be getting worse

At this point it starts to feel like no one in production seem to actually care.

Not sure what the right pronounciation of Galadriel is because it seems to keep changing. They even used a take where Galadriel herself seem to struggle to pronounce it when she introduced herself to the queen of Númenor.
So far Elendil seems to be the only one pronouncing names in a way that makes it seem natural, like it's a name they use and can pronounce. I won't say it's correct, because I don't know, neither does the show seem to know. But it sounds the best, hell even the extra, that comes in to say 1-2 lines and pronounces Eärien, does it in a more natural way.

Morfydd still can't act, even when she tried to express genuine thanks to Elendil for taking her to the Halls of Lore she looked equally annoyed about everything as usual.

Galadriel arriving to Númenor and instantly is hostile towards everyone including the queen and even threatens to murder the one who saved her is later saying "Anywhere is better than here where I'm hate by all who see me" in a frustrated way like it's not her fault...The writing of this character makes it seem like she is a child who don't know better.

What's up with the slow-mo shots of the horse? Felt out of place and is usually there to make shots look good or heighten emotion in certain contexts... it was neither here. It just felt like a shot of Galadriel having fun on set?
I don't think they have time for these kind of shots at this point.

Music is still overbearing and overused. Seems like it's used instead of good writing. This guy we don't know or care about died... crank music to 11 to show this is supposed to be sad... instead of writing it in a way that makes the scene itself sad.
Same happens with Not-Gandalf when he see the stars on the map. Crank the music up!
Music is there to enhance the writing and emotions, not replace it.

Arondir scenes were overall better...until the warg showed up. Not digging the VFX nor the design(looks like a mix of Stitch and the derp Hyena from Lion King) and then the quality of the fight got reduced. The spinning flip and the yank I feel they could've just left the wires in because it was that obvious.
The jump attack he does before all of that looks good. I'd like to believe the choreographer took inspiration of Kratos from GoW because that's what I thought of when seeing it. I approve. Shame when it finally started to get something interesting story wise it ends on a cliffhanger.

Harfoots seems mostly pointless in this episode except Not-Gandalf seeing stars on a map and Nori making a message of how friends are important. Which is kind of a message you always have in most shows...

Halbrand and Elendil were the highlights this episode.

Maybe the next episode starts to show things happening? right...?

[jonnysensible]

was this a filler episode, or have all 3 been filler episodes, tough for me to decide.

[bledgor]

Her acting fits with other elves around her age, like f.e. Feanor. Dude was also a prick filled with rage, grief, and pride. She still has some thousand years to become the one we saw in the Hobbit/LotR.

But we don't know that, in fact with Isildur we are very close to the 3rd age, as Isildur is alive in the show and he lives into the 3rd age at some 200 years old. So at this point Galadriel is like 5000 years old, she should be very far along in her journey to being LoTR Galadriel, not this character who barely resembles her. We are talking about Elves, and this Galadriel is being treated like a human, with human development. I just, ugh, it feels nothing like Tolkien and more like some generic other fantasy with elves and dwarfs and "not hobbits".

was this a filler episode, or have all 3 been filler episodes, tough for me to decide.

The first 10 minutes with the reflection of the war of wrath was informative, since then basically all filler no thriller.

[Ihavewaffles]

So, Guyladriel jumps off the flying ship, swims halfway across the ocean n manages to get picked up n befriended by the King of the South Lands, which just happens to be a needed ally against Sauron, who she has been hunting for a gazillion ages...



Writing is supposed to be a craft, instead we get fan fiction.. "oh, you can put words together, you are hired for our billion dollar project!"

[Triceron]

Her acting fits with other elves around her age, like f.e. Feanor. Dude was also a prick filled with rage, grief, and pride. She still has some thousand years to become the one we saw in the Hobbit/LotR.

I'm not sure I agree.

Even if they want to portray her as a younger version who is hot tempered, I don't see why they have to write her so... what's the word for lacking wisdom?

Like some others have said, the first thing she does when introducing herself is make demands and threaten those around her. And before this she even admits that she doesn't know what the state of their relationship with Numenoreans really is, they just lost contact for a long time. How does she exactly plan this to pan out? That they'd bend over and just give her a ship because she demands it? Because she's pulling rank that no one else would care to recognize or respect? Numenor is completely far removed from the Middle Earth mainland, her current accomplishments and ranks are meaningless to them, and I think she should already know that. She's not in a position of power there, so I'm not sure why she starts off on such a strong foot when the Queen seemed to start off fairly diplomatic, like not having them bow to her. It's like she's using a hammer to solve all her problems, and it ends up making the human dude seem like a far more experienced and worldly character than she is.

Like if I compare her to hot-tempered Elves like Thranduil or Hobbit Legolas, at least they still feel authentic as being long-lived beings who have no patience for mortals and they'll change their demeaner when faced in different situations while still keeping a prickly attitude. Here, Galadriel comes off as being pretentious and demanding when she's really in no position to be, and I expect her to have more nuance to her character since she is supposedly long-lived and should have experience dealing with situations like this that don't involve force as a means-to-an-end. My two cents.

[bledgor]

So, Guyladriel jumps off the flying ship, swims halfway across the ocean n manages to get picked up n befriended by the King of the South Lands, which just happens to be a needed ally against Sauron, who she has been hunting for a gazillion ages...



Writing is supposed to be a craft, instead we get fan fiction.. "oh, you can put words together, you are hired for our billion dollar project!"

You forgot them also conveniently being found by Elendil/Numenoreans in the middle of the ocean, Elendil who is perhaps the only Numenorean that would be willing to take her back to Numenor and take them to meet the queen.

[Ihavewaffles]

Just watched EP03.

And yeah, worst episode so far.
VFX seems to be getting worse

At this point it starts to feel like no one in production seem to actually care.

Remember when Guyladriel first gets on the Numenorean ship? As the camera is still on the sailors, I see them clearly, but as soon as it pans left the sailors face becomes blurry...and I'm watching it in 2160p so it's not image being low quality...

It just strikes me odd.

What's up with the slow-mo shots of the horse? Felt out of place and is usually there to make shots look good or heighten emotion in certain contexts... it was neither here. It just felt like a shot of Galadriel having fun on set?
I don't think they have time for these kind of shots at this point.

Felt like an easter egg to gandalf on his white horse, but this one had a white pale snout, looks like an albino, so that made it look out of place...

Arondir scenes were overall better...until the warg showed up. Not digging the VFX nor the design(looks like a mix of Stitch and the derp Hyena from Lion King) and then the quality of the fight got reduced.

Yep, derp is the word..

- - - Updated - - -

You forgot them also conveniently being found by Elendil/Numenoreans in the middle of the ocean, Elendil who is perhaps the only Numenorean that would be willing to take her back to Numenor and take them to meet the queen.

Yeah...twice she manages to find a sea taxi in the middle of the ocean..

[Kumorii]

I wonder if the production actually was in development hell... or Edit hell.
Which might explain the quality of VFX if things get changed constantly up until release...odd takes used... etc etc.
With 2 inexperienced writers reigning the helm of a 1B dollar show it wouldn't surprise me tbh.

From my own experience working on shows and movies, it's mostly the lesser known ones that have these issues.
There are of course well known directors that also change things constantly.

[Ihavewaffles]

To show what I mean, I apologize for the image size...

Looks alright


What in the fuck??..I think his eyes are trying to escape..."we don't want to be in this show!" also it becomes so blurry all of a sudden..



in 2160p...GG..

[rogoth]

Tell me you hate strong independend women without saying it.

Galadriel is awesome in the show, and she is just at the start of her arc to become LotR Galadriel ...

that's like, totally your opinion man.

nothing in this show is canon, nothing in this show is relevant, Amazon has been caught red handed trying to fudge the numbers because of how badly it's being reviewed by legitimate people, not just that but none of this writing in the show is even remotely close to accurate, so why is it when people (rightfully so) dislike the main character because of how badly written she is, do you feel the need to force your views on them?

[Syegfryed]

The show really is struggling trying to fit two thousand years into forty episodes. As they have stated they have all five seasons planned out and it will end with Isildur cutting the ring off of Sauron.

The show is struggling trying to make a dialogue that makes sense, let alone fit two thousand years into forty episodes

[Triceron]

Looks alright
---
What in the fuck??

Just looks like motion blur from the camera pan to me.

[rogoth]

I wonder if the production actually was in development hell... or Edit hell.
Which might explain the quality of VFX if things get changed constantly up until release...odd takes used... etc etc.
With 2 inexperienced writers reigning the helm of a 1B dollar show it wouldn't surprise me tbh.

From my own experience working on shows and movies, it's mostly the lesser known ones that have these issues.
There are of course well known directors that also change things constantly.

my guess would be that they had everything nailed down back in january/february before the marketing bullshit would begin, and the severe and consistent backlash forced them to try and redo some aspects and that's what we are left with now.

[Myradin]

Her acting fits with other elves around her age, like f.e. Feanor. Dude was also a prick filled with rage, grief, and pride. She still has some thousand years to become the one we saw in the Hobbit/LotR.

Why is Gil-Galad so chill then despite being considerably younger than her

[Kumorii]

my guess would be that they had everything nailed down back in january/february before the marketing bullshit would begin, and the severe and consistent backlash forced them to try and redo some aspects and that's what we are left with now.

Highly doubt they would change anything after backlash considering they attacked every critique. And I doubt it's done around that time... few things rarely are. Usually things being done that far aren't high demand stuff. At this scale they are probably done max a month before airing.
By done I mean edit and final image... then it's delivery phase and qc fixes.

[Syegfryed]

Her acting fits with other elves around her age, like f.e. Feanor. Dude was also a prick filled with rage, grief, and pride. She still has some thousand years to become the one we saw in the Hobbit/LotR.

ITs funny how they just name drop Feanor without giving any context and assume you read the book?

Its weird how they changed the reason of why they went after Morgoth ass, completely ignoring Feanor or the silmarilions to immediately cite then in a half-asset way

[Sialina]

Not true.

It's not worth arguing about either because people will see and project what they want on Tolkien's work regardless of what Tolkien and his son say about his intentions.



This is such a ridiculous argument that I don't even know how to respond to it. Black Panther exists because there was no African representation in American comics. The notion that England, the creator of the largest imperial force that spanned across the entire globe, lacks representation in anything is flatly absurd. Again, it's a horrible comparison so, please, leave it alone already.



I don't know what you're disagreeing with here or what the point you're trying to make is. You and the previous poster seem to be insisting that rules set within a story need to be followed or it will break immersion. The races of elves, dwarves, hobbits, and orcs are entirely made up by Tolkien. Whatever evolutionary traits they would have are entirely up to the creator. Tolkien used no source material to base them on.

Per Tolkien:


The man did not set the rules for the evolutionary traits of the fictional people in his story. His descriptions of these groups were vague unless certain details were absolutely necessary. If seeing a black dwarf breaks the immersion of the story for you, it's because you're projecting your own rules of what these groups can or cannot be on to the story yourself. You readily accept that plants like potatoes, tomatoes, and tobacco exist in Middle-Earth despite being unavailable in Europe until the 1400s, do you not? I don't see anyone making a big deal about those rules being broken in this thread. If you're going to insist the story follow European history and tradition then that should upset you as well. I hope you're able to see what I'm getting at here.

Lets break your post down a little bit

First point, some scholars disagree with the notion that he set out to create a deep mythology, even tho it's stated in the letters, lets just say experts disagree and we disagree.

Second part
I'm just going to leave a small note here that Africa, Asia, India and any other place you can imagine indeed have their own movies comics and other forms of entertainment, I'm sure you know as much.

Third part
Tolkien thought England lacked ancient myths, that doesn't have anything to do with any of the present issues you brought up.

Lastly
Have you read Rage of dragons by Evan Winter? It's one of my favorite fantasy books. Only a few characters are described, things described are usually if they have no hair, long hair or something else, if they are tall or heavy set, and for every character their shade of dark is described, Princess Seiora is described as having skin as dark as a starless night, the main character is somewhat lighter brown. Kellen Okar and Uduak are both big men, with medium dark skin and shaved hair.
Just because the rest of the cast isn't described would you give yourself the right to do with them as you please?

[Yossarian]

God this show is terribile
Bad, bad, bad writing
The acceptance letter to Harv... to the builders' guild was beyond cringe
And now we know that the true identity of the goofy giant is mr Bean, I guess

[Triceron]

Kinda surprised this segment hit on all the notes I had about the show.

I have a couple disagreements with them on certain points, like I actually enjoyed Elrond and the actor and his arc, but the manage to hit on most of the things I thought were off about the series so far.

[rhorle]

But we don't know that, in fact with Isildur we are very close to the 3rd age, as Isildur is alive in the show and he lives into the 3rd age at some 200 years old. So at this point Galadriel is like 5000 years old, she should be very far along in her journey to being LoTR Galadriel, not this character who barely resembles her. We are talking about Elves, and this Galadriel is being treated like a human, with human development. I just, ugh, it feels nothing like Tolkien and more like some generic other fantasy with elves and dwarfs and "not hobbits".

The show has changed the time line of events so it is silly to expect Galadriel to act as if she is 5,000 years old when the Rings of Power haven't even been forged yet. I don't recall them mentioning dates or ages on the show to get a reference. It is silly to hold her, or any character, to a standard from Tolkien when the ACU has clearly diverged in major ways.