Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[bledgor]

LOL what a trash can of an ending for Rings of Power. Surprised, as predicted Hal-totally not Saruon-brand was who most people on here called him to be. Add in the stranger being VERY strongly hinted to be Gandalf, and the repeated misuse of lines from Tolkien + Jackson's trilogy to only get you this sad finish.

Celebrimbor has continuously been trashed this entire series, from his looks, to the lose of status as dwarf friend and creator of the door to Khazad-dum. Now they make him such an idiotic smith he never considered using alloys? Guess Payne and Mckay never knew about alloys, and were told about them at the end of filming and thought wow we need to include this.

Galadriel suddenly realizes how much of a idiot she was from some lines Celebrimbor repeats from Halbrand, and uses ancient records to confront him? There were like a hundred ways he could have bullshitted his way out of it instead of immediately admitting he was Sauron, but whatever.

At least 1 harfoot died, so that is a plus.

What the fuck was up with the 3 ladies potentially being nazguls? Was that a subtle hint one is the "witch queen" with that crown? FUCK OFF AMAZON.

Before I had my score as: 1/10 as an adaptation, a 4/10 for a fantasy show. With this horrible ending (really trying to 1 up the WoT ending) I have to bring it down to 3/10 for fantasy. How do you take Tolkien plus over $60 million an episode and perform this fucking badly. It is mind boggling.

[Orby]

What the fuck was up with the 3 ladies potentially being nazguls? Was that a subtle hint one is the "witch queen" with that crown? FUCK OFF AMAZON.


.

I don't even know what that was, the way the show constantly throws out Easter eggs and member berries it could just be them going 'look, look, look,. they look like the Naz'ghul, you remember them right right? original trilogy? We are like them, love us, LOVE US'

something like that :P

[rhorle]

It's canon to the show which outright says he's dead. One thing this show absolutely cannot manage is subtle, much less subtle misdirection. So stop bullshitting and accept the obvious.

The show never said he was dead. It only said that she never saw him again. His fate is unknown. The x-ray trivia for the show even references how his fate is unknown, "Celeborn was kinsman of Thingol Grey-cloak, a King of Elves in the First Age. (Appendix B) He was last seen marching to a war from which he never returned - but his exact fate remains unknown"

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Because that was the budget that Miramax was capable of putting up. New Line didn't urge him, they encouraged him and, most of all, gave him a bigger budget.\

So I'm right but you are just using semantics to not admit it. Urged is the same as encouraged. They asked for the production to be bigger and grander. NLC was the driving force at getting those movies made. With out them it would have been a watered down hatchet-job of a script or not made at all.

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His intent isn't clear - he sold the rights to pay off his tax debt.

That seems clear enough. He authorized others to create adaptations in exchange for money. It really is as simple as that and you keep splitting hairs of "authorized" and "intent" to continue to argue it.

[tikcol]

What a dreadful mess. It's just a bad show in a vacuum, even forgetting this is supposed to be based on Tolkien.

We're talking about amateur levels of writing here. There's no saving this trash.

[cface]

What an absolute mess of a show. Great CGI and all that, but we got two idiots who I guess has little to know idea what they are doing as showrunners. I guess the teenage me at 14 would probably think this was alright of a show (I remember not liking LotR movies at that time). For me its pretty much confirmed, this show is most likely for children and teens, and thats alright, I just hoped and wished I would be the target audience like I was with Andor and House of the Dragon.

"I am... good" I mean, lmao. I will show this to my daughter when she becomes 8, maybe it will not be so depressing then.

[Shadowferal]

Amazon’s next battle: Convincing the world ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a rousing success

Oh Good, The Rings of Power Can Actually Start Now

That’s not to say there haven’t been highlights in Rings of Power’s debut. It and its characters have often stalled on repeating the Tolkienesque themes of hope in the face of despair over and over, with what has essentially just been increasing amounts of despair—but as simple that it is, there’s still something charming about it. And, of course, it has continued to be a ridiculously pretty show, gleaming with the millions upon millions of dollars at its disposal. “Alloyed” carries this on much the same, but in a madcap 70 minutes that both feels like too much and not enough is going on. It does, however, actually take a step forward in the long narrative of the Second Age it reveals to us, for all that aesthetic glimmer, what we’ve experienced every week for the past few months was both incredibly obvious and, at the heart of it, quite empty.

[Syegfryed]

So basically you just have this ingrained assumption of what a smith should know and despite the show explaining it very clearly you're too simple minded to get past your preconceived notions.

My dude, the show try to rpesent him as the great blacksmit of the age, yet, this is not what we see.

If the knowledge about this was unknow to the world, maybe your crap point would make sense, but IT WAS know, it was not something secret, is something basic.

He can't be the best if others can do better than him, the show contradict itself and make him a dumbass, an old dumbass

Celebrimbor (and the other Gwaith) were jewel-smiths

Waow, look at that, another headcanon fo yours as the show does not put him as a "jewel smith"

and while he was the most skilled among them that doesn't imply that he'd know about every single thing concerning metal working.

he spend YEARS with the dwarves, he should know that, oh wait they gave this bit to Elrond, now it makes sense he is a dumbass, the great blacksmit is infact, NOT the great blacksmith, by your own words, he was a jewel smith, so the show is lying to us

The loss of his wife is a painful memory for Elendil. As he pauses for a moment to think on it his eyes are drawn by the sunrise before him and, almost as a way of escaping that memory, mentioned his unease about this journey they're on. You can see it in his eyes as he is drawn back to Galadriel's lingering question and as he turns to leave he answers it.

There's nothing wrong with that scene or the writing, and Lloyd Owen does a fine job subtly conveying the pain in trying to dodge the question before finally answering it. What I'm gathering is that perhaps something like reality TV would be more your speed. You know, something where your brain doesn't have to do much work.

There is no wrong with this scene he says, the copium is so hard that of course, none criticism of the show is vallid in you eyes.

[Orby]

What an absolute mess of a show. Great CGI and all that, but we got two idiots who I guess has little to know idea what they are doing as showrunners. I guess the teenage me at 14 would probably think this was alright of a show (I remember not liking LotR movies at that time). For me its pretty much confirmed, this show is most likely for children and teens, and thats alright, I just hoped and wished I would be the target audience like I was with Andor and House of the Dragon.

"I am... good" I mean, lmao. I will show this to my daughter when she becomes 8, maybe it will not be so depressing then.

I do kind of feel that while 'fans' are outraged about the show, its one of those shows that's designed to be 'not for us' and is trying to appear to a 'fresh new audience' which I do not like personally. Same with star Wars, same with a lot of franchise properties now that are trying to hit younger and modern markets today, and not us grumpy boomers lol. I know a lot of people who never read LotR or even watched the movies dig this show, there are people out there who really like it, and I envy them. I wish I liked it half as much as them, but the show was just very 'bleh' to me...

Thankfully the old movies still exist and the books still exist. which is why I can never get mad that I never liked the show, we had our Tolkien movies and we have the source material, whatever this show is like , be it good or bad, it doesn't change anything. And if anything Rings of Power has made more people discover Tolkien's work, so a win all round.

[Triceron]

That seems clear enough. He authorized others to create adaptations in exchange for money. It really is as simple as that and you keep splitting hairs of "authorized" and "intent" to continue to argue it.

So?

Sophie authorized having one child die. Would you say she intended on letting her children die because she authorized it?

[molliewoof]

A bit below average probably a strong 4/10

Action scenes were good

Mainly good CGI, a little ropey in places like when Eminem started picking fire up

The pre hobbits were awful and took up way too much time.

A lot of the acting was really bad, the only really likeable characters were the dwarfs and the evil orc master elf, maybe sauron

The costumes were pretty awful and it takes a lot for me to notice that but I lolled when I saw the numemorians on the boats for the first time.

If this wasn't a huge Amazon production which they will definitely advertise like fuck I probably wouldn't notice when the next season comes out

[downnola]

Unfortunately I felt many of the characters didn't feel explored enough, once again outside of the Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Durin (Owain Arthur) and Disa (Sophia Nomvete) characters, everyone else either felt too flat or undeveloped. And they were the bets part of the show, the drama between Durin and his father the connection with his wife Disa and his long time friend, Elrond really got the most out of me.

Couldn't agree more. It seems like they were trying to do too much with the different arcs they created and ended up with less when it came to most of the characters.

The Galadriel character (played by Morfydd Clark) who was the main protagonist of our story, came across really unlikable and felt very different to the book interpretations of her that I know. A headstrong, bitter, cynical and selfish character that I found very tiresome to watch. She had moments towards the end where I felt her character was starting to warm with me and she showed signs of her character I knew, but overall, I just didn't feel the writing and directing did her justice. I do not feel its the fault of the actress, I think she did well with what she was given but I am not sure what direction she was given during her scenes, because most of the time he expression ranged from 'I want to cry' to 'I want to yell at you'. Juist this constant scowl.

I don't mind the direction they took with Galadriel. I find the character's bitterness to be understandable when the threat to Middle Earth, and the evil responsible for her brother's death, is handwaved away by so many people. Her drive to see the threat end costs her quite a bit over the course of the season. I think it's interesting to see character development when they're forced to self-reflect. Considering the large gap between where we see her now and where she ends up in Lord of the Rings, I think there's plenty of room to show her growth as a character. Showing that she wasn't always wise with excellent self-control is good storytelling if done right.

However, I think making her the vehicle that gets Sauron in front of the elven smiths when she's supposed to be the only one skeptical of his disguise was too strong. But you can also make the case that it says something about being so obsessed and focused on a task that it distracts you from things right under your nose. Either way, I think they could have done better with that detail.

I was also disappointed when the Stranger was all but confirmed to be Gandalf. His inclusion in the series is completely unnecessary and is a pretty serious retcon, imo. I don't mind bending the lore to tell a good story but it will be an egregious contradiction of the books if he ends up being present during the War of the Last Alliance at the end of the series. I don't mind the inclusion of the Harfoots and a wizard, but they didn't need Gandalf specifically to make that arc work. I'd be more interested in learning about other wizards sent to Middle Earth than forcing the one we already know into the story.

Ultimately, I landed kind of close to where you are on the show. Overall, I think it's been pretty mid or just ok. I'm interested in what happens with the story because I'll take any Tolkien I can get. However, they should have done better considering how much money was thrown at this project. "Just ok" shouldn't be an acceptable landing spot for a project of this magnitude. They still have a lot of story left to tell so hopefully they make some improvements.

[Orby]

My imdb review has been pending for two days lol.. I cannot imagine the influx of review that's how is now getting that its over :P

[Aydinx2]

What an absolute mess of a show. Great CGI and all that, but we got two idiots who I guess has little to know idea what they are doing as showrunners. I guess the teenage me at 14 would probably think this was alright of a show (I remember not liking LotR movies at that time). For me its pretty much confirmed, this show is most likely for children and teens, and thats alright, I just hoped and wished I would be the target audience like I was with Andor and House of the Dragon.

"I am... good" I mean, lmao. I will show this to my daughter when she becomes 8, maybe it will not be so depressing then.

The writing for the LotR movies is the same level, you're just biased.

[Khaza-R]

The writing for the LotR movies is the same level, you're just biased.

The movies have some pretty cheesy lines. But they are few and far between.

While the dialogue in the show is like bad to drab about 85% of the time. I feel bad for these actors because they really put their weight in having to carry such a lifeless script.

[Shadowferal]

The writing for the LotR movies is the same level, you're just biased.

Yea...and lotr used similar lines from...where?

[Orby]

I might actually find the soundtrack for this show, the one thing I will praise about it is its musical score.

[xChurch]

You know it's bad when you come away from the show liking the big bad more than the main hero. Halbrand, at least as far as we knew in the show, just wanted to chill on Numenor and craft things, Galadriel is the one who practically forced him back to middle earth (while trying to claim she was really doing it for him). Of course, I doubt anyone would trust Sauron to just hang out in Numenor and not get up to anything evil, but until the reveal, as far as we knew in the show, he was just a guy who wanted a normal life. It doesn't help that her being so instantly trusting of him and doing literally no research on his background doesn't exactly do her any favors either. In the end, the show kind of reminds me of the last Jedi, in that they had some interesting ideas but in the end, instead of trying to go in a different direction and mix things up, everything ends up pretty much exactly where you'd have expected things to be from the start. They should have owned it as a deviation from the books and crafted something truly unique while still being in line with Tolkien. Though we have 4 more seasons, so hopefully they take the constructive criticism seriously going forward.

[jonnysensible]

The movies have some pretty cheesy lines. But they are few and far between.

While the dialogue in the show is like bad to drab about 85% of the time. I feel bad for these actors because they really put their weight in having to carry such a lifeless script.

cmon lotr movies are cheesy as fuck. Gimli is literally a comic relief character. The little song aaragon sings when he becomes king lmao. They are lucky they had some solid lines written already although that they could lift from the books. some of the better ones ('It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would rather have stayed there in peace') etc are left out.

[s_bushido]

He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would rather have stayed there in peace

They gave this line to Faramir in the movie.

[Ophenia]

So we closed this season without any news about Isildur. Is he supposed to be dead in this serie or do they keep him for S02, with him waking up 10 days after in the middle of Mordor lol

All in all, if we rename all characters differently, it was an okay-ish fantasy serie, that took itself too seriously at times. And with awesome goofs / unexplained shit that happens all the time for plot convenience - it seems everyone and their mothers have teleportation abilities in middle earth.