Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[Syegfryed]

so not only is the entire show a steaming pile of hot garbage, Amazon or at least the showrunners and people in charge of this failed project who are representing Amazon have failed to make this show in a sustainable manner:


don't think daddy jeff is gonna be too happy when he starts getting mainstream media calling on his door asking for answers regarding his obscene environmental damage caused all in the pursuit of making as much money as possible pissing on Tolkien's legacy.

People are saying the showrunners are going to be swapped, or at least, their roles in the overall thing will be cut, and they are just waiting the Awards(which are gonna be taken by House of the dragon), the backlash was too big for then to do nothing.

I doubt they will announce that, that is like admitting defeat

[Rennadrel]

I'm not gonna get into the political stuff, but it does have to do with how they view him as a side character to Galadriel's (utterly confusing, inconsistent) main character. The don't have a consistent idea for Galadriel - she's a badass, she's kept down by the men in charge, she's manipulated by Sauron so she's doing some straight up evil stuff (so maybe they should be trying to get her out there?), but like, they seem to think she's the heroine.

But I mean, yeah - Gil Galad is one of the two people who fights Sauron in the end. He's an absolute badass.

Funny note - if it takes them 2 years per season (as they seem to be on track to do) actor who plays Gil Galad - who is supposed to be immortal - will be 48, and Celebrimbor's actor - also immortal - will be 61.

The show tries so hard to make Galadriel a girlboss, even though she isn't in any form of the lore. The hacks working on the show clearly have zero understanding of what makes her a strong character in the overall Middle Earth lore. They think that feats of strength (aka cringe wannabe Matrix types of shit) and bossing people around makes her interesting rather than wisdom, compassion and authority that comes out of respect from others, not being a condescending bitch.

[rhorle]

You don't understand the difference between 'Could' and 'Did'?

They said could suffer. I said couldn't suffer. Neither of us used did. It seems silly to be laughing at yourself for not knowing the difference but here you are anyways.

[Triceron]

People are saying the showrunners are going to be swapped, or at least, their roles in the overall thing will be cut, and they are just waiting the Awards(which are gonna be taken by House of the dragon), the backlash was too big for then to do nothing.

I doubt they will announce that, that is like admitting defeat

There's interviews out where some of the actors don't even know if they're going to be reprising their roles in S2.

With this rumor it'd be surprising if they really went the way of a soft reboot. I can't imagine any of what they have being salvageable without extensive cuts, too much of the story is built upon the Sauron red herring bullshit.

[rhorle]

But doing that might allow Amazon to avoid calling the first season a failure, at least until after the second season is a success.

The first season is not a failure though. We know just from US TV's it has maintained good ratings. Add in PC/mobile and all other markets and it would be higher. It is strange how people that dislike the show keep insisting that it has been a failure.

[Xath]

The first season is not a failure though. We know just from US TV's it has maintained good ratings. Add in PC/mobile and all other markets and it would be higher. It is strange how people that dislike the show keep insisting that it has been a failure.

A show that is a success isn't making serious noise about moving showrunners to a lower tier role lols

[rhorle]

A show that is a success isn't making serious noise about moving showrunners to a lower tier role lols

"Serious" lol. There have been rumors of all sorts happening about the show even before the season started. Every rumor should be taken with a grain of salt. The show still has not been a failure.

[Syegfryed]

Every rumor on this show should be taken seriously seeing how the rumors before were proven to be right

[Biomega]

mostly it's professional reviewers being like, eh, this is boilerplate fantasy with high production values, I'll give it a B+.

I don't know exactly how it is for Fantasy, but as an academic specializing in Science Fiction, I know there's been a long-standing problem with reviewers that just don't really understand the genre - movie reviewers in particular. It can be very hard to get someone to go in-depth on aliens and spaceships when what they're really used to is French independent films or South-American auteurs or whatever. That's not to say that every genre film is a hidden gem (far from it) but there appears to be a good number of film critics that haven't quite got the toolkit OR mindset to evaluate certain genres. Though to be fair there are also those who very much do.

I can imagine it could be a similar situation for Fantasy, with people just reviewing as they would review any regular ol' movie/show and having only superficial genre knowledge or experience. That could absolutely reflect in their reviews in the ways described: looks impressive, has something about elves and orcs and whatnot which I guess is what fantasy does or something, music sounds fine, actors seem to not be complete idiots, B+ I guess. Especially problematic for a complex franchise like Tolkien, where there's lots of mythological interconnections that are not only relevant, but ARE the franchise - the entire thing thrives precisely off of the fact that's it's a larger mythology, and that's a big problem for single works within it. It's hard for any reviewer not in the know to respect that fact properly, unless they're a fan themselves - and then we get into murky territory between critic and fan which has its own problems.

And that's not even going into the whole swamp of the review industry, of course, where it's always easy to suspect people are pulling their punches so as not to sabotage their own careers. Whether or not that's actually the case.

[Triceron]

It's been fascinating to see how different the fan reaction has been compared to reviewers. Reviewers are almost all positive - fans are negative, particularly actual Tolkien fans. The rotten tomatoes ratings are still 39% and 85%. So I mean, yeah, the rumors have been more reliable than the media. It's been shocking to see this. There are a few people who share the overwhelmingly negative reaction that fans have, but mostly it's professional reviewers being like, eh, this is boilerplate fantasy with high production values, I'll give it a B+.

So yeah, we're left with rumors in the absence of a functioning critical press.

Not to mention Amazon has been completely silent after the series finished. Considering how much they were touting the success of the show at launch, the silence now is deafening.

I think the rumors of the execs shitting their pants at the success of House of the Dragon could be reasonable true.

[kasuke06]

Not to mention Amazon has been completely silent after the series finished. Considering how much they were touting the success of the show at launch, the silence now is deafening.

I think the rumors of the execs shitting their pants at the success of House of the Dragon could be reasonable true.

"Oh shit, if you make something good instead of just expensive people like it?"

[Biomega]

In their review of the final episode of Rings of Power (which is now a podcast, instead of written), you get the lead podcaster saying, "I liked it" in a voice that suddenly gets higher, and it just to me seems like they aren't really being very tough on the series... then for the last 30 minutes of the episode, the actual showrunners come on and are treated with kid gloves. It's all very strange.

I mean, it's easy to see why this would play out that way, right?

No company in their right mind is going to send its showrunners to a podcast to be slaughtered. Those appearances are VERY tightly controlled in most cases, and wherever there is even a sliver of doubt that this might not go too well, they just don't let them appear. And of course it's the same on the other side, where no podcast run with the aim of making some kind of money is going to blast a guest in ways that kill any chance of ever getting any similar guests in the future. It is, at its core, a conflict of interest: they're not interested primarily in providing the best review they can; they're interested primarily in having a job as a reviewer. They'd probably LIKE to have both happen, and maybe they even can, most of the time; but when it comes down to a choice between review and career, who could fault them for choosing career, really.

Advisors to the king, effectively - the king needs advisors who give him good advice, but when good advice means pissing off the king and getting executed as a result, no advisor will give that advice no matter how good it is in the abstract. Because there's things they value more than giving good advice. The result, unfortunately, tends to be a spiral into sycophancy and echo-chamber insulation.

[rhorle]

And, uh - it's not.

It is a hit though. Just not a hit for all of Tolkiens fanbase. It is #3 in the US on prime currently.

- - - Updated - - -

Not to mention Amazon has been completely silent after the series finished. Considering how much they were touting the success of the show at launch, the silence now is deafening.

Even HBO is not saying much about House of the Dragon. It really doesn't mean much except for those looking to make a mountain out of a molehill.

[MCMLXXXII]

I was watching NFL last Thursday. Kinda telling they mention all kind of series during the game, like The Boys, but not their most expensive one.

[Triceron]

Even HBO is not saying much about House of the Dragon. It really doesn't mean much except for those looking to make a mountain out of a molehill.

There's plenty of buzz around HoD still, and HBO execs recently talked about more GOT Spinoffs in the works (outside of Season 2) in light of HOD's success.

We haven't really heard anything regarding Amazon's season 2 plans for RoP, with the most news we got talking about a 2024 release and some actors coming out saying they don't know of they will be returning at all.

[rhorle]

We haven't really heard anything regarding Amazon's season 2 plans for RoP, with the most news we got talking about a 2024 release and some actors coming out saying they don't know of they will be returning at all.

We know as much about the 2024 release of HotD and their plans as we do for Rings of Power. Not much. The only real difference between the shows is that HBO released a press release post-finale where as Amazon has not. It doesn't mean anything about the state of production or the feelings on Amazon's part. They just don't talk about their shows afterwards that much.

[Triceron]

We know as much about the 2024 release of HotD and their plans as we do for Rings of Power. Not much. The only real difference between the shows is that HBO released a press release post-finale where as Amazon has not. It doesn't mean anything about the state of production or the feelings on Amazon's part. They just don't talk about their shows afterwards that much.

Sure they do. They made post finale announcements for other shows like the Boys and other projects. It's quite expected. They even took time to talk about Wheel of Time post finale, and I thought that was a mediocre series, worse than RoP.

That's why I said their silence here is deafening. It's actually not what was expected.

[rhorle]

Sure they do. They made post finale announcements for other shows like the Boys and other projects. It's quite expected. They even took time to talk about Wheel of Time post finale, and I thought that was a mediocre series, worse than RoP.

Amazon has done podcasts and interviews with the end of the season for Rings of Power. There isn't a silence that is any less for their other shows. The talk for their other series was primarily second-hand from news, influencers, etc.

[Triceron]

Amazon has done podcasts and interviews with the end of the season for Rings of Power. There isn't a silence that is any less for their other shows. The talk for their other series was primarily second-hand from news, influencers, etc.

Assuming you are talking about their official Rings of Power podcast which you probably haven't listened to, that podcast was bout the run of the series, not talking about current status of its viewership and what they have in store for the near future.

[rhorle]

Assuming you are talking about their official Rings of Power podcast which you probably haven't listened to, that podcast was bout the run of the series, not talking about current status of its viewership and what they have in store for the near future.

They have done other appearances. The official podcast even has a post-finale (day after it aired) interview at NY Comic Con. The CEO of Amazon studios talked about Rings of Power at Mipcom. Even House of the Dragon hasn't said what they have in store for the future. All they have said is they won't return until 2024 and a few general plans. You are holding Amazon to a standard that practically no one follows. Amazon hasn't even talked about future seasons of their other shows right after a season ended.

https://variety.com/2022/biz/news/lo...gm-1235408282/