Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[bledgor]

Finished episode 2 today, and continues to have a few upsides and a lot of downsides.

large note Details:
-Okay in episode 1 it bothered me, now it is a large issue. This is supposed to be Tolkien, why the fuck does everyone have access to fast travel? Ep1 Galadriel and company fast travel from the ice back, then they get on the ship and travel the 400 miles to Valinor, and we get o time reference. In this episode we have Elrond going to Eregion instantly, then traveling to Khazad-dum instantly with Celebrimbor (while wearing the same outfits). All with no reference to how long it tooks, all with none of the traveling bits that make Tolkien's work, Tolkien.

-Not to mention Elrond spends some amount of time in the contest (which was way over explained, show don't tell), before spending time with Durin IV, including having dinner, meanwhile Celebrimbor was just left outside the city?
-Galadriel jumping into the sea at the entrance of Valinor is still a mindbogglingly dumb decision, that 99.9999% of the time would result in her dying.
-Like others REALLY hope the wizard/meteor man isn't Gandalf, I wish it wasn't a wizard period, but if Gandalf, SO FUCKING BAD. I suspect they won't name him this season as they will try to acquire more rights from the Tolkien estate before answering who he is.
-Dwarfs are largely well done, like the looks, Khazad-dum looked great minus a few shots that suffered from CGI abuse (namely the one on the bridge where Elrond was in, could tell with living beings in the CGI cut it was CGI)
-That said a few of the accents of the dwarfs made me eye roll, but nothing outlandish and a minor nitpick.
-The Harfoots continue to annoy me, between the accent they can't settle on, to the hair crap, to the badly designed props (they had a torch with the opening at the top where the handle is, thus making the heat rise to your hand which is holding it?)
-The orc scene I enjoyed with Bronwyn and her son, though I did dislike how the orc looked, and how the scene ended. The orc looked too much like a pig and distracted me, and cutting of the scene it was like Bronwyn complains about "something" then perfectly time orc home invasion and she kills it with neither getting hurt while also perfectly cutting off its head to bring to the tavern? Like I get movie convenience, and in a better show I probably could overlook this, but it just felt so much like this happened in this order because plot demanded it not because it was a natural flow.
-Another thread I am worried about, they mentioned the Simarils which was cool, then they have the Dwarf king hiding some precious treasure from the Elves. I hope it is mithril, but a small part of me is prepping for the Dwarfs to be holding a Simaril which would be another large lore fuck up.


Final thoughts: Elves continue to be a large weak point for me, be it in dialogue, the ears/costumes, just about everything. Dislike Harfoots, humans are okay with hits and misses, while Dwarfs carry this episode from bad range to okay range. From a purely watching a fantasy show not by Tolkien standpoint I wouldn't say I hate the show, but I just feel 0 excitement/care for it, and unless some big moments turn me I will probably stop after episode 3 or 4 as I just can't find the will to watch it.

[Universalgirl]

That isn't true, the policy you are quoting specifies that the first thing to consider is skill set.

Yes ofc

The german woke institute isn’t true
The Amazon quotas are also a lie
All Ratings below 6 are racists
Forced and mixed ethnic and races are good

[Lady Atia]

Finished episode 2 today, and continues to have a few upsides and a lot of downsides.

large note Details:
-Okay in episode 1 it bothered me, now it is a large issue. This is supposed to be Tolkien, why the fuck does everyone have access to fast travel? Ep1 Galadriel and company fast travel from the ice back, then they get on the ship and travel the 400 miles to Valinor, and we get o time reference. In this episode we have Elrond going to Eregion instantly, then traveling to Khazad-dum instantly with Celebrimbor (while wearing the same outfits). All with no reference to how long it tooks, all with none of the traveling bits that make Tolkien's work, Tolkien.

-Not to mention Elrond spends some amount of time in the contest (which was way over explained, show don't tell), before spending time with Durin IV, including having dinner, meanwhile Celebrimbor was just left outside the city?
-Galadriel jumping into the sea at the entrance of Valinor is still a mindbogglingly dumb decision, that 99.9999% of the time would result in her dying.
-Like others REALLY hope the wizard/meteor man isn't Gandalf, I wish it wasn't a wizard period, but if Gandalf, SO FUCKING BAD. I suspect they won't name him this season as they will try to acquire more rights from the Tolkien estate before answering who he is.
-Dwarfs are largely well done, like the looks, Khazad-dum looked great minus a few shots that suffered from CGI abuse (namely the one on the bridge where Elrond was in, could tell with living beings in the CGI cut it was CGI)
-That said a few of the accents of the dwarfs made me eye roll, but nothing outlandish and a minor nitpick.
-The Harfoots continue to annoy me, between the accent they can't settle on, to the hair crap, to the badly designed props (they had a torch with the opening at the top where the handle is, thus making the heat rise to your hand which is holding it?)
-The orc scene I enjoyed with Bronwyn and her son, though I did dislike how the orc looked, and how the scene ended. The orc looked too much like a pig and distracted me, and cutting of the scene it was like Bronwyn complains about "something" then perfectly time orc home invasion and she kills it with neither getting hurt while also perfectly cutting off its head to bring to the tavern? Like I get movie convenience, and in a better show I probably could overlook this, but it just felt so much like this happened in this order because plot demanded it not because it was a natural flow.
-Another thread I am worried about, they mentioned the Simarils which was cool, then they have the Dwarf king hiding some precious treasure from the Elves. I hope it is mithril, but a small part of me is prepping for the Dwarfs to be holding a Simaril which would be another large lore fuck up.


Final thoughts: Elves continue to be a large weak point for me, be it in dialogue, the ears/costumes, just about everything. Dislike Harfoots, humans are okay with hits and misses, while Dwarfs carry this episode from bad range to okay range. From a purely watching a fantasy show not by Tolkien standpoint I wouldn't say I hate the show, but I just feel 0 excitement/care for it, and unless some big moments turn me I will probably stop after episode 3 or 4 as I just can't find the will to watch it.

- Of course they did travel, the show did just cut the boring stuff out because nothing happened during their travels. Keep in mind Middle-Earth is free of Morgoth and Sauron right now and Orcs, Goblins and Dragons aren't everywhere.
- Elrond did tell Celebrimbor that they would met again in their elven city. Celebrimbor just went home again.
- I would have done the same as Galadriel in that moment tbh.
- I also hope it's a blue wizard.

For your last point, it's 99% mithril. They already showed it in the trailers and it makes sense as they need it to craft the front door we saw in FotR. Also mithril was the reason they awoke the Balrog.

[Dhrizzle]

Yes ofc

The german woke institute isn’t true
The Amazon quotas are also a lie
All Ratings below 6 are racists
Forced and mixed ethnic and races are good

It's easily found online, I mean you just had to read a little bit beyond the words that suit your agenda.

[Fencers]

Did I miss a scene? How the hell did this bitch swim back to Middle-Earth?

[PACOX]

Finished episode 2 today, and continues to have a few upsides and a lot of downsides.

large note Details:
-Okay in episode 1 it bothered me, now it is a large issue. This is supposed to be Tolkien, why the fuck does everyone have access to fast travel? Ep1 Galadriel and company fast travel from the ice back, then they get on the ship and travel the 400 miles to Valinor, and we get o time reference. In this episode we have Elrond going to Eregion instantly, then traveling to Khazad-dum instantly with Celebrimbor (while wearing the same outfits). All with no reference to how long it tooks, all with none of the traveling bits that make Tolkien's work, Tolkien.

-Not to mention Elrond spends some amount of time in the contest (which was way over explained, show don't tell), before spending time with Durin IV, including having dinner, meanwhile Celebrimbor was just left outside the city?
-Galadriel jumping into the sea at the entrance of Valinor is still a mindbogglingly dumb decision, that 99.9999% of the time would result in her dying.
-Like others REALLY hope the wizard/meteor man isn't Gandalf, I wish it wasn't a wizard period, but if Gandalf, SO FUCKING BAD. I suspect they won't name him this season as they will try to acquire more rights from the Tolkien estate before answering who he is.
-Dwarfs are largely well done, like the looks, Khazad-dum looked great minus a few shots that suffered from CGI abuse (namely the one on the bridge where Elrond was in, could tell with living beings in the CGI cut it was CGI)
-That said a few of the accents of the dwarfs made me eye roll, but nothing outlandish and a minor nitpick.
-The Harfoots continue to annoy me, between the accent they can't settle on, to the hair crap, to the badly designed props (they had a torch with the opening at the top where the handle is, thus making the heat rise to your hand which is holding it?)
-The orc scene I enjoyed with Bronwyn and her son, though I did dislike how the orc looked, and how the scene ended. The orc looked too much like a pig and distracted me, and cutting of the scene it was like Bronwyn complains about "something" then perfectly time orc home invasion and she kills it with neither getting hurt while also perfectly cutting off its head to bring to the tavern? Like I get movie convenience, and in a better show I probably could overlook this, but it just felt so much like this happened in this order because plot demanded it not because it was a natural flow.
-Another thread I am worried about, they mentioned the Simarils which was cool, then they have the Dwarf king hiding some precious treasure from the Elves. I hope it is mithril, but a small part of me is prepping for the Dwarfs to be holding a Simaril which would be another large lore fuck up.


Final thoughts: Elves continue to be a large weak point for me, be it in dialogue, the ears/costumes, just about everything. Dislike Harfoots, humans are okay with hits and misses, while Dwarfs carry this episode from bad range to okay range. From a purely watching a fantasy show not by Tolkien standpoint I wouldn't say I hate the show, but I just feel 0 excitement/care for it, and unless some big moments turn me I will probably stop after episode 3 or 4 as I just can't find the will to watch it.

The torch used fireflies, unless you're talking about a different one that used flames?

[Combatbutler]

Did I miss a scene? How the hell did this bitch swim back to Middle-Earth?

Boats are overrated, if you have ptsd powering your bitch mood.

[kenn9530]

Did I miss a scene? How the hell did this bitch swim back to Middle-Earth?

If she can travel for hundreds of years throught middle earth she could likely swim however many miles back to land and elves are known for other powers that could help.

[bledgor]

- Of course they did travel, the show did just cut the boring stuff out because nothing happened during their travels. Keep in mind Middle-Earth is free of Morgoth and Sauron right now and Orcs, Goblins and Dragons aren't everywhere.
- Elrond did tell Celebrimbor that they would met again in their elven city. Celebrimbor just went home again.
- I would have done the same as Galadriel in that moment tbh.
- I also hope it's a blue wizard.

For your last point, it's 99% mithril. They already showed it in the trailers and it makes sense as they need it to craft the front door we saw in FotR. Also mithril was the reason they awoke the Balrog.

-I mean one of the big things about LoTR is the traveling, and the interactions between people on a journey, having basically 0 showing of people journeying and literally people arriving at places 5 minutes later in the show (or in the case of Khazad-dum after showing a map marking the distance between the two) felt bad to me. Like some of the most iconic lines/moments in LoTR are from them traveling, like the 2nd breakfast scene, potatoes, etc.
-I mean I guess, still felt awkward/dumb, makes Celebrimbor travel all the way there, then immediately tells him to go home. Like if I spend days traveling with you and you make me go home after you promise me help I would be rightly pissed.
-...You would have jumped off a boat at least 400 miles from land? With no raft, supplies, nothing but a dagger? Like bro come on it was really fucking dumb. Not to mention the elves that apparently went along with the troops just to remove there armor right before Valinor? They couldn't have done that before they left? Are these helpers getting into Valinor too? It was a bad scene.
-Agreed but part of me is hesitant with they have already done, not to mention waking the Balrog is another 3rd age happening I hope they don't shoe horn it in but considering trailers x to doubt.

[Kreuger]

Watched ep1 today, will see ep2 tomorrow.

Alot better then I thought after reading some comments , enjoyed it. Only moment I found unnecessary was the sworddisplay fighting the troll. Other then that, solid start

[tikcol]

Did I miss a scene? How the hell did this bitch swim back to Middle-Earth?

One of the worse segments, which is like most of the series so far, pure fan fiction.

The Valar placed a ban on the rebelling Ñoldor who followed Fëanor to Middle-earth in pursuit of Morgoth and the Silmarils he stole. The ban came into effect after the Prophecy of the North was delivered as the Ñoldorin host traveled up through Araman, after it became known that Fëanor, with the support of a host led by Fingon, killed the people of Alqualondë to get their ships. The ban fell on the House of Fëanor, the House of Fingolfin, and those members of the House of Finarfin who did not repent their rebellion and turn back with Finarfin. During this time, the Valar hid Aman by meshing the sea around Tol Eressëa and Eldamar with a bewildering shadow and set the Enchanted Isles to ensnare any that set foot upon them. The ban ended after the War of Wrath when the Valar forgave the remaining Ñoldor. Of the leaders who had led the Noldor into exile only Galadriel chose to remain, having wed Celeborn.[1]

While not confirmed, I hope that guy she met on that dreadful segment isn't going to become one more nail in the coffin for this series because I'm getting some vibes that he might become some kind of love interest. Time will tell.

[kenn9530]

The 0 or 1 out of 10 ratings are from people who actually really hate the idea that this big company thought they could use their money to buy one of the most well known works of modern fiction and butcher it. That is an honest review. This story has been known around the world for over 60 years as one of the best works of English fiction written in the modern era that influenced a whole genre of writers and creators in books, television, movies and games. No I don't think those are all dishonest reviews.

On the other hand, there are people who legitimately believe that Tolkien is no more special than any other IP and is just a story with no particular importance or meaning. To them it is just a TV show and deserves to exist and they may believe it is unfair to judge it beyond that. So for them the fact that Amazon spent all that money and produced something in the first place for this IP is all that is required to get a 10 rating. Therefore some of those are also honest ratings. Everybody isn't a lore nerd.

A 1/10 rating is dishonest, there is not much that deserves a 1/10 rating, its just salty fans of the book who wrongly feel they have somehow been wronged and way too many racists. Plus the story they are telling has not been told by tolkien it just uses some of what is already known about the universe.

The books are the only tolkien you will ever get, the movies are not tolkien and there is nothing really special about LOTR, it a decent story in a fantasy universe and the movies were pretty good.

[Yourendbsby]

That isn't true, the policy you are quoting specifies that the first thing to consider is skill set.

Yes that’s very skill based.

Curious why you lie?

dei.amazonstudios.com/inclusion-policy/amp/

Each film or series with a creative team of three or more people in above-the-line roles (Directors, Writers, Producers) should ideally include a minimum 30% women and 30% members of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. We will give priority consideration to people who have been historically marginalized within the industry, including but not limited to disability, sexual orientation, religion, body size, age, nationality, gender identity, gender expression and people at the intersection of multiple underrepresented identities. This aspirational goal will increase to 50% by 2024. On creative teams with fewer than three people, we prefer that at least one Writer, Director, or Producer be a woman and/or a member of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. A single team member can fulfill one or more of these identities.

We also aspire to cast at least 10% of our roles with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or gender non-conforming / non-binary; and 10% with people who self-identify as a person with a disability.

If any of these aspirational goals are not met, the external partner may be asked to submit a description of the steps that were taken to achieve these goals.

( skill based yes sir)

[InfiniteCharger]

A 1/10 rating is dishonest, there is not much that deserves a 1/10 rating, its just salty fans of the book who wrongly feel they have somehow been wronged and way too many racists. Plus the story they are telling has not been told by tolkien it just uses some of what is already known about the universe.

The books are the only tolkien you will ever get, the movies are not tolkien and there is nothing really special about LOTR, it a decent story in a fantasy universe and the movies were pretty good.

You cannot say that because there are plenty of movies and shows on these sites with very low ratings from the general public and reviewers. What you are trying to say is that in this specific instance, the reason for the 1/10 review is because of a certain reason and you don't know that either. Again, like I said earlier, some people just will see this show as a desecration of Tolkien and honestly feel it is a 0 or 1 out of 10. The existence of a 1 out of 10 rating is no more or less realistic than any other review rating.

Not to mention almost every trailer for this show has been down voted since the first trailer was released. The way these kinds of systems are designed is to provide an aggregated feedback loop for companies to run their statistics on to come up with an average rating scheme to use for their own purposes. Nobody expects these things to be perfectly accurate, no more than those reviews you get when calling customer service on the phone or while accessing some services on the internet. It has never worked like that. Overall, the fact that this show has had such consistent negative feed back from the very beginning around the world tells you that people aren't liking what they are seeing. Not to mention all the comments on the youtube videos making fun of the story by making up memes about galadriel or other characters doing things from other movies. There is no way that anybody objectively can look at that and say anything other than a lot of people do not like what you are doing with something they like already. It is one thing for companies to deny this but for just random individuals to sit here and argue that this does not represent real authentic feelings from a large part of the audience is ridiculous and odd.


Overall, no matter how people claim otherwise, if something is good, it will get good ratings.
All the hand wringing and potential concerns before hand by so called "haters" don't change that.

The Books are supposed to be the only Tolkien and that is the whole reason people are rejecting this show in its disrespect of Tolkien.
So how is that not obvious to everyone involved at this point? Are we using this exercise as justification for wasting a billion dollars?
Arent there better things we as a society can be doing with a billion dollars, including whatever 'causes' these people claim to care about?
I don't see the point for the folks sitting here grandstanding about this particular show.

I would be equally upset if someone took Akira and changed it to NYC and a mostly white or 'diverse' cast.
This isn't just about Tolkien or European stories. And what is the point? There are plenty of all black movies being released every year. Are we supposed to be pretending that this is 1920 and black people cant make their own movies? Seriously? This is just the purest form of mindless nonsense coming from people that should know better (these producers and entertainers). There was recently a movie made by a black dude that had a largely black cast. So how is anyone claiming that somehow it is justified to throw away a billion dollars just to make a statement about 'diversity' in Tolkien? Especially when you got a major 80% black city in the USA that can't get clean drinking water right now in 2022. This is just absurd nonsensical grandstanding over fictional people and places that means absolutely nothing in real life outside of those getting a paycheck.

At the end of the day these things are going to be judged by final result that people actually see and not by the bloviating of these studios and their marketing statements. I have no sympathy for them.

[Specialka]

racist or maybe bigot. at the least: triggered by diversity

Triggered by "forced" diversity. Make some effort to understand what is being said here.

[BigToast]

Triggered by "forced" diversity. Make some effort to understand what is being said here.

Trust me, I understand.

[Specialka]

Trust me, I understand.

Seems to me you don't as per your response I quoted.

[Biomega]

like I said earlier, some people just will see this show as a desecration of Tolkien and honestly feel it is a 0 or 1 out of 10. The existence of a 1 out of 10 rating is no more or less realistic than any other review rating.

That right there is why these ratings are a terrible metric.

This is not how point ratings are supposed to work. You don't just go "this one aspect of it is a deal breaker for me, therefore 0/10". That's exactly NOT what point scales are for. Instead, they're supposed to be the sum of MANY aspects, some of which you like and some of which you don't like, averaging out to one number at the end. If you give something 0/10 that would have to mean you think it's a 0 in EVERY aspect, not that it's a 0 in ONE aspect. And you may hate the adaptation as much as you like, it still doesn't mean that there's ANYTHING "realistic" about giving, say, the show's visuals a 0/10.

People just misuse the rating system, plain and simple.

Overall, no matter how people claim otherwise, if something is good, it will get good ratings.

Isn't that circular logic? You're basically saying "high ratings means it's good, and good means it gets high ratings, QED" which is a pretty vapid statement. And if you're not tying how "good" a show is to its rating, then it's even MORE meaningless because anyone can subjectively go "I think this is good!" regardless of the rating.

[MCMLXXXII]

Yes that’s very skill based.

Curious why you lie?

dei.amazonstudios.com/inclusion-policy/amp/

Each film or series with a creative team of three or more people in above-the-line roles (Directors, Writers, Producers) should ideally include a minimum 30% women and 30% members of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. We will give priority consideration to people who have been historically marginalized within the industry, including but not limited to disability, sexual orientation, religion, body size, age, nationality, gender identity, gender expression and people at the intersection of multiple underrepresented identities. This aspirational goal will increase to 50% by 2024. On creative teams with fewer than three people, we prefer that at least one Writer, Director, or Producer be a woman and/or a member of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. A single team member can fulfill one or more of these identities.

We also aspire to cast at least 10% of our roles with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or gender non-conforming / non-binary; and 10% with people who self-identify as a person with a disability.

If any of these aspirational goals are not met, the external partner may be asked to submit a description of the steps that were taken to achieve these goals.

( skill based yes sir)

Alexa, what does aspire mean?

[Dhrizzle]

Yes that’s very skill based.

Curious why you lie?

dei.amazonstudios.com/inclusion-policy/amp/

Each film or series with a creative team of three or more people in above-the-line roles (Directors, Writers, Producers) should ideally include a minimum 30% women and 30% members of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. We will give priority consideration to people who have been historically marginalized within the industry, including but not limited to disability, sexual orientation, religion, body size, age, nationality, gender identity, gender expression and people at the intersection of multiple underrepresented identities. This aspirational goal will increase to 50% by 2024. On creative teams with fewer than three people, we prefer that at least one Writer, Director, or Producer be a woman and/or a member of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. A single team member can fulfill one or more of these identities.

We also aspire to cast at least 10% of our roles with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or gender non-conforming / non-binary; and 10% with people who self-identify as a person with a disability.

If any of these aspirational goals are not met, the external partner may be asked to submit a description of the steps that were taken to achieve these goals.

( skill based yes sir)

Note the words "should ideally," because the skill set trumps identity. They're not going to hire random women who can't do the job just because they are women.

https://dei.amazonstudios.com/goals/

The targets for above-the-line hiring, based on talent availability data, are as follows:

For film: 30% women/non-binary people and 30% people from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups across directors, writers, and producers.
For episodic series: 30% women/non-binary people and 30% people from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups to be credited across directors, writers, producers, and creators for a season of content. These goals apply to the writers’ room and non-writing producing staff.

These goals are designed to ensure that leadership across the life cycle of the story is balanced and representative of the world we live in. For each open position, first determine the criteria that candidates should meet. Focus on the skill set the candidate possesses in order to excel in the job rather than specific people to fill your list.

Really you should read the website you're linking, it would make you look less silly