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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

JohnC

By JohnC,
in Film, TV & Radio

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Chindie

Chindie

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, Delargey said:

 

I get that people are somewhat precious about a franchise they love but there seems to be a lot of heavy lifting here insisting thar she's not a fighter on what seems to be a pretty under developed period of her life.

 

This isn't the Galadriel of lotr so it doesn't seem that much of a stretch to believe she was more fighty in her younger days before she had the knowledge to become a mad magic user. It certainly doesn't seem to be a massive contradiction, no?

 

I've only read Lotr and the hobbit so don't have much invested in this fantom but the other magic users I've seen can get pretty tasty with a sword so this doesn't seem that much of a jump.

 

 

 

She's a minor character in the material this deals with and that source is extremely thin anyway, but it puts enough effort in to let us know some of the things she was upto at this time, and it's not being a warrior. Meanwhile we know her brothers' actions, and they are warrior-y, heroic sacrifice, etc etc. It seems odd to have her character not being mentioned for great feats of heroism or combat, when her family is, but also to note that she's wandering back and forth over the next few centuries doing not much of anything.

 

I don't deny that a character can develop and switch in archetypes, but we didn't have that laid out. All we know is she was big and strong compared to other female elves, she was beautiful, held ambitions of being a ruler in the new world, and her family is filled with tragedy when they fought with evil. And that she thought trying to fight Morgoth was pointless as he was beyond the power of any creature in the world to kill. So making her into a great warrior feels like a leap to the extent it's a different character to the canon.

But I appreciate people feel differently and hopefully the show can succeed to the extent it's not relevant.

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Padster

Padster

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, scottcr said:

Dialogue is the same as the LOTR films or is that uncool now?

 

At least in the LotR films they had some dialogue written by Tolkien to work with. That's what's turning me off this, not a line they utter was written by him. 

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Chindie

Chindie

Posted
Posted

Just watched the opening episodes.

 

Hmm.

 

So obviously it's got all the money in the world thrown at it and it looks incredible. This is feature film standard production. The VFX is excellent, the costuming and props are first rate, it's shot cinematically. There's some wonderful shots and moments I love -

Spoiler

such as the Valinor return, it's just fantastic imagery.

 

The problem is... It's not very well written. The dialogue is aping Tolkein's style but it's not quite there, and when you aim for that style and miss, it comes off as corny, arch...  bad. It's then not helped because most of the cast is doing that portentous, knowing 'arc-ting' style that amplifies how rough the dialogue is. It comes to something that we're 2 for 2 in the term 'first light...!' being uttered in an episode, which is just ticking the fantasy boxes in the most hackneyed of ways.

 

Said dialogue is also not helped because there's a lot of lines being read with absolutely no weight behind them. The words are being said, but there's no feeling that those words have any meaning or conviction behind them. They're just lines too often.

 

There's other issues. The not-hobbits are terrible on multiple levels - the design is embarrassing (they have nature stuff in their hair? Feels simultaneously silly and token hand waving at 'indigenous cultures'), their plot is pointedly manufactured (by which I mean it's evidently there to just make it more 'LotR'-y and fill time), the 'Oirish' thing is horrendous... Just awful. Galadriel abandoning the ship to the West was an intensely stupid resolution to a corner the writing had put itself in. The establishing prologue is obscenely curtailed and it's evident that this is a story that needs set up to sell itself, but couldn't do it thanks to rights issues.

 

I dunno. It's not bad overall but there's plenty you could justifiably say is bad. 

 

Then chuck in the stuff that isn't particularly well aligned with the canon and it's... disappointing. Looks wonderful though and there's potential

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Stig

Stig

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Keyboard Koala said:

Yeah this is not for me unfortunately. Give me Hous of the Dragon instead.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

qA74nJ8.jpg

 

#teamdragon

 

Lol, I find this this so silly. Other than them being set in fantasy worlds, they're completely different in style and tone, you don't need to compare and be one or the other.

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kensei

kensei

Posted
Posted

Right ten minutes in and they've fucked it in Tolkien terms. Explaining why will sound like the ravings of a madman but briefly 

 

Spoiler

Finrod did not swear an oath to capture Sauron and every first age disaster is a result of a similar oath that Feanor and his sons made with regards Morogoroth and Galadriel and Finrod are specifically on the side of the family that don't do this. Vengeance is bad. Tolkien makes this explicit around Gollum in LoTR.

 

It's like Doctor Who backed Space Amazon abusing it's workers. That sort of off. It's not the armour, it's the themes and characters.

 

Also elves aren't men and don't chuck rocks to sink ships, their whole bag is preservation... no wait off I go...

 

It's startlingly pretty and it may well be a good story. But I'm just going to pretend this is generic fantasy and not meant to be Tolkien, or I'll go mad.

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cassidy

cassidy

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, kensei said:

Right ten minutes in and they've fucked it in Tolkien terms. Explaining why will sound like the ravings of a madman but briefly 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Finrod did not swear an oath to capture Sauron and every first age disaster is a result of a similar oath that Feanor and his sons made with regards Morogoroth and Galadriel and Finrod are specifically on the side of the family that don't do this. Vengeance is bad. Tolkien makes this explicit around Gollum in LoTR.

 

It's like Doctor Who backed Space Amazon abusing it's workers. That sort of off. It's not the armour, it's the themes and characters.

 

Also elves aren't men and don't chuck rocks to sink ships, their whole bag is preservation... no wait off I go...

 

It's startlingly pretty and it may well be a good story. But I'm just going to pretend this is generic fantasy and not meant to be Tolkien, or I'll go mad.

Rave away. It always works out well on here if your passionate for anything. 

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Chindie

Chindie

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Stanley said:

Would this be suitable for an 8 year old? 

Obviously depends on the kid but

 

It's very talky and exposition heavy.

A lot of it already is revolving around bigger themes that an 8yo might not really get.

There's a few 'scary' moments such as

Spoiler

creepy stuff in a tunnel someone is crawling through that you don't quite see, a home invasion style orc moment which ends with with some gore, and early on a troll gets it's jaw split in half and we get to see it gurgle and moan with its broken jaw for a moment before getting stabbed in the head.

 

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Jamie John

Jamie John

Posted
Posted

I haven't read the thread but have just watched the two episodes.

 

I think it's pretty good.

 

Obviously, it looks incredible - obscenely expensive. The set design, CGI, costumes, and general dressing of everything is probably the best I've seen in a TV a programme.

 

The pacing is strong, more so perhaps in the second episode than the first. Each 66 minute episode didn't exactly fly by, but both passed the didn't check my phone test.

 

Tonally, it does feel very similar to the Jackson films. I'd prefer it if they'd gone for something more different, perhaps a bit darker, but then I suppose it's difficult to do that without betraying the original source material.

 

The acting has been a bit inconsistent so far, and some of the characters are a bit dull. I like Nori, but hunky Hispanic elf dude only seems capable of one expression. Galadriel also seems a bit too serious, although I know she probably hasn't got a great deal to smile about. Elrond and the 

Spoiler

dwarf prince

from episode 2 seem like good fun - their story I've probably found the most entertaining  and interesting so far.

 

I've got no idea who the 

Spoiler

meteor man

is. Saruman? Gandalf? Don't know. My knowledge of of the LotR universe is pretty limited, but I certainly can't remember any cosmic stuff, so that was a surprise.

 

Anyway, the second episode was more interesting than the first, but I'll definitely watch next week's. I think they need to up the stakes a little bit now and give us a good baddie to sink our teeth into.

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kensei

kensei

Posted
Posted

Where is Sauron hiding!?

 

Spoiler

Sauron is an angellic being that can disguise himself in any form he wishes including, canonically, a snake, a vampire bat, a wolf and a good looking dude. And oh, he can completely disrobe his physical form and just wander about angeling. And make illusions. And sing real good. 

 

His form does not fix until the end of the second age. Maybe he's like behind Galadriel the entire time trolling her.

 

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kensei

kensei

Posted
Posted

Aaaaaaaaarrrrgh

 

Spoiler

Gil Galad does not grant the right to go into Valinor. The Valar grant the right to go back. Any elf can just get on a ship and go. You could argue he controls the ships, but interfering with the will of the Valar is interfering with the will of Eru and therefore bad.

 

Galadriel specifically doesn't need his permission either. In some versions she still has a specific ban in place, in some versions she is just like, nah:

 

”Will you then pass over Sea?” [Celebrimbor said.]

“Nay,” [Galadriel] said. “Angrod is gone, and Aegnor is gone, and Felagund is no more. Of Finarfin’s children I am the last. But my heart is still proud. What wrong did the golden house of Finarfin do that I should ask the pardon of the Valar, or be content with an isle in the sea whose native land was Aman the Blessed? Here I am mightier.”‘

 

Gil Galad is High King of the Noldor but Galadriel is both older and related. And elves just wander off and set their own kingdoms up anyway. The relationship isn't right.

 

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