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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

JohnC

By JohnC,
in Film, TV & Radio

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Darwock

Darwock

Posted
Posted
On 20/09/2022 at 23:07, Captain Kelsten said:

LotR works because it has those moments of character development, of levity. Aragorn is mostly a grump but then he has a bit where he sings about his lost love, or finds himself incredulous at the Hobbit's voracious appetite...that kind of thing. So far Galadriel has had none of that. She needs something to even out all the doom and gloom. 


We got to see her enjoying a horse. And smirking a bit in a sword fight.

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Festoon

Festoon

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Posted
46 minutes ago, Thor said:

Isn't he?! I wasn't convinced at first, mainly because he looks so different to Hugo Weaving, but he was terrific this week. 

 

And in all his interactions with the dwarves last week too. Can't believe he's the same guy that was in Behind Her Eyes.

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Gotters

Gotters

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Posted

I'm at the point of finding this a real struggle to get through and just very tedious.

 

Once the shiny appeal of the visuals wears off the extended runtimes with nothing much happening just makes it feel a slog to somebody like me not invested at all in LotR. The scripts are awful and that would be forgivable if the story was moving along, but everything feels like it's taking far too long to get anywhere.

 

I don't know if the LotR fanbase alone is enough to make this a worthwhile endeavour for Amazon, but if they need to pull in the wider audience this may be a struggle.

 

 

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Twinbee

Twinbee

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Posted

I'm glad it's not just me thinking this is pleasant enough, albeit quite ponderous. I never read the books, but loved the Peter Jackson films dearly, and never watched the Hobbit ones.

 

As others have said, there are so many stories going on, and right now not much to tie them together. Game of Thrones had similar back in the beginning, but because it rocketed along at such a pace, you got to understand things more quickly, I think.

 

Watching the fourth episode reminded me of that Redlettermedia Phantom Menace review, that said that when your story is full of strange places, people and events, you need a regular shlub to ground it all, and allow the viewer to learn through their experiences. Previously that was Frodo, but we don't have a Frodo here.

 

I was wondering if the young girl from Lenny Henry's village would be that, but their story seems so far removed from everyone else so far, that it can't be that.

 

And it does all look lavish, but in a flashy kind of way, instead of the sense of human detail every square inch of the Jackson trilogy had (anyone who's watched the WETA workshop making-ofs will know what I mean).

 

Happy to keep watching, but would quite like something to actually happen soon.

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kensei

kensei

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Posted
5 hours ago, DualSense said:

About mithril…

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Does mithril containing the light of a Silmaril have any basis in Tolkien lore?  I noted that they mention a Silmaril but not what that actually is assume because they don’t have the rights.

 

 

You know when people accused the show of being fan fiction, this is fan fiction and it's not even particularly good fan fiction. It's so bad it almost violates the "can't contradict established lore" rule it apparently has

Spoiler

The positions of the Silmarils are known at all times. Which is Morogoroth's crown until Beren gets one, then that one eventually becomes the evening star ie Venus. The others the remaining son's of Feanor get after Morogoroth's defeat but because of the evil they did due to their oath, they burn them. In despair one throws his to the bottom of the ocean, and the other throws it into a volcano. It's meant to have that mythic resolution - one to air, one to the sea, one to the sky.

 

Tolkien toyed with making the Arkenstone from the Hobbit a Simaril originally I believe but ultimately rejected it because it caused too many problems. It still causes too many problems here.

 

That elves fade is just the way of the world. The Dominion of Men is ultimately the will of Eru. There's a bit of it in that the eleven rings were created to delay the onset, but not mithril.

 

Mithril itself must have been known in Numenor and Aman too, since there are references to things made with it.

 

An elf did fight and defeat a Balrog. Glorfindel defeated one at the fall of Gondolin in the First Age.

 

Lore rating: Sexy Shelob/10

 

As a TV show as opposed to a Tolkien thing, it needs to pull some of these threads together and pick the pace somewhat if it's going to get away from 6/10. Also it needs to stop annoying tropes

 

Spoiler

I hate training fights where if a single thing goes wrong then lots of people are dead. Plus show off aren't I great I can handle literally everyone main characters doing a training fight.

 

GoT basically subverted this when Jon Snow did it at the wall and everyone thought he was a dick.

 

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JoeK

JoeK

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Posted
9 minutes ago, DualSense said:

I thought the mithril stuff must all be new as it was complete nonsense.  I’m going to give it one more episode and if that’s just as dull I’ll call it a day. 

 

Alas, this was the moment I switched off. That, and the whole dinner party conversation felt like an episode of Star Trek. All the elves are Mr Spocks.

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Bazjam

Bazjam

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Posted

I have absolutely no problem with the pace, and think all the strands are coming together nicely. It’s early days for a lot of the characters but I’m really intrigued with how they’re going to develop. It reminds me of watching early GOT where every time it changes location I find myself excited to see how that storyline is progressing.

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Boothjan

Boothjan

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Posted

I actually think this is much better than I thought it would be.

 

Never read any Tolkein aside from the main 4 books and I think I'm glad, as I'm going in blind and if it deviates from his other works, it's no issue at all for me.

 

This is great. It's building nicely, it looks utterly ridiculous and I'm actually enjoying the pacing. 

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kensei

kensei

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Bazjam said:

I have absolutely no problem with the pace, and think all the strands are coming together nicely. It’s early days for a lot of the characters but I’m really intrigued with how they’re going to develop. It reminds me of watching early GOT where every time it changes location I find myself excited to see how that storyline is progressing.

 

First five episodes of GoT

 

Spoiler

Bran pushed from a roof

Lady is killed

Ned figures out Joffery is not Roberts son

Catelyn captures Tyrion

Danny is pregnant

Jon goes through an entire arc of not being accepted and saving Sam

 

Probably more.

 

Think of the list of great, memorable minor characters that appear in those episodes, some which go onto big parts and some that don't like Syrio.

 

The first season of GoT is insanely good. Stuff happens every episode. There are multiple interesting threads. There are tons of really compelling characters. 

 

This isn't terrible and has a bit of intrigue but GoT season 1 is lightyears ahead of this.

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Bazjam

Bazjam

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, kensei said:

 

First five episodes of GoT

 

  Hide contents

Bran pushed from a roof

Lady is killed

Ned figures out Joffery is not Roberts son

Catelyn captures Tyrion

Danny is pregnant

Jon goes through an entire arc of not being accepted and saving Sam

 

Probably more.

 

Think of the list of great, memorable minor characters that appear in those episodes, some which go onto big parts and some that don't like Syrio.

 

The first season of GoT is insanely good. Stuff happens every episode. There are multiple interesting threads. There are tons of really compelling characters. 

 

This isn't terrible and has a bit of intrigue but GoT season 1 is lightyears ahead of this.

I wasn’t comparing the two in terms of wow moments per episode, I’m saying that I have a similar enjoyment in watching the strands develop and come together. I love GOT, but I don’t want every show I watch to be full of OMG moments and cliff hangers. 
 

If the pace and approach to storytelling of this reminds me of anything, it’s probably Tolkiens writing. Which obviously is a good thing all considered.

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Festoon

Festoon

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Posted
2 hours ago, jonamok said:

Well, I bloody love it. Every sumptuous, achingly serious minute, and all of Durin’s levity. It’s grand.

 

Yes, it's grand in the literal sense. I think everyone thinks it should flow like GoT, for some insane reason.

 

Anyone who expected an LoTR show to be dragon Eastenders is nuts. Different beasts entirely.

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kensei

kensei

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Posted
3 hours ago, Bazjam said:

I wasn’t comparing the two in terms of wow moments per episode, I’m saying that I have a similar enjoyment in watching the strands develop and come together. I love GOT, but I don’t want every show I watch to be full of OMG moments and cliff hangers. 
 

If the pace and approach to storytelling of this reminds me of anything, it’s probably Tolkiens writing. Which obviously is a good thing all considered.

 

It's less about the cliff hangers - that's just to show that significant stuff is happening and the fact the narrative has life. There's a bit of intrigue and mystery here which they are layering on but not much seems to have actually happened and particularly with Galadriel it feels like plot happens to walk her about the map. GoT has a lot of quite compelling minor characters and I don't think there are anywhere near as many here. Ar Pharazon is the only one that has really grabbed me. 

 

I think Tolkien's writing gets a bad wrap. It can be slow - and LoTR starts pretty slowly, but it can also.be quite compelling. Here's him reading the Ride of the Rohirrim

 

 

Lord of the Rings picks up as it goes. Just saying this needs to as well. So many shows spend a lot of time setting up intrigue and are wrecked by no payoff.

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