The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power

[Lightningboy2000]

Has anyone started watching The Rings Of Power on Amazon prime yet? 

I am actually pretty surprised at how good it is as dramas on Amazon have been pretty uninspiring until this.

Just my opinion but Morfydd Clark (never heard of her before this) as Galadriel is pretty amazing so far. 

I'm surprised that I haven't seen much in the way of reviews in the mainstream media. To be honest I don't really go out of my way to read reviews of things like this but I would have thought I would have seen Morfydd in the limelight somewhere. This thing is pretty huge & a great way to see how the world of Middle Earth was, the early days of Sauron & the descendants of the Hobbit's. I've so far got up to the end of episode six & all I can say without giving anything away is that I have been very impressed with the filming & battle choreography. Some fantastic scenes with Galadriel on horseback but I will leave it there, oh and there's early hints of Gandalf, maybe?

I love the Star Wars spin offs but this really does give those a real beating in my opinion. 

Just my opinion, but I think it's a worthy pre-history to The Hobbit & LOTR.

It already looks like they've started filming the second season so it might actually be worth signing up for if you haven't got prime already.

 

 

[Marlin]

I've completed Season 1, and are now longing for more, so much in fact that I've started to re watch The Hobbit and the LOTR films. 

I was comparing Amazons production to Peter Jacksons, and thought that the films were much better, but when I stopped comparing the two with each other and just watch The Power of the Rings on its own the new series became much better. 

/Bosse

[Lightningboy2000]

5 hours ago, Marlin said:

I've completed Season 1, and are now longing for more, so much in fact that I've started to re watch The Hobbit and the LOTR films. 

I was comparing Amazons production to Peter Jacksons, and thought that the films were much better, but when I stopped comparing the two with each other and just watch The Power of the Rings on its own the new series became much better. 

/Bosse

Last night I watched episode six & found the sequence of events when Galadriel & The army advancing across the fields exhilarating, perfectly timed & stunningly filmed. I agree with what most people are saying that the first couple of episodes are slow and ponderous, but I felt the story had to slowly unfold to then show what's to come. 

For me the best part so far was the filming & stunt work for the the Númenórean attack with Galadriel on horseback. The filming of Galadriel & Halbrand racing after Adar was stunning. Haven't seen anything like that in years. 

Just my opinion but anyone rubbishing Morfydd's acting & the portrayal of her characters personality are talking absolute cobblers! 

As I write this Film 4 are advertising Saint Maud which features Morfydd Clark, obviously her management have ensured other films are promoted on Freeview. 

Like you I've watched through all of The Hobbit & LOTR and I don't think these compare. Since childhood I've always been fascinated with the origins of Sauron and I was hoping that this would help things, but this series still hasn't addressed that for me. I personally think another series going far back further a thousand years might help with that & possibly fully focusing on the Silmarilion but from what I've read, due to licencing from the Tolkien estate, that might cost a fair bit more money. I can see why the producers have made up some new character names.

[Pilgrim_UK]

I enjoyed it immensely it was rather entertaining. Production values are great and I like that every elf doesn't look like an extra out of a Timotei advert.  Throwing out the Sylvan stereotype for Long blonde locks.  I do think a  special mention goes to Lenny Henry who really did pull out of the park as a hobbit. 

 

Hell I even liked the Wheel of Time Tv series which is worth a watch if you liked Rings of Power.  Once again it is trying to be that person that is not going to compare the TV to the books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ngantek]

Yeah they've changed things around a lot for this series, the events of several thousand years are compressed into one narrative. Were they to stick to the text, it would require probably two different time periods separated by thousands of years. The elven characters would cross the divide, but having to lose and reintroduce most of the cast half way through the narrative was not likely to work out well. 

 

Rather like the films, they necessarily have had to simplify motivations, to make some more subtle or ambiguous causes more explicit, and to entirely create the odd plot driver to make a narrative work. This is all fine and good, and slavishly following the texts would remove any suspense from the story. 

 

I've enjoyed it a lot, but would be cagey recommending it to others without reservation. The pacing was a bit all over the place, and while it feels like the harfoots and elrond/ durin bromance plotlines were added mostly to add some light relief to the heavy, earnest tone of the show, it still came across as a little po-faced overall. 

 

Still, I tend to agree with what you've all said about the really strong points of the show. Morfydd Clark is fantastic and I really like the approach they've taken with her character. The production values are clearly way up there, and numenor, the intro sequence and some awesome subtle work during a 'flashback' scene in the finale are some standouts for me. And those orcs are proper nuts, in fact that whole episode that introduced them, leaning heavily into the horror genre, worked really well. 

 

That intro, by the way, was one of my favourite bits. Just like the similar prologue at the start of the Lotr films, the ability to squash the unsquashable into such a short sequence, and to create such an feeling of the history was really impressive to me. 

 

Anyway as to getting a prime subscription, there are noises being made about series 2 maybe arriving in 2024 so there's certainly no rush there! I for one am very much looking forward to it. 

 

 

[Lightningboy2000]

14 minutes ago, Ngantek said:

Yeah they've changed things around a lot for this series, the events of several thousand years are compressed into one narrative. Were they to stick to the text, it would require probably two different time periods separated by thousands of years. The

elven characters would cross the divide, but having to lose and reintroduce most of the cast half way through the narrative was not likely to work out well. 

 

Rather like the films, they necessarily have had to simplify motivations, to make some more subtle or ambiguous causes more explicit, and to entirely create the odd plot driver to make a narrative work. This is all fine and good, and slavishly following the texts would remove any suspense from the story. 

 

I've enjoyed it a lot, but would be cagey recommending it to others without reservation. The pacing was a bit all over the place, and while it feels like the harfoots and elrond/ durin bromance plotlines were added mostly to add some light relief to the heavy, earnest tone of the show, it still came across as a little po-faced overall. 

 

Still, I tend to agree with what you've all said about the really strong points of the show. Morfydd Clark is fantastic and I really like the approach they've taken with her character. The production values are clearly way up there, and numenor, the intro sequence and some awesome subtle work during a 'flashback' scene in the finale are some standouts for me. And those orcs are proper nuts, in fact that whole episode that introduced them, leaning heavily into the horror genre, worked really well. 

 

That intro, by the way, was one of my favourite bits. Just like the similar prologue at the start of the Lotr films, the ability to squash the unsquashable into such a short sequence, and to create such an feeling of the history was really impressive to me. 

 

Anyway as to getting a prime subscription, there are noises being made about series 2 maybe arriving in 2024 so there's certainly no rush there! I for one am very much looking forward to it. 

 

 

Very well said, I couldn't have said it better about compresing the narrative. Definitely taking Tolkiens written characters & creating new ones based around his originals. I have now read a few comments & this has really upset many people which I can understand what with such a huge worldwide following of Tolkien.

There would definitely have been some damn clever writing to link everything Tolkien had written & present it in these hour long episodes. I personally think everything flows pretty well & agree totally about the harfoots story line which maybe partly down to our need (in this day & age) for a fast paced & concise story.

It's also funny that a big name like Lenny Henry barely steals the show - in a respectable manner. For some reason that whole thing reminded me of scenes from a Terry Gilliam movie Jabberwocky.

[Ngantek]

11 hours ago, Lightningboy2000 said:

Very well said, I couldn't have said it better about compresing the narrative. Definitely taking Tolkiens written characters & creating new ones based around his originals. I have now read a few comments & this has really upset many people which I can understand what with such a huge worldwide following of Tolkien.

There would definitely have been some damn clever writing to link everything Tolkien had written & present it in these hour long episodes. I personally think everything flows pretty well & agree totally about the harfoots story line which maybe partly down to our need (in this day & age) for a fast paced & concise story.

It's also funny that a big name like Lenny Henry barely steals the show - in a respectable manner. For some reason that whole thing reminded me of scenes from a Terry Gilliam movie Jabberwocky.

 

Yes the world being what it is these days, the series certainly got bogged down in the usual controversy and review bombing. I'd divide those into several camps; one is the usual 'political' objection that accompanies all 'nerdy' IPs these days, encompassing reactions to various topics such as 'woke agendas', 'cynical corporate monetisation' and so on. I tend to treat this most vocal and visible group as entirely unrelated to the subject matter, and as the unfortunate cost of doing business these days; it is simply that this series has been picked out as the next convenient battleground. I just don't think it's worth anyone's effort engaging with that, or certainly at least in the context of this series.

 

The second would be those who are very attached to the Tolkien lore and find it difficult to endure changes to the facts or their perceived notions of the source material. This is a complaint that is somewhat easier to engage with; I think it comes down to whether one is able to put aside their 'head canon' in the interests of being able to enjoy a new story and realisation of the fantasy world they've come to love. 

 

Which is the way of looking at it I think, it's a new story or indeed a 're-imagining' of the basic narrative laid out in the LOTR appendices (as you say, they did not have IP access to other sources) and the odd reference in the book itself. The fact remains though, that while this period in the 'history' is probably the least covered by the texts (really just a timeline or quick summary with the salient points), there are quite significant changes that require avid fans to let go of.  It might of course also depend on the reverence with which you treat Tolkien's work. I think there has to be room to love the books while still acknowledging that some aspects are a little troublesome or indeed just a bit weak; and whether one is comfortable with changes being made to remedy these issues or to make it more compatible with modern tastes and sensibilities. 

 

I would say however, the show is full of details, references and nods that show clearly that the creators know their Tolkien, almost as if to say to the more involved fanbase 'yes we know this is not how it was written, it should be like this, so here's an in joke or reference about it for you to enjoy'. One really has just to decide whether or not to trust that the changes were made to make it a comprehensible and cohesive series on screen. My personal opinion is that while there are of course one or two things that I'm not wild about, overall they've done a good job. One can choose to try and enjoy it, or to get angry and wait for the next billion dollar Tolkien IP! 

 

Of course I mentioned 'several' groups of unsatisfied viewers, the last would be those who watched it and simply didn't think it was that good. This is an entirely valid viewpoint, and I would agree that, particularly for viewers less familiar with Tolkien in all its forms, it could be a little serious, dense and meandering. Hence my reticence in recommending it to others, particularly those who are less keen on the genre of 'people in tights stabbing dragons'. 

 

[Mike]

I don't know much about the background and the other material that was used to base this series on, and apart from a few bits and bobs that I had a feeling weren't quite right, I quite enjoyed it.  I'm not as knowledgeable on the LOTR lore etc. as many, mainly thanks to my memory and the fact that I last read the Hobbit because it came free with the Commodore 64 game of the same name, and the trilogy just before the films came out, which are getting on for 20 years old now!!!!!

[spruecutter96]

The good folk on Youtube are really going out of their way to slate the Amazon Lord of the Rings series. However, we need to remember that these people can earn decent money by being extremely negative about popular culture and have ulterior motives.

 

I watched two episodes and left it there, to be honest. It looked amazing - even better than the movies - but I thought the narrative was a bit naff and slow. At a rumoured $58 Million per episode, it should have looked really great, let's face it. Amazon must be the only streaming-service than can afford a budget like that, I would have thought. 

 

Cheers.

 

Chris.    

[sardaukar]

I wanted this to be good and I watched it all and there is a lot you could say and not say but at the end of the day while it look pretty good mostly it was just dull.  Yeah it had some good bits but I could say that about a lot of things.

 

Meanwhile the house of the dragon had the odds against it and blew the rings of power away despite suffering all the same criticisms in the run up to screening.