Rings of Power [Amazon LOTR thread]

[Asura]

No thread? Surprising.

Saw the first two episodes tonight.

->Open Spoiler<-

Just found them a bit meh and bland. Like, I didn't hate them, but also didn't really like it all that much.

[cutmymilk]

I had a skip through. It looks pretty boring. Not the best assessment, I admit!

[Atticus]

Only watched the first ep but really enjoyed it.

[MartyG]

Yup, thought it was pretty decent. High production values, some familiar characters making an appearance.

The highlight for me was Khazad-dûm, but I think what I've seen so far captures the spirit of Tolkien's world pretty well.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Again, I'll reserve judgement until I watch it, but the trailers did nothing for me.

Also, its worth knowing that Amazon don't own any of the Books, just the footnotes and appendixes in the back of the books. So this series basically isn't based on anything Tolkien.

[fishbowlhead]

Trailers were terrible, actual program is quite good. Pleased with what I’ve seen so far and looking forward to more. It’s definitely captured an age of middle earth that is long gone by 3rd age.

[prinnysquad]

Thoroughly enjoying it. The production values are astonishing, and it’s nice to be back in that world, albeit during an earlier age.

The multiple threads mean that the first episode was a bit too vague to capture my attention, but the second episode has knitted them up a little better. The clincher for me was the sequence in Khazad Dum. Even though each episode is an hour, the different storylines still seem slightly undercooked, but I expect they’ll heat up over the weeks. I’d argue that such a format lends itself to binge watching rather than weekly updates, because you just never feel like you’re investing enough attention and care, before it cuts to another scene.

The lad playing Elrond is pretty good, and Galadriel is a wad. The other characters haven’t really sunk in yet - again, due to the format of the show. But the slow burn towards it really getting its hooks into me is tangible.

[dataDave]

Why does Elrond look like Gollum? These people are nowhere near beautiful enough to be Elves, they look more like E-list Klingons.

[dataDave]

OMG, it’s young Ned Stark! Thought I’d spotted him before.

“Quick! Sumbuddy bring a maaay-stuh!1” xD

[dataDave]

I reckon I’m done with television now. It was fun while it lasted (from The Wire, up to S6 GoT).

[fishbowlhead]

I’m shocked you didn’t like it Dave, shocked.

[Neon Ignition]

Part of the risk for Rings of Power is that in order to get the rights to the show Amazon had to commit to making five seasons no matter what at a cost of $1bn meaning that the people making it don't have the pressure of an impending axe hanging over them so are potentially more likely to allow different plot strands to play out rather than make things more concise.

[Asura]

Part of the risk for Rings of Power is that in order to get the rights to the show Amazon had to commit to making five seasons no matter what at a cost of $1bn meaning that the people making it don't have the pressure of an impending axe hanging over them so are potentially more likely to allow different plot strands to play out rather than make things more concise.

Yeah, but I think this is also going to be a double-edged-sword.

We were talking about it at work, and I mentioned that I found the first two episodes a bit dull, plot-wise, even though visually I thought it was pretty good. One of my coworkers said "give them a chance, it's only been two episodes" which is totally fair... But I think it's the influence of the Netflix binge model.

Netflix used to release these shows that were, in many ways, 10-hour movies. I love Bojack Horseman but it's totally fair to say that very few episodes of that show stand on their own two feet as episodes, they're effectively chapters of a long movie. I think episode 2 of Rings of Power felt like that; apart from the bit in Moria, it felt like connective tissue between what happened before and what's happening next.

EDIT: And I know that's not true. It had the thing with the elf, and the orc... But my point is that until I tried to remember what happened, it felt like that.

[dataDave]

I’m shocked you didn’t like it Dave, shocked.

Really, not really? xD

[dataDave]

"give them a chance, it's only been two episodes"

I refuse to give anything a ****ing chance. This is Lord of the Rings, a combined effort from Amazon and Tolkien's estate, and I have to give them a chance? How about they give me a chance, instead? Like I have two hours spare to just jizz up the wall giving these ***** a chance!

Remember when something like Breaking Bad would come along and grab you by the bollocks after the first five minutes? Back when TV shows had to fight, aggressively, for your time and attention? I feel these productions are taking us for granted now.