Amazon's Rings of Power.

[Sam Gamgee]

I've seen this referenced in the What Are You Watching thread, but I thought it deserves to be its own topic.

First off, I love all-things Tolkien. I've read the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books multiple times, and I've probably seen all the films at least 50 times, collectively. Discovering Tolkien twenty or so years ago was a reality-altering experience for me. So I was extremely excited about the Amazon show.

Last night I finally caught up on the series and there is apparently one episode left of Season One. I've hung in there and tried to keep an open mind, but last night a thought hit me while I was watching: This is just not any good. The dialogue leaves a lot to be desired (Galadriel, one of the wisest characters in Tolkien's world, has lines that sound like middle school aphorisms, as an example), and the actors tend to mumble a lot, making it very hard to understand their lines (I've not even been able to tell what the main elf's name is yet) . And as soon as I'd think there is about to be something actually exciting on screen, it's over and back to just dragging the story along. And speaking of the story, I haven't even been able to figure out what it actually is. It just seems like a jumbled up mess.

I was hoping to see how they handle the forging of the rings, but it looks like that might not happen till Season Two. I don't know if I'll be able to hang in there that long. With a budget as big as Amazon had, this could have been one of the best productions of all time. I'm very disappointed.

What are your thoughts?

 

[telescopes]

The challenge in creating Rings of Power is one, they simply don't have all the rights to the backstory material in the other books; two, they have to keep a somewhat divide between Jackson and them due to not upsetting the T. Family, and three, they want to make this inclusive for today's viewing audiences.

Well, if the first two points I mentioned don't make it a challenge, the last one pretty much nails it.

 

[AJL67]

It’s very expensive inclusive fan fiction, and in my opinion just not that good. For my money Amazon is 1 for 3, WoT sucks, this was painful yet Reacher was fantastic, of course reacher had Lee Child working in the production so that helps and they have done an excellent job casting.

 

[Sam Gamgee]

I get the whole "inclusion" aspect, but that has nothing to do with it being a bad show, at least not to me. What I don't get is why they couldn't get some great screenwriters to present a coherent and entertaining story with a budget so large. The best thing about the show is the opening music by Howard Shore.

 

[AJL67]

I get the whole "inclusion" aspect, but that has nothing to do with it being a bad show, at least not to me. What I don't get is why they couldn't get some great screenwriters to present a coherent and entertaining story with a budget so large. The best thing about the show is the opening music by Howard Shore.

It’s just changing things from his vision that really didn’t need to be changed, eh a sign of the times.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Nah, fantasy's never been of interest to me. I tried reading the books but they could never hold my attention enough to warrant watching the movies. A series just seems like a cash trap for the fans.

 

[ashdigger]

Inclusion is overrated. People are not supposed to included in everything. That’s just life.

As for this show, it’s absolute garbage.

But, Baskin Robbins makes 31 flavors so maybe this works for some.

 

[fireground_piper]

I love it. Midnight watch every new episode and will for future seasons as well.

A lot of people are looking for things to bust the pitch forks out for, instead of just sitting back and watching it. Most of the people in my real life world, which is mostly made up of various entertainment/media professionals, are enjoying what they are watching as opposed to getting hung up on something that bothers them.

It has some weak points, it also has some strong points. I enjoy probably 90% of what’s going on it and I’m not going to let the 10% ruin my enjoyment of it.

 

[bullet08]

"Risky Business" was life changing experience. Tolkien was ok.

 

[ThermionicScott]

My wife has been watching it, and likes it okay. Her take was that there's not nearly as much dialogue in "The Silmarillion" as Tolkien's other work, so lots of that had to be written from scratch for the show.

I don't have a horse in this race, BTW. I only made it a couple pages into "The Hobbit."

 

[mtwaller]

I’m so torn on this show. Half the time I find myself getting immersed and enjoying it. The other half of the time I’m not sucked in, and it feels like actors acting. I know that sounds dumb… but what I mean is that I don’t feel like I’m watching the character on screen, just an actor memorizing lines and trying to play that character. If that makes sense.

It’s not complete flaming garbage by any means, but for being the most expensive show ever made, I expected to be a bit more in awe of it.

All of the characters on Numenor are super lame and poorly done, in my opinion. The rest is decent.

 

[Swiss Army Knife]

I get the whole "inclusion" aspect, but that has nothing to do with it being a bad show, at least not to me. What I don't get is why they couldn't get some great screenwriters to present a coherent and entertaining story with a budget so large. The best thing about the show is the opening music by Howard Shore.

Because great screenwriters wouldn't touch "Amazon run original LOTR script" with a ten foot pole. It's just something that's doomed to fail short of a miracle happening in the eyes of any writing professional in the industry.

 

[OverMountain]

It tried to be all things, and failed. Not watching anymore.

 

[solideogloria86]

From what I've seen so far, I believe this series plans to be big. To have several large story arcs that will all intersect in the larger story of the forging of the rings and the fall of Sauron. I get the sense that Season 1 is basically a massive prologue to introduce all the characters, give a little bit of their background, and hint at how all of these different characters relate to each other within the story. I believe that's why it feels so slow and sluggish, but also necessary for such a big world with so many big characters. I believe season 2 will be "Chapter 1" and things will really get rolling. I could be completely wrong, but that's how I've been watching the show and it makes sense to me. I really like the series so far.

 

[isaac]

I tapped out after 3 or 4 episodes. Just couldn’t do it

 

[daytonsean]

I really like it. Enjoy it for what it is, not what you want it to be. Very easy to watch and not disgusting like some of the other major fantasy shows.

 

[mortonbriar]

I have enjoyed the season for what it is...the inclusion angle took just the first episode to get my head around, then I was focussed on the characters themselves rather than the genetic variety.

I enjoyed the dwarves in particular.

 

[gubbyduffer]

I really like it. Enjoy it for what it is, not what you want it to be. Very easy to watch and not disgusting like some of the other major fantasy shows.

The thing is though, that with the cost over $1B this show should be better than just ok. Money doesn't automatically provide success, but is should help pay for actors that can act and writers that can pen more creative dialogue than trite pseudo philosophical drivel. I gave up after two episodes of not feeling invested in any character and an annoying score that played throughout each episode. I assume the soaring music has been used to inject the drama that the planks of wood they have employed to stand infront of the camera can't manage. I am no big Tolkien fan. Enjoyed the LOTR books when I was young and thought the Peter Jackson films were OK, so straying away from Tolkien or having an inclusive cast doesn't bother me. I am not on the look out for white elves and female dwarves with beards. I do, however expect a better attempt at producing better TV than this. This is a broader swipe at the quality of both TV and film industry at the minute. Skill and talent will disappear from the industry if we are all prepared to put up with a 'that is okay attitude to what is on out screens. For the record the current incarnation of 'other major fantasy shows' despite its flaws highlights to Amazon how characters can be written and actors can talk to each other in a more realistic way, and use of the score to add to the story without becoming intrusive.

 

[fireground_piper]

I don’t know why people fixated on money. The money flies out the window on things like this in the blink of an eye.

 

[captpat]

Haven't seen it yet, may need to change that based on this thread. One should temper their expectations that unlike the LOTR this is not based on the books written by Tolkein.