Amazon's Rings of Power.

[brian64]

A (probably uncommon) opinion of mine is this:

"Fan fiction" is usually ethically suspect, unless the author is given the opportunity to approve of it (or not). Fan fiction hijacks somebody else's world, characters, fictional history, etc., and does things with these that the author did not intend.

"Fan fiction" has often been the polite label for literary vandalism.

That vandalism has usually been well-intended. But subjective good intent is a completely different question.

This literary vandalism is serious to the degree that the original art is great, and to the degree that the original author is unique.

Tolkien was unique in ways and on levels that few people even have categories to comprehend.
And he is not around to approve of what others are doing with his creations.

If somebody wants to make films and shows involving elves and orcs and reforged swords, that's fine, he can have fun. But he shouldn't freighthop on the train of Tolkien's world and countries and characters and names. He needs that Trojan Horse because he doesn't have the skill to garner fans on his own merits.

I'm working on a sequel to Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov...I think it's going to be a huge hit.

Ivan recovers and comes to terms with his latent homosexuality, Dmitri escapes to America and starts a Socialist movement as penance for his turbulent past, and Alexei converts to Islam.

 

[SBC]

I'm working on a sequel to Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov...I think it's going to be a huge hit.

Ivan recovers and comes to terms with his latent homosexuality, Dmitri escapes to America and starts a Socialist movement as penance for his turbulent past, and Alexei converts to Islam.

You and I should be friends.

 

[trouttimes]

I have been a big Tolkien fan most of my life. I have taken Cambridge college courses studying his works. I feel this latest show is an embarrassment and fails on so many levels. I acknowledge short comings in many past LOTR works but none come close to this abomination. If they wanted to spend a billion dollars on a Sufi/fiction series, I say go for it but to not show respect to a man’s works that created a new genre of fiction is unacceptable. This has nothing to do with woke or not woke. Crap is crap no matter what ass it comes out of. Just my opinion. I also hate Haunted Bookshop for what it’s worth.

 

[fireground_piper]

There’s no way you can sit there and say the hobbit trilogy was better than this series.

That’s just speaking nonsense for nonsense sake.

 

[Sam Gamgee]

There’s no way you can sit there and say the hobbit trilogy was better than this series.

That’s just speaking nonsense for nonsense sake.

I would absolutely say the Hobbit trilogy is not only better than Rings of Power, but much better.

 

[trudger]

I like it cause my expectations were low. It’s better than the dragon family fiasco on hobo, that show makes me depressed.

 

[fireground_piper]

I would absolutely say the Hobbit trilogy is not only better than Rings of Power, but much better.

Well at least now I know this discussion isn’t on any real basis of reality then. So we have that.

 

[CallMeSangy]

I like it cause my expectations were low. It’s better than the dragon family fiasco on hobo, that show makes me depressed.

I feel the exact same way about Game of Thrones in general. Well maybe, because I don't know what about it depresses you haha. I tried reading the books ten years ago, but it was just too much. Literally just Murphy's Law set in a fantasy setting. After a certain point it just got to be too much, and you know it'll just keep getting worse. I can't be bothered trying to read fantasy after that. This is why I enjoy this series (Rings of Power), as well as both The Hobbit and LoTR.

 

[Peter Turbo]

The writing is terrible but some of the set/costume design is really great, that's about the only good thing I have to say about it.

Hopefully it gets canceled sooner rather than later.

 

[Sam Gamgee]

I finally got around to watching the season finale last night, and while the writing seemed considerably better in this particular episode, I still believe they have failed to present a coherent story for viewers to follow. All during the finale I kept thinking to myself: I still have hardly any idea what the hell is actually going on in this story.

But the main thing I keep coming back to is how this just doesn't FEEL anything like Tolkien. Not even a little. Instead it feels like a poorly-done but beautifully-presented fantasy story of some kind. The set, costumes, etc. are pretty impressive - I'll give them that. But it's like putting lipstick on a hog. I doubt I'll watch the second season.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

I'm not going to bother to read the three pages as the show is horrible and I stopped after 1.5 episodes.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

I have been a big Tolkien fan most of my life. I have taken Cambridge college courses studying his works. I feel this latest show is an embarrassment and fails on so many levels. I acknowledge short comings in many past LOTR works but none come close to this abomination. If they wanted to spend a billion dollars on a Sufi/fiction series, I say go for it but to not show respect to a man’s works that created a new genre of fiction is unacceptable. This has nothing to do with woke or not woke. Crap is crap no matter what ass it comes out of. Just my opinion. I also hate Haunted Bookshop for what it’s worth.

I wasn't going to read this thread but I'm glad I read your post

 

[CallMeSangy]

I finally got around to watching the season finale last night, and while the writing seemed considerably better in this particular episode, I still believe they have failed to present a coherent story for viewers to follow. All during the finale I kept thinking to myself: I still have hardly any idea what the hell is actually going on in this story.

But the main thing I keep coming back to is how this just doesn't FEEL anything like Tolkien. Not even a little. Instead it feels like a poorly-done but beautifully-presented fantasy story of some kind. The set, costumes, etc. are pretty impressive - I'll give them that. But it's like putting lipstick on a hog. I doubt I'll watch the second season.

I feel like the events of the show could be counted on one's fingers. Something like this happens then that happens, because largely in the hour long episodes it's just character narrative and set ups to what's to come 5 years and 5 seasons from now, probably. Sure they're not going to tell you who and what and why the hell things are happening for people like me who want to just get it all in. I haven't seen the finale yet, but they could have easily just put most of the first season's events from the first seven episodes into two. I honestly feel like they're drawing it out to get more room for more season's and more view time, but that's me.

I just wish Galadriel wasn't so Galadriel. Easily my least favorite character by far. Actually I just hate the elves. Just give me a Dwarf centered LOTR that isn't the damn hobbit.

 

[grimpuffer]

There’s no way you can sit there and say the hobbit trilogy was better than this series.

That’s just speaking nonsense for nonsense sake.

You know, I’m a huge fantasy nerd and loved LotR trilogy and have watched it numerous times, but I have only watched the Hobbit one ONCE and not again.

It’s felt like just a cash grab knowing they could piggy back off the name, and it watched as such to me.

Sure, there were good parts, but then there were some where I’m sitting there like, “What the heck is this?”

Same for this new series. It’s boring to me and I find myself reading this forum when watching instead of paying attention to it.

For $1 Billion, they sure skipped on a name brand cast, crew, and story and decide that Great Value brand was good enough.

 

[fireground_piper]

You know, I’m a huge fantasy nerd and loved LotR trilogy and have watched it numerous times, but I have only watched the Hobbit one ONCE and not again.

It’s felt like just a cash grab knowing they could piggy back off the name, and it watched as such to me.

Sure, there were good parts, but then there were some where I’m sitting there like, “What the heck is this?”

Same for this new series. It’s boring to me and I find myself reading this forum when watching instead of paying attention to it.

For $1 Billion, they sure skipped on a name brand cast, crew, and story and decide that Great Value brand was good enough.

Iv watched the hobbit trilogy probably a dozen times. I just listened to the audiobook again this past week and it really comes down to 2 major complaints. The production value is really subpar when you compare it to the original trilogy and then the biggest head scratcher is they didn’t really need to cut much from the book, yet they did and created a bunch of random characters and story to fill in time.

Making it a trilogy that runs about 8 hours compared to the just over 10 hour book, they weren’t short on time by much. And the movie does briskly touch on all the notable events in the book but really just skins them while making up side stories for no real reason. Had they spent more time expanding on the existing story instead of replacing it with filler, I would let the production value pass easier. They were in the uncommon position of not really needing to shorten the story, but did so anyway to replace with garbage.

Keep in mind for the that $1 billion dollars…..$250 million was spent as soon as the ink dried on the rights contract to the Tolkien estate.

 

[cigrmaster]

I have tried watching the first episode twice now, maybe a third will help.
I watch a lot of World War II documentaries plus show that show off all are military hardware. In WWII, They built a factory that was 3.5 million ft so they could crank out thousands of B24 bombers, the factory name was Willow Run. Ford and Wily combined to make 650,000 4 wheel drive jeeps. The billions of bullets and millions of bombs and shells turned the US in the worlds only super power. The amount of car factories and other factories that were told to mfg all kinds of parts and new aircrafts, tanks, Aircraft Carriers, Destroyers, Battleships, Subs. I could go on but they all did their jobs and produced more than anyone thought was possible.


We out spent every every other country by a huge amount and created the largest most technically advanced military that the world had ever seen.

Compare it to today and we could wipe out the whole planet if we wanted. Russia could team up with China and who ever else and would be destroyed. For an example, we have 22 aircraft carriers and Britain is in second place with 4, China has 2 and Russia has one.

Our sub fleet alone could wipe out China and Russia and anyone else.
When you research this stuff it is mind boggling. Did anyone know that the US has 800 basis around the world? It goes on and on and it is cool to learn about it all.

 

[mso489]

I'm not an initiate in The Trilogy, but from what I know, it is meant to be read, and that is the way to enjoy it in its original form. To me, reading is most always the best way to take in a novel or series, or non-fiction or history, that was superbly written in the first place. You are more active in taking it in. After watching an hour or two of TV, I feel groggy and depleted. After two hours of reading, I feel invigorated and alive, with thoughts of my own.

 

[strave19]

I have enjoyed it for what it is. It isn’t a masterpiece and doesn’t hold a candle to the books or even the trilogy (which had their fair share of cheesiness, let’s be honest). It is to me, however, entertaining TV and I am a couple of episodes behind, but the wife and I look forward to watching an episode, whenever we have the chance.

 

[Sam Gamgee]

Iv watched the hobbit trilogy probably a dozen times. I just listened to the audiobook again this past week and it really comes down to 2 major complaints. The production value is really subpar when you compare it to the original trilogy and then the biggest head scratcher is they didn’t really need to cut much from the book, yet they did and created a bunch of random characters and story to fill in time.

Making it a trilogy that runs about 8 hours compared to the just over 10 hour book, they weren’t short on time by much. And the movie does briskly touch on all the notable events in the book but really just skins them while making up side stories for no real reason. Had they spent more time expanding on the existing story instead of replacing it with filler, I would let the production value pass easier. They were in the uncommon position of not really needing to shorten the story, but did so anyway to replace with garbage.

Keep in mind for the that $1 billion dollars…..$250 million was spent as soon as the ink dried on the rights contract to the Tolkien estate.

I enjoy the Hobbit films, but it was and is still hard for me to understand why the production quality was lessened compared to the LOTR films. I mean, shouldn’t the technology have improved? It’s also hard for me to understand how the same writing team made both trilogies, and yet the writing in the Hobbit films was, well, a bit underwhelming in comparison.

One really long Hobbit movie probably could have captured the whole story nicely. Bringing in all the pale orc side stuff from the appendices made it feel like a different story. But all the while it still feels like Tolkien, where Rings of Power does not.

 

[Akousticplyr]

Remember the movie “Brewster’s Millions” with Richard Pryor? He had to spend $30 million in 30 days -with some restrictions on how-in order to inherit 300 million.

I call this TV show “Bezo’s Billions”