The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
Not sure how many folks on here are into Tolkien and his work and for those that are, I'm sure you are already aware of Amazon releasing a new series Thursday on Prime Video that will take place in the 2nd age, which is interesting. I hope this isn't going to be a woke series and really dives into the appendices, since I don't think Amazon owns the rights to The Silmarillion. I am always excited to visit middle earth again, just hope this isn't a $500 million disaster.
 
I dont have high hopes for it at the moment after seeing the butchering of the Wheel of Time series they just did.
 
ckruzer said:
I dont have high hopes for it at the moment after seeing the butchering of the Wheel of Time series they just did.
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I'm trying to hide my excitement as much as I can. I can't help but to be excited for anything that comes out of middle earth, I just don't want them steering to far away from the material they have access to. But we will see tonight at 9...
 
Im definitley going to watch. Trying to stay low hopes so the strong potential for disappointment cant happen as strongly lol
 
ckruzer said:
Im definitley going to watch. Trying to stay low hopes so the strong potential for disappointment cant happen as strongly lol
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This is us. May become our new family Friday movie/show series.
But to do the prior films and the books justice would require a tremendous financial and time commitment, and as mentioned I don't think they have all the licensing rights needed, so I have pretty low expectations.

Actually I'll probably wait a month and see what everybody is saying before wasting our time.
 
I'll watch it. I think we watched the Wheel Of Time and enjoyed it. Of course I never read the books.
 
I watched the first Wheel of Time and was bored. I've not read the books, either, though.
 
@RatLabGuy Even if its horrible and butchering the LOTR theme and symbology - ill still watch it. Cant say I'm near the fan I used to be as a kid and YA. But there is enough memory involved to enjoy on some level if its bad.

@trailhugger I could definitely see it being of little interest and boring if you never read the books. the story line was extremely rushed. If you had read the books you would have been annoyed on top of that by how inaccurate the timeline was, in addition to how LGBQ and Left and Feminist mindsets butchered the entire foundation of the entire series.
 
RatLabGuy said:
This is us. May become our new family Friday movie/show series.
But to do the prior films and the books justice would require a tremendous financial and time commitment, and as mentioned I don't think they have all the licensing rights needed, so I have pretty low expectations.

Actually I'll probably wait a month and see what everybody is saying before wasting our time.
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You know, I read an article years back that Christopher Tolkien hated what Peter Jackson did with the LOTR films and then again with the Hobbit Films. To me, What Jackson did for the LOTR trilogy was nothing short of mesmerizing. I still get chills when watching the first 20 minutes of The Fellowship. The Hobbit trilogy was still good to me...didn't have the same feel as the LOTR trilogy but like I said before, anytime I have a chance to visit Middle Earth... I'm there.

What worries me is that the bulk of the 1st and 2nd age lore is in The Silmarillion which Amazon does not own the rights to, so it could be Amazon is integrating some of their own stories to fill the gaps. You know,? I'm not totally against that if its done well and sucks me into the world like Jackson's work did. What's odd though is watching these trailers... all I see is Jackson's landscapes and camera moves and also found out that Weta Workshop did all the special effects and costume/makeup work who was the exact company that did LOTR and The Hobbit...so there goal of trying to distance this from Jackson's work is already have to a bad start...
 
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Cherokeekid88 said:
You know, I read an article years back that Christopher Tolkien hated what Peter Jackson did with the LOTR films and then again with the Hobbit Films. To me, What Jackson did for the LOTR trilogy was nothing short of mesmerizing. I still get chills when watching the first 20 minutes of The Fellowship. The Hobbit trilogy was still good to me...didn't have the same feel as the LOTR trilogy but like I said before, anytime I have a chance to visit Middle Earth... I'm there. I think with what Amazon bought, it was basically the rights to the 2nd age which spans 3-4000 years if I'm not mistaken, but the kicker is that nothing Jackson did can be included, even though we are getting Galadriel, Elrond, and Sauron... I wonder if there will be any mention of Gandalf or any of the other wizards.
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Isnt that other wizard from the hobbit trilogy in the trailer?
 
ckruzer said:
Isnt that other wizard from the hobbit trilogy in the trailer?
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Radagast? There is a character called "The Stranger" who could be one of the Wizards. Could be Gandalf, but I wouldn't think they would show him off so early even before the series begins...but also could be Sauron. But my guess is that he is Alatar.
 
I'm a cheap bastid so tell me how it is.....hopefully I can get a dvd much years later.

I'm just now doing Game of Titties......I mean throne's.......Lord Cinemax couldn't show this stuff.
 
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WARRIORWELDING said:
I'm a cheap bastid so tell me how it is.....hopefully I can get a dvd much years later.

I'm just know doing Game of Titties......I mean throne's.......Lord Cinemax couldn't show this stuff.
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Did I see you yesterday returning your OZ season 2 DVD to the redbox yesterday? LOL

I'm too cheap too for all these plus streaming channels and premium channels too. Though we do have Prime, Amazon love to hate it..... I've been sucked into looking for something to watch on Prime or Netflix for 20minutes, then 15 minutes after turning the choice off, figuring I wasted 45 minutes on some stupid series or movie that wasn't even any good to begin with.

I'm subscribing to this and waiting for reviews, It has peaked my interest but I'm not sure I'd watch it.
 
No fries said:
Did I see you yesterday returning your OZ season 2 DVD to the redbox yesterday? LOL

I'm too cheap too for all these plus streaming channels and premium channels too. Though we do have Prime, Amazon love to hate it..... I've been sucked into looking for something to watch on Prime or Netflix for 20minutes, then 15 minutes after turning the choice off, figuring I wasted 45 minutes on some stupid series or movie that wasn't even any good to begin with.

I'm subscribing to this and waiting for reviews, It has peaked my interest but I'm not sure I'd watch it.
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I will let you know my initial reaction tomorrow at some point. Will be watching the first 2 episodes tonight.
 
So to anyone who watched last night... What did you think?

So it DEF has Peter Jackson vibes to it, but its also different and feels like its own thing. I won't give anything away, but it looks BEAUTIFUL. I can see where they spent a lot of the money. Amazon certainly made some changes to the material, but I don't hate it. The acting so far has been on point and the pace is what you would expect from a Tolkien series. So far, I am digging it and I am excited to see who "The Stranger" ends up being as I don't think its the obvious answer here.
 
I watched the first episode, was too late to watch the second. I thought it was OK, and will watch the next few for a full guaging...

It's inevitable it will be compared to House of the Dragon, so let me be the first to say... It doesn't compare.

The acting is good, but not as good as HotD.

The SfX are fair, although the animatronic creatures were obviously animatronic, HotD put a lot of money into it's creatures, but using CGI, HotD wins there.

Heros, Fantasy NEEDS heroes, and LotRtRoP Delivers both familar and new Heroes. HotD gives us a bunch of characters who are morally bankrupt, and no clear heroes, LotR wins here.

Pacing, The first episode should really reach out and shake you. HotD did that, then fell flat with pacing in the second episode. LotR was slow from the start, though it did have a somewhat Peter jackson vibe, It seems like they're trying to stretch too little content to fit a planned really long run time, just like Jackson did making three movies out of The Hobbit. HotD wins here.

Final, I'm gonna continue to watch both for now, but if I had to choose between them, I'd be watching HotD.
 
zuke said:
I watched the first episode, was too late to watch the second. I thought it was OK, and will watch the next few for a full guaging...

It's inevitable it will be compared to House of the Dragon, so let me be the first to say... It doesn't compare.

The acting is good, but not as good as HotD.

The SfX are fair, although the animatronic creatures were obviously animatronic, HotD put a lot of money into it's creatures, but using CGI, HotD wins there.

Heros, Fantasy NEEDS heroes, and LotRtRoP Delivers both familar and new Heroes. HotD gives us a bunch of characters who are morally bankrupt, and no clear heroes, LotR wins here.

Pacing, The first episode should really reach out and shake you. HotD did that, then fell flat with pacing in the second episode. LotR was slow from the start, though it did have a somewhat Peter jackson vibe, It seems like they're trying to stretch too little content to fit a planned really long run time, just like Jackson did making three movies out of The Hobbit. HotD wins here.

Final, I'm gonna continue to watch both for now, but if I had to choose between them, I'd be watching HotD.
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I haven't seen HoTD, so I cant comment on it compared to RoP. I thought the CGI for the first two episodes actually looked very good, mainly because I know WETA workshop is doing all the CGI and they did LOTR and The Hobbit trilogy. I did notice that in a coupe of scenes in Lindon, the scale of where they were didn't flow with the rest of the scenery. Its almost like they picked and chose which scenes to really go all out on the landscape and others where they didn't. The one thing that I loved about The Hobbit trilogy was that it seemed like almost every scene was just filled with some much detail from flowing water, to fireflies in the background.
I am going to rewatch the 2nd episode again tonight because I was super tired while watching it last night and felt like I missed some things.
 
In a scene where Nori Brandyfoot is in the woods near home, There are some Wargs, There is a shot where a Warg is on high ground above Nori, and it moves around a little while watching her, and the movement and model are honestly horrible, it reminded me instantly of The Rodents of Unusual Size from The Princess Bride. As you can imagine, That ripped me right out of the story, and spoiled any kind of immersion I had at that point. WETA may be doing the work, but I'd wager their per scene budget is much lower than it was for any of the work they did in the Peter Jackson films. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the SfX are terrible, they're actually probably pretty good for a series, But I wish they had used less of them, and used the budget to improve what scenes do use them.

I think I should be clear here, I thought the Hobbit films were great, But I only watched them twice, there is just too much to go through for too little story, no matter how well it's shot and how detailed the scenes...

I've watched the original LotR trilogy at least ten times, probably more, because the story is constantly engaging and the level of detail is fantastic.

So Far the RoP seems a lot closer to The Hobbit films than to LotR.

It probably doesn't help that I haven't been able read The Silmarillion, but have read all the other Middle Earth books, I had the same problem with Fire & Blood from G.R.R. Martin... I just can't get into a Fantasy book that reads like a history text book.

In the end, I don't want you to think I hated it completely, I didn't. I just think it could be better.
 
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The second episode was much better pacing and kept me more engaged, If it continues to mprove, I think it has promise, but it isn't there yet.
 
zuke said:
In a scene where Nori Brandyfoot is in the woods near home, There are some Wargs, There is a shot where a Warg is on high ground above Nori, and it moves around a little while watching her, and the movement and model are honestly horrible, it reminded me instantly of The Rodents of Unusual Size from The Princess Bride. As you can imagine, That ripped me right out of the story, and spoiled any kind of immersion I had at that point. WETA may be doing the work, but I'd wager their per scene budget is much lower than it was for any of the work they did in the Peter Jackson films. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the SfX are terrible, they're actually probably pretty good for a series, But I wish they had used less of them, and used the budget to improve what scenes do use them.

I think I should be clear here, I thought the Hobbit films were great, But I only watched them twice, there is just too much to go through for too little story, no matter how well it's shot and how detailed the scenes...

I've watched the original LotR trilogy at least ten times, probably more, because the story is constantly engaging and the level of detail is fantastic.

So Far the RoP seems a lot closer to The Hobbit films than to LotR.

It probably doesn't help that I haven't been able read The Silmarillion, but have read all the other Middle Earth books, I had the same problem with Fire & Blood from G.R.R. Martin... I just can't get into a Fantasy book that reads like a history text book.

In the end, I don't want you to think I hated it completely, I didn't. I just think it could be better.
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Yeah, I know exactly what you are talking about. I myself loved the Hobbit films even though they aren't in any comparison to the LoTR films. and Yes, RoP is def closer to The Hobbit Films as right now as the beginning of the 2nd age are peace times. I also think its going to take a couple of episodes for them to get where they are wanting to go with the series. I remember the first episodes of Breaking Bad were rough for me and I honestly didn't think I was going to like it, but hot damn, did that turn into the best TV show I've ever seen. Again, I am not looking at this series as the TV series to rule them all, I am just excited to be back in Middle Earth and if the Lore is there, fantastic...is its lacking... eh, well I still got to see my favorite literature come to the screen and that's all I can be happy with, I will say, that I don't particular care for them adding characters, especially woke characters, but again I'm just happy that something else is coming out of Tolkien's work. If this becomes successful and these next episodes become increasingly good and well written, I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon doesn't try to buy the rights to The Silmarillion and adapt it into a series, which is really the only way to do it since it spans tens of thousands of years and is essentially incomplete.

I personally would love to see a series or movie adapted from the beginning with the Two Lamps and the War between the Valar and the Melkor after the destruction of the pilars of the lamps that allowed all the darkness into Middle Earth.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
buy the rights to The Silmarillion and adapt it into a series

I personally would love to see a series or movie adapted from the beginning with the Two Lamps and the War between the Valar and the Melkor after the destruction of the pilars of the lamps that allowed all the darkness into Middle Earth.
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Would love to see Tom Bombadil brought in
 
ckruzer said:
Would love to see Tom Bombadil brought in
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Oh man. Arguably the most powerful character brought into a series/movie? Would be pretty awesome, but could it be done????

I know Peter Jackson couldn't find a way to put him in the The Fellowship of the Ring, but would be cool to figure out a way to include him in some way.
 
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