TV: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Amazon Prime Series

[hockey diva]

Nothing in the trailer convinced me that this has much to do with Tolkien's original work other than some of the scenery and character names. I am interested in the costuming but I can see still of those. I will likely pass on watching this and stick to the books.

 

[beowulf]

Not sure how I feel about this. Some of those scenes have that, how should I put this, "video game" feel to them.

For those of us that can't see the above because of country restrictions

 

[beowulf]

You can definitely tell this had a huge budget. We'll see how the rest plays out. At least it doesn't looks like a CGI deluge like the Hobbit movies were.

Speaking of huge budget if you have an extra $2B lying around, all the LotR rights up up for grabs again. 'Lord of the Rings,' 'The Hobbit' Movie, Gaming Rights Up for Sale - Variety including exclusive rights for games etc.

 

[missingmika]

Speaking of huge budget if you have an extra $2B lying around, all the LotR rights up up for grabs again. 'Lord of the Rings,' 'The Hobbit' Movie, Gaming Rights Up for Sale - Variety including exclusive rights for games etc.

Eh sounds like shaky legal rights would hold it back.

The only thing worthwhile is maybe the video game rights? Who is making an LOTRs movie now? What LOTR stuff is selling in a store?

 

[RandV]

One thing I'm going to be really curious about the movies between the Peter Jackson movies and the Amazon series is the music. The movies were outstanding and I find myself returning regularly to it when I need to concentrate/tune out/sleep. Starting off with a perfect rendition for the shire, having Enya do the elven themes, and so on. And while people will rightfully say the Hobbit trilogy wasn't up to par with LotR, it did add far over the misty mountains cold to the repertoire.

So will the Amazon series live up to that legacy? Or will it be forgettable generic TV stuff?

 

[MadDevil]

Honestly, I kind of got the same feeling watching this trailer I did with WOT...and that ended up being pretty mediocre. But it is just a trailer, and it wouldn't be the first time I've been underwhelmed with a trailer but ended up liking the movie/show.

 

[Tawnos]

One thing I'm going to be really curious about the movies between the Peter Jackson movies and the Amazon series is the music. The movies were outstanding and I find myself returning regularly to it when I need to concentrate/tune out/sleep. Starting off with a perfect rendition for the shire, having Enya do the elven themes, and so on. And while people will rightfully say the Hobbit trilogy wasn't up to par with LotR, it did add far over the misty mountains cold to the repertoire.

So will the Amazon series live up to that legacy? Or will it be forgettable generic TV stuff?

Howard Shore is scoring the series.

 

[Voodoo Child]

That cost a billion dollars?!

I once again ask myself how Amazon, with their endless resources and the general dependance they've fostered onto people, can only seem to make 'no plot, no story, just CGI!', while HBO, a much smaller company, has a Murderer's Row of legacy programming (the Sopranos, the Wire, Rome, Deadwood, Curb, EB&D, Six Feet Under, Vice Principals, Oz, Entourage, Boardwalk Empire, [about half of] Game of Thrones) and still to this day wakes up and pisses excellence (Barry, Righteous Gemstones, Succession).

Even Apple, almost as big as Amazon (but not really), is starting to get the hang of it with the Afterparty and Ted Lasso.

I'll give it shot, but I'm not expecting it to be good.

 

[beowulf]

 

[Bakayoko Ono]

This looks like a mess.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

I'm sure if I read the books/movies I would be into that trailer, but for someone who hasn't watched or read anything with LOTR, it didn't really do much for me.

I'll still give it a shot after House of the Dragons is done.

 

[hockey diva]

If you had read the books, you would be cringing at the trailer like I am.

 

[HanSolo]

I read the books but I guess I never had such a strong attachment to them that this loose play with the lore bothers me. If the writing is compelling and well directed, I wouldn't mind Tolkein fan fiction. Not to say I'm overly excited but I'm keeping an open mind.

 

[Blender]

I read the books but I guess I never had such a strong attachment to them that this loose play with the lore bothers me. If the writing is compelling and well directed, I wouldn't mind Tolkein fan fiction. Not to say I'm overly excited but I'm keeping an open mind.

I also read the books and think it looks fine.

It's also impossible to do a series like this without "fan fiction", since it's based on what are essentially appendix notes, many of which were put together and published in new "books" long after he died.

 

[hockey diva]

My main ”complaints“ are with the change in Galadriel’s character as well as Elrond’s. Galadriel is now a warrior princess. Elrond is an advisor? Where the heck is Celeborn, Galadriel’s husband! They have made Isildur young and unsure. I guess he grows to be the guy that takes the fruit of the White tree in Numenor? It Is most certainly fan fiction and a very expensive one at that.

There are so many good and classic fantasy series that they could have made but instead they choose to go this route.

 

[Jussi]

Never read the books and I think it looks really good.

 

[HanSolo]

My main ”complaints“ are with the change in Galadriel’s character as well as Elrond’s. Galadriel is now a warrior princess. Elrond is an advisor? Where the heck is Celeborn, Galadriel’s husband! They have made Isildur young and unsure. I guess he grows to be the guy that takes the fruit of the White tree in Numenor? It Is most certainly fan fiction and a very expensive one at that.

There are so many good and classic fantasy series that they could have made but instead they choose to go this route.

I mean maybe the show eventually grows the characters into those roles we recognize.

Or maybe this is just a loose retelling of the story. I guess I'm looking at it like how the Guardians of the Galaxy was an entirely different story with the same characters (generally) as the comics and still ended up great. I'm not saying this trailer proves it can be but non canon stories can be good media. I mean Peter Jackson's LOTR films took some creative liberties. And that's without considering the inventions in the Hobbit series.

But then again as a reader of the LOTR trilogy, The Hobbit and the Silmarillion, the only stories that really gripped me were Bilbo's story in the Hobbit and the story of the fellowship. So I'm a bit biased but I don't mind the story of the past prior to the Fellowship being distorted. I just care if this show tells a compelling story that is well structured, well developed and ultimately well directed. I think the show has already demonstrated solid visuals so I'm down to see if it can prove itself in the rest of its necessary areas before writing it off because they've taken creative liberties.

 

[Hivemind]

I mean maybe the show eventually grows the characters into those roles we recognize.

Galadriel isn't supposed to be a youthful character who's still developing in the second age. Galadriel was over 2000 years old by the time that the rings of power are forged, having been born all the way back in the first age before even the Noldor left Valinor. The depiction of her as a young, warrior princess is completely out of characterization for her. By this point in time she had already married Celeborn and had a daughter.

Or maybe this is just a loose retelling of the story. I guess I'm looking at it like how the Guardians of the Galaxy was an entirely different story with the same characters (generally) as the comics and still ended up great.

Comic serials are written by multiple authors over the course of their history and are retconned and refreshed and reimaged constantly. It's par for the course. Tolkeins work is that of him and editing done by his son after his passing. It's far more disrespectful to rewrite these them, and that's the big reason Tolkein's estate has made obtaining the rights to The Silmarillion such a prickly matter.

And that's without considering the inventions in the Hobbit series.

And those were almost utterly terrible decisions made in favor of padding the length of a story that didn't need to be padded, and adding in more "epic"-scale drama and battle scenes to a story that didn't need it. There's a reason The Hobbit movies are panned while the LotR trilogy is lauded.

I mean Peter Jackson's LOTR films took some creative liberties.

Nobody is saying creative liberties cannot be taken. Some will HAVE to be taken in order to adapt from the source material to the screen. But with the LOTR trilogy (as opposed to the Hobbit), those differences were respectful of the source material. They trimmed characters and side plots that were trimable (as much as I would have liked to see the Scouring of the Shire). They moved some dialogue from trimmed characters to others who fill a similar role (much of Treebeard's dialogue comes from Tom Bombadil). They beefed up Arwen's role. But everything they did was respectful of the original text. They didn't re-image characters into something new and dramatically different from how they were imagined or portrayed by Tolkein. They very much chose restraint. Aside of having Haldir come to Helm's Deep, they didn't turn it into a fan fiction.

Here's a great example - they were tempted to include (and even filmed some footage of) a climactic duel between Aragorn and Sauron outside the gates of Mordor. Yet, upon reflection, Peter Jackson said "It was not what Tolkien imagined. And we realized it was actually totally demeaning to what Aragorn was doing" and they left that footage on the cutting room floor. This is the difference between the LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy, where those types of moments were not only included, but shoehorned everywhere. And it's what we fear when seeing these trailers for Rings of Power, with Galadriel being turned into some sort of warrior and tons of added battles and melodrama that wasn't in the source material.

 

[Blender]

Galadriel isn't supposed to be a youthful character who's still developing in the second age. Galadriel was over 2000 years old by the time that the rings of power are forged, having been born all the way back in the first age before even the Noldor left Valinor. The depiction of her as a young, warrior princess is completely out of characterization for her. By this point in time she had already married Celeborn and had a daughter.

The first episode is apparently a background and exposition dump that will set the stage for the rest of the season, so they are likely covering her background before the second age.

That being said, there really isn't much "canon" background on her and what exists has contradictions in it. In one version she's involved in some wars and such, in another she is not. In one version she travels from point A, to B, to C, in another it's A, to C, to B. When she met and married Celeborn is not consistent and how many children she has is not consistent. Tolkien was constantly revising his background and lore over time and when he died he was revising stuff again in hopes of maybe releasing another book one day, but he never did. The showrunners don't even have the rights to a lot of this work anyways.

 

[HanSolo]

Like I said. I don't have a strong attachment or affection for the wide scope of Tolkein's work. So even though I read his principal works I'm probably more of a casual fan. I'm not saying others shouldn't be wary of the show.

 

[Hivemind]

The first episode is apparently a background and exposition dump that will set the stage for the rest of the season, so they are likely covering her background before the second age.

That being said, there really isn't much "canon" background on her and what exists has contradictions in it. In one version she's involved in some wars and such, in another she is not. In one version she travels from point A, to B, to C, in another it's A, to C, to B. When she met and married Celeborn is not consistent and how many children she has is not consistent. Tolkien was constantly revising his background and lore over time and when he died he was revising stuff again in hopes of maybe releasing another book one day, but he never did. The showrunners don't even have the rights to a lot of this work anyways.

Unless the whole trailer (plus the two that preceded it and the Vanity Fair piece) is all taken from the first episode - we're going to have some serious changing of Galadriel's character.

This isn't about whether she traveled to Lothlorien in the second age and then back to Eregion, or if she waited until the third age to travel to Lothlorien (the discrepancy you're alluding to). I don't care how many children she's depicted as having (save that she has at least one, given that her daughter marries Elrond and mothers Arwen). This isn't about small nitpicks. Her general characterization remains consistent. Her general role in the second age remains consistent. The fact that she had already married Celeborn prior to the forging of the rings remains consistent, as does Celeborns actions in opposing Sauron after his treachery is revealed. What we've seen (and read in VF) so far contradicts much of that characterization.

 

[Natey]

The characters in this look so... out of place. And I don't know why.

 

[I am not exposed]

It has to be better than Wheel of Time. Right!

The trailer did nothing for me. So perhaps it will be on par with Wheel of Time. lol

 

[Osprey]

When I was visiting my parents earlier this year, they were looking forward to this series, which surprised and puzzled me because they're in their 70s and have never been into fantasy. When I asked why, it sounded like they thought that it was an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, so I had to break it to them that it was a prequel set thousands of years before LotR and The Hobbit. My mom immediately went "oh, that doesn't interest me at all." I felt kind of bad that they went from excited to totally disinterested, thanks to me. It got me wondering, though, about how many other people with a casual interest might be expecting something more familiar.

 

[PeteWorrell]

The characters in this look so... out of place. And I don't know why.

Probably because it's just very expensive unneeded fan fiction.