Amph One Thread To Rule Them All: The Rings of Power, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings & Middle-earth films

Waiting for @Bor Mullet to say that this sounds better / more true to the novels than the Jackson movies.

 

I think this is the one that uses music by Värttinä (and let me tell you, as a fan of Värttinä, that musical is not good enough for me to excuse Tolkien fans making it the entirety of their top songs on all streaming platforms), so expect a lot more weird avant garde Finnish folk music than Rankin-Bass.

 

Brilliant actor. He's exceptional in The Exorcist TV series....which was actually quite good. Even season 2 I enjoyed. I wish Cirdan had his signature long beard, and he doesn't necessarily scream elf to me in that image. But he's the oldest elf in Middle Earth so we can let that slide. Great actor and plenty of more annoying creative decisions for us to whine about. I still am at a loss at how Celebrimbor and friends don't recognize that Annatar is Halbrand with a wig.

 

I'm glad this show isn't going with that typical cliched fantasy look for all the elves (hot young blonde models and all that).

This sounds better / more true to the novels than the Jackson movies.

 

dp

 

One fascinating detail from the LOTR is that elven musicians are believed to have the ability to use music to conjure up illusions in the minds of the listeners. A fascinating attribute that I assure you will never, ever be mentioned or referenced in the TV series

 

I have been rewatching RoP on a larger screen than the little laptop I first watched it on two years ago, and I gotta say, this show is NOT made for laptops. I'm still not 100% sure how they spent a bazillion dollars making it, but I can see a lot more detail in the setpieces and stuff than before on a larger screen.

It might be my imagination, but the show is better the second time around. The actions of some characters and plots make more sense. For instance, it was not clear to me the first time why the orcs were digging tunnels in the early episodes, besides to get out of the sunlight, which they state at one point. Watching it a second time, one orc mentions (once, briefly, muttering with other orcs) that they are looking for something under a house. That should have been stated clearly so the viewers can make the association with the sword (which is another episode...).

Halbrand/Sauron is also way better the second time, especially in the early episodes. He pauses when he's about to loose his temper and the music starts to rise, then suddenly it dies down and he smiles and says a joke. So it's like hints-of-Sauron but he's keeping up the charade pretty well.

Durin/The Dwarves and Elrond remain one of the best parts of this show on second viewing. Their plot is solid. The banter is clever. There is a concrete moral dilemma they have to resolve, and slowly fail to do so despite their best intentions.

Things that don't work so well, especially watching the episodes back-to-back:

-Bronwyn and the southerland folks: it's even less clear the second time why and how Bronwyn puts herself in charge. She begins as an herbalist and people seem to respect her because they give her their sick cows and all, but she starts giving orders left and right (including ordering soldiers to man the tower when they first arrive) and it makes no sense. Who's actually in charge? It makes even less sense when the bartender comes in and tries to make a rival faction. I thought I missed something the first time I saw the show, but there is no explanation for why these random villagers start ordering people around. And there are so few of them (like 50?) it's nothing like Helm's Deep. Why don't the orcs just wipe them out in the first few episodes? They already got the elves who were supposed to be guarding the area, who had the most weapons and training. The few palty villagers should be easy pickings, especially when most seem to want to side with the orcs anyway.

-Galadriel and the Southlands: Galadriel starts in with this theory that Halbrand might be a missing descendent leader of the South, based on the fact that he has that sigil on his necklace pack thingy. Halbrand actually says no, he's not that, or else ignores her every time she brings this up. She then convinces all of Numenor to fight for the Southlands based on this idea (she DOES get a piece of evidence with that Sauron sigil = a map idea, but Miriel agrees to go almost entirely because of the Halbrand = lost leader theory). The reasoning here makes no sense. With a little tweaking, they could have gotten this to work. Also it would have helped add drama if Miriel/Numenor were going off to save more than a couple dozen farmers.

-The cultists after Gandalf: This still makes no sense. It might have worked later if there was more of a backstory driving these cultists, but as it is, they're a weak plot point to get Gandalf back into the magic groove. There could have been any number of more convincing ways to reveal Gandalf's power -- for instance, he suffers from an inability to control his powers over the natural elements. Have him find a way to overcome that.

I don't hate this show by any means -- the scenery is lovely, as is the music, and it does overall "feel" like Middle Earth. But there is some basic writing 101 that it's lacking, and it's surprising some of this wasn't resolved in the editing process. Get a writing professor to come in and check the script with a red pen next time.

 

New photos been relased. Narvi the dwarf friend to Celebrimbor. New characters. One who is apprentice to Celebrimbor. New posters of During and Celebrimbor and Galadriel. Soo excited for this new Season.

I have rewatched it in time for the second season. And its good show to binge. Its not a masterpiece like GOT/HOTD but its a good solid first season and with second season they have heard all the complaints and listend.

 

Bronwyn was put in charge because she discovered the orc tunnels, argued that they needed to leave (which the people ignored), and then killed an orc herself, slamming its head on a table in the local tavern for all to see. And so she got some serious cred and they let her lead the evacuation. That said, her leadership is highly tenuous, and Waldreg questions it repeatedly until he successfully convinced half the refugees to follow him and join up with the enemy forces. So…it all makes sense to me. Even though it’s not the most compelling storyline.

 

I think those points aren’t a big deal and still understandable. Or are meant to be hooks for future seasons, like the Sauron-seeking witches. (They are still avoiding saying he is Gandalf, though.) Bronwyn is respected and a natural leader, and they don’t have a true leader. Miriel trusts Galadriel, and Galadriel simply is obsessed with the fight and wants to believe it and convinces herself.

The biggest issue for me is just tidying up the final draft with more expert writers. Make it more interesting. It has the potential, but it’s hard to point out what didn’t work (though I can think of 2 pieces of dialogue that should definitely have improved in drafting - “the sea is always right” is bleh for a motto, and the dialogue in the Valinor prologue with young Galadriel.) And while I understand Galadriel’s arc and see how it can be supported by book canon, I think it was wrong to focus on her as the primary character. I think Elrond would have made more sense.

 

I think the problem is that apparently, a lot of connective tissue was cut out due to aggressive Amazon screen-testing. So stuff speeds along way too fast. For example, there was apparently a lovely scene of horseback (along the beach) between Elendil and Galadriel as they travel to the "Faithful" library, wherein they discuss the Numenorean's growing fear of death, and their sense that it's unfair for the Eldar to have the gift of immortality, while they expire. Completely axed and we're left with a rapid hop over to the archives, punctuated with an oddly-placed slo mo shot of Galadriel grinning on her horse. There are many examples throughout like that where large chunks were clearly cut out. And it gives this choppy, almost music video feel. I also think some of the directors weren't great. But when they were good, like Charlotte Brandstrom? I think the show was quite good.

 

Oh I didn’t know that.

(…that’s actually making the case for an Extended Version of the TV show, for me… I’ll just say in a small voice…)

 

They dug themselves in a hole having Galadriel conveniently run into a Sauron who has taking up rafting as a hobby whilst Giladriel deems it a smart move to swim across the Atlantic ocean. Stupid things started happening almost immediately in the series. We made Mordor with the flip of a switch via steam lol. And now the writers gotta somehow reconcile Celebrimbor not recognizing how obvious Halbrand looks in his new blonde wig.

The showrunners say they incorporated feedback but season 2 was written before season 1 finished airing.....so it's undoubtedly more of the same. That will either work for you or it won't dependent on how you felt about the writing in s1.

The best thing they can do is not have the Stranger be Gandalf but a blue wizard IMO

 

ok

 

Does anyone know if Tolkien ever commented on Earthsea?

I finally stumbled across a video digging into it, and while it’s very different from Tolkien, it seems more like a supplement than fighting it, and it seems like Tolkien himself would appreciate a lot of it and its themes - there’s a very loose correlation between how Tenar and Eowyn both end up, in the end, learning to embrace peace; there’s also the deep appreciation for language; there’s a correlation between UKLG’s Dragons and JRRT’s Elves; the love of landscape and cultures and focus on the physical journeys; similar themes regarding power and accepting the simple life but also the burden of ruling (Ged, Arryn, Aragorn, Gandalf); similar themes regarding death and its acceptance, etc. The main difference being that the conflict is mostly internal like Frodo and the ring, and while there’s political intrigue and antagonists there’s no big war and there’s no Orcs or Stormtroopers or Dark Lords (there’s some evil mages, including one big threat, there are authority figures that can range from misguided to pretty evil, there’s a singular greedy dragon but most are not like that, and there’s no army and no focus on physical violence) yet it’s still so very compelling.

 

Two almost polar opposite world views. But here's a fun reddit discussion I found on this very topic:

https://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/s/JJsSA9i9x9

 

The new trailer is our and looks soo good i am hyped.

 

Well I'm excited for this. I guess I'll watch it once I'm through with the finale season of The Umbrella Academy that begins on August 8th.

 

After season 1 I wasn't sure if I'd be sticking with ROP and watching season 2. I still have reservations, but yeah... I'll at least give it a chance and watch.

 

This is where the story begins. Season 1 was more an introduction season.

 

I know a lot of people are saying, "this already looks better than season 1". I was among the people who actually enjoyed season 1 throughout; it only made me more anxious for the next season, not apprehensive about it. It was entertaining; and for one who isn't versed in the Tolkien novels like others are, that's all I'm asking for.

 

Tom Bombadil being serious and not rhyming. Hard pass.

 

We know he will be but cant make the trailer cut.

 

Second age Tom was all about free verse.