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

[Hivemind]

Let me also make one thing clear - I'm absolutely going to watch this series. From the day it comes out. I am excited about it, but I'm also terribly anxious that they're going to botch it. At least the visuals look better than Wheel of Time (which felt like a daytime adventure show at times), but the WoT series doesn't give me much comfort about adapting this.

 

[Natey]

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

I'm okay with bullshit stories. That doesn't bother me. I liked the Hobbit movies minus the CGI Orcs. They were obviously no LOTR trilogy, which is among my favourite movies of all-time, but I still enjoyed them.

It's just that in the trailers most people seem out of place or their costumes seem cheap.

I'll still watch and hope for the best. I'd rather mediocre LOTR universe content than none at all.

 

[Hivemind]

costumes seem cheap.

Weird. I have plenty of concerns about this show based on what we know and these trailers, but this is by far the least of them. I thought the costume design in the most recent trailer looked excellent for the most part.

 

[I am not exposed]

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.

I'm a little drunk but it is quite incredible how you sum up my feelings about TV shows/movies in your posts. Are you my long lost brother? Which popular TV shows/movies have you enjoyed recently?

edit. not exactly the most appropriate post to respond to, but as mentioned previously, I'm somewhat drunk! haha

 

[PeteWorrell]

I'm okay with bullshit stories. That doesn't bother me. I liked the Hobbit movies minus the CGI Orcs. They were obviously no LOTR trilogy, which is among my favourite movies of all-time, but I still enjoyed them.

It's just that in the trailers most people seem out of place or their costumes seem cheap.

I'll still watch and hope for the best. I'd rather mediocre LOTR universe content than none at all.

I would rather this not be made at all. Especially since we know that the universe will always be limited because it will always be about the ring(s) instead of brand new original ideas.

There is also the fact that Tolkien was a Christian and his work reflects that. That type of mentality is frowned upon in artistic circles so from the get-go, you can't trust the writers/show runners because they don't understand and don't respect the original author's vision. I don't know if they nixed the idea but they wanted to include nudity at some point like this was Game of Thrones. Just a recipe for disaster.

 

[RandV]

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.

I could hit quote on a number of replies in the thread, but I gotta ask... really? I understand fandoms are nuts when it comes to adaptions and 'canon', but we're talking about something here where for whatever reason Tolkien didn't care to write more novels so he just jotted down a bunch of notes on this world he created and stuck them in an 'appendix'.

While this has the benefit of being from the original author I feel like it's lower on the totem pole than say the Star Wars EU, for comparison. Only the biggest Tolkien nerds are going to read it, or maybe Tolkien scholars? I'm a huge fantasy nerd and while I've started the Silmarillion a few times I could never get very far as I just lose interest and move onto something else. Lord of the Rings was an amazing, genre defining story, and I don't think anything of value or impact would be lost if these extra mythological texts didn't exist.

I just feel like as this was written as a history/mythological addendum, and not an actual story, this is where you can take the greatest creative leverage in an adaption. The source material is dry almost bullet point information, and doesn't really give you any insight that for example warrior princess Galadriel wouldn't work way better on screen.

 

[Hivemind]

I could hit quote on a number of replies in the thread, but I gotta ask... really? I understand fandoms are nuts when it comes to adaptions and 'canon', but we're talking about something here where for whatever reason Tolkien didn't care to write more novels so he just jotted down a bunch of notes on this world he created and stuck them in an 'appendix'.

While this has the benefit of being from the original author I feel like it's lower on the totem pole than say the Star Wars EU, for comparison. Only the biggest Tolkien nerds are going to read it, or maybe Tolkien scholars? I'm a huge fantasy nerd and while I've started the Silmarillion a few times I could never get very far as I just lose interest and move onto something else. Lord of the Rings was an amazing, genre defining story, and I don't think anything of value or impact would be lost if these extra mythological texts didn't exist.

I just feel like as this was written as a history/mythological addendum, and not an actual story, this is where you can take the greatest creative leverage in an adaption. The source material is dry almost bullet point information, and doesn't really give you any insight that for example warrior princess Galadriel wouldn't work way better on screen.

It’s clear that you have no idea what The Silmarilion is. While the writers of this show are using appendices as the basis, since that’s what the Tolkien estate was willing to sell the right to, it doesn’t mean that these events and these characters weren’t described in greater detail elsewhere, namely the Silmarilion and Unfinished Tales.

So, yes, we know that Galadriel wasn’t a warrior princess.

 

[hockey diva]

RandV try listening to the audio book of The Sil. While Martin Shaw’s pronunciation of some names is incorrect, it definitely helps you understand the First Age and the background that the LOTR takes from.

At least read the story of Beren and Luthiën.

 

[RandV]

RandV try listening to the audio book of The Sil. While Martin Shaw’s pronunciation of some names is incorrect, it definitely helps you understand the First Age and the background that the LOTR takes from.

At least read the story of Beren and Luthiën.

Well I'm still skeptical but I suppose I haven't actually read the things. Maybe I'll check out what the library has as I'm in a long waiting period for the next Wheel of Time audio book. I could get book 9 & 10 now, but book 8 has a 18 week waiting period. Basically everyone started taking the books out at the same time coinciding with the show.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

I also tried reading the Silmarillion and couldn't get through much of it, just so many names. I love the LOTR though. Will try the audiobook for the Sil.

 

[hockey diva]

It took me a couple of read throughs to get The Sil. Make copies of the family trees and keep them handy. It will help you keep the personnel straight. Karen Wyn Fonstad’s Atlas of Middle Earth is also very helpful for picturing the places written about.

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

The 'good' LOTR movies were pretty terrible to be honest, I don't think the cheap chinese knockoff is going to be anything but worse.

I haven't read the books but everyone I know that did (except one guy) said the books are great and they also did not like the movies.

I only posted here because I am really bored at work.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I was a a big JRRT fan as a kid, but can’t pretend to care if the series stays true to his works.

Hardcore fans like my bro may wig out, but I just kind of laugh about it. To each their own.

I just want to be entertained for an hour TBTH.

I’m also pretty forgiving with fantasy series, so it has to be pretty bad for me to hate it.

 

[hockey diva]

I am a hard core book fan who also really enjoyed the LOTR movies.

 

[4thline]

In the minority here, but to me it's more important for the series to maintain tonal and stylistic continuity with the Jackson trilogy than detailed canonical integrity with the broader works of JRRT. As long is it follows the broad strokes outline of the ROTK appendix, things look the way they should look, and feel the way they should feel, it's going to be a win for me.

For instance- don't care about de-aging Galadriel, but don't like her in plate.

 

[Neil Racki]

I'm a little drunk but it is quite incredible how you sum up my feelings about TV shows/movies in your posts. Are you my long lost brother? Which popular TV shows/movies have you enjoyed recently?

edit. not exactly the most appropriate post to respond to, but as mentioned previously, I'm somewhat drunk! haha

Ive started telling cashier and people I have to interact w in public this and it really helps.

Me (at shake shack): "Ill have the Smokeshack please"

Cashier: "Name?"

Me: "Greg"

Cashier: "Phone number?"

me: "Wait, im a little high ... did you just ask me for my phone number?"

Cashier (smirking): 'yes"

Me: "Now we have to give out our phone numbers .. to order a burger? We just keeping add new steps to the food ordering process .."

------------------

Seems like by starting off with "Im a little high right now ... " just seems like people generally treat me nicer, everybody lets their guard down ... like Im a full flegged idiot and they calmly and slowly explain things to me, go out of there way to do things for me and be extra helpful.

 

[Jack Straw]

I've read the books multiple times (love them), seen the movies (hated them) and this looks even worse than the movies.

"Based on the works of JRR Tolkien" means it's not Tolkien. That doesn't mean it can't be good, lots of things that aren't Tolkien are good. But those things don't try to be Tolkien.

 

[Jack Straw]

RandV try listening to the audio book of The Sil. While Martin Shaw’s pronunciation of some names is incorrect, it definitely helps you understand the First Age and the background that the LOTR takes from.

At least read the story of Beren and Luthiën.

Seconded. That and the Children of Hurin are the best stories from the Silmarillion. They're all good though.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Most people I know who read the books like or love the movies. Jackson was pretty respectable to the source material and left out some things that wouldn't have worked on the screen or at least come off as ridiculous likea singing Tom Bombadil.

This new series is setting off all sorts of alarm bells. Hobbits...uhhh, there aren't any hobbits in the second age.

Comments from the creators stating the world of Lord of the Rings needs to reflect the world we live in today which is code for the cast must be diverse so we can check off a few boxes shows they have no intention staying true to Tolkien's works at all. Instead, they appear to be more interested in inserting their message on to the most popular fantasy series of all time.

If they were confident in their own abilities to create something original that they think would appeal to mass audiences that included their message that would be great, but they are not. They look like they are going to use a proven commodity to shoehorn in things that is not at all part of the Middle Earth mythos and that's a shame.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

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.

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 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.

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.

Aragorn and Faramir were portrayed pretty substantially differently in the movies than in the books, but the overall story and feel were very closely adapted.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Most people I know who read the books like or love the movies. Jackson was pretty respectable to the source material and left out some things that wouldn't have worked on the screen or at least come off as ridiculous likea singing Tom Bombadil.

This new series is setting off all sorts of alarm bells. Hobbits...uhhh, there aren't any hobbits in the second age.

Comments from the creators stating the world of Lord of the Rings needs to reflect the world we live in today which is code for the cast must be diverse so we can check off a few boxes shows they have no intention staying true to Tolkien's works at all. Instead, they appear to be more interested in inserting their message on to the most popular fantasy series of all time.

If they were confident in their own abilities to create something original that they think would appeal to mass audiences that included their message that would be great, but they are not. They look like they are going to use a proven commodity to shoehorn in things that is not at all part of the Middle Earth mythos and that's a shame.

The so called "Experts" or "Superfans" panel they had was enough for me to boycott this. The one guy talking about how he could change Sauron like wtf dude.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Book fans absolutely were not happy with many aspects of the movies when they were released. Internet was at a different point but it was there if you bothered to look. Time always softens people's opinions.

Also to try to imply that a diverse cast is the biggest alarm bells about this says way more about you then the show.

 

[Chaels Arms]

I was obsessed with the LoTR trilogy growing up. Read them all a million times. I liked the movies. I've never really understood people getting bent out of shape over movie adaptations of books. Even if I've read the source material I go into every movie just hoping it's a good movie. I don't care if they are faithful to the books or not. If I want something that's faithful to the books I'll just.... read the books again.

This series doesn't excite me at all but you can also add me to the list of people above who tried dozens of times to read The Silmarillion and just couldn't do it. I've actually had it on my bedside table for like the past six months as I keep telling myself I'm going to just power through it but I get through maybe the first 30 pages and just can't do it anymore. It just seems so dry to me.

 

[RandV]

Man if people are angry with the show already before it even airs wait till they see the baby Legolas acrobatic action sequence!

 

[hockey diva]

Chaels, try the audio version. Or skip to the Quenta Silmarillion.