Rings of Power: Tolkien's Shambling Skinsuit

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spronk

spronk

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they wouldn't have much story left if they forged the rings in season 1, episode 4 and they want to run for 5 seasons. They need to built up Sauron befriending all the races, corrupting them, tempting them with power, and then finally gifting them the rings (and then betraying them). They just have done a very poor job so far at it.

They showed something massive being built in the scene behind Celebrimbor and Elrond, is it the eventual forges where the rings are made?

I assume thats what it is based on the context of dwarves and elves working together but I have no idea why Celebrimbor is in such a rush, where its being built, what he is gonna make, why Durin is more interested in mithril (obviously its new and unique but how did he find it, what has he made, why is it special is glossed over), why the dwarves think the Elves are hiding something, etc. Show has done a horrible job telling casuals what motivates these characters.

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pysek

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Quaid said:
The entire Eregion and Moria storylines are setting up their forging. Yes, far outside the timelines set out in The Silmarillion (nobody cares).

Nerds need to calm their moobs, and normies need to shut the fuck up.
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No Way Thinking GIF
 
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Arden

Arden

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Still a 7/10 for me, which means it's still entertaining and worth watching, if imperfect. Was worried we would be faced with PG fight scenes after the first ep troll fight, which was bad- but the fighting stuff since has been much better.

I'm a picky critic and I'm enough of a nerd to have had issues with several changes Jackson made in the LoTR movies, but found those movies were still good and worth watching. So far feeling the same way with this.

There are some valid criticisms, but most of those are pretty minor and overshadowed by the good stuff. The vast majority of the criticisms I'm seeing are weird nitpicky stuff. Either oversensitive culture warrior type criticisms, or uber nerd rage stuff about little anachronisms, or just off the wall interpretations people seem to have had about how stuff should be portrayed.

All in all I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I'm not someone who cares about visuals so much (my big focus is always the writing) but holy shit does it look amazing. Hate to admit it but that's a big part of what's making it fun to watch. The writing isn't Deadwood or The Wire, but it's decent enough to keep me from cringing (i.e. it's not late GoT bad) and honestly the storyline is pretty engaging.

Like I said after the first 2 ep, there's still time for the show to jump the shark, but it hasn't yet. Anyway, I'll be tuning in next Friday.
 
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H

Hatar

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spronk said:
they wouldn't have much story left if they forged the rings in season 1, episode 4 and they want to run for 5 seasons. They need to built up Sauron befriending all the races, corrupting them, tempting them with power, and then finally gifting them the rings (and then betraying them). They just have done a very poor job so far at it.

They showed something massive being built in the scene behind Celebrimbor and Elrond, is it the eventual forges where the rings are made?

I assume thats what it is based on the context of dwarves and elves working together but I have no idea why Celebrimbor is in such a rush, where its being built, what he is gonna make, why Durin is more interested in mithril (obviously its new and unique but how did he find it, what has he made, why is it special is glossed over), why the dwarves think the Elves are hiding something, etc. Show has done a horrible job telling casuals what motivates these characters.

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Just watching the show I would assume Celebrimbor is Sauron in this show version. He wants to build a forge that is hotter than any other and seems too nice...would set-up a perfect surprise I guess. He reminds me of Emperor Palpitine. I'm not too fixated on lore in this show...I assume they are only going for broad inspiration of the world at this point.
 
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Gavinmad

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Arden said:
I'm a picky critic and I'm enough of a nerd to have had issues with several changes Jackson made in the LoTR movies, but found those movies were still good and worth watching. So far feeling the same way with this.
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Yeah they only made a few tiny changes to Galadriel, she's still essentially the same character.
 
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BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Quaid said:
This is sheer delusion. The ‘backlash’ will be next to nothing in the scope of the total viewership.

What percentage of viewers of this thing have ever even read the LOTR trilogy? How many of those have read The Silmarillion? I bet it’s extremely low.

If every omegadork born since 1970 boycotted this thing it wouldn’t even register in the ratings.
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Truth. I played EverQuest for 8 years and even I'm like "WTF are these nerds going on about?"
 
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Z

zignor 4

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spronk said:
They showed something massive being built in the scene behind Celebrimbor and Elrond, is it the eventual forges where the rings are made?

I assume thats what it is based on the context of dwarves and elves working together but I have no idea why Celebrimbor is in such a rush, where its being built, what he is gonna make, why Durin is more interested in mithril (obviously its new and unique but how did he find it, what has he made, why is it special is glossed over), why the dwarves think the Elves are hiding something, etc. Show has done a horrible job telling casuals what motivates these characters.
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Nearly all of this was clearly explained. The building of the forge was described in the second episode and even shown again in the recap. Durin covered mithril...it's lighter than silk, harder than iron, and more precious than gold. Gee I wonder how such a thing could connect with the big giant forge that he's helping to build.

The dwarves think the elves are hiding something because they are. It's the mystery box they invented that includes the big rush to get forge done, which will surely tie into the eventual Sauron reveal.

There's plenty of shit storytelling decisions to criticize, but this particular plotline ain't hard to follow.
 
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Animosity

Animosity

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I enjoyed the episode. The dwarf storyline is by far the best. And the visuals of this show are just so damn good. They need to chill on all the slow mo scenes. They are overused and last way to long.

Bonus points for no hobbit shit in this episode.
 
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Aldarion

Aldarion

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The dwarves really are great. Even if Durins wife is ridiculously, fish out of water, fat man in a skinny jacket level of miscast - she does a damn good job with it.

I wish anyone acted like an elf in this show half as well as she acts like a dwarf.
 
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Chris

Chris

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Aldarion said:
The dwarves really are great. Even if Durins wife is ridiculously, fish out of water, fat man in a skinny jacket level of miscast - she does a damn good job with it.

I wish anyone acted like an elf in this show half as well as she acts like a dwarf.
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Is you close your eyes, she sounds like a homely scottish woman. She's just... inexplicably black.

Funny that they otherwise went all in with Warhammer/Warcraft Dwarves when in The Hobbit they went out of their way to have them all look and dress differently. I guess they just made them all into Gimlis.
 
Ossoi

Ossoi

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I thought this last
Animosity said:
I enjoyed the episode. The dwarf storyline is by far the best. And the visuals of this show are just so damn good. They need to chill on all the slow mo scenes. They are overused and last way to long.

Bonus points for no hobbit shit in this episode.
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I like this show more than HOTD for sure. Agreed on the shitty hobbits
 
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shabushabu

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spronk said:
second season is already filming right now, I doubt we'll really know about whether seasons 3-5 happen for a year or two (the show is planned as 5 seasons). These kind of shows have long, long timeframes of success or failure. Once all the episodes have dropped by late October, will word of mouth drive a ton of normies to sub to amazon in the winter or not? When season 2 starts, will amazon see a huge uptick in new subs or not?

Those are the metrics that will drive the decisions, not these silly "omg the show dropped 11% in viewership 24 hours after episode 4 dropped, ITS OVER" that retard youtubers content farm over.

By contrast we'll see at least 3-4 seasons of House of the Dragon, the important metric there was "will people come back to see this shit after Game of Thrones or just stay away?" and 20m viewers for the first episode is a resounding success. The ceiling is the 46m viewers that tuned in for the final season of Game of Thrones, and I'd expect HOTD gets closer to those kind of numbers around season 3. By comparison Euphoria, HBOs other biggest show, was hitting 16m viewers for its second (current) season from 6.6m for its first season, so numbers jump up MASSIVELY for popular (?) shows in seasons. GoT started at like 2m viewers for first season.

Quality/user ratings have nothing to do with money, the highest rated network shows (outside sports) is shit like Americas Got Talent and Big Brother, just all reality shows.

Tolkien hated America anyways and he was sadly very right
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lol @ Dragon that shit is terrible hahaha 🤣
 
Sevens

Sevens

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Decided to give this a try, was bored so why not.
Now all the race swapping aside, the biggest sin this show has committed is that it is just plain boring.
10 mins to show 3 elves deciding whether or not to drink from a flask..everyone knew the orc was going to kill them yet they tried so hard to drag it out as some great suspense.
Oh and Galadriel is just a cunt, I honestly think she might be the single worst character in the series.
 
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shabushabu

shabushabu

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The elf tower or whatever
Sevens said:
Decided to give this a try, was bored so why not.
Now all the race swapping aside, the biggest sin this show has committed is that it is just plain boring.
10 mins to show 3 elves deciding whether or not to drink from a flask..everyone knew the orc was going to kill them yet they tried so hard to drag it out as some great suspense.
Oh and Galadriel is just a cunt, I honestly think she might be the single worst character in the series.
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the best Galadriel quote is when she talks about “being the only one that knows something “ interesting parallels to Gandalf in the Hobbit timeframe and how she supported him .

the portrayal of her In that position is a bit over the top , but it’s a pretty valid portrayal given that place she is in and her fiery warrior nature.

I guess if you’ve never been “alone and the only one who is right about something” and you sit in the side of the majority and are more comfortable with consensus she looks nuts , but I think that is illustrating the point ;)
 
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Juvarisx

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Chris said:
She may be the worst character in fantasy TV shows.
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Tied to for in the bad category with this, and I know you said shows but its the same universe (and same race funnily enough)

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I really do want to like this show, but I dont and it makes me sad
 
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lgarthy

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I am still enjoying it. But, for the billion dollars that they spent, I do wish that they would have spent more on writers.

Tolkien understood language, rhetoric, poetry and narrative voice. These writer's do not.

And, for it's inevitable parallel comparison to HoTD; I am enjoying this show more. But that might be akin to saying I like holes in my socks more than holes in my undershirts. It's just not that poignant a comparison.
 
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Chris

Chris

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Juvarisx said:
Tied to for in the bad category with this, and I know you said shows but its the same universe (and same race funnily enough)

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I really do want to like this show, but I dont and it makes me sad
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Kate from Lost the elf was fine, not her fault they showhorned in a dumb romance - they promised her they wouldn't have a dumb romance at the start even.

The real bad character from The Hobbit was that Laketown comedy relief guy.
 
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