Rings of Power: Tolkien's Shambling Skinsuit

the biggest issue is the characters are mostly 1 dimensional and bland. The showrunners are Mormons so I assume some of it is from that. I have some Mormon friends and neighbors and they are salt of the earth, dependable, super friendly people but they are boring as fuuuck

was there any R-rated stuff in season 1? I remember before they kept saying it'll be R rated and have sex, and everyone made jokes assuming it was gonna be gay elves but I don't really remember anything even PG13 in the show. Was there any gay stuff? Now that I think about it, I don't think there was any which is sorta interesting considering how its considered almost mandatory to be "inclusive" in modern TV shows... I don't think the Mormon faith really tolerates teh gayz

I don't really know fuck all about Mormonism, I wonder if there is some hidden stuff in the show. Like do those guys believe their prophets can make rocks float or something, cuz this shit at the start was so damn weird

Non book reader, non note reader, non One-Ring tattooed to my ass take:

It was enjoyable and I looked forward to each episode. I thought brown elf was the most elvish from what I knew from the movies. Galadriel did seem a bit tempestuous, but I figured you just see her tempered as the season goes on and how she becomes Andre 5000 cold as ice Galadriel from the movies. In terms of CGI and costume I thought it was really good. There wasn't much if any CGI I cringed at and the dwarven kingdom and some of the shit outside of Mt Doom looked really good. Costumes looked really good even if the Numenor dudes were wearing Cash Shop Armor MTX.

I can definitely see why loyalists would be upset as a lot of it differs from just what the movies told us in flashbacks and shit. Also Galadriel being married and her husband being deaded I'm sure pissed people off. But to say it's not at LEAST watchable for the non Tolkien Buttboy is a complete fucking fanboi lie. I'd rate it overall like a 7.5/10. There were twoish episodes that were fairly meh, but the episodes that delivered, delivered. Sauron went a little Anime villain in his mind-fuck with Galadriel, but they had to show he was TRULY A BAD GUY(!!!!) somehow I guess. We hadn't seen him really BE evil yet.

Overall non book-nerd rating I'd say 7.5-8/10 so far.

Xevy said:

Non book reader, non note reader, non One-Ring tattooed to my ass take:

It was enjoyable and I looked forward to each episode. I thought brown elf was the most elvish from what I knew from the movies. Galadriel did seem a bit tempestuous, but I figured you just see her tempered as the season goes on and how she becomes Andre 5000 cold as ice Galadriel from the movies. In terms of CGI and costume I thought it was really good. There wasn't much if any CGI I cringed at and the dwarven kingdom and some of the shit outside of Mt Doom looked really good. Costumes looked really good even if the Numenor dudes were wearing Cash Shop Armor MTX.

I can definitely see why loyalists would be upset as a lot of it differs from just what the movies told us in flashbacks and shit. Also Galadriel being married and her husband being deaded I'm sure pissed people off. But to say it's not at LEAST watchable for the non Tolkien Buttboy is a complete fucking fanboi lie. I'd rate it overall like a 7.5/10. There were twoish episodes that were fairly meh, but the episodes that delivered, delivered. Sauron went a little Anime villain in his mind-fuck with Galadriel, but they had to show he was TRULY A BAD GUY(!!!!) somehow I guess. We hadn't seen him really BE evil yet.

Overall non book-nerd rating I'd say 7.5-8/10 so far.

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Galadriel is probably just wrong about celeborn being dead. The show doesn’t retcon anything from lotr and that would be a huge change.

this is better than most of the hobbit. The hobbit was bad in the same way solo or many other recent Star Wars movies are bad. Cause it was filled with dumb shit for kids and just random monsters and gags for no reason. This show isn’t the best but it isn’t full of that kind of trash either.

Creslin said:

Galadriel is probably just wrong about celeborn being dead. The show doesn’t retcon anything from lotr and that would be a huge change.

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theory is celeborn did die, but he is going to comeback as glorfindel did. don't know if lines up, but people also think he could been the elf fighting the balrog.

so is House of Dargons worth watching? havent watched either show yet but keeping up with this thread has completely killed my interest.

Andor is top 10 TV 2022 (assuming it stays good, 6 episodes left). Peacemaker is the other 2022 show you should definitely watch before anything else, along with Reacher, The Bear and Boys season 3.

House of Dragons is decent, the first 5 episodes are kinda mediocre with some good bits but it gets better. It makes Rings of Power look like kids shit. HoTD season finale is next sunday so good time to binge it out.

I get all the hate and think some things were really well done.

I won’t mention much hate bc I don’t have much to add that wasn’t mentioned:

Hate

The characters have depth issues. They don’t feel real. Even idiots operate in degrees of idiocy, but to witness the most wise and intelligent creatures on Middle Earth speak in only ultimatums was so painful.

look at the council to decide wheee to take the ring of power in a 3 hour movie. How the fuck can you be this shallow which 8 hours to work with?

well done :

They accomplished the feel and atmosphere of a more raw middle earth. I loved details like basic armor on the goblins and shit.

overall I can’t help but feel all of these stories have been copying a similar shitty layout: slow buildup, big event, crazy twist!

wtf why does there need to be a big fucking twist every time ? Just tell me a cool story you fu king assholes

I was willing to forgive a lot, because there was just enough good things in it to make it watchable. I even liked the Harfoots which most people didn't. But they botched Sauron, and to me that is unforgivable.

Sauron would not take the form of some random human swashbuckler to try and turn a few elves over to his side. He's an angelic spirit who decided to go over to the dark side and serve Morgoth. I understand they couldn't use the name Annatar in the show, but they still could of used a similar storyline. He deceived everyone posing as an emissary of the Valar, not as some unknown king of men who gets in bar fights & throws around one-liners. That would be so beneath someone like Sauron.

Really don't know how anybody enjoys this show. Complaints about this show has nothing to do with the lore from the vast majority of critics, both tokiendudes and casualbros

They butchered the 2 most important characters, Sauron and Galadriel.

The show is full of plot devices devoid of any substance to character development, theme and emotion. And in the wake of these plots devices are giant plot holes.

The harfoot story just feels out of place and really just another plot device to introduce totally-not-gandalf.

The casting feels forced and unnatural.

The acting is absolute trash from 90% of the people. And dialogue is filled with nonsensical one liners that are supposed to come off dramatic but end up sounding corny as fuck.

I mean I get it. I know the standard for entertainment has been absolutely fucked since Marvel starting sucking up the box office. But even Marvel has a formula that works, this shit just lacks direction and substance. I'd argue its more of a kid show then Hobbit Trilogy ever was. At least Hobbit had great acting and moments of greatness.

But hey who am I to disparage simple minded folk from enjoying this train wreck. I feel like the people that enjoy this are the same people that play video games while watching TV shows, or playing with their kids or talking to their spouse. Great to have on in the background.

With all that said here are some things I liked about the show.

-Dwarf/Elrond story line
-It definitely "feels" like Middle Earth. The production team deserves kudos points for the landscapes and cities (both Eregion and Khazad-Dum are phenominall)
-Backlore
-Dark Elf Story and the first uruks (primal orcs)
-While the harfoots feel out of place I do like the idea of a Maiar story line

71% of the show's audience is 35 years or older in the US, according to Nielsen's latest streaming data from Thursday, which measured through the show's fourth episode.
By comparison, 68% of the audience for HBO's own fantasy series "House of the Dragon" is in the 18 to 49 age range.

"Rings of Power's" audience leaning older could have contributed to its seemingly muted online conversation, at least compared to "House of the Dragon."
The "TheRingsofPower" hashtag on TikTok has 656 million views, while the "#HouseoftheDragon" hashtag has 5.4 billion. While not exactly a perfect commentary on "The Rings of Power's" popularity, it does suggest a limited appeal for younger viewers compared to the competition, as TikTok's user base skews young.

Fadaar said:

so is House of Dargons worth watching? havent watched either show yet but keeping up with this thread has completely killed my interest.

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Absolutely. First couple of episodes are a bit slow but it's really picking up now.

Main complaint is that it starts moving through the source material a bit too quickly mid season without giving new characters time to breathe, but that's resolved now.

Black and gay characters get graphically murdered lol.

Goatface said:

theory is celeborn did die, but he is going to comeback as glorfindel did. don't know if lines up, but people also think he could been the elf fighting the balrog.

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They haven't shown Wood Elves yet, so my guess is that he is just chilling in Lothlorien and has been fighting orcs in the south/east the entire time.

Maybe Gandalf finds him in the east and his mission the whole time was to get Galadriel some dick to calm her down.

Goatface said:

balrog

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lol of course those unoriginal talentless hacks threw in a fucking Balrog.

Saddest thing to me is not people with the many valid and varied criticisms, but the people who keep telling people who didn't like what they saw that they should. Welcome to 2022

Penance said:

Great to have on in the background.

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This is a solid observation.

The show is essentially high quality Middle Earth elevator music. It’s pleasant to have on in the background.The scenery, Middle Earth imagery, and score are all nice as a backdrop to working, doing chores around the house, building Lego sets with the kids, etc. But like elevator music, if you start focusing on it, it starts to get irritating.

NerdoftheRings does some pretty good episode breakdowns for this show. Does anyone recommend anyone who does the same for GoT/HotD?