The Rings of Power REVIEW : Episode 1 : It's a MESS
VloĆŸit
- Äas pĆidĂĄn 18. 06. 2024
- Jonathan watches episode 1 of The Rings of Power for the first time! What an experience! Stunning... ly mediocre. Tolkien's work deserves excellence -- this was anything but that. Sure, it was pretty, and the soundtrack is first-rate, but the writing, the acting, and the action is just painful!
Get our PODCAST at windowonthewest.com
------------------
Subscribe to our Podcast đ
------------------
Apple âș podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Google âș podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0...
------------------
If You Like Tolkien đ
------------------
The Silmarillion âș amzn.to/3a7wE0k
The Atlas of Middle-earth âș amzn.to/3lzsIIf
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien âș amzn.to/3bognFr
------------------
More Resources đ
------------------
Get more Tolkien âș www.theonering.com
Become a member and join the conversation âș www.theonering.com/register
------------------
Chapters
------------------
00:00 Introduction
01:34 What you win people with...
01:57 Episode 1 Begins!
03:00 Leaving Valinor
03:40 Mary Sue Galadriel
04:58 Meet the Harfoots
05:26 Meanwhile in Lindon
06:33 The worst line EVER
08:53 Gil-galad is a bully
10:27 Episode 1 Thoughts
11:02 Show, don't Tell
12:35 Me smart. Make understand hard.
13:10 But it's a great soundtrack - ZĂĄbava
Was it really as bad as I thought? Is the writing THAT horrible? The acting THAT bland? The visuals THAT mediocre?
Look, I love Tolkien, and his work deserves nothing but the very best effort of anyone who's playing in his world. Where's the heartfelt effort in this show?!
It's that bad. The story telling is at best mediocre. Galadriel went from powerful, beautiful and strong to a one dimensional common soldier. I will admit I like the majority of the imagery, but its the acting and story that let it down.
Glorfindel no Gil Galad took frodo but I know it was a slip of the tongue. Others might not.
Elrond doesn't look right with short hair.
after having watched episode 1 myself: what you have is a potentially really good fantasy story rendered COMPLETE GARBAGE by the application of a "JRR Tolkien LotR" sticker slapped on the package.
...and did you notice Amazon isnt letting anyone write a review on their site? i wonder why?
It's not just bad, it's ABYSMAL! I can't for the life of me understand how Amazon thought it a good idea to hire two writers, who are not only very inexperienced, but clearly aren't good writers at all (judging from what we have seen so far). I'm not exaggerating, but I've seen better writing in my English literature classes when I was at high school, compared to what I am seeing now with the Rings of Power.
"There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men for this treachery"
There certainly must be one in black speech that fits perfectly.
@@user-jn2fb2wl3d Well there is french. That might work.
@@einfachnura1421 đ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł geil
I am increasingly convinced that Jeff Bezos may well be a failed jester, escaped from the halls of Angband.
For this plays like a poorly executed mockery of Arda.
JUST the opening few minutes had sooo much wrong with it. Elven children acting like bratty, poorly raised human bullies, origami on parchment in the beginning of the first age... there's an argument that parchment wasn't even a thing at the very beginning of the world. Not only short haired Elves but messy, short hair. Elrond the poet and Galadriel the Warrior. Galadriel seemingly not married and not a mother. Script that seems like it was written by a 14 year old. This is all in the first few minutes of the first episode. It's TRULY awful. If this wasn't LotR, it might be an ok show... maybe (though I still wouldn't watch it) but this abomination is supposed to be Tolkien. It is NOT!
Weird fan fiction written by people who aren't fans of tokkiens writings it seems.
it was stated elven children act similar to human children tho.
And the sword-twirling after the âfightâ in the ice cave. So much cringe.
And thatâs why I fell asleep after possible 16 minutes âŠ
wait till you see her relationship with bad boy sauron
The Rings of Power has revealed why Cirdan the Shipwright was considered so wise. He was the only elf that understood how boats float.
I loved that part where Guyladriel got a neck tattoo, a cow ring and dyed her hair pink. So stunning and brave.
Galadriel, according to Tolkien was an otherworldly, majestic, luminescent elf who stood 6 feet 4 inches tall, yet she is played in this series by an actress shorter than most of the other female âhumanâ women! She has not a shred of the awe-inspiring qualities with which Galadriel was portrayed in the source material.
Elsewhere, the writing is soulless and pedestrian. The pacing horrific. The ânewâ concepts arbitrary and disconnected. The narrative cohesion is non-existent. The cinematography and visuals are good but strangely underwhelming for such an ambitious project. The acting is dissonant. Casting is atrocious. The work is in many places twee when it should be somber. The so-called âtime compressionsâ are counter to Tolkienâs lore. What theyâve done to Galadriel and her story is flat-out ridiculous.
Itâs like a pastiche of disjointed notions thrown against a screen, an expensive imitation of an imitation of an imitation of a piece of Tolkien fan-fiction. I was hoping for a success, for the sake of Tolkien and careers of the artists involved. Not one aspect of this production inspired a sense of wonder within me. Iâm sad to say this, in all honesty. But not stunned or surprised-big money spent has not been a guarantee of quality filmmaking of storytelling for ages, and particularly not in the last twenty-five years. Such a shame; it could have been so very much more if theyâd kept to the lore (and employed seasoned writers).
This comment is better written than the rings of power script
It's baddddd
also, I don't believe the actress playing Galadriel at all. she doesn't look like she's ever been in a fight or a battle. she looks like she sings really bad pop music.
@@valueofnothing2487
The first time I saw a picture of her I called her Bubble Gum Girl. Totally not Galadriel. But we should blame the people who hired her. She's probably a talented actress who you might like in the right role with a good script. I would guess that she loves acting and just wants to have a successful acting career. Let's not blame the actors for this mess.
@@richardrose2606
There's a lot to casting and you really see it when it's bad.
Like Elrond. I compared him to David Hyde Pierce. You wouldn't cast David Hyde Pierce as Elrond, even though he's a fine actor at what he does.
That fight scene between the Galadriel and the Troll felt like a dark souls fan playing a boss the 100th time for fun after reading all the moves..
This fight with troll boss is so bad written scene to short, we don't have time to be scared or worried for characters + 1 fighter was enough to kill it :/. We have similar scene in LOTR in Mine of Moria, that fight engage almost whole Fellowship to fight it. Troll are hard and strong any DM in RPG game would do this battle epic and engage whole party to fight it, mayby someone would not see another day.
@@SeleneSalvatore yep even in Witcher games, so difficult to fight them.. In LOTR, that was a good scene.. Showed how strong they truly are.. it was so ridiculous in rings of power.. As if galdriel had cheat mode on: Like delay enemy time, increase jump height, one hit enemy.. :D
Yea, she should have rolled through the attack and got a sweet backstab finisher
Fun fact: In the books Galadriel was Elrond's mother-in-law.
Hard to say at which point, in their broken timeline, but at least she should be married and have a daughter.
A missed opportunity for showing and not telling was at the memorial for Finrod.
Instead of telling us that Galadriel misses her brother and still mourns his death, have her walk up to the statue, set her hand on it, and then start to weep. No dialogue. Just acting and visual. Then when Elrond arrives she senses him and she tries to put on a front. He doesn't say anything but hands her a cup of wine and stands beside her in solidarity.
Fuk, that sounds awful đ€ą
Except that this was never the story arc that Tolkien had ever written.
Itâs like trying to fix what has been broken into a thousands pieces with a bit of tape.
There is just too much wrong here to even begin.
But I appreciate your comment as a singular example of ways to improve.
While I agree with others that Finrod DID NOT die in battle, at least your writing instincts are better than the ones who wrote this drivel.
The way you write it makes her sad. Sheâs angry
@@tiggergolah What?
You donât think âthe stone sinks because it sees only downwardâ is good writing?
Or âThey say the wine of victory is sweeter when fermented in the spoils of toilâ is not a direct channel to Tolkien?
God save us all from this middle school drivel.
One part got me so annoyed when she said "you've not seen what I've seen", this .... is so heavy because I didn't feel her struggle like at all, she's just stubborn and angry in some parts that kills any link to Tolkien's Galdrial
yeah exactly it was infuritating. she seems like a whiny teenager season8 dany Targaryen 2.0.
Doesn't make sense when you know what Elrond's early life was....! Ăo
@@Mateiyu this was done so beautifully, czcams.com/video/ocIllUCkTec/video.html and it ties to what you said. Literally raised by Maglor and Maethros after Elwing thought her sons were killed. Chose to help her husband Ăarendil. â€ïžâ€ïžâ€ïžâ€ïžâ€ïž
She is really unlikable and self centered.
The troll fight scene. It's like if you went to some kind of interactive theme park and your sister 'fought' a troll on rails. A troll with no aggression that doesn't defend itself; and near the end of the rails, she does a pointless little flourish and makes eye contact with you (and gets her photo taken for the souvenir shop). Amazon World. Great.
Yeah that was very MCU generic shit fight scene
Hahah brilliant mind you have. Your description is perfection lol. đ»
Even Aragorn got knocked out for a few seconds after that troll tossed him, it showed he was vulnerable and not invincible. But this version of Galadriel seems that she is never in danger, I wonder if they will even allow her to get hurt at all in this show.
I thought the troll scene was wasnât quite that bad but it added nothing to the story it was totally unecessary. She wasnât fighting with blunt force like a man would she was fast and agile as you could imagine a warrior woman who is trained in fighting arts. But thatâs the thing that ruined it for me. I donât buy her as an elegant elf queen and a high elf at that. She doesnât have the grace, elegance, the gracile agility that the elves do. I buy her as a human woman like an Eowyn. I thought the mountain climbing seen was dumb and unnecessary as fuck and the fact that her pack of warriors turned on her goes against anything elvish. I canât stand the casting choice for her brother; he seems like a yuppy Oxford student whoâs also a wannabe Patrick Bateman and Elrond is like a mashup of Dr Oz and Quentin Tarantino who also goes to Oxford using his trust fund baby money
@@jasminemurdock1499 this is amazing đ
So many people are bending over backwards to say that this is unbelievably and unrealistically good. Even if this show had surpassed peoples expectations there's no way it could be THAT GOOD. The writings on the wall for everyone to see for themselves anyways... I'm glad you haven't sold out. Here's to your integrity and honesty!
He's the only reviewer where I don't feel there is some level of political and or financial bias involved in this in there takes.
There are many more people giving this 1âs on rotten tomatoes and other reviewing platforms than even mediocre or positive scores. I would say that there are significantly more people that are dedicated to hating this show rather than the other way around but thatâs just my opinion. Donât think it deserves a 10/10 or 5/5, but it is certainly not a 1 on either scale.
Honestly I enjoyed it. It's not some Emmy winning show but the visuals are solid, the characters interesting ( I can see hints of older Galadriel in the acting) and story after two episodes interesting enough to make me want to watch episode three.
Is it the best thing since GoT S1? I don't know, season not over. Is it an abysmal disaster like the Tolkien zealots claim? Not based upon the first two episodes.
I do prefer the Celebrimbor from Shadow of War though.
@@shayrogers9992 It deserves a 1 for intentionally bastardizing Tolkien.
@@mbogucki1 first im glad you liked it . im glad some people will . its the silver linning for me ...
visuals sucked . 2/3s of convos would zoom in and blur everthing save faces form mintues killing any imersion for me . everyone had red makeup on cheeks , lighting was bad . angles were bad .
i disagree on galdreal shes fully redcons her charitor and goes from being one of the strongest woman in fiction to being a keran and super hero in combat . i see NONE of tolkies writing or LOTR movie her in this .
GOT s1 was good not great . id rate show top 30-50 out of the 200ish ives seen as better . i liked hotd more then got s1
if your causeal watcher and dont mind the film style you may like if you have read any of the books or you hate soap oprea style filming you will hate this of find it bad at best. they zoom in on people faces for convos for minitues at a time and blur everything else out .
shadow of war is a great game . its not lore frendly . I give it a pass becuse its a good game . it though is 1000x more faithful to lore then rop . there were under a minute which didnt redcon or just make things up out of two hours i beg you to tell me something save tree visual and three shots of citys 2 elvish and one dwarf which didnt redcon or make stuff up ....
celbrimbor was one of the only actors i thought did good. however he didnt look like an elf which is a huge issue . i dont want to see people i know in real as elfs and dwarfs . i want people who look like elves and dwarfs as they did in lotr and hobbit films .
again glad you liked it but i think its garbage . all the best and if you or any lurkers read this please lmk which bits didnt break lore or maeke stuff up other then ones said which is under a minitue
sorry for spelling not from usa
"In order to see the light, you must touch the darkness" is TOTALLY not in accord with Tolkien's philosophy. That's really bad.
it's the writer's philosophy "In order to see the light, you must find the switch..and pay your electric bill"
There is something subtle about the acting directions that strikes me hard on my immersion. There is just an apparent lack of efforts done to distinguish between men and elves in this show.
Elves shown in Peter Jackson's movies/trilogies are always elegant, calm, orderly in their every action and body language.
In this show, elves felt far too much like humans. They tell human jokes, they lean on guardrails, fidgeting with their fingers as they think and speak, none of their body language speaks LotR elves to me.
Even the visuals for them aren't as distinctly different. The elf commander "watchwarden" did not seem to have makeup done to mask his age and wrinkles to look elven.
I just struggle to find them believable as elves half the time as a result.
One thing I found hilarious was how long it took for the drifters to even suspect Galadriel might be an elf. Like an effing First Age Noldor elf dumps into your raft and you mistook her for a human xDDD - and not just some random one but Galadriel of unsurpassed beauty with radiant silver-gold hair reflecting the light of the Trees of Valinor. For fs sake the chick at least 5000 years old here, let me repeat, five+ **thousand** years old; you would expect some of that to rub on her and make her feel and look at least a bit too unearthly to be mistaken for a mortal.
A bit off-topic, also isn't she supposed to posses immense magical power even without any rings so when a storm starts brewing that's exactly where I would expect her to do *something* but instead she seems only capable of swinging blades, which in itself feel off for the character to be using something so mundane. F me this was bad.
Exactly! These elves don't look extraordinarily beautiful, poised, luminous like Tolkien described them. Peter Jackson did a great job there. The elves of this show look absurd and a disappointment. Though at least Arondir has some poise... the rest don't.
Elves in the jackson movies always have a subtle blur filter on their faces. It made them look young and clean and destinguished them from the humans.
In this show they did not do this and you can see how the actors just got shaved yesterday.
The elves are totally unrecognisable from Tolkien's. His elves would not have been bullies as children. They always had this grace, dignity and otherworldly power. They seemed in tune with some kind of higher power beyond human comprehension. These new ones are just humans with possible pointy ears and seem quite weak and insecure (well the white male ones anyway).
â@@alkebabish
And wasn't Galadriel's childhood BEFORE the Unchaining of Melkor? Elven bullies AFTER the Unchaining I MIGHT be able to believe IF DEPICTED WELL and QUICKLY REINED IN BY THEIR ELDERS, but BEFORE?
I really came to hate CGI! I want human actors and heavy horses in New Zealands landscapes with great story telling bringing me high stakes!
At this point, I would rather take horrible visuals but a good story and good acting. I mean, the Hogfather doesnÂŽt have great visuals but it is actullay a great movie.
CG was spot one. Visuals are solid especially compared to the LotR films.
I wasn't that much of a hardcore fan on the original movies when they came out. However after 15 years of MCU/DCU CGI heavy cinema, I really adore the trilogy.
Was there a single horse in the show? I donât recall seeing any and started to wonder if they totally avoided their use for some reason.
they had to some (keyword SOME) revisions here; in the books this particular period the Elves where living in relative peace and nobody was aware of any 'high stake' issues on the horizon...
I think I actually know how to fix this show.
Toss it in the dustbin and start over with writers who love the source material as it is.
Bingo.
But that would be racist.
JRR Tolkien: âEvil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made.â
You are correct but I'm like 90% sure that isn't a Tolkien quote its been posted everywhere mistakenly
@@anotherhappylanding4746 Maybe not an exact quote but that is exactly what Morgoth did and Tolkien describes the concept.
@@therra1101 oh yeah I don't disagree there, that's all morgoth could ever do, just corrupt things but never create
Donât orcs eat, and donât they drink? Or do they just live on foul air and poison?â âNo, they eat and drink, Sam. The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I donât think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them; and if they are to live at all, they have to live like other living creatures.
Itâs C.S. Lewis (rather than TolkienâŠ)reiterating what Martin Luther famously said, but the concept that the devil is Godâs ape is imbued in all of Tolkienâs writing as it is a hallmark of Christian thought that there is no duality in the world - No Utterly Good opposed by an Utterly Bad. Rather, there is only Utterly Good and Bad is a corruption of that Utterly Good.
It is why AinulindalĂ« (The Creation Song) was not âundoneâ by Melkor when he added discordance to the song, but was only stopped thrice by Eru. Melkor couldnât stop the song, only corrupt it. Only The Supreme Creator had complete omniscience over both the Song, and the free will of those Created (of which, Melkor was one of those createdâŠ). All Melkor could do was add discordant ânotesâ to the AinulindalĂ«.
To try to write a script close to the way a great author wrote his books... It's almost impossible to capture that. This show needed to be done by some kind of Tolkien scholar/author.
They fired him when he told them they were screwing up .
đ They fired Tom Shippey when he told them they were âpolluting the loreâ.
Your statement seems to insinuate that you are one of the Tolkien scholars, just because you don't like how it is depicted. I could be wrong thoughđ
well I can write this tv series. Just be as woke as possible, simple.
Yes
When Galadriel said "get to da choppa!" My fig puckered. What a revelation in cinema
I hope when a comic con comes and this show has a panel, I hope someone comes up to the mic and says, âevil cannot create anything new, it can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented and made.â And I hope thereâs a thunderous applause.
Haha me too đ
The part where Guyladriel says "let off some steam Bennet.", after throwing a pipe through his chest, completely won me over.
Guyladriel really puts the "man" in "Commando" :P
For some reason, that phrase has stuck in my mind when I first watched it when it came out in VHS đ
When Galadriel had to run from Paul Walker and they ended up getting in a street race to prove rights but then Galadriel crashes and Paul Walker let's her get away in his car, I knew I was family.
Sounds like something Gandalf would do.
The scene where Valinor was burnt by Morgoth, What?? Finrod in Feanor's oath, what??? No Beleriand, no creation of the sun and moon, no sinking of Beleriand after the war of wrath. Galadriel is so insufferable, making her a victim is so pathetic, daughter of Finarfin wasn't a push over. Gil Galad was portrayed awfully, so much animosity between him and Galadriel (unlikely as she is his great aunt). Galadriel is so unpopular among her own people, what???? Her jumping off the boat to swim thousands of miles across the sea, what??? So many confusing concepts to get your head around. I agree, the music and some scenery were done well.
Its so bad. The only way we know the characters are awesome is because they say so, or by reducing another character to look weak or like an idiot in comparison. Every scene is bad. In terms of Tolkien lore, its like they read the book upside down.
The worst scene for me was by far Galadriel jumping off the boat in the middle of the Sundering Sea. No land in sight just open sea, where is she going to swim to? It was mind-numbing.
And not just did she encounter one boat by chance in the vast ocean, but two!
Big Tolkien fan here, not a zealot but I truly enjoyed and read most of his books. Including the Silmarillion that blew my mind away for the giganormous scale and incredible stakes.
I would never in my life would have bet on me choosing to see the second episode of House of the Dragons instead of anything Tolkien related, but Amazon managed what I thought it was impossible.
ItÂŽs been 15 years that I dream to watch a depiction (even a small one) of the Silmarillion, but after 20 minutes of the first episode I tuned it off and instead watched HotD, 1000 times better in comparison.
ItÂŽs enraging to see what they did with Tolkien's world and characters and to be honest, I was bored the entire time by the silly writing and annoying Galadriel. Incredible disappointment, I still will try to force myself to watch the rest of the first 2 episodes at least just to have the full picture but it will be hard. I canÂŽt believe this is happening. What a shitshow.
They turned a daughter of the House of Finarfin into a two pence selfish and witless fool with a titanic chip on her shoulder, and they managed to say that High Elven children from the Blessed Realm during the Years of the Trees were every bit as toxic as modern human children. Why call this Tolkien? Though it was very pretty to look at, and Halbrand is a snacc, this version of Galadriel is simply painful to witness.
I feel you but as far as i know they dont have the right for the Silmarillion and have to change a lot of stuff. It feels kinda bad to give up on it this early since it been years we got anything out of the world of Tolkien. Lets hope they improve and dont disappoint us like Disney with Star Wars COPIUM
â@@thranduin6538 Nah. I'd rather have nothing new than something as disrespectful as this. I mean, has it really even been that long? The third Hobbit movie isn't even 10 years old. Game companies keep pumping new Tolkien-based games too.
Even "Resident Evil Village" is a better "Silmarillion" than the ROP.
bro . . . That is brutal xD
It's not based on the Silmarillion..
â@@reeceandrew7312 Yep it's based on the money of a trust of mondial deliveryđ€Ł
That evil cow was too much.
Looks more evil than sauron in the series
Don't call Galadriel that
Copying Moana?
if you have to dumb down and weaken male characters in order to show how strong and wise your female protagonist is, guess what? I don't believe she is...Galadriel doesn't need sword to be powerfull, that's how awesome she is, she does not need to be surrounded by idiots for her wisdom to shine
Right! In LOTR, she was surrounded by strong men and that didn't diminish her greatness.
@@MyMusiqueLive in fact, that these strong men clearly deferred to her made her even more impressive. Without dumbing them down
@@MyMusiqueLive It actually made her even more great and I think thatÂŽs the point. She was the most powerful being in that scene.
Idiocracy Elven Edition.
@@therra1101 2 angels, 1 living legend and a woman, and everyone agrees that she is the wisest of all of them. That was Galadriel in LoRâŠ..
I watched both to judge this for myself and my overwhelming emotion was that of deep, deep gut wrenching sadness. This could have been, no, should have been a breath taking epic in honour of the great man's work, instead we have a very very poor Chinese whisper of a show that bears nothing at all to the master pieces Tolkien wrote.
They should just remove the name of Tolkien from the show and as far as the budget, it looks like Amazon is running a money laundering operation. It was a boring show with cringeworthy dialog. I watched the first two episodes and feel it isn't worth watching more of. As far as Guyladreial, she needs to enroll in the lluvatar School of Acting and meteor man is Gandalf the Nude.
So many issues I donât even know where to start. Setting aside the rampant fan fiction and total disregard for Tolkienâs lore, the writing itself was abysmal and full of plot holes. Galadriel throwing herself into the sea rather than enter Valinor was really something else. The writers could have easily avoided that bit of absurdity by having it so the elves granted passage to enter Valinor had to board a smaller boat right before sailing in, and the elves who undressed them would stay on the main boat and go back. Then Galadriel could have just sailed back with the others. Or she could have switched places in secret with one of the assistants. Both would have made more sense. Heck, she could have still been shipwrecked on her way back but much closer to middle earth. All of these scenarios would make far more sense, but then we wouldnât have the scene of Galadriel dramatically diving into the ocean. Ridiculous.
Fanfiction is made by fans there people ar not fans of Tolkein.
i always love tolkien's elves. beautiful, regal, ethereal. even the less wise sindarin elves are charming. but this... the elves don't look, speak or act like an elf.
bullies issue. the clothings are too costume-y like they play on some shakespeare's stage. the wordings are intended to be poetic. but i heard many english native speakers said they can't make sense of it. imagine me đ
thank you for the review! it's really balance and fair.
There will be university classes created to cover just how thoroughly the producers of this show failed in every way possible. I think itâs possible some of the CGI scene techs actually cared about Tolkien and this show. For instance the shots of the Two Trees and Lindon looked good. And it only cost hundreds of millions.
The reason the show is so bad, so mediocre is obvious; this isn't Tolkien's world and it was never intended to be. Amazon simply wanted a pre-established franchise as a vehicle for whatever this show is. The cast and showrunners have already confirmed this in interviews saying "It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien's work would reflect what the world actually looks like". The problem is Tolkien's world is timeless because it has no connection to the world we live in or even the time it was written.
They never intended to respect Tolkien's vision or his creation, it was not about what we can do to pay tribute to Tolkien's creation, but what can Tolkien's creation do for us and our careers. They stand on the shoulders of a giant so they can feel tall, but they are merely deluding themselves. Amazon and everyone involved in this show deserves the backlash it is receiving.
The scene where Galadriel speaks Vietnamese and rescues a tiny village from the ravages of the Viet Cong with only a orc dagger brought tears to my eyes. 12/10
Amazon: "How can you leave such a negative review? I didn't notice anything THAT bad.
JRRTolkien Fan: You have not seen what I have seen.
Amazon: "But it was really pretty CGI and full of so much nice diversi...
JRRTolkien Fan: YOU HAVE NOT SEEN WHAT I HAVE SEEN!
The worst part was that it was boring...it didn't make me long for Middle Earth like the books or even Jackson's version.... I just didn't care. There were other things like making the elves look bland....or the Harfoots? They were horrible
Yes, the script is trying to be intelligent - just like the Galadriel actress is trying to convey power & authority. Both fail miserably, laughably so đ€Ł Loved your comparison of the troll battles! It took the whole Fellowship a long time to bring theirs down, but Galadriel just does it effortlessly. And I'm so disappointed (but not surprised) with the portrayals of Elrond & Gil-galad....and Celebrimbor too. Apparently Galadriel has robbed them all of intelligence, dignity, & strength.
Not to mention it's a younger less powerful Galadriel or at least she should be.
@@xeixea5291 true but still this feels so French ⊠even her armor in the movie is more French Middle Ages than what the elves next to her wear
@@xeixea5291 Mm..actually the reverse is true. Galadriel was born halfway through Years of the Trees. This show is set in 2nd age so by this time, Galadriel is already ancient despite her appearance. During the YOTT and 1st Age, the Eldar were at the pinnacle of their power, both militarily and magically. In the 2nd Age and most notably, the 3rd age, the elves get weaker and weaker and are a mere shadow of what they once were.
If that's what constitutes what they've claimed is a "dream team" of Hollywood writers,
then Hollywood is finished.
Sounds like the show is just what we expected! What a surprise.
There's a serious problem that Hollywood has with respecting lore, mythology and authors that they adapt stories from... It's like they always delight in painting over pictures that are masterpieces... In context to the show, it's completely bonkers how badly they've read into the books and are portraying things .... Some of the most weirdest things I noticed in the show so far:
SPOILER RANT!
I'm far from being a Tolkien scholar although I've read (and absolutely revere) the Silmarillion, but:
- Galadriel is older and arguably wiser than all the characters on screen. Yet, Gil Galad who was probably a babe when Galadriel had already great authority for ages, is now ordering her around like some pesky subordinate (though granted that she and her husband ruled fiefdoms under his rule)... Elrond treats her like a rebellious younger sister... And Celebrimbor, who is by far younger than her, looks weirdly older than all of them. I don't get it...
- If you really want to make Galadriel your star warrior, then why is she being NERFED so terribly? She doesn't need to fight like some skilled swashbuckler. This is the elf that is said to have the greatest magical powers after Feanor himself, which could bring an entire fortress down! Why does she need to be shown as powerful by defeating a Snow Troll or whatever.
- I'm far from being a Tolkien scholar, but even I know that Galadriel never came to Middle Earth to be a warrior, she always wanted to be a queen and rule lands of her own, so why would she say that she's nothing without her sword? ...
- Finrod did not die hunting Sauron, he lived so gloriously and died for so many more honorable reasons... trust Hollywood to be stuck in the whole - hero hunts villain routine.
- Why would Galadriel agree to go the Undying lands without even notifying her husband Celeborn...
- Elrond is not allowed to attend a session for Elf-lords only, then later Gil Galad wonders if he knows who Celebrimbor is... how many other Elf-lords are there, at the time, who are more popular than Celebrimbor?
Like it's completely fine if you want to create your own story and your own characters, because you have limited rights or whatever... But when you make mistakes like this, it's clear that you're just being irreverent to the source material, or it's being written by people who've not read it sufficiently or with great attention.
My biggest conflict with this show is that it actually looks visually stunning and if they wrote a show that was more respectful to the source material, we would have all gotten such a great revisit back into Middle Earth
Hollywood is wokeried, thatâs why. Get ready for more amateur cringeworthy productions that ride on the coattails of classical work.
The scene where Sauron tells Galadriel "I am your father" blew me away đ±
I think you're right, that they were transposing Feanor over Galadriel's character (because latest school of feminism), but the writers failed even at that. The character comes across (again, not the actress' fault, but the writer's) more like Greta Thunberg than anyone from Tolkien's writings.
Loved the part where guyladriel said: âItâs rings of power timeâ and proceeded to power the rings.
Why are the elves more human than elf.. the scene of them on the ship about to enter valinor, with their plain white gowns, they look like cult members about to drink the kool-aid.
The elf haircuts hurt my soul.
Why on earth would they give an elf a buzz cut???
Yes! All of the Elves should have had long hair.
Just another slight against Tolkien fans
Years ago, when I first heard that Amazon was going to be doing a new series based on Tolkien or set in Tolkien's world I was so excited. As the years passed, Tom Shippey was canned and Christopher Tolkien died, my hopes began to fade. Then the trailers came out, and despite the proof of my eyes and ears I still cherished hope... I am so very sad this series is absolute dreck . There are some pretty moments. The score is good and that is the best that can be said. My husband and I did laugh out loud in many places, sadly that was not when they were trying so very hard to be funny. Except for some names it is unrecognizable as an adventure yarn set in Tolkien's universe.
We didn't dare to watch it. There were too many red flags. After what they did and didn't do to the Star Wars universe and many other 'modern' fantasy adaptations we know that they shouldn't touch Tolkien's work. It's like they have a battle plan and they are pinning a map with great franchizes to destroy.
You gave this show more credit than it deserved. Absolutely terrible writing, acting, and music. Are we now not going to notice that the Harfoots are all in interracial relationships but their offsprings donât match that?
The script has been written by a teenager whose been given a school assignment to write a story in the manner of Tolkein but failing miserable.
Visually and musically its stunning.
They have played on making it feel familiar by copying the structuring of the PJ films opening prologue narrated by Galadriel, then introducing the Harfoots (hobbits) the fireworks, etc.
The world of Tolkein is so immense, yet they didn't have the material to create a well rounded story.
Let's copy and paste dubious comic relief and action scenes yet make them 10x more unrealistic and dubious from Lord of the Rings Trilogy!
Where have we seen this before?
I love when Elrond calls his future step mother his "friend". They both look like late teenagers.
No surprise, Galadriel is definitely Rey Skywalker. She kills a troll without really fighting. She's the best climber ever. She can swim across the ocean, survive giant worms and tempests, without loosing her dagger... What else?
Dumb Gil-Galad deciding to send his "best warriors" away from Middle Earth? WTF? And since when Gil-Galad has the right to decide who can sail to Valinor?
Celebrimbor is as ridiculous as expected. Elrond and him in a Sunday walk to Khazad Dum, does it look like two "highnesses" giving a diplomatic visit? It's so cheap!
Finally, the dark beardless dwarven princess is not the worst thing in this series.
Gil Galad âdecreeingâ who could and couldnât go to Valinor was absurd.
It takes Eru and the Valar out of the picture. Which seems like it might be a consistent theme here. To remove all sense of a higher power.
Galadriel refused the Valar. A pretty big deal. But her motive was certainly not out of a desire for vengeance.
Galadriel was not vengeful.
Galadriel did everything possible to avert war. She saw itâs power of destruction.
Galadriel wanted to preserve, itâs what she used Nenya for. The guardianship and preservation of Middle Earth was her paramount purpose.
Galadriel the warmonger is the complete antithesis of how Tolkien wrote Galadriel.
Spare me the âAmazon dispositionâ line.
Being capable of martial skills does not a warmonger make.
Donât be fooled with obscure references of Galadriel taken out of all context.
She was as close to a pacifist as exists in Arda.
If you imagine Galadriel a warrior queen then you misunderstood entirely Galadrielâs reaction to the Kinslaying.
Do you understand Galadrielâs impetus in going to Middle earth? Initially she wanted to rule.
But after the Kinslaying her primary motivation was to thwart Feanor because she saw him as a force of destruction that would potentially bring the First children to their knees.
Not to mention her very deliberate abstinence in all the wars against Morgoth.
Those that argue in support of Galadriel the warmonger have gleaned their knowledge in bits and pieces from blogs that confirm their own bias.
Because it is truly impossible to read the Silmarillion and UT and imagine Galadriel to be anything even approaching a warrior queen.
She abhorred war and itâs destruction.
That was not something she came to be. It was always Galadriel.
And itâs why Tolkien credited her with such wisdom. Because she had the foresight and wisdom to avoid war whenever possible.
And now to merge her storyline with Feanorâs, or âtranspose Feanorâs storyline atop Galadrielâs as the OneRing aptly put it, is just absurd.
Because if there were ever two arch rivals in all of the elves it was Galadriel and Feanor. Whom she disliked and distrusted from the very beginning.
It was Feanor who was vengeful. Never Galadriel.
Galadriel went to Middle Earth to stop Feanor from pulling her kin into his downward spiral of folly.
She was the very literal counter to his vengeance and warmongering.
Thatâs why this is such an abhorrent alteration to the lore.
Feanor was juxtaposed against Galadriel.
Feanor had the traits that Amazon has now imbued Galadriel with.
Is the problem with that not overtly obvious?
Mother in law not step mother. But Celeborn apparently dead in this time line. So no Celebrian for Elrond to marry and begat Arwen.
@@bry8636 Because amazon doesnt have any rights for the Silamrillion. Same reason they skipped Ungolianth. I was confused aswell, but it's logical, because they are not allowed to do a 1:1 replica or use the content of most tolkien works. Like guys if you want to hate and take every little detail as an error then so will be it. You always will be hating then, no matter how great the actual show might be. The first two episodes were good in their own right (not great or s-tier but good). They are not cannon and they never were supposed to be. Just imagine that it's a somewhat new story in an alternate universe with the same characters. The producers have the right to influence the series with their creativity and storytelling. They are tolkien fans themselves and they dropped a lot of eastereggs and hints to the original story aswell. It's also not supposed to be fan service. Just accept this show as it's own project and try to be objective. Also the ceremony ladies on the ship went to Valinor without any decree of Gil-Galad. It's more like an honor to sail immediately and almost on their own, and used as stroy telling instrument to get Galadriel more into her internal conflict and continue the story with the rights they have reserved.
@@ianpatterson6552 my bad. Mother in law indeed, unless she happened to marry Earendil I guess :) I'm French and we use the same word for both.
@@MK-il5vc How on earth is it âlogicalâ that you canât use the broad outline of the Silmarillion-but yet they can completely concoct their own story that changes the existing story?
Itâs a complete non sequitur that they canât use existing works bc of copyright violations while overtly ignoring their own existing contract that states plainly that they are not allowed to alter the lore.
That is illogical by every metric.
Thatâs a very selective application of copyright legality.
âWell, we canât use the Silmarillion bc of copyright issues, so weâll go ahead and break our existing contract, never mind the copyright legalities with that.
Thatâs illogical. You can not stand on copyright violations while they are overtly ignoring their existing contract.
Do not invoke ârightsâ issues while Amazon has chosen to ignore their existing contract with the estate.
It is breaking canon to an extreme degree.
Iâm not just referring to Gil Galad. The changes Galadrielâs entire story arc as well as her character.
They are not allowed to change or alter existing lore. I watched the interview that Shippey got fired for.
He mentioned everything Amazon could and couldnât do.
Do you know where Amazon got the idea that Galadriel was âfull of piss and vinegarâ?
The Appendices? Hardly, the line theyâve used to justify Galadriel the warmonger, which turned out worse than I had imagined, is from UT and Tolkienâs letters.
Neither of which they have the rights to.
This has absolutely nothing to do with legalities and copyrights at all anymore.
For several reasons. Because they are drawing off whatever source they need to regardless of rights and using it to justify the changes to the lore. Which is, according to your own statement, a copyright violation.
And primarily bc Christopher is dead. Christopher, by the power of veto couldve vetoed Galadrielâs entire story arc (and much else) because it unequivocally altered what Tolkien had written.
But now that Simon is at the helm, son of Christopher, who created an ongoing rift in the family for 2 reasons.
Simon did not want to pursue lawsuits against Jackson and Warner bros for violations to the contracts. Christopher did.
The reason Simon did not want to pursue the lawsuits is bc it would make any future studios who wanted to buy the rights reticent to do so knowing they had to face potential lawsuits.
And secondly, Christopher absolutely did not want Simon to be Chief executor of the Tolkien estate. Because Christopher had known for a long time that Simon wanted to sell any and all rights to his fatherâs work.
So any copyright issues that Amazon are guilty of are now a nonissue because of Simon Tolkien. Who shouldâve vetoed this bulk of this entire show.
Because it has absolutely violated the contract rights as they were written and the Tolkien estate had an âabsolute power of vetoâ should they change the existing lore.
Quit the attempts to justify changing the lore bc of copyright issues. Copyright issues died when Christopher did.
There is no question that Christopher, the vigilant and even pedantic guardian of his fatherâs work wouldâve vetoed this series into oblivion.
It is not at all a coincidence that Amazon didnât start releasing details of the show right after Christopherâs death.
This show is dancing on the graves of Christopher and Tolkien alike in their flippant dissolution of what he had written.
Elrond is Galadriel's son-in-law. Celeborn is her Husband. Galadriel was always adventurous in the beginning! She was wise enough to stay away from the silmarils's creation. She was always revered for her wisdom and beauty. Here Galadriel is not Galadriel. She is vengeful and a very different character. She has no signs of being wise.
She is too macho. I mean, she does not even have breasts, I do not know what the CGI did, but she is not the same Galadriel from Tolkien verse.
You are spot on about the show runners putting Feanor's revenge mission onto Galadriel. You are the first reviewer who mentioned it. I felt the same. Elrond hitting on his future mother in law, Galadriel. Love it! LOL!
I just saw the scene where Gil-Galad was talking to Elrond about evil being gone and time of peace being declared....
Did I misunderstand something?
Wasn't it Gil-Galad who warned others that he suspected a dark presence in Mordor sometime during the 2nd age?
What happened to Tolkien's World? In one word: Nothing!
Everything is as fine and dandy in it as it was before, because none of this woke shit is canon. This is nothing more than a 1 billion dollar fanfiction production that resembles NOTHING of what Tolkien stood for. And anyone concerned about Rings of Power grants this shit too much credit. What this DOES deserve is absolute rejection, nothing more.
I felt like I was revisiting my own attempts at writing in the 9th grade while trying to be profound.
At least I have the self awareness to recognize what Iâd written as pretentiously painful.
God bless high school English teachers. They must read so much awful dribble and then have to let down an eager faced teenager who thinks theyâve created a masterpiece.
Not my experience. My German teachers always told me they enjoyed my creative writing and sometimes said they would have liked to keep reading. But I always knew it wasn't anything special. It just was consistent had its own style and minimal character development. After reading 20 garbage pieces the one that does a little bit right seems like a masterpiece :D
I would have made a far better job as writer and creative director alone than everything what Amazon has done. But I never would have, because of the respect I have for Tolkien. I might be better than those hacks but I'm in no way in a position to fill in the blanks of his unfinished work. It's not even about just quality but you have to become Tolkien. If you really wanna do the original material justice you have to read everything from him. Even stuff completely unrelated to lord of the rings because it's all about the way he thought and saw the world when it comes to filling in what is missing. I only can think of one man who could have done it and that's Guy Gavriel Kay. Everyone else is a gamble.
It's like an over-correction from the overly-modern language used in fantasy video games.
@@Noqtis You would be the exception. I remember writing in the passive voice trying to come off as profound. It took a scolding by a college English prof to realize how cringe it really was.
I thought Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh did a wonderful job with the vast majority of the script. Of course they had the actual work to use. But they did cut and splice things and they did invent on occasion. And it holds up.
But yes, to give an appearance of Tolkien they first need talent and maturity, and to have read all of Tolkienâs works.
And itâs pretty clear they havenât.
I found it hilarious that their map of Middle Earth doesn't have Beleriand.
They admit they very much desired this property very much. Once they touched it they became corrupted by power and now they think they are masters of what someone else created
Morgoth would be proud.
"you really become a politician" that line is like strait out of GOT!
nothing in the first episode showed this was remotely related to Tolkien. I look at the elves, there's nothing ethereal and fair about them. They don't look organized...no uniformity - short hair, crewcut with fades..any look goes! and the part were Galadriel fought off the ice troll singlehandedly, while the other elves quivered in fear and confusion...argh...I am sooo pissed! and a guardian review said it made House of the Dragon looked amateurish...gimme a fecking break!
Tolkien does not need to win people over. Nor does his universe need an expanded viewership. His fans will judge it on the merits, and apparently it's an abject failure.
The contrast between the troll battle in Fellowship is so stark. A band of likeable characters risking life and limb to protect each other from a terrifying threat, versus an insufferable Mary Sue who offers no leadership to the soldiers she's supposedly commanding when they're being beaten to a pulp, but arrives just in time to snatch all the glory for herself.
The ropey dialogue is made even more egregious by the fact that Tolkien was a professor of old English, and chose his words for their precise meaning (and often constructed dialogue so that the speech of characters from different societies had a different rythm).
Well I watched these episodes at exactly the same time and quality as the rest of the world- and I didn't pay Amazon a penny for it- so pirating is the better way to go...
Ironically I thought that the actor playing Guyladriel's bro would've been better suited as Gil-Galad- as long as they wigged him up lol. Amazon tricked us with the scale of the sea creature. Harfoots shouldn't even be in it, and Gandalf is an idiot that will take 50 hours to give him intelligence lol. That cow with tar-milk just made me think of Disa lmao. The dialogue is just way too wooden and aimless! From the start I was underwhelmed and remain just as angry and disgusted as I expected to be, and my Missus even more so!
In the fight with the ice troll, Galadriel should have ordered her troops and made it a group victory. She could have shown her prowess as a leader. Would have made it more profound that her troops refused to go further. And still would have have cemented her credentials that the rest of the story appears to need.
7:18 THANK YOU! What a bloated first episode & the âwritingâ was an insult to Tolkien⊠*who loved LITERATURE* đ€ŠđŸââïžđ€Łđ«
Not only did he love literature, he was a Professor of Anglo-Saxon and comparative linguistics in Oxford. It doesn't get more expert than this.
I really enjoyed your speculation about the interactions between Elrond and Galadriel. But please remember, Galadriel is Elrond's mother in law.đ€Ł
I've seen the two episodes. Can't believe how many times I had to suspend disbelief because it's just "WTF was that" level. Horrible, horrible writing. Also simple things like Elvish scouts having no horse, simply walking around town asking... why. Gil-galad sending Galadriel off to the "blessed, undying lands" -- why does he stay in Middle-earth, then, surrounded by death and decay? They mention a great war but make it look like only the Elves fought, no presence of other Valar besides Morgoth's silhouette, etc.
Terrible, really.
Agree with all points expressed, including many fellow comments. While the music was decent, it was constant, which is makes this atmosphere feel like a midday soap opera.
I've told it once, you're very moderate. Keep on this! PJ's adaptation was heavily resembling the original story. This piece of series just isn't. And basic plot arcs don't work. That is it. 20 years ago, we got a cinematic masterpiece instead of a fully faithful story. Now we have a double abomination.
There's a difference between LotR and this. LotR had a fully fleshed out story and characters with complete dialogues to draw from and guide them where they deviated.
This part of the Tolkein story had only the bare bones of the story. It's in a part of the whole story where it's mostly written as sparse historical accounts. Admittedly they got some of the flavour off but they didn't have as much to be faithful to as PJ did.
Honestly, I enjoyed it. I wasn't expecting the dialogue or characters to be up on par with one of the most widely respected authors of our time. That's just an unrealistic expectation
@@moreplease998 They didn't have enough to be faithul to?
All the books, all the dialogue in the books, all the language, etc and they didn't have enough to get some sort of sense into this?
1:14 The production, cast, and crew of this series already said they are not sticking to Tolkien. LotR is now the property of someone outside the Tolkien estate and they think they can do whatever they want with it without criticism from people who have been fans of Tolkien even since the 1950's. Based on reviews of others, this series is a hard pass for me. I prefer to remember Tolkien's vision and keep it pure. Yes, Jackson did take _some_ license with the storylines during his trilogy. However, it's hard to put Tolkien's masterpiece in just three movies.
The people at Amazon have said this is not LotR; but rather it's a "prequel" to LotR. Yeah, we already have prequels to LotR... for example, "The Hobbit" and the venerable "The Silmarillion!" But they're not bothered to consider that Tolkien wrote more than the LorR and The Hobbit. So, again, hard pass.
4:32 Thank you for taking one for the team. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way with the little I've seen so far.
I love the part when Galadriel raises her lightsaber and says âYour a wizard Harry.â Made me cry tears of joy.
I didn't expect it to be so DULL, I was not expecting much but I expected some sort of spark or even a hook and that writing GOOD GRIEF! I was actually expecting to be pleasantly surprised by something, (you know the feeling?) but there was nothing there to engage me or pull me in even slightly. The second episode WAS a little better but the pilot was AWFUL.
When Elrond said: âMy fair ladyâ to Disa, I got the feels.
I like that you like Bear McCreary. His work on Outlander was awesome. He really has a sense of the setting of the story and follows that.
Mae gâovannen! Love the animation! By Canon Those that accept Rings of Power are corrupted Those that claim to be phans must have judgement! This show is heresy. we just released our CZcams audio production on this matter. We called this heresy Jan 21, and declared it 25 March 22. Hope is kindled though, keep up the fight! "Exsurge Tolkien" is Novus Renaissances's Official Encyclical in defense of Professor J.R.R Tolkien's Legendary Middle Earth Mythology. It is one of the comprehensive responses against ROP Heresy.
Such a beautiful and profound adaptation of the Hunting of the Snoke. Both George Lucas and Lewis Carroll would be immensely proud.
And then President Smeagol said "Weâre fighting for our rightssss to live, to existsss, and should we win todaysss the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holidayses but as the dayss when the world declared in one voice, âWe will not go quietly into the night. We will not vanishes without a fight. Weâre going to livess on. Weâre going to surviveses. Today we celebrates our Independence Day, my Precioussss!â
Guyladriel raised her lightsaber and shouted, "THIS IS ARDA!" Chills and tears! đ
We need to find whatever way we can to wring any enjoyment out of this travesty. The comments with the blatantly fake plot points were really amusing and show how much people won't put up with the nonsense.
I agree. I'm going to turn this abomination to good by re-reading the books and I think I'm going to dust off my pencils and do a bit of drawing... something that does not resemble this rubbish in any way. đđ
@@SGABlencathra first thing I did this morning was go outside with my coffee and read children of hurin.
I found my enjoyment by cancelling Amazon Prime.
We agree with your assessment, the missing portions of existing background lore are simply lazy. I see why they had to fire the Tolkien scholar as this story isnât âTolkienâ it is simply some other woke agenda driven story using some of the Tolkien names.
I thought about watching the 1st chapter to check, but this whole review only made me want to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy again and reread the books. So I think I'll do that instead, looks like a better way to use my time. Thanks for saving me the hustle, bro.
"Telling and not showing." This is exactly what I have said over and over. I wasn't sure the show wanted us to even think Galadriel was seeking revenge for her brother's death. Was there something else there motivating him and now her? Was it duty? Did she sense a foreboding aspect about the future which had to be resolved? All the writers did was have Galadriel tell us three or four times she wanted to follow her brother's quest. It was bland, boring, uninteresting storytelling.
RoP is a shining example of exactly what NOT to do: full of lessons for those willing to learn.
You don't send toddlers to move a full-sized fridge. And you don't send relatively unproven showrunners to grapple with Tolkien, Middle Earth, the entire Legendarium, established characters, the demands of good show-writing/ decisions/ corporate pressure/ plus audience knowledge & high expectations after the LOTR movie trilogy.
Then, w hen the scope of the disaster begins to dawn on you & the public, you don't send out your actors & media shills to start blabbing, distracting, shilling, attacking critical commenters and CZcamsrs, all trying to pull the wool over people's eyes.
Well, we're full of robber baron stupidity, so trust fund babies are at the helm of industry and nations... publishing, movie making, business operating, governing, etc.
This is among many other reasons why plutocracy sort of punches civilization into a dark age.
It's all image void of substance. Yes, they have impressive special effects, but the cinematography lacks a soul. Compare that to House of the Dragon where each scene is meticulously setup like that moment where we are first introduced to Daemon with the moving close up of the throne shot in a very shallow depth of field. Beautiful.
To me the most cringe moment was towards the end while they are sailing to Valinor. Where the male elf extends his hand and pleads to Galadriel to take it. Dude, you know, you can just like take two steps forward and grab her hand. It's not like you're nailed to the floor.
BTW, Valinor is suppose to be like heaven, but I guess even in heaven bullying still exist (reference to the opening scene with young Galadriel getting bullied).
Seriously they made all the elves look so stupid, (eg. "we have been searching for orcs and trolls for centuries and found nothing, then a troll shows up but hey we want to go home so who cares", also "the people of Tirharad still has darkness in their hearts but we're going home so who cares") that I actually sided with Galadriel. Listen if I was on the same boat with these idiots I would want to jump ship too. In fact by the end of episode 1, I kind understand why this version of Galadriel is such an uppity bitch.
Jonathan: It's like she (Galadriel) knows everything he's (the troll) going to do!
My brain after finishing the Mistborn trilogy: Maybe she's burning atium?
You seemed very positive in this review. You didn't hate on everything, you gave honest reviews and that's awesome. Thank you so much. Found someone else to binge watch. đ
The music is fine, but IMO it does not fit the LOTR universe. The Harfoots theme sound like something out of The Lion King. There is no strong theme for the different races, like we saw in the LOTR. For the life of me, I cannot remember one single melody. I don't get any notes of middle earth, not even a hint.
I agree with you đ„Č
Always it is jolting to see how casting can go horribly wrong. The Eldar of middle earth are a serious people. And furthermore they are not human. To portray elf kings and princes as conniving politicains is wrong on so many levels. Gil Galad is a war hero who has been and will be fighting Sauron. He was described as being ever watchful. Were it not for the occasional help from Numenore he would have lost his wars long ago. There is no way he does not know. Again, the casting is a mess. I imagine Gil Galad as a hardened warrior, not this decadent roman emperor figure we see here. This is not Tolkien speaking, this is madness. The casting of the dwarrow on the other hand is spot on! It is a little sad we see only Laurelin and not Telperion glowing. As a whole the first episodes are ok-ish, you could enjoy them but this is maybe rooted in the source material but not faithful to it.
Really,genuinely,hoped this show would be a masterpiece of television drama. And it could have been. I have been looking forward to it for years. But No poetry,no soaring narrative,no vision. Elves indistinguishable from humans.leaden acting,nauseating âsuper hero âstunts jarring dialogue woeful costumes,abysmal castingâŠwhy did Amazon do this? When they had the opportunity to do something great? Iâm devastated.
The dialogue is egregiously convoluted. I don't understand where we got this perception of Tolkien's writings being so unwieldy, long-winded, or impenetrable. Literally just randomly flip through anything from The Lord of the Rings and you'll find simple and direct, but nonetheless specific and distinctive language. I don't know what all this flowery nonsense is about.
I'm getting flashbacks to when everyone was praising Christopher Paolini and his 'Eragon' debut novel.
I'm so pissed at what they did to Gil-galad. He greatest king and my favorite character
this show's Gil-galad was an axe wielding-vampire slayer president đ€Ł
They wrote the dialogue that Tolkien never would've lowered himself to write, to paraphrase the sh*tshowrunners.
Sorry, but the episodes were awesome.
Personally, the scene that stuck with me was when Galadriel's team were fighting them 5th Gen. trolls with nothing but F-14's. Right after she slayed most of them while Highway to Danger Zone was playing she turned around and said
"Don't Think, Just Do"
OMG, I kind of teared up just remembering it now.
"Is that the worst analogy ever?" - Jonathan
"Hold my bear" - RoP Writers
There are so little parallels with Tolkein. I was one of the genuine Tolkein fans who wanted to withhold judgement until I gave this show an objective viewing. However I find all the characters are unrecognizable from the books, maybe except Gil Galad and Celebrimbor (at least in demeanor if not appearance). I feel like if any of the characters were to die in the third episode I literally would not care. I'm not invested at all. I feel overlooked and my intelligence insulted as a Tolkein fan. I think I'll stop watching this disaster. Even as a standalone series unrelated to Tolkein its boring and the acting is either emotionally sterile and stale (like Galadriel and Elrond) or like children in a pantomime (Disa and the Harfoots). I liked Durin's son though - even though he shouldn't be alive yet. Ugh what a disappointment and lost opportunity.
Can anyone explain why Amazon went to such lengths to hand this project off to people with so little experience and ability? Aside from the soundtrack, which is good but appears to be overcompensating at times, and the CGI, which is admittedly stunning in places, everything else about the production is somewhere between painfully mediocre and downright awful. It feels like the drive for diversity was not just a major consideration, but the only one.
Communism is literally fan fic.
the entire cast is made up of college grads who just graduated from a gender studies class.
Even some of the close-up visuals are really bad, like the Elves on the large boat heading to the Light, or Elrond and Gil-Galad standing in front of cgi screens is awful. I think the music overall by Bear who is a terrific composer is pretty naff save for a few moments here and there. Can say the same about Howard Shore's main theme as well - terrible.
The "But They Sank Her Paper Boat" trauma-excuse? Right up there with Ron Howard's abominable "Grinch" movie, blaming the Whos down in Whoville for why the Grinch was traumatized & therefore nasty. Also, more man-blaming suffered by the brave strong elf-wahman.
Instead of going into Valinor amazons Galadriel would prefer to jump off the boat into the middle of the oceanâŠ.the middle of the oceanâŠ.If Christopher Tolkien was still alive that scene alone wouldâve killed him. I wonât watch another minute of this piece of shit show, Iâm gonna read the silmarillion again with my three pals Jon mike and Dan and enjoy the show that we shouldâve got. I recommend the same to anyone else who could barely get through episode one aswell. The real story or stories rather are right on your bookshelf folks, look no further!
Trueee all Galadriel wanted was to go back but since she was a part of kinslaying she was not allowed in the fellowship of the ring she was redeemed and was happy to go back.
In a strange way this is a relief. The writers have completely abandoned canon, in fact they act as if it never existed.
Itâs as if a small child is playing with action figures - invincible infallible action figures. All of this to an iron-clad narrative of black dwarf, black hobbit and black elf good, white man bad, white elf men stupid. Why didnât they go the whole way and give them handlebar moustaches and 19th century British accents?
Above all we have a Mary-sue to rival anything produced by Marvel. Itâs all so daft that I frankly donât care and wonât even bother watching although my morbid curiosity will lead me to watch synopses on this and other worthy sites.
There was a media puff-piece saying Bezos was worried about the reaction from his supposedly Tolkien loving son. If thatâs accurate (highly doubtful) sonny is not going to be talking to daddy for a long long time.
Agree completely!!!!!!!!
I like the format of the review--we got actual initial reactions but didn't have to watch a three hour stream to get your valued opinion. Tightly edited, informative and yes...pretty gross analogy with the zit LOL
Ive read the Hobbit, LOTR, Silmarilion, Unfinished tales, lost tales 1 & 2 and I really enjoyed the show. I'm not so much in love with the purity of Tolkien lore as I am with middle earth as a universe. This is a series, not a film, pacing is different and emotional connection is usually a slow burner as we have room to develop characters more deeply than in a feature film. The first episode is usually minimal, simple and setting up storylines... they will build, become more complex and deep and we'll get the conflict you want to see for sure. I wish more LOTR fans would be less pedantic and more open to new interpretations of Tolkien's universe. Peace all.