The Rings Of Power. Wait, come back! It has the Tolkien seal of approval!

[Ramsay Snow]

O we are still doing that thing were we say The Hobbit trilogy is bad just because it's not LOTR? I thought that died out with the starwars PT bashing.

Anyway this show is great at least the first 2 episode s.

The first episode wasn't bad, I'll watch the second one tomorrow.

As for disparaging remarks about The Hobbit trilogy, that'll probably go on for a while. After all, the grave offense of expanding a single book into a trilogy (Oh, the horror) and adding elements not in the book like Legolas's appearance, and Legolas fighting a main villain at the end, is an effrontery that cannot be taken lightly. Such elements automatically make a movie series into garbage which shouldn't be watched.

Personally, I preferred The Hobbit trilogy over the original LOTR trilogy. I found LOTR to be a bit boring, filled with awkward, long stares, and attempted humor which didn't quite hit my funny bone.....Ah, to each their own.

[Jared]

Visually, it's superb. As it damn well better be for what they're spending on it.

Story and character wise, nothing special so far. Episode 2 doesn't end with as strong of a hook as episode 1 did, so I think they should have just released them one at a time.

None of the characters or performances really stand out so far. It's not like watching early GoT or Fellowship where you knew you were seeing people that would become iconic. Young Galadriel might be the closest, though I might just be giving too much credit because she's so extraordinarily pretty. The camera loves her face.

I can't really remember any of the main(?) character names that I didn't already know going in. They're just; Hot Widow, Dumb Kid, Black Legolas, Ratty Hair, Girl Sam, Handsome Rogue...

I think they have made Galadriel more like a 'battle mage' than a sword-slinging ninja, though. It just seems odd that in the movies later she doesn't show even a hint of this martial skill. Not even when she's actually part of a big fight scene in Hobbit 3!


The fact that the they're trying to make a Second Age show with *only* the rights to material that's in the LOTR books alone makes me worry about the longterm prospects for how this will go. It looks like they're already making a massive divergence to put in more familiar names. And of course the proto Hobbits who were never even mentioned in this time period.

Bear McCreary is doing great work with the music. I don't know if rhe show actually can refuse any of Howard Shore's themes, but so far sounds like it's all part of the same musical lineage.

[Nullviahomo]

"The fact that the they're trying to make a Second Age show with *only* the rights to material that's in the LOTR books alone makes me worry about the longterm prospects for how this will go."

Looks like it's causing problems right from the off. Galadriel's opening monologue about the cassus belli that sends the Noldor back to Middle-Earth has been stripped of any mention of the Silmarils, leaving the implication that their problem with Morgoth was all about him eating the Two Trees, and then it shows them departing First Age Valinor by ship to arrive at... Third Age Middle-Earth, complete with post-Second Age geographical boundaries and sans the whole land of Beleriand where the War takes place.

I get that they've only got rights to the Appendices, but from memory I'm pretty sure they at least mention the War of the Jewels and Beleriand.

[thwhtGuardian]

I loved the reveal of that orc in the second episode, that was the first time they really felt threatening to me. I'm sure it's similar to the inverse law of ninjas, in that I think this is the first time we've seen just one attacking and not an army of cannon fodder for our heroes but I thought the way it was shot was well done none the less.

For me though the most intriguing part was the Hobbit's discovery of the big man. His identity holds some really interesting questions so I'm excited to see where it goes.

And they did mention the Simarils in the second episode, so I imagine leaving them out of the prologue was simply a way of keeping it concise. And the lack of Beleriand is the same, the show takes place after it's sinking as we see Numenor in the trailer for the next episode so showing it on the map in the prologue and then never showing it again as its gone by the time the plot of the show starts would just require more explanation than it's really worth.

[Witchfan]

I liked what I saw so far. Nothing spectacular.

[Jared]

"[I]

Looks like it's causing problems right from the off. Galadriel's opening monologue about the cassus belli that sends the Noldor back to Middle-Earth has been stripped of any mention of the Silmarils, leaving the implication that their problem with Morgoth was all about him eating the Two Trees, and then it shows them departing First Age Valinor by ship to arrive at... Third Age Middle-Earth, complete with post-Second Age geographical boundaries and sans the whole land of Beleriand where the War takes place.

Some of that may have been for simplicity in the prologue. Celebrimbor and Elrond mention the Simlarils in episode 2, including that Feanor made them and Morgoth stole them. They probably can't do anything with Ungoliant, which is why we only saw Morgoth's shadow over the trees.
They should have shown a larger map in that scene, though, even if they didn't show Beleriand named on it.

I think they'll run into more narrative trouble when it comes to Numenor.

[choptop]

I loved the reveal of that orc in the second episode, that was the first time they really felt threatening to me. I'm sure it's similar to the inverse law of ninjas, in that I think this is the first time we've seen just one attacking and not an army of cannon fodder for our heroes but I thought the way it was shot was well done none the less.

For me though the most intriguing part was the Hobbit's discovery of the big man. His identity holds some really interesting questions so I'm excited to see where it goes.

And they did mention the Simarils in the second episode, so I imagine leaving them out of the prologue was simply a way of keeping it concise. And the lack of Beleriand is the same, the show takes place after it's sinking as we see Numenor in the trailer for the next episode so showing it on the map in the prologue and then never showing it again as its gone by the time the plot of the show starts would just require more explanation than it's really worth.

Was that a orc? It seemed like something different.

[Jared]

He's an orc/goblin. He just had a bone mask on at first.

[choptop]

He's an orc/goblin. He just had a bone mask on at first.

orc and goblins are different at least in the movies. I think it's a different kinda orc myself.

[Wandering_Wand]

Only finished the first episode and will watch the second one this weekend.

I heard one take was this series (so far) is as if you told an AI to write a Tolkien book/show.

It’s a pretty show so far. The landscapes are great so far, but they’re so darn digital… I’m getting more Hobbit trilogy vibes than LotR, which is not a good thing in my opinion. It’s jarring at times when compared to the softer lens of LotR that helped provide a more fantasy ambience. Fantasy doesn’t work with these crazy HDR digital cameras.

The elves are not as regal as LotR and that’s slightly problematic for me.

Some of the dialogue is cheesy.
Some of the non-Tolkien names (you can almost always tell) are very DnD.

I’ll keep watching for now but I’m just very whelmed. I had rather low expectations to begin with so that seems to be helping.

[Frobisher]

Better than expected. Looks really expensive, though obviously not as expensive as if they used extensive location photography like the films. I agree that the cast seem a little featherweight, like they were so desperate to not have crossover with Game Of Thrones that somehow Lenny Henry (from the Black Country) is the most famous person in it.

[AnakinFlair]

For me though the most intriguing part was the Hobbit's discovery of the big man. His identity holds some really interesting questions so I'm excited to see where it goes.

At first, I thought that had to be Sauron. But now I'm thinking it's a wizard. Maybe Gandalf.

I loved seeing a fully-function Dwarf city. It was something I would have loved to see in the movies, but there was never any opportunity to.

[Celgress]

The only thing I disliked is that Galadriel isn't a magic user, maybe that will come with time. Overall, it is a solid start but nothing fantastic (like OG seasons of Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead) so far, IMHO.

[Celgress]

At first, I thought that had to be Sauron. But now I'm thinking it's a wizard. Maybe Gandalf.

I loved seeing a fully-function Dwarf city. It was something I would have loved to see in the movies, but there was never any opportunity to.

I loved the Dwarf guard armor the helmets of which were very Angol-Saxon inspired in design thus the early medieval vibe.

[choptop]

So I'm guessing the sword belongs to Morgoth? Also the glowing thing In the box is the Arkenstone?