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[Kimahri]

You can't even compare the two. A writer for Comicbook.com starts at $38K a YEAR. Some of those YouTubers make more than that in a month. Places like THR and Variety are more, anywhere from 50-60K a year (but then they're paying $2000 a month for a tiny studio apartment in LA).

So? What's your point?

You're only allowed to make a lot of money if you're making it in a way that aligns with your personal morals?

These people are making money because they're making content people like. Maybe, and I'm just spitballing here, it just resonates with people because these people say out loud what a lot of people are just subconsciously thinking? I dunno, but I take umbrage at your suggestion that people just adopt these opinions because they heard them on youtube. Pot, kettle.

And it's not like these guys that you clearly don't like are the ones making a lot of money. Miniac paints miniatures, Nerdforge creates nerdy things, Chris Broad makes videos about Japan, and there are more cooking shows on youtube than I dare to mention. They all rake in the dough. Why? Because they're hard working. They produce content that people want to see in a timely manner and not only that, in the jungle of shitty youtube channels, the ones who come out on top, come on top for a reason: they produce quality content.

You don't have to like it. You don't have to agree with any of them, hell, there are plenty of youtubers that make my eyes roll so far back in my skull it almost hurts, but to suggest this is somehow wrong, and a problem? Get over yourself man, and get over your money envy.

 

[DanteFox]

Yeah the review bombing is kind of ridiculous. People need to grow up.

I like how it's "review bombing" when people give a show bad reviews lol. I actually like the show so far, too. I just think people are allowed to not like it.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

I like how it's "review bombing" when people give a show bad reviews lol. I actually like the show so far, too. I just think people are allowed to not like it.

TBF, there isn't anything here that really warrants a score below a 5 or 6. There are true 1/10 shows out there and this ain't one of them. In general though, it would benefit society as a whole if we moved beyond trying to quantify opinions.

 

[Hari Seldon]

"Dialogue" - Stilted and nonsensical

"But the ship has a secret, for unlike the stone, her gaze is not downward but up, fixed upon the light that guides her whispering of grander things than the darkness ever new.”
"This place is so evil, our torches give off no warmth."
"The skies are strange." weohohohoooooo *spoopy*
"We stay true to each other, with our hearts even bigger than our feet.” ahahahaha

My favorite: "It is said the wine of victory is sweetest for those in whose bitter trials it has fermented."

"Dialect" - GaladrrRRrrRiellleeee

If I would take a shot every time they change the pronunciation of GaladRiel, MoRdoR or SauRon, I'd be off my tits before half-time.

"Costumes" - Wearing a nightgown to the aftermath of a battle

Corpses, death and blood can't ruin my style.

"Acting"

So much overacting as the actors stumble over their stilted dialogues.

"Tolkienesque"

Never-ending exposition and multiple storylines happening all at once is not the way how Tolkien told his tales. Nothing has room to breathe, characters just get tossed around, no immersion whatsoever. Galadriel doing frikin' sword tricks after killing the ice troll is just awful, dumb and has no place in a Tolkien setting. This isn't Ninja Turtles, who is she trying to show off?

"Engaging"

Every character is so derivative and totally fails to stand on its own. They would be nothing without the material they cannot touch upon or Jackson's movies, for example the Harfoots are basically just female Sam and Frodo. The Shakespearian forbidden love story is just dumb and doesn't really belong in a Tolkien story. The action scenes are fake, weightless and frivolous. The Michael Bay'esque rotating establishing shots belong in a Transformer movie, not a LOTR show.

"Plotholes" - More holes then cheese

• Galadriel is supposed to have a husband and a daughter and do you know who Elrond marries? Yeah...
• Galadriel's father is Finarfin the youngest son of the High King of the Noldor Finwe. No kid would bully her, especially not in frikkin' Aman (meaning the blessed land, free from evil).
• The piling of the helmets is something done by the Orcs.
• Elves don’t really die, their souls travel back to the Halls of Mandos where they may be reborn. They have no fear of death.
• Galadriel is actually under the Curse of Mandos because of her defiance of the Valar and the Kinslaying. She is not allowed to return across the Sea to Valinor.

The show might be just good enough for some random fantasy tale, but it totally fails Tolkien and his work.

Disagree completely on the acting, costumes, and dialogue. The costumes especially are amazing throughout. Pointing out that one trailer scene during the prologue of the movie which was CLEARLY done for visual contrast between Galadrial who is always white and glowing (in Jackson) and the corpses in the background.

The anime style fighting is what it is. It is a valid criticism but there is no way you can simultaneously have elves be these powerful creates AND have trolls that are 5x the size of a bear. The only way to do this would be to show the trolls as like 7' tall humans (how they were originally conceived in myth) and not 20' tall CGI bear-things that no one human-size could ever kill with a sword unless they had comic book style powers. They went with the Jackson approach and I can't say I fault them for it even though it is not "realistic" made up fantasy. If they go overboard like in Hobbit then sure it is a problem, but it is one that originated with Jackson.

The pacing of the show is slow right now, but I'm fine with it. I could see someone who has no interest at all in Tolkien not giving a shit yet.

Your statement on plotholes is the type of criticism I consider valid. For me this doesn't matter, as this is ALL professional fanfic and not-canon, so as long as it is close enough I'm fine with it. But if you are heavily invested in Tolkien lore sure be mad at this. But do you seriously think that most of hte criticism of the show is from uber Tolkien nerds who read Christopher?

 

[ManaByte]

But do you seriously think that most of hte criticism of the show is from uber Tolkien nerds who read

FIFY

 

[strange headache]

You can't even compare the two. A writer for Comicbook.com starts at $38K a YEAR. Some of those YouTubers make more than that in a month. Places like THR and Variety are more, anywhere from 50-60K a year (but then they're paying $2000 a month for a tiny studio apartment in LA).

Good to know that shilling doesn't pay, except for their media conglomerate overlords. GTFO with this crap.

Disagree completely on the acting, costumes, and dialogue.

It's fine to disagree, but calling the criticism moronic is just plain wrong.

The pacing of the show is slow right now, but I'm fine with it. I could see someone who has no interest at all in Tolkien not giving a shit yet.

Did you even read my comment? The pacing is way too frikkin' fast!

 

[thegame983]

Watched the first 2 episodes.

It's pretty bland and not very entertaining. Looks good, I guess, but that doesn't really mean anything.

Galadriel comes off as a bit of a c**t. Big moany face on her all the time.

 

[Kimahri]

TBF, there isn't anything here that really warrants a score below a 5 or 6. There are true 1/10 shows out there and this ain't one of them. In general though, it would benefit society as a whole if we moved beyond trying to quantify opinions.

There is nothing that warrants a score above 5 or 6 either.

 

[sol_bad]

Did you even read my comment? The pacing is way too frikkin' fast!

Did you watch episode 2? The pacing slows right down. Episode 1 is like the prologue episode, like the first 10 minutes of the LOTR films.

 

[Hari Seldon]

It's fine to disagree, but calling the criticism moronic is just plain wrong.
Did you even read my comment? The pacing is way too frikkin' fast!

The criticism about the costumes, acting, and dialogue is moronic because it is agenda drivel probably from twitter and probably by people who haven’t even watched the show. The costumes are fantastic, the dialogue is in-universe which is good enough considering it is not Tolkien. The acting is the one criticism I would slightly agree with, but only to the point where they should have hired an A-lister or two to buttress the young actors that they have. But none of the actors yet are as bad as the noteable stinkers in GoT lmao. And literally nothing in the show looks as bad as some of the sets so far in HotD which look like complete garbage at times.

As far as the pacing, I like it. But other people seem to think that it is too slow which I can see if you are not into the lore.

 

[Wildebeest]

I think there are some fair criticisms to be made. The writing does not really sing in these two episodes, and whoever's idea it was to make it seem like the main cultural passtime of Elves was chewing live wasps and not having personalities made a very brave decision with that billion dollar budget. Not many people really love watching shows about boring people who look ready to complain about everything and explain at length why they are better than all this. Which is why a popular show will never be made from this thread, for example.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

So is the show any good? I haven’t gotten around to it yet even though LOTR is like my favourite movies. I thought the trailers looked good. What’s the consensus looking like?

You need to keep your expectations in check. If you treat it as a generic fantasy show you'll be blown away by the visuals $1 billion can buy. Just don't expect a good story or dialogue or characters or for it to have anything to do with Lord of the Rings or Tolkien's legendarium in general. I just watch it to enjoy the many video games references, the writers of this show are obviously gamers.

I can't say I hate it, because I don't, even as an old-school Tolkien fan who has actually read the books. I also can't say I like it, because it so blatantly rapes and pillages Tolkien's legendarium. So I'll settle for hey, I'm watching this for free and it's not genuinely terrible, it's just a bit bland and boring. 5/10, would do some backflips and oneshot a snow troll again.

 

[balls of snow]

People do it because it makes them A LOT of money on YouTube.

The Quartering makes up to $133K a MONTH:
https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/thequartering

Critical Drinker $60K :
https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/jacktaylor1983

Nerdrotic $25K:
https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/sutrowatchtower

Geeks and Gamers $10K:
https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/geeksandgamers

The problem comes when people use those performance outrage narratives to form an opinion on something and just parrot things they heard on their YouTube feed in these threads.

Sure they make money. But one thing I will credit them is that they actual do watch the show as well as has extensive knowledge on the source material. At that point, its a fair criticism and discussion. They thought for sure HotD will be hot garbage as well but actual praise it after the first ep because its quality is just so apparent.

Now contrast this to the last of us 2 outrage, youtubers falling over themselves hating the game because of fake leaks and not even playing the game properly ( * Cough angry joe *cough).

 

[sol_bad]

I think there are some fair criticisms to be made. The writing does not really sing in these two episodes, and whoever's idea it was to make it seem like the main cultural passtime of Elves was chewing live wasps and not having personalities made a very brave decision with that billion dollar budget. Not many people really love watching shows about boring people who look ready to complain about everything and explain at length why they are better than all this. Which is why a popular show will never be made from this thread, for example.

Galadriel and Elrond had personalities in the original LOTR films?
:O

Sure they make money. But one thing I will credit them is that they actual do watch the show as well as has extensive knowledge on the source material. At that point, its a fair criticism and discussion. They thought for sure HotD will be hot garbage as well but actual praise it after the first ep because its quality is just so apparent.

Now contrast this to the last of us 2 outrage, youtubers falling over themselves hating the game because of fake leaks and not even playing the game properly ( * Cough angry joe *cough).

When it comes to the MCU, I doubt any of these guys have read any comics over the last 20+ years. You could see the pain in Nerdrotics eyes when he was saying he liked HotD, his channel has festered so much hate and vitriol it's hard for him to do a positive video.

 

[Kev Kev]

I like how it's "review bombing" when people give a show bad reviews lol. I actually like the show so far, too. I just think people are allowed to not like it.

Not liking the show is fine, but that's not what review bombing is.

 

[Trazyn the Infinite]

The criticism about the costumes, acting, and dialogue is moronic because it is agenda drivel probably from twitter and probably by people who haven’t even watched the show. The costumes are fantastic, the dialogue is in-universe which is good enough considering it is not Tolkien. The acting is the one criticism I would slightly agree with, but only to the point where they should have hired an A-lister or two to buttress the young actors that they have. But none of the actors yet are as bad as the noteable stinkers in GoT lmao. And literally nothing in the show looks as bad as some of the sets so far in HotD which look like complete garbage at times.

As far as the pacing, I like it. But other people seem to think that it is too slow which I can see if you are not into the lore.

Now you just have your head deep in the sand purposefully remaining ignorant.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

There is nothing that warrants a score above 5 or 6 either.

5 is average. 6 is above average. This show is below average to me and there’s plenty here that’s below average.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

Galadriel and Elrond had personalities in the original LOTR films?
:O



When it comes to the MCU, I doubt any of these guys have read any comics over the last 20+ years. You could see the pain in Nerdrotics eyes when he was saying he liked HotD, his channel has festered so much hate and vitriol it's hard for him to do a positive video.

So nerdrotic be damned if he doesn’t like RoO and be damned if he likes HoD? But typical of you sol_bad - you can never attack an argument, can you?

 

[sol_bad]

There are people who say they are massive Tokien fans that say this show is a travesty and that their opinion is the only right opinion, everyone else is called a muppet or any other number of names. Then there are other massive Tolkien fans who say that they show respects Tokien really well and aren't vicious towards other Tolkien fans. Who to believe?

I'm not a massive Tolkien fan and was still called a muppet.
*shrugs*

 

[Trazyn the Infinite]

There are people who say they are massive Tokien fans that say this show is a travesty and that their opinion is the only right opinion, everyone else is called a muppet or any other number of names. Then there are other massive Tolkien fans who say that they show respects Tokien really well and aren't vicious towards other Tolkien fans. Who to believe?

I'm not a massive Tolkien fan and was still called a muppet.
*shrugs*

This show objectively does not respect Tolkien's works. This can't be debated. Anyone who suggests otherwise is talking out their ass.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

I’ll say one thing about the costumes - not all of them look good. Gil-Galad’s all-gold costume looks bad. Not much to say about the harfoots - that’s clear to see. Even the elves armours when they were looking for Sauron look “unused”.

Speaking of harfoots, why not just make them hobbits instead of these disgusting creatures?

 

[Catphish]

Just finished the 2nd episode.

I dunno what all the beefin's about. I think it's pretty good so far, and I was expecting to be disappointed.

It looks great, sounds great, and has me interested. I'm looking forward to the 3rd episode.

If I have a beef, it's that some of the diversity, as it is implemented, makes no sense to me, and is actually quite distracting.

I don't understand why there would be black dwarves in Moria. In fact, I don't understand why there would be black dwarves at all. As far as I know, Tolkien's dwarves are, and always have been from their inception, subterranean mountain dwellers. Why would there be a necessity for such dark skin pigment if they never see daylight?

I can understand it with the Harfoots, because Hobbits are on the surface, have been around a long time and have migrated, and there are writings to suggest that there are racial differences.

So, for the Harfoots, it feels organic and acceptable. But for the dwarves, it feels forced and, honestly, in the case of Princess Disa, ridiculous.

I have no problem with diversity as long as it makes sense, but diversity for its own sake really distracts from the story and the believability of the world.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

There are people who say they are massive Tokien fans that say this show is a travesty and that their opinion is the only right opinion, everyone else is called a muppet or any other number of names. Then there are other massive Tolkien fans who say that they show respects Tokien really well and aren't vicious towards other Tolkien fans. Who to believe?

I'm not a massive Tolkien fan and was still called a muppet.
*shrugs*

Show me these Tolkien fans who say that the show respects Tolkien really well? Because they clearly have no idea what they’re talking about. That’s not even debatable.

 

[AJUMP23]

Can we talk about how pretty Bronwyn is. Easily the most attractive actress they've had in the LotR roles. Utterly gorgeous.

Lord of the MILFs.

More shoulder than Tolkien would want. He likes his woman fully clothed not some tart exposing her shoulders.

 

[DeafTourette]

Oh, yes, Arondir I’ll agree but I guess you can’t make that character “poor” - for obvious reasons. The rest? They haven’t shown any form of bravery. In fact, Gil-Galad has be shown to be most unwise.

I'm sorry, what? Can't make him poor for obvious reasons?! Please clarify.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

I'm sorry, what? Can't make him poor for obvious reasons?! Please clarify.

Well, you cannot make the character a coward or useless like the other characters. All the other elves (apart from Galadriel) are rejoicing about the war ending and denying that there’s still a threat about. He’s a minority so can’t make him a character with obvious flaws.

Which reminds me - most of the elves look like regular humans with pointy ears. Could be the hair or the lack of ethereal light around them.

 

[DeafTourette]

Well, you cannot make the character a coward or useless like the other characters. All the other elves (apart from Galadriel) are rejoicing about the war ending and denying that there’s still a threat about. He’s a minority so can’t make him a character with obvious flaws.

Which reminds me - most of the elves look like regular humans with pointy ears. Could be the hair or the lack of ethereal light around them.

It's the hair. I think Lords who aren't leaders like future Elrond have their hair short and when in leadership roles, grow it out. Seems like that's how it is.

I don't think most of the other elves are cowards... They're planning to fight sauron by forging the rings of power... Elrond and Gil-Galad know... Celebrimbor know...

 

[sol_bad]

Discussion with Dr Corey Olsen about the first 2 episodes. Just saw it now and started watching it.

 

[BadBurger]

Again, the two Blues came to Middle Earth at this time. One came and then asked the other to join him. Not all of the Wizards came in the 3rd age.

We need to know what texts the writers are using here, or if they are even beholden to any of them when it comes to the wizards.

Tolkien first wrote that all five wizards came together in the first age, arriving at the Grey Havens no less. He later changed his mind and wrote that the blue wizards came together in the second age (no mention of how) to trouble Sauron in the south and east of Middle Earth.

From there his letters and whatever his son cobbled together for the extended works get muddy. Most people tend to just accept that Gandalf, Radagast, and Saruman came together in the third age. But that's largely because it's convenient, and because his writings concerning those three largely only occur in the third age. But that could just be because that's how Christopher edited things.

I wish I had paid more attention as to where the Harfoots were at this time. That might help narrow things down.

 

[sol_bad]

We need to know what texts the writers are using here, or if they are even beholden to any of them when it comes to the wizards.

Tolkien first wrote that all five wizards came together in the first age, arriving at the Grey Havens no less. He later changed his mind and wrote that the blue wizards came together in the second age (no mention of how) to trouble Sauron in the south and east of Middle Earth.

From there his letters and whatever his son cobbled together for the extended works get muddy. Most people tend to just accept that Gandalf, Radagast, and Saruman came together in the third age. But that's largely because it's convenient, and because his writings concerning those three largely only occur in the third age. But that could just be because that's how Christopher edited things.

I wish I had paid more attention as to where the Harfoots were at this time. That might help narrow things down.

As someone who knows nothing about Tolkiens fictional world in the books, what do you mean by he later changed his mind? Do you mean he wrote another fictional book that retconned a previous book that he wrote? And why are people bothering to use letters in relation to canonicity? If it's not written in a fictional book, should it even matter?

 

[DeafTourette]

Discussion with Dr Corey Olsen about the first 2 episodes. Just saw it now and started watching it.

Enjoying this so far

 

[DeafTourette]

Discussion with Dr Corey Olsen about the first 2 episodes. Just saw it now and started watching it.

So, he's a Tolkien scholar... And we're the same age! Only a few days apart... And he loves the show!

So much for "objectively bad" ... LMBO

 

[BadBurger]

As someone who knows nothing about Tolkiens fictional world in the books, what do you mean by he later changed his mind? Do you mean he wrote another fictional book that retconned a previous book that he wrote? And why are people bothering to use letters in relation to canonicity? If it's not written in a fictional book, should it even matter?

All of this, the entire fictional history of the world and the "heavens" that existed before it, were a long work in progress for Tolkien. Almost all of it beyond The Lord of the Rings was later gathered together and edited by his son from letters and notes Tolkien wrote over decades.

So if you read Tolkien's letters and notes, you'll see that he himself doesn't even know what happens with some characters or why they exist. It's very similar to how GRRM discusses his work. For example, regarding the blue wizards, his last mentioning of them includes how he doesn't even know if they were successful or failed. That sounds odd right, that an author doesn't even know what became of two of his creations. But that's just how his mind worked. He also didn't know what Tom Bombadil was. A force of nature? One of his gods? He never decided.

Edit: I should mention, that even though most of this stuff wasn't contained within proper novels, it is considered canon by his estate - and they license their IP out with that in mind

 

[sol_bad]

So, he's a Tolkien scholar... And we're the same age! Only a few days apart... And he loves the show!

So much for "objectively bad" ... LMBO

Yeah, check the Signum University channel videos, he's been doing videos about Tolkien for 6 years and started a Tolkien podcast in 2009.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I don't think most of the other elves are cowards... They're planning to fight sauron by forging the rings of power... Elrond and Gil-Galad know... Celebrimbor know...

That was never the intention for forging the rings. Celebrimbor wanted to create them, I don’t remember if he wanted to do it to be seen as Feanor (which was impossible).

I remember Annatar helped with the creation and knowledge required, but the Three were forged without his help.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

As someone who knows nothing about Tolkiens fictional world in the books, what do you mean by he later changed his mind? Do you mean he wrote another fictional book that retconned a previous book that he wrote? And why are people bothering to use letters in relation to canonicity? If it's not written in a fictional book, should it even matter?

Tolkien spent his whole life from 1917 until 1973 when he died writing and re-writing various stories. As such there is a lot of back and forth on his thoughts on various topics.

After his death, his son Christopher worked on editing his work into a single authoritative work, which is the Silmarillion. However, he wasn't satisfied with his editorial work and started releasing annotated versions in the 12 part series, the History of Middle Earth. That is how we have multiple versions of the same stories. Because of Christopher Tolkiens amazing work, we have a remarkable over-the-shoulder look at the crafting of the various myths.

As for people citing letters, there is a book called The Letters of JRR Tolkien which compiles various letters from Tolkien. A big chunk of the content is people asking questions about his stories and him answering.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I don't know what to think about this exactly. I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but it is something that was fine to watch, but afterwards leaves me wondering what is wrong about it other than the obvious things like the halflings having a seriously weird mix of accents. I'm happy that they change and add things, so we are not just going through a middle earth history lecture. I'm glad that we are not forced to sit through a heap of sassy marvel banter or "toss a dwarf" callbacks. I think, if anything, when Galadriel was made to leave, there should have been more epic oration and rhetoric, and it was too prosaic and straightforward.

See, here's my problem. I know very little about Lord of the Rings.

I actually want to see this succeed and to be quite honest the first two episodes aren't bad.

They are miles and miles above the atrocity that was Obi-Wan Kenobi at least so far.

The show is beautiful. I really like the mines in the dwarf mines. The dwarves mining in the dwarf mines with the mind is really nice to see and I talked to mine just look good with the waterfalls and all.

It's a good looking show. The production values are there.

There's some really cringy stuff. 100% agree. That whole scene with a guy talking to the black elf about how they always bring up the past was so transparent.

It's really stupid and it's obviously what they're going for.

Man, oh man, oh man. I'm really forcing myself to like this show and I really want to see it succeed I really want it to get better. I actually don't want this to fail but they're going to start getting into the woke stuff and even without that it's just going to get bad and out of control. I don't want that but it looks that way. I hope it's not that way.

Like I said, it's better than Obi-Wan Kenobi by miles. Just the first two episodes. Just the first two episodes are better and that isn't going to change. Obi-Wan Kenobi was so bad that it actually turned me off of Star Wars for good. I always had anticipation for a new Star Wars streaming series or movie under the Disney banner. I knew it was going to be average at best but always tried to get myself to like it. Obi-Wan Kenobi was so bad it ruined me completely. I have no interest in Andor now even though it looks good. Star Wars has left an incredibly bad taste in my mouth after opening Oni Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett was enough already.

What's sad states are we in now.

 

[sol_bad]

Tolkien spent his whole life from 1917 until 1973 when he died writing and re-writing various stories. As such there is a lot of back and forth on his thoughts on various topics.

After his death, his son Christopher worked on editing his work into a single authoritative work, which is the Silmarillion. However, he wasn't satisfied with his editorial work and started releasing annotated versions in the 12 part series, the History of Middle Earth. That is how we have multiple versions of the same stories. Because of Christopher Tolkiens amazing work, we have a remarkable over-the-shoulder look at the crafting of the various myths.

As for people citing letters, there is a book called The Letters of JRR Tolkien which compiles various letters from Tolkien. A big chunk of the content is people asking questions about his stories and him answering.

All of this, the entire fictional history of the world and the "heavens" that existed before it, were a long work in progress for Tolkien. Almost all of it beyond The Lord of the Rings was later gathered together and edited by his son from letters and notes Tolkien wrote over decades.

So if you read Tolkien's letters and notes, you'll see that he himself doesn't even know what happens with some characters or why they exist. It's very similar to how GRRM discusses his work. For example, regarding the blue wizards, his last mentioning of them includes how he doesn't even know if they were successful or failed. That sounds odd right, that an author doesn't even know what became of two of his creations. But that's just how his mind worked. He also didn't know what Tom Bombadil was. A force of nature? One of his gods? He never decided.

Edit: I should mention, that even though most of this stuff wasn't contained within proper novels, it is considered canon by his estate - and they license their IP out with that in mind

Thanks for the replies.
I just find it weird to care about all this stuff in Tolkien's head if he never bothered to actually write it in a fictional story. As an example, I'm sure that Lucas has all these other ideas in his head about the Star Wars universe but it doesn't matter because he never made any movies about those ideas. In fact, Star Wars fandom was happy to embrace the fan-fiction that was the EU, some passionate people choose that fan-fiction over the official sequels we got, even though it's not from Lucas' own head.

 

[Ironbunny]

See, here's my problem. I know very little about Lord of the Rings.

I actually want to see this succeed and to be quite honest the first two episodes aren't bad.

They are miles and miles above the atrocity that was Obi-Wan Kenobi at least so far.

The show is beautiful. I really like the mines in the dwarf mines. The dwarves mining in the dwarf mines with the mind is really nice to see and I talked to mine just look good with the waterfalls and all.

It's a good looking show. The production values are there.

There's some really cringy stuff. 100% agree. That whole scene with a guy talking to the black elf about how they always bring up the past was so transparent.

It's really stupid and it's obviously what they're going for.

Man, oh man, oh man. I'm really forcing myself to like this show and I really want to see it succeed I really want it to get better. I actually don't want this to fail but they're going to start getting into the woke stuff and even without that it's just going to get bad and out of control. I don't want that but it looks that way. I hope it's not that way.

Like I said, it's better than Obi-Wan Kenobi by miles. Just the first two episodes. Just the first two episodes are better and that isn't going to change. Obi-Wan Kenobi was so bad that it actually turned me off of Star Wars for good. I always had anticipation for a new Star Wars streaming series or movie under the Disney banner. I knew it was going to be average at best but always tried to get myself to like it. Obi-Wan Kenobi was so bad it ruined me completely. I have no interest in Andor now even though it looks good. Star Wars has left an incredibly bad taste in my mouth after opening Oni Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett was enough already.

What's sad states are we in now.

Andor really seems to be our only hope to see a really good Star Wars show. Mando was best of those so far but even it is just a friday tv-show. But it atleast stands knee high in a shitpool that is disney shows.

Have to agree that Rings of power is on a another level compared to those. Crossing my fingers they pull this trough.

 

[Neko Mimi Mode]

I don't have a horse in the Tolkien lore vs Amazon preachy bullshit argument, as long as it's suitably entertaining then that's good enough for me. This isn't.

It's turgid, boring, absolutely soulless. The writing, so far, is among the worst I've come across (yes, I've watched Falcon and the Winter Soldier). The characters are flat and one dimensional - except Galadriel who is both a Karen and a Mary Sue. Almost nothing of tremendous interest is actually happening and the show keeps expositioning everything that actually does like it's some sort of deep and meaningful thing - when it's all just fluff.

It's not a 1/10 experience so far, the show's technicalities alone push it up, but it's just not a good show and I can't see myself trudging through another what, 5 seasons, of this bland, poorly scripted borefest.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

So, he's a Tolkien scholar... And we're the same age! Only a few days apart... And he loves the show!

So much for "objectively bad" ... LMBO

I’m watching it now but let’s make one thing clear - many “scholars” got on board with the show to not get cancelled. Also, what a surprise - he was invited to meet the showrunners in London, all expenses paid, no doubt.

He does make a good point about the elf outpost though.

Oh, and he was invited to the premier in New York as well. Interesting…
So he seems to think that there’s plenty of time for Gil-Galad to develop into being the high king he was meant to be.

I’m just making notes as I’m listening.

He is avoiding to say that he didn’t like some things. He’s using words like “confusing”, “don’t know how to interpret it”, “it’ll probably be explained later”.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

The characters are flat and one dimensional - except Galadriel who is both a Karen and a Mary Sue.

Holy shit, never thought of that but how accurate is that. She demanded to see Gil-Galad as soon as she met Elrond while the latter was just happy to see her.

 

[Kimahri]

I can't quite shake that feeling that some of these actors playing elves are a bit old for their roles. They're gonna look very aged by the time this show is done.

5 is average. 6 is above average. This show is below average to me and there’s plenty here that’s below average.

If we're gonna be pedantic, 5 is below average, 5.5 is average. But yeah, I pretty much agree. I think it has qualities and there were things I enjoyed, but it's average leaning down for me.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Obviously to promote the movie but the game is on sale on Game Pass for five bucks.

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/st...-mordor-game-of-the-year-edition/BPBKTSC16MWT


It's also on GOG for five bucks as well.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/middleearth_shadow_of_mordor

 

[Wildebeest]

Obviously to promote the movie but the game is on sale on Game Pass for five bucks.

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/st...-mordor-game-of-the-year-edition/BPBKTSC16MWT


It's also on GOG for five bucks as well.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/middleearth_shadow_of_mordor

You can claim a gog key for the game with amazon prime right now.

 

[pramod]

I wonder about the people rating this a 1 or even a 0, what would they rate Obi-Wan then? A minus 20?

I wish people would get some perspective. This show might not be "good", but I don't think it's awful. It's certainly nowhere as good as Peacemaker or The Boys, but it's not on the level of Disney+ drek either.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

I wonder about the people rating this a 1 or even a 0, what would they rate Obi-Wan then? A minus 20?

I wish people would get some perspective. This show might not be "good", but I don't think it's awful. It's certainly nowhere as good as Peacemaker or The Boys, but it's not on the level of Disney+ drek either.

I guess it depends how much they care about the property as well. I would assume you’d rate something that you love that got bastardised much lower than a show of more or less equal writing that you don’t care much for.

 

[niilokin]

i feel like I would enjoy this but cant even put 7euros anywhere else but food right now

 

[Darkmakaimura]

You can claim a gog key for the game with amazon prime right now.

Oops. I already spent the $5 to get it a few days back.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I wonder about the people rating this a 1 or even a 0, what would they rate Obi-Wan then? A minus 20?

I wish people would get some perspective. This show might not be "good", but I don't think it's awful. It's certainly nowhere as good as Peacemaker or The Boys, but it's not on the level of Disney+ drek either.

Obi Wan Kenobi makes Rings of Power series look like a freaking masterpiece. That Star Wars show finally turn me off of Star Wars and I've tolerated all of us new Disney movies and streaming series and that was the final straw for me. Obi-Wan Kenobi was that bad in my opinion. I hated solo and this was worse than that.

That's the very least Rings of Power looks like they spent money on it. The music is very good and cinematic. So far the series is just average but the good things about it are actually pretty good.

This show is miles and miles better than Obi-Wan Kenobi.