The writing is looking more and more amateurish with each episode. Yet again, Comet Man does something with magic to help someone, and it scares the Harfoots (at least twice now that one got tangled up in it), and after a half dozen times of this, they've decided to tell him to fuck off. MissAndrogyny sets their camp on fire in a short series of bizarre scenes that make seemingly no sense at all. The writers didn't learn anything from the Star Wars prequels, and decided to put Isildur in harm's way and seem dead, but since we know his importance later, any tension they were trying to build with that was wasted - that whole little plot arc, just like Halbrand the thief, or the guy blowing up the ships, or any of a dozen other "they were going somewhere with this, but then abandoned it" occasions. All this drama with Durin and his father, and in the end, what? Durin will be king, he'll mine the mithril. It's all just meaningless filler.

Celeborn was killed in the First Age, totally flouting canon, again. Couldn't have a whole season with Elendil looking like a decently strong white male leading character, had to have a scene with two strong women avowing to to come back and eradicate the orcs while he turns his back and sobs at the thought of coming back. Halbrand won't be bitchmade at some point, because he's going to be evil Witch Kind of Angmar.

I'll finish out the season, but after that, I don't think I'm going to contribute to their viewing numbers. I drove around earlier and while skipping radio stations, I stumble onto a female DJ going on about "How hot Arondir looks in all that sexy elven fighting action. You have to watch episode 7 tonight on Amazon. Season finale coming up, you don't want to miss it!" Then she was on to advertising something else. Amazon is throwing stupid money at this and they won't accept it being anything but the most successful TV show of all time. I think it will go down as the most expensive TV flop of all time.

a font change?...to end the episode?!?!

This project (its hard to say its a show with how bad the script & dialogue is) has formed quite nicely into being the worst piece of shit to hit the screen since Manimal, Supertrain or, Cop Rock.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
a font change?...to end the episode?!?!

Yeah. I actually saw that one coming. Had my own little MST3K moment. "They're... they're seriously just going to just transition the words and the font to something evil looking and say 'Mordor,' like some kinda college film school projectannnnnndthey did it. Holy shit, that's... that's exactly what you do with a million dollars an episode. You just put the words up, and then you change them. No dramatic delivery from then bad guy, just... yeah."

Canon right in the toilet. Comet Man is Gandalf. The three weirdos and the whole proto-hobbit plot arc was a total waste of time that I didn't enjoy.

Halbrand is Sauron. Ok, more canon in the toilet. No Annatar, Lord of Gifts, just some dude. We have an arrogant, prideful Celebrimbor, and we have Sauron's hands all over the raw material used to craft the three rings canon says he never touched. Of course, all the lesser rings have yet to be made, gotta jump right to the acme of the art form, right? Good grief.

And Season one is done...
Read an article that they promise season two and on will rely more on the canon.

Well, it's a little late for that.

Not going to waste anymore bandwidth on this, it was a massive disappointment. The early trailers was a sign, and Amazon delivered on that sign, they drove the Tolkien storylines off the cliff. There was just too many creative liberties taken in order for this 'interpretation' to be taken seriously.

It's clear that from the feedback across varied sources, the supporters of this project, are enjoying the shows for simple entertainment factor, very little depth or seriousness and/or, they take great glee in seeing forced 'representation' in casting and character depiction as it relates to contemporary social constructs. Those who are critical of the series, are Tolkien lore aficionados and/or enjoy deep world building storylines that can be translated into a script.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
...the whole proto-hobbit plot arc was a total waste of time that I didn't enjoy..
..

I will say that the emotional goodbye between the girls at the start of Nori's adventure was the best acting in the series thus far.

Are we sure he’s not Saruman? (Comet)

There’s a phrase about following your nose that makes it seem like Gandalf plus he likes hobbits but he could be any of 5 wizards.

Anyone else notice this watching the finale?

I didn't have anything like that happen, but I wouldn't have been surprised if it did. I watched earlier in the morning. It may have been something they implemented later in the day or later in the weekend, panicking that they weren't getting the views they wanted.

I'm... not going to watch the second season when it comes out. I hate missing out on the discussion, because this is a cultural thing at this point and not simply a show, but my principles dictate that I don't contribute to their numbers and thereby continue to support what they're doing to Tolkien's legacy.

Watch this starting at about 18m. It’s a beautiful summary of how inept the writing and, by extension, the main characters are.

https://youtu.be/ojVb-o0EIHU?t=1084


Also this is worthwhile (audio NSFW - Some F bombs):

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Veeper,

WB is considering making new LOTR movies because Rings of Power was such an utter failure...

This is hilarious!

I haven't watched any of this shitshow. Not going to contribute to their numbers. Critical Drinker told me everything I needed to know.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
I haven't watched any of this shitshow. Not going to contribute to their numbers.

Yep. I'm a huge LotR fan, but even I didn't bother with this crap after the reviews started to come out about Season 1. Nothing I've heard about Season 2 has given me any reason to change my mind.

We watched the eighth and final episode of Season 2 last night and even my wife, who has enjoyed the season despite some issues, was quite disappointed and was apologizing for making me stay up to watch it after I got home from work late.

There were basically no surprises except for one nice scene in the Dwarven mine. Mary Galadriel Sue must regenerate faster than a D&D troll* to have survived all she did to get Tolkien's title as the greatest of all the Elven women.

* Speaking of trolls, the hill troll part of Episode 2:7 was one of the better parts of that episode.

It's mindless entertainment for me. While I read the Tolkien Lord of the Ring series (I don't think I've read the Simalcrum), I've forgotten the story lines and even the movies.

I do repeat the complaint that a lot of the scenes are too dark and I can't make out what's happening. I thought it was just my eyes. I've waited to watch at night thinking it was also glare from the windows.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I do repeat the complaint that a lot of the scenes are too dark and I can't make out what's happening. I thought it was just my eyes. I've waited to watch at night thinking it was also glare from the windows.

Yeah, the cheap LCD screens on today's abundant budget TVs really struggle with dark scenes, ending up muddy and indistinguishable. They're fine with bright vivid content, but not dark scenes and deep blacks. This is exacerbated by glare and reflections from lighting/windows.

The difference between watching a dark scene on a LCD screen in a bright room versus an OLED screen in a darker room is astonishing.