Mr_Danger Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 (edited) So far the only thing that’s given me hope that this will get going is the opening scene of episode 1 and the Elrond Dwarf mate scene where they had a nice take on the near immortality of elves. That Aragon looking bloke turning in to John Wick with a nice bit of the old ultra violence was a take and a half. Speculative theory that might be a spoiler. Spoiler It seems everyone thinks that the big star guy is Sauron but there’s no way he gets presented as a big bumbling oaf right?  Edited September 12, 2022 by Mr_Danger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Tommy! Posted September 12, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted September 12, 2022 (edited) 8 hours ago, Mr_Danger said: Spoiler It seems everyone thinks that the big star guy is Sauron but there’s no way he gets presented as a big bumbling oaf right  Spoiler I've not watched it yet, so I'm not sure how to interpret "big bumbling oaf" but in the second age in the books, if I remember right, he returned from hiding in secret and passed himself off as a kindly and other worldly character passing out gifts and knowledge to get the trust of the elves before trying to trap them with the one ring and getting them all to go tonto on that island that gets flooded.  Edited September 12, 2022 by Tommy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 @Tommy! I think I might have inadvertently coaxed a possible spoiler out of you there might be worth popping it in tags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members stumobir Posted September 16, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted September 16, 2022 This is dreadful and getting worse. The dialogue is some of the worst I’ve ever heard, it’s just idioms and heavy-handed exposition, nothing else. The way everyone pronounces any proper noun, with some throaty profoundness, has to be a joke. Galadriel is insufferable and impossible to root for, not great for the hero of the show. In fact, the whole thing is lacking any sort of charm whatsoever. Four episodes in, which is close to five hours of television, and the story has barely moved along. It’s all so bloody dull.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted September 16, 2022 Share Posted September 16, 2022 I mean, sounds pretty close to the books to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted September 16, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted September 16, 2022 1 hour ago, stumobir said: This is dreadful and getting worse. The dialogue is some of the worst I’ve ever heard, it’s just idioms and heavy-handed exposition, nothing else. The way everyone pronounces any proper noun, with some throaty profoundness, has to be a joke. Galadriel is insufferable and impossible to root for, not great for the hero of the show. In fact, the whole thing is lacking any sort of charm whatsoever. Four episodes in, which is close to five hours of television, and the story has barely moved along. It’s all so bloody dull.  Everyone loves to slag off the Game of Thrones writers after the rubbish ending but I think between this, House of the Dragon and Wheel Of Time it's pretty clear that they actually in reality had a pretty good grasp on how to write fantasy so it's not just dour, charmless, overly serious, dull and silly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted September 16, 2022 Share Posted September 16, 2022 It's fantasy-by-committee. Something which tries so hard that it all just ends up a bit algorithmic and soulless. I didn't follow the build up to it at all but I'm sure there was plenty of "Bezos buying a toy to be the public's favourite new Game of Thrones" type jokes but that's pretty much exactly what it feels like. It's just that they've had a massive oopsie and forgot to make it entertaining scene to scene.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted September 16, 2022 Share Posted September 16, 2022 8 hours ago, LaGoosh said: Everyone loves to slag off the Game of Thrones writers after the rubbish ending but I think between this, House of the Dragon and Wheel Of Time it's pretty clear that they actually in reality had a pretty good grasp on how to write fantasy so it's not just dour, charmless, overly serious, dull and silly. You did watch Game of Thrones right? Because it was pretty dour, overly serious, silly and dull at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrodyGraham Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 23 hours ago, LaGoosh said: Everyone loves to slag off the Game of Thrones writers after the rubbish ending but I think between this, House of the Dragon and Wheel Of Time it's pretty clear that they actually in reality had a pretty good grasp on how to write fantasy so it's not just dour, charmless, overly serious, dull and silly. There's a very real cut off point with GOT where the writing especially for Tyrion and Varys becomes atrocious and it's basically when they go past the books and aren't able to directly lift Martin's dialogue anymore. They're damned either way with this, purely because Tolkien's dialogue in his own work is pretty much atrocious and as such any attempts to add fizz to this would feel inauthentic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Teedy Kay Posted September 18, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted September 18, 2022 I tried, I really did, but by fuck it's worse than The Hobbit by such a long way. I couldn't make it through the last episode. Both me and the missus found ourselves on our phones, Galadriel did something and we both sighed and rolled our eyes. We looked at each other and both exclaimed 'This is shit' at the same time. We binned it off and decided to watch Better Call Saul from the beginning. It's awful television, pitiful even. And it's in a strange position that if point out it's shit you get called a racist. If it gets renewed I'll be very surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Blog Posted September 18, 2022 Share Posted September 18, 2022 You millennial fucks have no patience for the long build anymore. You will all be pulling your cocks raw when Durin and the boys dig out the Balrog or when the ships of Numenor come bursting over the horizon to save the day in the Southlands.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted September 25, 2022 Awards Moderator Share Posted September 25, 2022 (edited) I enjoyed the first episode and I quite like Durin but every episode since the first has seen me end up on my phone while it’s on. It looks stunning but over five hours in and I’m still not sure what the story is or if there is one. The other Middle Earth stories (on screen anyway) can be easily summed up, and then expanded and developed and complemented. LOTR: there’s an evil ring, the fellowship have to destroy it. Hobbit: bunch of lads need a hobbit to defeat a dragon. This, though: ? Edited September 25, 2022 by HarmonicGenerator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Tommy! Posted September 25, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted September 25, 2022 12 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: LOTR: there’s an evil ring, the fellowship have to destroy it. Hobbit: bunch of lads need a hobbit to defeat a dragon. This, though: ? If it's true to the history in the books I assume it's the re-emergence of Saroun & his attempted corruption of elves and men, war with the elves and the last alliance of elves and men and the post war hubris of Isildur leading to the LOTR story. I'd assume there's also a dwaven plot about the greed of dwarves leading to the fall of Moria and the growth of Erebor before the rise of Smaug. Trouble is in the books that potentially covers a huge time span with a focus on Saroun as the leading character setting up the main stories rather than those who appose him. Where humans are the focus they are corrupted or befall hubris to set the character redemption in LOTR. The charm of the hobbit and LOTR is in the hobbits growth as characters leaving the innocence and protection of the shire entering the world, and in a small group trying to fight off evil & corruption for repentance and to make amends for past failings. Also the source books for LOTR are a clear story with well defined characters all with a well defined arc. This is all based on the filler at the back without any character development, just pages of exposition and lists of names, so it's going to need really good writing to flesh it out and make you care about them and not just leaning on the source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vamp Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 It is a bit like when you skip the history of the hobbits the first time you read Lord of the Rings because you want to get to the actual story. It's also a far more expansive story than either of the films. I also wonder if Galadriel is a good choice for a main character. I like her as a character but she's probably more interesting the less you know about her. Its a shame they couldn't start from the few pages Tolkein wrote of a sequel to Lord of the Rings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrodyGraham Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 I'm not saying that this week's Rings of Power will address everyone's concerns, the show is what it is, but fuck me if that wasn't one of my favourite hours (and a bit) of TV in a very long time. No complaints about pace this week. No sir, none.  Properly excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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