# “Rings of Power” - "Lord of the Rings" television adaptation



## krtek a houby (Nov 14, 2017)

Lord of the Rings to get TV adaptation

Not a huge amount of info. Could be interesting but the headline is misleading as it will be set before the trilogy.

I'm more interested in the forthcoming His Dark Materials and Watchmen adaptations but still; Tolkien, eh?


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## kabbes (Nov 14, 2017)

It's not Tolkien if it isn't a story Tolkien has written.  It's just generic swords and dwarves.


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## krtek a houby (Nov 14, 2017)

Not sure yet if it's based on his works. For now; it's Tolkienesque.


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## hot air baboon (Nov 14, 2017)

I presumed it was Silmarillion based stuff - I can't see the estate agreeing to them just making shit up. Wondering to waht extent the makers can represent the dark & ill-starred legendry of the Sil. cycle although I suppose GoT was much closer in tone to that than Peter Jackson's disneyfied shite

Ultimately the key issue really boils down to has it got balrogs ?


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

There's enough in the appendices of LOTR to pad out some stuff.

Appendices


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## Crispy (Nov 14, 2017)

Hoping for some of that Game of Thrones hype I guess.

Trouble with Tolkein is it's ramrod straight through and through with the stuffy tropes that GoT subverted.


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## TruXta (Nov 14, 2017)

chilango said:


> There's enough in the appendices of LOTR to pad out some stuff.
> 
> Appendices


And in Unfinished Tales, plus all the History of Middle Earth stuff.


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## hot air baboon (Nov 14, 2017)

chilango said:


> There's enough in the appendices of LOTR to pad out some stuff.
> 
> Appendices



I thought that was how they inflated the Hobbit up to 3 films ?


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

hot air baboon said:


> I thought that was how they inflated the Hobbit up to 3 films ?



There was no dwarf-elf love story in the appendices.


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## mrs quoad (Nov 14, 2017)

kabbes said:


> It's not Tolkien if it isn't a story Tolkien has written.  It's just generic swords and dwarves.


Though if you hypothesised that you could have infinite Tolkiens with infinite typewriters in infinite rooms, then isn’t everything really Tolkien?


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## mrs quoad (Nov 14, 2017)

chilango said:


> There was no dwarf-elf love story in the appendices.


Would that be a dwelf or an earf?


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## kabbes (Nov 14, 2017)

Christ, God help them if they plan on filming the Silmarillion.  Not even Tolkien figured that was ready in its current form for a wider audience.  And the appendices?  Aka the way Jackson managed to turn a fun short story into a turgid 3 film snoozefest.

I agree that GoT has already taken all this to its next level.  I'm not excited for TV pseudo-Tolkien.


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## Orang Utan (Nov 14, 2017)

They should do Father Giles Of Ham


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

Strictly Tom Bombadil


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## TruXta (Nov 14, 2017)

Maybe one episode where Sauron chooses the ring-wraiths Apprentice-style?


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

Hobbiton's Got Talent


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## rekil (Nov 14, 2017)

Neighborcs.


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## TheHoodedClaw (Nov 14, 2017)

Some Morders do Ave Em


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

Real Housewives of Rivendell


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Gollumbox*

Smeagol sits on a rock in Mordor watching events across Middle Earth unfold in a palantir shouting "my precious" a lot.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2017)

I'm Celeborn Get Me Out Of Here


Anyway they should do Children of Hurin cos its fuck-dull and maybe some visuals would spice things up


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Antiques Roadshow with Elrond & Gandalf*



> "_One may guess that your trolls had plundered, other plunderers, or come on the remnants of old robberies in some hole in the mountains of old. I have heard that there are still forgotten treasures to be found in the deserted caverns of the mines of Moria, since the dwarf and goblin war._"



Each week a bunch of dwarves and hobbits rock up to Rivendell with magic rings, glowing swords and the like and Elrond and Gandalf ponder whether they come from the sack of Gondolin or not.


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## hot air baboon (Nov 14, 2017)

Kevin McLeod pulls up in his Land Rover Discovery in a muddy driveway at the front of Barad-Dur - 

"So.....its now the *360th* year of the Second Age and they* still* haven't got the roof on yet. There seem to be alot of orcs still working on the site & I'm now wondering if Sauron might be beginning to regret his decision to project manage this himself...lets go in & see if I can get a cup of tea..."




kabbes said:


> Christ, God help them if they plan on filming the Silmarillion.  Not even Tolkien figured that was ready in its current form for a wider audience.
> I agree that GoT has already taken all this to its next level.  I'm not excited for TV pseudo-Tolkien.



its a pretty bad idea generally - the whole ME back story really functions as an elaborate way to add a sort of heft or historic ballast that adds something special & unique to the LOTR - like the way designer cloths have hours of pain-staking labour intensive detial that no-one ever looks at but its just nice having it there


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2017)

Beorn in the USA

the shape shifter visits america to meet real bears, along the way teaching americans how to be better to their wildlife


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## JimW (Nov 14, 2017)

Weather Hills 90210


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Ent & Deck's Saturday Night Takeaway*

Treebeard sits on a ship looking morosely at the wooden deck beneath him wondering which long lost relative it's made out of.


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Saruman vs Food*

"Sharkey" tours the Shire and its environs eating as many second breakfasts as he can in The Green Dragon, The Prancing Pony and so on.


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Uruk High*

Also known as _Educating Isengard_, we visit the White Hand Academy to follow the everyday trials and tribulations of a half-orc training school.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2017)

Last Homely House Hunters

various elven chiefs search for somewhere to live


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## JimW (Nov 14, 2017)

Bree - following the adventures of a multi-racial choir from the Prancing Pony.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2017)

Witch King and Country

late second age propaganda war film. Dirk Bogarde stars


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Ranger Things*

A nostalgic look at all those mysterious disappearances of Strider's stuff, when it just turned out to be Merry and Pippin "borrowing" it.


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Mordor She Wrote*

Galadriel investigates.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2017)

Who Do you Think You Are?


17 hour special as Aragorn traces every fucking generation backwards between him and Isildur


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## SpookyFrank (Nov 14, 2017)

*Isengardener's World*

Saruman explains how to keep ents away from your courgettes without using artificial herbicides.


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## JimW (Nov 14, 2017)

Gondor in Sixty Seconds - a whirlwind tour guide to the kingdom of Men


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*The Grand Tuor*

Boromir, Faramir and Aragorn present this irreverent look at Elrond's granddad, *Tuor* of the House of Hador and great hero of Men.


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Teleritubbies*

_Those who come last_ in Quenya (singular _Teler_) were the third of the Elf clans who came to Aman. Those who came to Aman became known as the Falmari or "sea elves" and these are the Elves who are generally known as Teleri, though the term also includes their Middle-earth cousins the Sindar, Laiquendi, and Nandor of Middle-earth. The third clan was the largest of the three houses of the Elves, and most of the Avari originally belonged to this clan. The creatures co-exist with a number of strange contraptions such as the Noo-noo, the group's anthropomorphic blue vacuum cleaner, and the Voice Trumpets. The show's colourful, psychedelic setting was designed specifically to appeal to the attention spans of infants and unlock different sections of the mind while also educating young children of transitions that can be expected in life.


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## kabbes (Nov 14, 2017)

chilango said:


> *Mordor She Wrote*
> 
> Galadriel investigates.


This is the winner.  This is what they have to make.


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## Kaka Tim (Nov 14, 2017)

*Look who's Tolkien.*

Delightful comedy where we hear the thoughts of a wee baby voiced by bruce willis. Only its in fucking elvish!


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2017)

Songs of Lays

Doctor Nina Ramirez examines Christopher Tolkiens seminal Middle Earth history 'The Lays of Beleriand' in this 3 part documentary. BBC4 mind, non of your lightweight bb2 history shit


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Who wants to be a silmarillionaire?*

Join Fëanor in this big stake game show....


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## Crispy (Nov 14, 2017)

*Last of the Brandywine*

Bilbo, Gaffer and other elderly hobbits' warmhearted adventures on the backroads and waterways of the Shire

I'd watch that, actually.


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## tim (Nov 14, 2017)

You'll find me proping up the bar of the Prancing Pony any evening they put any of that dreary Tolkein tosh.


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Easy Strider*

Aragorn, a horse riding ranger, completes a pipeweed deal in Arnor and decides to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth. On his journey, he experiences bigotry and hatred from the inhabitants of small-town Muddle Earth and also meets with other travelers (such as Radagast) seeking alternative lifestyles. After a terrifying pipeweed experience in The Prancing Pony, the two travelers wonder if they will ever find a way to live peacefully in the Shire.


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## Reiabuzz (Nov 14, 2017)

Surely three 4 hour long dirges of film was enough?

How the fuck did that gross £5bn? Insane.


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## Thimble Queen (Nov 14, 2017)

Crispy said:


> *Last of the Brandywine*
> 
> Bilbo, Gaffer and other elderly hobbits' warmhearted adventures on the backroads and waterways of the Shire
> 
> I'd watch that, actually.



Spliffed up and mucking about on boats. I wanna be *in* the programme tbf


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*In Sickness and In Elf*

Gandalf Garnett and his views on the races of middle-earth.


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## tim (Nov 14, 2017)

Orc and Mindy







Nanu nanu Exidor nanu nan Elsinor bloink Legolas nanu Elrond osanwe kento rope.


It didn't well.


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## Steel Icarus (Nov 14, 2017)

Tom Bombadil or No Deal

Making the kids' teas so obviously haven't had time to come up with a reasonable premise


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## Steel Icarus (Nov 14, 2017)

Gimli Gimli Gimli

Gimli and Legolas flatshare after all the ruckus has died down with predictably hilarious consequences. They have a pet baby oliphaunt.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2017)

Dragon's Den

Convince a panel of 13 pissed off dwarves that you haven't rinsed the Arkenstone while nobody was watching


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## chilango (Nov 14, 2017)

*Red Dwarf* 

Legolas and chums play a series of hilarious hidden camera pranks on an increasingly angry and embarrassed Gimli.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2017)

chilango said:


> *Red Dwarf*
> 
> Legolas and chums play a series of hilarious hidden camera pranks on an increasingly angry and embarrassed Gimli.


na bofur, fili and kili go full NVA in Mirkwood while the others VC in the Enchanted River delta


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## DotCommunist (Nov 14, 2017)

How do you Solve a Problem Like Moria?


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## TheHoodedClaw (Nov 14, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> How do you Solve a Problem Like Moria?



*polite ripple*

Citizen Khand - the wacky hijinks of a Variag community leader and his family.


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## krtek a houby (Nov 15, 2017)

*Breaking Bara-dur.*

Rise and fall of a mild mannered dark lord who is ultimately the victim of his one bling.


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## Spod (Nov 15, 2017)

I need to contribute a LOTR pun! (goes off the wiki some inspiration)


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## tim (Nov 15, 2017)

"The only way is Entsex".  The Ents set off en-masse, albeit rather slowly, in search of their long lost Entwives in the hope of once more being able to copulate and procreate.


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## chilango (Nov 15, 2017)

*Black Brandybucks*

Controversial hobbit minstrel show.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 15, 2017)

Tooken

in this little known tale from Bullroarer Took's early years he and a young hobbit maiden visit Gondor, whereupon fell wraiths of Mordor kidnap the hobbit maiden. Bullroarer Took is straight on the Palantir 'I will find you, and I will kill you'


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## TruXta (Nov 15, 2017)

It's going to be crap isn't it.


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## T & P (Nov 16, 2017)

TruXta said:


> It's going to be crap isn't it.


Yes, undoubtedly.

I get the feeling Amazon TV is bombing, or at least underperforming badly. I can only think of a couple of series I've enjoyed watching, and one of them wasn't even their own production. Most of them are forgettable at best if not dire.


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## Badgers (Nov 16, 2017)

T & P said:


> I get the feeling Amazon TV is bombing, or at least underperforming badly. I can only think of a couple of series I've enjoyed watching, and one of them wasn't even their own production. Most of them are forgettable at best if not dire.


I concur, there is not much I have watched and there is not enough free (part of paid subscription) for me. Only have it because I have got a prime account through work and won't renew/pay myself.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 16, 2017)

sacke amazon off because evil and because man in the high castle was no good


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## kabbes (Nov 16, 2017)

Man in the High Castle was very good, except for being quite boring quite a lot of the time.


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## hot air baboon (Nov 16, 2017)

rummaging in Tolkien's filing cabinet after 6 bloated feature films have hoovered up 90% of the decent material indicates a total creative dead-end when you look at the sheer quantity of untouched fantasy material out there they *could* do


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## DotCommunist (Nov 16, 2017)

yeah because I am _gagging _to see the Belgariad brought to the screen, for real.


actually I think that genuinely would sell with about the same audience that enjoyed Charmed

but no, not that


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## kebabking (Nov 16, 2017)

i'd be interested to see stuff on the early history and movements of the Hobbits, and the history of Eregion from the fall of Hollin through the breakup and fall of the North Kingdom(s), and the Dunadain/Rangers upto the war of the ring. 

lots of other stuff as well, but please, no fucking poetry and singing...


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## DotCommunist (Nov 16, 2017)

or just go full left field and set it in Umbar following the machinations of the Blue istari we know hangs out on that side of the world

its even got a great title 'Corsairs of Umbar'

make it so


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## kebabking (Nov 16, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> or just go full left field and set it in Umbar following the machinations of the Blue istari we know hangs out on that side of the world...



Saruman topped them out east - thought everyone knew that...


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## chilango (Nov 16, 2017)

kebabking said:


> Saruman topped them out east - thought everyone knew that...



link???


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## Silas Loom (Nov 16, 2017)

hot air baboon said:


> rummaging in Tolkien's filing cabinet after 6 bloated feature films have hoovered up 90% of the decent material indicates a total creative dead-end when you look at the sheer quantity of untouched fantasy material out there they *could* do



Sopranos, Wire, Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Mad Men, Fargo, Oz, Battlestar Galactica.  I don't think that any of the obvious first- or second-rank TV dramas were based on novels. What have adaptations given us? OITNB, first season, I suppose. And Game of Thrones, which despite having ploughed through the increasingly disappointing novels, I find myself unable to like on screen.

So much as I'm happy to see the likes of Rothfuss or Grossman or Gavriel Kay adapted, I suspect that the best way to get really good fantasy on TV is to start afresh, with new concepts, and a shit load of money spent on writers as soon as a pilot excites the groundlings.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 16, 2017)

chilango said:


> link???


disputed. Saruman was not actually evil by that point, it was when he came back he got evil

internets geeks:
"The Blue Wizrds, the Entwives, Maglor and Daeron are all MIA in Tolkien's world... nobody knows what happened to them. But if anyone is interested in reading more about the Ithryn Luin (Blue Wizards), you should read the chapter "The Istari" in_Unfinished Tales_, or "Last Writings" in _Peoples of Middle-earth_ (HoMe vol XII). A short synopsis is that each of the Istari were sent by different Vala. Gandalf was chosen by Manwë and Varda, Saruman by Aulë, Radagast by Yavanna, and the Blue Wizards were sent by Oromë. One theory of why they disappeared into the east was that Oromë had the most knowledge and experience of those lands, and therefore sent them on a specific mission to those lands.

I think though that it is impossible that Saruman killed the other two. A Maia killing two other Maiar would have definantly alerted the Valar. Wouldn't they have reacted to that? Saruman was also never "evil" from the beginning... sure, he was ambitous and maybe even a little petty then. But his desire for the Ring grew through the Third Age, ending in his becoming "evil".  "


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## Gromit (Nov 16, 2017)

*Dragon's Den*

Smaug interviews entrepreneurs about their business ideas. Loans gold to the best and eats the rest of them.


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## kebabking (Nov 16, 2017)

chilango said:


> link???



t'is obvious - Gandalf said that the two blue Istari went to the east and that their role was to cause trouble on Saurons flank. he also said that Saruman had also travelled to the east. it appears that there was no trouble on Saurons flank, and that he was able to ensnare the men of the east with no problems at all.

the obvious answer was that they fell under a bus (war chariot) before they were able to put a spoke in Saurons wheel, and while its quite possible that they could meet their ends in the most pedestrian of circumstances, the fact that Saruman had been out east as well and not apparently, acheieved or learnt anything he could bring to the  (white) table sends the spidey senses into overdrive.

its not neccessary for Saruman to be evil or in league with Sauron for him to bump off the two Blues, merely that he didn't want competition, or freelancers steeling his thunder, or simply - like Gandalf - they would not be swayed by his attempts to _persuade_ them to his service.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 16, 2017)

in the context of what a maia is you pretty much do ave to be evil to do as you suggest. In the context of a human being, its an evil thought! when did you last pass a V-K?


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## krtek a houby (Nov 17, 2017)

Silas Loom said:


> Sopranos, Wire, Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Mad Men, Fargo, Oz, Battlestar Galactica.  I don't think that any of the obvious first- or second-rank TV dramas were based on novels. What have adaptations given us? OITNB, first season, I suppose. And Game of Thrones, which despite having ploughed through the increasingly disappointing novels, I find myself unable to like on screen.
> 
> So much as I'm happy to see the likes of Rothfuss or Grossman or Gavriel Kay adapted, I suspect that the best way to get really good fantasy on TV is to start afresh, with new concepts, and a shit load of money spent on writers as soon as a pilot excites the groundlings.



There's room for both.

*The Expanse* is damn good viewing and supposedly better than the authors books (haven't read them).

*Dexter *was good for a bit (haven't seen past season 5) and that was based on the books.


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## Badgers (Oct 12, 2021)

Sir Lenny Henry confirms role as an early Hobbit in Amazon’s LOTR show
					

In an interview with BBC, Lenny Henry dishes on his Harfoot role in the billion dollar TV series. Lord of the Rings Rings of Power on Amazon Prime News, JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit and more | TheOneRing.net




					www.theonering.net


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## Crispy (Feb 10, 2022)

Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series Rises: Inside ‘The Rings of Power’
					

One show to rule them all—the first look at a billion-dollar saga set thousands of years before J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary trilogy.




					www.vanityfair.com
				









Galadriel





Prince Durin IV





Dwarven princess Dia





Arandir






Galadriel and Halbrand





Elrond






Bronwyn and Arondir





Elrond and Galadriel





Bronwyn





Halbrand


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## tim (Feb 10, 2022)

Ent-sappingly tedious bombadillox.


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## Artaxerxes (Feb 10, 2022)

Swords on shoulders.

No. Can we stop this.


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## tim (Feb 10, 2022)

Artaxerxes said:


> Swords on shoulders.
> 
> No. Can we stop this.


Only by going on a quest to the deepest pits of Amazdor and taking on Bezauron directly.


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## krtek a houby (Feb 10, 2022)

Can't wait for this! It's going to be a splendid adventure.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 11, 2022)

krtek a houby said:


> Can't wait for this! It's going to be a splendid adventure.



I really hope this is true.


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## Santino (Feb 11, 2022)

I think it's going to be shit.


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## krtek a houby (Feb 12, 2022)

It's going to be brilliant and irk the purists.

Which makes it even more a thrilling prospect to immerse in a big old fantasy saga.


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## Nine Bob Note (Feb 12, 2022)

I am looking forward to this. Fuck, they've got billions to waste. Netflix will be bankrupt long before this gets cancelled.


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## The Octagon (Feb 12, 2022)

Silas Loom said:


> Sopranos, Wire, Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Mad Men, Fargo, Oz, Battlestar Galactica.  I don't think that any of the obvious first- or second-rank TV dramas were based on novels. What have adaptations given us? OITNB, first season, I suppose. And Game of Thrones, which despite having ploughed through the increasingly disappointing novels, I find myself unable to like on screen.
> 
> So much as I'm happy to see the likes of Rothfuss or Grossman or Gavriel Kay adapted, I suspect that the best way to get really good fantasy on TV is to start afresh, with new concepts, and a shit load of money spent on writers as soon as a pilot excites the groundlings.


Bit of a stretch with the The Wire, it's characters and plotlines / incidents are heavily based on a book.


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## rubbershoes (Feb 12, 2022)

The Octagon said:


> Bit of a stretch with the The Wire, it's characters and plotlines / incidents are heavily based on a book.



Which is itself partly based on real people and experiences


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## kabbes (Feb 12, 2022)

Santino said:


> I think it's going to be shit.


I also suspect this. 

I think the truth is that Lord of the Rings ended up good because it was a story about some (literal and metaphorical) little people swept up in big events. It was a tale through their eyes — people who didn’t want to be heroes but did what they had to for their own survival as well as for others. The epic events happened _around_ them, they weren’t the point. Consequently, the world they were based in was never really the thing that made it good. 

By contrast, you have things like the stories of the Silmarillion, which end up really dull. These do the opposite to LotR — they make it all about epic tales of epic people in an epic world. But there’s nothing to hold onto and it all just slips past. 

It looks to me like this series follows the Silmarillion route, not the LotR route.


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## Artaxerxes (Feb 12, 2022)

kabbes said:


> I also suspect this.
> 
> I think the truth is that Lord of the Rings ended up good because it was a story about some (literal and metaphorical) little people swept up in big events. It was a tale through their eyes — people who didn’t want to be heroes but did what they had to for their own survival as well as for others. The epic events happened _around_ them, they weren’t the point. Consequently, the world they were based in was never really the thing that made it good.
> 
> ...



It is based on the Silmarillion.

Also it’s exactly what happened with the fantasy genre post Tolkien anyway. Masses of generic chosen one stories in a medieval ish setting. The Hobbit especially was great because Bilbo was a hero in incredible circumstances but only barely able to wield a sword (though he was a dab hand with a sling and stones)


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## Reno (Feb 12, 2022)

No Dwarf- and Hobbit-fucking, I'm out. 









						Why Amazon Prime's Lord of the Rings Series Will Not Have Sex Scenes - E! Online
					

Amazon Prime revealed even more information about Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, including which characters will be featured and how they are diversifying the cast.




					www.eonline.com


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## krtek a houby (Feb 12, 2022)

The more negativity, the more it appeals.

But then, have been a fantasy enthusiast since childhood. Comics, sci-fi, horror and all the rest.


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## kabbes (Feb 12, 2022)

krtek a houby said:


> The more negativity, the more it appeals.


You must absolutely _love_ the film Batman vs Superman


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## JimW (Feb 12, 2022)

kabbes said:


> Consequently, the world they were based in was never really the thing that made it good.


I'd modify this to say the world-building did set it apart from the usual and give it greater moment, perhaps because Tolkien did it so thoroughly and with a wide knowledge of the European myths he was adapting, though agree it worked better as the rich backdrop than the the actual focus of the story.


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## krtek a houby (Feb 12, 2022)

kabbes said:


> You must absolutely _love_ the film Batman vs Superman



Nah, that would be contrarian for the sake of it.

Do have a mate who won't hear a word said against it, though.

But personally, would not have a problem with updates/remakes/reboots etc... if they are executed well. Quite intrigued by the new Batman out this year...


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## kabbes (Feb 12, 2022)

krtek a houby said:


> Nah, that would be contrarian for the sake of it.


I thought, “the more negativity, the more it appeals”?  Plus it’s comics, which you also identified.  Sounds like a slam-dunk.

Or is it that the more negativity the more it appeals, _so long as it is actually good_?  With the emphasis on the “good” more than the “negativity” part.


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## krtek a houby (Feb 12, 2022)

kabbes said:


> I thought, “the more negativity, the more it appeals”?  Plus it’s comics, which you also identified.  Sounds like a slam-dunk.
> 
> Or is it that the more negativity the more it appeals, _so long as it is actually good_?  With the emphasis on the “good” more than the “negativity” part.



Just used to people/peers/parents dismissing beloved genres over the last 5 decades... and eventually, such genres went mainstream, some acclaimed and on a purely material level - could have made a few thousand on the old comic collection.

It was/is gratifying, in a way, to see geekdom be taken seriously, as opposed to sneeringly. Catered for, if you follow.

That's a few reasons for why am happy to embrace the negative vibes 

But sure, Batman V Supervisor was mostly disappointing.


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## T & P (Feb 13, 2022)

Happy to give any show the benefit of the doubt, but on paper, any prequels or sequels of acclaimed shows or films are far more appealing if the timeline is reasonably close to the original story than if it’s a bloody thousand years ago. Be LOTR, Game of Thrones, or even Star Wars.


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## krtek a houby (Feb 13, 2022)

T & P said:


> Happy to give any show the benefit of the doubt, but on paper, any prequels or sequels of acclaimed shows or films are far more appealing if the timeline is reasonably close to the original story than if it’s a bloody thousand years ago. Be LOTR, Game of Thrones, or even Star Wars.



Would be quite happy to see a Star Wars set thousands of years before/after, tbh. Much as love it, feel that the 40 year time period they're set in has been a bit of a narrow focus...


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## T & P (Feb 13, 2022)

krtek a houby said:


> Would be quite happy to see a Star Wars set thousands of years before/after, tbh. Much as love it, feel that the 40 year time period they're set in has been a bit of a narrow focus...


I might on principle, but only if there are no references or fan service whatsoever linking anything to the legacy films or stories. It’s bad enough when Lucas thought writing C-3PO and R2 into the very first prequel film was in any way necessary. Imagine how cringeworthy it would be even with a thousand year gap, the writers of such prequel shows decide to plant Easter eggs all over the place as fan service, or even worse make the protagonist a direct ancestor of the main character of legacy item. ‘Meet Cormic Skywalker, the great great great great great great grandfather of Anakin, and discover the origin story of the most pivotal family in history’. Fuck that for a laugh.


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 13, 2022)

T & P said:


> I might on principle, but only if there are no references or fan service whatsoever linking anything to the legacy films or stories. It’s bad enough when Lucas thought writing C-3PO and R2 into the very first prequel film was in any way necessary. Imagine how cringeworthy it would be even with a thousand year gap, the writers of such prequel shows decide to plant Easter eggs all over the place as fan service, or even worse make the protagonist a direct ancestor of the main character of legacy item. ‘Meet Cormic Skywalker, the great great great great great great grandfather of Anakin, and discover the origin story of the most pivotal family in history’. Fuck that for a laugh.



Oh no, that's precisely why would be in favour of thousands of years distance - so there'd be no family ties and C3P0's great grand mech or whatever.

Don't mind a bit of fan service, when handled well like Mandalorian. Over egged it in the last film, though still a fun popcorn ride. Best recent fan service was, imho, the Spiderman flick. 

The new LotR series will have a few versions of a few characters we know, but don't want an exact repetition of the films. Don't want to be too precious about it, long as it's entertaining and takes us on a great journey.


----------



## platinumsage (Feb 14, 2022)

Check the comments


----------



## skyscraper101 (Feb 14, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> Check the comments




Most of them seem to be in Russian for me


----------



## killer b (Feb 14, 2022)

krtek a houby said:


> irk the purists.


Dunno if it's a purists issue - the purists surely gave up on Lord of the Rings decades ago. If people are rolling their eyes at this I'd imagine their main concern is the increasingly large parts of the film & TV industry that are given over to mining already successful franchises rather than taking risks with new and untested ideas. Soon all there'll be left of Hollywood will be Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and the Marvel stuff.


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## krtek a houby (Feb 14, 2022)

skyscraper101 said:


> Most of them seem to be in Russian for me



Seems like an organised campaign.

It's the same message, The franchise, it's been destroyed by evil which cannot create anything new...

Have noticed elsewhere that there's been backlashes against the diversity of casting.

Fucking hell, the culture wars targeting family entertainment


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 14, 2022)

killer b said:


> Dunno if it's a purists issue - the purists surely gave up on Lord of the Rings decades ago. If people are rolling their eyes at this I'd imagine their main concern is the increasingly large parts of the film & TV industry that are given over to mining already successful franchises rather than taking risks with new and untested ideas. Soon all there'll be left of Hollywood will be Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and the Marvel stuff.



Hollywood has always capitalised on popular genres, your westerns, gangsters, monster movies and so on.

Pretty sure it will survive. If audiences don't like it, they'll switch off.

The troll armies, on the other hand, well... probably a movie or two in Itself on how and why they mobilise. They've certainly got fuck all interest in the shows/films?


----------



## killer b (Feb 14, 2022)

krtek a houby said:


> If audiences don't like it, they'll switch off.


just leave it to the market, got it.


----------



## krtek a houby (Feb 14, 2022)

killer b said:


> just leave it to the market, got it.



Or leave it to the trolls...

The audiences have always dictated what they like. At least it was honest, and down to tickets sales.

Now it's online armies, spewing hate and false outrage.

Preferred audience reaction to be fair.


----------



## killer b (Feb 14, 2022)

I don't think anyone on this thread is spewing hate or false outrage are they? Do you think I'm just parroting russian trolls or something?


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## krtek a houby (Feb 14, 2022)

killer b said:


> I don't think anyone on this thread is spewing hate or false outrage are they? Do you think I'm just parroting russian trolls or something?



Of course not!

On the one hand, its amusing to see corporate Amazon get a hammering.

But ( on the YouTube) it's coming from bad faith actors.

Perhaps something is amiss for the elders who feel their youth is being burgled... which is fair enough. Am of that generation... just don't buy into the mantra that all remakes/reboots are evil.

Again, not saying you do.

Isn't it weird, though, the comments on social media?


----------



## Pickman's model (Feb 14, 2022)




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## killer b (Feb 14, 2022)

we're having a discussion on here though, in which literally zero people are saying that all remakes/reboots are evil. I'm just that the domination of the market by a few huge franchises is a bad thing. which it unambiguously is. Fairly sure you'd agree with me too if it didn't happen to  be something you liked they were making.


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## krtek a houby (Feb 14, 2022)

Pickman's model said:


> View attachment 310015



See, would much rather be exposed to this kind of representation than YouTube cunts getting fired up about "negro elves" and other deliberate commentaries


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## krtek a houby (Feb 14, 2022)

killer b said:


> we're having a discussion on here though, in which literally zero people are saying that all remakes/reboots are evil. I'm just that the domination of the market by a few huge franchises is a bad thing. which it unambiguously is. Fairly sure you'd agree with me too if it didn't happen to  be something you liked they were making.



Mostly, yes.


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## Monkeygrinder's Organ (Feb 14, 2022)

As far as the market goes I think the point of the endless remakes and sequels isn't that people prefer them over quality new stuff, it's about risk. A quality (or even trashy but entertaining, whatever) new film might make big money but it's hard to guarantee. Whereas you can bang out another reliable franchise film and turn a safe profit. And given the cost and limits on resources it's obvious which a studio is going to go for. So it's not that they're evil in themselves but they do crowd out newer, potentially much better (and potentially more popular too) stuff.


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## krtek a houby (Feb 14, 2022)

Monkeygrinder's Organ said:


> As far as the market goes I think the point of the endless remakes and sequels isn't that people prefer them over quality new stuff, it's about risk. A quality (or even trashy but entertaining, whatever) new film might make big money but it's hard to guarantee. Whereas you can bang out another reliable franchise film and turn a safe profit. And given the cost and limits on resources it's obvious which a studio is going to go for. So it's not that they're evil in themselves but they do crowd out newer, potentially much better (and potentially more popular too) stuff.


Good point.

As a fillum fan, would like to say that prefer the newer, original, boundary pushing stuff... but, tbh, the oldies are often comforting. Talking about anything from the silent era up to thirty years ago... so, when a reboot/sequel/spinoff/reimagining etc comes along, you're going to be intrigued.

And, of course, on occasion... disappointed.

On the whole, though, respect for the new.

Be it movies, music etc.


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## Aladdin (Feb 14, 2022)

T & P said:


> Happy to give any show the benefit of the doubt, but on paper, any prequels or sequels of acclaimed shows or films are far more appealing if the timeline is reasonably close to the original story than if it’s a bloody thousand years ago. Be LOTR, Game of Thrones, or even Star Wars.



It will get a whole new generation integrated in the stories...maybe..


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## Pickman's model (Feb 15, 2022)

Artaxerxes said:


> It is based on the Silmarillion.
> 
> Also it’s exactly what happened with the fantasy genre post Tolkien anyway. Masses of generic chosen one stories in a medieval ish setting. The Hobbit especially was great because Bilbo was a hero in incredible circumstances but only barely able to wield a sword (though he was a dab hand with a sling and stones)


the fantasy genre emerged out of the medievalism of the victorians, people like lord dunsany and william morris. and the influence of the medieval horror story beowulf can't be overstated. so i don't think that jrrt can be blamed for everything. in addition, the silmarillion was never actually published by tolkein, it was one of his son's earlier efforts are reaping the rewards from the stuff his dad hadn't issued. i read the silmarillion years back, in the 80s, and i don't know if i could manage it again. 

but tbh medievalism isn't really the problem - the jirel of joiry stories, or the averoigne stories of clark ashton smith, are avowedly medieval. the problem to my mind arises with the volume of 'quest' stories more than the issue of 'chosen ones'. things like the belgariad and the sword of shannara. it's perfectly possible to write an excellent 'quest' and / or 'chosen one' story - you need look no further than michael moorcock's eternal champion series, and quite a few of those books are set in medievalish environments.


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## Reno (Aug 31, 2022)

The review are mostly very positive, though only the first two episodes have been made available:









						The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power review – so astounding it makes House of the Dragon look amateur
					

The visual splendour of this rich, gorgeous Tolkien drama will make you gawp throughout. Watch it on the largest TV you can




					www.theguardian.com
				












						The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
					

Synopsis:Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets




					www.rottentomatoes.com
				












						The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
					

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 show reviews & Metacritic score: The series is set several millennia before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings when the rings of power were forged by Sauron....




					www.metacritic.com


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## T & P (Aug 31, 2022)

Reno said:


> The review are mostly very positive, though only the first two episodes have been made available:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow, wasn’t expecting that. I know trailers don’t mean anything at all, but apart from the decisively underwhelming feeling after watching the rather uninspiring trailer for this, I just had the gut feeling it was always going to be very difficult for anyone to produce a TV series of something as big as as LOTR that was going to any good. This is encouraging.


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## platinumsage (Aug 31, 2022)

If you want to be discouraged to ensure you’re not disappointed have a read of this review  









						CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power
					

This is a disaster dragon - plucked, spatchcocked, with a tankerload of Paxo stuffed up its fundament, roasted and served with soggy sprouts.




					www.dailymail.co.uk


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## moochedit (Aug 31, 2022)

T & P said:


> Wow, wasn’t expecting that. I know trailers don’t mean anything at all, but apart from the decisively underwhelming feeling after watching the rather uninspiring trailer for this, I just had the gut feeling it was always going to be very difficult for anyone to produce a TV series of something as big as as LOTR that was going to any good. This is encouraging.



Amazon have spent ridiculous amounts of money on it. (A billion dollars i read somewhere).

To be honest i can't remember the LOTR films that well now. I never saw the hobbit films. I'll wait and see what viewers think online before i decide if i'm watching this.


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## moochedit (Aug 31, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> If you want to be discouraged to ensure you’re not disappointed have a read of this review
> 
> 
> 
> ...



It's the mail though. They've probably upset it's "woke"


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## Karl Masks (Aug 31, 2022)

Is this based on the stories or just some rubbish Amazon made up with the names attached?


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## T & P (Aug 31, 2022)

moochedit said:


> Amazon have spent ridiculous amounts of money on it. (A billion dollars i read somewhere).


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## Nine Bob Note (Aug 31, 2022)

moochedit said:


> It's the mail though. They've probably upset it's "woke"



From the first ten 


Lenny Henry... what the actual
Note how it's always the same mendacious, MarX iSt, freedom hating, virtue signalling reviewers that big up woke S h!t like this.
Great. Ruined by Wo ke dom .. !
Its not Tolkien, its an attempt to steal and destroy a beautiful story and white art and culture.

No one mentioned JRR Token, so I'm disappointed


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## Nine Bob Note (Aug 31, 2022)

OK, my game just crashed, so I'm gonna look at some more. These are the top-rated  comments 


I read as far as "Lenny Henry".......and then I lost the will to live.
You need to go on an Elfality & Dwarversity course mate.
Wouldn't you just love to see a few movies and so called TV programs that had a good story and wasnt loaded with neurotic women, snowflake actors, woke propaganda and include some straight white actors!   You know what I mean, just like the good old days! I suppose trump was right when he said everything woke turns to crap.
No one can seem to make anything good anymore. That's because everything is done by committee to ensure w 0ke "awareness & sensitivity" to every single person that might be offended at something so you end up with drivel.
Tolkien epic? Whatever Tolkien is in there is buried under an avalanche of modern wokery. I'm a big fan of Tolkien, but this isn't Tolkien.
@oscarbravotango Most big media are in the hand of the money elite pushing the woke agenda. DM is one of the very few not following this crap.


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## moochedit (Aug 31, 2022)

Nine Bob Note said:


> OK, my game just crashed, so I'm gonna look at some more. These are the top-rated  comments
> 
> 
> I read as far as "Lenny Henry".......and then I lost the will to live.
> ...


I'm more minded to watch it now


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## moochedit (Aug 31, 2022)

Jeff Bezos is such a woke leftist


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## killer b (Aug 31, 2022)

Nine Bob Note said:


> I read as far as "Lenny Henry".......and then I lost the will to live.


this seems pretty reasonable tbf


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## Nine Bob Note (Aug 31, 2022)

I've actually just listened to the Lenny Henry episode of Off Menu, and I think it's one of the best they'd ever done


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## Yossarian (Aug 31, 2022)

Nine Bob Note said:


> OK, my game just crashed, so I'm gonna look at some more. These are the top-rated  comments
> 
> 
> I read as far as "Lenny Henry".......and then I lost the will to live.
> ...



"We fed 10,000 Daily Mail comments into an algorithm and this is what it had to say about the Lord of the Rings series."


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## ska invita (Aug 31, 2022)

For some reason the Mail has chose all orc pics for its article!  And the Orc looks really great


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## Nine Bob Note (Sep 1, 2022)

"Go woke, go broke!"

Is this the key soundbyte with the DM/Express Trump cult fucks now? I'm sure the corporation tax-destroying anti-union leftist Jeff Bezos will be going broke any minute now.


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## Reno (Sep 2, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> Is this based on the stories or just some rubbish Amazon made up with the names attached?


It's based on Tolkien's appendix, or something like it. 









						What Is In The Appendices Of ‘The Lord Of The Rings’? — Culture Slate
					

When  The Lord of the Rings  Amazon series was first announced to be in the works, there were many speculations about where the series would take place in the lore and timeline of Middle Earth. The most obvious answer that fans came to was that the series would be taking place earlier in the narrati




					www.cultureslate.com


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 2, 2022)

apparently it's Galadriel hunting down Sauron from back in the day of him forging the rings.

sounds like something more akin to Liam Neeson and Tolkien


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## Reno (Sep 2, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> apparently it's Galadriel hunting down Sauron from back in the day of him forging the rings.
> 
> sounds like something more akin to Liam Neeson and Tolkien


”Liam Neeson - Hobbit Hunter“ is something I’d absolutely watch .


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## killer b (Sep 2, 2022)

ska invita said:


> the Orc looks really great


the dwarves look terrible though


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## ska invita (Sep 2, 2022)

killer b said:


> the dwarves look terrible though


worse than in The Hobbit?


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## killer b (Sep 2, 2022)

ska invita said:


> worse than in The Hobbit?


looks on a par from what I've seen


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## ska invita (Sep 2, 2022)

Orcs are the best thing in Tolkien universe. Wizards and other magical creatures good too, but especially in the films dwarves are a mixed bag and elven bits might as well fast forward <just boring - as are all the female characters - blame Tolkien for that. I wonder if that might change in this new show


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## Reno (Sep 2, 2022)

Never read the books and only saw the films but the Ents were my favorite creatures. The most heart wrenching moment for me was the sight of an Ent on fire during a battle. I hope this show features Ents.


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## Artaxerxes (Sep 2, 2022)

Reno said:


> Never read the books and only saw the films but the Ents were my favorite creatures. The most heart wrenching moment for me was the Sight of an Entbin fire during a battle. I hope this show features Ents.


With ent wives.

The Good Life but with Ents and a not giving a shit Bombadil popping in occasionally for a cup of tea


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## ska invita (Sep 2, 2022)

ive said this before but an Orc soap opera. Warcraft film came close


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## moochedit (Sep 2, 2022)

Anyone watched them yet? Any good?


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 2, 2022)

moochedit said:


> Anyone watched them yet? Any good?



Hopefully tonight, but I've got to pack for a holiday. OH suggested I download them to take them with us, but I want to watch it on my big TV in 4k!


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## ruffneck23 (Sep 2, 2022)

Watched the first one earlier, pretty good, although it did seem a bit slow in parts (to me.)

Looks stunning.


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## moochedit (Sep 2, 2022)

ruffneck23 said:


> Looks stunning.


You would hope so given the ludicrous budget.


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## DotCommunist (Sep 2, 2022)

This means c s Lewis's Prelandra books will eventally be milked. I for one look forward to the 20 hour take on 'that hideous strength'


----------



## flypanam (Sep 2, 2022)

Well first episode is very underwhelming. What's with the elves and the Received pronunciation? And the peasant hobbits and their Oirish accents?


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## Artaxerxes (Sep 2, 2022)

flypanam said:


> Well first episode is very underwhelming. What's with the elves and the Received pronunciation? And the peasant hobbits and their Oirish accents?



Traditional fantasy stereotyping?


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## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 2, 2022)

Looks like adaptations are back on the menu boys.


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## Ax^ (Sep 2, 2022)

flypanam said:


> Well first episode is very underwhelming. What's with the elves and the Received pronunciation? And the peasant hobbits and their Oirish accents?



you have watch or read Tolkien work I assuming ?


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## ska invita (Sep 2, 2022)

Likely going to be best to stack these up and watch in chunks. 8 episodes in season one i think


----------



## Dandred (Sep 2, 2022)

Didn't they drag the books out for way too long with those three crappy films, now this?


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## Reno (Sep 2, 2022)

Dandred said:


> Didn't they drag the books out for way too long with those three crappy films, now this?


That was the case with the trilogy based on the The Hobbit, which unlike The Lord of the Rings is a short book, not suited to a three movie epic and they never found a way to solve that problem.

With this type of mythology there is no end to the epic stories the could tell, it's less the subject matter and more the execution which matters. For the TV series they aren't tied to a particular story, just a rough outline of history and mythology.


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## Karl Masks (Sep 2, 2022)

Watched episode 1.

The production values are as advertised. The story is utter rubbish.

It's just incredibly well produced fan fic. It's not terrible, it's just not remotely in keeping with the spirit or the story Tolkien tells (from what I know). Lots of rolling 'r's'. Morrrrgoth. Saurrrron, Galadliel, Elrrrrond. All the elves are stupid and awful and have some of the worst hair I've ever seen. The introduction is just bad. Why are elves teasing young galadriel? That is utterly out of character.

The hobbit stuff was better.

I would have preferred to see them dramatise the Silmarillion and the War with him. But I guess that's not in their purview.

I guess it comes down to whether you care about the professor's work. The movies felt authentic, despite taking massive liberties with the story. This is just a shadow of that. Same typeface, same cgi, though twenty years improved, but what this is, I don't know.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 2, 2022)

Dandred said:


> Didn't they drag the books out for way too long with those three crappy films, now this?


Hardly, the films missed out stuff from the books which would have made them even longer. The Fellowship completely cut the Old Forest and Tom Bombadilo.


----------



## moochedit (Sep 2, 2022)

Reno said:


> That was the case with the trilogy based on the The Hobbit, which unlike The Lord of the Rings is a short book, not suited to a three movie epic and they never found a way to solve that problem.
> 
> With this type of mythology there is no end to the epic stories the could tell, it's less the subject matter and more the execution which matters. For the TV series they aren't tied to a particular story, just a rough outline of history and mythology.


Yeah they should have just made a single 90 min film for the hobbit. (Never seen the hobbit films but i did read the book when i was a kid and know it is short)


----------



## ska invita (Sep 2, 2022)

I enjoyed the length of the Hobbit films... If you like fantasy you want it to drag out. I just hated the CGI barrel scene plus a few other silly moments. The dwarve king was a bit crap I thought. 

Slow is good and they're going to stretch this out, which is fine by me. It's just that elves standing around, barely moving and droning on is boring.  The trailer suggested a lot of that


----------



## Ax^ (Sep 2, 2022)

Dandred said:


> Didn't they drag the books out for way too long with those three crappy films, now this?



lots more literature to play with in the extended tales and the silmarillion

rather than the 78 page book that adapted for the hobbit


----------



## T & P (Sep 2, 2022)

A friend told me that the first Hobbit film actually covered 90% of the contents of the book, and films two and three the remaining 10%. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’d be mind boggling if that was the case.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 2, 2022)

T & P said:


> A friend told me that the first Hobbit film actually covered 90% of the contents of the book, and films two and three the remaining 10%. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’d be mind boggling if that was the case.


they stretch out the battle of five armies and the encounter with smaug and then shoehorned in an encounter with the necromancer and the wizards and galadliel. The book is wonderful remembering from my childyouth but a trilogy of movies is taking the piss a bit


----------



## lazythursday (Sep 2, 2022)

Well I thought it was pretty good, and very much in the spirit of the Tolkien I remember, though it's been a few decades since I trawled through the Appendices... Given the source material (or rather lack of it) I think they've done an unexpectedly good job of creating something completely new that feels true to both the book and the first Jackson movie trilogy.


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## Kaka Tim (Sep 2, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> Hardly, the films missed out stuff from the books which would have made them even longer. The Fellowship completely cut the Old Forest and Tom Bombadilo.


thank fuck


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 2, 2022)

Kaka Tim said:


> thank fuck


The Barrow Downs as well? That would have been cool to see. 

IIRC in the book 17 years passes between Bilbo's birthday party and Frodo leaving with the ring. All of which is Gandalf doing some research. 

Probably been quicker to google it


----------



## WhyLikeThis (Sep 2, 2022)

Bored of the rings already,


----------



## farmerbarleymow (Sep 2, 2022)

Just like the books when I was a kid, never managed to watch the films.  Have got the box set, but got so bored during the first film I gave up.


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## T & P (Sep 2, 2022)

farmerbarleymow said:


> Just like the books when I was a kid, never managed to watch the films.  Have got the box set, but got so bored during the first film I gave up.


If you could not get into the first film you would definitely find the other two even more of a bore. Once it gets going ( 45 minutes in at least) the first one is actually fast paced and thrilling.


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## Spandex (Sep 2, 2022)

I love the book The Hobbit. I love the Lord of the Rings books. I've never bothered with the assorted other bits that Tolkien wrote about Middle Earth and have no interest in them. 

I love the Lord of the Rings films, especially the extended versions. I think Peter Jackson did about as well as he could've done in adapting them. Yeah, I've got grumbles, the last half hour of Return of the King drags, various other niggles, but fuck it, people can get hung up on minor things like that and overlook how totally awesome, exciting, epic the films are as a whole, how well they work. Even those niggles add to making them the success they are.

I had to bail on the films of The Hobbit. I hated them. The book is a totally different thing to Lord of the Rings and the film needed to be too. People often mention how short the book is, but Tolkien managed to pack a lot in - once the Dwarves are done with their singing at the beginning it's just one thing after another that Bilbo keeps on going through, plenty for a long film, maybe two. But Jackson went for trying to force the book into the format and style the of LotR films and it failed completely. 

I'm gonna watch the new series once more of it's out with an open mind. I really hope I like it, but I'm prepared for it to be a billion dollar waste of money.


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## strung out (Sep 2, 2022)

First two episodes are excellent. 

Never got past the first half hour of the first Hobbit movie.


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## T & P (Sep 2, 2022)

Yes, big thumbs up from me too. Far more watchable and entertaining than I thought it’d be.

Not that it should be competition or an either/or situation, but so far more interesting and enjoyable than the GoT’s prequel series.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 2, 2022)

Enjoyed it ! And FTR, enjoyed all the LOTR films & the Hobbit films.


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## trashpony (Sep 2, 2022)

We really liked it. It was really good not to have the whole thing be about white men too. Dwarf women! Black women! Black men! So nice to have a world which is supposed to be about different races and people not actually being portrayed by a single race and sex. 

Great production values too. Looking forwars to episode 3 next week.

are they going to drop them 2 at once or was today just a first day thing?


----------



## spitfire (Sep 3, 2022)

Not read the thread as I don’t want spoilers. It’s all a bit Elvish drama school at the moment and the less said about the hobbitses Oirish accents the better.  Lenny is the least worst offender of them tbf. The 2 Australian actors are teeth itchingly bad.

Production design and props are absolutely top notch despite a few cgi clangers.

Going into episode 2 now.


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## spitfire (Sep 3, 2022)

Having real difficulties parsing what are GoT and LoTR memories. 

Kept thinking they were going on about North of the Wall. WRONG!


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Sep 3, 2022)

Two episodes? How many have been made available? I do plan an early night tmoz with LOTR and cream cakes. Do I need to turn in by 5PM?


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## trashpony (Sep 3, 2022)

Nine Bob Note said:


> Two episodes? How many have been made available? I do plan an early night tmoz with LOTR and cream cakes. Do I need to turn in by 5PM?


Just two. So two hours


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 3, 2022)

Enjoyed it. Thought first one a bit slow, but started picking up in the second, think its got potential. We're watching Rings of Power and Sandman as well at the moment and think it's the favourite of the 3.

I liked the diversity as it pisses people of in other parts of the Internet.


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## Karl Masks (Sep 3, 2022)

so is Meteor Man meant to be:

a) Gandalf
b) Sauron
c) Kal El
d) Boris Johnson, sent back in time as punishment by the Lords of Time to warn of us of a terrible future and earn pennance for his tyranny


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## spitfire (Sep 3, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> so is Meteor Man meant to be:
> 
> a) Gandalf
> b) Sauron
> ...






Spoiler: answer



I reckon it's Gandalf.


----------



## spitfire (Sep 3, 2022)

flypanam said:


> Well first episode is very underwhelming. What's with the elves and the Received pronunciation? And the peasant hobbits and their Oirish accents?



Just seen this, the hobbits accents are absolutely grating on me.


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 3, 2022)

Lots of Irish accents in GoT, Vikings etc too, because so many actors were Irish and to American ears it all sounds suitably old-world.

Anyway Pippin and Merry were obviously Irish in the Jackson LOTR movies so it's consistent with that.


----------



## spitfire (Sep 3, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> Lots of Irish accents in GoT, Vikings etc too, because so many actors were Irish and to American ears it all sounds suitably old-world.
> 
> Anyway Pippin and Merry were obviously Irish in the Jackson LOTR movies so it's consistent with that.



Yeah but they're terrible in this. English/Australian attempts at a pastiche of the accent. flypanam and myself are Irish, if our ears are bleeding then you can take it as a FACT.


----------



## JimW (Sep 3, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> Lots of Irish accents in GoT, Vikings etc too, because so many actors were Irish and to American ears it all sounds suitably old-world.
> 
> Anyway Pippin and Merry were obviously Irish in the Jackson LOTR movies so it's consistent with that.


Eh? At least one was Scots to my recall.


----------



## Kaka Tim (Sep 3, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> The Barrow Downs as well? That would have been cool to see.
> 
> IIRC in the book 17 years passes between Bilbo's birthday party and Frodo leaving with the ring. All of which is Gandalf doing some research.
> 
> Probably been quicker to google it



yeah - forgot about barrow downs  - one of the darkest and creepiest bits of the book (and where pippin gets the enchanted sword that later  hamstrings the chief ringwraith)  - that and the scouring of the shire would have been good in the film. But tom bombadil with  his yellow boots and bag of sweets ... nah.


----------



## chilango (Sep 3, 2022)

Enjoyed Episode 1.

I liked that the elves were not entirely positively portrayed. This promises much to come.

Galadriel was good, but begging the question of how/when she became all ethereal like in the film's.

Elrond was interesting, curious to see how he develops. The actor grated a bit though.

The  Ewoks  Harfoots were annoying.

Good to catch a glimpse of an Ent or two.

Harad, like the portrayal of the elves, shows potential for some interesting developments. It's possibly a bit obvious, but a nice twist nonetheless.


----------



## Petcha (Sep 3, 2022)

It's really, really bad. Like LOTR, I'm sure it'll win loads of awards for its visual effects. But nothing else. There's no discernible plot. The script, well. And Orlando Bloom, all is forgiven. You're Geilgud. And as for Lenny Henry's Irish accent, well....  

I cannot quite believe this cost $1bn. Bring Jackson back from his amazing documentary making stuff and hand him the helm here.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 3, 2022)

Kaka Tim said:


> yeah - forgot about barrow downs  - one of the darkest and creepiest bits of the book (and where pippin gets the enchanted sword that later  hamstrings the chief wring-wraith)  - that and the scouring of the shire would have been good in the film. But tom bombadil with  his yellow boots and bag of sweets ... nah.


You don't want to see four small people lost in a wood being helped by a kindly old stranger who tells them about his weird love interest, and who also happens to be possibly the most powerful being alive?


----------



## Kaka Tim (Sep 3, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> You don't want to see four small people lost in a wood being helped by a kindly old stranger who tells them about his weird love interest, and who also happens to be possibly the most powerful being alive?



my mum always told me not to talk to strange men in the woods, buses or public toilets.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 3, 2022)

Kaka Tim said:


> my mum always told me not to talk to strange men in the woods, buses or public toilets.


what about the burial sites of old kings?


----------



## Kaka Tim (Sep 3, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> what about the burial sites of old kings?


Well we used to hang round the church yard smoking spliffs, but never got any grief off the undead.


----------



## kebabking (Sep 3, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> what about the burial sites of old kings?



Who would you meet at the burial sites of old kings who _wasn't_ strange...?


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 3, 2022)

spitfire said:


> Just seen this, the hobbits accents are absolutely grating on me.



The main ones are not too bad. Lenny Henry though, christ. He's pitching somewhere between Birmingham, Galway and Jamaica.


----------



## Iona56 (Sep 3, 2022)

I'm enjoying this so far, the sandman is next for me


----------



## Artaxerxes (Sep 3, 2022)

Kaka Tim said:


> yeah - forgot about barrow downs  - one of the darkest and creepiest bits of the book (and where pippin gets the enchanted sword that later  hamstrings the chief ringwraith)  - that and the scouring of the shire would have been good in the film. But tom bombadil with  his yellow boots and bag of sweets ... nah.



Could have been Prince Andrews or Farages time to shine.


----------



## Voley (Sep 4, 2022)

Just watched the first two - really like it. 

Lots of questions (particularly about 'Meteor Bloke') that are intriguing me. Feels more Lord Of The Ringsy than The Hobbit movies did. I had to do a bit of reading around the lore after it just to get some of the characters right in my head - mainly is the main woman in it a young Cate Blanchett fromthe main movies? Answer: yes. The weird hand/sword thing is interesting too - is that the one that gets broken pre-LOTR do we think? I can remember Strider/Aragorn idly looking at something similar in Rivendell (possibly) during a break from questing and fighting and the story goes something along the lines of King Isildur getting the ring and not destroying it and it ruining him.  Isildur's Bane - all of that stuff.  I hope it's that. 

Anyhow, yeah, really enjoying it, and also enjoying hearing that loads of people are going nuts on the internet because it's fucking 'woke' or something.


----------



## Yossarian (Sep 4, 2022)

Voley said:


> Anyhow, yeah, really enjoying it, and also enjoying hearing that loads of people are going nuts on the internet because it's fucking 'woke' or something.



Me: "Not sure I can be bothered with this, it's getting mixed reviews and I didn't like the one Hobbit movie I saw that much."

Urban: "Daily Mail readers are losing their shit and calling it 'woke,' apparently because it has Black people in it."

Me: "And lo, it has been decided, once more shall I return to Middle-earth..."


----------



## kebabking (Sep 4, 2022)

I like it - I'm wracking the internet trying to work out who the Elven characters who aren't Galadrial and Elrond are, and whether the childhood aggro and adult insubordination are the same people.

I like the hobbits.

The asteroid man is intriguing - if it's Gandalf he's several thousand years too early and arriving in the wrong way (the five wizards arrived by ship), and if it's Tom Bombadil he's umpteen thousand years too late.

Ideas?


----------



## two sheds (Sep 4, 2022)

When's it on BBC?


----------



## kebabking (Sep 4, 2022)

two sheds said:


> When's it on BBC?



I think Amazon would prefer to put it on terrestrial TV before it goes to Netflix - they want to kill Netflix off as a rival - if there's a big gap between the first and second series I think it will be on BBC/whatever just before the second series airs in an attempt to get people to sign up for prime.


----------



## two sheds (Sep 4, 2022)

ta, I can wait


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 4, 2022)

kebabking said:


> Ideas?



Maybe it's Gandalf's first visit, and the second time he decided to arrive by ship with his four mates.


----------



## strung out (Sep 4, 2022)

two sheds said:


> When's it on BBC?


Why would it be on BBC? Have Amazon ever put any of their own shows out on terrestrial television?


----------



## Petcha (Sep 4, 2022)

two sheds said:


> ta, I can wait



Just torrent it? I'm sure you can put aside any idealistic reasons for doing so given it's Amazon/Bezos etc etc.


----------



## two sheds (Sep 4, 2022)

strung out said:


> Why would it be on BBC? Have Amazon ever put any of their own shows out on terrestrial television?



Why wouldn't it? I don't know, I don't follow Amazon I'm just wondering whether it'll be on terrestrial tv any time.



Petcha said:


> Just torrent it? I'm sure you can put aside any idealistic reasons for doing so given it's Amazon/Bezos etc etc.



Yep could do. I try not to torrent new films, I assume they're the riskiest for infringing copyright and getting viruses. I might do that in a year or so.


----------



## JimW (Sep 4, 2022)

Gandalf of the books is an avatar of some older entity iirc, so could be him.


----------



## strung out (Sep 4, 2022)

two sheds said:


> Why wouldn't it? I don't know, I don't follow Amazon I'm just wondering whether it'll be on terrestrial tv any time.
> 
> 
> 
> Yep could do. I try not to torrent new films, I assume they're the riskiest for infringing copyright and getting viruses. I might do that in a year or so.


I don't think Amazon spend £1bn on making this to then let anyone except themselves show it. 

To my knowledge, no pure streaming service has ever let their own stuff go out on terrestrial TV.


----------



## Reno (Sep 4, 2022)

two sheds said:


> Why wouldn't it? I don't know, I don't follow Amazon I'm just wondering whether it'll be on terrestrial tv any time.
> 
> 
> 
> Yep could do. I try not to torrent new films, I assume they're the riskiest for infringing copyright and getting viruses. I might do that in a year or so.


Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon don't licence their content to tv channels, the idea is to get more subscribers with the stuff they produce. With this in particular, Amazon spent a billion dollars on this, to massively increase their subscribers.

Doesn't matter if you torrent this now or in a year, legally the situation is the same. Any film or tv series with rights held by a major studio or corporation is a risk, though the U.K. pursues this less aggressively than Germany, where I live. If you torrent the original Star Wars now, it makes no difference to Disney that was made nearly half a century ago, if they find out, they will sue you. Its always a good idea to invest in a decent VPN for torrenting.


----------



## kebabking (Sep 4, 2022)

JimW said:


> Gandalf of the books is an avatar of some older entity iirc, so could be him.



I think that's Olorin. Like Saruman, Radagast and the two blue wizards, he's a Maia (angel-level entity?) who is sent to rally the peoples of ME against Sauron (also a Maia). In the books all five arrive together in their avatar forms.

Could be of course, lots of the timings are all over the place, so why not the plot - which, to an extent, is details, not intrinsic story.


----------



## two sheds (Sep 4, 2022)

Reno said:


> Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon don't licence their content to tv channels, the idea is to get more subscribers with the stuff they produce. With this in particular, Amazon spent a billion dollars on this, to massively increase their subscribers.
> 
> Doesn't matter if you torrent this now or in a year, legally the situation is the same. Any film or tv series with rights held by a major studio or corporation is a risk, though the U.K. pursues this less aggressively than Germany, where I live. If you torrent the original Star Wars now, it makes no difference to Disney that was made nearly half a century ago, if they find out, they will sue you. Its always a good idea to invest in a decent VPN for torrenting.


Ta. I do have a vpn but I've been assuming that they're more likely to go for someone who's streaming immediately after it's come out when they're losing more cash because of it, and that people will tend to flag streams with viruses a year or so afterwards.

I'm not that bothered really - I don't tend to enjoy new hollywood type films - just will likely be interested to see it some time.


----------



## Petcha (Sep 4, 2022)

I've been torrenting everything for years without a VPN and never had any issues, neither have any of my mates. I happen to have Amazon Prime though so no need in this case. I used to feel a little guilt but fuck it, cost of living n all that


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 4, 2022)

Just read the appendices. There's only a few sentences covering the end of the 1st age and start of the second. $250 million for them lol.


----------



## killer b (Sep 4, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> Just read the appendices. There's only a few sentences covering the end of the 1st age and start of the second. $250 million for them lol.


They aren't paying for a few sentences of content, they're paying to make a TV series in the Tolkien universe. It'll probably be worth it tbf


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 4, 2022)

killer b said:


> They aren't paying for a few sentences of content, they're paying to make a TV series in the Tolkien universe. It'll probably be worth it tbf



No they literally paid $250 million just for the rights to the LOTR appendices i.e. pre-LOTR stuff that isn't the Silmarillion. The costs for filming it are additional to that.


----------



## killer b (Sep 4, 2022)

They paid 250 million for the rights to make a LOTR TV series. That the story is loosely based on three sentences from the appendices of LOTR is just a fig leaf for the Tolkien estate, who like to imagine they are protecting his legacy.


----------



## Reno (Sep 4, 2022)

It's seems an insane amount of money to spend just on rights, but for Bezos it's no more than pocket change. The benefits for Amazon are unique, unlike with Netflix its streaming service is a side business. If they increases their Prime membership that also means they'll sell more stuff via Amazon.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 4, 2022)

two sheds said:


> Ta. I do have a vpn but I've been assuming that they're more likely to go for someone who's streaming immediately after it's come out when they're losing more cash because of it, and that people will tend to flag streams with viruses a year or so afterwards.
> 
> I'm not that bothered really - I don't tend to enjoy new hollywood type films - just will likely be interested to see it some time.



I've never seen a virus in a film Torrent. You'd have to be pretty daft to realise it wasnt a film. Plus you're on linux anyway.


----------



## Petcha (Sep 4, 2022)

So it's bombing with viewers and a hit with critics. But Amazon won't open comments on it.



> On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the show has an 84% average rating from critics, but a 38% average audience score. Even on IMDb, the film and TV site owned by Amazon, the show has attracted 17,500 one-star ratings, 25% of the reviews for the title, although many of them have been disregarded by the site’s “weighted average” ratings , which attempt to downrate “unusual voting activity”.











						Amazon delays The Rings of Power ratings to combat fake reviews
					

Move by Prime Video comes amid ‘anti-woke’ backlash to diverse casting in Lord of the Rings prequel




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## Petcha (Sep 4, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> I've never seen a virus in a film Torrent. You'd have to be pretty daft to realise it wasnt a film. Plus you're on linux anyway.



i've never seen a virus either and i gather you have to be warned a few times anyway by your ISP in the UK to stop, and ive never even got one of those. tis for another thread tho maybe!


----------



## kebabking (Sep 4, 2022)

The Tolkien forums/pages are seething with wild hatred - I wonder how many of the worst reviews are from purist nutters who either watched it determined to hate it, or didn't watch it all...

There are plenty of folk who still get uncomfortably enraged about the film's 20 years after they came out - there are Tolkien forums who will ban people who casually mention the films.

In short, beware the nutters, for they are nuts.


----------



## strung out (Sep 4, 2022)

Petcha said:


> So it's bombing with viewers and a hit with critics. But Amazon won't open comments on it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's getting low ratings on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes because it has black people in it. Same with any TV show that's 'too woke' at the moment.


----------



## Petcha (Sep 4, 2022)

strung out said:


> It's getting low ratings on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes because it has black people in it. Same with any TV show that's 'too woke' at the moment.



Bridgerton seems to have done ok on all the rating sites


----------



## Cid (Sep 4, 2022)

Yeah, there's standard evidence of review-bombing/ratioing from the culture warriors on this.


----------



## strung out (Sep 4, 2022)

Petcha said:


> Bridgerton seems to have done ok on all the rating sites


Doesn't have a pre-existing fanbase of angry white male nerds, who would be motivated to review bomb a show to own the libs.


----------



## Petcha (Sep 4, 2022)

strung out said:


> Doesn't have a pre-existing fanbase of angry white male nerds, who would be motivated to review bomb a show to own the libs.



Well the guardian doesn't really fit the above ^^ demographic and the comments on a very middling review which only praises the visuals on there aren't exactly positive. a bit half and half like on here i guess.

i seem to recall peter jackson almost got lynched though for changing some stuff so i get your point.


----------



## Cid (Sep 4, 2022)

kebabking said:


> I think that's Olorin. Like Saruman, Radagast and the two blue wizards, he's a Maia (angel-level entity?) who is sent to rally the peoples of ME against Sauron (also a Maia). In the books all five arrive together in their avatar forms.
> 
> Could be of course, lots of the timings are all over the place, so why not the plot - which, to an extent, is details, not intrinsic story.



I reckon it'll be one of the Maiar with a bit of retconning thrown in. It's not a particular stretch I don't think, I haven't revisited any of the source material but the lotr wikis are fairly vague about what they were up to in the second age. Also it has to be a known figure right? Gotta get that fan service in. Sauron is presumably working on <redacted> already, and doesn't fit anything I've seen about er... his form in this age.


----------



## Cid (Sep 4, 2022)

Petcha said:


> Well the guardian doesn't really fit the above ^^ demographic and the comments on a very middling review which only praises the visuals on there aren't exactly positive. a bit half and half like on here i guess.
> 
> i seem to recall peter jackson almost got lynched though for changing some stuff so i get your point.



Yes, but if you look at e.g IMDB you'll see reviews with 'was pleasantly surprised, not great, but fine' getting hit with 2k dislikes to 500 likes.


----------



## strung out (Sep 4, 2022)

Petcha said:


> Well the guardian doesn't really fit the above ^^ demographic and the comments on a very middling review which only praises the visuals on there aren't exactly positive. a bit half and half like on here i guess.
> 
> i seem to recall peter jackson almost got lynched though for changing some stuff so i get your point.


You mean the Guardian review which gave it four stars out of five? 









						The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power review – so astounding it makes House of the Dragon look amateur
					

The visual splendour of this rich, gorgeous Tolkien drama will make you gawp throughout. Watch it on the largest TV you can




					www.theguardian.com


----------



## strung out (Sep 4, 2022)

Anyway, I thought it was fucking great, and anyone who thinks it wasn't is probably a racist, and definitely has no taste.


----------



## Petcha (Sep 4, 2022)

strung out said:


> You mean the Guardian review which gave it four stars out of five?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



If you read between the lines there, hell, even the headline, its all about the amazing visual effects. Which is presumably where they spunked the billion on


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 4, 2022)

What did the dwarves have in a box? Appendix B says mithril, but it felt more like a gemstone.


----------



## Cid (Sep 4, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> What did the dwarves have in a box? Appendix B says mithril, but it felt more like gemstone.



Arkenstone was my thought, but I think that's anachronistic.


----------



## Cid (Sep 4, 2022)

Petcha said:


> If you read between the lines there, hell, even the headline, its all about the amazing visual effects. Which is presumably where they spunked the billion on



Yes, but your point was that it's a hit with critics and bombing with audiences... But that's largely going to be review bombing at 1 star e.g this is the imdb ratings page. Super polarised in a way that really doesn't reflect the actual quality of the show.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 4, 2022)

Cid said:


> Yes, but your point was that it's a hit with critics and bombing with audiences... But that's largely going to be review bombing at 1 star e.g this is the imdb ratings page. Super polarised in a way that really doesn't reflect the actual quality of the show.



Just racists being racist


----------



## Reno (Sep 4, 2022)

Petcha said:


> So it's bombing with viewers and a hit with critics. But Amazon won't open comments on it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's getting review bombed. A film or series getting review bombed means that trolls create fake accounts to drive down the ratings of something they don't like. Usually this is done by right wingers who regard something as "woke". It's no reflection of how average viewers who aren't rabid racists regard the series


----------



## MickiQ (Sep 4, 2022)

two sheds said:


> Ta. I do have a vpn but I've been assuming that they're more likely to go for someone who's streaming immediately after it's come out when they're losing more cash because of it, and that people will tend to flag streams with viruses a year or so afterwards.
> 
> I'm not that bothered really - I don't tend to enjoy new hollywood type films - just will likely be interested to see it some time.


I download shit loads of stuff, I use a VPN that offers me the choice of endpoint so I can pretend to be pretty much anywhere in the free world. If I select one in the UK and try and connect to Pirate Bay I always seem to get blocked so I suspect the bulk of UK ISP's block it by default. I normally rotate randomly between Dublin, New York and Zurich (If I could only travel as easily in the real world as in the virtual one).
As soon as possible after I have downloaded something I move it out of the Torrents directory into another one which isn't shared. They can only find uploaders/downloaders whilst they're active so once I've done that then it's gone and not being shared anymore. The new releases are the best ones to download since there are so many seeders it will come down very quickly and I can move it and stop the torrent client (not active when not downloading).
This does mean that if I want something that's not the latest and greatest it can take a while since it comes in fits and starts over a fairly long period of time but time is not of the essence to me.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 4, 2022)

MickiQ said:


> I download shit loads of stuff, I use a VPN that offers me the choice of endpoint so I can pretend to be pretty much anywhere in the free world. If I select one in the UK and try and connect to Pirate Bay I always seem to get blocked so I suspect the bulk of UK ISP's block it by default. I normally rotate randomly between Dublin, New York and Zurich (If I could only travel as easily in the real world as in the virtual one).
> As soon as possible after I have downloaded something I move it out of the Torrents directory into another one which isn't shared. They can only find uploaders/downloaders whilst they're active so once I've done that then it's gone and not being shared anymore. The new releases are the best ones to download since there are so many seeders it will come down very quickly and I can move it and stop the torrent client (not active when not downloading).
> This does mean that if I want something that's not the latest and greatest it can take a while since it comes in fits and starts over a fairly long period of time but time is not of the essence to me.



For older stuff you probably want a private tracker. IPTorrents is good.


----------



## two sheds (Sep 4, 2022)

Ta people I may try to find some stuff to download. I particularly like old b/w fillums like Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple and as MickiQ says they can take forever to download with only one person uploading. I quite liked the Hobbit so I may start with that.


----------



## two sheds (Sep 4, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> For older stuff you probably want a private tracker. IPTorrents is good.


I use qBittorrent. What's the difference between that and private tracker?


----------



## Supine (Sep 4, 2022)

I think it’s really really good. I didn’t like the films much, this seems better. It looks great and the story is interesting because i have no idea where it is going. 

Better than the GoT prequel imo.


----------



## MickiQ (Sep 4, 2022)

qBittorrent (which I use as well) is a tool that downloads torrents from whatever peers (other computers) it might find them on, Pirate Bay and RARBG (my current favourite) are simply websites that hold lists of torrents. Basically you download a torrent (essentially a control file) from the website and then qBitorrent reads that and uses the info in it to find the pieces of the actual file you want and downloads that to your PC. The stuff being stolen isn't on the website, it's scattered willy-nilly across the web indexed by a few key servers.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 4, 2022)

two sheds said:


> I use qBittorrent. What's the difference between that and private tracker?



It's a seperate thing. I also use qBittorrent which is the software you need to download torrents. A private tracker is a site you need to be a member of. On pirate bay there is no incentive not to hit and run, that is download the torrent and stop seeding. On a private tracker it's logged, so you need to keep seeding to stay in good standing. Ultimately it benefits everyone. I can give you an invite if you want.


----------



## two sheds (Sep 4, 2022)

ta, I'll have a search for what I might want to download and may come back to you


----------



## AverageJoe (Sep 4, 2022)

Family enjoyed ep2 more than Ep1


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Sep 5, 2022)

Watched them both and thought it was excellent. I'm sure I'm gonna enjoy it more than HotD and I am liking that.


----------



## Smangus (Sep 5, 2022)

Thought it a bit slow but better in the 2nd episode, trying to un- think the films imagery helps but is quite hard to do.


----------



## spitfire (Sep 5, 2022)

See!

It's vaguely annoying but they don;t quite get enough screen time to make it unwatchable.

None of you philistine Brits would notice anyway, ye all think we sound like Mrs Brown!* (Looking at you kebabking )  











						The backlash to rule them all? Every controversy about The Rings of Power so far
					

It’s only been out for three days, but it has already sparked multiple rows. From review bombing to the lack of female beards, here’s a rundown




					www.theguardian.com
				





* I actually have little or no traces of my accent left. I sound like cross between a West Country wurzel and Danny Dyer.


----------



## Supine (Sep 5, 2022)

That guardian review is proper shite. He should get a new job.


----------



## Brainaddict (Sep 7, 2022)

Well this is bobbins so far. It has moved incredibly slowly in the first two episodes, and if you're the kind of person - and there seem to be many - who are sympathetic to the style of TV series that jumps between multiple characters while only moving the plot forward infinitesimally in each scene, and barely even moving it forward in a whole episode, then you will like this series more than me. Unfortunately I hate that style and can't wait for it to go out of fashion. I don't think it's even a good version of that style - like we kept going back to scenes with the Man Who Fell To Earth but learned pretty much nothing new each time. But also there's just no good characters. Even Galadriel, who I think is meant to be one of the main heroes, is whiny and petulant and not very likeable. And the aesthetics aren't as good as I expected given the money they spent on it - there's an unreal quality to a lot of the CGI that makes it a bit cartoonish, rather than immersing you in the world. I'll give it one more episode to see if they can come up with some non-glacial plot or good characters but I'm pessimistic at this point.


----------



## paul mckenna (Sep 7, 2022)

it's moving at quite a clip. In 2 episodes they've introduced a large number of characters and handled loads of plotpoints. The pacing is spot on if you ask me


----------



## kebabking (Sep 7, 2022)

I'm quite happy with the cutting about - I want it to last a long time,so I'm happy f each story progresses at a relatively slow rate..


----------



## Chz (Sep 7, 2022)

The cutting about is nowhere near as annoying as Amazon's stab at Wheel of Time. That was dreadful.


----------



## Brainaddict (Sep 7, 2022)

Brainaddict said:


> if you're the kind of person - and there seem to be many - who are sympathetic to the style of TV series that jumps between multiple characters while only moving the plot forward infinitesimally in each scene, and barely even moving it forward in a whole episode, then you will like this series more than me.


Seems I was right!

There's nothing wrong with jumping between narrative threads, but something substantive has to happen in each scene so as to keep each thread engaging. Some hobbits offering some food to a mysterious man and him screaming at them in a way that bends the trees is not a substantive happening, it's just part of introducing the mysterious man. But wait, this is like, the fourth scene with him in, so why are we still just being introduced to him? We knew he had weird powers in scene 2 with him, so what did we learn here? Nothing. What's the next scene going to be? Him being a bit weird again. Fascinating!


----------



## Brainaddict (Sep 7, 2022)

Chz said:


> The cutting about is nowhere near as annoying as Amazon's stab at Wheel of Time. That was dreadful.


Gonna beg to differ here. I think it was more successful at making sure something substantive happened in each scene.


----------



## paul mckenna (Sep 7, 2022)

Brainaddict said:


> Seems I was right!
> 
> There's nothing wrong with jumping between narrative threads, but something substantive has to happen in each scene so as to keep each thread engaging. Some hobbits offering some food to a mysterious man and him screaming at them in a way that bends the trees is not a substantive happening, it's just part of introducing the mysterious man. But wait, this is like, the fourth scene with him in, so why are we still just being introduced to him? We knew he had weird powers in scene 2 with him, so what did we learn here? Nothing. What's the next scene going to be? Him being a bit weird again. Fascinating!


You want him to whip out his staff first scene?!


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 7, 2022)

Wheel of Time dialogue was appalling, especially the "jokes" which were epic cringe. Give me dwarf/elf bantz any day.


----------



## killer b (Sep 7, 2022)

guys, they're_ all_ dreadful.


----------



## Brainaddict (Sep 7, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> Wheel of Time dialogue was appalling, especially the "jokes" which were epic cringe. Give me dwarf/elf bantz any day.


Oh yeah, the dialogue was clunky as hell, and most of the characterisation was really weak. It was only better in that one respect.

E2a I did kind of enjoy it though because I used to like the books and it was interesting to see the world depicted on screen.


----------



## Brainaddict (Sep 8, 2022)

Someone agrees with me (therefore I am right): Rings of Power: 'In an age of epic fantasy on screen many of the missteps are unforgivable'


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 10, 2022)

bloody hell ally mytorrent links are dead. A piracy crackdown in honour of the queen perhaps.

hint hint


----------



## moochedit (Sep 10, 2022)

Watched the first 3 now. Liked it so far more than i thought i would and will continue watching (for now). Can't really remember the films but as its a prequel i guess that doesn't matter. Did think the "snow troll" and "boar" animation was a bit dodgy for a billion dollar series.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 10, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> bloody hell ally mytorrent links are dead. A piracy crackdown in honour of the queen perhaps.
> 
> hint hint



I'd try pirate bay or iptorrents


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 10, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> I'd try pirate bay or iptorrents


all the links i can find are blocked


----------



## spitfire (Sep 10, 2022)

I like it but just can't get over the hobbit accents. It's like they're taking the piss.


----------



## moochedit (Sep 10, 2022)

spitfire said:


> I like it but just can't get over the hobbit accents. It's like they're taking the piss.



I've heard ridiculous "english" accents in american shows before so i wouldn't take it personally.


----------



## spitfire (Sep 10, 2022)

moochedit said:


> I've heard ridiculous "english" accents in american shows before so i wouldn't take it personally.



I'm not. It's just getting on my tits. Luckily they're only a small part of the show.


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 10, 2022)

spitfire said:


> I like it but just can't get over the hobbit accents. It's like they're taking the piss.



Just pretend that modern accents are actually taking the piss out of the hobbits.


----------



## spitfire (Sep 10, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> Just pretend that modern accents are actually taking the piss out of the hobbits.



Good plan.


----------



## Chz (Sep 10, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> I'd try pirate bay or iptorrents


Going off topic a bit, but Torrent Search Engine | 1337x.to is best. The major ISPs will block it, but thankfully VPN Unlimited regularly give out 6 months for free.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 10, 2022)

Chz said:


> Going off topic a bit, but Torrent Search Engine | 1337x.to is best. The major ISPs will block it, but thankfully VPN Unlimited regularly give out 6 months for free.



I just use a free browser extension to reach the sites and then torrent without VPN. Can't see many VPNs keeping up with my broadband and not had a letter yet.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 10, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> all the links i can find are blocked



I'll dig out the extension I use when back in front of the PC and ping it over.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 10, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> I'll dig out the extension I use when back in front of the PC and ping it over.


thanks


----------



## Infidel Castro (Sep 10, 2022)

spitfire said:


> I'm not. It's just getting on my tits. Luckily they're only a small part of the show.


Watching episode 3 right now and the Irish accents are killing me. What were they thinking?


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 10, 2022)

Infidel Castro said:


> Watching episode 3 right now and the Irish accents are killing me. What were they thinking?


Concern for the lucky charms, probably


----------



## kabbes (Sep 11, 2022)

I guess that they were thinking that the hobbits should clearly all share the same accent. Next thought was probably that they wanted something different for elves vs dwarves vs men vs hobbits. Finally, there’s a tradition for no reason at all that fantasy accents should be ye olde and that this rules out US accents.  So then they had to decide which accent for each group. 

At which point they said fuck it and just went hardcore classist cliche


----------



## killer b (Sep 11, 2022)

The hobbits seem to be travellers, I expect that's why they have the Irish accent? Terrible either way


----------



## Cid (Sep 11, 2022)

Yeah, I mean I'm generally finding it fine; bit daft, bit annoying at times but generally watchable... but my god the Harfoot thing is an absolutely awful choice.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 11, 2022)

Episode 3 is better. But again it just feels like fan fiction and I have a difficult time accepting that it exists. I guess that's how media works these days. Rather than contrive some new fiction as a separate tv show )book, film etc) we can all enjoy, they have to plunder what's popular already and use that. I wish I had the strength to ignore it all and just enjoy what Tolkien actually created and not what billionaires want to profit from, but I don't. So I watch this. All spread over several season and made to fit the usual tv show story beats.


----------



## killer b (Sep 11, 2022)

I guess they only make this stuff cause people are guaranteed to watch it. You don't have to though - there's probably lots of things about that you'd actually enjoy that you could spend your time on instead


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 11, 2022)

killer b said:


> I guess they only make this stuff cause people are guaranteed to watch it. You don't have to though - there's probably lots of things about that you'd actually enjoy that you could spend your time on instead


It's too late for me. Though it has inspired me to listen to the Silmarillion narrrated by Martin Shaw.

I don't think it's bad. It's quite watchable, if glacially slow, but it jars is all.

The whole thing with Meteor Man is stupid though. He can only be either Sauron or Gandalf. Anyone else would be a massive anticlimax, but I guess it's a pretty obvious case of bait and switch: you're meant to think it's Sauron but oh look it's.... Radagast?!!


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 11, 2022)

It's obviously Gandalf and explains his long fascination with hobbits that his colleagues deemed inappropriate.


----------



## rekil (Sep 12, 2022)

killer b said:


> The hobbits seem to be travellers, I expect that's why they have the Irish accent? Terrible either way



I read an interview with the 'dialect coach', an english person living in australia. She has supernaturally fantastic blagging skills. I'm not sure if making Lenny Henry one of the filthy ragclad mucksavage punch caricatures who don't know what horses are is a step forward for #diversity.

Irish Times man says it's the elves that should be Irish.









						Rings of Power: The new hobbits are filthy, hungry simpletons with stage-Irish accents. That’s $1bn well spent
					

After 20 minutes of this Lord of the Rings spinoff I’m having flashbacks to that EastEnders episode with the fightin’ villagers and donkeys walking the streets




					www.irishtimes.com
				






> Many scholars today draw a line between Tolkien’s elves – willowy immortals from across the sea – and the Irish Tuatha Dé Danann, a semidivine race immune to sickness or age. The parallels between the Irish mythological figure Balor of the Evil Eye and Sauron, the flaming-red iris of Barad-dûr, are similarly obvious. And Tolkien’s great romantic tragedy, Beren and Lúthien (which was inspired in part by the author’s own romance with his wife, Edith Bratt), carries echoes of the old Gaelic epic The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne.



I concur but which type - braying koh samui cup cunts with jumpers draped over shoulders, or the gritty unfuckablewithness of doyle/lovehate madbastards. Maybe Sally Rooney has some ideas.


----------



## paul mckenna (Sep 12, 2022)

if you actively associated your own culture with Leprechauns then i don't think you can complain


----------



## spitfire (Sep 12, 2022)

paul mckenna said:


> if you actively associated your own culture with Leprechauns then i don't think you can complain



feck off.


----------



## rekil (Sep 12, 2022)

Don't be upsettin' the little payple with your blarney.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 12, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> It's obviously Gandalf and explains his long fascination with hobbits that his colleagues deemed inappropriate.


except he sails from valinor along with the others.

he doesn't fall from the sky into the middle of priddy horse fair


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 12, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> except he sails from valinor along with the others.
> 
> he doesn't fall from the sky into the middle of priddy horse fair



He could have visited before he came on the boat.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 12, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> He could have visited before he came on the boat.


I often visit magical lands by falling out of the sky, you?


----------



## kebabking (Sep 12, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> I often visit magical lands by falling out of the sky, you?



Dude, it's a story about Elves, Dragons, walking trees and Trolls.

Let's not get overly excited about quite how realistic other bits of the story are...


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 12, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> I often visit magical lands by falling out of the sky, you?



Wait until you hear how I got here.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 12, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> Wait until you hear how I got here.


farted through the mind anus of a coprophagic god?


----------



## moochedit (Sep 13, 2022)

kebabking said:


> Dude, it's a story about Elves, Dragons, walking trees and Trolls.
> 
> Let's not get overly excited about quite how realistic other bits of the story are...


----------



## rekil (Sep 13, 2022)

More than ever #IStandWithLordSauron but that site has so many PPE issues that need to be addressed I don't even know where to begin. #disappointed


----------



## two sheds (Sep 13, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> I've never seen a virus in a film Torrent. You'd have to be pretty daft to realise it wasnt a film. Plus you're on linux anyway.


can't be too careful


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Sep 13, 2022)

I'm fucking loving this, even with the last two episodes of HotD being really good, I still prefer this. I don't get criticism of the pacing at all. Three episodes is only half-way through Fellowship. "Oh, it's soo slow! It's like Elvdorado!" FFS, we've literally got human settlements being destroyed, Orcs building Mordor, mysterious men falling out of the sky. The battle between Sauron and Isildor is presumably what we're ultimately working towards (apols for lack of names/detail, not a book cunt) but that's gonna be many series away.


----------



## High Voltage (Sep 14, 2022)

Nine Bob Note said:


> ... (I'm) not a book cunt)...



A big thanks to The Times literary critic there


----------



## ginger_syn (Sep 14, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> except he sails from valinor along with the others.
> 
> he doesn't fall from the sky into the middle of priddy horse fair


Its very fuzzy,but i very vaguely remember reading something about wizards or magicans falling from the sky, its been decades since ive properly read the books and associated bits though so might be  quite wrong


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 14, 2022)

Someone on another forum posited the heresy that Wholebread or Halbarand or whatever his name is, is actually Sauron. 

Adar apparently means 'father' in Sindarin (come at me my brother). Thus Adar is an elf.

Captain Meteor is in fact Reg Varney from on the buses who got lost


----------



## Cid (Sep 14, 2022)

kebabking said:


> Dude, it's a story about Elves, Dragons, walking trees and Trolls.
> 
> Let's not get overly excited about quite how realistic other bits of the story are...



My current retcon theory for Gandalf would be him getting into trouble 'looking into things', Sauron chucking him out encased in flame, memory loss... obvs most of this series with a different identity. Possibly some horribly on the nose reveal toward the end. I think it's pretty clear this point that the creators are going 'well I mean it doesn't say that x _didn't_ happen'. Which is fine by me, or at least value neutral. But yeah, they can't build this dude up without it being some significant figure.


----------



## Cid (Sep 14, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> Someone on another forum posited the heresy that Wholebread or Halbarand or whatever his name is, is actually Sauron.
> 
> Adar apparently means 'father' in Sindarin (come at me my brother). Thus Adar is an elf.
> 
> Captain Meteor is in fact Reg Varney from on the buses who got lost



Yeah honestly Halbrand would just seem like a cop-out. And he now has an established identity doesn't he? (was somewhat drunk for ep 3). Sauron is already active and powerful, presumably he's already doing things that he's established as doing as the entity he's established as using/being.

Adar is going to be one of Galadriel's mates or some shit like that. I suppose the timeline is far too short to be one of those from the boat and a resurrected Finrod is probably pushing it a bit.


----------



## Nine Bob Note (Sep 15, 2022)

I'm wondering whether Sauron is in deep cover (i.e. he doesn't know who he is yet) much like the Master/Yana in Doctor Who S3. He's been leaving instructions all over the place for his minions to do his evil bidding, so maybe he's gonna hide out for a couple of seasons?


----------



## rekil (Sep 15, 2022)

That won't do at all.


----------



## moochedit (Sep 15, 2022)

rekil said:


> View attachment 342845
> 
> That won't do at all.


Marxist sauronism.

That should give you 1 result from urban once the robots visit.


----------



## moochedit (Sep 15, 2022)

rekil said:


> View attachment 342845
> 
> That won't do at all.


Don't think i've ever seen a zero result google search before


----------



## kebabking (Sep 15, 2022)

moochedit said:


> Don't think i've ever seen a zero result google search before



It's like when Pornhub thinks you're a wrong'un.

I assume...


----------



## rekil (Sep 17, 2022)

No boggits this week thank fuck. Brummie(?) orc though. 

I knew this was coming.



Spoiler


----------



## moochedit (Sep 17, 2022)

Half way through s1 and i'm enjoying this more than i thought i would. Probably helps that i'm not a LOTR book nerd and can't really remember the films very well.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 17, 2022)

I must say, the more I see of this duke, the more I like him...oh sorry that's Liet Kynes from David Lynch's Dune adapation.

This show is really coming along. It still feels slow in parts. The Isildur stuff is a bit cheesy - young failure of a boy destined to be king etc.

I cannot wait to see how they show the fate of Numenor.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 17, 2022)

Cid said:


> Yeah honestly Halbrand would just seem like a cop-out. And he now has an established identity doesn't he? (was somewhat drunk for ep 3). Sauron is already active and powerful, presumably he's already doing things that he's established as doing as the entity he's established as using/being.
> 
> Adar is going to be one of Galadriel's mates or some shit like that. I suppose the timeline is far too short to be one of those from the boat and a resurrected Finrod is probably pushing it a bit.


Just one of those captured by Morrrrgoth/Saurrron and 'broken'. We know that's how they created orcs back in the day


----------



## spitfire (Sep 17, 2022)

I watched it last night but got so pissed I have nothing to moan about as I can only half remember it.


----------



## T & P (Sep 17, 2022)

Episode 4 is okay I guess, but at the same time I’m starting to feel the series should be more gripping by now. Some scenes/ storylines feel like ‘yeah, this is what I am yearning for’, but many others feel like fillers and I’m completely disconnected with some of the characters and their ultimate fate.

It’s not bad, but for me it should be firing on all cylinders by now, and it just doesn’t feel like it.


----------



## spitfire (Sep 17, 2022)

I’m now watching (eta the new) Game of Thrones and it’s much more realistic.


----------



## T & P (Sep 17, 2022)

spitfire said:


> I’m now watching Game of Thrones and it’s much more realistic.


If nothing else, you can rely on GoT for some fantastically quotable dialogue and memorable badassness. Which this has been lacking so far.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 19, 2022)

More of a first world problem but I can't find a super high quality 4k version yet on my favourite torrent site for S01E05. I know it will be there tomorrow but I want to watch it this afternoon.


----------



## strung out (Sep 19, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> More of a first world problem but I can't find a super high quality 4k version yet on my favourite torrent site for S01E05. I know it will be there tomorrow but I want to watch it this afternoon.


Not out until Friday.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 19, 2022)

strung out said:


> Not out until Friday.



Posted on the wrong thread. I was thinking about GoT


----------



## moochedit (Sep 19, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> Posted on the wrong thread. I was thinking about GoT



Doh!


----------



## ruffneck23 (Sep 19, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> More of a first world problem but I can't find a super high quality 4k version yet on my favourite torrent site for S01E05. I know it will be there tomorrow but I want to watch it this afternoon.


just watch the 1080p ffs


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 19, 2022)

ruffneck23 said:


> just watch the 1080p ffs



I did spend far to much money on an OLED TV to do that. 

Anyway found it on the good old pirate bay.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 19, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> Posted on the wrong thread. I was thinking about GoT


You were watching LotR but thinking about GoT?

Glad I don't live in your house!


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 19, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> You were watching LotR but thinking about GoT?
> 
> Glad I don't live in your house!



We are watching them both at the moment. Some great TV


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 19, 2022)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> We are watching them both at the moment. Some great TV


i haven't gotten around to torrenting GoT yet.


----------



## belboid (Sep 20, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> i haven't gotten around to torrenting GoT yet.


You should get on it, episode 3 appears to have disappeared off pb


----------



## Brainaddict (Sep 20, 2022)

I was bored and tired while braindead from travelling so I did watch the third and fourth episodes. It really doesn't get any better. To the extent the plots have started to move a bit they are repeats of LOTR. There's a king without a crown who will have to come into his own. There's an isolationist kingdom that has to be persuaded to join the battle against Sauron. There's a thorny relationship between an elf and a dwarf. There's an elf-human lovers storyline. It's all very yawnsome, but I expect I'll get around to watching the rest sometime when I'm really braindead, given that it's pretty to look at. But it's like watching Friends repeats or something in terms of what it asks of the audience.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 22, 2022)

As much as the toxic discourse around the show has me rolling my eyes this one did make me giggle. 




Does this mean lembas is just corn bread?


----------



## flypanam (Sep 23, 2022)

I've caught up with the episodes 2 to 4. A billion dollars, no script and it looks shite. And as for HoD it's a bitter disappointment too. I really want to love both of these shows but I can't. 

back to We own this city I think.


----------



## Gromit (Sep 23, 2022)

flypanam said:


> I've caught up with the episodes 2 to 4. A billion dollars, no script and it looks shite. And as for HoD it's a bitter disappointment too. I really want to love both of these shows but I can't.
> 
> back to We own this city I think.


I'm waiting for them to get to the bits with the rings of power.
We could have been there already.

The Galadriel bits are starting to remind me of:


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 24, 2022)

Oh, now I sound super pretentious. I'm not even a Tolienxpert. 

But this is a car crash.

It's an incredibly well made, sumptuous, and even entertaining, carcrash.

True to the source material it absolutely isn't. Fan fiction, very good fan fiction, it absolutely is. Whether or not that matters to you is up to you. The Mithril storyline is utterly dreadful and Gil Galad is a twat


----------



## chilango (Sep 24, 2022)

I'm still liking it, a lot.

It's no further away from "canon" than The Hobbit movies were. Probably closer in spirit at least tbh.

The Harfoots are less annoying now, and there's a intriguing element about the "leaving behind" developing there.

Numenor is well realised.

The whole Southland's/Elf watch/Adar/Mordor thing is risky, but so far playing out well.

Halbrand...is he Sauron? a Nazghul?

Yeah, I look forward to watching it every week at the moment.


----------



## A380 (Sep 24, 2022)

So, this whole 'Lords of the Ring' thing is just a copy of Game of Thrones right?


----------



## strung out (Sep 24, 2022)

chilango said:


> I'm still liking it, a lot.
> 
> It's no further away from "canon" than The Hobbit movies were. Probably closer in spirit at least tbh.
> 
> ...


Yep, it's great - best TV fantasy I've seen in ages.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 25, 2022)

It is perfectly watchable and enjoyable, and I'm glad stuff like this is on TV.

It isn't authentic though. I would disagree heavily - though i could be wrong - that it's more accurate than the hobbit. Stuff here is being made up whole cloth.

Whether that's a problem or not I guess is a personal thing. It's just how these prequel propositions go: we have to explain why x y and z in the LotR is the case. Why are the elves leaving? Why is their light fading? Well now we have a literal explanation. Personally I prefer the more mythic element: they are leaving because the end fo the third age, with the war of the ring, is the end of the time of magic and the coming of the time of men. That's enough for me. 

Yes, I realise this makes me sound desperately sad. Such is the burden of a ringbearer


----------



## Supine (Sep 25, 2022)

A380 said:


> So, this whole 'Lords of the Ring' thing is just a copy of Game of Thrones right?



Say that on a Tolkien forum and people will properly loose their shit 

Really enjoying it. Going to rewatch E5 tonight.


----------



## T & P (Sep 25, 2022)

A380 said:


> So, this whole 'Lords of the Ring' thing is just a copy of Game of Thrones right?


Surely there must be by now some decent quality fan fiction crossover novels.

Both universes have dragons ffs! The script almost writes itself…


----------



## A380 (Sep 25, 2022)

T & P said:


> Surely there must be by now some decent quality fan fiction crossover novels.
> 
> Both universes have dragons ffs! The script almost writes itself…



Woukd it have gratuitous Hobbit nudity?


----------



## T & P (Sep 25, 2022)

A380 said:


> Woukd it have gratuitous Hobbit nudity?


It’d be discriminatory not to, frankly.

Also, let’s get this fucker and The Hound in an arena!


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 25, 2022)

wasn't that Jason Mamao? Aka Aquaman


----------



## T & P (Sep 25, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> wasn't that Jason Mamao? Aka Aquaman


Was he?? Didn’t know that. Must have been in his early twenties at the time at the most.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 25, 2022)

My bad it was Lawrence Makoare.


----------



## Fruitloop (Sep 25, 2022)

I swear the orc dude was on the first XV at my school


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 25, 2022)

A380 said:


> Woukd it have gratuitous Hobbit nudity?


Dildo Ballbaggins and the cock ring of doom.


----------



## T & P (Sep 25, 2022)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> Dildo Ballbaggins and the cock ring of doom.


I’m guessing you have that manga?


----------



## BoxRoom (Sep 25, 2022)

T & P said:


> It’d be discriminatory not to, frankly.
> 
> Also, let’s get this fucker and The Hound in an arena!
> 
> View attachment 344398


That must have been a big seagull.


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 25, 2022)

That hobbit song though, it was the fucking Cranberries meets Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, I just cringed so much.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 25, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> That hobbit song though,


----------



## trashpony (Sep 25, 2022)

I need the stories to start converging and no more new characters please.


----------



## ginger_syn (Sep 26, 2022)

I was a bit reluctant to watch this, but ive thoroughly enjoyed it so far, looks great, the pacing suits me very well and luckily its been a while since I've read the books so I'm happy enough with the story so far.
It is definitely my comfy weekly watch series right now.


----------



## paul mckenna (Sep 26, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> Yes, I realise this makes me sound desperately sad. Such is the burden of a ringbearer


* ringpiece


----------



## Voley (Sep 26, 2022)

Enjoying this and Game of Thrones atm but I do keep expecting Paddy Considine to be an Elf and the GoT dragons to be Smaug.

Also watching Frozen Planet which has polar bears in it and that makes me think of His Dark Materials. It's fucking confusing being old.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 26, 2022)

platinumsage said:


> That hobbit song though, it was the fucking Cranberries meets Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, I just cringed so much.


Wich is a shame as maid Marian had a really good song.


----------



## platinumsage (Sep 30, 2022)

Thrilling battle entirely lit in brown, then a few minutes treating an arrow wound, never seen that sort of scene before, at least they kissed beforehand, so emotional!

Then the day came, and the CGI really ramped up a gear, best I’ve ever seen, almost looked like real horses!


----------



## MikeMcc (Sep 30, 2022)

I'm enjoying it so far.  My biggest bugbear (as a bit of a nerd), is that they are trying to compress quite a bit of time into one human lifetime slot.   The Numenorians landed generations before the creation of the Rings, and the revelation of Sauron.


----------



## Karl Masks (Sep 30, 2022)

Exactly what is Halbarand the king of? One village and an elven watchtower, plus, now, Mount Doom.

That's the one thing that always got me about Middle Earth: all the kingdoms have nothing in them. Obviously that's not true, but for example you never really see much in Gondor except Minas Tirith and Osgiliath


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## platinumsage (Sep 30, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> .That's the one thing that always got me about Middle Earth: all the kingdoms have nothing in them. Obviously that's not true, but for example you never really see much in Gondor except Minas Tirith and Osgiliath



Yes it all seemed empty, a vast wilderness with a couple of human cities and a few hidden dwarf/elf communities.


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## T & P (Sep 30, 2022)

Production values are decent enough, and apparently the one billion budget is for the entire planned span of the series, rather than just this first season. 

But still, this season is said to have cost $465m, or $58m per episode. By contrast, the original GoT series cost was as little as $1m per episode in the first season, and no more than than 15 mil in the last. Inflation or not, given how much more expansive and cast-heavy the latter was, I feel someone is taking Amazon to the cleaners here.


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## Karl Masks (Oct 2, 2022)




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## Karl Masks (Oct 7, 2022)

I'm guessing the sword is Narsil


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## SpookyFrank (Oct 8, 2022)

Everyone complaining about this not being faithful to the source material seems to be forgetting that the source material, namely the Silmarillion and all the other posthumous archive-dredging exercises, is unreadable. 

And the number of people (not here btw, but everywhere else on the internet) whinging about the presence of black actors in a fantasy world is genuinely absurd. The knots these people are tying themselves in to try and come up with a non-racist reason why they're upset about this, they must surely know that they're actually just racists?

FWIW I think most of the cast, besides maybe the dwarfs, is pretty crap. But it's hard to tell if that's down to the actors themselves or the lead-footed script.


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## Chilli.s (Oct 8, 2022)

Couldn't make it to the end of the first episode


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## Supine (Oct 8, 2022)

Decent article on the sources used to make the story. 









						Close-Reading Lord of the Rings With the Creatives Behind The Rings of Power
					

The most expensive TV show ever excavates Tolkien’s supplementary materials to piece together an epic about the Second Age of Middle-earth.




					www.vulture.com


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## strung out (Oct 14, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> Exactly what is Halbarand the king of?


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## Karl Masks (Oct 14, 2022)

Well now, that happened!

Who had Halbarand?

I think that ep redeemed the show


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## moochedit (Oct 14, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> Well now, that happened!
> 
> Who had Halbarand?
> 
> I think that ep redeemed the show


Plenty on facebook were saying it was Halbrand so it wasn't a massive surprise. There was some clue in something he said in an earlier episode apparently but i'm not a book nerd.

When they said the "spaceman" was him at the start before the credits i did think "   "


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## Aladdin (Oct 14, 2022)

Karl Masks said:


> Well now, that happened!
> 
> Who had Halbarand?
> 
> I think that ep redeemed the show


Good telly.
Not sure Tolkien wouldnt be turning im his grave at the "Halbrand is Sauron" thing.

But a very good final episode ...


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Oct 15, 2022)

I enjoyed it. Along with GoT its the first thing I've watched week by week for ages. I guess it will be ages till we get another?


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## Karl Masks (Oct 15, 2022)

I wonder if all the racists bemoaning black actors will be so quick to concern when they get to Rhun and we see the 'swarthy' men of the east.


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## Reno (Oct 15, 2022)

Two episodes in, the production values are stunning but I am bored to tears. I have to admit that I liked the LOTR movies despite them being Tolkien not because. For anybody who felt like me at the start and stuck with it, does it pick up ?


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## platinumsage (Oct 15, 2022)

Reno said:


> Two episodes in, the production values are stunning but I am bored to tears. I have to admit that I liked the LOTR movies despite them being Tolkien not because. For anybody who felt like me at the start and stuck with it, does it pick up ?



I mainly stuck with it out of curiosity and because I slightly have the hots for Elrond.


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## Reno (Oct 15, 2022)

I don’t have the hots for Elrond and what I’ve seen has not made me curios. I suppose if that’s all there is to it, I’ll throw in the towel and wait to binge House of the Dragon.


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## ruffneck23 (Oct 15, 2022)

I am enjoying it but I found I have to watch each episode in 2 halves as they seem really long and find them hard to digest in one go.

It certainly gets better around ep 6.


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## spitfire (Oct 15, 2022)

I enjoyed it. Apart from the Hobbits' accent. That can get in the bin.


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## High Voltage (Oct 16, 2022)

Mrs Voltz bailed on this around episode 2 or 3 and I finally threw in the towel at episode 5(?) - I tried, I really tried to like it, but it's not for me I'm afraid


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## Cloo (Oct 17, 2022)

It was OK, neither a disaster nor a truimph. Episode 6 was a cracker, I thought, and if most of the other episodes had lived up to that it would have been excellent. At the end of Ep 7 I suddenly realised who Sauron was, duh!

But as was, uneven and all felt a bit second-rate compared to the films but the overall story arc was quite interesting. I think the script wasn't great, which I think is why a lot of the acting didn't seem great but I liked some aspects like Durrin & Elrond's unlikely friendship, which was nicely drawn. It's issues had absolutely 0 to do with diverse casting and it's not like the script was somehow 'woke', it just wasn't very good.


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## strung out (Oct 17, 2022)

Thought it was much more interesting than the films tbf.


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## belboid (Oct 17, 2022)

Cloo said:


> It was OK, neither a disaster nor a truimph. Episode 6 was a cracker, I thought, and if most of the other episodes had lived up to that it would have been excellent. At the end of Ep 7 I suddenly realised who Sauron was, duh!
> 
> But as was, uneven and all felt a bit second-rate compared to the films but the overall story arc was quite interesting. I think the script wasn't great, which I think is why a lot of the acting didn't seem great but I liked some aspects like Durrin & Elrond's unlikely friendship, which was nicely drawn. It's issues had absolutely 0 to do with diverse casting and it's not like the script was somehow 'woke', it just wasn't very good.


Yeah, pretty much this.  It looked pretty, had a few fine scenes, but overall it was just okay.   There was an assumption that we’d just care about these beings without them doing anything for us to care about.  Hopefully now all the key characters are set up the next series will be better.  

Although Elrond will still have an immensely punchable face.


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## WhyLikeThis (Oct 18, 2022)

Reno said:


> I don’t have the hots for Elrond and what I’ve seen has not made me curios. I suppose if that’s all there is to it, I’ll throw in the towel and wait to binge House of the Dragon.



Rings of Power does pick up a bit but do not get excited. HOTD is even worse, a daytime TV version of GoT.


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## Ĝasper (Nov 6, 2022)

flypanam said:


> Well first episode is very underwhelming. What's with the elves and the Received pronunciation? And the peasant hobbits and their Oirish accents?


Im a fan of this. Dwarves as Scottish, pompous southern Elves, Yorkshire folk, etc. Cool that there are plebeian elves too, as well as pompous hobbits in LOTR.


killer b said:


> The hobbits seem to be travellers, I expect that's why they have the Irish accent? Terrible either way


I saw them as pre-agriculture nomadic foragers. The "left behind" part of their culture matches with something I remember seeing in Bronowski's Ascent of Man documentary when he spent time with Eurasian nomads.

I need to catch up on this. Only seen 2 or 3 I think.


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## ska invita (Wednesday at 11:09 PM)

spitfire said:


> I enjoyed it. Apart from the Hobbits' accent. That can get in the bin.


as am now on last episode thought id read the thread
lots of moaning about irish accents and yet not one mention of scottish dwarves or the biggest potential slur of all, cockney orcs - showing your own prejudices there no doubt to think thats acceptable 

really enjoying this expensive pap, fully entertained, and once again some exceptional Uruk lookers


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## ska invita (Wednesday at 11:25 PM)

eye loved this bit


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## Chz (Thursday at 11:10 AM)

It's quite pretty. It's just a bit dull is all. It's certainly not _bad_, like some have complained, but it doesn't really jump out at you either. I still haven't watched the last episode because it's just not grabbing me. I finished three or four other series (including the seriously flawed 1899) while I've been watching this.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Thursday at 11:35 AM)

ska invita said:


> as am now on last episode thought id read the thread
> lots of moaning about irish accents and yet not one mention of scottish dwarves or the biggest potential slur of all, cockney orcs - showing your own prejudices there no doubt to think thats acceptable



Looks like cultural appropriation is back on the menu boys.


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## spitfire (Thursday at 11:51 AM)

ska invita said:


> as am now on last episode thought id read the thread
> lots of moaning about irish accents and yet not one mention of scottish dwarves or the biggest potential slur of all, cockney orcs - showing your own prejudices there no doubt to think thats acceptable
> 
> really enjoying this expensive pap, fully entertained, and once again some exceptional Uruk lookers
> View attachment 359132



My mum’s Scottish and my accent is more Cockney Orc than Oirish nowadays so I decided one chip on my shoulder was quite enough and left the other HORRIBLE stereotypes for someone else to get outraged by.


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## MickiQ (Thursday at 11:53 AM)

I finished watching this a couple of weeks ago, the first episode was very dull and nearly put me off but I persisted and it rapidly got better. I clearly watch too much of this stuff because I figured out who Sauron was long before any of the characters did.
I didn't notice any characters having accents though. Real world accents in fantasy sometimes work and sometimes they don't (apart from any character played by Sean Connery where a special exemption applies)


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## ska invita (Thursday at 11:58 AM)

really hoping for some female orcs in season 2 🙏


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## DotCommunist (Thursday at 12:06 PM)

I haven't watched this yet but tolkiens orcs were cockney in the book and even as a boy I was like this 

Even the trolls purse in the Hobbit is cockney af.


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## Gromit (Thursday at 12:14 PM)

This still going?
I wandered off and watched interesting shows instead. Maybe when the telly runs out of interesting stuff I'll wander back.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Thursday at 12:22 PM)

ska invita said:


> really hoping for some female orcs in season 2 🙏


Aka Forks


Male ones are Dorks


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## Jennaonthebeach (Thursday at 1:00 PM)

Something about CGI that turns me off, and i see everyone else complaining about bad script and/or acting. I'm not sure about that but I do find that each episode feels, subjectively, like watching a long feature film. Too long. Long and boring. Maybe because i keep pausing to do other things. Am not exactly rivetted, even though i wanted to like it. Only watched 4 episodes so far, not sure if I'm going to watch more. It's done a couple of good things for me though - got me to finishh watching the last season of the Expanse after stalling on that, and during one break from watching RoP i found Babylon 5 is streaming with ads, so watching that too. And honestly, this makes Star Trek seem riveting.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Thursday at 1:46 PM)

Got to episodes 6 and 7 over the holidays.  Things have picked up pace a bit. 

Enjoying it a bit more.


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## moochedit (Thursday at 5:34 PM)

Gromit said:


> This still going?


Finished before xmas. There were only 8 episodes. They'll be a s2 at some point as amazon renewed it before s1 started but probs a year away at least.


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