I'm the opposite. Knowing the lore makes it fun because I can see similarities and differences. It's like a game for me. And, well, it's how I've treated adaptations since Starship Troopers pissed me off.
Spoilers Lord of the Rings TV series
- Thread starter Cyrus
- Start date
I always enjoyed the production values and designs. Numenor was gorgeous, Lindon was gorgeous (though again, it was weird that they made it look like Lorien) Moria was gorgeous, Eregion with Celebrimbor's workshop was gorgeous, and their depiction of Pre-Shire Hobbits was marvellous. The costumes also were beautiful.
But when it comes to the show really being a show with characters and plot I think only the last episode was *really* good, though the Battle for the Southlands was also very entertaing and had good bits.
But when it comes to the show really being a show with characters and plot I think only the last episode was *really* good, though the Battle for the Southlands was also very entertaing and had good bits.
The battle (and really there was only one big one in the whole season?!) was great, but felt forced and coincidental in too many ways IMO. I know we've got battles galore ahead of us, but all the lead up to the final episode of plot was really too stretched out. They went out on a high, but I'm hoping the next season will be more even now that the players are all identified and in place.
Mark
Mark
Not a good sign that they had to stretch the plot out with only 8 episodes.
Sounds to me like someone was just itching to write something bad about the show. If you have seen the movie Hitch with Will Smith and Kevin James there is a scene where James' character meets such snobbish "critics" and exposes them for what they are.
I see this often mentioned when it comes to LotR - "It's too long" or "Not again them walking through the countryside" etc. To me that's exactly how you build a world, when the author paints a scene and you let your imagination run free. In this case there is also not too much that's actually been spelled out, especially not as detailed as in Lord of the Rings, so the writers of the show has nearly all freedom to write within the confines of a few "historic" key elements.
I never got into it outside of some strong scenes here and there and impressive visuals. For me it lacked the verisimilitude I require for a fantasy world: Numenor and Khazad-dûm looked technically impressive but felt empty to me, lacking a lived-in quality; the costumes weren't as "real" looking as those in the Peter Jackson movies; it did a very poor job establishing the georgraphy of Middle Earth. I disliked the mystery box method of story-telling with the "Who is The Stranger! Who is Sauron!" questions taking the whole season to play out, though I at least appreciated that they went with the obvious answers rather than a big nonsensical twist like Nori turning out to be Sauron or something. I wasn't impressed by the dialogue. The Sauron/Galadriel scene in the finale was good, but then they ruined it by not having her instantly tell Elrond and Celebrimbor of his identity because...she was embarrassed? She spent hundreds of years hunting Sauron, she's old enough to remember the light of the Two Trees of Valinor; I doubt she'd be so embarrassed she wouldn't tell anyone the key fact of his identity.
I do find it hilarious how Isildur's family and friends just left him behind without actually checking to see if he was really dead. Wouldn't they at least have found his body to take him home for a proper burial?
I am a big Tolkien nerd but I really tried not to let that influence me and to give the show a fair shot. I think I succeeded because it was obvious from the start that they weren't going to keep any kind of continuity with the books so I could just separate the show from the original works and think of it as its own universe. Well, for the most part, obviously there were still some things that annoyed me here and there (the whole Mithril thing.) I'm only human, probably.
I do find it hilarious how Isildur's family and friends just left him behind without actually checking to see if he was really dead. Wouldn't they at least have found his body to take him home for a proper burial?
I am a big Tolkien nerd but I really tried not to let that influence me and to give the show a fair shot. I think I succeeded because it was obvious from the start that they weren't going to keep any kind of continuity with the books so I could just separate the show from the original works and think of it as its own universe. Well, for the most part, obviously there were still some things that annoyed me here and there (the whole Mithril thing.) I'm only human, probably.
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As much as I enjoyed the show, I agree with most of this especially how Númenor and Khazad-dûm lacked that lived-in quality.
I'll certainly keep watching but it doesn't fill me with the same joy as The Lord of the Rings trilogy does. Or even the fan edit of The Hobbit that has just the original novel material.
No.
Nor me but I love it for its differences, savoring the world like a finely grilled burger. It's different from the absolute lengthy meal of LOTR but still good.
Isildur's fate is one of the things that bugged me the most with the show, just because anybody with even the slightest bit of familiarity with the LOTR backstory is going to know that there is no way he could actually be dead, so it felt ridiculous to pretend he was.
The only jeopardy is wondering if the showrunners have lost their minds. If the endpoint of the entire series, assuming it continues, doesn't pretty much line up with what is commonly known through Peter Jackson's movies and the written lore, I'd be very surprised. This Isildur is also going to meet his fate by the river Anduin near the Gladden Fields just the same.
I predict we're going to see more character building as Isildur helps Halbrand defeat Adar and then escapes on Berec, very possibly without realising who Halbrand really is. It's not canon - very little of this show is - but it could be an entertaining story.
I predict we're going to see more character building as Isildur helps Halbrand defeat Adar and then escapes on Berec, very possibly without realising who Halbrand really is. It's not canon - very little of this show is - but it could be an entertaining story.
I had some time to kill and so I decided to give the show a watch today, and although I'm barely into the second episode as I type this, I have to say that although the series has an entirely different creative and production team, its DNA is very much rooted in and emulative of the narrative and visual aesthetic and style established by Peter Jackson, which isn't an easy feat to achieve.
That's perhaps because they're employing some of the same production designers as worked on the PJ movies.
I disagree with Numenor, I thought it looked pretty lively and they added nice details to it. And since it's Numenor you just aren't gonna get, for example, streets filled with dung and brothels like in Kning's Landing.
Moria (I will never learn how to spell the Dwarven name) kinda had the problem that they showed us some nice visuals, but those visuals didn't really look like a cohesive settlement, yeah.
I don't think they are.
As far as I know, this is a completely different production and creative team.
I must not know as much about specific people involved with the Hobbit and LotR films as I thought I did because I don't recognize any of the names cited in that Wikipedia article as having worked on said films.
I also might need to slow down the end credits because I completely missed John Howe and Weta being involved despite specifically looking to see if there were any overt links between the show and the films on the production side.
I also might need to slow down the end credits because I completely missed John Howe and Weta being involved despite specifically looking to see if there were any overt links between the show and the films on the production side.
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The overlap isn't major but it's there. I'm not sure how big their involvement with the series is, but it's listed by on the Weta FX website. I don't feel sufficiently motivated to research it further.
The Rings of Power | Visual Effects + | Wētā FX (wetafx.co.nz)
The Rings of Power | Visual Effects + | Wētā FX (wetafx.co.nz)
I would be as well. I think it will reflect a little bit differently the perspective, but still framed similarly like in the Fellowship.
My wife and started our rewatch, and I've been paying more attention the details, now that the larger themes are explored. We did the first three episodes today.
Episode 1: Definitely a very interesting one in seeing the framing of the different stories and peoples, and how they all revolve around each other in the larger world. I certainly appreciated the symbolism of Sauron's mark, and the fact that it was a different design from other marks around. Elrond and Galadriel's relationship was more interesting as well. Less taken by the Harfoots but as my wife noted there was a certain creativity to them and their language. Also,
Episode 2: Still my personal favorite. Elrond's visit to Khazad-dum and his interactions with Durin and Disa are still among my favorites. But, I was more mindful this round of Bronwyn, Arondir, and her son. The tension is really interesting and I think helps set the tone between Elves and Numenoreans later on.
Episode 3: I just love Numenor. Everything about the design blows my mind and I find it quite incredible to behold, as lovely as Khazad-dum. The richness of the worldbuilding is evident through the design work, and the idea that even with this being an age before Lord of the Rings, I absolutely feel the weight of history of the first age.
I'm bored, so I did.
Whilst the creators that people regularly associate with LOTR/THT are not associated, or only tangentially (specifically Alan Taylor, John Howe, Alan Lee etc), there are a lot of more junior artists on the earlier films who have larger artistic production roles in TROP
For example
John Howe - Illustrator and Concept Artist on the first two episodes of TROP
Jules Cook - Assistant Art Director LOTR trilogy / Supervising Art Director TROP
Mark Robbins - Art Director for LOTR / Senior Art Director TROP
Todd Smythe - Hobbiton Construction Coordinator The Hobbit / Assistant Art Director TROP
Mark Stephen - Set Designer The Hobbit Trilogy / Art Director TROP
Andy McLaren - Art Director The Hobbit Trilogy / Art Director TROP
Helen Stevens - Draughtsperson LORT / Set Designer The Hobbit Trilogy / On-Set Art Director TROP
Kate Hawley - Additional Costume Designer The Hobbit Trilogy / Costume Designer TROP
Clare Ramsey - Senior Prosthetic Designer The Hobbit Trilogy & TROP
Jason Docherty - Uncredited Prosthetic artist and Workshop Supervisor LOTR / Makeup/Prosthetic Supervisor (Weta) The Hobbit Trilogy / Prosthetic Designer TROP
Oliver Gee - Special Effects Technician LOTR and The Hobbit Trilogy - Special Effects Supervisor TROP
Rita Maxim - Special Effects Production Manager TROP (previously of the Weta Workshop)
Matt Appleton - Amour Standby LOTR / Costume/Armour supervisor AUJ/TDOS / Armour Master TROP
Hayley May - Wardrobe Manufacturer LOTR / Milliner/Costumer The Hobbit Trilogy / Milliner TROP
Sam Morely - Extras Set Costumer TTT / Dwarf Costume Co-Ordinator The Hobbit Trilogy / Set Supervisor TROP
Jasmine Watson - Jeweller LOTR / Key Jeweller TROP
Whilst this world doesn't feel as lived in as the films, much of the locations are "historically sterile", with the elven and Numenor sequences retaining those "bank of cleaners, ever at work, just put of frame" feel to them.
Only the Southlands and bits of the Harfoot sequences feel like those grimy, dirt-engrained-the-fingerprints of LOTR trilogy.
Khazad-dum is a the failure for me as, they've kept the pristine Elven feel to the mountain interior, when a "working mine/mountain" look would be in more keeping with the Dwarves personality and their work. Still, the use of mirrors to bring light to the mountain interior is well done
The series feels well linked to the feel of the other series, if not the scope of geography. The money is all up there though, in my mind.
Hugo - mulling over what hats were created for the series that aren't helms linked to armour
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