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Huntn

macrumors Penryn
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May 5, 2008
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The Misty Mountains
If you are a Lord of the Ring fan, Amazon’s new series debuting in Sept 2022 is a must see. Set in the 2nd Age of Middle Earth, thousands of years before The Lord of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, most are familiar with, this series is set during the time the Rings were forged.

Set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the series is based on author J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth. It begins during a time of relative peace and covers all the major events of Middle-earth's Second Age: the forging of the Rings of Power, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the island kingdom of Númenor, and the last alliance between Elves and Men.[1] These events take place over thousands of years in Tolkien's original stories but are condensed for the series.[2]

If you want possibly the best scoop about this series, visit:

1009A6C2-E362-4746-BAAC-1C500E797BEB.jpeg
Younger Galadriel​

You should be able to read it without a subscription. Personally, I am excited, although prepared to be disappointed. The series Season 1 is projected to cost, approx half a $billion, this series slated for 5 years, over a $billion. The things some humans like to spend fortunes on. 🤔
 
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Might be interesting. Although a young Galadriel sounds odd. Wasn't she born in the first age? If the show is set in the second age. She'd be quite old. At least by human terms.

Personally, I'd rather it set in the first age. With the creation of middle earth and the preparation of the coming of elves and men.
 
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Might be interesting. Although a young Galadriel sounds odd. Wasn't she born in the first age? If the show is set in the second age. She'd be quite old. At least by human terms.

Personally, I'd rather it set in the first age. With the creation of middle earth and the preparation of the coming of elves and men.
I should say younger…. Who knows what’s next? ;)
 
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Personally, I'd rather it set in the first age.
Indeed. The First Age is my favorite. But it will be pretty shocking for folks who haven't read Tolkien to see the biggest, baddest villiain they know, Sauron, was merely another lackey of the first Big Bad, Melkor. Or Smaug, the greatest dragon of his time, is but a mere whelp compared to Ancagalon the Black.
4c13d2a7337d81855f5c69fb28ad033e.jpg

As awe inspiring as Ancalogon is, it's but a minor villian in the First Age.😲😲😲 A creature that could have wiped out the entire forces of both sides of the LoTR conflict is but a minor villian.😱 If they ever make a story about the First Age, I doubt they can do it justice.
 
Indeed. The First Age is my favorite. But it will be pretty shocking for folks who haven't read Tolkien to see the biggest, baddest villiain they know, Sauron, was merely another lackey of the first Big Bad, Melkor. Or Smaug, the greatest dragon of his time, is but a mere whelp compared to Ancagalon the Black.
4c13d2a7337d81855f5c69fb28ad033e.jpg

As awe inspiring as Ancalogon is, it's but a minor villian in the First Age.😲😲😲 A creature that could have wiped out the entire forces of both sides of the LoTR conflict is but a minor villian.😱 If they ever make a story about the First Age, I doubt they can do it justice.
Holy smokes... I haven't read the The Silmarillion... This one is a freaking huge!!!
 
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Indeed. The First Age is my favorite. But it will be pretty shocking for folks who haven't read Tolkien to see the biggest, baddest villiain they know, Sauron, was merely another lackey of the first Big Bad, Melkor. Or Smaug, the greatest dragon of his time, is but a mere whelp compared to Ancagalon the Black.
4c13d2a7337d81855f5c69fb28ad033e.jpg

As awe inspiring as Ancalogon is, it's but a minor villian in the First Age.😲😲😲 A creature that could have wiped out the entire forces of both sides of the LoTR conflict is but a minor villian.😱 If they ever make a story about the First Age, I doubt they can do it justice.
My question: Is it a good read? How would you compare it to the structure of LOTR? :)
 
Ya. Meh. They messed with the lore. There is no “weightiness” to it and they have so little source material to work with they have to stretch things out.

Unlike with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I don't really know anything else about the lore of Middle Earth. So, I'm not sure that will be an issue for me at least.

Are you going to continue watching it?
 
Every ten minutes I kept thinking, blimey that's another $10m up the spout... Having now just finished the first two episodes if I was Jeff Bezos I'd probably think about starting the Amazon return process...

Despite the sumptuous production and stupendous budget which gave us some really impressive isolated scenes this felt all wrong to me. It was like one of those huge houses billionaires build in an anachronistic style, where everything is individually perfect but as a whole nothing about it feels right.

I've always loved The Lord of the Rings and everything connected to it and in a way I'm glad that any of this stuff wasn't around when I was first reading it all. (We did have the Ralph Baski (sp?) cartoon film and the superb BBC radio adaption) but that was about it and so you ended up with an interpretation that probably aligned quite closely with Tolkien's alternative myth as he actually intended, and this production really isn't it.

I get the impression that the people who made this seem to think this his work is really just a another flavour of the fantasy superhero genre (the Marvel Thor etc) albeit in a Game of Thrones setting and have probably never known the canon of myth Tolkein used for his books. (Wayland the Smith, Beowulf, the books of anglo saxon riddles, being elf shot, the wild hunt etc etc.) None of this matters a jot if you try not to be too clever and stick to the script (the books), like the original films, but when you start to rewrite things but don't really understand what you're dealing with things fall apart very quickly. (The Hobbit films and this etc)

So... Hmmm... I'll probably finish the series as I there's nothing much else on at the moment but I'm really not convinced it was money well spent.
 
Unlike with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I don't really know anything else about the lore of Middle Earth. So, I'm not sure that will be an issue for me at least.

Are you going to continue watching it?
No. I wasn't expecting much, and was still underwhelmed. Fans of the Marvel Franchise will eat it up, though.
 
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Every ten minutes I kept thinking, blimey that's another $10m up the spout... Having now just finished the first two episodes if I was Jeff Bezos I'd probably think about starting the Amazon return process...

Despite the sumptuous production and stupendous budget which gave us some really impressive isolated scenes this felt all wrong to me. It was like one of those huge houses billionaires build in an anachronistic style, where everything is individually perfect but as a whole nothing about it feels right.

I've always loved The Lord of the Rings and everything connected to it and in a way I'm glad that any of this stuff wasn't around when I was first reading it all. (We did have the Ralph Baski (sp?) cartoon film and the superb BBC radio adaption) but that was about it and so you ended up with an interpretation that probably aligned quite closely with Tolkien's alternative myth as he actually intended, and this production really isn't it.

I get the impression that the people who made this seem to think this his work is really just a another flavour of the fantasy superhero genre (the Marvel Thor etc) albeit in a Game of Thrones setting and have probably never known the canon of myth Tolkein used for his books. (Wayland the Smith, Beowulf, the books of anglo saxon riddles, being elf shot, the wild hunt etc etc.) None of this matters a jot if you try not to be too clever and stick to the script (the books), like the original films, but when you start to rewrite things but don't really understand what you're dealing with things fall apart very quickly. (The Hobbit films and this etc)

So... Hmmm... I'll probably finish the series as I there's nothing much else on at the moment but I'm really not convinced it was money well spent.

I’m in wait and see if I get hooked mode.

No. I wasn't expecting much, and was still underwhelmed. Fans of the Marvel Franchise will eat it up, though.

I would be described as a disgruntled fan of Marvel, their latest wave of movies has not impressed me.

Ref RoP here is a good accurate appraisal about Episode 1. It’s more of a description than a spoiler.
 
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The reviews by viewers (not press reviews) are not encouraging. I haven't checked it out yet but was pretty bummed to read such unenthusiastic feedback. Especially considering the time and money Amazon put into this series. Sigh.
 
I loved them. Loved kick-ass warrior Galadriel and the two young harefoots who find Meteor Dude were quite good. Enjoyed the story beats so far. Big fan.
Who do you think Meteor Dude is? My initial guess was Gandalf but I'm not sure they can use him and he didn't arrive until the 3rd age. I do think he's one of the Maiar though. I think they purposely gave him a Gandalf-ish look.

I give the first two episodes a hesitant 'thumbs up', but my final opinion still remains to be seen. I enjoyed these episodes, but it had a Middle-Earth fan-fiction feel to me and they were a bit slow-paced. I'm not a book purist and don't mind changes if they tell a good story, but I haven't yet decided if the story is good. It's certainly a visual feast, especially in Dolby Vision on my OLEDs.
 
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The reviews by viewers (not press reviews) are not encouraging. I haven't checked it out yet but was pretty bummed to read such unenthusiastic feedback. Especially considering the time and money Amazon put into this series. Sigh.
Oddly enough. When I checked IMDB there were no written reviews under 6/10. Even though the vote average was 6.1/10. I’m sure this has nothing to do with IMDB being owned by Amazon.
 
What I get for watching while tired. :D
I rewatched Episode 1, then watched Episode2, some adjustments from my earlier post:

Spoilers….Visually impressive

Episode 1:

  • High production values.
  • Beautiful scenery.
  • Solid story in the Middle Earth Universe.
  • I like the Hardfeet, Hobbit ancestors, equivalent to Gypsies, and I like Markella Kavenagh as Nori Brney foot, a girl with a adventurous streak.
  • I think Morfydd Clark as Galadriel has huge shoes to fill following Cate Blanchett, the most perfect Galadriel. She does not have the same presence. Maybe she can win me over?
  • Looking forward to Bronwyn (human) and Arondir‘s (elf) relationship.
  • A new Elf project: ?
  • Something amiss in the Southern Human Lands.
  • An evil broken sword has influence over a human.
  • Galadriel jumps ship.
  • A burned out village in the Human Lands.
  • A fire blazes across the sky carrying intrigue.
Episode 2
  • Nori finds a man in a fiery crater.
  • Orc sign.
  • A desire to build a great Elf forge.
  • Elrond seeks council and help from Duran, Elf, who is angry about being ignored.
  • Rock breaking contest.
  • Galadril breaks a long distance swim record.
  • An impressive Elf Mine.
  • Galadriel meets Finrod on the high seas.
  • Arondir explores a tunnel.
  • Orc infestation.
 
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