That's what I thought... how in the world are they going to fill 5 seasons with this? If they keep going like this, I'd say it's the end after season 2 considering the costs. But let's wait and see how season 1 ends.
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LOTR: The Ring of Power (2022-)
- Thread starter Huntn
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YMMV....
For me the LOTR movies are in the same boat as Avatar, The Matrix and Jurrasic Park (and to some extent even all Star Wars movies), visually stunning (for their time) but with a rather thin and predictable stories at their core.
So it is all just entertainment, nothing to get worked up about on small inconsistency with century old books that had quite a few "issues" in them to start with.
So FMI would you call the LOTR books thin and predictable?
My point is that I think the LOTR books were great and although the LOTR movies left some things out and changed some thing from the books, they pretty much faithfully followed the story I was expecting, from the books and presented a rousing, emotional spectacle, at least for me. The Battle at Pelennor Fields although different from the books, gave me a couple surges of emotion which means basically, my socks were knocked off.
Now the Hobbit, oh I wanted something on film that replicated the book, but it failed to duplicate the vision of the book, and that vision was not more of LOTRs. Yes, my opinion.
THIN STORY? Yep. Think book not so much...
What happens in the book once you remove all the poems and fluff? Good vs evil with little in between racing to a climatic battle where everything hangs in the balance till the last second. Some races are 100% evil other 100% good and humans are mostly good until egos come in.
Now TheHobbit on the other side had a really good story and used just right amount of pages to tell it.
I did read the book a few years before the the 1st film came out, so them following "faithfully" made them kinda boring (on top of being almost as slow paces as the book) which left stunning CGI and sceneries.
Seems like Gandalf to me. The beginnings of him anyway and how he gets to know about the little folk. I don't think they are sticking particularly close to the lore and it would seem like an attempt to link the series closer to the films.
Basically just imagine the meeting where the suits tell the writers to make it happen - because they have the miniatures all designed and ready to be put into production already.
I think Sauron might have actually taken over Galadriel. Would explain her demeanor.
Give her a break, she know evil when she see it and is pissed that not more is being done. Was it like that in the historical documents? My reading only goes as far as the Hobbit anf LOTR. Orcs are not the live and let live types, they need to be squashed like cockroaches.I think Sauron might have actually taken over Galadriel. Would explain her demeanor.
I’m enjoying this, it is quite good, however… My primary critique of this show is that events appear rushed and one should expect to be disappointed with 10 episode seasons, although some stories that you would expect more depth suffer more than others. IMO, the advent of shortened seasons overall, represents a diminishment of series story telling.
Some scholarly input requested:
Episode 5: A story of the elves and their light is related, a pure elf channels “his light” into a tree, a Balrog channels his fire into the same tree which is struck by lightening fusing this power as something pure driven deep into the mountain as substance known as mithrel.
The Elf king says they now need it to survive and I assume the tree mentioned sits in the court of the king is now blighted. What is causing the blight, the fading light? Is that because elves are removing it from the ground?
As described, this light that the elves possess, powers their immortal souls, is found in Mithrel after it was created, and without this replenishment, some method of transference, they will fade into ghosts if they remain in Middle Earth without it. So Mithrel by exposure to it, replenishing the souls of elves exclusively and for others it just some damn fine armor?
Some scholarly input requested:
Episode 5: A story of the elves and their light is related, a pure elf channels “his light” into a tree, a Balrog channels his fire into the same tree which is struck by lightening fusing this power as something pure driven deep into the mountain as substance known as mithrel.
The Elf king says they now need it to survive and I assume the tree mentioned sits in the court of the king is now blighted. What is causing the blight, the fading light? Is that because elves are removing it from the ground?
As described, this light that the elves possess, powers their immortal souls, is found in Mithrel after it was created, and without this replenishment, some method of transference, they will fade into ghosts if they remain in Middle Earth without it. So Mithrel by exposure to it, replenishing the souls of elves exclusively and for others it just some damn fine armor?
I guess that's what the writers of this show seem to mean and I suspect there will be some sort of non-Tolkein link to Galadriel's ring (Mithril) but despite having read most of Tolkien’s books I’m really not sure what is going on anymore... I’m beginning to think that prior knowledge is ‘unhelpful’ when watching this.
In the books my understanding is that it’s just a metal and has no specific connection to the elves but as you say it’s a damn fine one and they like to work with it. Also, I always thought the elves were immortal and aren’t bound to anything in Middle Earth - that was the whole point.Thank you. I just through Mithrel was some damn fine armor.
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Since they know it is supposed to be five, they are using most of all of S1 to build characters and story etc? I only watched two so far and it seemed slow, but that is even normal for Disney series that one season with six episodes. I agree it will be doomed if they don't get moving soon, especially once into S2.
Just watched episode 6, and I think it's now moving along at a good pace. I'm also happy that they seemed to have stopped using the goofy slow motion during action sequences. This isn't a 90s John Woo film, folks!
For me its the other way around - I'm out after this latest episode. Too much to nitpick all over and the dialogue and audio mix isn't quite good enough even for background noise at work. On the bright side the farewell episode didn't feature the Hobo-its.
There are some explanations for the state of affairs to be found in this (lengthy) article about the show:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t...er-showrunners-interview-season-2-1235233124/
Some bits -
There are some explanations for the state of affairs to be found in this (lengthy) article about the show:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t...er-showrunners-interview-season-2-1235233124/
Some bits -
- First-time showrunners rushed into a huge 5 season project
- 700 million-$ budget for the first season mentioned
- They expect to take 'a couple' years for season 2 (just started filming earlier this week)
I have to admit I have seen the movies, read "The Hobbit", read the first 1 and only half of the second book as I was falling asleep when Tolkien started describing flowers in details for almost a whole chapter though I might had fallen asleep reading that part. 😂 The Ring of Power is OK and I'll continue to watch it, but I would never had bought this. However, I am an Amazon Prime member so I might as well.
Ugh. The fact they just started filming season 2 is ... disappointing.
I hope that streaming services figure out a way to fix this. I'm not sure audiences will accept waiting 2+ years between seasons of tentpole shows.
EDIT: Interesting that the web version of the story and the Apple News version are different. The web version contains the paragraph that notes a "couple more years" until season 2 is ready. The Apple News version leaves out that entire paragraph.
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Peter Jackson figured out how to do this - filmed three movies back to back from what I recall. The Rings movies were followed up every year around year's end for three years straight. And each part of the trilogy was kept in the cinemas too for the entire year until the baton was handed off to the next one.
I guess RoP did not have the script in place to even attempt to do this.
Still can't wrap my head around how they spent 700 million (going by that article) including rights on this one season. I know it's supposed to contain around 250 million or slightly less for the license but that still leaves around ... 450 plus for 10 episodes? Is that like 10 times of what an average GoT episode would have cost.
Always thought the 1 billion overall budget was meant for all the seasons plus the rights and probably for setting up a TV show division within the company on the back of this production. Now it turns out they are leaving NZ for the UK and that seems like it wasn't even factored into the 700 million already spent?
That must have been a lot of first class flights to NZ and back.
I mean, I wouldn't LOVE the solution I'm about to propose, but ...Peter Jackson figured out how to do this - filmed three movies back to back from what I recall. The Rings movies were followed up every year around year's end for three years straight. And each part of the trilogy was kept in the cinemas too for the entire year until the baton was handed off to the next one.
I guess RoP did not have the script in place to even attempt to do this.
Still can't wrap my head around how they spent 700 million (going by that article) including rights on this one season. I know it's supposed to contain around 250 million or slightly less for the license but that still leaves around ... 450 plus for 10 episodes? Is that like 10 times of what an average GoT episode would have cost.
Always thought the 1 billion overall budget was meant for all the seasons plus the rights and probably for setting up a TV show division within the company on the back of this production. Now it turns out they are leaving NZ for the UK and that seems like it wasn't even factored into the 700 million already spent?
That must have been a lot of first class flights to NZ and back.
If we're having to accept that expensive tentpole streaming shows are more like blockbuster movies than "Cheers" (which is true, certainly from a financial POV)... then don't release the new episodes weekly, especially if it's only going to be an eight-episode season.
Put out one, 1:15-ish long episode every month. Or every six weeks. That way, you can stretch out the show for almost an entire calendar year. Then fill the gaps with some "Making of" and "behind the scenes" specials. Then start teasing the next season with trailers and footage of season 2 every month or so.
Again, I wouldn't LOVE that, but I think long-term I'd be MORE accepting of having to stretch out 8 episodes of Rings of Power over an entire calendar year than have it done in 8 weeks and then wait 80 weeks for the next episode.
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I think in that case you'd have to throw away the typical writing style used for episodes, getting rid of the constant cliffhangers and tie-ins and desperate attempts to string the viewer along and presenting a more complete, self-contained story with its own high point for each episode while still keeping audiences looking for more. You'd have to score a full house most of the time to make that work or else risk getting drowned and forgotten in a sea of competition. Would the run-time even allow for it ...?
Anyway I just realized that there's only 8 episodes in this, not 10 as I had assumed. So that means episode 6 has to be the high point of the season with too little time left to do more than deal with the (literal) fallout from episode 6, get around to revealing Sauron and wrap up the other storyline?
And here I thought the skirmish in episode 6 was going to be the (late but - in line with Tolkien's books - kinda appropriately timed) half point big event in this season, leading up to something crucial in episodes 8/9 with 10 serving to conclude story lines for now.
Anyway I just realized that there's only 8 episodes in this, not 10 as I had assumed. So that means episode 6 has to be the high point of the season with too little time left to do more than deal with the (literal) fallout from episode 6, get around to revealing Sauron and wrap up the other storyline?
And here I thought the skirmish in episode 6 was going to be the (late but - in line with Tolkien's books - kinda appropriately timed) half point big event in this season, leading up to something crucial in episodes 8/9 with 10 serving to conclude story lines for now.
I'm a fantasy fan but have never been a fan of dwarves - be it Tolkien or Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms or even King's Quest 4. Hell, I'm not a fan in Skyrim and they're not even there.
But I have to say that that the best thing about The Rings of Power is the relationship between Durin and Elrond. Disa is great too. That whole side of the storyline is really friggin' cool, IMO.
But I have to say that that the best thing about The Rings of Power is the relationship between Durin and Elrond. Disa is great too. That whole side of the storyline is really friggin' cool, IMO.
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