The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Amazon Prime Video - September 2, 2022

[Wor-Gar]

I think the show is more interesting if you know these things beforehand.

Agreed. I'll watch an episode and be kind of lost with the history referenced and then do a little research and it all becomes more interesting.

I wish the show had a 3-min "spoilers" history you could select prior to the episode that would catch you up on things referred to in the episode.

 

[JAWS]

Finally got around to watching last weeks episode.

Not gonna lie

This is starting to feel more like…

Lord of the (bor)-Ring

I am starting to have the same issue with this as many of the Marvel and SW shows… Too much filler. I loved the first two episodes and parts of the last three have been good but man this all could have been told in 2.5 episodes instead of 5.

If there was more world building I think I would be ok with it but we just keep rehashing the same stuff every episode talking longer then a trip to mount Doom to get to the point.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Lord of the (bor)-Ring

Nice one.

[Bor]Ring of Power.

 

[greygoose]

Finally got around to watching last weeks episode.

Not gonna lie

This is starting to feel more like…

Lord of the (bor)-Ring

I am starting to have the same issue with this as many of the Marvel and SW shows… Too much filler. I loved the first two episodes and parts of the last three have been good but man this all could have been told in 2.5 episodes instead of 5.

If there was more world building I think I would be ok with it but we just keep rehashing the same stuff every episode talking longer then a trip to mount Doom to get to the point.

Unfortunately I've given up on the series.

 

[abake]

Well, as the episodes come out it becomes clear to me that this is actually bad.
The production design looks kinda cheap, the dialogue isn't very inspired, the characters are run of the mill clichés... The story itself is interesting, so I'll keep watching but the script is pretty poor.
So yeah, I can't see 1 Billion Dollars here. Not quality-wise at any rate.

 

[jye4ever]

Well, as the episodes come out it becomes clear to me that this is actually bad.
The production design looks kinda cheap, the dialogue isn't very inspired, the characters are run of the mill clichés... The story itself is interesting, so I'll keep watching but the script is pretty poor.
So yeah, I can't see 1 Billion Dollars here. Not quality-wise at any rate.

Not in a million years would’ve anyone ever imagined that Andor would be better than TROP.

 

[ZE_501]

Arondir = Worst Field Commander Ever

Spoiler:

Villagers should have all been dead or wounded after the first wave -- even taking into account they were fighting some turncoats as untested in battle as they were, a horde of bestial orcs should have made mince meat out of them within minutes.

Nonetheless, they stood around to admire their handiwork (no gravitas or pathos associated with any of the Red Shirt deaths -- I mean pretty much the whole village were Red Shirts but still) while Arondir is slack-jawed, waiting for the rest of the horde to -- oh there they are -- come and kill them all while their guard is down and their numbers are depleted.

Every time Galadriel dodged an arrow I was hoping to see it take out the guy behind her, given how close they were in formation.

I accept plot armour and similar devices in a story, but unlike Game of Thrones or -- a much better comparison -- the Battle of Helm's Deep -- there's not much sense of jeopardy and no weight to the deaths.

As others have said, this show is goofy and ill-conceived, but not yet bad enough to abandon it. I *do* want to see where they go with it, so it's not Book of Boba Fett levels of bad.

 

[ZE_501]

Wait, I hadn't seen the end of the episode yet. Oh no...

Spoiler:

Let's casually hand off the Powerful Evil Artifact that gets entire villages killed to a weak, stupid human kid that just admitted it has a hold on him, then walk away.

But even better ... said artifact has already been stolen and swapped out by Evil Old Dude who previously very vocally and publicly pledged allegiance to the other side, yet somehow went full Ninja Thief under the noses of Elves and Numenoreans. Guess they were too busy partying and patting themselves on the back instead of ... you know ... mourning their dead or being vigilant about the Obvious Presence of Great and Ancient Evil.

But wait! There's more! Arondir, who's already the Worst Field Commander Ever, is also so stupid and incompetent that he can't tell the difference between a hand-axe wrapped in burlap and the Powerful Evil Artifact he's spent days handling and trying to destroy. His incompetence knows no bounds.

Having seen this, we're skirting dangerously close to BoBF territory.

 

[user 67922]

Well, it’s pretty at least. I’m not sure any of the big dramatic moments are hitting home… for me at least. I just can’t put my finger on what it is that isn’t quite working about this show. Anyone?

On a separate note please don’t ever make us have to sit through another bloody “inspiring” Bronwyn speech again.

 

[ZE_501]

Well, it’s pretty at least. I’m not sure any of the big dramatic moments are hitting home… for me at least. I just can’t put my finger on what it is that isn’t quite working about this show. Anyone?

Weak script and weak directing are the primary issues here.

Makes the big dramatic moments hollow. When you have something that's admittedly somewhat predictable in terms of tropes and general narrative with a known outcome, the only way to make it interesting is to get the audiences invested in the characters while making the narrative machinery believable enough.

I don't care about any of these characters, none of them are grounded or have enough depth, and they make idiotic decisions that strain suspension of disbelief while the plot amounts to a bunch of hand waving and conveniences.

Arondir and Bronwyn also have zero chemistry, but then again they are cardboard cut-outs so I guess that makes sense.

 

[user 67922]

Weak script and weak directing are the primary issues here.

Makes the big dramatic moments hollow. When you have something that's admittedly somewhat predictable in terms of tropes and general narrative with a known outcome, the only way to make it interesting is to get the audiences invested in the characters while making the narrative machinery believable enough.

I don't care about any of these characters, none of them are grounded or have enough depth, and they make idiotic decisions that strain suspension of disbelief while the plot amounts to a bunch of hand waving and conveniences.

Arondir and Bronwyn also have zero chemistry, but then again they are cardboard cut-outs so I guess that makes sense.

You’ve hit the nail on the head there, thank you for explaining. Six episodes in we should really care about the characters, I feel next to nothing for any of them. Not that I’m calling the show bad or a total disaster or anything, it’s just nowhere near as good or epic as it thinks it is.

 

[jye4ever]

 

[user 67922]

Seeing this makes me glad Amazon cancelled The Dark Tower series. They’d have butchered that.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Seeing this makes me glad Amazon cancelled The Dark Tower series. They’d have butchered that.

Stephen King butchered that himself.

The first four books were incredible. Off the charts.

The beginning of The Wolves of Calla showed massive promise. Then it all fell apart. SK showed he was more invested in finishing rather that completing the series. This was post car accident for him, so who knows, maybe he had a relapse and went back on the coke.

I still believe his last two Dark Tower books were written by someone else. Or mostly through someone else. Anne Rice was often accused of this, using her staff to write major sections of her later books.

I would have liked to have seen it make it to HBO. Then it would have gotten a 5 season/50 episode type treatment. Unfortunately books 2 and 3 would have been insanely expensive to film. Wizard and Glass could actually be a stand alone film.

The only way I could see the Dark Tower working as a series is if they cast Clint Eastwood, as King intended, as a narrator and shows Roland at the end of his life, and film all his scenes at one time ( in case Eastwood died) and have him "retell" his story. Then cast someone else as a younger Roland.

Get the right showrunner and leave them alone. I guess the question was if Bezos could have done that.

 

[The Buffinator]

Arondir = Worst Field Commander Ever

Spoiler:

Villagers should have all been dead or wounded after the first wave -- even taking into account they were fighting some turncoats as untested in battle as they were, a horde of bestial orcs should have made mince meat out of them within minutes.

Nonetheless, they stood around to admire their handiwork (no gravitas or pathos associated with any of the Red Shirt deaths -- I mean pretty much the whole village were Red Shirts but still) while Arondir is slack-jawed, waiting for the rest of the horde to -- oh there they are -- come and kill them all while their guard is down and their numbers are depleted.

Every time Galadriel dodged an arrow I was hoping to see it take out the guy behind her, given how close they were in formation.

I accept plot armour and similar devices in a story, but unlike Game of Thrones or -- a much better comparison -- the Battle of Helm's Deep -- there's not much sense of jeopardy and no weight to the deaths.

As others have said, this show is goofy and ill-conceived, but not yet bad enough to abandon it. I *do* want to see where they go with it, so it's not Book of Boba Fett levels of bad.

Wait, I hadn't seen the end of the episode yet. Oh no...

Spoiler:

Let's casually hand off the Powerful Evil Artifact that gets entire villages killed to a weak, stupid human kid that just admitted it has a hold on him, then walk away.

But even better ... said artifact has already been stolen and swapped out by Evil Old Dude who previously very vocally and publicly pledged allegiance to the other side, yet somehow went full Ninja Thief under the noses of Elves and Numenoreans. Guess they were too busy partying and patting themselves on the back instead of ... you know ... mourning their dead or being vigilant about the Obvious Presence of Great and Ancient Evil.

But wait! There's more! Arondir, who's already the Worst Field Commander Ever, is also so stupid and incompetent that he can't tell the difference between a hand-axe wrapped in burlap and the Powerful Evil Artifact he's spent days handling and trying to destroy. His incompetence knows no bounds.

Having seen this, we're skirting dangerously close to BoBF territory.

Wow, that’s a pretty harsh assessment of Arondir considering

Spoiler:

(a) how well conceived & executed his tower plan was and (b) how no one else besides him had any battle experience. Seems to me he did OK for his first time in a command role given the circumstances lol. Plus it’s not as if he had a fortress like Helm’s Deep to help keep the enemy at bay.
As for his handing off the powerful evil artifact, I agree he should have realized it had been swapped out, but despite hiding it and briefly trying to destroy it he was far less familiar with it than Theo. And given his exertions in the battle, nearly dying, the arrival of Galadriel & company, etc., I’m willing to cut him some slack, especially when it was handed to him by the Commander Of The Northern Armies.

I rather enjoyed this episode.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Was Bezos really hands-on on this?

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Well, it’s pretty at least. I’m not sure any of the big dramatic moments are hitting home… for me at least. I just can’t put my finger on what it is that isn’t quite working about this show. Anyone?

On a separate note please don’t ever make us have to sit through another bloody “inspiring” Bronwyn speech again.

Take half of the current budget ( roughly 35 million per episode after the splitting ) and make four different shows

Show #1 - Arondir and a company of Elven Rangers on some mission

Show #2 - The Navy of Numenor on some mission

Show #3 - The heated and longstanding conflict between Dwarves and Elves

Show #4 - An animated series starring Galadriel doing something.

So the three live action series would be 10 million per episode ( which is still a crapload of money to spend per episode) and some wiggle room plus what it costs to do an animated series.

Spread out your risk. Also allow room to breathe for actual character development.

The scope is too big right now. The smaller the basic storyline of the show, the more intimate you can get with the audience in terms of character development.

Part of the problem with Bronwyn is Nazanin Boniadi is just too good looking. It's distracting. It's very difficult to have immersion and ask audiences to see her as some poor downtrodden farmer woman. She was close to perfectly cast in Counterpart, but here, not so much.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I'd make it even simpler -- take a 10th of that money and throw it at better writers.

 

[jye4ever]

Take half of the current budget ( roughly 35 million per episode after the splitting ) and make four different shows

Show #1 - Arondir and a company of Elven Rangers on some mission

Show #2 - The Navy of Numenor on some mission

Show #3 - The heated and longstanding conflict between Dwarves and Elves

Show #4 - An animated series starring Galadriel doing something.

So the three live action series would be 10 million per episode ( which is still a crapload of money to spend per episode) and some wiggle room plus what it costs to do an animated series.

Spread out your risk. Also allow room to breathe for actual character development.

The scope is too big right now. The smaller the basic storyline of the show, the more intimate you can get with the audience in terms of character development.

Part of the problem with Bronwyn is Nazanin Boniadi is just too good looking. It's distracting. It's very difficult to have immersion and ask audiences to see her as some poor downtrodden farmer woman. She was close to perfectly cast in Counterpart, but here, not so much.

Her perfect white straight teeth was the norm in medieval times so the show is pretty accurate.

 

[The Buffinator]

Her perfect white straight teeth was the norm in medieval times so the show is pretty accurate.

So you’re saying the role should have gone to a British actress?