its tolkein, the source material is written in a format only academics can enjoy
1 Like
i remember seeing that amazon was investing over 1bn into this project
There has been lots of talk about how this is the most expensive show ever made. You can see why, the practical sets as well as the CGI is absolutely top notch. Havenāt even got into the big battles and fights( which Iām assuming will be plentiful) which Iām sure will be visually stunning
I have no idea of the source material, so I canāt wait to see how it all plays out. Loved the original trilogy but hated the hobbit movies
As a Tolkien nerd Iām loving the show so far. The acting is pretty good and the visuals are spectacular. They really nailed the āfeelā of Middle Earth with the lush greenery combined with elegant architecture.
The only part I have issue with so far is Galadriel swimming away from the Undying Lands. When creating a narrative like this, itās important that the events created are not so grand that their absence from the source material would be out of place. Galadriel swimming the length of the ocean on top of refusing passage to Valinor would be monumental in Elvish lore. I felt Star Wars: Rogue One nailed this concept as the events and characters did not supercede the narrative of A New Hope.
I had no issue with any of the casting decisions.
the Galadriel Valinor bit is probably my main objection so far - Iād have to re read the books but iirc Galadriel was still banished from Valinor due to the kinslaying by the Noldor , and Gil-galad would have known that . Comet man, whoever he is, is also going to be extremely problematic in terms of Tolkien lore .
But Iāve already promised myself that Iāll just watch it for what it is - trying to cover an entire Age , plus backstory , into a TV series that will probably try to do so within the constraints of single human/hobbit - very mortal - lifespans. Or maybe not, perhaps weāll see a lot of characters come and go , new ones introduced as it plays out over the course of a thousand years or so. Thatād be a different tv phenomena.
Not so much this stuff. If they tried to cover The Silmarillion and the 1st Age, very much so. But the 2nd Age material was often more sketches and timelines than high English prose and mythological structure.
Once theyāve ticked off some back story to set up the historical drivers - and thatās awkward in many ways, thereās so bloody much to sift through and decide what is key - I think itāll tick over at quite a good clip.
I love LOTR and have read the books around 15 times, but never made it through The Silmarillion.
Bearing in mid my lack of lore knowledge, when did the wizards (Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, any others?) appear in Middle Earth? Could comet man be one of them? Is it Gandalf? He does appear to have some sort of magic ability. Iām assuming the Harfoots are hobbits, but is The Shire a thing yet, or are they doing their āmigrationā there to what will become The Shire?
Happy for a slow pace to set the scene as they are clearly trying to introduce the different characters and races. Looking forward to how it all develops.
Oh, I thought the comet dude was 100% Gandalf
Iām really enjoying it, people are bombing the ratings because theyāve cast black characters, people are sick.
1 Like
not 100% sure but i saw something on reddit where the main wizards show up like 1000 years after this, not to say others dont before however
1 Like
They show up midway through the third age, so it canāt be Gandalf
1 Like
Just finished the first series of Bancroft on BritBox. Sarah Parish stars as a senior detective with a few question marks, and Faye Marsay as her sergeant, whoās set to cold cases by her boss, Adrian Edmonson.
Bancroft is just such a horrible person that I wonāt watch the second series.
Art Malik stars also as the superintendent.
Whoever recommended Brittania, iām totally engrossed in this, currently part way through season 3 loving it more than House of Dragon.
Interesting that the LOTR show and the wheel of time share the same directors and much of the other behind the scenes staff.
I think Amazon allowed a slower start for LOTR and pushed for a faster punchy WOT, which led to some major problems. The technical caliber on set is the same, letās see if they maintain the LOTR quality for the whole season. May indicate season 2 of WOT could be a step up from season 1. Guessing the studio learnt from their mistakes in WOT and applied the lessons to LOTR.
Iām too emotionally invested in WOT as a series to be even pretending to hype myself up for season 2. I also dont think survivor winners shouldāve been the show runner.
1 Like
Same studio. Same directors. Questions will need to be asked of the show runner if season 2 ends up as a flop.
But weāve got a thread to ā ā ā ā ā about that in. Iām just relieved that LOTR doesnāt seem to have the same immediate problems.
I reckon with the rings of power, everyone knows Tolkienās material is a slow burn, mainstream audiences donāt know that wheel of time is more so.
1 Like
Itās interesting, and a tad creepy feeling, to watch young Cate (Eleanor Hyphenated-Name) grow up. David Morrissey, who plays the Roman general, is currently in another streaming series, Sherwood, set in a Nottinghamshire village where the mining strikes of the early 80ās still have a lot of memories attached.
The First Age/events of the Silmarillion would make for a great anthology series.
Interesting that all the main characters are elves, except for the Harfoot girl, while thereās been no mention of Numenor despite its heavy presence in the marketing
1 Like
The fall of Gondolin and Nargothrond , Berens quest for the Silmaril etc could probably be done well. The early Valinor stuff could become overbearing pretty quickly. The tricky bit is that many characters are threaded through multiple story lines. Do you cover Nargothrond as part of Turinās story etc?
1 Like
There would be some difficulties. Weaving particular characters through separate episodes in a plausible way that both makes narrative sense and can be absorbed by a viewer unfamiliar with the source material would be some task indeed.
Damned if I donāt want to see a high-budget production of the Fall of Gondolin or the Nirnaeth Arnoediad though