So, the first reviews of "The Lord of the Rings - The Rings of Prime" are out. They fall into four general categories:

1. GLORIOUS reviews by "preview audiences" who, literally, use variations of the same script ("A cinematic experience that redefines television, the beginning is a little slow because there is a lot of world building, Amazon spent one billion dollars on this show and you see all the money on screen). These audiences had both flight and hotel paid by Amazon so to see the show in a theatre. Some of them, in all fairness, disclosed this.

The two best takeaways were from a Catholic woman who said "The best thing that I can say is how after watching the first two episodes I felt calm. (??) Afterwards, I saw a church nearby and I went there to pray for the soul of Tolkien (??!??)

...And from a couple who said "Tolkien fans will be happy to know that the show has a lot of easter eggs for them!" (?!?!?!?)

2. GLORIOUS reviews by outlets who have undisclosed commercial ties with Amazon (like all the outlets under the Condé Nast "umbrella", Vanity Fair in primis). These reviews elaborate a bit more from the basic cheat sheet we have seen.

3. GLORIOUS reviews from woke media: Variety, Rolling Stone... You know them. Same cheat sheet.

4. ...And then reviews that torn the show to pieces. These reviews are the only ones that explore in detail why the show is a disaster. Still, there are some surprises.

For months Entertainment Weekly shilled TRoP to high orbit, had exclusives, preview teasers, interviews, the whole enchilada. People were betting their sons that EW was going to speak about the show like "Kubrick Resurrected". Instead they came out guns blazing with a brutal review that started with "Amazon's prequel is kind of a catastrophe" and then proceeded to dismantle everything. It was since the Red Wedding in GoT that the streaming arena didn't see a similar level of betrayal.
https://ew.com/tv/tv-reviews/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-amazon/

The Washington Post, owned by Bezos, said "You know? Meh... Beautiful, banal boredom".
https://www.washingtonpost.com/tv/2022/08/31/lord-rings-tv-show-review/

Grace Randolph! If you don't know her, let's say that she often borders on shilling. A lot of people can't stand her person but this is beyond the point. Anyway, the best takeaway from her review is that Galadriel alone sinks the show by being "Both a Karen and a Mary Sue". Ouch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ALhrwdr8xg&ab_channel=BeyondTheTrailer

Of course the Daily Mail opened fire with all guns, too, but this was expected. * out of ***** however...
"The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power: No turkey, however bloated and stupid, could ever be big enough to convey the mesmerising awfulness of Amazon's billion dollar Tolkien epic"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11164965/CHRISTOPHER-STEVENS-reviews-Lord-Rings-Rings-Power.html

The best one, IMHO, remains Nerdrotic's take and his opinion about the shills (spoiler: not hate, but pity and compassion). I'll link the video.

I'm waiting for the premiere. A few hours to go. Let's say that I already have a Hitler Parody in mind as my review...

Saw episode 1. I promised my wife to give it a fair shot, despite being a bit of a Tolkien-book nerd. OK I'll give it this: the oath of Feanor was a cool scene that lasted a split second. If they have the rights to show that part, why not make a Silmarillion series? Instead the rest is cringeworthy. Galadriel is just the kind of Hollywood feminist "strong woman" that people have come to despise. A lot of it is just plain weird, and is the kind of stuff that non-Tolkien-fans expect us to explain, but we can't because the show runners pulled it out of a place the sun don't shine.

Maybe someone here follows this more closely, but I heard that the rights used on this show weren't the same rights used for the Jackson Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. That the rights that the Embracer group just bought only covered the rights to the Lord of the Rings books and the Hobbit. So Amazon went and negotiated separate rights for the Silmarillion but tried to make their show have the same "look and feel" as the Jackson movies to attempt to tie them together even though they aren't related at all.

And that "hobbits" aren't mentioned in the Silmarillion which is why the hobbits in the Rings of Power can't be called Hobbits.

Forst episode looked pretty enough, but that's about it: all visual spectacle without much more to it. I didn't like the elf ship with all the elves just standing at attention and the sails slack yet still speeding across the sea. Sure, magic or something can explain it, but it looked silly to me.

Oh yeah, the ship scene was another massive cringe. It's like crossing the Atlantic on a sailing boat with everyone standing up the whole way. And...is Galadriel supposed to swim back??

Quote from: Trond on September 02, 2022, 10:23:59 AM
Oh yeah, the ship scene was another massive cringe. It's like crossing the Atlantic on a sailing boat with everyone standing up the whole way. And...is Galadriel supposed to swim back??

Only if they decide to pull back from having her walk on water...

Oh wait, I think the trailers showed her being picked up by a raft or something, but it still looked like she was planning on swimming all the way back.

Also, she is not just smarter than the rest of the "northern armies", she fights better than them, and she also climbs better than all of them. The others were basically good for nothing.

I've heard it is cringe and just plain boring and the acting is pretty bad.

But leaving thst aside, are the visuals spectacular, beautiful etc?. This seems to be what people are gushing over but I have also heard they are merely good and probably too CGI heavy.

So honestly, ignoring all other factors how does it look?

If it was t pretending to be based on Tolkiens work it would be a decent fantasy show, sadly it's another SyFy Earthsea.

I have little to say. I'm a big Tolkien fan, didn't much like the Jackson films, stopped caring with the Hobbit Jackson films, and I have no intention of watching Rings of Power.

That it's (reportedly) a woke snoozefest with trite writing and a huge money black hole for Amazon is the only entertainment I'm getting out of it.

Quote from: Leonidas on September 02, 2022, 06:39:27 PM
If it was t pretending to be based on Tolkiens work it would be a decent fantasy show, sadly it's another SyFy Earthsea.

Kat fell asleep halfway through the first part of Earthsea. heh-heh.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on September 02, 2022, 07:42:14 PM
I have little to say. I'm a big Tolkien fan, didn't much like the Jackson films, stopped caring with the Hobbit Jackson films, and I have no intention of watching Rings of Power.

That it's (reportedly) a woke snoozefest with trite writing and a huge money black hole for Amazon is the only entertainment I'm getting out of it.

Im in the same elfboat. I thought the Rings movies were overall ok-ish except for some glaring problems that undermined it. But despised the Hobbit movies and actually have not seen it all yet. The first one left that bad an impression. I have zero desire to have my braincells killed by more hatemongering trash.

The ice troll looked ok...up until Galadriel whipped its ass with all the other elves practically standing still and watching.

Quote from: hedgehobbit on September 02, 2022, 09:50:10 AM
Maybe someone here follows this more closely, but I heard that the rights used on this show weren't the same rights used for the Jackson Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies.

They paid $250 millions for "What is told about the Second Age in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and the Appendixes, and for a streaming show only. Then Amazon Prime put $1 billion to turn a bunch of pages into a 5 seasons show. They literally have to invent everything.

Quote
That the rights that the Embracer group just bought only covered the rights to the Lord of the Rings books and the Hobbit.

No, Embracer bought the rights to everything Tolkien. They have to honor existing contracts (like the one with Amazon) but that's it. Since Embracer owns the rights to The Silmarillion, anyone can license them and do a show based on the book (it was considered a given that Amazon would have bought everything once it went up for sale, so to solve their lack of actual material to adapt and maybe redo LotR itself on Prime; that they didn't may be a sign that Amazon already lost its faith in the ability to do Tolkien right).

Anyway, my guess is that no one, right now, would touch Tolkien's Second Age with a 10' pole, as Amazon's show is a trainwreck that may very well damage the brand. If The Rings of Power fails, a lot of blood will flow.

Quote from: Omega on September 02, 2022, 08:15:59 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on September 02, 2022, 07:42:14 PM
I have little to say. I'm a big Tolkien fan, didn't much like the Jackson films, stopped caring with the Hobbit Jackson films, and I have no intention of watching Rings of Power.

That it's (reportedly) a woke snoozefest with trite writing and a huge money black hole for Amazon is the only entertainment I'm getting out of it.

Im in the same elfboat. I thought the Rings movies were overall ok-ish except for some glaring problems that undermined it. But despised the Hobbit movies and actually have not seen it all yet. The first one left that bad an impression. I have zero desire to have my braincells killed by more hatemongering trash.

Yup that's my exact same position, except I did watch the first episode of this garbage. If you've seen the trailers and didn't like it, then there's absolutely no reason to watch the show. The show itself just adds more cringe on top of the stuff you already saw in the trailers.