Is anybody watching "Rings of Power"?

It's the LOTR prequel, called "Rings of Power".

Except for the sets, the special effects, costumes, etc., it seems to me to be just more of the same kind of all-inclusive, politically-correct crap that we've oozing out of the liberal-Left "entertainment" industry for the last ten years.

Moreover, except for the names of characters and locations, this nondescript mashup has almost nothing to do with either the reality or spirit of ANYTHING Tolkien actually wrote in either "The Hobbit" or "The Lord of the Rings"....

 

That's because it's based on what Tolkien actually wrote in The Silmarillion.

 

Well it's not Tolkien, the story is totally made up by the writers, so if it doesn't feel like a Tolkien tale, that's probably the reason.

 

Except for the barest sketch of overall conflict between the various parties and the Morgoth 'faction', does anything about this revisionist "Rings of Power" tripe remind of you of the characters (like Elrond, Galadriel, Celebrimbor, Durin, etc.) that Tolkien so loosely-described? You got that from "The Silmarillion"...?

I think I was fairly tolerant -- until the scene where this strangely 'ballsy", über-militant Galadriel swam halfway back to Eriador and then ended up helpless on that raft with 'what's-his-face'. Stuff like that, and the off-putting 'modifications' of some of the cast were about all I could stand. Special effects and sets... very good. Casting? Nearly a complete BUST (and in that respect, very much the same with that "House of the Dragon" prequel, too. Where do they FIND these people...?

 

The fact that girl boss Galadriel decided to swim across an ocean sort of took me out of the show. I get that it's a fantasy but you have to make me suspend by disbelief, not just shake my head.

 

Steven King once said that suspending disbelief is a terrible misnomer. It makes you think that it's like this airy balloon just drifting about with no effort when in actual fact it's this massive ball of lead that the writer has to haul about constantly and hold up by main strength or the story falls apart.

I gave up on Tolkien about 3/4 through the third book when I realized I'd come to like orcs. Good stories for children but not enough gratuitous sex and violence even though there's plenty of opportunity for it.

 

Well, Montegriffo made a good point -- that this "Rings of Power" thing is about events loosely (very loosely) described in the Tolkien prequel, "The Silmarillion". I began reading it years ago and very truthfully, I never finished it... it was just such an ambiguous, incomplete slog through Middle Earth history.

But, using Galadriel or Elrond as examples, how in the world could the creators of "Rings of Power" produce characters that are so utterly unlike in mentality, demeanor, gravity, or behavior when compared with those shown in Jackson's "Lord of the Rings"...? The "Rings of Power" characters are so "21st-century" that I'm surprised Galadriel wasn't sporting a nose ring and covered with tattoos....

Right now, the undercurrent criticism of "Rings of Power" is that it has Blacks in it, as elves, dwarves, etc., yet nowhere in either Tolkien's work or in Jackson's productions were there any Blacks. Interesting... so, if there Blacks throughout Middle Earth during the "Silmarillion Period", why did they disappear later?! All I can say (tongue-in-cheek) is that audiences howled with laughter when John Wayne was cast to play the part of famous East-Asian leader, GENGHIS KHAN, in a very forgettable movie called, "The Conqueror"....

 

"I'm surprised Galadriel wasn't sporting a nose ring and covered with tattoos...."

That made me LOL!

As far as the race swapping goes, I think this explains it:

“It felt only natural to us that an adaptation of Tolkien’s work would reflect what the world actually looks like,” says Lindsey Weber, executive producer of the series.

This world, not Arda (the planet Middle Earth is set on). Although if they were really serious and cared about the work, they would have set their show on some other continent besides Middle Earth. Then they could have had all black and brown casts without rocking any Tolkien boats, but no, they had to set it on Middle Earth

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The 39% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the 84% leftist rating tells you everything you need to know.

 

Think: if they made a big s

 

I haven't had the opportunity to watch an episode I thought I would give it a try just because they spent so much money on it. And I'm not really a huge fan of Tolkien. I liked the Peter Jackson movies but once was enough. Much entertainment these days is oozing with leftist viewpoints I think this is the the fault of Twitter.

 

From what I understand from people who have knowledge of the someranian doesn't really follow that either but it's okay you can make a show about new characters set in the universe of existing characters I wouldn't hold that against it.

 

You made it farther than me I had put myself to sleep several nights in a row within 30 pages of The Hobbit. And I never picked up a book by him since.

 

I don't find race swapping to be that big of a deal per se. For me it depends on why you're doing it. If it's just because this actor or actresses perfect for the part, that's fine if it's too preach mindlessly about some social justice crap I've checked out before it even started.

A good actor or actress will make you not care about the race of the actor or actress also good writing will make you not care about that either.

If you're writing in some sort of oppression narrative that's relevant to modern times outside of the fantasy world that's a bit annoying.

People watch movies to switch off that kind of stupid crap.


I'm just wondering how this does in China because China is a huge market and they don't really like black people that much.

 

To me, race swapping isn't about the reason they do it, it's whether it makes sense in the story. Some stories it doesn't matter. Others it's pretty obviously ridiculous...



If you were going to do a new film adaption of some Russian classics, like Anna Karenina, you wouldn't think there would be a story reason to to make the main character black, but it pretty obviously wouldn't get made today with an all white cast.

 

I've watched the first three now.
My main complaint would be the slow pace of the story telling.
A few too many artistic slow motion shots and not enough story progression.
Lenny Henry is actually very good in it as are most of the actors.
It's the script that lets it down.

 

There is much insight to be gained about the 'prequel' period of Middle Earth in the voluminous appendices of "Lord of the Rings". That information is easier to read because it's more 'matter of fact' and narrative than "The Silmarillion" which is beautifully-written, but often vague and 'wandering'.

At any rate, I can find little in "Rings of Power" that recalls much from "The Silmarillion" or the "Lord of the Rings" appendices. Actually, after having now watched three episodes of "Rings", it still makes me think of some kind of politically-correct, imaginative mashup of parts of "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings", and a computer game called "Skyrim".

 

Like I said it's often done just for social justice reasons

 

Like I said I want a big fan of Lord of the rings. I did enjoy the Peter Jackson movies.

I watched the first episode of this rings of power thing last night and I just found a cripplingly boring. The characters are bad the plot is boring. It's just a snooze fest I didn't even really notice that much woke crap

 

I think Amazon made a billion dollar cure for an insomnia and they're trying to pin all the criticism on racism.

I didn't find it that woke at this point I'm relatively numb to that. It's just incredibly boring. I watched one episode and it was an hour long and it felt like six and a half hours.

 

Well this has been a common thing among Amazon originals that I've seen I remember watching Britannia, wheel of time, Vikings Valhalla, they were all profoundly boring couldn't make it to the third episode. Of any of these shows because they suck.

The one that had me hooked and I was intrigued by it and I watched all eight episodes of the first season and will watch if they were new it was outer range. I also rather enjoyed Grand tour but they didn't write that so it's not an Amazon original in the sense that the rings have power it.

I think they just need to fire all the riders immediately and spend the money on hiring some good writers.

I also found the expanse excruciatingly boring. Primarily the things I watch on Amazon are documentaries because they host some really good ones. I'll sit for an hour and a half and watch a scientist talk about whale sharks and that's more interesting than the rings of power to me.

 

The "problem" isn't one of imagination, pants. The specific problem as it applies to "Rings of Power" is that it is a PREQUEL. And, since you've chosen to make an issue of it, maybe YOU can answer the question I asked in an earlier post in this thread, "...if there (were) Blacks throughout Middle Earth during the "Silmarillion Period", why did they disappear later?!" After all, "...nowhere in either Tolkien's work or in Jackson's productions were there any Blacks...."

Moreover, did those movie audiences who laughingly derided John Wayne playing the part of an East-Asian ("Oriental") leader have a "problem" -- or were they simply having a natural reaction to something so preposterous.

Afterthought: would people be upset if there were a movie about warring tribes in Black Africa -- and an actor who played a Black chieftain was a WHITE GUY...?!

 

Calling the audience racists will surely increase viewership.