Comments
Maninhartsford t1_jadebkm wrote
The way the narrative is stuck in slow motion (season 1 was basically entirely backstory) I wouldn't be shocked if season 4 was the big climax anyway, with 5 planned to be all falling action
Dull_Half_6107 t1_jadq7v1 wrote
It’s bizarre, it’s super slow in most parts, but then they skip past the creation of the rings in like 10 minutes.
Faithless195 t1_jae8mui wrote
I mostly enjoyed the show, even the slow pacing, but yeah, that was fucking astounding even to me. I legit assumed we were seeing the precursors to the actual rings, but nope...dem the actual rings.
Frankocean2 t1_jaed9pc wrote
The show is planned for 5 seasons. So, yes.
dragonmp93 t1_jadlg83 wrote
I think that their line of thinking is: "We are still better than Zazlav".
archlector t1_jadm90x wrote
You know this show will probably outlast Zaslav's term at WBD, lol.
RapsFanMike t1_jadku0l wrote
By the time season 4 comes around I can guarantee the thought of canning the show won’t be in consideration at all
archlector t1_jadlo4n wrote
We'll see. This is not even unique to this show. Almost no huge budget streaming genre show has gone past 4 seasons, 5 at max. And I really doubt this will break the trend.
Squirrel09 t1_jaeggzy wrote
Their plan and pitch for the series has always been a 50 episode / 5 season run.
Also, kinda a unfair statement seeing that the big budget streaming genre is relatively new. The only streaming service that has been around for long enough to have 5 seasons of something is netflix. And they have The Crown & Stranger things. Amazon Prime has Jack Ryan that is coming out with their 4th season.
Hulu, while being one of the first streaming service, never really went for the big budget original show strategy.
Most streaming services are less than 5 years old!
vladtud t1_jae6z27 wrote
Stranger Things is the only one, right?
GarlVinland4Astrea t1_jaemt9d wrote
It's Amazon. They have the money. People really don't understand that there is a WORLD of difference in how wealthy Amazon is vs something like Netflix or HBO/WB.
If Bezos really wants the show to run, it will. It's basically just being used as a motor for the streaming service. Which is just a motor for the rest of Prime.
mgsantos t1_jaevm1a wrote
Not how companies work, dude. He has money, but he also has legal obligations to shareholders and can't justify a money sink because he "likes LOTR".
TapedeckNinja t1_jaexwda wrote
Nothing to do with him liking LotR. It's about Amazon's capacity to eat losses in the short term to drive long-term growth.
GarlVinland4Astrea t1_jaezgk0 wrote
^you get it.
Other dude doesn’t
[deleted] t1_jadlexe wrote
[deleted]
jogoso2014 t1_jad78sy wrote
The two can easily co-exist and don’t seem to cover the same material.
The movies probably won’t be out until the show’s final season if not later.
WaterlooMall t1_jad28t0 wrote
Literally everyone when Lord of the Rings movies came out, even my mom who would never in a million years read the books or any other fantasy genre stuff: Did you see Lord of the Rings yet? You HAVE to see it.
No one at all, even the most hardcore fantasy nerds I know: Did you watch Rings of Power?
I had to google the title of that TV show to write this, that should tell you how that shit show is going.
Edit: I get it's not completely without fans, but to act like it's in any way a hit is insane. It cost an astronomical amount of money to make for a show no one will remember in 5 years. It's an undeniable failure.
WordsAreSomething t1_jad4gja wrote
I was literally asked this weekend if I'd seen it when I met up with some old friends
eojen t1_jadfzi3 wrote
I think the point still stands that it made zero dents culturally. That’s a kind of rare thing to accomplish for something so high budget with a well-known IP
WordsAreSomething t1_jadgapx wrote
We're still doing cultural impact like that means anything?
-OrangeLightning4 t1_jadlrf6 wrote
But how do I know a show is popular if uninteresting Redditors don't quote it in unrelated threads?
Suboptimus t1_jadonuy wrote
Cutural impact was the reason we got the movie trilogy
WordsAreSomething t1_jads17d wrote
Cultural impact is just a vague phrase people throw out there. People used it as a knock on Avatar for a decade only for the second to make all of the money.
dolphin37 t1_jae3cwu wrote
Rare reasonable person spotted
burn-it-all- t1_jad4izp wrote
That was my thought as well. People that don't know much about LOTR or could care less about anything other than it being a fun story probably watch it.
From what I've seen, it is the people that grew up loving the LOTR books, talking to their friends about the lore, anecdotes about Tolkien and CS Lewis, WW2, Elvish...those are the ones that hate the series with a passion, but that group is probably pretty small.
Krinks1 t1_jadktoh wrote
I fall into this category. I really enjoy the LotR books, but never read any of Tolkien's other works. So I don't know what the back story should be, nor do I care. I was entertained enough to watch the season, and I'll watch S2. I'm interested in where the story is going to go.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I didn't think the show sucked as hard as people seem to think. I think it's just judged overly harshly, which is fine because I judged the Uncharted movie pretty harshly because I LOVE the games. But for those of us who don't care that much about the source material or how much the show strays, the show is fine.
Wheel of Time is the same. I never read the books, so have no clue about the story. The show was ... OK. I'll watch the second season as well b/c it scratches a particular TV itch and I don't have to think too hard about it.
felixsapiens t1_jaetb12 wrote
I didn’t think it sucked at all. I thought it was interesting, gripping, beautiful and I really enjoyed it. Don’t forget that most people probably enjoyed it. The subset of people who like to come on reddit and complain about things, and indeed actively seek out things to complain about and then kind of form a mob of unreasonable “haters” is actually a tiny, insignificant number of people.
TapedeckNinja t1_jae483l wrote
> Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I didn't think the show sucked as hard as people seem to think.
It was mostly just boring IMO. But I thought the end of the season was really strong.
Fantasy fans are the absolute worst as far as fandoms go, though, so no surprise at the hate.
Taureg01 t1_jadjawl wrote
You being out of touch tells us nothing
shepx13 t1_jaeoprk wrote
Our whole family loved the show. There’s a lot of people outside of the Reddit circle jerk that feel the same.
[deleted] t1_jad97x8 wrote
[deleted]
WaterlooMall t1_jad9kgo wrote
Not trying to make it go away nor do I hate it, just stating my experience with it.
Now you and your assumptions I want to make go away, that would be excellent.
DementedDaveyMeltzer t1_jad4jfo wrote
Who else peaced out of Rings of Power forever the second that Galadriel tried to swim back home from elf heaven? That has to be one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes ever committed to film.
OCGamerboy t1_jad93ug wrote
Part of me was wondering WTF were the writers thinking. But then I realized that they weren’t thinking and are just terrible.
eojen t1_jadjg09 wrote
Well they were thinking. “She has to meet hot Sauron at some point”. So instead of doing something that makes more sense, they just went “uhh, how about in the middle in this gigantic oceans?” And it wasn’t like Sauron did it on purpose either, he was literally fighting the majority of the show to not be around Galadriel
A_Dog_Chasing_Cars t1_jaelnl9 wrote
To me, that scene is emblematic of one of the show's worst issues: fake tension.
There are so many scenes that are shot like something that's supposed to be tense, but what's going to happen is so painfully obvious and it's dragged out so much.
It's the beginning of a ten hour show and we know Galadriel is around in LOTR, of fucking course she isn't going to leave Middle Earth and she's going to jump off the boat.
So many scenes like that, where they shot it like a tense moment but you 100% know what's going to happen because you've seen movies before and/or it's a prequel to one of the most famouse stories of all time.
Like the elf guy getting the orc blade close to his eye. OMG, what is going to happen to this main character? Oh, he was saved a moment before being blinded? No shit.
Are they gonna make the three elven rings? They are? No shit!
Is Galadriel going to join Sauron? She isn't? Who would have thought!
Rings of Power is so painfully bad.
Edit: Added thoughts.
-FeistyRabbitSauce- t1_jadaaxu wrote
Idk, I can imagine an elf not having too much of a problem swimming long distances.
I didn't really have much issue with the show. I watched maybe six episodes and then kind of forgot about it. I keep meaning to finish it but just haven't been bothered. The thing is, it just never had much of a hook besides being LOTR. The entire time I was... Whelmed. It was just very mid-tier.
AinsleysAmazingMeat t1_jadhjm1 wrote
Trying to swim across the ocean is exactly the kind of crazy shit a First Age elf would do, this complaint has always confused me. Its not like she even made it.
narhiril t1_jadp1or wrote
Her uncle rode into Angband alone and challenged Morgoth to single combat, this kind of thing happens a lot in this family.
SuperBowlXLIX t1_jadzurf wrote
The text should inform the audience (who largely won’t be Tolkien experts) that this is something a First Age elf would do. The way it looks in the show comes off silly to an average viewer.
AinsleysAmazingMeat t1_jaeijno wrote
How would they inform the audience in a better way?
SuperBowlXLIX t1_jaejfh4 wrote
Have a character say “I don’t trust those First Age elves, they’re always taking stupid risks and don’t think their decisions through”. Show one doing something stupid, like that one black elf, and have a human go “wow, those First Age elves do really impulsive things with no regard to their or others’ safety!”
I’m being blunt lol but my point is that there are ways you can setup a character’s actions prior to them doing something, and this should happen if the audience won’t have prior knowledge of what these characters are like.
AinsleysAmazingMeat t1_jaekm1b wrote
I feel like the show pretty quickly establishes that Galadriel is kind of insane. Her first scene is climbing a giant icy cliff, then pushing her struggling men through a blizzard on the vague chance of finding a clue to help advance her centuries long revenge mission.
SuperBowlXLIX t1_jaf4l7d wrote
That has nothing to do with First Age elves being inordinate risk takers. It means Galadriel specifically has revenge on her mind. I don’t think pushing her men equates to jumping off a ship a thousand miles at sea, and certainly doesn’t follow your statement of Elves from this time period being crazy.
G_Liddell t1_jadwwqv wrote
And what else is she going to do, drown
doegred t1_jadnnpm wrote
Exactly. Galadriel's family (including Galadriel herself) are the people who were mad enough to cross the equivalent of the Arctic on foot rather than simply ask forgiveness of the Valar and return to Valinor. And then early Second Age Galadriel herself is the woman who's seen more or less her entire paternal family die as a result of said pride, and is the only survivor (except for maybe one insane cousin) out of her entire generation of 10/11 cousins + 3 brothers... and still says 'eh, nope, still not going to ask the gods for forgiveness or heed their advice!' The show just dramatised her hubris.
Varekai79 t1_jadd4ma wrote
That horseback riding scene just took me out, and not in a good way. I have a handful of episodes left to watch but I just can't be bothered.
Where_Is_Old_Zealand t1_jadz93a wrote
I watched the whole thing but she is the more unlikable main character ive seen in a while, by the final episodes i was actively rooting for someone to kill her
schitaco t1_jaelwi5 wrote
So funny, that's exactly when I stopped watching.
old-west-action t1_jadelwn wrote
Anesthetize85 t1_jadive0 wrote
Yep that’s exactly where I noped out
Fawqueue t1_jad60d1 wrote
I mean...yeah? What is the head of the studio supposed to say otherwise? She'd be fired if she was doing interviews, claiming the show was doomed and everything is a disaster.
JohnnyAK907 t1_jae5le3 wrote
As opposed to being fired because the show IS doomed and everything IS a disaster.But that's Hollywood: failure goes UP.
LeeF1179 t1_jad1ezg wrote
Does anyone know how well the series is doing? I don't ever see it talked about, a la The Last of Us or The White Lotus.
FrodoFraggins t1_jad2run wrote
Well those are newer but I'd say it's been a dud as far as entering the public consciousness goes. Amazon butchered both rings of Power and the Wheel of time shows imo.
Varekai79 t1_jadcwzj wrote
It's Amazon's most watched show ever, but that's not exactly a high bar and the network has been cagey as to its actual numbers. They've spent far too much money into it to cancel it. Unless someone on the inside leaks, we'll likely never know.
BlindPaintByNumbers t1_jaenhi2 wrote
Clarkson's Farm had higher viewing numbers in the UK than Rings of Power. The UK being the birthplace of Lord of the Rings.
I love this little fact.
JohnnyAK907 t1_jae6pmb wrote
... except it's not. First two episodes were, and then viewership tanked. It didn't even make the Nielsen Top 15 streaming shows of 2022, and was number 15 in Top 15 Original Streaming BEHIND The Boys at number 11.
FernandoPooIncident t1_jaehbg5 wrote
> First two episodes were, and then viewership tanked.
That's simply factually untrue. The Nielsen weekly figures were successively 1253, 1203, 988, 977, 966, 988, 1137 and 570 million minutes. Hardly "tanking" (especially considering that the first two episodes dropped at the same time, so the first week can be expected to have more minutes watched). But I realize this sub constructs its own reality.
Dhiya21 t1_jaeullf wrote
I'm curious how it'll do for the second season. The first season seems to be mostly gaining from the hype and curiosity. Ratings for the second season would show if people are committed enough to the show.
BlobFishPillow t1_jaeozan wrote
Don't bother with the truth on this sub. Some people decided they don't like the show, and will downvote anyone saying anything remotely positive about it, despite it not even being an opinion.
DarkSkiesGreyWaters t1_jaet79o wrote
I've seen people trying to claim the second season is 'in jeopardy' and might even be cancelled or the showrunners replaced...even though it's literally filming right now lol.
LeeF1179 t1_jaddd8h wrote
Do you think it is potentially an awards show contender?
Varekai79 t1_jade6wh wrote
I can see it getting nominated for various technical Emmys, but I can't realistically see it getting anything in the major categories. HBO is just too strong. They have Succession, The Last of Us, The White Lotus and House of the Dragon all in contention for the next Emmys.
jez124 t1_jadhu2l wrote
if not hbo theres also fx and Hulu, Apple TV.So I dont think except for score, costuming, effects it would compete.
AlbertoRossonero t1_jaeh8fr wrote
I’d agree if it was on merit alone but the Emmy’s seem to always nominate at least one show from each major production company. Stranger Things, Madalorian, and Euphoria aren’t Emmy worthy shows imo but they got nominated because they’re very popular shows from major streaming services.
makovince t1_jaddzl0 wrote
Emmys, or Razzies?
LeeF1179 t1_jade1wj wrote
🤣🤣🤣
Maninhartsford t1_jades24 wrote
Possibly production design, especially if sweeping cgi shots of cities count as production design
sprainedpinky t1_jaeh7yp wrote
😂😂 not at all.
sprainedpinky t1_jaeh3wi wrote
It’s terrible lol. Terrible writing, super slow pace to start, and the story feels randomly slapped together. They made Galadriel as a naive stupid girl instead of the wise badass elf that she is supposed to be. Overall terrible show for people who love Tolkien’s work.
Saar13 t1_jadd8ni wrote
It was the only non-Netflix show, along with The Boys, to make Nielsen's annual top 15 streaming list. It's a huge hit for Amazon (as the hated The Terminal List and The Wheel of Time are).
This sub has serious problems accepting that the opinion here is not necessarily validated by real data. Just like twitter, this is a closed bubble. Possibly this comment will disappear with negative votes, but the reality is that it was as or more successful than House of the Dragon and The Last of Us.
No one was more successful than Yellowstone, though (another truth this sub can't stand)
archlector t1_jaddnxn wrote
Where's the actual data showing that it was more successful than HoTD besides your comment? I am sure you know the Nielsen list excludes HBO shows and you are not ignoring this to satisfy your made up statistics.
Edited, See below.
morgoth834 t1_jadeh2k wrote
HotD was not included since it was not a streaming original (the list in question only included streaming originals). Honestly, the fact that RoP is the most expensive show of all time and barely cracked the list (it was #15 of 15) suggests that the show is not a huge hit, especially when considering its budget.
Titus01 t1_jadi1vu wrote
That is the key point. A Lord of the Rings show is going to have a huge potential audience just on name alone. Just cracking the top 15 given th eamount of money they paid for the rights is not a success.
TapedeckNinja t1_jae3yeg wrote
The Top-15 Streaming Originals was 13 Netflix shows and 2 Prime shows (The Boys and RoP).
The 2021 list was 12 Netflix shows, 1 Hulu show (The Handmaid's Tale), 1 Disney+ show (Wandavision), and 1 Apple show (Ted Lasso).
Making the top-15 at all is a success for any provider not named Netflix IMO.
k0peng t1_jaejp34 wrote
Except all three seasons of Ted lasso probably cost the price of 1 RoP episode and didn't have the name recognition LOTR has. That's the context you're speaking in. ROP definitely flopped a bit all things considered
archlector t1_jadevrc wrote
Aha. I was not aware of that criteria, I was thinking of the weekly Nielsen report. In that case, the above comment is absolutely meaningless.
FernandoPooIncident t1_jady4s2 wrote
HotD was definitely in the Nielsen charts, see here.
In the published Nielsen charts, RoP had 8082 million minutes watched, vs. 8091 for HotD. However, RoP was shorter than HotD (557 vs 618 minutes), so assuming every viewer watched the whole thing, that translates to 14.5 million vs. 13.1 million viewers.
LeeF1179 t1_jaddtap wrote
I hear what you are saying, but people talk about Yellowstone. It's a water cooler show. I was just curious why LOTR hasn't become a water cooler show.
eojen t1_jadiy6v wrote
Because there’s nothing really fun to talk about with it.
The show had one mystery it wanted you to try to guess at the whole season, but it wasn’t that compelling of a mystery to begin with. “Who is Sauron?” They hinged their whole first season on something no one went into the season really caring about. And instead of telling good stories throughout the season, they purposefully teased this reveal our and it just fell flat overall.
Plus there’s nothing really fun to speculate about next season. They took their sweet time with a lot of stuff that was boring but rushed the most exciting part- Sauron tricking the elves into making the rings.
GarlVinland4Astrea t1_jaeo1dk wrote
Does it matter what people on the internet talk about if the numbers are there? I remember over a decade of "Avatar is irrelevant and nobody cares or talks about" ad nauseam online. It was to the point where people tricked themselves into thinking the sequel would be a major dud. Yet today it's sequel is the third highest grossing film of all time.
I think people really need to start to understand that the majority of the world aren't the sub culture of people that like to discuss shows and television online and the mega hits pull from people that simply watch things they like a time or two and then move on and don't get in the media frenzy about it.
Honestly some of the shows and movies that get the most talked about on reddit, aren't really the most popular shows. Andor was literally known for being one of the worst performers of the Disney Star Wars lineup on Disney Plus for instance despite multiple posts a day about it. This sub always had a hard on for shows like Santa Clarita Diet despite that not being well known to mainstream people.
At the end of the day, it either gets eyeballs and retains them or it doesn't.
LeeF1179 t1_jaeog2m wrote
Oh, I was talking about real life people, not on Reddit. I am always discussing shows with friends and co-workers.
dolphin37 t1_jae22kw wrote
You’re comparing a high fantasy with a yeehaw America drama. Isn’t it obvious why one would be talked about around American water coolers and the other wouldn’t?
TapedeckNinja t1_jae2xkk wrote
GoT was a watercooler show, so no, not sure it's obvious.
dolphin37 t1_jae4cyc wrote
Because GoT had all kinds of drama, shocking moments, can you believe what happened type stuff. It’s also not high fantasy but w/e
This is LoTR we are talking about. The most well known fantasy of all time, that birthed the most commonly used tropes in fantasy. Black and white, good and evil fantasy. What is there to talk about? Oh did you see how cool the elves looked? The only conversation points were who was X character really because the show runners set up an awful mystery box format. It was actually the worst aspect of the show and the only people who gave a shit were people knees deep in the lore anyway, who don’t spend a lot of time around water coolers.
A couple of my friends and I are big LoTR fanboys and we had barely anything to talk about other than ‘is this show good?’. It’s an ok show but you watch it to be immersed not to make conversation
[deleted] t1_jae60ed wrote
[deleted]
Fryceratops t1_jadduy2 wrote
Do you have any sources to back your claims regarding its success?
Squirrel09 t1_jadvje7 wrote
Not OP but, Variety Article of top shows/movies 2022.
I think the asterisk that OP didn't include is the list they're referring to is the 2022 ORIGINAL List, not overall. But still...
Fryceratops t1_jadx9dl wrote
And the other bit they missed is HoD has more total viewers as the streaming list only tracks streams not total views between HBO and Max
Squirrel09 t1_jady62u wrote
While true, I find the comparison between HotD & RoP mute. At least for the current conversation. The success of one doesn't mean the other is unsuccessful. HotD having more views doesn't magically make RoP unprofitable for Amazon.
And the only measure of success Amazon & HBO really care about is the number of subscriptions each show bring. Which both claim are on the road to profitability.
Obviously, HotD won as the internets preferred show. But that doesn't inherently mean RoP is unsuccessful.
Saar13 t1_jadhbhh wrote
Take the weekly Nielsen listings for streaming and cable and add HBO and HBOMax together, and the numbers are smaller than RoP streaming alone.
JohnnyAK907 t1_jaeayss wrote
Top 15 Original Streaming list, and it was the at the very bottom at 15, behind The Boys at number 11. Look at the money Amazon spent on production and promotion, plus the number of built in audience because of the IP they were adapting, and then tell me again how failing out of Top Streaming completely and crawling into Top Original Streaming 4 spots behind another Amazon title with a fraction of the budget and promotion is somehow ANYTHING for them to brag about.
Yeah "real data" is important, but only when pair with context.
TapedeckNinja t1_jaew4tt wrote
The Boys also had 24 episodes available.
sprainedpinky t1_jaehtxo wrote
You’re knit picking data. You’re looking at the initial popularity of the show, and neglecting the sharp decline of viewers once people realized the show was terribly made.
So here’s the history, the show was released to a number of people excited about it. People watched and the many stopped watching. People have been giving terrible ratings on the show throughout the series and the last episode was better received and watched more.
So you’re completely missing the fact that the show had a huge drop off. Your grabbing onto the initial hype of the show and forgetting the downward spiral the show had after the initial release lol. Amazon had to turn off the ratings option for a long time because people were giving terrible ratings for the show when it first was launched.
TapedeckNinja t1_jaex0xn wrote
> neglecting the sharp decline of viewers once people realized the show was terribly made.
> People watched and the majority stopped watching
> So you’re completely missing the fact that the show had huge drop off
> Your grabbing onto the initial hype of the show and forgetting the downward spiral the show had after the initial release lol
Here are the Nielsen ratings by week. RoP released 2 episodes on 9/1/2022 and then one episode weekly through 10/14/2022.
Week ending 9/4: 1,253 million minutes
Week ending 9/11: 1,203 million minutes
Week ending 9/18: 988 million minutes
Week ending 9/25: 977 million minutes
Week ending 10/2: 966 million minutes
Week ending 10/9: 988 million minutes
Week ending 10/16: 1,137 million minutes
I don't see this "sharp decline" or "huge dropoff" and certainly no evidence that "the majority stopped watching".
sprainedpinky t1_jaf0qp3 wrote
Your stats show that the show dropped off after the first two episodes were released by 25%, and sustained that drop until the end of the season (exactly like I said).
Amazon had to literally turn off their rating system because they were worried about the tanking ratings viewers were giving it. They invested a ridiculous amount of money and viewers were giving them bad ratings 😂
https://variety.com/vip/amazons-silence-on-the-rings-of-power-audience-size-is-deafening-1235422462/
This article says what both of us are saying. Yes, it was successful in some regards but it hard a tremendous drop off that never caught up to itself. The rating are also surrounded by asterisks because Amazon does not release its streaming data and they are hazy about their statistics.
‘Still, this pattern suggests “Rings’” audience shrank as the season went on, with little catch-up watching by new viewers taking place midseason. Even when viewing time rose again, it failed to reach the heights of the series' initial weeks of release. The steeper (around 20%) dropoff from its first two weeks also suggests many viewers who checked out the series early on didn’t continue watching it — not a great sign for its growth potential.’
ScaryTowner t1_jae0qa2 wrote
I feel like on the scale of "The Witcher" to "House of the Dragon," the public is lumping it more in the Witchening camp.
I don't think it's anywhere near that much of a lost cause, but I do think it'll have work twice as hard in season 2 to convince people otherwise.
Squirrel09 t1_jaehn86 wrote
According to Amazon 4th Quarter Results, It was viewed by 100m individuals with a watch time of 24 billion minutes.
How that relates to expectation or Subscriber growth they didn't go into.
theg2 t1_jae386k wrote
It's apparently their most watched show and is beating things like The Boys, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, or Jack Ryan which all did decently well so I'd say it's doing pretty well.
AlbertoRossonero t1_jaehror wrote
Wasn’t the boys the most watched Amazon original last year? Maybe I’m misremembering the title of the article.
theg2 t1_jaelanc wrote
Reacher outpaced Boys season 2, they break it down by seasons, it might be different if looking at entire show lengths, obviously biased towards shows that have been on longer.
cactusmaac t1_jaekj7d wrote
I watched a couple of episodes right after seeing the LOTR extended editions. The gulf in writing and acting quality was huge. Reacher is the best show on Prime for me and it likely cost less than the costume budget for Rings Of Power.
Eaglethornsen t1_jaf4upy wrote
I feel like reddit is weird when it comes to shows. Reddit hivemind either hates a show or loves it. Sadly I feel like reddit disliked ring of powers more than liked it, so the only time you would hear about it on here is if it was something bad.
locknarr t1_jadagay wrote
Remember when every episode included at minimum one speech per episode, each less inspiring than the one that came before it? It was like a reverse Bill Pullman from Independence Day, it was kinda hilarious, even the people listening in the show looked bored every time.
anasui1 t1_jade5e9 wrote
when you start with the rock and ship one it can only get better, in theory. Then you have Galadriel's amazing rendition of one of George Formby's best, "You have not seen what i have seen when I'm cleaning windows" and you just want to burn the world to the ground
Delicious-Tachyons t1_jadgsh5 wrote
it would be nice if the 'conversations' in the show weren't two characters saying something that sounds profound but has no meaning, then just walking away when they're done.
Noone talks to the other person. They talk at them like its a contest to out purple prose eachother
OCGamerboy t1_jad8nt4 wrote
Fan love? Do they mean actors paid to look like fans?
This show is an insult to Tolkien and actual fans.
-OrangeLightning4 t1_jadma8o wrote
I'm an actual fan and I quite enjoyed it. Read through the main series every 2-3 years and have read The Silmarillion twice.
doegred t1_jadolze wrote
I'm a Tolkien fan, a stupidly obsessive one with the reddit history (complete with pathetically obscure Tolkien reference of a username) to prove it and I like it well enough (not all of it, eg anything Sauron was a big meh, but enough) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Didn't even get a Kit Kat. Fuck off with the 'actual fans' gatekeeping twattery.
IdeaOfHuss t1_jadrjsc wrote
Thats good. Thats what entertainment is for anyway. For me i didnt like it. That is fine. We have the og books. It is enough
Mysterboxofrubbish t1_jadjfxe wrote
No Jennifer you don’t
MCPanda6969 t1_jadeggh wrote
>And then something happened that the ring did not intend.
Delicious-Tachyons t1_jadg0nn wrote
I'm curious to see if Amazon will retrench ROP to be... good?
jez124 t1_jad1smc wrote
Warner are going to have for fantasy lotr on film and GOT on tv if it all works out.Good combo. I hope they do get to do the films and it turns out great. Plan it out properly.
Also hoping the dune 2 and dune sisterhood hbo max shows are great and a hit.
Amazon will be fine either way. I know the show is a bit hated in these parts but its a solid base so far. They can definitely up the pace and improve on what they have built. At the very least the budget, production values and Score will carry hard. Amazon in general seems to be going hard for big shows recently with fallout, possibly god of war, mass effect and blade runner all coming later.
archlector t1_jad4rji wrote
They are indeed going all in on genre shows but I hope they really get some good writers/showrunners. Their last attempt Peripheral had a huge budget but absolutely middling writing that completely let it down. I don't understand how skimping on scripts in mega budget shows helps. I really hope they get better because most other streamers, including HBO, are backing off of many big budget genre shows.
JohnnyAK907 t1_jae5dd5 wrote
And that's coffee all over my laptop. Thanks, Jennifer.
mr_math24 t1_jad1txj wrote
Genuinely surprised at the hate this show got. It was definitely in my top 10 seasons of last year.
It wasn't perfect, of course. I found the "Mordor" text reveal super jarring and out of place. I thought the first episode and the finale were weaker than the rest of the season.
But overall I found it really beautiful, exciting, and different!
Stupidstuff1001 t1_jad7s81 wrote
The show is gorgeous. The music is great. The acting is fine. Just the dialogue and plot are terrible.
Really the show should just ignore everyone else and follow the elf and the dwarf. The only cast members with chemistry and fun to watch. Make them meet up with the other characters on their journey.
Delicious-Tachyons t1_jadgiwu wrote
If you ignore the lore, as the showrunners did, it's not brutal. It's not terrible. It's .. ok. The main character is unpleasant as she repeatedly goes places and threatens them in order to speak to the manager. I call her Karendriel. Hopefully they tone that down in S2 and stop her from acting like a crazy person (in one episode she threatens to murder all of Adar's children in front of him to make him watch and then in the next episode when a guy's like 'hey i hate those orcs' she says 'don't hold hate in your heart' like it's supposed to be profound but really was just first draft writing that noone fixed)
doegred t1_jado76k wrote
Yeah, Galadriel 'In him [Fëanor] she perceived a darkness that she hated and feared, though she did not perceive that the shadow of the same evil had fallen upon the minds of all the Noldor, and upon her own' of the house of Finwë would never make that mistake.
mr_math24 t1_jadfoab wrote
Interesting, I found the dialogue quite in line with the movies! Heartfelt and powerful, if not a bit cheesy.
Delicious-Tachyons t1_jadg63l wrote
> I found the "Mordor" text reveal super jarring and out of place
that made me laugh pretty good. the guy asks a question and just walks away as if he saw the title and got his answer.
Felt like a video game cutscene moment
mr_math24 t1_jadgdc0 wrote
>Felt like a video game cutscene moment
This exactly.
chilloutfam t1_jad3dkw wrote
lol why would anyone downvote this comment?
anasui1 t1_jad79lf wrote
I don't know, the same reason why any post that criticizes ROP gets downvoted as well?
HickRarrison t1_jadm09j wrote
Since when does Rings of Power criticism get downvoted on reddit?
Seriously, have you seen the comments in this thread?
WordsAreSomething t1_jad5ne8 wrote
I'm not surprised but the hate people hold towards any show like this is genuinely weird.
Maninhartsford t1_jadghp4 wrote
Yeah, to me it's just kind of your standard expensive show with high production value and good actors propping up a lacking script. Not that good, not that bad, frustrating at times, with the occasional cool moment or cheesy trope. I wouldn't exactly recommend it and I don't see myself making it to season 5 if it doesn't get a little more interesting, but people act like it's My Mother The Car
mg_ridgeview t1_jaeafrt wrote
Anyone ever think about, I don't know, coming up with an original fantasy setting for movies or TV?
TapedeckNinja t1_jaebo4x wrote
Fantasy is an absurdly expensive genre to produce, especially with audience expectations these days that TV shows should look just as good as movies.
Not much chance of studios dumping hundreds of millions into projects that don't have built-in audiences or name recognition.
JohnyBullet t1_jaeaodn wrote
The producers of RoP are still trying to pretend it was a success? I wouldn't say it was the biggest flop recently, but it absolutely failed
ar3fuu t1_jadsajc wrote
Do you though?
RoP had good number 100% because of the franchise, if you just make bad content that will not last indefinitely. Kinda like Star Wars.
Where_Is_Old_Zealand t1_jadz13y wrote
yea maybe she should be fazed cause that first season was hot garbage
StarWarsFan229321 t1_jadhu42 wrote
Watching this right now really really hard for me to get past episode 3 but gave it another try and now I’m liking it. It’s not perfect or anything but it’s entertaining
sprainedpinky t1_jaegscw wrote
The show was so terrible that the new movies can only help. People will get excited about the world, will want to see more, and will put up with the shows terrible writing and character development.
Neo2199 OP t1_jacz007 wrote
> One of Salke’s defining moves at Amazon was to secure television rights to the same literary works, which she achieved at great expense. The first season of Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” premiered in 2022 with a big global marketing push and critical acclaim — as well as a reported budget north of $450 million for the first batch of episodes. Previously, Warner Bros. pushed out two massively successful film franchises with auteur Peter Jackson beginning in 2001. Those films grossed over $5 billion at the worldwide box office and brought home a best picture Oscar for one of the entries.
> “We’ll see,” Salke told Variety when asked how much “LOTR” would be too much for the market. “We love our original series. We’re extremely proud of it, and invested long term. So, we definitely think there’s enough fan love to sustain ours for a long time.”
[deleted] t1_jad9wrh wrote
[deleted]
TheNakedOracle t1_jadlk1e wrote
The problem with the show isn’t that it has competition it’s that it’s not that great
[deleted] t1_jadlnh8 wrote
[deleted]
MrConor212 t1_jae2z8q wrote
Still think it was stupid to have us wait 2 years for season 2 rather than film 1+2 back to back and have the wait for season 3
A_Dog_Chasing_Cars t1_jael34f wrote
Oh, yeah. Everybody loves your show.
Neon_Ramen_Sign t1_jadgl3y wrote
Huge lord of the rings fan. Rings of power had its issues for sure but I fucking loved it.
devilsbard t1_jae281l wrote
Glad to hear they are sticking with it. I really liked the rings of power series. Slow burn but loved the buildup to the finale.
archlector t1_jad00dp wrote
I think this has enough sunk cost to go till season 4, and then promptly get canned.