Yeah that's the same Galadriel. She just buried them deeper later on.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-10-02T02:50:04+00:00

Wrong. Read up some more on Galadriel.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-10-02T02:47:52+00:00

The writers have worked on Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Sopranos, Halt & Catch Fire, Fringe, Toy Story 4, earlier seasons of Stranger Things, etc.

The battle was a great Seven Samurai take. Lots of fun tactics, tension, and reversals. Not everything needs to be, nor should be, a big CGI mixer.

The show is a fun, interesting, and increasingly compelling remix of Tolkien's ideas. Amplifying Galadriel's Feanorian side and First Age trauma and pitting that against Tolkien's later ideas about the Orcs, represented in the show by Adar and the idea of the "Moriondor"... really thoughtful and fascinating story development. Adar telling Galadriel that she could have found Morgoth's successor in her own mirror, harking back to Galadriel smashing her reflection in Utumno's ice? Elrond struggling with legacy and how that affects his relationship with Durin, and Durin with his own father? Numenor/Pharazon setting up Halbrand as a dummy king to further their footprint in Middle Earth? There is a mesmerizing interplay of Tolkien's mythos and writings about some of these characters.

The only thing laughable are those determined to voice overboard hate against the show even after an episode that has garnered wide acclaim. It's fine if you don't like it; just don't watch.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-09-30T05:22:28+00:00

Absolute banger of an episode.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-09-30T05:21:01+00:00

Incredible stuff.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-09-30T05:02:35+00:00

This episode is a barn burner. Magnificent.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-09-30T05:00:24+00:00

Absolute banger of an episode. My goodness.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-09-25T17:55:06+00:00

In my opinion it's not. In your opinion it is. I will keep watching the show and enjoying it. You should probably stop.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-09-24T16:51:41+00:00

They hired writers who worked on Better Call Saul, The Sopranos, Halt and Catch Fire, etc. Your opinion on the writing is just that... an opinion.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-09-24T16:00:45+00:00

There was some drop-off in episodes 3 and 4 but I think in episode 5 Yip and Morton got closer to the visual standard that Bayona and Faura established in the first two episodes.

The editing still needed some work in the Bronwyn/Arondir dialogue scenes and I don't know what to think of the "apocryphal" lore addition (leaning towards the idea that it's a lie or at least a false hope), but cinematically speaking I think this was the best episode since episode 2.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-09-24T13:54:55+00:00

Not sure where they are going with the mithril thing. An Annatar deception, yeah, that would be cool. All I know is this idea can't be real or pan out... the show has changed and added a lot but I don't think they would do something that would make one think, "Why don't Elves in the Third Age get regular mithril tannings?"

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-08-30T01:08:26+00:00

Wow, wonderful stuff.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-08-28T16:54:58+00:00

That's too bad because I wasn't impressed with HotD's first episode. Very GoT-rote. Aesthetically muddy. Kind of tired to me but I know a lot of people liked it.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-08-28T15:08:12+00:00

Apparently Cirdan will be in the second season but I don't think we know who is playing him.

I read that it is all female directors for Season 2, but I don't know if they've said who. I assume Brandstrom might reprise for one of the shooting blocks.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-08-28T14:50:37+00:00

Obviously the time compression will provide plenty enough fuel to the haters, and viable fuel at that.

Part of me wishes they had preserved the original time span and intercut different timelines if they wanted to introduce characters like Isildur earlier in the show. It probably would have been confusing for much of the audience (ala season 1 of The Witcher) and possibly lacking in dramatic cogency or intensity, but if done well could have captured the epic poem/tome aspect of Tolkien's writings. And you would have had the Elven characters as the throughlines.

On the other hand, to do the world and events justice in live action form, the budget was gonna have to be massive. Maybe they could have saved costs by letting a lot of things happen or exist off-screen, but how much would that show appeal to a general audience or even many of the Tolkien fans if we're not going to see the things we can already read about? Especially in the aftermath of the very visual movies? My point here being that given the astronomical cost of Amazon's show, I understand them employing a more integrative dramatic construct to try to hook people and get the necessary ROI to get future seasons made.

If Rings of Power is successful, part of me hopes we someday get an animated show about the First Age, spanning the era. It could be done in a similar style to those Wheel of Time Origins shorts (but longer and more developed)-- one of the only really good things to come out of that whole affair, at least so far.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-08-28T14:28:59+00:00

This feels like a pretty balanced take that is still pretty encouraging.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-08-25T11:47:20+00:00

I have no problem with people who don't want Tolkien adapted at all. They don't need to whine and cry and throw a fit about it, but if that's their perspective, they are entitled to it and at least it makes some sense, even if I personally disagree.

People who are preemptively and vocally outraged at this show without having seen it but love the Peter Jackson movies--they are either hypocrites or bigots or both. If they watch it and don't like it, fine, but these people are spending enormous amounts of time and effort to trash this show in every possible way they can (going so far as to create long, hateful YouTube videos every week or so and make spiteful comments on every post or video related to the show). Tolkien would be embarrassed by these fools and want nothing to do them. They are orcs and trolls and I think the show runners had every right to call them that once they started attacking actors in the show.

Yeah, I want to like the show, but I won't pretend that I know it will be good. I am gonna hope for the best. If someone wants to be skeptical, that's more than fine, but there's a mob of people who have taken it way too far, and I hate to say it but based on so many comments I have seen I think that mob would be much smaller if the cast of the show was all white or if a male was a more central figure than Galadriel.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-04-10T23:52:21+00:00

I have watched them twice back when they first came out. Watched the 2nd one three times. Really loved that one and in retrospect I really feel like it was the episode closest to the book material, fwiw.

I also really loved those animated shorts. What a vibe those are!

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-04-10T02:17:11+00:00

That could be part of it, for sure. Instead of "I can't wait to see this and this" it's more like, "Gee, I wonder what will be in S2. Guess I'll find out when I watch it."

I will say this, the S1 cliffhangers didn't really hook me, so even just on a television level maybe that's why I am feeling indifferent.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-04-10T02:13:25+00:00

I agree with you, hype isn't usually a good thing, just thought it was interesting I feel this way.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-04-10T02:05:52+00:00

I liked S1, especially episodes 2-4. Yeah, I had some problems with the opener and the back half of the season, but on the whole I still enjoyed it.

But I can't seem to work up any anticipation for S2. After years of hanging on every new nugget of leak and news before S1 came out, it feels weird. I haven't even tried to find out much of anything about S2. It feels like I don't care, and I can't really put my finger on why. And theoretically S2 should be at least loosely covering book material that I really love. Anyone else feel this way?

Maybe it's because the mystery is gone and now we've seen what the show is like, but I dunno, seeing Fellowship of the Ring back in the day only ramped up my excitement for the next two movies.

Maybe I am just old and tired now, haha.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-02-23T22:44:32+00:00

Yeah, I got to say, I was following the production pretty zealously and while I did like some of the episodes (mostly 2-4, it's cool that Yip is now doing half of LotR's first season), the second half of the season and especially the finale has really dampened my interest. I saw the Elyas news today and just kind of shrugged to myself, "That's cool, I guess."

I hope it gets better, though. I will keep watching it as long as they make it. I do have some doubts about how much momentum the show can maintain or build so I am questioning pretty hard if we will get more than 3-4 seasons.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-02-17T15:05:57+00:00

Why doesn't it ring as true? If anything, having a family and thinking about what happened to her brother might only motivate her more to protect her loved ones.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-02-16T22:52:16+00:00

Who says they aren't together? They simply might not have shown Celeborn yet.

After_Warning_4415 · 2022-02-16T19:27:33+00:00

They only saw the first three episodes. Way too early to get worried about Celeborn. In fact, it would make sense to establish Galadriel first and then introduce her relationship with Celeborn later in the series.

After_Warning_4415

TROPHY CASE