The Lord of the Rings on Amazon Prime

[Merlin1958]

The production values and cinematography is stunning so far!! As for the story, as I recall from the Silmarillon the story is way off and its hard at this point to see where they are headed with the exception that at some point the rings should be forged.

[mae]

They don’t have the rights to The Silmarilion so they can’t reference anything that happens in that book specifically.

[mae]

[Merlin1958]

They don’t have the rights to The Silmarilion so they can’t reference anything that happens in that book specifically.

Ahhh, well that is a shitload of, Tolkien lore right out the window. So this is gonna be a sorta "Fan Fiction" series then. Cause they already skipped a truck load of stuff. lol

Let's see how good they are at story telling then shall we? lol

[Mattrick]

So how much does in the inclusion of black people ruin Middle Earth? Apparently it's caused quite the consternation or something so I'm curious if it bothers normal people at all.

[mcbanick]

They don’t have the rights to The Silmarilion so they can’t reference anything that happens in that book specifically.

Ahhh, well that is a shitload of, Tolkien lore right out the window. So this is gonna be a sorta "Fan Fiction" series then. Cause they already skipped a truck load of stuff. lol

Let's see how good they are at story telling then shall we? lol

It’s been about 20 years since I read The Silmarillion, but so far it felt to me like they hit the broad strokes pretty well. Where did they go off story?

[Merlin1958]

They don’t have the rights to The Silmarilion so they can’t reference anything that happens in that book specifically.

Ahhh, well that is a shitload of, Tolkien lore right out the window. So this is gonna be a sorta "Fan Fiction" series then. Cause they already skipped a truck load of stuff. lol

Let's see how good they are at story telling then shall we? lol

It’s been about 20 years since I read The Silmarillion, but so far it felt to me like they hit the broad strokes pretty well. Where did they go off story?

Quite a few things. They almost eliminated the Silmarils and all that went with it. Glossed over the 1st age. The, Galadriel story is skewed. Quite a few things, but maybe it will work in the end. We'll see.

[mae]

The Silmarils were mentioned briefly but they can't get into that, because of rights. They only have the rights to LOTR and The Hobbit books, so this series is based mainly on what's in the appendices.

[Still Servant]

So how much does in the inclusion of black people ruin Middle Earth? Apparently it's caused quite the consternation or something so I'm curious if it bothers normal people at all.

I haven't even thought about it until you mentioned it. I am offended by the portrayal of the Orcs though. I've met a few and they are pretty nice folks.

[Mattrick]

So how much does in the inclusion of black people ruin Middle Earth? Apparently it's caused quite the consternation or something so I'm curious if it bothers normal people at all.

I haven't even thought about it until you mentioned it. I am offended by the portrayal of the Orcs though. I've met a few and they are pretty nice folks.

Orcs always get a bad rap.

[mcbanick]

I think the way they framed the second age with the brief prologue has a nice synergy with Jackson’s opening to LOTR. Sure, it’d be cool if they went deeper into the 1st Age lore, but I don’t think the story being told is lacking at all because of the dearth of Silmaril/Morgoth material. Best case scenario - Rings of Power does very well and Amazon pays for the IP to follow it up with a prequel series focusing on the first age content

[mae]

[Merlin1958]

I think the way they framed the second age with the brief prologue has a nice synergy with Jackson’s opening to LOTR. Sure, it’d be cool if they went deeper into the 1st Age lore, but I don’t think the story being told is lacking at all because of the dearth of Silmaril/Morgoth material. Best case scenario - Rings of Power does very well and Amazon pays for the IP to follow it up with a prequel series focusing on the first age content

Working strictly from the appendices leaves quite a bit open for interpetation. Which is not necessarily a bad thing though the fact checking back to the Silmarillion must be a bitch!

So far, generally speaking, I'm enjoying it. Visually it's incredible and its really cool getting to see cities and places we never have before. Not to mention some of the characters like, Elendil, Isildur, Durin and so on. I'm finding it a challenge to translate the geography a bit but, even that is enjoyable. The only thing I have an issue with is the, Hobbits. First off, and I may be wrong its been a minute since my last reading, there wasn't nearly this much Hobbit story to be told in the 2nd age. Even more so though is the lack of respect for the scale of the different races. Jackson, went to great lengths to maintain the relative stature of each of the races and they don't seem to give a damn in this production which is somewhat disconcerting.

Otherwise, the actors seem very capable, the production levels are movie quality and the sets and visuals truly remarkable. Story remains to be seen nut its been a fairly good start. IMHO

[fernandito]

Idk if I'm liking the actress playing Galadriel. Granted my knowledge of Second Age LOTR is limited, and I've never read the Silmarillion, but was Galadriel always this... devoid of emotion? (to put it nicely)

[mae]

Idk if I'm liking the actress playing Galadriel. Granted my knowledge of Second Age LOTR is limited, and I've never read the Silmarillion, but was Galadriel always this... devoid of emotion? (to put it nicely)

I think it's on purpose. She's been traumatized by death, a concept elves didn't know or have. She's single-minded with revenge. The character arc will be going from this low point to the Galadriel we see later in LOTR.

[Merlin1958]

Idk if I'm liking the actress playing Galadriel. Granted my knowledge of Second Age LOTR is limited, and I've never read the Silmarillion, but was Galadriel always this... devoid of emotion? (to put it nicely)

I think it's on purpose. She's been traumatized by death, a concept elves didn't know or have. She's single-minded with revenge. The character arc will be going from this low point to the Galadriel we see later in LOTR.

Yeah, that's a pretty good assessment. If you recall, she wasn't exactly a benevolent sole in LOTR either despite having softened a bit from the person being portrayed at this time in her life. I'm curious to see how much we get into, Celeborn the original holder of the third ring if I recall. He was a bit of a hard case.

I'm still wondering about the "Person of color" elf. i think it would work wonderfully if he was a woodland elf and all his peers were person's of color. It fits. But having him be the sole one is a little off IMHO. Also, hobbits. Now they.re Irish? and black? As I have said before I'm all for diversity but, not at the sake of the source material. To me that is just wrong. And, kinda lazy writing. IMHO

[Br!an]

Now they.re Irish? and black?

Black Irish?

Bill, woke is a joke... without a punchline. (So, I provided one.)

*

That said, according to Tolkien, "The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller and shorter, and they were all beardless and bootless," he wrote, "their hands and feet were neat and nimble; and they preferred highlands and hillsides."

The question remains why they are not all "browner of skin" in the show.

*

This is the first time I've ever used the word woke in any form of conversation. Hopefully it's the last.

[mae]

[Merlin1958]