Lord of the Rings on Prime Updates (Thanks Varking!)

[CirdanLinweilin]

So according to Fellowship of Fans, the person in this trailer is not Sauron/Annatar:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1550604215042842624

Their scoop is that Anson Boon, is playing Annatar but that is not confirmed.





CL

 

[Berzelmayr]

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Will the real Dark Lord please stand up?


CL

Thanks for sharing. In accuracy it miserably fails, but in cinematics it actually seems strangely well-done. It might at least be interesting to watch, while I know it would not be very true to Tolkien, but since I know the Second Age near as well as I can, it wouldn't hurt to see someone else's vision.

 

[Annatar]

 

[Aldarion]

Wait, so they basically copy-pasted a balrog from LotR into RoP?

That is a new low, even for them.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Wait, so they basically copy-pasted a balrog from LotR into RoP?

That is a new low, even for them.

I never altogether loved the Balrog portrayal in The Lord of the Rings films, and I wondered if they would do things differently in RoP and how, apparently, they won't be.

 

[TrollinSun]

That would also explain your penchant for adaptations that look like bad role-playing and fan fiction.

Haven't been on the forum for a while due to posts about RoP being banned discussing the politics of the show and not my personal beliefs. Read this thread and laughed out loud at your retorts to Halasian. I'd buy you a tall mug of brown beer at the prancing pony.

 

[Halasían]

Haven't been on the forum for a while due to posts about RoP being banned discussing the politics of the show and not my personal beliefs. Read this thread and laughed out loud at your retorts to Halasian. I'd buy you a tall mug of brown beer at the prancing pony.

Have at it CJs.

 

[Annatar]

It's going to be the most expensive series ever (still wondering why), and someone has to pay for it, of course:

Amazon is increasing its Prime membership subscription prices across Europe in September by up to 43% a year

A funny coincidence that September is also the start of the series.

Amazon to Increase Prime Membership Fee By Up to 43% for Customers in Europe

Amazon is increasing its Prime membership subscription prices across Europe in September by up to 43% a year, the company has announced just days before its Q2 earnings results. In an email to customers, Amazon said the annual Prime subscription price will increase by 20% in the United Kingdom...

www.macrumors.com

 

[d4rk3lf]

Amazon is increasing its Prime membership subscription prices across Europe in September by up to 43% a year

Oh wow.

If series turns out to be bad, they won't be shooting in their leg, but will shoot directly in head.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Everyone sources their money from somewhere, obviously.

My suspicion is that the horses, riders, trainers, actors, and directors are what is making this so expensive-- not to mention the swords and extremely elaborate costuming. It all adds up. I don't think a lot of people actually understand how hard it is to replicate and depict scenes from Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The land lay-out is not that complex, as Middle-Earth is our world, just ages ago. However, some sets such as that of Elves, and pretty much any kingdom or set that is not just pure and genuine nature, are extremely pricy and difficult to make. Especially Elves, as they have an ethereal quality to everything that they make and live in and enjoy, and even just their own appearance, and so that is complicated to portray. And when you add to that the need for weapons, and costuming, and live horses, and all of the computer effects, writers, music, etc. projects like these can become EXTREMELY expensive-- which is why there just isn't that much Tolkien media, a bit unfortunate, as some of my Tolkien-loving-friends were introduced to Tolkien through the movies, and were led to the books, and now have become well-accustomed to both, but attribute their love of Tolkien solely to the movies which gave them a quick-start, and tell me that there is just no way they would have picked up Tolkien, read it, or enjoyed it if they had not first seen the story through the movies. This is why I think there is certainly a place for Tolkien-themed media.

After seeing the trailers of The Rings of Power, the costuming is superbly well-done. Now, not all of it is like how I would imagine yet seeing Tolkien's incredible characters through the eyes of someone else is not always a bad thing. I have my own ideas composed, and so I can look at artwork of them and watch films. My own portrayals are already kept, and some of them have surfaced to the sketch book.

The Rings of Power of course falls short in accuracy-- but I have come to the conclusion that no one will ever fully capture every detail and piece of beauty as Tolkien has in his works, and I have learned to stop making those expectations, because it will just disappoint me when another movie, film, or series fails to capture everything that Tolkien did, and left out or changed story elements that I thought to be crucial. Of course, I have my opinions on what should have been kept-- but in the end, they are just that; opinions. Neither wrong, nor right, just preference.

I have honestly been impressed with what I have seen yet as far as costuming, sets, and cinematography-- which in the end, is really the main points since I know it won't be a direct depiction of Tolkien's works, and it won't capture all the beauty he did, so I judge it from the perspective of a story built off of and into Tolkien's works and enjoy it for that, instead of criticizing it with book in hand, pointing out everything it failed at.

 

[Annatar]

This is madness! 😂

I would not have expected this assessment from you. 😉

I have honestly been impressed with what I have seen yet as far as costuming, sets, and cinematography

Thank you for your detailed consideration. However, I find some aspects of it rather superficial and odd.
Admittedly, the CGI cities and the New Zealand landscapes are impressive.
(From season 2 on, it's supposed to go rather to Scotland - which may be a pity for many PJ's fans, but I'm rather in favor of it, but anyway, that only plays a minor role, and this decision also had rather practical reasons).

Okay, that CGI look - inspired by John Howe - was, after all, the minimum that could be expected, and that still only accounts for a maximum of 5% of the series' relevance. Everything else, if you look at the trailers - was already done better 20 years earlier with worse technology.

Away from any political ideology (although you can find it penetratingly there, but according to the forum rules this is not allowed to be discussed here):
I find the costumes cheap and kind of funny: you can see, for example, how Miriel's scale armor ripples under the armpit like a t-shirt. Also, all those strangely modern-looking short hairstyles destroy any immersion. And I find all the dialogue or monologues in the trailers extremely awkward. I find the pseudo hobbits beyond embarrassing and extremely against canon. I find the demeanor of the actors and producers during interviews arrogant and lacking respect for Tolkien. I find Amazon's marketing so far to be completely stupid.
Anyway, I will have to watch the first episodes anyway, as a Tolkien fan. But one thing is already clear: I will avoid paying money to Amazon for this outrage in the future.

This series is absolutely designed to further divide people, and this is already working excellently in advance....
This is probably where the wheat is to be separated from the chaff. 😂

In the end, I would like to remind you that the best seasons of Game of Thrones were the first ones, even though they had the lowest budget. But they were faithful to the books and had used the limited budget intelligently for the right things. No matter what you think of Game of Thrones in principle.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Away from any political ideology (although you can find it penetratingly there,

Some people seem to "find" political ideology everywhere they look, for some odd reason.

This is madness! 😂

Madness?

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

This is madness! 😂

I would not have expected this assessment from you. 😉


Thank you for your detailed consideration. However, I find some aspects of it rather superficial and odd.
Admittedly, the CGI cities and the New Zealand landscapes are impressive.
(From season 2 on, it's supposed to go rather to Scotland - which may be a pity for many PJ's fans, but I'm rather in favor of it, but anyway, that only plays a minor role, and this decision also had rather practical reasons).

Okay, that CGI look - inspired by John Howe - was, after all, the minimum that could be expected, and that still only accounts for a maximum of 5% of the series' relevance. Everything else, if you look at the trailers - was already done better 20 years earlier with worse technology.

Away from any political ideology (although you can find it penetratingly there, but according to the forum rules this is not allowed to be discussed here):
I find the costumes cheap and kind of funny: you can see, for example, how Miriel's scale armor ripples under the armpit like a t-shirt. Also, all those strangely modern-looking short hairstyles destroy any immersion. And I find all the dialogue or monologues in the trailers extremely awkward. I find the pseudo hobbits beyond embarrassing and extremely against canon. I find the demeanor of the actors and producers during interviews arrogant and lacking respect for Tolkien. I find Amazon's marketing so far to be completely stupid.
Anyway, I will have to watch the first episodes anyway, as a Tolkien fan. But one thing is already clear: I will avoid paying money to Amazon for this outrage in the future.

This series is absolutely designed to further divide people, and this is already working excellently in advance....
This is probably where the wheat is to be separated from the chaff. 😂

In the end, I would like to remind you that the best seasons of Game of Thrones were the first ones, even though they had the lowest budget. But they were faithful to the books and had used the limited budget intelligently for the right things. No matter what you think of Game of Thrones in principle.

I know it is a rather uncommon opinion in these days-- but having seen the trailer, and not having seen the series actual episodes, this indeed stands as my opinion.

I find the sets as far as nature and cities, extremely impressive-- as you do. They are superbly well done, and while I have my own ideas of what it should look like, it is just a personal preference, more bound to my detailed imagination than to most anything else. The maps also seem to be well depicted, and though I haven't seen many props-- I am so far sufficiently pleased, as everything has reached my expectations. I am also not opposed to the idea of Scotland. I think it sounds wonderful-- and having a set somewhere else than New Zealand would be an excellent addition to the current Tolkien-based media.

As for political references or agendas, I will of course not state these either, but I will say that one must peer deep into the trailer to find them.

The costuming is elaborate. It is not necessarily the most accurate, nor is it the highest quality, but it is elaborate and eye-catching which makes for a thrilling trailer that I have enjoyed seeing. The Hobbits in it disturb me too. To me, they just didn't have to be there, and the fact that they are, is bothersome.

I haven't disliked the marketing. It seems fine. The trailer is as I stated, very well done, and enjoyable to watch for me. I will note however that the prime logo at the end completely deflates whatever excitement was awoken by the trailer. But it does remind one that it is a show, and not a true story, not a history, not Tolkien-- sadly.

But from the right perspective, of not expecting another Tolkien-- it is a fine series as I have so far seen.

I may be an odd member, but I have never seen Game of Thrones. I am purely a Tolkien-fan, for most parts, and little do I watch or read save for things based on him or his works, and extremely old literature that Tolkien would have read growing up, and at Oxford.

So on that I honestly cannot make a comment.

 

[Halasían]

I know it is a rather uncommon opinion in these days-- but having seen the trailer, and not having seen the series actual episodes, this indeed stands as my opinion.

I find the sets as far as nature and cities, extremely impressive-- as you do. They are superbly well done, and while I have my own ideas of what it should look like, it is just a personal preference, more bound to my detailed imagination than to most anything else. The maps also seem to be well depicted, and though I haven't seen many props-- I am so far sufficiently pleased, as everything has reached my expectations. I am also not opposed to the idea of Scotland. I think it sounds wonderful-- and having a set somewhere else than New Zealand would be an excellent addition to the current Tolkien-based media.

As for political references or agendas, I will of course not state these either, but I will say that one must peer deep into the trailer to find them.

The costuming is elaborate. It is not necessarily the most accurate, nor is it the highest quality, but it is elaborate and eye-catching which makes for a thrilling trailer that I have enjoyed seeing. The Hobbits in it disturb me too. To me, they just didn't have to be there, and the fact that they are, is bothersome.

I haven't disliked the marketing. It seems fine. The trailer is as I stated, very well done, and enjoyable to watch for me. I will note however that the prime logo at the end completely deflates whatever excitement was awoken by the trailer. But it does remind one that it is a show, and not a true story, not a history, not Tolkien-- sadly.

But from the right perspective, of not expecting another Tolkien-- it is a fine series as I have so far seen.

I may be an odd member, but I have never seen Game of Thrones. I am purely a Tolkien-fan, for most parts, and little do I watch or read save for things based on him or his works, and extremely old literature that Tolkien would have read growing up, and at Oxford.

So on that I honestly cannot make a comment.

Good assessment! It is stated early in the trailer that it is 'based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien' which it clearly is, and doesn't appear to attempt to sell it as otherwise. It was well done, and I myself actually am looking forward to seeing the series now.

 

[d4rk3lf]

I think series won't be total disaster as many expect, and more of the hit and miss, stuff.
Will give it a chance, of course, although, I must say that trailers so far brought very mixed felling's, at best.

What I dislike about all this, is that many is taking PJ Lotr as cannon, and he made many mistakes in the movies.

 

[Halasían]

What I dislike about all this, is that many is taking PJ Lotr as cannon, and he made many mistakes in the movies.

Yeah, there are a lot of PJ Purists out there.

 

[Gothmog]

Yeah, there are a lot of PJ Purists out there.

PJ and Purist in the same sentence. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

 

[Halasían]

PJ and Purist in the same sentence. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

PJ Purists - Those who take Peter Jackson' depiction of Middle Earth and the Lord of the Rings story as canon. Having fun with them over on a facebook group. They tend to CJ with the Gatekeepers and the WBS cliques there. 🤣

 

[Bahnz]

I never altogether loved the Balrog portrayal in The Lord of the Rings films, and I wondered if they would do things differently in RoP and how, apparently, they won't be.

Not surprised given that John Howe is working on the show and both depictions are basically straight out of one of his paintings.