Amazon Prime's "The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power" (Season 2)

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by Sawasdee1983

The 3rd Episode was a Masterpiece. The world is getting bigger and forgot everything around me. I like the cast more and more and the story become very interesting. The action was surprisingly violent.

that's good to hear, I'm really struggling with this show for some reason, I was losing attention both around the mid points of episodes of 1 and 2

[BaronVH]

Originally Posted by cgpublic

The average American reads at the 7th/8th grade level, and taking into account the majority of the best and brightest aren't watching TV, asking content providers to adhere to Tolkien's text and depth of writing is understandable if you are a fan of his work, as I am, but we can all recognize why the show runners and writers need to deviate from the original text to reflect modern global audiences, especially a number totaling 25M+.

Furthermore, reading between the lines, the issue that many seem to have with RoP is that the series is much closer to a book with multiple narratives, measured pace and related depth, as opposed to an action series or film trilogy, e.g., Jackson's work.

The bottom line is most TV and film adaptations need to balance what people, the overwhelming majority of which don't read anything other than the doomscroll of memes on their phone, think they want and what they actually watch.

I think you may be right. I do hope so anyway. They have planned out several seasons, and it definitely has an end to the series.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by BaronVH

I think you may be right. I do hope so anyway. They have planned out several seasons, and it definitely has an end to the series.

Jacksons films have a ton of depth and things going on. Cmon.

[tcripe]

Originally Posted by captveg

The logical choice is to compact the needed story elements to the same time period of a few years. Even Jackson's FotR turned Gandalf's research into the One Ring / Gollum from 17 years to maybe a few weeks.

This^ 100%

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Really?

It was a top of mind quote, and when I checked the latest numbers, apologies for overstating the actual percentage:

Literacy in the United States was determined by the National Center for Education Statistics to be at a mid to high level in 2019, at 79%, with 21% of American adults categorized as having "low level English literacy," including 4.1% classified as 'functionally illiterate' and an additional 4% that could not participate.[1] According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in the United States have prose literacy below the 6th-grade level.

Originally Posted by s2mikey

So again, we're back to: If you have any issues with this show then its all on you and you must be the problem? Just clarifying.

Not at all. No one is suggesting the show is perfect, although in my opinion it really is quite good and certainly far better than I anticipated before seeing the trailers.

That said, I don't believe having the show as created would be anymore engaging if the timeline/narrative arcs were altered. It's a TV serial, and the format lends itself to certain approaches and not others.

It's very difficult to target a single segment within the broad audience of a series for every episode over a five year span. The classic example of this truism is Star Trek, e.g., the Enterprise wasn't engaging the Klingons for every show.

I do believe there are those who are familiar with the books and or Jackson's films, and who also hold a strong belief how the show should incorporate Tolkien's texts, including how it should be cast and how the narrative should be expressed.

Obviously, Amazon is seeking to reach a much larger audience and hold their attention for five years, and with that intent, some of those people are going to feel put out.

And that's okay. It doesn't make them bad people. It just means the show is not for them, or more likely, not what they wanted because it's not specifically targeting them and them only, but they are willing to watch because the genre or the IP is of high interest.

And that's the nature of a series or IP on this scale. Reference Star Wars, DC, Marvel, it's all the the same.

You can't please everybody.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by cgpublic

It was a top of mind quote, and when I checked the latest numbers, apologies for overstating the actual percentage:

Not at all. No one is suggesting the show is perfect, although in my opinion it really is quite good and certainly far better than I anticipated before seeing the trailers.

That said, I don't believe having the show as created would be anymore engaging if the timeline/narrative arcs were altered. It's a TV serial, and the format lends itself to certain approaches and not others.

It's very difficult to target a single segment within the broad audience of a series for every episode over a five year span. The classic example of this truism is Star Trek, e.g., the Enterprise wasn't engaging the Klingons for every show.

I do believe there are those who are familiar with the books and or Jackson's films, and who also hold a strong belief how the show should incorporate Tolkien's texts, including how it should be cast and how the narrative should be expressed.

Obviously, Amazon is seeking to reach a much larger audience and hold their attention for five years, and with that intent, some of those people are going to feel put out.

And that's okay. It doesn't make them bad people. It just means the show is not for them, or more likely, not what they wanted because it's not specifically targeting them and them only, but they are willing to watch because the genre or the IP is of high interest.

And that's the nature of a series or IP on this scale. Reference Star Wars, DC, Marvel, it's all the the same.

You can't please everybody.

Well, thanks for at least a reasonable reply.

[BaronVH]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Jacksons films have a ton of depth and things going on. Cmon.

True. I cannot deny the quality of those films and they deserve all of the awards; however, I am one of those nutty Tolkien fans and really dislike the subtle changes which misses the point of the story. I won’t go into the problems, as they are subjective as hell. If you find the complaints of Christopher Tolkien, I agree with all of his points.

I do enjoy the films though. I even enjoy the Hobbit films, but I really hated the changes to The Conversation with Smaug chapter. Again, it misses the point of the story.

[Dunemoon]

Apparently, one of the Superfans that was flown in by Amazon to be an influencer hasn’t even watched the show

Chanel Williams is watching House of the Dragon first!

There’s a YouTube video out.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by BaronVH

True. I cannot deny the quality of those films and they deserve all of the awards; however, I am one of those nutty Tolkien fans and really dislike the subtle changes which misses the point of the story. I won’t go into the problems, as they are subjective as hell. If you find the complaints of Christopher Tolkien, I agree with all of his points.

I do enjoy the films though. I even enjoy the Hobbit films, but I really hated the changes to The Conversation with Smaug chapter. Again, it misses the point of the story.

As you note, a fairly significant number of Tolkien fans took issue with Jackson's treatment of the original texts, especially The Hobbit.

That said, in my defense of Jackson then and now, his love and respect for the original work was self-evident.

The discussion always turns back to the simple truth that an adaptation for a different medium is exactly that, an adaptation.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by Dunemoon

There’s a YouTube video out.

You lost me at there's a YouTube video out.

[Dunemoon]

Originally Posted by cgpublic

You lost me at there's a YouTube video out.

There’s video taken from the influencer’s Instagram account.

[s2mikey]

Let’s call it right now: the problem here is that the vast majority of us tuned in because we want to see the rings created. That’s the prize. We already know what happens per se so they have to make the journey worthwhile since that’s all there is to engage us. I cannot fathom at this stage what the hell they’re going to do for so many more seasons and episodes to facilitate said engagement. I mean, it might not be until season 4 or later that we even get close to ring forging. Seems like a looooooooooooooooong time from now, doesn’t it?

[myanks12]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Let’s call it right now: the problem here is that the vast majority of us tuned in because we want to see the rings created. That’s the prize. We already know what happens per se so they have to make the journey worthwhile since that’s all there is to engage us. I cannot fathom at this stage what the hell they’re going to do for so many more seasons and episodes to facilitate said engagement. I mean, it might not be until season 4 or later that we even get close to ring forging. Seems like a looooooooooooooooong time from now, doesn’t it?

I highly doubt that the rings will be created in season 4. They're already setting up the creation of the rings in the first 4 episodes. I'd say that it's likely we'll see at least some of the rings created in season 2. Also, while the show is named Rings of Power, there are so many other stories that the writers will be telling with this series. The story of Numenor is one of them.

[Spud_Almighty]

"There is a tempest in me!!!" This has to be the best meme since poor Boromir. I'd love to know what they were thinking with this show. It's awful.

[gkolb]

Originally Posted by Farerb

They really should have not included them in the first place cause I can't see how their story can lead to something meaningful.

Honestly, I'm not that invested in any storyline. I'm just in it right now because I want Galadriel and H̶a̶l̶b̶r̶a̶n̶d̶ Sauron to f**k.

Is this why Galadriel hates S so much in the Third Age??
He breaks her heart? (yes I meant that sarcastically).

[Vilya]

I'm still having fun with both the series and this thread.

[Farerb]

Originally Posted by gkolb

Is this why Galadriel hates S so much in the Third Age??
He breaks her heart? (yes I meant that sarcastically).

I hope so.

[CouncilSpectre]

Presumably Galadriel and Celeborn are on some sort of Ross/Rachel-style “break” in the SA….

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by Auditor55

22, my bad. She looks really young. Anyway, she was involved with her own uncle at a sex club. The premise is really bad and not really good writing, it's trashy.

Different strokes for different folks (literally).

[rexcrk]

Originally Posted by Spud_Almighty

"There is a tempest in me!!!" This has to be the best meme since poor Boromir. I'd love to know what they were thinking with this show. It's awful.

And yet you’ll continue to tune in every week. Stewing over something you don’t enjoy

I’ll never understand that.