tv show The Rings of Power | Prime Video | Season Finale: 'Shadow and Flame' | LotR Prequel

[Harrier]

This episode lost me a little bit. It feels... small and insignificant. Why are we fighting over some irrelevant 5 house village in the southlands?

I hope next season they can hire a bunch more extras and make the whole thing feel a little bit grander,, especially for the big wars to come. The shots of the scenery, the cgi elements, the costumes and designs and everything are all there. But it's lacking that scale element, with the exception of scenes in numenor which definitely hit the mark.

[Happylittlepunk]

14 hours ago, sunmimi imfurst said:

Omg that last ep was everythinggggg. I was gagged at the ending lol. 
 

I personally think he will be Gandalf. I could see the harfoots settling and becoming hobbits in the future (unless they already exist lol). But if he is Sauron and slaughters them all I will be gagged 

Harfoots are hobbits. They are just a clan of hobbits. In the lore there is 3 clans of hobbits. By the 3rd age in the events of the movies the 3 hobbit clans settle in the shire. I still believe meteor man is Gandalf and will explain why he so fond of them. Either that or he just end up being one of the blue wizards. 

[makeme]

I really enjoyed the last episode

[Eóghan]

Interview of the showrunners from the set of Season 2

 

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/the-rings-of-power-showrunners-interview-season-2-1235233124/

 

 

 

Takeaways:

 

- Netflix initially won the bid for the rights, they put 20$ million more than Amazon on the table. The team Netflix sent was the Russo brothers who pitched several shows, such as a Gandalf series and a young Aragorn drama. The Tolkien Estate said: nope.

“They took the Marvel approach,” said one insider to the talks, “and that completely freaked out the estate.”

HBO were the 3rd highest bidders and sent Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything) who pitched a retelling of the Lord of the Rings trilogy with a Shakespearian take. 

 

- They are currently preparing the filming of a 2-episodes battle for season 2.

McKay says the aim of season two — which quietly started filming — is to be “bigger and better” on “every level … by an order of magnitude.”

Actress Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) is clad in a sleek new costume for season two and sports elaborate braid-work that would make Princess Leia envious. Leaving her coffee behind (no Starbucks cups on fantasy TV show sets, please), she stands for a camera test as Payne and McKay suggest changes.

 

- They appreciate and enjoy the feedback from the first season. 

They readily admit, for instance, that some of the first-season episodes lack the urgency fans expect from Tolkien adaptations.

“It would be very tempting to make the first season of this show The Sauron Show, very villain-centric,” McKay says. “But we wanted that level of evil and complexity of evil to emerge out of a world that you’re invested in — not because evil is threatening it immediately. We wanted you to fall in love again with Middle-earth. We wanted you to understand and relate to the struggles that each of these characters are having before we test them in a way they’ve never been tested before.”

 

- About Tolkien's unfortunate history of attracting fascist-adjacent admirers.

Payne looks particularly distressed by the topic. “The spirit of Tolkien is about disparate peoples who don’t trust one another and look different from one another finding common ground in friendship and accomplishing big things,” he says. “That’s the spirit we’ve tried to inculcate into every single comma and period in the show. That this aspiration would be offensive to people and enrage them … it’s very hard for us to understand. What are they protecting? I don’t see how people who are saying these things think that they’re fighting for good. There’s a line in episode seven where Galadriel says every war is fought from without and within. Even if you’re fighting for something you think is good, if you do something worse in that fight, then you become evil. I don’t see how people who are saying these things think that they’re fighting for good. It’s patently evil.”

 

- About the made up competition with HoTD.

For Payne and McKay, Dragon is a wearisome topic. They were making Rings for years before HBO declared in March that its Thrones prequel was going to debut two weeks before their show. Suddenly, the media and fandom world wouldn’t stop talking about Dragon vs. Rings because, let’s face it, everybody loves a fight. “It dominates the narrative about how it’s received,” McKay says. “But it was not at all part of the narrative in how our show was conceived. Hopefully, we’re competing against ourselves.”

 

[PoisonedIvy]

I absolutely LOVE episodes 4-6, the show really HOOKED me at this point.

[Cloröx]

On 10/4/2022 at 3:34 AM, Liafen said:

I have read a theory today that the man from the sky is Sauron - Adar managed to indeed wound him in a way that he was banished from Middle-Earth for a time, but he returned, only he does not know yet who he really is. But his priests are already looking for him. 

23 hours ago, Happylittlepunk said:

It wouldn’t make sense if meteor man is sauron because sauron himself didn’t even know hobbits existed during the 3rd age. He didn’t know where hobbits settled that’s why he sent the nazghoul hunting the ring in horseback to search for the shire. I still believe hellbrand will end up being Sauron because he had the ability to change his appearance whenever he wants. Which is why he was so hard to find during the 2nd age and was able to trick every race during that time period and give the rings of power to all the leaders of middle earth. Adar I suspect is the mouth of sauron who is a political leader of Mordor during the 3rd age. 

I believe that Sauron actually has already travelled to Lindoln and convinced Celebrimbor to build that massive forge, which is why Elrond was sent to Khaza-dum and asked dwarves for their help. His evil presence there must be the reason why the tree was deteriorating too. Then, his next target was Numenor, manipulated them to fight Adar. I think Adar was telling the truth, both him and Sauron must be in feud and conflict and somehow he managed to "kill" Sauron but the latter survived. 

[Protocol]

The first episode was so boring  Casting is wack as hell too

[SpankGangsta]

43 minutes ago, Protocol said:

The first episode was so boring  Casting is wack as hell too

Yeah its the worst episode so far

[fridayteenage]

9/5-9/11

 

Prime VideoThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power 3 episodes=1,203 million minutes

HBO MaxHouse Of The Dragon 4 episodes=1,016 million minutes

[Protocol]

I'm really debating whether or not to get into this after Ep 1. It was so lifeless, drab and boring. Galadriel is so unlikeable. All the male elves look goofy as hell. The Harfoots are boring af with none of the charm of the Hobbits. The black elf dude seemed cool but I don't give a single crap about the random woman that likes him. And everything looks really really glossy and generic, way too much CGI. What was great about the LOTR movies is that so much of it was practical effects, miniatures etc and it looks more real than this series despite coming out 20 years ago as a result. I get that the LOTR movies are an impossibly high bar, but people weren't forgiving of the Hobbit and I don't see a reason to be forgiving of this either. That's the standard. If you can't get remotely close don't do it.

 

Can someone tell me if it vastly improves or not because I really struggled to get through that first episode.

[RideOrDie]

16 minutes ago, Protocol said:

I'm really debating whether or not to get into this after Ep 1. It was so lifeless, drab and boring. Galadriel is so unlikeable. All the male elves look goofy as hell. The Harfoots are boring af with none of the charm of the Hobbits. The black elf dude seemed cool but I don't give a single crap about the random woman that likes him. And everything looks really really glossy and generic, way too much CGI. What was great about the LOTR movies is that so much of it was practical effects, miniatures etc and it looks more real than this series despite coming out 20 years ago as a result. I get that the LOTR movies are an impossibly high bar, but people weren't forgiving of the Hobbit and I don't see a reason to be forgiving of this either. That's the standard. If you can't get remotely close don't do it.

 

Can someone tell me if it vastly improves or not because I really struggled to get through that first episode.

first episode is considered to be worst but i honestly think it hasn't improved that much although i haven't seen the last episode yet which people say is one of the best... i have never been hugely into the lotr universe anyways and to me it just remains lifeless, drab and boring as you said. i care about none of the characters and all of the plotlines are so uninteresting. 

[Eóghan]

On 10/5/2022 at 5:15 PM, Eóghan said:

Interview of the showrunners from the set of Season 2

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/the-rings-of-power-showrunners-interview-season-2-1235233124/

 

Takeaways:

 

- Netflix initially won the bid for the rights, they put 20$ million more than Amazon on the table. The team Netflix sent was the Russo brothers who pitched several shows, such as a Gandalf series and a young Aragorn drama. The Tolkien Estate said: nope.

“They took the Marvel approach,” said one insider to the talks, “and that completely freaked out the estate.”

HBO were the 3rd highest bidders and sent Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything) who pitched a retelling of the Lord of the Rings trilogy with a Shakespearian take. 

 

- They are currently preparing the filming of a 2-episodes battle for season 2.

McKay says the aim of season two — which quietly started filming — is to be “bigger and better” on “every level … by an order of magnitude.”

Actress Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) is clad in a sleek new costume for season two and sports elaborate braid-work that would make Princess Leia envious. Leaving her coffee behind (no Starbucks cups on fantasy TV show sets, please), she stands for a camera test as Payne and McKay suggest changes.

 

- They appreciate and enjoy the feedback from the first season. 

They readily admit, for instance, that some of the first-season episodes lack the urgency fans expect from Tolkien adaptations.

“It would be very tempting to make the first season of this show The Sauron Show, very villain-centric,” McKay says. “But we wanted that level of evil and complexity of evil to emerge out of a world that you’re invested in — not because evil is threatening it immediately. We wanted you to fall in love again with Middle-earth. We wanted you to understand and relate to the struggles that each of these characters are having before we test them in a way they’ve never been tested before.”

 

- About Tolkien's unfortunate history of attracting fascist-adjacent admirers.

Payne looks particularly distressed by the topic. “The spirit of Tolkien is about disparate peoples who don’t trust one another and look different from one another finding common ground in friendship and accomplishing big things,” he says. “That’s the spirit we’ve tried to inculcate into every single comma and period in the show. That this aspiration would be offensive to people and enrage them … it’s very hard for us to understand. What are they protecting? I don’t see how people who are saying these things think that they’re fighting for good. There’s a line in episode seven where Galadriel says every war is fought from without and within. Even if you’re fighting for something you think is good, if you do something worse in that fight, then you become evil. I don’t see how people who are saying these things think that they’re fighting for good. It’s patently evil.”

 

- About the made up competition with HoTD.

For Payne and McKay, Dragon is a wearisome topic. They were making Rings for years before HBO declared in March that its Thrones prequel was going to debut two weeks before their show. Suddenly, the media and fandom world wouldn’t stop talking about Dragon vs. Rings because, let’s face it, everybody loves a fight. “It dominates the narrative about how it’s received,” McKay says. “But it was not at all part of the narrative in how our show was conceived. Hopefully, we’re competing against ourselves.”

 

Another takeway from the interview I missed

 

 

 

Quote

 

- Netflix initially won the bid for the rights, they put 20$ million more than Amazon on the table. The team Netflix sent was the Russo brothers who pitched several shows, such as a Gandalf series and a young Aragorn drama. The Tolkien Estate said: nope.

“They took the Marvel approach,” said one insider to the talks, “and that completely freaked out the estate.”

HBO were the 3rd highest bidders and sent Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything) who pitched a retelling of the Lord of the Rings trilogy with a Shakespearian take. 

 

- They are currently preparing the filming of a 2-episodes battle for season 2.

McKay says the aim of season two — which quietly started filming — is to be “bigger and better” on “every level … by an order of magnitude.”

Actress Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) is clad in a sleek new costume for season two and sports elaborate braid-work that would make Princess Leia envious. Leaving her coffee behind (no Starbucks cups on fantasy TV show sets, please), she stands for a camera test as Payne and McKay suggest changes.

 

- They appreciate and enjoy the feedback from the first season. 

They readily admit, for instance, that some of the first-season episodes lack the urgency fans expect from Tolkien adaptations.

“It would be very tempting to make the first season of this show The Sauron Show, very villain-centric,” McKay says. “But we wanted that level of evil and complexity of evil to emerge out of a world that you’re invested in — not because evil is threatening it immediately. We wanted you to fall in love again with Middle-earth. We wanted you to understand and relate to the struggles that each of these characters are having before we test them in a way they’ve never been tested before.”

 

- About Tolkien's unfortunate history of attracting fascist-adjacent admirers.

Payne looks particularly distressed by the topic. “The spirit of Tolkien is about disparate peoples who don’t trust one another and look different from one another finding common ground in friendship and accomplishing big things,” he says. “That’s the spirit we’ve tried to inculcate into every single comma and period in the show. That this aspiration would be offensive to people and enrage them … it’s very hard for us to understand. What are they protecting? I don’t see how people who are saying these things think that they’re fighting for good. There’s a line in episode seven where Galadriel says every war is fought from without and within. Even if you’re fighting for something you think is good, if you do something worse in that fight, then you become evil. I don’t see how people who are saying these things think that they’re fighting for good. It’s patently evil.”

 

- About the made up competition with HoTD.

For Payne and McKay, Dragon is a wearisome topic. They were making Rings for years before HBO declared in March that its Thrones prequel was going to debut two weeks before their show. Suddenly, the media and fandom world wouldn’t stop talking about Dragon vs. Rings because, let’s face it, everybody loves a fight. “It dominates the narrative about how it’s received,” McKay says. “But it was not at all part of the narrative in how our show was conceived. Hopefully, we’re competing against ourselves.”

 

 

 

1 hour ago, fridayteenage said:

9/5-9/11

 

Prime VideoThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power 3 episodes=1,203 million minutes

HBO MaxHouse Of The Dragon 4 episodes=1,016 million minutes

 

Nice hold for the 2nd week

 

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/cobra-kai-rings-of-power-house-of-the-dragon-nielsen-streaming-top-0-1235395023/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

32 minutes ago, Protocol said:

Can someone tell me if it vastly improves or not because I really struggled to get through that first episode.

Well according to the last 15 pages it really doesn't. You got another proof with the post just above.

You should stop there and move on. 

 

 

 

[Protocol]

16 minutes ago, Eóghan said:

Well according to the last 15 pages it really doesn't. You got another proof with the post just above.

You should stop there and move on. 

Thanks. I'll stick with the LOTR movies, unbeatable cinematic masterpieces that perfectly capture Tolkien's world in every way, and with watching House of the Dragon, which is already iconic.

[Madonno]

21 minutes ago, Protocol said:

Thanks. I'll stick with the LOTR movies, unbeatable cinematic masterpieces that perfectly capture Tolkien's world in every way, and with watching House of the Dragon, which is already iconic.

Why don't decide by yourself instead of let someone else let you what to do?

 

You can watch both shows, you're not obligated to decide just for one.

 

[Blade Runner]

The way TROP fans are always mentioning HOTD. 

[Happylittlepunk]

That article basically just proves that the Tolkien estate made the final decisions on why gets approved and what doesn’t in the final editing of the rings of power. It just tells me that ppl were getting mad basically for no reason. When everything was approved by Tolkien estate before the series even saw the light of day. 

[Happylittlepunk]

2 hours ago, Protocol said:

Thanks. I'll stick with the LOTR movies, unbeatable cinematic masterpieces that perfectly capture Tolkien's world in every way, and with watching House of the Dragon, which is already iconic.

Just watch the series and decide for yourself. I love the movies myself but I am not going to be a book purist myself when even the movies were never 100% accurate. Tolkien himself would’ve of never approve of his book been created in film/tv anyway because he just that old school. 

[SpankGangsta]

3 hours ago, Eóghan said:

 

 

 

 

 

700M only for 1st season??? And it will only be 8 episodes in total 

I hope we see season 2 next year

[SpankGangsta]

3 hours ago, Protocol said:

I'm really debating whether or not to get into this after Ep 1. It was so lifeless, drab and boring. Galadriel is so unlikeable. All the male elves look goofy as hell. The Harfoots are boring af with none of the charm of the Hobbits. The black elf dude seemed cool but I don't give a single crap about the random woman that likes him. And everything looks really really glossy and generic, way too much CGI. What was great about the LOTR movies is that so much of it was practical effects, miniatures etc and it looks more real than this series despite coming out 20 years ago as a result. I get that the LOTR movies are an impossibly high bar, but people weren't forgiving of the Hobbit and I don't see a reason to be forgiving of this either. That's the standard. If you can't get remotely close don't do it.

 

Can someone tell me if it vastly improves or not because I really struggled to get through that first episode.

Pilot is the worst episode, the episodes after that improves but Galadriel is still bad. If you enjoy the dwarves, they are pretty much the best part of the series. 

 

If you dont have the high expectations of a book purist I think you can enjoy it.

[splozo]

Well that last ep was a huge nothingburger like damn 

[Feanor]

Yeah this was probably the weakest episode to date.

Such a pity, after last week’s fantastic episode too…

[Nicholai]

Finally they are moving forward the hardfoots plot that was boring and repetitive for the last couple of episodes.

 

This was a nice episode i think. Hope the next episodes are full of the strange and the dwarfs because i'm already bored of Galadriel and the humans.

[Cloröx]

6 hours ago, Happylittlepunk said:

That article basically just proves that the Tolkien estate made the final decisions on why gets approved and what doesn’t in the final editing of the rings of power. It just tells me that ppl were getting mad basically for no reason. When everything was approved by Tolkien estate before the series even saw the light of day. 

I swear some people especially the Tolkien cultist are just dumb because Tolkien premise is the one who decides and approves what to put in the series. Furthermore, a slowpace is expected since it was said that they gonna make it into five seasons.

[Europe]

10 hours ago, Protocol said:

I'm really debating whether or not to get into this after Ep 1. It was so lifeless, drab and boring. Galadriel is so unlikeable. All the male elves look goofy as hell. The Harfoots are boring af with none of the charm of the Hobbits. The black elf dude seemed cool but I don't give a single crap about the random woman that likes him. And everything looks really really glossy and generic, way too much CGI. What was great about the LOTR movies is that so much of it was practical effects, miniatures etc and it looks more real than this series despite coming out 20 years ago as a result. I get that the LOTR movies are an impossibly high bar, but people weren't forgiving of the Hobbit and I don't see a reason to be forgiving of this either. That's the standard. If you can't get remotely close don't do it.

 

Can someone tell me if it vastly improves or not because I really struggled to get through that first episode.

It never gets better per say, but it becomes less bad. There is only 1 interesting character (Adar) so you just skip most scenes that he is not in, or you "watch" the show while doing something else like cleaning or cooking. It's not interesting enough to be your sole focus, but it's okay background noise.

[mystery]

I honestly didn't mind this episode at all, I thought it was quite good and it was nice to see the characters in actual danger and interacting in an interesting way. Which is surprising considering I am quite sour on the show overall.