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

[Lovett]

The visuals really do look incredible.

[Feanor]

54 minutes ago, Eóghan said:

some High Resolution pics of the capital of numenor "Armenelos" and the sea port "Romenna". daddy Bezos really said: 'here's 2 cents for Wheel of Time and here's 1$ billion for Lord of the Rings'

 

the attention to detail is kinda next level, you can see the erosion and wear of time on the stone buildings when you zoom in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some people on Twitter still think the show looks "cheap"  

 

[Eóghan]

Amazon Promo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 8/10/2022 at 8:50 PM, AxelFox said:

 

I just hope this won't get cancelled after this first season because it's so rare that we get larger-than-life fantasy series like this  

 

 

It would have to be a HUGE flop. But it's true if it's costly to make and they don't recoup that money it would be a kii

But if that happens, Amazon Studios (which is the youngest big studio) is definitely goin' bankrupt 

 

 

 

 

[Feanor]

On 8/10/2022 at 8:50 PM, AxelFox said:

I just hope this won't get cancelled after this first season because it's so rare that we get larger-than-life fantasy series like this  

When Amazon bought the rights from the Tolkien Estate, one of the trades reported that Amazon was contractually required by them to make 5 full seasons.

Now ofc a corporation as massive as Amazon could probably find their way out of such a contractual requirement if they'd wanted to, but I think at worst, they'd only shorten the series to like 3 seasons. I don't see them outright cancel and never finish it.

 

But even The Wheel Of Time was a commercial success for Amazon, so I'd be really shocked if this does worse than that.

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Feanor

[Johnny Jacobs]

It will be interesting to see how it will perform opposite to house of the Dragon.. 

 

Excited for both either way 

[Eóghan]

 

 

Time Magazine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Drowned8World]

On 8/10/2022 at 3:50 PM, AxelFox said:

Y'all are making fun in here but the backlash is pretty big considering this hasn't even been released yet and it's gonna get worse after that. I even heard my irl freinds complain about this 

 

I just hope this won't get cancelled after this first season because it's so rare that we get larger-than-life fantasy series like this  

they for sure are going to review bomb it everywhere. It's a shame.

[Eóghan]

We're gettin' 2 episodes the first week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Los Angeles Premiere

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

[Feanor]

42 minutes ago, BadMonster said:

I was watching videos on YT and one said they don't have the rights to the second age, when this is the story of the second age, so it's in fact only 'based on', but I'm not sure that's correct?

Yes and no, it's a little complicated.

 

Amazon has the rights for any TV adoptions of the Hobbit and LOTR books, and especially the latter has some detailed information on the 2nd age in its appendices, which is the lore basis of this show. But at the same time, Tolkien has written even more on this age in his other materials but Amazon doesn't have the rights to those writings. 

Therefore they have enough to portray the major canon events of the 2nd age in the show, but they can't fully show everything that actually happened in the texts.

 

Although to be fair, Tolkien never wrote that extensively about this time period in general. At least not nearly enough for a faithful, multi-season show.

So any adaptation, regardless of whether they had the full 2nd age rights or not, would have needed to fill in the gaps with "made-up" story.

 

So while I can understand the complaints of this show kinda looking fan-fiction-y, people also need to understand that there's simply not enough written material like there was for the LOTR movies.

Of course this then opens the question of whether this show is even necessary then, but personally, I'd take a hopefully entertaining "fan-fiction-ish" show (that can still show the major canon events) over nothing.

 

[Happylittlepunk]

I really hope this show ends up being good even if a huge portion is just fan fiction. There just so much hate online for show that hasn’t even debuted. The analysis people do is so dumb. I like lord of the rings but I think the fanbase is doing too much tbh. 

[Eóghan]

Galadriel Promo

 

 

 

 

Elrond Promo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mexico City Premiere

 

     

 

 

 

     

 

 

     

 

 

 

On 8/17/2022 at 1:44 PM, BadMonster said:

Thanks, very clear explanation! I knew they had the rights to LOTR, didn't know about the Hobbit or them not having the rights to other material. Couple of things that really bother me are some artistic choices, like the way dwarfs and elves look and what they're doing with Galadriel. Not them tooting their own horn about representation/diversity when they could've done even more if they had women play masculine dwarfs instead of these really feminine ones + all elves should've had long, blonde hair

 

@Feanor  explained it perfectly ? but I would also like to add something about Tolkien's other work they don't have the rights to (Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales ect ...). There's also a case by case situation goin on here in collaboration with the Tolkien Estate. Basically if they want to use a name or place that only appears in the Silmarillion for example, Amazon just have to ask, then they'll say yes or refuse based on how they want to incorporate it into the show. And it's been confirmed by the trailers that show little things from the Silmarillion.

 

The Tolkien Estate considers The Silmarillion to be the author's greatest work and holds it in special regard, they promised to never sell the rights no matter how much money is offered. But Amazon's workaround that issue is to do a tight collaboration with the Tolkien Estate, they invited Tolkien scholars from the Estate into the writer's room of the show to oversee that everything created just for the show are in line with the themes of the legendarium and don't ultimately betray the canon of the books. Simon Tolkien (JRR's Tolkien grandson) and owner of the estate has also been confirmed as a consultant by EW, he even showed up to the premiere in L.A.

 

 

[Harrier]

Ismael is honestly elf-looking even without the costume. This racist idea that POCs can't be elves is so silly  If you can accept the somewhat age inappropriate castings of Elrond and Celeborn in the original trilogy, you should be able to accept an extremely gorgeous Puerto Rican man 

 

However I do agree that his styling is a bit off in the show. Hair is such an important theme with Tolkein's elves.

---

Anyway, super excited for this. Even if some of the characters, storytelling, or adaptational decisions are a bit off, it's going to be an absolute visual feast. And seeing middle earth on screen again ugh 

[BNF91]

Oh my God the music! 

 

Bear McCreary's OST has been released and it is a stunner. So grand and epic. I can't wait to watch this. 

[Eóghan]

18 hours ago, BNF91 said:

Oh my God the music! 

 

Bear McCreary's OST has been released and it is a stunner. So grand and epic. I can't wait to watch this. 

Listened to half of it, it sounds amazing and super versatile

I'll wait for the show to listen to the rest.

 

Someone on twitter said that 2 tracks are missing from Spotify and AM. what do they mean? did they **** up the release or something?

[BNF91]

16 hours ago, Eóghan said:

Listened to half of it, it sounds amazing and super versatile

I'll wait for the show to listen to the rest.

 

Someone on twitter said that 2 tracks are missing from Spotify and AM. what do they mean? did they **** up the release or something?

Not sure about that. Though Bear did tweet that there was more to come. 

 

Also I knew Bear McCreary wouldn't disappoint. He is fantastic, did the God of War OST and I can hear lots of similar motifs between the two. His score for God of War: Ragnarok will come in a couple months too. 

 

This LOTR score is epic, sweeping and emotional. It's exactly what it needs to be. 

[Feanor]

On 8/20/2022 at 1:50 PM, Eóghan said:

Someone on twitter said that 2 tracks are missing from Spotify and AM. what do they mean? did they **** up the release or something?

Those 2 tracks are Amazon Music exclusives (given where this show will air).

 

I love the score too.

Although I must admit that I was initially excited to see Howard Shore return, at least partially, I can't say that I like his theme/show intro music
It's kinda a let-down really. Maybe Bear should've taken over that too.

[BNF91]

2 hours ago, Feanor said:

Those 2 tracks are Amazon Music exclusives (given where this show will air).

 

I love the score too.

Although I must admit that I was initially excited to see Howard Shore return, at least partially, I can't say that I like his theme/show intro music
It's kinda a let-down really. Maybe Bear should've taken over that too.

Hahaha I thought the same! Howard Shore's track is actually kinda boring? Lmao

[Eóghan]

Maybe a new trailer coming according to twitter?

 

 

 

23 hours ago, Feanor said:

Those 2 tracks are Amazon Music exclusives (given where this show will air).

Oh ok that makes more sense.

 

20 hours ago, BNF91 said:

Hahaha I thought the same! Howard Shore's track is actually kinda boring? Lmao

I don't know, I Iike it. It's like a mish-mash of all the different areas of middle earth. I think it's very subtle, maybe it will make more sense within the show.

[Lovett]

 

[Feanor]

Not really feeling this latest trailer, I preferred the previous two.

I think because the show is apparently a massive ensemble piece with like 4-5 or so different settings, it's probably harder for the marketing team to cut a comprehensive 2 minute trailer.

 

I think the music choice also doesn't fit here, like at all

 

Still excited tho.

[Starkboy]

Sets and visual look insane. I honestly can't wait, this could turn out great.

 

Tons of work here... this backlash is undeserved.

[BNF91]

Looks amazing. That stupid music though ugh. So out of place.

 

It actually made it feel less epic than it is lol.  

[Witnessuss]

I’m sorry but I cackled when I heard the line: “We stay true to each other with our hearts, even bigger than our feet” 

[AxelFox]

21 hours ago, Starkboy said:

Sets and visual look insane. I honestly can't wait, this could turn out great.

 

Tons of work here... this backlash is undeserved.

A lot of it is blown out of proportion because of the hate train going on. It's like a snowball effect. Once it started, now people are nitpicking and finding any details they can complain about.

 

I do however think a lot of the backlash is deserved too and that Amazon have taken the wrong approach to this. Some of the statements the show runners have given are absolutely ridiculous. 

 

You have to realize that we are talking about arguably the greatest work of fantasy literature in history. The work of Tolkien has not only been revered as the absolute best of its kind, but has greatly influenced fantasy as a whole and how we perceive it, from other novels to cinematography and even video games. 

 

For them to say they are trying to stay as faithful as possible to Tolkien's work but at the same time that they are writing 'the novel Tolkien never wrote' and that 'it felt only natural to adapt the world Tolkien created to reflect current society' was simply outrageous. 

 

As it stands right now this seems to be a completely different story which is very loosely inspired by the work of Tolkien, but using the same names locations and setting. If that's really the show they wanted to make, they should have changed the names and marketed it differently. It wouldn't have received the backlash it does now.

 

Because yes, it looks amazing so far (well minus the costumes, those are honestly a disaster for the budget they are on but w/e). But it does not look like an adaptation of tales of Middle Earth. 

 

They dig their own grave. 

Edited August 24, 2022 by AxelFox

[Eóghan]