The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022) - Season 1 (Amazon Prime) (1 Viewer)

[Josh Dial]

This episode displayed one of the problems with a prequel: knowing that it's not going to end well for one of the characters introduced in this episode.

Or knowing who survives.

This can sometimes add a layer of tension (or dramatic irony).

In The Clone Wars animated series (and Rebels), we know what happens to most of the characters. It's like a slow moving train wreck for many of them. In some cases it's more tragic knowing their fate. Even some of the villains seem more tragic knowing they are on a clock inexorably ticking toward their doom.

 

[jayembee]

Who’s that?

Just in case...

Spoiler

Isuildur, the happy-go-lucky son of the sea captain who rescued Galadriel and Halbrand.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just in case...

Spoiler

Isuildur, the happy-go-lucky son of the sea captain who rescued Galadriel and Halbrand.

Damn, I deleted my post, but you replied to it before I did so. I thought I remembered that name and went back to watching the beginning of LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I’m going to watch the movies again to refresh my memories before watching another episode after this third episode.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The scene with Galadriel riding the horse was awesome in every sense of the word. The slow-mo was a tad goofy, yes, but man it was like I had never seen the colour blue until that moment. Just beautiful.

A younger Galadriel meeting Elendil and the introduction of his oldest son Isidur brings this sequence into further focus.

 

[jayembee]

This can sometimes add a layer of tension (or dramatic irony).

I meant to respond to this before.

I agree with that statement. My comment was meant more as a "Oh, here's a nice character who isn't all doom and gloom, but seems to enjoy life with nary a care in the wor...oh, shit..."

 

[NeilO]

Here are two YouTube discussion series about the episodes. The two links discuss the first two episodes and then there are further episodes discussing each as they come out.
Rings and Realms

Other Minds and Hands (An Open and Friendly Discussion of Tolkien Adaptation) which in previous episodes had speculation about the adaptation from the material previously released.

[Actually this episode 18 is more of a prelude after seeing an advance screening. I expect episode 19 of Other Minds and Hands has more detailed discussion of the first two episodes.]

 

[Sam Favate]

Another winner this week. I can’t believe the season is half over.

 

[Sam Favate]

I was thinking how in the LOTR movies, and in the Hobbit films, we keep hearing that “evil is spreading,” and it is, but we don’t see evil in action that much against ordinary people. Not so in Rings of Power: Here we see ordinary people thrown out of their homes and told to serve a new leader, Sauron, or perish. It’s fitting with Tolkien’s inspiration for Sauron and his armies, which was the Nazis.

 

[Clinton McClure]

A lot of the CGI is alarmingly bad and looks like a video game cut scene but the series itself is ok overall. I finished episode 3 this afternoon and will probably wait until one evening next week to watch episode 4.

 

[Clinton McClure]

So I decided to go ahead and watch episode 4 this evening. Now I’m lost and have no idea what’s going on because this episode was so damn boring that I fell asleep not long after it began and woke up as the credits were playing.

 

[TJPC]

Ouch! We have been enthralled by the series so far. No problems with the CGI here. To us it makes the settings breathtaking. We also watched every minute of the last episode on the edge of our seats.

 

[NeilO]

I agree that episode 4 was another winner. I am enjoying what they are doing. Amazon has promised them 5 seasons of 10 episodes each and it looks like it will be a great ride.

 

[jayembee]

Who else thought that the message that Arondir was to bring back to the people at the watchtower was going to be "The orcs are right behind me!"

I'm enjoying this way more than I expected to.

 

[Josh Dial]

This show is beautiful from top to bottom.

My favourite show currently airing right now.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yup, I'd totally enjoyed all four episodes so far.

 

[Josh Dial]

Poppy's song, "This Wandering Day", was stunning. Legitimately moving.

From Bear McCreary: the lyrics are by JD Payne, Plan 9 wrote the melody, and McCreary produced/arranged/orchestrated. The end credits version was sung by Plan 9's Janet Roddick.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Poppy's song, "This Wandering Day", was stunning. Legitimately moving.

From Bear McCreary: the lyrics are by JD Payne, Plan 9 wrote the melody, and McCreary produced/arranged/orchestrated. The end credits version was sung by Plan 9's Janet Roddick.

Beautiful song.

I’m really loving this series.

 

[Sam Favate]

The show remains absolutely beautiful. The photography is, more often than not, stunning.

That said, this week’s episode was pretty slow. One of the problems with these serialized shows vs episodic television is that it takes a long time to tell a relatively simple part of the story. For example, we know that Numenor will launch ships to Middle Earth, but they discussed it for three weeks! So, it’s a lot of drama for a conclusion that, for the audience, is foregone. There’s no real tension if we know what has to happen. The controversy among the people of Numenor could have been handled quickly. It feels like wasted time.

 

[SamT]

Didn't they say in the movies that dwarf women have beards and indistinguishable from men?