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Rings of Power series on Amazon in Sept

gamecockcat

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Oct 29, 2004
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Only trailer out looks pretty good. Looks like they dumped a ton of cash into making it, too. Could be pretty cool. Any thoughts?

It's a prequel to LOTR, if you're unaware. Just happened to catch the trailer last night while perusing Prime.
 
Only trailer out looks pretty good. Looks like they dumped a ton of cash into making it, too. Could be pretty cool. Any thoughts?

It's a prequel to LOTR, if you're unaware. Just happened to catch the trailer last night while perusing Prime.

Apparently they already ordered season 2, so that should be a really good sign.
 
I think they did that with Wheel of Time, too, and that ended up being mediocre at best. Although I admittedly am a disgruntled reader of that series who's annoyed by all the changes
I thought Wheel was entertaining. Not great, but I would watch a second season.

I am skeptical of LOTRs series. The movies were very good and essentially true to the novels. The Hobbit trilogy was very disappointing and even boring. I just doubt Tolkien can be reproduced, but I have it marked to watch.
 
I thought Wheel was entertaining. Not great, but I would watch a second season.

I am skeptical of LOTRs series. The movies were very good and essentially true to the novels. The Hobbit trilogy was very disappointing and even boring. I just doubt Tolkien can be reproduced, but I have it marked to watch.
Give this one a try.


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It isn't Tolkien. This is fan fiction using names you've heard before. They are probably going to be sued by the family of Tolkien after this season airs... if the contents of the rights are correct.
 
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And it's been picked up for 5 seasons. Amazon paid $1billion for the rights to the appendices of the books. This show is gonna focus on the 2nd age which took place over 1000's of years and they are gonna condense it down to 5 seasons and force it into a human lifetime. If you want generic fantasy it might be cool. If you are a Tolkien fan then this is going to piss you off bigly.
 
That sucks. I really wanted a legit prequel.


Im a bit of a fantasy nerd but this dude is a beast. He reads the whole series every year and knows everything about Tolkien and everything written. He is also a black dude as that might solve some peoples problems with what his critiques are. He also is very left leaning politically which also takes that out as his reason for his critique.
 


Im a bit of a fantasy nerd but this dude is a beast. He reads the whole series every year and knows everything about Tolkien and everything written. He is also a black dude as that might solve some peoples problems with what his critiques are. He also is very left leaning politically which also takes that out as his reason for his critique.
Dude knows his Tolkien. I tried to read the Silmarillion in high school. I read the Hobbit and the first book of the trilogy in the 5th grade and then read the rest later. I could not get into the Silmarillion. This guy appears to be a Tolkien historian.
 
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Dude knows his Tolkien. I tried to read the Silmarillion in high school. I read the Hobbit and the first book of the trilogy in the 5th grade and then read the rest later. I could not get into the Silmarillion. This guy appears to be a Tolkien historian.
He speaks elvish and entish. He cracks me up on some of his knowledge. He can quote stuff and even tell you which movie a clip of music is from based on how the score changed from movie to movie. I wonder what he does for a living? lol.
 
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God this looks just terrible. Nothing like Peter Jackson’s LotR/Hobbit. This is going to fail miserably.
 
Dude knows his Tolkien. I tried to read the Silmarillion in high school. I read the Hobbit and the first book of the trilogy in the 5th grade and then read the rest later. I could not get into the Silmarillion. This guy appears to be a Tolkien historian.

Definitely heavy reading at that age. I tried too and couldn't do it. Did years later and loved it. Will be a shame if they just ignore that incredible trove of content
 
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Apparently. they have gotten the word and quit saying this is an adaptation and are saying it is based on the works of JRR Tolkien.
 
Definitely heavy reading at that age. I tried too and couldn't do it. Did years later and loved it. Will be a shame if they just ignore that incredible trove of content

The show can't use any material at all from The Silmarillion.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/10-burning-questions-about-amazons-the-rings-of-power

So what did Amazon buy? “We have the rights solely to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, the appendices, and The Hobbit,” Payne says. “And that is it. We do not have the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, or any of those other books.” That takes a huge chunk of lore off the table and has left Tolkien fans wondering how this duo plans to tell a Second Age story without access to those materials. “There’s a version of everything we need for the Second Age in the books we have the rights to,” McKay says. “As long as we’re painting within those lines and not egregiously contradicting something we don’t have the rights to, there’s a lot of leeway and room to dramatize and tell some of the best stories that [Tolkien] ever came up with.”

“We took all these little clues and thought of them as stars in the sky that we then connected to write the novel that Tolkien never wrote about the Second Age,” Payne says.
 

Very disappointing. Obviously I'm not in that business but seems after spending that kind of money, buying the silmarillion too would be peanuts. Odd too considering apparently Amazon has been paying massive money for book to show deals and taking great pains to stay true to material.

Disappointing imo but I guess we'll see what they come up with
 
That's what is going to get them sued. They are trying to use the appendices to tell silmarillion stories. They must have a family member on board and bought off.

Christopher Tolkien was JRR's son. He was a staunch defender of his fathers work. He passed away and Amazon fired Tolkien expert Tom Shippey. The production was moving at a snails pass before Chris died. After that they went into shooting scenes. Most fans think it was because Chris kept telling them "NO, you can't do that".
 
That's what is going to get them sued. They are trying to use the appendices to tell silmarillion stories. They must have a family member on board and bought off.

Christopher Tolkien was JRR's son. He was a staunch defender of his fathers work. He passed away and Amazon fired Tolkien expert Tom Shippey. The production was moving at a snails pass before Chris died. After that they went into shooting scenes. Most fans think it was because Chris kept telling them "NO, you can't do that".
Which would explain this atrocity we see now.
 


Im a bit of a fantasy nerd but this dude is a beast. He reads the whole series every year and knows everything about Tolkien and everything written. He is also a black dude as that might solve some peoples problems with what his critiques are. He also is very left leaning politically which also takes that out as his reason for his critique.
I have no idea if the show will be good, but I wouldn’t take seriously anything that the guy says in the video you linked.

He somehow seems to think that the narration starting at the 1:30 mark is coming from the character speaking around the 2:45 mark, despite the fact that they quite clearly have completely different accents.

He also is factually incorrect in a few of his assertions about what’s written in Tolkien’s books. Seems to me this is simply someone making a bunch of assumptions off of a trailer that doesn’t reveal much other than imagery, and then making a video so that people can hear them complain.
 
Very disappointing. Obviously I'm not in that business but seems after spending that kind of money, buying the silmarillion too would be peanuts. Odd too considering apparently Amazon has been paying massive money for book to show deals and taking great pains to stay true to material.

Disappointing imo but I guess we'll see what they come up with
I would guess that they saw little point to buying the Silmarillion since this show focuses on the Second Age, particularly if the Tolkien estate felt there was significant value in the rights to first age stories.

Nearly all of the Silmarillion deals with the first age and there’s only a single chapter near the end that discusses the second age. So the second age is less than 10% of the book.
 
I have no idea if the show will be good, but I wouldn’t take seriously anything that the guy says in the video you linked.

He somehow seems to think that the narration starting at the 1:30 mark is coming from the character speaking around the 2:45 mark, despite the fact that they quite clearly have completely different accents.

He also is factually incorrect in a few of his assertions about what’s written in Tolkien’s books. Seems to me this is simply someone making a bunch of assumptions off of a trailer that doesn’t reveal much other than imagery, and then making a video so that people can hear them complain.
Incorrect about what?
 

It isn't Tolkien. This is fan fiction using names you've heard before. They are probably going to be sued by the family of Tolkien after this season airs... if the contents of the rights are correct.
I'm not too excited about it, but I might give it a chance. They're taking a 150 page appendix that outlines 1000 years of history and making a 5 season tv series that condenses it into a narrow span of time. It's not a Tolkien story - it's a story built around a bare framework of history Tolkien wrote.
 
Incorrect about what?
For example, at the 3:00 minute mark he asserts there’s no way the hobbit ancestor would know that Elves have forests, Dwarves have mines and Men have fields because this early hobbit is in the east and the major kingdoms are in the west.

That’s not accurate. All Elves originated in the east with most deciding to migrate west and many falling off along the way as part of the sundering. The Silvan realm of Greenwood was established early second age and was east of the mountains.

Similarly, there were the Northmen who were also east of the mountains and some of whom were the ancient ancestors of Rohan (Rohan also had an ancient word for hobbits mentioned in the LOTR; they called them holbytla and thought hobbits were simply folklore because they hadn’t encountered them for centuries).

And 4 of the 7 dwarf clans also originated in the east. So there’s very little basis for the guy who made this video to say that it’s impossible that these early hobbits would have been aware of Elves, Dwarves and Men. All of these races pretty much originated in the east and migrated west.
 
For example, at the 3:00 minute mark he asserts there’s no way the hobbit ancestor would know that Elves have forests, Dwarves have mines and Men have fields because this early hobbit is in the east and the major kingdoms are in the west.

That’s not accurate. All Elves originated in the east with most deciding to migrate west and many falling off along the way as part of the sundering. The Silvan realm of Greenwood was established early second age and was east of the mountains.

Similarly, there were the Northmen who were also east of the mountains and some of whom were the ancient ancestors of Rohan (Rohan also had an ancient word for hobbits mentioned in the LOTR; they called them holbytla and thought hobbits were simply folklore because they hadn’t encountered them for centuries).

And 4 of the 7 dwarf clans also originated in the east. So there’s very little basis for the guy who made this video to say that it’s impossible that these early hobbits would have been aware of Elves, Dwarves and Men. All of these races pretty much originated in the east and migrated west.
Wasn’t he referencing the hobbit as narrator and that hobbits secluded themselves from the rest of the world, rather than commenting on the origins of the other races?
 
Wasn’t he referencing the hobbit as narrator and that hobbits secluded themselves from the rest of the world, rather than commenting on the origins of the other races?
What the narrator was saying is that it would be impossible for the early hobbits to be aware of these other races because the hobbits were still in the east and had not yet encountered Elves, Dwarves or Men. He wasn’t basing his statement on whether or not the hobbits chose to seclude themselves.

And at any rate, the prologue to the LOTR states that the early hobbits were not that secluded prior to their settling down in the Shire. Of one of the three groups of early hobbit, Tolkien wrote: “The Harfoots had much to do with Dwarves in ancient times…”. So the seclusion argument wouldn’t necessarily hold up either, although it is accurate that the early hobbits were more aware of some of the other races than vice versa per what Tolkien wrote in the prologue.

Regardless, my main point in responding was simply this. I have no idea if this show will be good. I just know that you probably shouldn’t listen to the guy in the YouTube video that was linked in the post I initially responded to. The creator of the video doesn’t have all his facts straight and is also making some big assumptions that may or may not be accurate.
 
What the narrator was saying is that it would be impossible for the early hobbits to be aware of these other races because the hobbits were still in the east and had not yet encountered Elves, Dwarves or Men. He wasn’t basing his statement on whether or not the hobbits chose to seclude themselves.

And at any rate, the prologue to the LOTR states that the early hobbits were not that secluded prior to their settling down in the Shire. Of one of the three groups of early hobbit, Tolkien wrote: “The Harfoots had much to do with Dwarves in ancient times…”. So the seclusion argument wouldn’t necessarily hold up either, although it is accurate that the early hobbits were more aware of some of the other races than vice versa per what Tolkien wrote in the prologue.

Regardless, my main point in responding was simply this. I have no idea if this show will be good. I just know that you probably shouldn’t listen to the guy in the YouTube video that was linked in the post I initially responded to. The creator of the video doesn’t have all his facts straight and is also making some big assumptions that may or may not be accurate.
I would find a debate between that guy and you to be nerdy fun.
 
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For example, at the 3:00 minute mark he asserts there’s no way the hobbit ancestor would know that Elves have forests, Dwarves have mines and Men have fields because this early hobbit is in the east and the major kingdoms are in the west.

That’s not accurate. All Elves originated in the east with most deciding to migrate west and many falling off along the way as part of the sundering. The Silvan realm of Greenwood was established early second age and was east of the mountains.

Similarly, there were the Northmen who were also east of the mountains and some of whom were the ancient ancestors of Rohan (Rohan also had an ancient word for hobbits mentioned in the LOTR; they called them holbytla and thought hobbits were simply folklore because they hadn’t encountered them for centuries).

And 4 of the 7 dwarf clans also originated in the east. So there’s very little basis for the guy who made this video to say that it’s impossible that these early hobbits would have been aware of Elves, Dwarves and Men. All of these races pretty much originated in the east and migrated west.
Elves originated in the East? Weren't they originally from Valinor and moved to the west coast of middle earth? I didn't think they ever went east of the map and hobbits originated east of the map?
 
Elves originated in the East? Weren't they originally from Valinor and moved to the west coast of middle earth? I didn't think they ever went east of the map and hobbits originated east of the map?
No, they were summoned to Valinor and not all of them chose to follow that summons.

Once in Valinor, the Noldor left to return to Middle-Earth at the behest of Feanor and against the command of the Valar.

All elves awoke in the east.
 
No, they were summoned to Valinor and not all of them chose to follow that summons.

Once in Valinor, the Noldor left to return to Middle-Earth at the behest of Feanor and against the command of the Valar.

All elves awoke in the east.
Yea. but were hobbits a thing at that time. You're going back 20000 years or more for that move. I thought they were the only human like creatures in middle earth before they were summoned? I thought the Avari were settled in a forest kinda close to Mordor?

But to defend 'just some guy', what people are afraid of with the show is that they are going to say "well Tolkien didn't specifically say this didn't happen so we can say it did happen". There have been leaks of some choices that have people scared that they are just going to do generic fantasy story #8 with LOTR on the box and starring Galadriel. Celeborn for instance is supposedly quite different than how he is in lore.
 
Yea. but were hobbits a thing at that time. You're going back 20000 years or more for that move. I thought they were the only human like creatures in middle earth before they were summoned? I thought the Avari were settled in a forest kinda close to Mordor?

But to defend 'just some guy', what people are afraid of with the show is that they are going to say "well Tolkien didn't specifically say this didn't happen so we can say it did happen". There have been leaks of some choices that have people scared that they are just going to do generic fantasy story #8 with LOTR on the box and starring Galadriel. Celeborn for instance is supposedly quite different than how he is in lore.
There were only elves at the beginning. But the Avari refused to leave and were scattered throughout the east, and remained to the east of Mordor. The Nandor started the journey and turned back before crossing the mountains, some of whom become the Silvan elves living in the forests near Mordor. Point being, by the time hobbits arrive on the scene, there are elves scattered throughout the east and west and some them also taught the first men (from whom hobbits descended).

Like I said, this show may be good or it may be awful. The writers may also have taken excessive liberties with the material that are not consistent with Tolkien’s intent, but that remains to be seen.

My point about the YouTuber is that I don’t think people should take him seriously because he is making some very basic mistakes, he’s making assumptions about the story based on clips from a trailer that may not reflect the actual story, and he seems confused about some of the facts from Tolkien’s writings.

If you want to buy into what he’s saying, more power to you. Whatever he’s afraid may ultimately prove to be the case. But from what I’ve seen, he’s simply not someone I find to be a sound thinker and he’s lazy when it comes to doing his homework. I’m not sure how anyone could confuse the narration of Galadriel at the start of the trailer with the narration of the hobbit woman, but somehow this guy managed to do it.
 
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I think they did that with Wheel of Time, too, and that ended up being mediocre at best. Although I admittedly am a disgruntled reader of that series who's annoyed by all the changes
I am with you being a Disgruntled reader. Hate Martin never finished the book series with the last 2 books. I understand though that HBO had to wrap up their series but not happy about it
 
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I am with you being a Disgruntled reader. Hate Martin never finished the book series with the last 2 books. I understand though that HBO had to wrap up their series but not happy about it
You are talking about Game of Thrones. I was talking about Wheel of Time on Amazon
 
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The thing about book 1 of Wheel of Time is that the ending was confusing and the Lan and Nynaeve relationship kinda comes out of nowhere later in the books. The Tv show managed to make the ending more confusing and sped up the relationship to make it even weirder.

It's why I have zero faith in rings of power. They got a nobody that had barely worked for a marvel tv show, that got canceled, to run Wheel Of Time... and it showed. The 2 guys running Rings Of Power have a non credited writing credit, that's how they said it, for a bad Star Trek show. If these guys honestly think they can write something to set alongside a Tolkien book then they would of published something or written a series or movie that would be famously successful. Lord Of The Rings is either the 2nd best selling book all time or 2nd best fiction seller all time. These 2 yocals think they can START at that level of writing.

smdh... This generation and their self importance.
 
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Guy on the radio today said the visuals are beautiful, but the first episode is big on background. Said second was better, but was not yet hooked.
 
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