Amazon's Lord of the Rings (tv series)

[Lord Boron]

I liked the first episode. sure it had the usual problems that first episodes of most series have, and I’m not overly keen on the guy playing Elrond. It looks fantastic, and the ending hooked me for the next episode. And I agree with Kylash, it was better than the Hobbit (Low bar....I know)

 

[HMSwolfe]

Bored. Feels like every other big film venture nowadays—overly reliant on name recognition, very “high-def” to the point of being overly digital and clean, factory-produced and audience-tested, nothing truly memorable, and woeful casting that’s not helped by worse writing and absent direction. Galadriel was unpleasant to watch, the fake hobbit ancestors made me feel ill and wish they’d not been included at all. There were definitely better and more substantive moments in all three Hobbit films that felt LOTR, that felt Tolkien, than there were here. I’m really not surprised this thread’s practically dead, even though the first two episodes aired on Thursday. This may seem like something that could go without saying, but this show does not feel like anyone cared to make it. It’s just “big company buys film license, milks as much out of the name for as little real effort, passion not involved in any capacity.”

 

[Joek3rr]

Those first two episodes were just fine.......I mean they weren't bad, but they don't feel Tolkien. Just generic fantasy. But what makes something have that "feel?" I don't know. But how can two wildly different takes on Tolkien's world both manage to "feel" Tolkien?

But I'll hold off from passing full judgment until the season is over.

 

[Kroenen77]

The first 2 Episodes are great.Great story great Quality,great actors and great sound.
Hope they can hold this level.

 

[Jediguy]

I enjoyed the first 2 episodes. Man I need that elven warrior chest plate

 

[Treadwell]

Didn't expect to like it, kinda did

 

[frosty]

I'm enjoying it so far, at least its entertaining, shame to see the usual haters piling on, always the same faces on multiple threads on multiple franchises, the same its crap wah! give it a rest!,

 

[Paul Andrew]

I've watched the first episode now, and it's fine? Like, as a fan of the books I kinda already know how things end up for most of these folks so... Meh?

In motion the costumes and set design look pretty decent, if not quite as good as the first trilogy. They've gone to great pains to make things look like they could be from the same world as the films, and the acting is on par with them as well.

I'll give the second episode a shot to see if it can hook me, but so far I'm merely unoffended rather than excited.

 

[Treadwell]

I find the acting choices for the Harfoots to be just a touch too far on the side of whimsy. Like a community theater farce. It's a hard balance to find.

 

[teragon]

Funny, I don't know if these are supposed to be a prequel or another take on Jackson's LOTR, but if they are a prequel, I find the quite the opposite, it doesn't look like the same aesthetic at all to me. I've only seen the first episode, I hear the dwarves are better, but the elves ? Nothing is right, the hair are way too modern, tunics do not feel the same, armors and swords even less. Might be in the past, but I don't see how those big claymores they have become the elegant slimmed and curved blades seen in Jackson's LOTR. It's worse with the armours... To me it actually looks they actively went away from the trilogy aesthetics.

So it it stands on its own, I'll keep an open mind, if it doesn't, not a good start.

 

[Paul Andrew]

Funny, I don't know if these are supposed to be a prequel or another take on Jackson's LOTR, but if they are a prequel, I find the quite the opposite, it doesn't look like the same aesthetic at all to me. I've only seen the first episode, I hear the dwarves are better, but the elves ? Nothing is right, the hair are way too modern, tunics do not feel the same, armors and swords even less. Might be in the past, but I don't see how those big claymores they have become the elegant slimmed and curved blades seen in Jackson's LOTR. It's worse with the armours... To me it actually looks they actively went away from the trilogy aesthetics.

So it it stands on its own, I'll keep an open mind, if it doesn't, not a good start.

I should have specified, in terms of colors and tones, the overall vibe is very reminiscent of the PJ movies. All the elven stuff is dialed to 11 on saturation, it's all vaguely soft and ethereal.

 

[somerset fox]

I find the acting choices for the Harfoots to be just a touch too far on the side of whimsy. Like a community theater farce. It's a hard balance to find.

It’s as if the worst holo characters from the village of Fairhaven on Voyager escaped and found a new program to live in, to be sure, to be sure, to be sure!!

 

[Schlegel]

If I don't think of it as Tolkien it's not half bad. My gripes...
1. Harfoots are too twee.
2. Short hair is wrong on Elves.
3. Pacing...Too much jumping around. Feels disjointed. LOTR had fewer viewpoint shifts, mostly not switching off Frodo until a character had joined him.
4. The ice troll fight. Why is the entire company useless except for Galadriel? Did even one of them make a single attempt to swing a blade? They should all have a hundred years experience fighting orcs/monsters at an absolute minimum.
5. Don't Dwarven women have beards?

I didn't even notice it at first but my wife, who has some costuming ability, is irked by the machine embroidery. The handwork in the PJ trilogy makes the clothing look real even in the tightest close-up. She thinks for a billion $ they could have shelled out for the real deal.

 

[Tommy]

5. Don't Dwarven women have beards?

Do they not at all? I could have sworn the showrunners confirmed at Comic Con that they would have beards...

 

[Treadwell]

I think she at least had mutton chops

 

[Schlegel]

Do they not at all? I could have sworn the showrunners confirmed at Comic Con that they would have beards...

Not even a few fine fluffy follicles

 

[Schlegel]

I assume they thought it would freak out the mundanes.

 

[dascoyne]

Dialogue is superfluous to frankly cringeworthy.

I mean, Elrond actually referred to Galadriel as "The Warrior of the Wasteland."

Is she also the "Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla"?

 

[Paul Andrew]

Dialogue is superfluous to frankly cringeworthy.

I mean, Elrond actually referred to Galadriel as "The Warrior of the Wasteland."

Is she also the "Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla"?

It's good alliteration.

 

[dascoyne]

It's good alliteration.

Well, it's an apt example of alliteration albiet adverse to any actual original artistry on the part of the author.