Is there really no post? Am I just going senile?

Anyway, it's the most expensive TV show ever made. I was *incredibly* concerned that it would look low-rent, like Netflix's super expensive movies or something. Dull colors, bad effects, rushed work, etc.

But, man, it does *not* look low-rent. Looks fucking great, really.

First episode is doing a lot of "set up the characters" stuff, so it's occasionally stilted, but the tone is right on the money and the visuals are lush. It's got that super-earnest-verging-on-corny thing that's precisely correct for Lord of the Rings. The fact that they spent an extra couple minutes showing the halflings picking berries? It gave me faith that the people in charge "get it" and that I'll be in good hands going forward.

A little concerned about a couple of our main characters' performances, but since everything around them is so strong, I'll gladly give them another episode or two before passing judgment.

Going to be hard not to compare these first two episodes (and the series going forward) to House Of The Dragon, but on visuals alone, TROP blows it away.

>Going to be hard not to compare these first two episodes (and
>the series going forward) to House Of The Dragon, but on
>visuals alone, TROP blows it away.

Like, it's obviously a bit unfair because HOTD is supposed to be all shadowy backrooms and dank whorehouses and shit like this, it's going to have less visual splendor inherently because of the world it's in...

... but I'm not convinced the visuals of HOTD are on par with GoT yet. And while the scripts and characters for TROP aren't yet on par with LOTR, I'd say the visuals are definitely, if not completely comparable (because LOTR is one of the best looking trilogies ever made), at least worthy of the franchise, which is quite an accomplishment.

Im assuming most of that is due to the visuals. Bezos is pumping a billion dollars into the whole series. Id be concerned if the visuals werent better than an HBO show

Not criticizing LOTR. Millions of people love that universe and its mythology, and good for them. I just couldn't ever get into it. Never cared to read the books. I saw all the movies and just didn't get much from them. I actually liked the Hobbit movies a little more, just because they weren't as self-important and they had Martin Freeman. Maybe I just get all my fantasy quota from Star Trek (which is imperfect in a thousand ways, but they mostly seem to be baked in for me).

But this looks like something I can get into without being distracted by the Tolkien baggage. It certainly looks visually beautiful from what I've seen. And I like the fact that (from what I understand) they're writing a totally independent story, just using Tolkien miscellanea as a scaffolding. If the writers are good, and if Amazon gives them space, it seems like it could be great.

I watched the original trilogy and it was entertaining. The Hobbit series of movies was doo doo. Im finding it hard to get myself motivated to watch this series but maybe i will once all the episodes are released. I just dont know if you have to be well versed in the mythology to get into it. I just now realized the lead actress is playing the younger version of Cate Blanchett's character.

Meaning the level of craft is astonishing, things are pretty likable overall in terms of characters and plot, but you can tell it's going to take a very winding road to bring all these characters together, and there's already a bit of video game plotting that you see in a lot of streaming fantasy series.

Gladreiel and the dawarf's are great, but not feeling Elrond or the lone Elf. This is the second age so I could lean on that this was an early time for some of the characters but acting could be better in some places.

Not to make a schtick of finding weird doppelgängers in fantasy shows, but the meteor dude really gave me vibes of Bob Odenkirk as Charles Manson/Lassie. One of my favorite sketches of all time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5IrRe2F7qY

Despite the expensive special effects and being Lord Of The Rings, its nothing groundbreaking. Its not fucking with House Of The Dragon or Thrones. But its entertaining for what it is. As was stated above, besides the main characters, the rest of the performances are nothing memorable. Id never rewatch this series once im done with it

Tons of stuff to criticize, but it kept me engaged for an hour.

Only thing that really felt off to me was how Galadriel & the gang suddenly showed up when it felt like they were still weeks away from the watchtower.

But other than that it had everything I could wish for in an hour of LOTR. Including the absence of harfoots, lol.

Really looking forward to the next episode.

I don't give a shit about deviating from supposed canon (so glad I'm not some reactionary Tolkien nerd) but why do these big budget shows have such uneven screenwriting?

They (creators and Bezos) seem to think tons of money for CGI is a good substitute for strong story and writing. Shit is no different than a Michael Bay movie.

- Galadriel just wandering off from the village with Theo right after the Mt. Doom blast, then acting like they "got separated" from the Numenorians and villagers;
- Her talking to the Numenorians after finally joining up again and not even asking about Halbrand until the end of the conversation, even though he's supposed to be a huge deal;
- The Numenorian queen insisting on hiding her blindness to her people, then openly wearing a blindfold in the next scene;
- Halbrand supposedly being injured to the point of having to lie down and needing elven medicine, then hopping on horseback and galloping away as if he's doing just fine.

Stuff like that just makes characters look weird and takes you out of the story because you're trying to wrap your brain around the inconsistencies instead of being absorbed by what's happening.

edit: completely forgot about the insanely corny "Southlands" text turning into "Mordor" on screen. Who thought that was a good idea???

I give it a solid B+