First impressions of The Rings of Power as social media embargo lifts

[sun rise]

TL;DR summary - they liked it a LOT

First impressions of The Rings of Power as social media embargo lifts

The first few:
Social media embargo is up for #LordofTheRings #TheRingsofPower #LOTR, so: I’ve seen the first 2 episodes. I had been skeptical…but I was very pleasantly surprised. It is actually good! Very good! Visuals & tone are just right. IMO, a great addition to the Tolkien world

— Lauren Sarner (@LaurenSarner) August 24, 2022
#TheRingsofPower is CINEMATIC EXCELLENCE. The scale of this story has never been done before, making each moment EPIC & BREATHTAKING. The marriage between practical and computer generated effects will set the standard for everything that follows. @LOTRonPrime @PrimeVideoCA pic.twitter.com/Grt3wsUUtC

— Shahbaz Fan Expo Toronto (@shayhbaz) August 24, 2022

#TheRingsOfPower is a CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE! The visionary team behind it has produced an epic that dives into its roots and delivers a story like no other. Its production is beyond comparison, masterfully orchestrating a mythology that fans have been waiting for. Bravo! pic.twitter.com/nvebQkdEx7

— Anthony – The Movie Podcast (@AJJetset) August 24, 2022​

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Ok, so did they actually stick to Tolkien or did they butcher it like they helped do to Star Trek?

 

[sun rise]

Ok, so did they actually stick to Tolkien or did they butcher it like they helped do to Star Trek?

You should read the reviews. As for me, I'll judge after I see them.

 

[ChristineM]

Ok, so did they actually stick to Tolkien or did they butcher it like they helped do to Star Trek?

The Tolkein estate has final word on all his work.

Though... There are hundreds of pages written by Tolkien that were not included in his books.

The film makers have access to these pages and may use them as well as the books.

This results in Tolkien readers being disappointed because 'that bit and that bit were not in the books'.

 

[SomeRandom]

The Tolkein estate has final word on all his work.

Though... There are hundreds of pages written by Tolkien that were not included in his books.

The film makers have access to these pages and may use them as well as the books.

This results in Tolkien readers being disappointed because 'that bit and that bit were not in the books'.

I think his estate aren’t as “picky” as Tolkien himself might have been. Or perhaps his original editor.
Plenty of authors, even the good ones, need editors to keep them in line.
Those pages were “discarded” for a reason.
Perhaps a very good one.
Though I might not object to their inclusion all the same. More Tolkien content lol

 

[ChristineM]

I think his estate aren’t as “picky” as Tolkien himself might have been. Or perhaps his original editor.
Plenty of authors, even the good ones, need editors to keep them in line.
Those pages were “discarded” for a reason.
Perhaps a very good one.
Though I might not object to their inclusion all the same. More Tolkien content lol

I think you are spot on.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

You should read the reviews. As for me, I'll judge after I see them.

I tend not to trust those and make my own opinions.
But this is some serious stuff.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The Tolkein estate has final word on all his work.

Though... There are hundreds of pages written by Tolkien that were not included in his books.

The film makers have access to these pages and may use them as well as the books.

This results in Tolkien readers being disappointed because 'that bit and that bit were not in the books'.

That just sounds problematic as it allows for ideas Tolkien may not have wanted included. This is why many unreleased songs from dead musicians often aren't their best. They made it, realized it's not up to par, and didn't release it.
This is also how Elizabeth Forster-Nietzsche assembled the Will to Power and it's total garbage compared to what is accepted as Nietzsche canon, as it was edited and pieced together in a manner to deliberately promote and overlap with Nazi ideology.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

That just sounds problematic as it allows for ideas Tolkien may not have wanted included. This is why many unreleased songs from dead musicians often aren't their best. They made it, realized it's not up to par, and didn't release it.
This is also how Elizabeth Forster-Nietzsche assembled the Will to Power and it's total garbage compared to what is accepted as Nietzsche canon.

Meanwhile the best Lovecraftian mythos is stuff he never touched and the best Star Trek was ones made after Roddenberry was dead and buried.

I mean DS9 and Lower Decks, not Discovery or Abrams movies btw. There's lots of reason to dislike certain departures from the original material but purist for purism sake was never my cup of tea.

Reminds me of people who were mad the tragic ending was removed from Disney's
The Hunchback of Notre Dame even though Hugo himself wrote a screenplay where everyone didn't die in the end, and generally believed stories should radically shift in tone for the radically different new audiences and times.

'Respect the lore' is something I associate with the most stagnant, autocannibalistic forms of fandom, which doesn't help.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

I'll give it a try but to be honest I'm kind of burnt out on European high fantasy between new Game of Thrones, new Lord of the Rings and new Witcher.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I think his estate aren’t as “picky” as Tolkien himself might have been. Or perhaps his original editor.
Plenty of authors, even the good ones, need editors to keep them in line.
Those pages were “discarded” for a reason.
Perhaps a very good one.
Though I might not object to their inclusion all the same. More Tolkien content lol

In a nutshell, my objection to that is those ideas that seemed great at first but turned out to be terrible in the end. We've all had those. Those moments we are glad no one was around to witness our embarrassment because it really did seem awesome at first, no I wasn't drunk, lol.

 

[SomeRandom]

In a nutshell, my objection to that is those ideas that seemed great at first but turned out to be terrible in the end. We've all had those. Those moments we are glad no one was around to witness our embarrassment because it really did seem awesome at first, no I wasn't drunk, lol.

Whilst I agree.
I dunno. Maybe some inclusions could prove to be more fun.
I respect Tolkien greatly. But not every adaption needs to be slavishly devoted to be “accurate to Lore.”
It’s an interpretation at the end of the day. If I don’t like it, meh. I can always just reread the original

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Meanwhile the best Lovecraftian mythos is stuff he never touched and the best Star Trek was ones made after Roddenberry was dead and buried.

Those are all fan fiction to me. And myself, I haven't liked much of the Lovecraft fan fics (especially the movies), and TNG is my favorite even if he did include things that make me want to bash my head through a brick wall.
And that's just story telling. For all their worth and showed us and portrayed I'd have to say OS and TNG are both revolutionary and ground breaking. Inter-racial relationships and the first interracial kiss on TV, cis-guy dating a trans-woman, sex being portrayed in a positive and healthy way, a woman sitting at the captain's left hand, and ideas of friendship are thoroughly pondered and played out.
DS9 did have the first black captain, but it was also the first departure from Star Trek being less about morality and more about action and conventional norms, such as, it's also the first to embrace religion and let it play a central part of the story even though Roddenberry, Kirk and Picard stubbornly and admirably opposed it.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Whilst I agree.
I dunno. Maybe some inclusions could prove to be more fun.
I respect Tolkien greatly. But not every adaption needs to be slavishly devoted to be “accurate to Lore.”
It’s an interpretation at the end of the day. If I don’t like it, meh. I can always just reread the original

My idea of a good adaptation is using the book as the script, lmao.

 

[SomeRandom]

My idea of a good adaptation is using the book as the script, lmao.

Lol
I mean, thats fair enough.

Though some things have to change in the translation to screen.
But I can see attempting to include literally everything turning out badly. (I mean look at the Hobbit movie trilogy. Jackson tried to cram everything into it.)
Ironically I think some of his changes in his Lord of the Rings adaption worked for the better.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Those are all fan fiction to me. And myself, I haven't liked much of the Lovecraft fan fics (especially the movies), and TNG is my favorite even if he did include things that make me want to bash my head through a brick wall.
And that's just story telling. For all their worth and showed us and portrayed I'd have to say OS and TNG are both revolutionary and ground breaking. Inter-racial relationships and the first interracial kiss on TV, cis-guy dating a trans-woman, sex being portrayed in a positive and healthy way, a woman sitting at the captain's left hand, and ideas of friendship are thoroughly pondered and played out.
DS9 did have the first black captain, but it was also the first departure from Star Trek being less about morality and more about action and conventional norms, such as, it's also the first to embrace religion and let it play a central part of the story even though Roddenberry, Kirk and Picard stubbornly and admirably opposed it.

I'm okay with calling it fanfiction considering so much fanfiction is better than the original material once you get into the trenches a bit (Starship Troopers movie is better than the book, may Heinlein raise from the grave to fight me about it.)

It may have been groundbreaking it matters of inclusion and diversity, but that doesn't mean it's a good story (the "anti-woke" gasp in surprise. Dont get too excited, Lovecraft's greatest weakness is the scariest thing he thought existed in real life was a black woman, and it really narrowed how far his cosmic horror could go.) Both TOS and LotR are reductive, simplistic, and shallow in their own ways either because they were holding to a particular style. Epoch and operatic narratives which don't allow for robust characters in the case of LoTR, and a pie-in-the-sky utopian fiction which didn't really explore the flaws every posited utopia actually has in the case of TOS.
That's why I like DS9, it calls the Federation out on their BS. Presents a more well rounded universe which doesn't make everyone outside the strict utopian society into charicturishly evil.

My idea of a good adaptation is using the book as the script, lmao.

I love the Jurassic Park book and the extreme deviations the movie has because it provides the story through the contextual lens of two very different people (Crichton and Spielberg respectively.)

 

[Brickjectivity]

I hope Steven Colbert comments on it. That will be worth watching. Hey, lets start a thread and pressure him to comment!

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Lol
I mean, thats fair enough.

Though some things have to change in the translation to screen.
But I can see attempting to include literally everything turning out badly. (I mean look at the Hobbit movie trilogy. Jackson tried to cram everything into it.)
Ironically I think some of his changes in his Lord of the Rings adaption worked for the better.

True, but my mind sees differences like it would if someone had a rotting thumb dripping puss. Unless it's the paragraphs of describing trees or mountains or clouds. I do want a good picture in my head, but I don't need every feeling invoked by every different shade and hue of a rising sun and the exact appearance of the clouds and how they change the already overly elaborate landscape.

 

[sun rise]

My idea of a good adaptation is using the book as the script, lmao.

That's a bad idea. Things work on the printed page that would never work on the screen.

And in this case there's no book to draw from only hints and comments Tolkien put in various places. There are discussions on the internet about exactly what Tolkien said about the "second age" and where he said it.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

That's a bad idea.

I've seen a few that stuck to it pretty well.