That's the problem. LOTR is a much loved classic story written by a genius of the 20th century. ROP is a random story with no real source material written by a pair of Hollywood hacks. To expect it to be any good is slightly silly when you think about it. But it can be enjoyed for what it is.
Television The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Love it. Most of the characters have a lived in, world weary quality to them that makes them super relatable. It really balances well the sweet and tender with more dark and grim stuff. The vibe is akin to old school youngster fantasy like Princess Bride, Never Ending Story, Labyrinth, Time Bandits.
The art direction is impeccable. The colours and textures, the models, those little details like the orange bloom of a dress, or Galadriel's frazzled hair. Shit is sumptuous.
This episode felt slightly tangential but I liked this new city's mythos, particularly the detail about the Elvish remnants strewn throughout. It brought to mind Victor Hugo writing on Gothic architecture. I didn't quite understand the mining colony bit but the desolation was palpable. I still think the harfeet are a charming bunch.
The pissy pants Tolkienistas are right that this isn't faithful to the books, because it's not just a bunch of racist wankers trudging to a mountain to chuck a ring in some fire, or a bunch of racist wankers trudging to a mountain to rob a dragon. The Rings of Power universe feels more expansive, diverse, adventurous and fun. Go and cry.
The art direction is impeccable. The colours and textures, the models, those little details like the orange bloom of a dress, or Galadriel's frazzled hair. Shit is sumptuous.
This episode felt slightly tangential but I liked this new city's mythos, particularly the detail about the Elvish remnants strewn throughout. It brought to mind Victor Hugo writing on Gothic architecture. I didn't quite understand the mining colony bit but the desolation was palpable. I still think the harfeet are a charming bunch.
The pissy pants Tolkienistas are right that this isn't faithful to the books, because it's not just a bunch of racist wankers trudging to a mountain to chuck a ring in some fire, or a bunch of racist wankers trudging to a mountain to rob a dragon. The Rings of Power universe feels more expansive, diverse, adventurous and fun. Go and cry.
Don't encourage them.
I mean you're not wrong....
He's right though. Tolkien is inherently racist by modern standards. That's to be expected of a work that is so explicitly hostile to modernity and so explicitly based on North European mythology. But if you don't like Tolkien I have no idea why you would want to watch Rings of Power to begin with. The whole idea of modern Tolkien is flawed.
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Personally I disagree.
The fall of numenor is too huge of a climax to do at the beginning of the series. I would've thought they'd wanna do it later. Maybe around the 3rd or 4th quarter of the series.
And I don't believe Harland is Sauron, so personally there's no reason for me to believe that it will go that direction.
As for the forging of the rings of power, they've already hinted celeborn building the forge. So I'd imagine s2 will have the forging of at least some of the rings.
Understandable. But if they do a damn good job telling a damn good story, I think many could forgive it. The problem now is that it's falling short of that.
Holy shit. It's been 20 years already? Man I feel old.
Yeah. The dialogue is one of the sticking points for me. Not only does it lack the historical feel, but it's really crappy. Even when viewed from a modern lens.
Don't feed the troll.
I mean you're not wrong....
I always say. Never judge historical people by modern standards. You judge them against their peers. People are always a product of their time. So if they are progressive compared to their peers, that's good enough for me.
No it is NOT !
The objections to the Galadriel horse scene are a little obtuse. It had already been established that in this universe everyone fecking loves horses, for some reason. Granted that single Aphex Twin angle was a bit odd.
It looks absolutely amazing but so far I'm a bit bored to be honest and confused. I get that it's a slow burn but I'm kind of hoping it picks up pace up soon.
I like it so far, it's nice to see strong female characters who aren't also overly sexualised as in your Marvel and DC stuff.
Oh wow. I knew the faces were familiar but couldn't place them. The actor for Barca I didn't realise I'd seen his face before though.
Spartacus is a good parallel given that it was also an exceptionally well made, deceptively weighty show, that was kicked about and dismissed by superficial swine.
Spartacus is a bad comparison IMO. It had far worse production quality, but was still considerably better. Most of all, Spartacus was exciting, while this is a bit boring so far.
It might pick up.
It might pick up.
It has to. I'm ok with the way they are developing the different stories so far.
I can't get over the stupidity of the Galadriel jumping overboard and swimming from Valinor scene. Why doesn't she just swim from Numenor to Middle Earth, no need to beg for or steal a ship? Oh, because Elendil saved her from certain death at sea, the certain death she jumped to and would have ended up with her back in Valinor. It is such a dumb story-line, if they need Galadriel and Halbrand together surely they could come up with something better than that.
Spectacularly pretty show but hire some competent writers Amazon.
Spectacularly pretty show but hire some competent writers Amazon.
Yeah disagree on Spartacus comparison - that managed to be more fun and also get you really invested in characters quickly despite being a ‘cheap’ series. Going for established actors in the main supporting cast gave them that guarantee - Peter Mensah, John Hannah, Lucy Lawless were all brilliant. They also really focused on the lives of the slaves/training and then the Roman life to contrast, it was deliberately simple and it worked well.
Lord of the Rings also has less full frontal nudity, unfortunately.
There's still time for the Dwarf queen to get them out.
I do remember having a chuckle at this bit
This thread is a bit of a minefield isn't it.
Feck me, their plant is literally next to their TV in plain view and it hasn't been watered in months.I do remember having a chuckle at this bit
What is funny about this line, sorry?
So funny that there being inconsistent Irish accents is such an issue. Frodo having a posh accent, Sam being all midlands, and Pip being bleedin’ Scottish; those things are fine and part of a classic trilogy, but Harfoots fluctuating in an Irish based accent in a world with no Ireland, that’s beyond the pale.
Celebrimbor, no?
.....and you think that's a good thing?
Only realised after I shared the link that it’s paywalled.
The issue is deeper than bad accents. Having filthy, simple-minded “Oirish” yokels lorded over by aristocratic elves and humans with English accents isn’t ideal, is it? Not when you think about the long history of a colonial power deliberately using similar tropes to dehumanise the Irish (and indigenous population of other colonies). They also choose to give the hairy, violent and short-tempered dwarves Scottish accents. Make of that what you will.
Can’t say I’m particularly bothered about it myself but it’s a reasonable point to make. And quite ironic to see someone who generally cares a lot about shit like this slagging off the movies as racist, while having nothing but praise for this Tv series.
Ah, I see.
Sociolinguistically this tends to be the case. Accents have connotations and they’re handy in terms of making it instantly obvious what vibe they’re trying to get the characters to give off. An Irish accent with its stereotypes lends itself to Hobbits (like a Midlands accent would), as does the Scottish to the more stern and stubborn Dwarven culture. It’s why I prefer spesking English to my Norwegian dialect
Obviously you could make the same case for light v dark, so it’s clearly somewhat problematic, but I do get why it’s still considered a
When I studied linguistics and we had our course on sociolinguistics part of our coursework was reading a book that had a chapter on these things:
https://freerangeresearch.files.wor...997-teaching-children-how-to-discriminate.pdf
Yes. Because admiring the work of Jones, Gilliam, Henson, Petersen is weird now I guess.
Honestly giving the Harefoots a single accent makes perfect sense. Elves English, Hobbits Irish, Dwarves Scottish (way better than the East European semitic dwarves of Tolkien's imagination.) At least it's all British Isles. Can you imagine an American accent in there and how much it would jar? That said I would be deeply annoyed if I was Irish.
Movie Sam was west country by the way.
Well, opinion will differ. But as far as I'm concerned, all of those are massive step down from Tolkien.
I like Rings of Power too. I suspect Tolkien fans will naturally be disappointed and it wouldn't surprise me if many have struggled with its pacing - films / TV is so fast paced these days. I also think it'll get better.
And who the feck is Sauron?
And who the feck is Sauron?
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I prefer the a Hobbits to have a West Country accent. The Irish accents must really annoy the Ireland folk.
Inconceivable!
And Gandalf really ought to have a strong Manc accent.
"go for a ride" in Ireland tends to mean go bang.
Just saying that it’s weird to be worked up by that inconsistency when Hobbits in close proximity vary so much in LOTR, and that passes without comment.
Thanks for the correction on Sam, bit of a brain fart, that.
Has this actually bothered anyone though? I’ve seen a couple of Irish posters saying the accents are crap (not an issue for me but get how it might be annoying to some) but otherwise no one seems to care about it.
In that article Pogue posted that I responded to, it started off by lamenting how the accents used by the Harfoots are inconsistent and take you all over the isles.
Ah ok, is that related to the image?? I can't remember what was said prior to that still.
Irish accents are always crap in Hollywood productions, that's nothing new. We just laugh it off while watching it. It can be a bit distracting at times, though.
I've seen loads of English people moan at Butcher's cockney accent in The Boys, for example, so it's hardly limited to us.
I've seen loads of English people moan at Butcher's cockney accent in The Boys, for example, so it's hardly limited to us.