Concerning Durin's anger: At some point between the recording of the audio for this video and the completion of the editing, I realized, based on the last scene with Durin and his father, that there's a good possibility Durin had been faking his anger throughout the entire episode. At first glance this might seem like it rebuts most of my video on the Elrond section of the second episode. However, if anything, I think this makes the entire plotline even more pointless and make less sense. First off, if Durin is faking his anger against Elrond, I'd like to know why. I suppose the implication is that he's trying to protect him from whatever the conniving of his father is, but then the rest of the plotline doesn't make sense. If he just doesn't want Elrond to be involved, then he should have sent him away immediately after he lost. Why on earth would he go with Elrond on the elevator? Why would he allow him to come to his wife and children? And furthermore, why would he bring the proposal to his father even after hearing it? Furthermore, how did Durin seem to get his entire kingdom to play along with this charade with the sole exception of his wife? Every other Dwarf seems to be distrustful and inimical to Elrond, which doesn't make sense given how Elrond expects to be greeted by his old friend. Finally, there's still the question of why Durin came up with the most pathetic idea of what is causing his anger in the first place. The notion that he's so blindingly angry at his old friend for "missing his wedding" (something even I in today's world have had to do for friends before) and the "birth of his children, TWO OF THEM" is still so disgustingly ridiculous as a justification that if Elrond were a person rather than a prop he should have laughed and said, "Really, THAT'S what you've got? Come on, Durin, you can do better than that." You see, the flow of the narrative only works if we assume Durin's anger is actually real, if we assume that Elrond is gradually picking away at Durin's anger through the combined efforts of his kind words and Disa's insistence. If we assume that Durin is faking it the whole time his actions become even more strange to the point of incoherence. Of course, the other possibility is that Durin and the rest of the Dwarves not actually faking his anger, and his statement to his father is simply about the fact that, despite his anger, he still trusts Elrond as a person. It's even possible that Durin is simply putting up a facade of solidarity in the face of his father, but that seems like I'm digging way too much into this interaction. I really hope these things get answered in the next couple of episodes, because this entire plotline is the most bizarre thing I've seen in a while, and I almost need it to make sense for the sake of my sanity. On another note, I'm still new to making videos like this, so if any of you have suggestions for how to improve these videos I'd love to read them.
Nothing in this show makes sense. They fail in the first 30 seconds of the show: "Nothing is evil in the beginning." * proceeds to show elven children in the beginning of their lives bullying Galadriel * HOW??? How can you be so bad? I can write better in a DAY, thats no joke. You can write better in a day. Most expensive show ever. BUT HOW. Hahahaha, its hillarious.
i have never watched a moment of Rings of Power and never will - but i absolutely love discovering new channels ripping on it - bravo sir, very entertaining, good work! 😀
It seems like even Lord of the Rings can't escape toxic feminism. Why do the writers feel the need to show a woman trying to out-perform a man in every aspect and make the men in the show incompetent? It's just dumb.
Indeed, it's a bit concerning that social justice movements have, recently, been more about putting one group of people down than propping their own groups up. I'm curious if this will be a consistent theme throughout the show, because if so I might have to bring it up in a future video.
Tolkien did not write about super heroes who always win and who do so with smug confidence but about reluctant heroes who fight on despite knowing they were likely to lose. RoP was doomed the moment the audience realized there was no jeopardy for the main characters; a very basic mistake that anyone with even the most basic film making skills would not make.
If Galadriel had willfully jumped into the ocean with the clear intent of swimming her way back, then why did she find the need to climb onto a random raft she came across by sheer chance? Shouldn't she have just continued with her cross-ocean Swim in order to reach her destination? She jumped into the ocean for a greater purpose, fully knowing her ability to swim oceans, didn't she? Why should a random raft cause her to deviate from her plan?
I've thought about the same thing. I suppose one could say that she was planning on swimming the entire way, but then realized she couldn't pull it off (a little late for such a realization if you ask me). In which case: Galadriel's an idiot. Great way to start off the main character of your season.
I watched a number of reviews since the premier. Some from talented media critics and others from well versed Tolkien enthusiasts, but can’t say I’ve yet seen the two blended anything close to this well. I suspect your channel will grow quite a bit as this show progresses my friend. Looking forward to the next one
Oh good! That's exactly what my intention was, so I'm glad that came through in the final product. The show, as of the first two episodes, fails in both regards so it seems only right to explain what's wrong about it in both regards.
@@thejollyviking8083 definitely, as least we can get some entertainment watching it get picked apart as consolation prize. Id hope you’ll consider reviewing some other bad stuff in the future I think you’re talented and well spoken enough to hold your own even on something your not necessarily a lore expert for
@@damienruzco I'd certainly consider it, though I will say that I'm doing this partially because Lord of the Rings is something I'm particularly passionate about. Do you have any suggestions?
@@thejollyviking8083 I suspect the Disney Star Wars scene will be rich pickings for years to come sadly. Marvel and DC stuff similarly seems to be on a downward trajectory. The supply of critics is getting a little saturated admittedly but you’ve got a specific style and humor I can only match to a couple. A lot of them can be overly focused on the political aspect too which for me is good for the more blatant instances but doesn’t need to be seen everywhere you look which was refreshing with yours.
The whole parting veil thing is totally lore breaking. Before Beleriand was sunk into the sea, smoke on its shores could be seen from Valinor. The same wouldn't have been true for Eriador, but until the fall of Numenor, Valinor was still a physical place, very much within Middle Earth. The world was still flat, and there was no need to sail "The straight path" in order to reach Valinor. You could just sail there. No one did, because most men didn't even know about it, the Silvan elves and the Quendi didn't want to go there, and Noldor were barred by Mandos. If Gil Galad sent a ship of elves there as a "reward", they wouldn't have had to engage in some kind of ritual, and there wouldn't be anything visually special about their approach, expect for the otherworldly beauty of the white shores.
Wonderfully Stated! I know some people thought the show would get better, but for me it was not only clear that the show was going to be bad, but it was clear how it was going to be bad just based on the first two episodes.
There are always exceptions, but I can almost always tell if I’ll like a show, book or film by how the creators and fans talk about it. Peter Jackson, Philips Boyens, Fran Walsh and the cast and crew have very specific and very detailed discussions. Peter put a lot of effort into behind the scenes features for his films. We can see the cast and crew enjoying each other’s company while working really hard on a project they care about. With RoP, like every other IP done from a “business decision” the past 15 years, it’s been the same generic talking points by the people who worked on it and the fans. (CBS’s Elementary, The Jurassic World movies, the 2016 Ghostbusters and Frozen Empire, the Frasier revival). The studios rely on the brand and put no effort into things like character and story. The most persistent fans are reactionary defenders with generic names comments that could be copied and pasted from one page to another. I liked it, critics don’t matter it’s for the fans, just be grateful for more of this world. Race and gender bending if often done for marketing rather than story. Black actors, women, etc are used by the studio to shield from criticism. Racists, sexists and homophobes can’t help themselves and are vocal, so their comments are used by the studio to invalidate criticisms about things like story and character. These brand name adaptations are done by story sellers. They take unique source material and turn it into something generic.
Thank you for putting my thoughts into words for this show. I hate to admit this, but I am one of those viewers who if for some reason, isn't taken by a show, I struggle to put my thoughts into words, and explain WHY. I love LOTR movies, I then later began to learn more about the lore as I grew. When I learnt about the 1st and 2nd age, I was fascinated. The fact the creators of this show decided to start in a timeline where they did, is unrealistic and generally pretty stupid. There's no context for an audience member to become invested (I personally think from what I know from the lore). I appreciate the thoughts that you have translated to both try and support the creative methods as well as critiquing their errors. At least I know I'm not the only one who thought. The first 5 minutes of the first episode was a big pile of s***.
Oh definitely! I agree, the prologue was probably the single greatest microcosm of awful outside of that stupid "why ships float" scene with Galadriel at the end. Glad you enjoyed.
Not that they did a damn thing to make this clear, but I assumed the fortress Gladriel's party finds is Gundabad, even though that's only a fortress in the Hobbit films, not in the books.
Oh my god this show keeps getting worse, the more I revisit it. I only just now noticed that Galadriel continues to introduce herself, and be referred to, as the commander of the Northern Armies, right through the end of the season. This, despite having been officially sent home to Valinor, in the first episode. First, given that this shows version of Gil Galad has baselessly decided that the enemy is gone, he would have likely decommissioned his armies, having much better things to dedicate the resources to. If he did have the foresight to maintain standing forces, he would certainly have appointed someone _else_ to be the commander of the norther armies, since he sent Galadriel HOME. There is absolutely no excuse for establishing that the main character has been essentially exiled, actually having her refer to herself as such, and then continue to have both her and others behave as if either exiles or honorably discharged officers maintain their commands despite being sent to the other side of the planet!
I disagree for the reasons given throughout my video, though if you'd like an overview, rather than sitting through the analysis, I'd suggest watching from the "rings of power vs game of thrones" timestamp onwards
Excellent review. Calm, methodical and above all - intelligent. Writing on RoP is among the worst, most amateurish I have ever seen. I think tha result would have been better if they hired average sitcom writing team. I have no idea how any thinking person - yet alone someone whose profession is creative writing - could approve that monstrous idiotic graphomaniac gibberish of a script. It literally feels like a work of people that never seen a movie or read a book. I also agree with you on visuals - they are ok but they feel like a cut scene in 15yo JRPG - and I remember better and more awe inspiring Final Fantasy graphic for far less money
There's actually a part of me that thinks the only thing people like about this show is that those they view as an "other" hate it. Given just how many people seem to call anyone who doesn't like it racist this seems all the more likely
Fantastic video, loved your take on the first two episodes..your pain is tangible..the writing is so bad, can things only get better? Maybe that's the Amazon master plan...looking forward to your next critique, this was by far the best I've seen. Keep up the great work
I'm afraid, my friend that your problem is that you've done some reading. I can only assume that the writers "go back to the book", refers to them using it to prop up a shaky desk.
A fair point, though it would be useful if they showed that rather than force the audience to come up with an explanation. Also, I'm pretty sure all known Palantiri are in Numenor, or under the control of Numenoreans. Though I may be wrong about that.
I guess a good word to sum up what the show seems to be so far is "shallow." It just seems like a bare minimum of effort was made in the writing department, which is crazy to think about given what an extensive amount of source material exists that they could have drawn upon. Not sure how true this is, but I believe I read somewhere that Amazon doesn't have the rights to the Silmarillion/Unfinished Tales, so maybe this has caused them to want to "adapt" the story in other ways? As for the hatred men and dwarves seem to be having for the elves, it sounds like the writers have just taken the animosity from the movie trilogy/Third Age and decided to make it the norm, perhaps because they didn't want to take the time to have to explain how relations soured over time. Who knows really. Thanks for the review, looking forward to the next part. On the topic of suggestions, lots of other review style channels (like MauLer, for example) will use the timestamp function to break down the review into sections, I always find it nice, and it helps for people to find specific parts of the review later on.
Yes, Amazon (for some reason) didn't have access to the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, or the History of Middle Earth, which is why, in the credits, they say that this is an adaptation of "The appendices of Lord of the Rings." Still absolutely absurd in terms of execution, in addition to just being a bad show. Good point, I think I can still add the timestamps. Let me see.
So, I've added timestamps, though I'll admit I might have gone a little overboard, but it was also a good place to add commentary that I didn't think would be worthwhile as side comments in the video itself (specifically the fact that the "sometimes we cannot know until we have touched the darkness" line causing me to lose part of my sanity)
In Tolkien's works good characters are very restrained when using magic if they are capable of it. You can likely assume that maiar isn't good... It may eventually into the blarog if the one in the trailer isn't Durins Bane.
That's an interesting idea. I don't think it's one of the Balrogs, but it's certainly possible that it's an evil maia of some sort. The thing is though, I don't actually have faith in the writers and showrunners that they would know Maia have to be restricted in their usage of Magic. So I'm not even sure if this is a valid supposition yet.
The pilot is awful and never gets better. I can't believe Amazon actually released it as the first episode. Does Amazon not do focus groups? Does Amazon not have talented creative executives review the pilot before agreeing to greenlight a TV show? Did the head of studio even watch this thing? So frustrating.
You have a decent voice but you can work on the audio quality. Is it the mic? How do you edit your voice? Please upload more content. This was very pleasant. Like I said great voice, very ASMR, great pacing, great dialogue.. you even had a better story than RoP. MORE!!! MORE!!!!!!!!!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed. Yeah, I think it's the way I've been setting up my mike, it kept peaking which is causing some of the audio issues. I ended up getting better at it towards the end of the video by movie my mouth further away from the mike (which may or may not have been noticeable since I still messed up the editing)
This ultimately shouldn't have been made. I understand why people may want more middle earth, but think of it this way. Tolkien himself stated how it was basically a Catholic/religious work, imagine you had people "adapting" or "interpreting" the Bible. Putting their own jargon and Philosophy into it. Christians would understandably be upset. They likely can't even have Illuvatar or the Valar as they don't even have the rights... In the books, Numenor forgets Eru, and begins to believe he doesn't exist. When Sauron takes over and they build the temple to Morgoth, sacrificing humans, Tolkien describes this as a "Satanic Religion", now think about all the people spouting how you can interpret anything from Tolkien and that they're all valid... It's nonsense... Tolkien was trying to create a myth, and in some way definitely managed. And he's on record with his feelings toward film adaptations, I think it's better to respect the work and retain the themes that the man and his son poured their lives and souls into. Than abuse it after their deaths. Not to mention Peter Jackson actually had the rights to the material he was trying to produce. And is also on record for how he didn't want to put his own baggage into it. These producers on the other hand openly flaunt about how they're going to make the story Tolkien never wrote... Well they've certainly proved themselves. Also the male elf played by Kip Chapman has the name "Rian" which was given to the daughter of Belegund. In Sindarin it means "Queen" (Celebrian//Silver-Queen) and that line with Arondir makes sense when you consider they intended for the black elf to experience oppression or hostility from the southerners. To me it's clearly allegorical to real life slavery...
Sorry but Tolkien has been dead for a long time. And his estate is quite happy to make money by selling rights so why on earth wouldn't we want more middle earth on the screen. Its entertainment made for all
@@liheadz298 I made a twofold argument based on my assessment of episodes 1&2: the first is that this show both lacks any value as an adaptation of Tolkien's world or any value as a tv show. Considering the fact that you don't even seem to be contesting the first, I'm going to assume you agree. Therefore, I'm wondering why you ignored my argument that the show itself is bad regardless of whether it's viewed in relation to Lord of the Rings?
You have not seen I have seen you have seen so you cannot see oh I have seen that which is seen no you have not seen that which is to be seen I saw no you did not saw ect
This guy is a dummy. Do a little research before making your little videos. Amazon was given strict guidelines per the contract as what they could show and how much of it.
Then they should have cut out the prologue. Or, considering how most of the Appendices of Lord of the Rings deal with the Realms of Exile in the Third Age, they should have set the story in Arnor before it fell or Gondor before their last king.
Imagine not being able to enjoy something because you're caught up on all these details. It's LOTR for the masses, it's gonna have simplified dialogue to try and broaden the audience. Do you really think your proposed version would sell to Amazon execs who need to market this to make money? You have to live in the real world. Most of these critiques are borderline delusional , like the overanalysis of the Finrod whispering? It's obviously just meant to be Galadriel remembering that she "needs to follow the light (her destiny)" and she knows which direction it is (back to Middle Earth) because she has contacted Sauron now (touched the darkness) . It doesn't have to be rocket science to keep the plot going...You don't need to have a 30 second sighing clip and scratch your neck beard that "the line made zero sense".
You make a fair point. As we all know, Lord of the Rings really isn't that popular, and the more faithful an adaptation is to it, the less money it's made historically. Good thing the masses all seem to have an extremely high view of the show, which is why they're rating it so well.
Concerning Durin's anger:
At some point between the recording of the audio for this video and the completion of the editing, I realized, based on the last scene with Durin and his father, that there's a good possibility Durin had been faking his anger throughout the entire episode. At first glance this might seem like it rebuts most of my video on the Elrond section of the second episode.
However, if anything, I think this makes the entire plotline even more pointless and make less sense. First off, if Durin is faking his anger against Elrond, I'd like to know why. I suppose the implication is that he's trying to protect him from whatever the conniving of his father is, but then the rest of the plotline doesn't make sense. If he just doesn't want Elrond to be involved, then he should have sent him away immediately after he lost. Why on earth would he go with Elrond on the elevator? Why would he allow him to come to his wife and children? And furthermore, why would he bring the proposal to his father even after hearing it?
Furthermore, how did Durin seem to get his entire kingdom to play along with this charade with the sole exception of his wife? Every other Dwarf seems to be distrustful and inimical to Elrond, which doesn't make sense given how Elrond expects to be greeted by his old friend.
Finally, there's still the question of why Durin came up with the most pathetic idea of what is causing his anger in the first place. The notion that he's so blindingly angry at his old friend for "missing his wedding" (something even I in today's world have had to do for friends before) and the "birth of his children, TWO OF THEM" is still so disgustingly ridiculous as a justification that if Elrond were a person rather than a prop he should have laughed and said, "Really, THAT'S what you've got? Come on, Durin, you can do better than that."
You see, the flow of the narrative only works if we assume Durin's anger is actually real, if we assume that Elrond is gradually picking away at Durin's anger through the combined efforts of his kind words and Disa's insistence. If we assume that Durin is faking it the whole time his actions become even more strange to the point of incoherence.
Of course, the other possibility is that Durin and the rest of the Dwarves not actually faking his anger, and his statement to his father is simply about the fact that, despite his anger, he still trusts Elrond as a person. It's even possible that Durin is simply putting up a facade of solidarity in the face of his father, but that seems like I'm digging way too much into this interaction.
I really hope these things get answered in the next couple of episodes, because this entire plotline is the most bizarre thing I've seen in a while, and I almost need it to make sense for the sake of my sanity.
On another note, I'm still new to making videos like this, so if any of you have suggestions for how to improve these videos I'd love to read them.
Nothing in this show makes sense. They fail in the first 30 seconds of the show:
"Nothing is evil in the beginning."
* proceeds to show elven children in the beginning of their lives bullying Galadriel *
HOW??? How can you be so bad? I can write better in a DAY, thats no joke. You can write better in a day. Most expensive show ever.
BUT HOW. Hahahaha, its hillarious.
.
Dood, ye missed mah weddin. Ye even missed mah birthday! Naht Khool, dood.
This comment isn't pinned, but I did find it.
@@airkami I find it funny that I never noticed that. Thanks.
i have never watched a moment of Rings of Power and never will - but i absolutely love discovering new channels ripping on it - bravo sir, very entertaining, good work! 😀
It seems like even Lord of the Rings can't escape toxic feminism. Why do the writers feel the need to show a woman trying to out-perform a man in every aspect and make the men in the show incompetent? It's just dumb.
Indeed, it's a bit concerning that social justice movements have, recently, been more about putting one group of people down than propping their own groups up.
I'm curious if this will be a consistent theme throughout the show, because if so I might have to bring it up in a future video.
@RegensDominor Galadriel in this show isn't a product of 'toxic feminism'- she's a poorly written character, period.
Tolkien did not write about super heroes who always win and who do so with smug confidence but about reluctant heroes who fight on despite knowing they were likely to lose. RoP was doomed the moment the audience realized there was no jeopardy for the main characters; a very basic mistake that anyone with even the most basic film making skills would not make.
If Galadriel had willfully jumped into the ocean with the clear intent of swimming her way back, then why did she find the need to climb onto a random raft she came across by sheer chance? Shouldn't she have just continued with her cross-ocean Swim in order to reach her destination? She jumped into the ocean for a greater purpose, fully knowing her ability to swim oceans, didn't she?
Why should a random raft cause her to deviate from her plan?
I've thought about the same thing. I suppose one could say that she was planning on swimming the entire way, but then realized she couldn't pull it off (a little late for such a realization if you ask me). In which case: Galadriel's an idiot. Great way to start off the main character of your season.
I watched a number of reviews since the premier. Some from talented media critics and others from well versed Tolkien enthusiasts, but can’t say I’ve yet seen the two blended anything close to this well. I suspect your channel will grow quite a bit as this show progresses my friend. Looking forward to the next one
Oh good! That's exactly what my intention was, so I'm glad that came through in the final product. The show, as of the first two episodes, fails in both regards so it seems only right to explain what's wrong about it in both regards.
@@thejollyviking8083 definitely, as least we can get some entertainment watching it get picked apart as consolation prize.
Id hope you’ll consider reviewing some other bad stuff in the future I think you’re talented and well spoken enough to hold your own even on something your not necessarily a lore expert for
@@damienruzco I'd certainly consider it, though I will say that I'm doing this partially because Lord of the Rings is something I'm particularly passionate about.
Do you have any suggestions?
@@thejollyviking8083 I suspect the Disney Star Wars scene will be rich pickings for years to come sadly. Marvel and DC stuff similarly seems to be on a downward trajectory. The supply of critics is getting a little saturated admittedly but you’ve got a specific style and humor I can only match to a couple. A lot of them can be overly focused on the political aspect too which for me is good for the more blatant instances but doesn’t need to be seen everywhere you look which was refreshing with yours.
Haha, knew as soon as "Todd" came up I was in for a fun ride!
The whole parting veil thing is totally lore breaking. Before Beleriand was sunk into the sea, smoke on its shores could be seen from Valinor. The same wouldn't have been true for Eriador, but until the fall of Numenor, Valinor was still a physical place, very much within Middle Earth. The world was still flat, and there was no need to sail "The straight path" in order to reach Valinor. You could just sail there. No one did, because most men didn't even know about it, the Silvan elves and the Quendi didn't want to go there, and Noldor were barred by Mandos. If Gil Galad sent a ship of elves there as a "reward", they wouldn't have had to engage in some kind of ritual, and there wouldn't be anything visually special about their approach, expect for the otherworldly beauty of the white shores.
Wonderfully Stated!
I know some people thought the show would get better, but for me it was not only clear that the show was going to be bad, but it was clear how it was going to be bad just based on the first two episodes.
@@thejollyviking8083 Thank you. I also saw the writing on the wall, but I just sort of looked away and kept hope-watching, to no avail😅
you got a point.... more like a millions points. take my like
There are always exceptions, but I can almost always tell if I’ll like a show, book or film by how the creators and fans talk about it. Peter Jackson, Philips Boyens, Fran Walsh and the cast and crew have very specific and very detailed discussions. Peter put a lot of effort into behind the scenes features for his films. We can see the cast and crew enjoying each other’s company while working really hard on a project they care about.
With RoP, like every other IP done from a “business decision” the past 15 years, it’s been the same generic talking points by the people who worked on it and the fans. (CBS’s Elementary, The Jurassic World movies, the 2016 Ghostbusters and Frozen Empire, the Frasier revival). The studios rely on the brand and put no effort into things like character and story.
The most persistent fans are reactionary defenders with generic names comments that could be copied and pasted from one page to another.
I liked it, critics don’t matter it’s for the fans, just be grateful for more of this world.
Race and gender bending if often done for marketing rather than story. Black actors, women, etc are used by the studio to shield from criticism. Racists, sexists and homophobes can’t help themselves and are vocal, so their comments are used by the studio to invalidate criticisms about things like story and character.
These brand name adaptations are done by story sellers. They take unique source material and turn it into something generic.
Thank you for putting my thoughts into words for this show. I hate to admit this, but I am one of those viewers who if for some reason, isn't taken by a show, I struggle to put my thoughts into words, and explain WHY. I love LOTR movies, I then later began to learn more about the lore as I grew. When I learnt about the 1st and 2nd age, I was fascinated. The fact the creators of this show decided to start in a timeline where they did, is unrealistic and generally pretty stupid. There's no context for an audience member to become invested (I personally think from what I know from the lore). I appreciate the thoughts that you have translated to both try and support the creative methods as well as critiquing their errors. At least I know I'm not the only one who thought. The first 5 minutes of the first episode was a big pile of s***.
Oh definitely! I agree, the prologue was probably the single greatest microcosm of awful outside of that stupid "why ships float" scene with Galadriel at the end. Glad you enjoyed.
Not that they did a damn thing to make this clear, but I assumed the fortress Gladriel's party finds is Gundabad, even though that's only a fortress in the Hobbit films, not in the books.
Oh my god this show keeps getting worse, the more I revisit it. I only just now noticed that Galadriel continues to introduce herself, and be referred to, as the commander of the Northern Armies, right through the end of the season. This, despite having been officially sent home to Valinor, in the first episode. First, given that this shows version of Gil Galad has baselessly decided that the enemy is gone, he would have likely decommissioned his armies, having much better things to dedicate the resources to. If he did have the foresight to maintain standing forces, he would certainly have appointed someone _else_ to be the commander of the norther armies, since he sent Galadriel HOME. There is absolutely no excuse for establishing that the main character has been essentially exiled, actually having her refer to herself as such, and then continue to have both her and others behave as if either exiles or honorably discharged officers maintain their commands despite being sent to the other side of the planet!
Wow, GJ. Really professional, well paced video.
Really sucks that they couldnt get the Silmarilion rights. It's really showing how bad writers are without source material
Great video!
well done, great content + I've also enjoyed listening to your voice ^^
thanks for this video mate
Always a pleasure :)
It's entertaining and cool.
I disagree for the reasons given throughout my video, though if you'd like an overview, rather than sitting through the analysis, I'd suggest watching from the "rings of power vs game of thrones" timestamp onwards
Why show the Trees if you don’t show at least Yavanna
Very good and informative video my guy!
Thanks :)
Scowladriel.
Excellent review. Calm, methodical and above all - intelligent. Writing on RoP is among the worst, most amateurish I have ever seen. I think tha result would have been better if they hired average sitcom writing team. I have no idea how any thinking person - yet alone someone whose profession is creative writing - could approve that monstrous idiotic graphomaniac gibberish of a script. It literally feels like a work of people that never seen a movie or read a book. I also agree with you on visuals - they are ok but they feel like a cut scene in 15yo JRPG - and I remember better and more awe inspiring Final Fantasy graphic for far less money
-I know why people like it. Because we don't.-
edit: the only people that like it like it because we don't
There's actually a part of me that thinks the only thing people like about this show is that those they view as an "other" hate it. Given just how many people seem to call anyone who doesn't like it racist this seems all the more likely
@@thejollyviking8083 Yeah exactly.
Fantastic video, loved your take on the first two episodes..your pain is tangible..the writing is so bad, can things only get better? Maybe that's the Amazon master plan...looking forward to your next critique, this was by far the best I've seen. Keep up the great work
Hey thanks! I definitely plan to review all the episodes while my sanity lasts. We'll see just how much the show "improves" from this.
I'm afraid, my friend that your problem is that you've done some reading. I can only assume that the writers "go back to the book", refers to them using it to prop up a shaky desk.
Or they kept going "back to the book" to figure out what not to do.
As someone new to your channel, you look exactly like I thought you would 18:15 lol
I mean... I am the Jolly Viking (though maybe not so jolly in that part)
Ah, great. You even mention Haradrim and Druedain - the way to add diversity without anyone complaining.
Good video.
The message delivery could be explained by the palantir still working, although one being that far east is ludicrious.
A fair point, though it would be useful if they showed that rather than force the audience to come up with an explanation.
Also, I'm pretty sure all known Palantiri are in Numenor, or under the control of Numenoreans. Though I may be wrong about that.
GLIDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS!!!!
I see you're a fan as well.
@@thejollyviking8083 START THE PISS BEFORE I JOUST MYSELF!!
I guess a good word to sum up what the show seems to be so far is "shallow." It just seems like a bare minimum of effort was made in the writing department, which is crazy to think about given what an extensive amount of source material exists that they could have drawn upon. Not sure how true this is, but I believe I read somewhere that Amazon doesn't have the rights to the Silmarillion/Unfinished Tales, so maybe this has caused them to want to "adapt" the story in other ways? As for the hatred men and dwarves seem to be having for the elves, it sounds like the writers have just taken the animosity from the movie trilogy/Third Age and decided to make it the norm, perhaps because they didn't want to take the time to have to explain how relations soured over time. Who knows really.
Thanks for the review, looking forward to the next part. On the topic of suggestions, lots of other review style channels (like MauLer, for example) will use the timestamp function to break down the review into sections, I always find it nice, and it helps for people to find specific parts of the review later on.
Yes, Amazon (for some reason) didn't have access to the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, or the History of Middle Earth, which is why, in the credits, they say that this is an adaptation of "The appendices of Lord of the Rings." Still absolutely absurd in terms of execution, in addition to just being a bad show.
Good point, I think I can still add the timestamps. Let me see.
So, I've added timestamps, though I'll admit I might have gone a little overboard, but it was also a good place to add commentary that I didn't think would be worthwhile as side comments in the video itself (specifically the fact that the "sometimes we cannot know until we have touched the darkness" line causing me to lose part of my sanity)
@@thejollyviking8083 they look good, like you said it can help add some commentary and also some choice humor 👍
In Tolkien's works good characters are very restrained when using magic if they are capable of it. You can likely assume that maiar isn't good... It may eventually into the blarog if the one in the trailer isn't Durins Bane.
That's an interesting idea. I don't think it's one of the Balrogs, but it's certainly possible that it's an evil maia of some sort.
The thing is though, I don't actually have faith in the writers and showrunners that they would know Maia have to be restricted in their usage of Magic. So I'm not even sure if this is a valid supposition yet.
The pilot is awful and never gets better. I can't believe Amazon actually released it as the first episode. Does Amazon not do focus groups? Does Amazon not have talented creative executives review the pilot before agreeing to greenlight a TV show? Did the head of studio even watch this thing? So frustrating.
You have a decent voice but you can work on the audio quality. Is it the mic? How do you edit your voice?
Please upload more content. This was very pleasant. Like I said great voice, very ASMR, great pacing, great dialogue.. you even had a better story than RoP.
MORE!!! MORE!!!!!!!!!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed.
Yeah, I think it's the way I've been setting up my mike, it kept peaking which is causing some of the audio issues. I ended up getting better at it towards the end of the video by movie my mouth further away from the mike (which may or may not have been noticeable since I still messed up the editing)
This ultimately shouldn't have been made. I understand why people may want more middle earth, but think of it this way. Tolkien himself stated how it was basically a Catholic/religious work, imagine you had people "adapting" or "interpreting" the Bible. Putting their own jargon and Philosophy into it. Christians would understandably be upset. They likely can't even have Illuvatar or the Valar as they don't even have the rights... In the books, Numenor forgets Eru, and begins to believe he doesn't exist. When Sauron takes over and they build the temple to Morgoth, sacrificing humans, Tolkien describes this as a "Satanic Religion", now think about all the people spouting how you can interpret anything from Tolkien and that they're all valid... It's nonsense... Tolkien was trying to create a myth, and in some way definitely managed. And he's on record with his feelings toward film adaptations, I think it's better to respect the work and retain the themes that the man and his son poured their lives and souls into. Than abuse it after their deaths. Not to mention Peter Jackson actually had the rights to the material he was trying to produce. And is also on record for how he didn't want to put his own baggage into it. These producers on the other hand openly flaunt about how they're going to make the story Tolkien never wrote... Well they've certainly proved themselves.
Also the male elf played by Kip Chapman has the name "Rian" which was given to the daughter of Belegund. In Sindarin it means "Queen" (Celebrian//Silver-Queen) and that line with Arondir makes sense when you consider they intended for the black elf to experience oppression or hostility from the southerners. To me it's clearly allegorical to real life slavery...
I think the line might make sense *as* an allegory to real life slavery, but it still doesn't really make sense in the context of the story.
Sorry but Tolkien has been dead for a long time. And his estate is quite happy to make money by selling rights so why on earth wouldn't we want more middle earth on the screen. Its entertainment made for all
@@liheadz298 I made a twofold argument based on my assessment of episodes 1&2: the first is that this show both lacks any value as an adaptation of Tolkien's world or any value as a tv show. Considering the fact that you don't even seem to be contesting the first, I'm going to assume you agree.
Therefore, I'm wondering why you ignored my argument that the show itself is bad regardless of whether it's viewed in relation to Lord of the Rings?
@@liheadz298 Why shouldn't they? Well it may be old fashioned but you see there's this word named "integrity"...
Great analysis. I feel your pain.
Oh I bet you do ;)
You have not seen I have seen you have seen so you cannot see oh I have seen that which is seen no you have not seen that which is to be seen I saw no you did not saw ect
I don't give bezos money so I won't be watching this..... thing. looks like an absolute dumpster fire 😂😂.
I couldn't even make it to the second episode, so thanks for watching it for all of us. We're here if you need any moral support, lol.
Why couldnt you watch the second episode? are you racist?
This guy is a dummy. Do a little research before making your little videos. Amazon was given strict guidelines per the contract as what they could show and how much of it.
Then they should have cut out the prologue. Or, considering how most of the Appendices of Lord of the Rings deal with the Realms of Exile in the Third Age, they should have set the story in Arnor before it fell or Gondor before their last king.
Imagine not being able to enjoy something because you're caught up on all these details. It's LOTR for the masses, it's gonna have simplified dialogue to try and broaden the audience. Do you really think your proposed version would sell to Amazon execs who need to market this to make money? You have to live in the real world.
Most of these critiques are borderline delusional , like the overanalysis of the Finrod whispering? It's obviously just meant to be Galadriel remembering that she "needs to follow the light (her destiny)" and she knows which direction it is (back to Middle Earth) because she has contacted Sauron now (touched the darkness) . It doesn't have to be rocket science to keep the plot going...You don't need to have a 30 second sighing clip and scratch your neck beard that "the line made zero sense".
You make a fair point. As we all know, Lord of the Rings really isn't that popular, and the more faithful an adaptation is to it, the less money it's made historically.
Good thing the masses all seem to have an extremely high view of the show, which is why they're rating it so well.