Starting Rings of Power

[vivdunstan]

Tonight we’re finally starting to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the TV series. We’ve had to wait until I’m awake enough to manage hour long episodes every week. Even then there may be interruptions. I’ve a rather fraught relationship with The Silmarillion. I first tried to read it aged 12 or 13, borrowing it from the town library in Hawick. And I found it impossible. I tried again more recently, but with my huge memory problems from my neurological disease it was a lost cause. The TV series doesn’t have the rights to that book, but it retells many of its stories, drawing largely on other versions that Tolkien wrote. I’m hoping it’s a bit more manageable for memory challenged me 😜 Even if I know they are doing some hefty reworkings / creative filling in places. But yup, starting watching tonight. As a Tolkien fan I’m viewing it as very expensive fanfic largely, but looking forward to enjoying as much as I can. Martin’s keen to watch it too.

Comments

[vivdunstan]

Quick thoughts after episode 1. Intriguing start, though somewhat bitty with the different storylines, which are also rather clashing in tone. I do like the echoes of Lord of the Rings (book and films), eg in Galadriel’s speech. Oh and Galadriel actress is very strong. But yup, intrigued, but this is very much a starting episode, and things should get better. I’ll hopefully be watching episode 2 a week from now!

And bogglement, Martin didn’t notice the Oirish accents for the hobbits!

[a_cubed]

They're NOT hobbits, they're proto-hobbits! ;-).

I started watching this with the family but they all got bored after two episodes. I continued with it to find I though it really only got going in episode 4. By that time they've got all the setup done and can get on with the stories, which finally start to merge into a cohesive narrative by episode 5.

I regard film or TV things as their own thing, inspired by but not the same as the books or comics on which they're based. Sure, Jackson's LoTR trilogy was about 95% faithful, and at least one of his choices (leave out Tom Bombadil) was a really solid one, others less so (didn't like the change to Faramir's character(. But, I still try to treat these as their own thing. Best idea I've always had is that they're parallel universes with similarities of setting, characters, etc.

On actors, I also loved Lenny Henry's performance.

[vivdunstan]

Belatedly replying! We'll be watching episode 2 hopefully on Saturday night. Both enjoying it so far, both expecting an extended setup period. I'm going in knowing loads (including the big reveal in the final episode). But both happily watching.