ASOIAFrelatedusername

Speaking for myself I couldn't get over how little Andromeda cared about its setting and its premise. Let's compare the positions of Spectre and Pathfinder: The former is well defined. You are a special who is only answerable to the highest galactic governmental body with the authority to approach the task set before you (investigating Saren and foiling his plans) in any way you deem fit. And more importantly your status is earned through a combination of prior military record, your previous efforts against Saren and good old-fashioned politics. One can certainly debate the ethical implications of the Council employing Spectres, but in the setting they and you being one of them makes sense. The latter however pales in comparison. First lets look at what the game says a Pathfinder is supposed to do: Look for planets that are or can be made fit for to live on by one or more of the Initiative's races. You'd expect that a Pathfinder's job to coordinate a team of scientist from all relevant disciplines, astronomy, meteorology, geology, biology, (and their various subdivisions), who fly around and evaluate planets. Also include security personal, diplomats and experts on alien relations in case you encounter sapient lifeforms. None of that happens in game. You are some bozo driving around killing wildlife, decimate the already limited number of Milky Way people in Andromeda and turn on magic alien machines that the magic AI in your head can conveniently interface with. There was no thought put into how space colonization would work within the setting. You don't even get to do much of exploring the unknown. Pretty much every planet you land on is already inhabited and to add insult to injury the Milky Wayers already have established colonies that seem to function well enough. Space diplomacy only involves a single sapient race and you're not even the ones to make first contact. Secondly Rider has no business being the Pathfinder. The games makes some feeble attempt to portray some resistance to them taking over the role, but that amounts to absolutely nothing. The game presents no compelling reason as to why having the greatest connection the aforementioned magical AI should mean that you are in charge of the Pathfinder mission. Nor does it explain why the Pathfinder should have the authority to make decisions about the broader direction of the Initiative. It's just disappointing and all the more sad because getting away from the Milky Way was the right decision for a proper sequel. So much potential was wasted.

It is. Not a really a fan how Witcher Ciri is appears just to be a regular Witcher, cat eyes and potions included. It would have been far more interesting to see how she adapts her own abilities for the witchering lifestyle. She also doesn't sound like Ciri from Witcher 3.

It's definitely weird, almost fanfic in some regards

Combining anime and Tolkien always was going to be hard. Personally I am fine with that and would have even preferred if they had deliberately distanced themselves from Jackson's work and allowed for a fresh and non-Western take on the source material, but I guess most of the casual audience familiar with the Jackson movies (and not the Rankin/Bass version animated by proto-Ghibli) would find the mix a bit strange at first. So why a.) make it a solely theatrical release b.) have it solely be a about a rather provincial conflict with a (for all intents and purposes) wholesale invented character as the protagonist ? I guess they had to release something to not lose the license and that it had to be a theatrical release, but surely they must have realized the limited draw that this would have. And speaking of draw if they wanted it to be more successful, a cynical approach would lead to something like an animated "Hunt for Gollum", which features lots of known characters the audience has a connection to. Helm doesn't have that and Hera has even less. Miranda Otto as narrator won't attract any crowds. If you wanted the film to be about Rohan, an anthology would have been preferable and easier to swallow as an experiment the same way Star Wars visions was

Please let it be more cosmetic cyberware options.

Well critical reviews are out and it is not looking good. At the time of writing this, WotR (an acronym it shares with the excellent Owlcat CRPG) stands at 60% (30 reviews) on rotten tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lord_of_the_rings_the_war_of_the_rohirrim For comparison RoP season 2 has an inconceivable 84%, Jackson's Hobbit trilogy manages an 62, 74 and 59. The movie has already been in a view countries to middling success https://variety.com/2024/film/news/moana-2-hits-600-million-globally-lord-of-the-rings-war-of-the-rohirrim-fizzles-1236242668/

That's not as bad as it could have been. The end is rather eye-rolling though. Still I suspect that the actual worthwhile stuff (like this depiction of Helm's punching spree) is going to be massively overshadowed by all the crap they need to put into it to fill the 135 minute runtime. This is going to be like the Hobbit movies all over again.

Germany already had a strong anti-nuclear sentiment and it had been decided to phase out nuclear under Chancellor Schröder. Merkel initially reversed that decision, only to re-reverse it after Fukushima because the incident convinced/reminded the German public that nuclear wasn't safe.

Where now the troll and the hater? Where is the rage that was blowing? Where is the mod and the ranter and the harsh insults flowing? Where is the hand on the mouse key, and the next comments showing? Where is the new funny title and the threads ever growing?

See the show's version of Elendil: I will gripe about Jackson's Aragorn, but at least he is a solid action hero whereas the show's Elendil is "that random guy who just happens to be around the important characters". He is a supporting character for Miriel and his children (which would be fine if the show was about them).

A.) A lengthier video allows (in theory) for a more in-depth analysis of the subject matter. B.) A video allows for easier you to actually show examples from these shows/movies for the arguments you intent to make. C.) These videos are often not meant to be watched in one sitting and can be watched in the background The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's work in general aren't modern in their sensibilities and still have appeal. I would in fact argue that not having modern sensibilities can be an asset for a work of fiction. Also the costuming of a movie/show is a valid thing to critique. It's a visual medium after all.

Speaking of War of the Rohirrim, it appears that the producers aren't above a bit of virtual grave-robbery https://screenrant.com/lord-rings-war-rohirrim-movie-saruman-voice-christopher-lee/

But it's not like Jackson's Lotr movies were particularly high-brow entertainment either and they had many questionable adaptational decisions. Still they are/were incredibly popular with the general audience, so it should be possible to make a Tolkien adaptation that isn't a complete fail on so many levels, even when it comes to basic storytelling, like RoP.

I indeed meant Adar.

https://x.com/realjosephmawle/status/1598380116027052058 My point they still recast because they had plans for him. What does that say about Bronwyn?

It is still so weird though considering that this is a prequel and thus they should at least know what happens to the canonical characters. Also another character where they seem to be winging it: Bronwyn. They need to have had at least some grander plan and yet she was disposed of unceremoniously off-screen. Adar on the other hand was recasted.

Hey it could always be worse w.r.t. romance and shipping in the show.

I strongly suspect that her talk with Theo in episode 7 wasn't even part of the first drafts of the script. Someone probably noticed the absence of Celeborn and the topic was inserted into this scene because it was the place where it was easiest. There is no grand set or lots of actors, only two people in the woods who will almost certainly never interact again. It makes one wonder what they were supposed to talk about originally. Speaking of episode 7: Did Miriel's blindness ever amount to anything in season 2?

Tom isn't someone who looks at the big picture. Tom isn't someone who invents idiotic tests to get people to do what they were intend on doing anyway. Tom isn't someone who could teach Gandalf how to use his power. Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow, bright blue his jacket is and his boots are yellow. And even more layers of imbecility are revealed. One can't help but wonder if these people aren't just sock puppets for a rogue AI.

Obsidian's/Black Isle's. Same franchise sure, but there are differences beyond gameplay enough to make that distinction.

Only if you are talking about the theme of Bethesda's Fallout games.

ROP is really that gift that keeps on giving with how the more you think about the more it falls apart on pretty much every level. Take for example the old man who tells Sauron/Halbrand that you have to chose good every day. One the surface it appears that it is wonderful piece of advice in line with Tolkien, however the issue is that it never factors into any of the characters journeys when it actually should form the thematic backbone of this season. It certainly doesn't matter for Sauron who this season is unequivocally evil and who last season was just dragged around by Galadriel until he comes to Eregion. And even his involvement in the forging and motives are so unclear. Now you'd think that it mattered for Galadriel, the main protagonist, but she never struggles with choosing good either unless you count her not joining Sauron at the end. Neither do any of the other elves even though the question of whether and how to use the Rings could tie into this theme. The only ones I can see this applying to are Grandelf,the old Durin and Adar, but the formers' arcs are just way too rushed. In Grandelf's case we don't even see him making the decision to save his friends. Adar obviously chooses the bad, i.e. pursuing his vengeance in Eregion, over the good, i.e. staying in Mordor, and suffers for it, but this really just a continuation of his season 1 behavior. He wants to eliminate any threat to his children no matter the cost and he enters the series already planning the genocide of a people that don't pose a threat to him or the orcs. Actually he has more cause to preemptively move against Eregion and Sauron. His error here is simply one of strategy rather than morals. Contrast that with Boromir and Faramir: Trying to use the Ring against Sauron is both foolish (he would be crushed by Sauron) and morally wrong. Adar's vengeance is his downfall not because vengeance is bad, but because he didn't factor in the morale of his troops and military capacity of his enemies. In season 1 he flat out succeeded and the loses there don't seem to matter. In short the whole thing really shows the shallowness of the series.

I think Faramir is better example. How am I supposed to do that with my eyeballs glued to the screen? I think I previously suggested splitting the series in two parts. a.) 2 season focussing on the Forging of the Rings, the War of the Elves and Sauron and early Numenorean intervention in Middle-earth and b.) 3 seasons dedicated to Numenor's Downfall and the War of the Last Alliance.

Even as a fanfic it sucks.

If they couldn't do it properly, then it should not have been attempted in the first place.