[Spoilers]Rings of Power 3: Tolkien’s actual writing… who needs that?

[illrede]

8 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I hate that scene for being so over the top.

I assumed she let her fea slip past her hroa for moment. As one does.

[Raja]

Have no interest in seeing 'larger than life' galadriel & gandalf - more interested in seeing actual characters

[fionwe1987]

41 minutes ago, Raja said:

Have no interest in seeing 'larger than life' galadriel & gandalf - more interested in seeing actual characters

I'd say those supposedly "larger than life" aspects of Galadriel and Gandalf make perfect sense if you acknowledge their immortality and give it serious thought, as Tolkien did. They've seen more and done more, and it actually doesn't make sense to ignore that and have them have the same kinds of character crises regular human characters do.

While immortality isn't (at least so far) real, it is a major animating idea for a lot of human endeavor. Taking it seriously is good characterization.

[Derfel Cadarn]

 

[Heartofice]

There are rumours going around that the Showrunners for RoP are going to be sidelined, not so much replaced for any ongoing seasons. Also similar rumours that Amazon considers the show to be a bit of a failure , especially compared to the critical praise HotD is getting, with much less fan backlash. 
 

No idea how real those rumours are, just seems to be ‘an insider’ saying it, but would be an interesting development.

It does make me wonder what changes the show could make next season to improve, win back LOTR and Tolkien fans whilst also keeping casual viewers on board. 
 

I’d say the quality of the writing needs to improve A LOT for starters, less meme worthy cringe inducing dialogue, more pace and momentum. Create characters with some depth. Standard stuff. But yeah I’m genuinely interested in how others think the show could be fixed, whilst not just starting again 

[Le Cygne]

On 10/30/2022 at 5:12 AM, Heartofice said:

There are rumours going around that the Showrunners for RoP are going to be sidelined, not so much replaced for any ongoing seasons. Also similar rumours that Amazon considers the show to be a bit of a failure , especially compared to the critical praise HotD is getting, with much less fan backlash.

No idea how real those rumours are, just seems to be ‘an insider’ saying it, but would be an interesting development.

It does make me wonder what changes the show could make next season to improve, win back LOTR and Tolkien fans whilst also keeping casual viewers on board.

I’d say the quality of the writing needs to improve A LOT for starters, less meme worthy cringe inducing dialogue, more pace and momentum. Create characters with some depth. Standard stuff. But yeah I’m genuinely interested in how others think the show could be fixed, whilst not just starting again 

I saw that, too. Tracked it down to this guy from filmthreat.com, Chris:

I agree, the dialogue and characterization are big problems. It's really hard to try to fix something that's this messy, so they'd need to get someone really good to tackle it, and involve Tolkien professors or the like.

Update: Just saw an article where the showrunners said they already wrote season 2 before season 1 aired, they said the cake is already baked. The guy in the video makes a good point about the missing feedback loop.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Le Cygne

[Le Cygne]

I have some issues with PJ's LOTR movies (I take issue with a certain story beat with Faramir for instance), however... I think we are very lucky to have it, and I can get past those things.

I watch it every year (only the extended version) and am doing a re-read and re-watch at the same time, and one thing I just noticed, he included the moment with Sam and Bill the pony at the door of the mines of Moria.

Now, that doesn't seem so important, but it said a lot. And he had Aragorn tell Sam not to worry. What did that do? It told us a lot about both Aragorn and Sam, in a simple, quick moment.

He could have easily left it out, but it's little things like that that make us love characters.

Edited October 30, 2022 by Le Cygne

[mormont]

If indeed Amazon are looking to retool the show and sideline the current showrunners, I wouldn't assume the emphasis is going to be on retcons that make it fit better with LOTR canon. That might please some folks here but it's going to be marginal at best in terms of improving ratings, and will cause as many problems as it solves.

Instead it's more likely to focus on pacing, dialogue, plotting and such, areas where the show was inconsistent and where a more experienced hand is required.

[Ran]

Yeah. If the rumor is true (big if), it's about making a better TV show, which isn't the same thing as making a more canonical show. 

I find myself very dubious of the idea that they would somehow secretly demote the showrunners.

ETA: A video on adaptation of works featuring Gore  makes it pretty plain that he's exactly the person who would try and find evidence from "his connects" that his view that the show is bad is shared by Amazon bigwigs, so I'd take his being the source of the rumor as a big warning sign that he found someone to tell him what he wants to hear.

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by Ran

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Ran said:

I find myself very dubious of the idea that they would somehow secretly demote the showrunners.

Sounds like a convenient way for such "reporting" to never be falsifiable.

[Veltigar]

True or not, I'd take a better TV-show though XD

[Corvinus85]

I think it's the Amazon execs that need to be demoted first, then these showrunners.

[Le Cygne]

This is one of the best articles I've seen about the problems with the show:

https://www.polygon.com/23414847/rings-power-season-1-review

Also this one (thank you, Bilbo): It's "like butter that's been scraped over too much bread."

Edited October 31, 2022 by Le Cygne

[Le Cygne]

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Le Cygne

[Farerb]

It is still hilarious to me that Lord Sauron really failed at pickpocketing then got into a street brawl with a bunch of númenórean because they said his human form was too lowly for Galadriel.

[SpaceChampion]

10 hours ago, Le Cygne said:

This is one of the best articles I've seen about the problems with the show:

https://www.polygon.com/23414847/rings-power-season-1-review

Also this one (thank you, Bilbo): It's "like butter that's been scraped over too much bread."

Ha!  They have a plan no more than the Cylons did.

[Argonath Diver]

1 hour ago, Farerb said:

It is still hilarious to me that Lord Sauron really failed at pickpocketing then got into a street brawl with a bunch of númenórean because they said his human form was too lowly for Galadriel.

Man I'm still sorting out what happened in between his Amazon-canon fleeing to an icy holdfast in the deepest North then became a masterplan to shipwreck himself across the Sundering Sea just in time to save a departing-but-reconsidering Galadriel.  

[Le Cygne]

16 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

Man I'm still sorting out what happened in between his Amazon-canon fleeing to an icy holdfast in the deepest North then became a masterplan to shipwreck himself across the Sundering Sea just in time to save a departing-but-reconsidering Galadriel.  

Sauron risked his life to save Galadriel, too. And then those angsty scenes where he's alone, wondering if he should leave Numenor. It was such a deep deception, he fooled himself.

Then she dragged him across the sea so he could be Sauron, whereupon he was like, yep, I meant to be here, like Pee Wee Herman falling off his bike saying I meant to do that.

He could have just gone himself, and Galadriel would be dead. He had one job...

(Just saw a video that said maybe Sauron was method acting when he was alone, or maybe he was breaking the fourth wall, trying to fool the audience, who mostly guessed it anyway.)

Edited November 1, 2022 by Le Cygne

[RhaenysBee]

Did they really fire Payne and McKay? I mean if I were Jeff I would be kinda pissed off for sure but is it really the nature of Hollywood to just fire people who mess up? Don’t they usually just double down and pretend they didn’t mess up? That was kinda the case with Star Wars, then again I wouldn’t know how much Disney is comparable with Amazon studios. What fun. Though my favorite media drama of the year is still Depp v Heard. 

[mormont]

1 hour ago, Le Cygne said:

Sauron risked his life to save Galadriel, too. And then those angsty scenes where he's alone, wondering if he should leave Numenor. It was such a deep deception, he fooled himself.

Then she dragged him across the sea so he could be Sauron, whereupon he was like, yep, I meant to be here, like Pee Wee Herman falling off his bike saying I meant to do that.

To be fair, even at the time I felt those scenes could be read as him bluffing her: he really wanted to go but wanted to appear that he did not. He resists, but in the end agrees when he could still have maintained that resistance. 

29 minutes ago, RhaenysBee said:

Did they really fire Payne and McKay?

I can find no reliable source saying that they have.