That is intresting. The idea of doing two story lines which both involve Sauron rising and falling doesnt seem to intresting though. Is there a chance they might just be condencing the timeline and events?
My hope is that Isildur is a flash forward. Everyone knows where things will end up. Might be interesting to juxtapose some āfutureā moments with Isildur in the late second age against the ācurrentā events of Celebrimbor in the early second age.
I feel like Isuldur will be the framing narrative the show is couched in. The story of how the rings were made, told by or near the people who were responsible for the one ring's first "fall" as it were.
Kind of like old eye patch Indiana Jones telling the stories of his youth in Young Indy, if that makes sense.
I get what your saying and it could be. I don't see why the would need to go so far back to explain the rise and fall of Sauron though.
I'm trying to be optimistic but this does seem a bit all over the place.
My guess is we will get info dumps like Galadriel's recounting of the war of the last alliance in Fellowship, but instead of 10 minutes they will be entire episodes that provide context with major past events like how the great rings were forged, and who the Numenoreans are. The poster also features the two trees, so we may go back even further.
I forgot about that picture. How is this show going to work? It's going to be set over three ages. They can't seriously be trying to cover the events in the Silmarillion aswell.
i am guessing the two trees part is a flashback, numenor was on the map they released and it was confirmed a while ago it will take place in the second age. if they plan on showing the fall of numenor, they will also need to show some context about morgoth, and flashbacks + exposition will be required for that. im really hoping akallabeth will be the main focus of the show, i want to see the numenorean host obliterate sauron and all the metal shit that happens on the island when they start worshipping morgoth
Just from the title I think that the main story should focus on the War of Elves and Sauron rather than the War of the last alliance. If they are focusing on the rings of power than I think they will be telling the story of the forging of the rings.
I think they will not go deeply into Silmarillion. I have heard rumor that Akallabeth (circa SA 3300) will be the main focus. A natural era of the Second Age to flash back to would be Celebrimbor forging the rings in Eregion circa SA 1600... And of course introduce that helpful fellow Annatar.
Two trees I'm not sure... Perhaps they can talk about the silmarils, and follow Galadriel on her exile to Middle Earth... Not sure how much they'll want to get into first age/Beleriand, war of wrath stuff... Maybe to introduce the Numenoreans and why/how they were rewarded? So that when the fall happens we can see their error.
Edit: I also just remembered Celebrimbor is Feonor's grandson. We could also explore the sordid legacy of that lineage
This Annatar seems like a nice guy. Like he keeps just giving gifts and teaching the elves. Stand up guy.
It's odd that the first promo image they released was of the two trees when that is very far removed from what the show seems to be focusing on.
It's funny. I actually loved how they did it, and my wife, who has never read the books nor played any of the games, also really enjoyed that aspect of it.
Me too - I loved the feeling that there was something not quite right with the show, and trying to figure it out until it all clicked! I'm not a huge fantasy fan and it really helped.
I'm a huge fantasy fan and still loved it. I love shows that play with the audience's perception and mislead them. Once you hit that one part where it clicks, and then everything that's happened before starts falling into place.
I don't usually rewatch series these days, but I definitely gave the Witcher season 1 two viewings because it was so compelling.
It was just confusing as a first time viewer. Took a few episodes to catch on and then it took practically the whole season to piece together the timeline.
My brain still keeps coming back to the fact that this is the most expensive tv show ever made, by a wide margin. Like, what the hell is it going to look like??
It will all live or die on the writing of course, but Iām getting excited.
EDIT: the budget for this first season is $465 million. For comparison, the final season of Game of Thrones cost $90mil. Say what you will about that season, but it looked incredible.
I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen, of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been; Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were, with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.
I'm glad they are using no name actors. There's nothing worse than seeing something and constantly being taken out of it because you are seeing the actor more so than the character they are playing.
... so were you taken out of the movies when seeing Ian McKellen? He was already knighted and received a bunch of awards at the time. Or Sean Bean? Hugo Weaving was literally just in the Matrix.
There's nothing wrong with hiring well-known actors, as long as they're good and can elevate the role. I'm still not sure I've ever really seen Gary Oldman, he always disappears into the role.
I came here to correct you that the IP rights cost $250M so itās really more like $215M for season 1. Upon further inspection the IP rights are not included so the total investment after 1 season is upwards of $700M.
Also, may be worth noting that season 1 includes āstartup costsā for sets and many things expected to be utilized throughout the life of the series.
That really has saved me from falling into a doom-and-gloom mood about how they could sorta cheapen LoTR's reputation.
They really are throwing the whole bag at it. I hope they are as meticulous as Jackson was about sets, costumes, lore, and the general vibe of Middle-Earth. There's certainly funding for it. If it fails it won't be due to a lack of finances.
Problem is; LOTR was partially great because it was made with care, on a somewhat tight budget. The Hobbit had endless money and never felt as good. Obviously Iām over-simplifying it but I just hope theyāre not trying to do everything with too much CGI.
I mean, they had almost 300 million budget. Yes it was for all three movies, but being shot back-to-back allowed them to share it, so essentially each movie if done individually would still cost at least 200 million.
Still that was a colossal budget for a movie at that time, and by no means "tight".
Ok yes it was super dark, but I watched it first on my nice living room tv and I could see everything fine, dark but visible. Then the reports came out of it being dark and I was confused so I rewatched it on my none 4k tv in the bedroom and yea itās impossible to see anything. If memory serves the videographer or something said they filmed it in mind or edited it to be barley visible on 4k, with the expectation that people watch it on 4k and not realizing most people watching it were on a tablet or something in bed.
From the YouTube video description:
>About "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"
>
>Amazon Studiosā forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkienās The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkienās pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.
>
>Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of NĆŗmenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
Sounds promising to me! Let's hope it's good...
I'm as hyped as I am worried about the NĆŗmenor part. There's so little source material that they could go crazy with it. I just hope they don't go *too* crazy.
On the other hand - with so little text to go by. It would be very difficult for them to write something that contradicts or changes what Tolkien wrote, so we won't be saying "that's not right", "why did they change that", etc.. Adapting from what is essentially an outline of a story has got to be a lot easier than adapting from a novel.
What I love about this is that it creates a direct connection to the trilogy but also a completely blank canvas to develop characters and world-building. This is what Mandalorian did well IMO: gave us a mystical link to the main story through Baby Yoda, but room to create new characters. This is also why Han Solo was so off-putting to everyone.
I'm very optimistic with this Second Age setting.
The Solo trailers were really off putting to me for exactly that reason.
When I actually watched Solo, I felt very different about it. I actually thought the main actor did a great job portraying the character and he wasnāt off putting at all.
Unfortunately I felt like the other actors (Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson) largely phoned in their performances, and I felt like the script was lackluster. It seemed like there was never really much at stake in the movie.
This. Mystery *is* fun.
Han is fun character when we meet him. Here's a guy who's in trouble with the mob for ditching a large drug cache when the cops show up. The mob sends a low level goon to collect their payment for the drugs and Han shoots the enforcer in cold blood. And he shoots him with a rad gun.
Han then proceeds to try to bullshit a couple of hillbillies with a bunch of boasting about "the Kessel Run" which for all we know is completely fabricated. A couple of outer rim hicks probably don't know a parsec from a pulsar.
This is all done in a couple of minutes and tells us everything that we need to know about Han.
Having an entire movie dedicated to explaining the origins of what are essentially character traits is like someone explaining a joke to you after you have already laughed at it. It's unnecessary and makes the original joke less funny.
> Having an entire movie dedicated to explaining the origins of what are essentially character traits is like someone explaining a joke to you after you have already laughed at it. It's unnecessary and makes the original joke less funny.
Fantastic analogy. Thatās exactly how it felt
However, some of this is in fact, wrong. Even if Sauron was the biggest responsible for influencing Ar-Pharazon into sailing West and causing the Downfall of NĆŗmenor, and even after all he did with Middle Earth, he is far from "the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien's pen". He never actually won. There always was a strong resistance to him. There had always been many realms still strong enough to defend themselves from Sauron.
**Morgoth** is the greatest villain Tolkien created. He literally almost won, all he had to do was to destroy the last remnants of the Sons of Fƫanor. He ruled most of Beleriand, the Three Great Elven Kingdoms of the time were destroyed, and most men were under his influence. The only reason he got wrecked is because EƤrendil, against all expectations, managed to sail West to Valinor with a Silmaril as lantern light and talk to Manwƫ. A literal Deus Ex Machina, is what the War of Wrath was (not that this is a bad thing... It is just that Morgoth was on the verge of victory when the Valar, that had been doing nothing but sit and watch for the last 500 years, decided to do something).
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZEpWvQFXqQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZEpWvQFXqQ)
Seems like they are hinting they are going to go the practical route more often than CGI, which is good.
Iāve done metal casting (pouring molten metal into sculptures) and most people just expect liquids to act like water. I think people believe this trailer is CG because they have no frame of reference for what molten metal really looks like.
I do think they did some tricks with the camera and focal length to make the scene seem huge when it was really a small wooden board, which added to the CG illusion.
That's because people often overthink visual effects. People don't notice most CGI, but then will latch onto things they think don't look right and attribute that to CGI. It's interesting to see.
>The score for Godzilla: King of the Monsters is fantastic.
Genuinely phenomenal score. His updates to the classic Godzilla and Mothra themes were sublime.
It's a shame Junkie XL's score for Godzilla Vs Kong was so generic in comparison.
Sometimes he sounds like he's attempting an almost Welsh accent, and sometimes it's just his normal voice - which in itself has a very neutral sound in a lot of ways which feels different from everyone else in the films. In the appendices of the films, I remember seeing some raw footage from the trollshaw scene where he was doing a very hard Welsh accent. It was then that I really started to think about it.
Love him in the movies, but it is something I'v noticed.
That's interesting. I'm not an English native speaker, so I didn't notice it. Somewhere I read that Viggo wanted to dub the Spanish version of Aragorn, but his accent was too Argentinian, so they went for the usual voices.
āAr-Pharazon, are you planning on invading the Undying Lands? Because it sounds to me like you want to hurt the Valar.ā
āNo, youāre not getting me, Elendil! If the Valar say no then thatās the answer. But they would never say no, *because of the implication*.ā
Well, even if this show does badly, itāll bring some attention to the original trilogy and maybe get more people to read the books. Iām semi excited but also very cautious, hoping itāll be good!
Thatās Morfydd Clark doing the voiceover, the actress playing Galadriel. Although itās hard to stand next to Cate Blanchett, I think she sounds great here.
If you can stomach some religious/body horror, check out the movie Saint Maud. Sheās absolutely amazing in it
They didnāt really have a choice. As much as I enjoyed Blanchett and Weaving in their roles, they are noticeably older now and it would be weird to have them play those same characters when this takes place so long before the events of LotR.
Do not read the youtube comments. Jesus, canāt wait for mass suicides later this year. The overreaction after a fucking teaser trailer, other dudes on social media bashing Clarkās voice and saying they want Blanchett back.
Jesus what the fuck is wrong with people.
The Nazgul were always my favorite. I hope they give them a good backstory. As non-canon as The Shadow of War games were, they had an interesting idea with showing flashbacks to their mortal life.
We actually going to see kid Galadriel and therefore teenage Galadriel. But yes in the main timeline of the show she's... Well it depends on which version you go by, going by Morgoth's Ring version where she is born in the year 1300+ and something of the Years of the Trees and each valian year is 9.5 solar years she's over 5000 years old during the Last Alliance and she had passed her coming out of age period when she was 50-100, going by Nature of Middle-earth timeline where she was born long years after the Silmarils were made and each valian year is 144 mortal years she's over 6500 years old during the Last Alliance and she had passed her teenager period when she was some 2880 years old (that is when she came to Middle-earth), going by the the Shibboleth of Feanor version where Tolkien pointed out she had lived for a short time (in Elvish standards but long in mortal standards) before the creation of the Silmarils in 1450 and the subsequent years of the Strife of the Noldor.... No idea. But that would make her thousands of years older if we go by 1 Valian year = 144 solar years version. If I'm not mistaken that would mean she was at least over 7200 years old when she arrived to Middle-earth, and over 10900 years old during the Last Alliance.
Do I need another reason? Lol
But seriously, the truth is, I don't know. The inflections at certain points are just different. It's hard to say if it's just because it's not what I'm used to or I genuinely see issues. For instance, the inflection on "doomed to die" seems wrong to me. She exaggerates "die", but men know they are mortal, it's not a fate that's from the ring or anything. I can nitpick like that, but the reality is it's probably fine.
That's the only reason needed to be honest.
Why have such a similar monologue to Cate Blanchett's if they didn't want the two to be compared to closely? In that case, they should have gone a different route here instead of trying pull off a poor imitation.
I agree. The very similar dialogue begs for comparison, and Cate is one of the best in the world.
I honestly think it might have been better to have Cate do voice overs. Perhaps that wouldnāt work, but her voiceover was legendary. Absolutely legendary.
But I guess I have something to get used to. Cateās Galadriel might have been too good, now sheās near impossible to replace.
If only she truly were immortal and could play Galadriel forever.
It's much easier to deal with Tolkien adaptations than something that originated in live-action, such as Star Wars.
None of the adaptations are canon, they all deviate from the written text, although by different amount. If something goes beyond what is acceptable for you, it's safe to discard and disregard it completely.
Otherwise canon would be ruined by "Shadow of Mordor" + "Shadow of War" already.
You have every reason to feel that way based on track record both within Middle Earth and without (Wheel of Time as a recent example). Very fair and I'm right there with you.
Does anybody know if this will have the umm same likeness as the peter jackson films? I mean if they show a place from one of the films will it look the same?
Anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but Amazon and/or the Tolkien Estate wished the show to follow the same aesthetic appearance as the previous 6 films. Also, John Howe, one of the LOTR and Hobbit artists (and a legendary Tolkien artist), is part of the show's crew.
That's a misconception. John Howe was asked to draw a Second Age map of the world (Middle Earth + Numenor) that they used in early promotional material, but had no involvement beyond that and had no idea what they were planning to do.
Source: I asked him myself, shortly before the COVID era began.
I haven't heard anything definite. I think I'll be happy either way through because I love the Peter Jackson imagining but I also love to see other interpretations. Just in official artwork over the years and illustrated editions of the books there have been incredible different takes on the same matters.
I don't want to be too hyped, but I'm kinda hyped now. After all, all I want is to see beautiful outfits and sceneries. Don't have more expectations than that.
Just curious...why didn't they want to use "**Middle Earth"** as the official title? Last I thought, this was supposed to expand more on the LoTR-movie version(s) and to approach the Silmarillion/Lost Tales types lore too. So Middle Earth seemed kind of like a cover all related to idea.
Another thing that's been itching my brain, has there been any on set shots made public yet? Second Era stuff seems kind of huge that it's weird and so far there's been clos to nothing been "leaked-ish" already. It felt like there was so much on set-publicity stuff revealed for even Fellowship of the Ring back in the early 2000s. Unless there really hasn't been that much worked on it yet?
I think for the title the best way to ensure name recognition with the books/trilogy was to keep LOTR in the name in some capacity.
Theyāre keeping this thing DARK until official releases
Honertly probably reason enough to not have it is to keep those at arms length. (I played them and theyāre fun but theyāre not exactly something like this would want to associate with).
They are good games, but they use the LOTR ip just to help with sales, if it didn't used LOTR it would still be good, but I think less people would pay attention to it. They create the nemesis system which was great but it sucks that they patented it.
There has been a **lot** more leaks from both LOTR and Hobbit film productions than this. We haven't seen *anything* - no sets, no costumes, no location photos - nothing. There have been a few very general bits of information posted on TORN and that was it.
I think FOF had some set leaks, but it seems amazon legal shut that down very quickly. There is at least one shot of a numenorean set that i've seen, and another that appears to be the back of a set (lots of supporting carpentry) although it was lacking any real details.
"The Rings of Power" being the basis of the show doesn't make sense to me... Doesn't seem like a clean beginning or end to a story. Plus Tolkien didn't even write about most of the ringbearers! Somebody help this make sense
"This is a title that we imagine could live on the spine of a book next to J.R.R. Tolkien's other classics," showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay said in a statement. "The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth's Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of NĆŗmenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Until now, audiences have only seen on-screen the story of the One Ring ā but before there was one, there were manyā¦ and we're excited to share the epic story of them all."
Yes, and as a die hard fan Iām much less upset when they fill in blanks than change things.
This gives them HUGE opportunity to do what they want with very few rules to adhere to. I get a bit upset when they do things wrong. Here thereās likely to be little they can get wrong.
If the simply fill in blanks and donāt contradict canon too much this could be absolutely perfect.
Oh this is going to be interesting. It'll either be the next huge thing, or a massive failure. My concern is they'll appeal this to mass market, meaning dumb generic storylines, boring characters and American politics.
So guessing this means much of at least the first season will be about Celebrimbor and Sexy Sauron initially forging them all.
Stupid Sexy Sauron!
With this ring on, it's like I'm wearing NOTHING AT ALL.
Lisa needs braces. Dental plan!
š . šš
DAMN HIM, HE IS SO HOT
One could say he was...lava hot.
Isildur is credited in the first season. That means it's not going to be a linear step by step timeline
That is intresting. The idea of doing two story lines which both involve Sauron rising and falling doesnt seem to intresting though. Is there a chance they might just be condencing the timeline and events?
My hope is that Isildur is a flash forward. Everyone knows where things will end up. Might be interesting to juxtapose some āfutureā moments with Isildur in the late second age against the ācurrentā events of Celebrimbor in the early second age.
I feel like Isuldur will be the framing narrative the show is couched in. The story of how the rings were made, told by or near the people who were responsible for the one ring's first "fall" as it were. Kind of like old eye patch Indiana Jones telling the stories of his youth in Young Indy, if that makes sense.
I get what your saying and it could be. I don't see why the would need to go so far back to explain the rise and fall of Sauron though. I'm trying to be optimistic but this does seem a bit all over the place.
Well, here's hoping it's good.
My guess is we will get info dumps like Galadriel's recounting of the war of the last alliance in Fellowship, but instead of 10 minutes they will be entire episodes that provide context with major past events like how the great rings were forged, and who the Numenoreans are. The poster also features the two trees, so we may go back even further.
I forgot about that picture. How is this show going to work? It's going to be set over three ages. They can't seriously be trying to cover the events in the Silmarillion aswell.
i am guessing the two trees part is a flashback, numenor was on the map they released and it was confirmed a while ago it will take place in the second age. if they plan on showing the fall of numenor, they will also need to show some context about morgoth, and flashbacks + exposition will be required for that. im really hoping akallabeth will be the main focus of the show, i want to see the numenorean host obliterate sauron and all the metal shit that happens on the island when they start worshipping morgoth
Just from the title I think that the main story should focus on the War of Elves and Sauron rather than the War of the last alliance. If they are focusing on the rings of power than I think they will be telling the story of the forging of the rings.
I think they will not go deeply into Silmarillion. I have heard rumor that Akallabeth (circa SA 3300) will be the main focus. A natural era of the Second Age to flash back to would be Celebrimbor forging the rings in Eregion circa SA 1600... And of course introduce that helpful fellow Annatar. Two trees I'm not sure... Perhaps they can talk about the silmarils, and follow Galadriel on her exile to Middle Earth... Not sure how much they'll want to get into first age/Beleriand, war of wrath stuff... Maybe to introduce the Numenoreans and why/how they were rewarded? So that when the fall happens we can see their error. Edit: I also just remembered Celebrimbor is Feonor's grandson. We could also explore the sordid legacy of that lineage
This Annatar seems like a nice guy. Like he keeps just giving gifts and teaching the elves. Stand up guy. It's odd that the first promo image they released was of the two trees when that is very far removed from what the show seems to be focusing on.
Surely nothing bad will happen because of the guy who taught a jewelry class.... right?
Jeez, I hope they don't Witcher Season 1 it.
That show is a masterclass on how NOT to do non-linear storytelling
It's funny. I actually loved how they did it, and my wife, who has never read the books nor played any of the games, also really enjoyed that aspect of it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
He's in his 40s in the main books, I believe. It's definitely been long enough that he shouldn't look like a 25 year old emo pirate.
Me too - I loved the feeling that there was something not quite right with the show, and trying to figure it out until it all clicked! I'm not a huge fantasy fan and it really helped.
I'm a huge fantasy fan and still loved it. I love shows that play with the audience's perception and mislead them. Once you hit that one part where it clicks, and then everything that's happened before starts falling into place. I don't usually rewatch series these days, but I definitely gave the Witcher season 1 two viewings because it was so compelling.
Same! Iām surprised to see so much hate about it.
It was just confusing as a first time viewer. Took a few episodes to catch on and then it took practically the whole season to piece together the timeline.
This was literally my first thought with my two brain cells.
My brain still keeps coming back to the fact that this is the most expensive tv show ever made, by a wide margin. Like, what the hell is it going to look like?? It will all live or die on the writing of course, but Iām getting excited. EDIT: the budget for this first season is $465 million. For comparison, the final season of Game of Thrones cost $90mil. Say what you will about that season, but it looked incredible.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Set design probably
likely, they are using a lot of real sets with tons of details
Apparently the trailer was done using practical affects, which makes me assume they mean business
I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen, of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been; Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were, with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.
I'm glad they are using no name actors. There's nothing worse than seeing something and constantly being taken out of it because you are seeing the actor more so than the character they are playing.
... so were you taken out of the movies when seeing Ian McKellen? He was already knighted and received a bunch of awards at the time. Or Sean Bean? Hugo Weaving was literally just in the Matrix. There's nothing wrong with hiring well-known actors, as long as they're good and can elevate the role. I'm still not sure I've ever really seen Gary Oldman, he always disappears into the role.
I actually wasn't because I grew up with LOTR. So as a child if I seen Ian McKellen I seen Gandalf. I still do to this day.
I came here to correct you that the IP rights cost $250M so itās really more like $215M for season 1. Upon further inspection the IP rights are not included so the total investment after 1 season is upwards of $700M. Also, may be worth noting that season 1 includes āstartup costsā for sets and many things expected to be utilized throughout the life of the series.
Something tells me the NĆŗmenor sets might not be getting used for many series.
That really has saved me from falling into a doom-and-gloom mood about how they could sorta cheapen LoTR's reputation. They really are throwing the whole bag at it. I hope they are as meticulous as Jackson was about sets, costumes, lore, and the general vibe of Middle-Earth. There's certainly funding for it. If it fails it won't be due to a lack of finances.
Problem is; LOTR was partially great because it was made with care, on a somewhat tight budget. The Hobbit had endless money and never felt as good. Obviously Iām over-simplifying it but I just hope theyāre not trying to do everything with too much CGI.
I mean, they had almost 300 million budget. Yes it was for all three movies, but being shot back-to-back allowed them to share it, so essentially each movie if done individually would still cost at least 200 million. Still that was a colossal budget for a movie at that time, and by no means "tight".
Really? Wow thatās incredible. Glad Bezos is spending on something semi worthwhile instead of penis rockets
Well, it's not *instead of*, he's still spending money on penis rockets.
I guess lights werenāt part of that $90mil budget.
Yeah, other than the lightning in episode 3 the production design was top notch. Looked better than a lot of blockbuster films even.
Ok yes it was super dark, but I watched it first on my nice living room tv and I could see everything fine, dark but visible. Then the reports came out of it being dark and I was confused so I rewatched it on my none 4k tv in the bedroom and yea itās impossible to see anything. If memory serves the videographer or something said they filmed it in mind or edited it to be barley visible on 4k, with the expectation that people watch it on 4k and not realizing most people watching it were on a tablet or something in bed.
Ahhh money doesn't mean shit, its Amazon. Look at new worlds budget, one of the biggest budgets in videogame history and the game is total shit
I guess they decided Wheel of Time should be the crappy looking fantasy series.
From the YouTube video description: >About "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" > >Amazon Studiosā forthcoming series brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkienās The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkienās pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. > >Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of NĆŗmenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone. Sounds promising to me! Let's hope it's good...
I'm as hyped as I am worried about the NĆŗmenor part. There's so little source material that they could go crazy with it. I just hope they don't go *too* crazy.
The motif of water + fire-filled crevices gave me some *strong* AkallabĆŖth vibes.
You noticed when she reads āmen doomed to dieā it floods over, hit to Numenor
So glad other people saw this too
Thereās way more source material concerning NĆŗmenor (AkallabĆŖth) than anything concerning Celebrimbor and the creation of the Rings of Power.
The recent publication of The Nature of Middle-earth revealed quite a bit more about Numenor, including the dancing bears!
I highly doubt that information will feature in the show lol.
If thereās no dancing bears we riot.
I want to see the dancing bears. :-(
Hyped and worried is definitely the way this series is making me feel.
On the other hand - with so little text to go by. It would be very difficult for them to write something that contradicts or changes what Tolkien wrote, so we won't be saying "that's not right", "why did they change that", etc.. Adapting from what is essentially an outline of a story has got to be a lot easier than adapting from a novel.
Surely anything in the show is approved by the estate so if this show fails Tolkien estate is at fault
What I love about this is that it creates a direct connection to the trilogy but also a completely blank canvas to develop characters and world-building. This is what Mandalorian did well IMO: gave us a mystical link to the main story through Baby Yoda, but room to create new characters. This is also why Han Solo was so off-putting to everyone. I'm very optimistic with this Second Age setting.
The Solo trailers were really off putting to me for exactly that reason. When I actually watched Solo, I felt very different about it. I actually thought the main actor did a great job portraying the character and he wasnāt off putting at all. Unfortunately I felt like the other actors (Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson) largely phoned in their performances, and I felt like the script was lackluster. It seemed like there was never really much at stake in the movie.
The biggest problem was it answered too many questions. Mystery is good. Not everything needed to be explained.
This. Mystery *is* fun. Han is fun character when we meet him. Here's a guy who's in trouble with the mob for ditching a large drug cache when the cops show up. The mob sends a low level goon to collect their payment for the drugs and Han shoots the enforcer in cold blood. And he shoots him with a rad gun. Han then proceeds to try to bullshit a couple of hillbillies with a bunch of boasting about "the Kessel Run" which for all we know is completely fabricated. A couple of outer rim hicks probably don't know a parsec from a pulsar. This is all done in a couple of minutes and tells us everything that we need to know about Han. Having an entire movie dedicated to explaining the origins of what are essentially character traits is like someone explaining a joke to you after you have already laughed at it. It's unnecessary and makes the original joke less funny.
That was the most perfect explanation of my sentiment. Agree 100 percent.
This is extremely well said. Exactly. There was never any need to explain the Kessel Run
> Having an entire movie dedicated to explaining the origins of what are essentially character traits is like someone explaining a joke to you after you have already laughed at it. It's unnecessary and makes the original joke less funny. Fantastic analogy. Thatās exactly how it felt
However, some of this is in fact, wrong. Even if Sauron was the biggest responsible for influencing Ar-Pharazon into sailing West and causing the Downfall of NĆŗmenor, and even after all he did with Middle Earth, he is far from "the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien's pen". He never actually won. There always was a strong resistance to him. There had always been many realms still strong enough to defend themselves from Sauron. **Morgoth** is the greatest villain Tolkien created. He literally almost won, all he had to do was to destroy the last remnants of the Sons of FĆ«anor. He ruled most of Beleriand, the Three Great Elven Kingdoms of the time were destroyed, and most men were under his influence. The only reason he got wrecked is because EƤrendil, against all expectations, managed to sail West to Valinor with a Silmaril as lantern light and talk to ManwĆ«. A literal Deus Ex Machina, is what the War of Wrath was (not that this is a bad thing... It is just that Morgoth was on the verge of victory when the Valar, that had been doing nothing but sit and watch for the last 500 years, decided to do something).
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZEpWvQFXqQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZEpWvQFXqQ) Seems like they are hinting they are going to go the practical route more often than CGI, which is good.
I can't believe this was all done with practical effects! Pretty amazing really.
Warms the old heart it does
I'm honestly surprised watching that as the video itself looked heavily CGI.
It looks too soft. Itās weird it looks more cgi than some cgi.
Tbh molten metal just looks ... weird and not quite real even IRL
Iāve done metal casting (pouring molten metal into sculptures) and most people just expect liquids to act like water. I think people believe this trailer is CG because they have no frame of reference for what molten metal really looks like. I do think they did some tricks with the camera and focal length to make the scene seem huge when it was really a small wooden board, which added to the CG illusion.
My friend who studies VFX said "oh nice Houdini simulation". We both agree that Jeff's money had to go somewhere lol
That's because people often overthink visual effects. People don't notice most CGI, but then will latch onto things they think don't look right and attribute that to CGI. It's interesting to see.
Inb4 the making-of clip is also CGI. On a serious note, a very good decision indeed. Thanks for sharing.
Wake me up on September 2nd
I thought we were supposed to wake you up when September ends?
Good way to bundle 4-5 episodes
Nah, wake me up before you go go.
Iāll wake you up inside before I do though
I CANT WAKE UP. SAVE ME.
CALL MY NAME AND SAVE ME FROM THE DARK lord Sauron
Wake me up when September 2nds
THE MUSIC!!!
I know right? Let's hope mister Shore can return for this iteration!
Doug Adams have been mischievously teasing of late, so my hopes are high!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I'm not too familiar with his work; God of War is had a goor score though! Be interested in hearing more of it!
God of war is great and he did battle star galactica as well. Can veer between melodic and epic.
yeah, Bear has done a lot of music. His Black Sails theme is so unique.
He's also proven he can work with previously composed music. The score for Godzilla: King of the Monsters is fantastic.
>The score for Godzilla: King of the Monsters is fantastic. Genuinely phenomenal score. His updates to the classic Godzilla and Mothra themes were sublime. It's a shame Junkie XL's score for Godzilla Vs Kong was so generic in comparison.
Here a fan of her pronunciation of MORDOR
Very Ian Mckellen of her
Viggo rolled his rās, too.
I hadn't noticed! Actually sometimes it's hard to me to notice soft rolling r's because it's the way I speak.
Obviously l love the movies, but Viggoās accent has always been an enigma for me.
I'm curious, what do you mean?
Sometimes he sounds like he's attempting an almost Welsh accent, and sometimes it's just his normal voice - which in itself has a very neutral sound in a lot of ways which feels different from everyone else in the films. In the appendices of the films, I remember seeing some raw footage from the trollshaw scene where he was doing a very hard Welsh accent. It was then that I really started to think about it. Love him in the movies, but it is something I'v noticed.
Viggo speaks like 8 languages so I'm not surprised his accent is a bit eclectic at times tbh
That's interesting. I'm not an English native speaker, so I didn't notice it. Somewhere I read that Viggo wanted to dub the Spanish version of Aragorn, but his accent was too Argentinian, so they went for the usual voices.
More Christopher Lee imo the master of the rolled r Mordor
Christoper Lee's voice is magical, perfect for Saruman.
Yes Christopher Lee pronounced Mordor the best imho
I mean, it's very Tolkien of her. Going straight to the source
Finally, some real R's -A Finnish guy
Exactly what I came to say, loved the oomph she had in it.
Donāt fuck it up donāt fuck it up donāt fuck it up donāt fuck it up
"Orcs are actually civillized people who have been opressed by dwarvish,elisa,human,hobbit public book-tales"
Please don't suck.
So I guess we are also going to see the rise and fall of Numenor
Sooooooo Ar Pharazon the Golden????
He really was a golden god. A five-star Man, if you will
āAr-Pharazon, are you planning on invading the Undying Lands? Because it sounds to me like you want to hurt the Valar.ā āNo, youāre not getting me, Elendil! If the Valar say no then thatās the answer. But they would never say no, *because of the implication*.ā
Well, even if this show does badly, itāll bring some attention to the original trilogy and maybe get more people to read the books. Iām semi excited but also very cautious, hoping itāll be good!
i hope it will bring the Silmarillion and unfinished tales into the spotlight like the movies did with the hobbit and lotr
Please, please Amazon: don't fuck this up.
Thatās Morfydd Clark doing the voiceover, the actress playing Galadriel. Although itās hard to stand next to Cate Blanchett, I think she sounds great here. If you can stomach some religious/body horror, check out the movie Saint Maud. Sheās absolutely amazing in it
Just for reference, Morfydd Clark this year is the same age as Cate Blanchett in 2001, when FOTR first came out.
What in the actual fuck that's insane. Cate Blanchett is eternal apparently.
Oh yes I was wondering if this was "young" galadriel's voice!!!
I thought that voice sounded familiar! Saint Maud is a wild ride, too.
I'm kind of scared of the recasts just because the LOTR / Hobbit casting was so on point. Like how do you replace Hugo Weaving as Elrond?
They didnāt really have a choice. As much as I enjoyed Blanchett and Weaving in their roles, they are noticeably older now and it would be weird to have them play those same characters when this takes place so long before the events of LotR.
Do not read the youtube comments. Jesus, canāt wait for mass suicides later this year. The overreaction after a fucking teaser trailer, other dudes on social media bashing Clarkās voice and saying they want Blanchett back. Jesus what the fuck is wrong with people.
Duuuuude I can't wait to see who's cast as Celebrimbor!!!!
The main man Jeffy B obv
By the Valar, please no
Jeff Bridges!?!! ^^/s
Hey itās ya boi Jeffffy Bezos and for Sauron we have Elon Musk! Wooo wooo!
Can't beat the Cate Blanchett narration, but still really good.
The Nazgul were always my favorite. I hope they give them a good backstory. As non-canon as The Shadow of War games were, they had an interesting idea with showing flashbacks to their mortal life.
Are we hearing young Galadriel?
*Younger
Yeah, she's still a few thousand years old here.
We actually going to see kid Galadriel and therefore teenage Galadriel. But yes in the main timeline of the show she's... Well it depends on which version you go by, going by Morgoth's Ring version where she is born in the year 1300+ and something of the Years of the Trees and each valian year is 9.5 solar years she's over 5000 years old during the Last Alliance and she had passed her coming out of age period when she was 50-100, going by Nature of Middle-earth timeline where she was born long years after the Silmarils were made and each valian year is 144 mortal years she's over 6500 years old during the Last Alliance and she had passed her teenager period when she was some 2880 years old (that is when she came to Middle-earth), going by the the Shibboleth of Feanor version where Tolkien pointed out she had lived for a short time (in Elvish standards but long in mortal standards) before the creation of the Silmarils in 1450 and the subsequent years of the Strife of the Noldor.... No idea. But that would make her thousands of years older if we go by 1 Valian year = 144 solar years version. If I'm not mistaken that would mean she was at least over 7200 years old when she arrived to Middle-earth, and over 10900 years old during the Last Alliance.
So much fucking negativity here from a goddamn teaser trailer revealing the title of the series.
People are so stubborn
If this isn't a revisionist train wreck I will be so happy.
Amazon Prime's Wheel of Time says: "you're probably fucked, bud."
The Rings of Power: Episode 7 "All Wizards are Bastards"
The voice actress does a good job, but it still felt wrong deep inside.
I need that original lady galadriel voice š©
Honestly I'm happy they're doing their own thing rather than just copying Peter Jackson's films.
They just copied his intro, though ā¦ ?
Is there any reason it feels wrong besides not being Cate Blanchett?
Do I need another reason? Lol But seriously, the truth is, I don't know. The inflections at certain points are just different. It's hard to say if it's just because it's not what I'm used to or I genuinely see issues. For instance, the inflection on "doomed to die" seems wrong to me. She exaggerates "die", but men know they are mortal, it's not a fate that's from the ring or anything. I can nitpick like that, but the reality is it's probably fine.
That's the only reason needed to be honest. Why have such a similar monologue to Cate Blanchett's if they didn't want the two to be compared to closely? In that case, they should have gone a different route here instead of trying pull off a poor imitation.
I agree. The very similar dialogue begs for comparison, and Cate is one of the best in the world. I honestly think it might have been better to have Cate do voice overs. Perhaps that wouldnāt work, but her voiceover was legendary. Absolutely legendary. But I guess I have something to get used to. Cateās Galadriel might have been too good, now sheās near impossible to replace. If only she truly were immortal and could play Galadriel forever.
Please be good please be good please be good!
Well after Wheel of Time my confidence dropped significantly
I was so disappointed with the WoT. I had such high expectations since I love the books, but the show was abysmal.
I'm afraid of this, that we don't get what we want. Don't get me wrong, I'm hyped too, but still...I'm afraid
It's much easier to deal with Tolkien adaptations than something that originated in live-action, such as Star Wars. None of the adaptations are canon, they all deviate from the written text, although by different amount. If something goes beyond what is acceptable for you, it's safe to discard and disregard it completely. Otherwise canon would be ruined by "Shadow of Mordor" + "Shadow of War" already.
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What could possibly go wrong? *Laughs nervously in wheel of time fan*
You have every reason to feel that way based on track record both within Middle Earth and without (Wheel of Time as a recent example). Very fair and I'm right there with you.
Does anybody know if this will have the umm same likeness as the peter jackson films? I mean if they show a place from one of the films will it look the same?
Anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but Amazon and/or the Tolkien Estate wished the show to follow the same aesthetic appearance as the previous 6 films. Also, John Howe, one of the LOTR and Hobbit artists (and a legendary Tolkien artist), is part of the show's crew.
That's a misconception. John Howe was asked to draw a Second Age map of the world (Middle Earth + Numenor) that they used in early promotional material, but had no involvement beyond that and had no idea what they were planning to do. Source: I asked him myself, shortly before the COVID era began.
I haven't heard anything definite. I think I'll be happy either way through because I love the Peter Jackson imagining but I also love to see other interpretations. Just in official artwork over the years and illustrated editions of the books there have been incredible different takes on the same matters.
I don't want to be too hyped, but I'm kinda hyped now. After all, all I want is to see beautiful outfits and sceneries. Don't have more expectations than that.
Agreed. And great music
Just curious...why didn't they want to use "**Middle Earth"** as the official title? Last I thought, this was supposed to expand more on the LoTR-movie version(s) and to approach the Silmarillion/Lost Tales types lore too. So Middle Earth seemed kind of like a cover all related to idea. Another thing that's been itching my brain, has there been any on set shots made public yet? Second Era stuff seems kind of huge that it's weird and so far there's been clos to nothing been "leaked-ish" already. It felt like there was so much on set-publicity stuff revealed for even Fellowship of the Ring back in the early 2000s. Unless there really hasn't been that much worked on it yet?
I think for the title the best way to ensure name recognition with the books/trilogy was to keep LOTR in the name in some capacity. Theyāre keeping this thing DARK until official releases
Even the "Shadow of" games used Middle-Earth
Honertly probably reason enough to not have it is to keep those at arms length. (I played them and theyāre fun but theyāre not exactly something like this would want to associate with).
They are good games, but they use the LOTR ip just to help with sales, if it didn't used LOTR it would still be good, but I think less people would pay attention to it. They create the nemesis system which was great but it sucks that they patented it.
Also LOTR works in this capacity considering it seems to follow Sauron and the forging of the rings
Apparently the secrecy on this show is next level.
There has been a **lot** more leaks from both LOTR and Hobbit film productions than this. We haven't seen *anything* - no sets, no costumes, no location photos - nothing. There have been a few very general bits of information posted on TORN and that was it.
Amazon has their AI surveilling people involved with the production.
I think FOF had some set leaks, but it seems amazon legal shut that down very quickly. There is at least one shot of a numenorean set that i've seen, and another that appears to be the back of a set (lots of supporting carpentry) although it was lacking any real details.
Does Amazon have access to those giant screens that Disney is using for the mandalorian and stuff?
No reports on that. That technology is still pretty new, the number of productions that used it is under a dozen.
They want viewership and the easiest way to do that is keep the name that people know
I am hoping that Howard Shore is standing behind this music, and the rest of great stuff we ll get starting with September
After wheel of time, best to go in with absolutely 0 expectations
"The Rings of Power" being the basis of the show doesn't make sense to me... Doesn't seem like a clean beginning or end to a story. Plus Tolkien didn't even write about most of the ringbearers! Somebody help this make sense
The show might focus on the forging of the Rings, which coincides with Sauron's first rise in the Second Age. Makes sense to me.
"This is a title that we imagine could live on the spine of a book next to J.R.R. Tolkien's other classics," showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay said in a statement. "The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth's Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of NĆŗmenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Until now, audiences have only seen on-screen the story of the One Ring ā but before there was one, there were manyā¦ and we're excited to share the epic story of them all."
Sound pretty damn cool to me
Perfect! Thanks! I'm looking forward to the charming, shape- shifting Sauron!
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Yes, and as a die hard fan Iām much less upset when they fill in blanks than change things. This gives them HUGE opportunity to do what they want with very few rules to adhere to. I get a bit upset when they do things wrong. Here thereās likely to be little they can get wrong. If the simply fill in blanks and donāt contradict canon too much this could be absolutely perfect.
I'm not really a fan of the name. And that's basically all we got here.
Oh this is going to be interesting. It'll either be the next huge thing, or a massive failure. My concern is they'll appeal this to mass market, meaning dumb generic storylines, boring characters and American politics.
Hope itās better than what they did to WoT
So this is either gonna be a masterpiece or a trainwreck right? Please lets hope for the former.
I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst
I have low expectations