The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series

I just watched the first episode of House of the Dragon and the difference in quality is enormous. Even though it's very talky, there's no contest.

"i'm angry because danny devito should be sauron"

I get more a Radagast vibe

season 2: another man falls from the sky.
blue wizards: “sauron?”
radagast: “nope”

i want to know more abt the 3 blue wizard-witches -- are they gone for good or is literally everyone in the elf show immune to fire lol?

internet chat (apparently citing the credits for the final ep) (no i will never check) -- is referring to them as "The Ascetic", "The Nomad" and "The Dweller" (great work getting a dweller and a nomad to work in a team i guess)

also i see we're being what-colour-is-the-dressed abt their garb: no they are not wearing white #ffs

I will never not think of them as Zod, Ursa, and Non. Sorry not sorry.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/353/199/3c5.png

Ascetic and Nomad are from the closed captions - Ascetic has the wimple, Nomad the helmet, Dweller I guess is the non-speaking shapeshifter

they're used to players/viewers doing some of the work of making sense of events.

This is definitely a thing, but I'd struggle to describe it as a gamer thing rather than a general modern fan thing, where everything now has its own wiki site?

Elrond and Durin laffin it up over beers - this is what Tolkien wanted

Strong Enya vibes at Numenor

So....we had thoughts. We SURE had thoughts.

https://www.megaphonic.fm/bythebywater/44

This is definitely a thing, but I'd struggle to describe it as a gamer thing rather than a general modern fan thing, where everything now has its own wiki site?

I'd say that sort of fandom is the result of growing up playing video games, although you could make a case for the Internet also affecting how these shows are consumed. Like, at some point the show itself becomes less than 50% of the phenomenon, and the majority of fan interaction with a franchise happens online. Whereas in the 80s, you watch a show and you can maybe tape it and watch it again and then talk about it with your friends who are interested. It's hard to see how eventually this wouldn't affect how shows are produced, where you begin to focus on creating stubs for this sort of activity to hang off of instead of a fully-developed story that can stand alone.

I mean, a video game narrative gets you to the same point just due a different set of constraints inherent within the medium - you can't easily force players to do what moves the story along in a predictable way.

i didn't know JJ Abrams had a connection to the showrunners, but that makes total sense. I'm sure I knew it at one point and buried that information deep in my mind-vault.

I had a whole debate last night with my son about the use of "yester-eve."

were there two sides in this debate?

the only point of contention was "is it a bad phrase and commonly used" vs "is it bad phrase and therefore never used"

yestereve is not a word they made up, it's been around for centuries but has about the same incidence as sennight in the last couple hundred years. ereyesterday and overmorrow used to also be English terms (the day before yesterday and the day after tomorrow), even more archaic than something like sennight unless you read Tor fantasy novels with any regularity.

oh i believe in yestereve

yestereve just stuck out like a sore thumb, "let's figure out a way to say last night without saying last night, and let's dig deep." just say last night!

reminded to lol at the whole "the elves are going to take our jobs!" subtext

I think that sort of cod-fantasy English works in pulp novels because your brain can imagine it sounding cool but there's no fooling anyone once it's said aloud onscreen.

xpost Please don't remind me

I tried to watch this and turned it off after 15 minutes or so. That Galadriel backstory was dire - like something I came up with in Rolemaster at age 14.

Tell us more about your Rolemaster campaigns please?

I was about to say, happy to hear about that!

Lol, first thing that comes to mind:

The PCs (1st or 2nd level iirc) arrive in the castle of a Baron who was secretly a lich who could appear human. I intended the Baron to initially be their patron, then nemesis, after a slow reveal, but a couple of PCs got fed up with the obvious secrets being kept by the Baron's butler and killed him, then went wilding around the Baron's castle searching for the secret they insisted was there, just trying to wreck the game.

By the time the PCs arrived in the lowest level of the castle, I had gotten fed up so I just present them the Baron. One of the PCs, a Rogue, says "fuck you, Baron" and uses his whip to attack, rolling a crazy critical, which resulted in the whip breaking the nose of the Baron and sending slivers of bone into his brain. This didn't kill the Baron but I decided this ruined his ability to conceal his lich-dom. The Baron uses both hands to peel the skin back from the ruin of his face, saying "now you will see the true face of evil." One of the troublemaking PCs dies of fear on the spot. The Baron pretty much instantly kills the other troublemaking PC. One of the remaining PCs, a Half-Elf Ranger casts a stone-running spell, runs up the ceiling, out a castle window, and down the outside of the castle, free.

The last remaining PC, a Dwarf Berserker, goes nuts and gives one of the most insane in-character rants I've ever heard from a player, simultaneously channeling (pun intended, Rolemaster fans) his character's berserk state and imitating/one-upping the Baron's "true face of evil" threat - it was like a pro-wrestler giving Rorschach's "you're trapped in here with me" speech from Watchmen. The Berserker eventually loses steam and flees, making a series of crazy rolls culminating in him jumping out of an upper floor of the castle, landing on his face, and breaking his nose, but alive and free.

Thank you!

Get that 14 year old in the RoP writers' room.

I mean I'd watch that

Season 2: everyone breaks their noses

Rolemaster critical hits were extremely specific and sometimes weird.

One of the PCs, a Rogue, says "fuck you, Baron" and uses his whip to attack, rolling a crazy critical, which resulted in the whip breaking the nose of the Baron and sending slivers of bone into his brain. This didn't kill the Baron but I decided this ruined his ability to conceal his lich-dom. The Baron uses both hands to peel the skin back from the ruin of his face, saying "now you will see the true face of evil." One of the troublemaking PCs dies of fear on the spot.

A+ gamemastering under pressure tbh

I lol’d when imposter Michael Palin was all “we need precise amounts of gold and silver from Valinor” and Galadriel pulls out her dagger with just the right amounts.

i liked when the people with posh accents (elfs) got enslaved by the people with working class accents (orx). that was nice.

glad I clicked on this terrible thread for the fantastic Rolemaster story, thank u PBKR

:)

Don't know if this has been mentioned but Joseph Mawle has quit and Adar will be recast for Season 2

I loved my time exploring middle earth and diving into Tolkien’s mythology. I’m so honoured that the character was liked. He cared deeply about telling you his story. Though as an actor it remains my wish, my job description to explore new characters and worlds. Wishing all the

— Joseph Mawle (@realjosephmawle) December 1, 2022

Who? what?

Darrin from Bewitched.

It remains my wish, my job description.

xpost Oh no!

craggy moody orc quits; cites, amplifies feels

Saying this as someone who will watch this show to the end, i feel like I'm hallucinating when I see year-end best-of lists which include this. Even considering the perspective of those who may not be tolkien fans who prefer to stick to the scripture, it’s just a show which feels off and awkward so frequently, with a lack of proper gravitas (thematically and acting-wise) and tension (narratively and cinematically), basically fulfilling the fears many may have had two decades ago about what the Jackson films would look like. Like I said, I’ll continue to watch it, and I’m not rooting against it, there is some promise, but I think creative control might have to be taken out of the hands of anyone associated with JJ Abrams.

I think we're finally entering the era where ham-fisted junk that's somewhat enjoyable is what the people enjoy

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/7m3srqu19ez85o1/images%20%281%29.jpg?dl=0

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/7m3srqu19ez85o1/images%20%281%29.jpg?dl=0

I am eager for the point at which a portal to Eternia opens and Skeletor masters middle earth

a big budget Masters of the Universe prestige series would be far more entertaining

Or "Jesus; The Mighty Return" with DUNE level CGI

James Cameron's Veggie Tales: The New Crop, now streaming on The Roku Channel with moderate ad breaks, budget $5B

I'm not a die-hard Tolkien or LOTR fan so from that perspective (i.e. someone who missed every single easter egg), I quite enjoyed this show, for the most part. Much more than House of the Dragon, certainly. Although the finale of Rings of Power was a massive let-down and all the sudden reveals of who's who felt really cheap and unearned, especially the Sauron reveal.