The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series

say irregular seasons set across thousands of years (could happen, wish they tried it!),

yeah would be so interesting. you would definitely understand more of how elves view the world.

My cohost Jared said as much -- how fascinating would be the perspective of the 'long defeat' from those who are experiencing it that way.

After watching Foundation I think anyone would be scared off thousands of years of time spans. It's just so hard for it not to feel disjointed, to lose emotional investment in characters and struggle with any real arcs.

Yeah Foundation was the easy comparison point for me in terms of what’s happening here. As such, going more linear and not having to rely on genetic clones and suspended animation is a plus.

The three of us on the podcast are currently in 'hmmm' mode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7v1hIkYH24

Any idea what the creature is at 0:40?

No idea. We're guessing troll. Better not be balrog (and probably isn't, seems too small).

Baby Balrog?

There’s a vision.

ned, is that a good “hmm” or bad “hmm”? i’m a bit nervous about how sheen and plastic everything looked when compared to the lived-in sets and costume designs of the jackson trilogy. i guess the world was younger.

also kinda odd that they didn’t stack the deck with a couple respected character actors. there are no mckellens, lees, or weavings among the cast here…

I partly blame the TV settings, since for once "sports mode" or whatever made sense, but I got serious It's All Too Much (Yet Not Enough) "Hobbit" vibes from the commercial. I'm also tired of giant CGI monsters lunging and roaring. That's the CGI monster equivalent of the heavy cracking his neck before the big fight.

yeah not an impressive trailer
with tolkien i always hope for "vibe" over action

I hate the fast cuts where you have to pause just to make out what's happening.

Feels like it's designed for frame-by-frame Twitter analysis more than anything.

eh. my enthusiasm for everything is at an all time low. I imagine I'll watch the first episode of this and see if I care enough to stick with it.

Feels like it's designed for frame-by-frame Twitter analysis more than anything.

Why, funny you should say that!

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/the-lord-of-the-rings-teaser-trailer-amazon

with tolkien i always hope for "vibe" over action

This is kinda what our collective 'hmm' was, answering voodoo chili in turn. I have to keep reminding myself that 1) this is the first time that the vast majority of people even learned this was happening, so deep lore wonkery wasn't going to be first and foremost and 2) given most of whatever narrative has been created has been done out of whole cloth there's a lot that we just have no idea was. But yeah, we're exactly thrilled at the idea of Galadriel being a warrior/general just so they can have their own Eowyn or whatever, especially per the one shot. To sean's point: our favorite moment was, honestly, that long shot of (presumably) a human and a harfoot/hobbit clasping hands at the end. If that really is a key vibe, we'll take it at least.

also kinda odd that they didn’t stack the deck with a couple respected character actors.

It's got a fair clutch of interesting names but you're correct the cast skews young. Here's the core cast as is known, though only a few of the roles have been stated yet:

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7631058/fullcredits/cast

A couple of craggier figures here and there but not entirely.

But yeah, we're exactly thrilled

Missing a key word there! NOT exactly thrilled. Distinctly unthrilled.

Based on that VF breakdown, there's a lot more questions we have, honestly. If it's a compressed timeline, it's unclear whether they've essentially moved everything 'backward' to the middle of the Second Age or 'forward' to the end of it, and the descriptions make it seem more like the former? Which...okay, I can kinda buy it but I need to get a clearer idea of things.

This bit, honestly, I do like; I was wondering what her singing shot was about and this is an interesting riff:

Elrond receives a much warmer welcome from Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete,) Durin IV's wife—and a perhaps even more beloved figure amid the plentiful song, light, and food of their underground realm. She is virtually the embodiment of that goodwill and prosperity.

A shot of her singing is about much more than music, however. This is how the dwarves commune with the mountain they live beneath. Reverberations tell them where to dig, but also—importantly—where not to dig.

If there's one thing the "Hobbit" movies demonstrated it's that we definitely need more singing.

The dwarves accidentally stopped singing for a minute and stumbled upon Durin's Bane. Never again.

Problems problems.

About half those character posters are still not formally identified yet. Couple of guesses on them:

pic.twitter.com/Wl6RqIyTEs

— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) February 3, 2022

Numenorean due to the sun motif, as confirmed in the trailer breakdown, and I'm willing to bet this is Ar-Pharazon, probably when he was still just a rebellious warlord nephew to the previous king.

pic.twitter.com/OXQMDIBGLW

— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) February 3, 2022

Given the first VF piece describing Isildur as a 'young sailor,' guessing this is him. Even though he's a little more than that and all.

pic.twitter.com/33y1uFkvLU

— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) February 3, 2022

Yeah, I think this is clear enough. (That said this whole 'stranger' plot of the guy arriving in the meteor and meeting the harfoots and whatever is making us at the podcast wonder if this is supposed to be Sauron in early Annatar mode trying to figure out what he's dealing with, and said 'stranger' has been ID'd separately:

pic.twitter.com/B2qigIMaLL

— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) February 3, 2022

Anyway, keep in mind this is all happening as well, will likely need to do a separate thread at some point...

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim-release-date-1235181646/

Anyway, more from the showrunners

https://httwww.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/10-burning-questions-about-amazons-the-rings-of-power

Trying an actual working link here!

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/10-burning-questions-about-amazons-the-rings-of-power

This whole thing keeps making LESS sense the more I learn about it

It’s worth remembering, if only for legal reasons, that this is not the exact same world. The production design, though similar, is not trying to match the Jackson films. For example, King Elendil’s legendary broken sword, Narsil, which debuted on one of Prime Video’s promotional posters, does not look identical to the one eventually reforged and used by Viggo Mortenson’s Aragorn in The Return of the King.

This is the closest thing to rights clarity I've read and even then:

So what did Amazon buy? “We have the rights solely to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, the appendices, and The Hobbit,” Payne says. “And that is it. We do not have the rights to The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, or any of those other books.” That takes a huge chunk of lore off the table and has left Tolkien fans wondering how this duo plans to tell a Second Age story without access to those materials. “There’s a version of everything we need for the Second Age in the books we have the rights to,” McKay says. “As long as we’re painting within those lines and not egregiously contradicting something we don’t have the rights to, there’s a lot of leeway and room to dramatize and tell some of the best stories that (Tolkien) ever came up with."

There is actually some good info buried in here but the timeline issue is still clear as mud. As best as I can tell seems like the initial episode is supposed to set up everything and then we time jump maybe? I've heard weirder I guess.

I want to believe, but this sounds dumb.

I'm sure I will resubscribe to Prime in September for this

One bit of good news from that burning questions article is confirmation that Howard Shore is back!

“We’ve been given something…a stewardship,” Payne says.

Yeah, and look how that turned out.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/beavisandbutthead/images/7/7a/Stewart.jpeg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/360/height/450?cb=20110910035309

https://xsrock.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/winger.jpg

Sweet re Shore

Shore is good news to be...sure. I think the teaser looks kinda cheesy but I'm going to try to just suspend judgment until the thing finally airs.

The shot of the character on the ice covered cliff looked so much like a video game to me.

Yeah the Shore confirmation, along with Howe and Kate Hawley on costumes, makes for an interesting combination of continuity in terms of general look and feel, along with the NZ landscape itself of course. (If only Andrew Lesnie were still alive.)

The shot of the character on the ice covered cliff looked so much like a video game to me.

Trailers are often works in progress but after going on again about how much money they've put into this, releasing something that felt just like, say, the Wheel of Time trailers in terms of visual sheen was...underwhelming.

They don't make 'em like they used to

Apparently vanity fair has now excised the reference to Shore from the article :/

There was "confirmation" of Shore's involvement before the VF article though

@PrimeVideo confirmed Howard Shore as composer in LOTR: The Rings of Power on Instagram. #LOTRonPrime #LOTRROP pic.twitter.com/ih3ek6VctY

— Tolkien News (@Tolkien_News) January 20, 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9rJHb-rvYo

Depends on the fan perhaps. Our thoughts took up the first half of the new episode -- we have skepticism on a number of fronts

https://www.megaphonic.fm/bythebywater/36

so, I'm going to apologize and ask that nobody watch that Youtube video I posted. a friend of mine who is a Tolkien fan shared it as a good example of people rushing to defend the show and not being versed in Tolkien lore.

....and then I found out Just Some Guy is an anti-liberal/progressive/antifa dude who believes Biden stole the White House.

next time, I am doing my homework on anybody I post. don't give this guy clicks.

also your podcast is great Ned!

Thanks kindly! And yes, we recommend our podcast over guys like that.

don’t you know sauron would be the righteous king if it wasn’t for galadriel and gandalf plotting against him in tom bombadil’s basement

This is a bit much.

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2022/05/09/113105-the-vibes-of-power-amazon-shares-exciting-rings-of-power-insight/

Also I'm amused at the posting of this without any evident irony:

Invaluably, Amazon has managed to unite Tolkien fandom in a way only they can, with their seemingly infinite budgets.

Promo promo promo PR guff etc.

A whole new era of Middle-earth is about to unfold. Empire’s world-exclusive The Lord Of The Rings: The #RingsOfPower issue has three collectible covers – first up are the Elves, with Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel. On sale Thurs 9 June

Pre-order now: https://t.co/t8dt25YLDp #LOTRROP pic.twitter.com/71rfKdfBaz

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) June 1, 2022

Our second world-exclusive The Lord Of The Rings: The #RingsOfPower cover is the Dwarves, featuring @OwainArthur’s Prince Durin IV and Sophia Nomvete’s Princess Disa, the rulers of Khazad-dûm. On sale Thurs 9 June

Pre-order now: https://t.co/azsfkTYvW5 #LOTRROP pic.twitter.com/i6V21es7vN

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) June 1, 2022

Our third world-exclusive The Lord Of The Rings: The #RingsOfPower cover is the Harfoots, with Megan Richards’ Poppy Proudfellow, Markella Kavenagh’s Elanor ‘Nori’ Brandyfoot, and @LennyHenry’s Sadoc Burrows. On sale Thurs 9 June

Pre-order now: https://t.co/ymzviMAgbz #LOTRROP pic.twitter.com/pPcdS3B2LX

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) June 1, 2022

Etc etc etc

EXCLUSIVE IMAGE 🔥

The Lord Of The Rings: The #RingsOfPower ‘doesn’t try to compete’ with Peter Jackson’s trilogy or Game Of Thrones, showrunner Patrick McKay tells Empire.

Read more, and see an exclusive snow-troll image here: https://t.co/ZSSDlTnQiE #LOTRROP pic.twitter.com/32BBmvFKyM

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) June 5, 2022

🚨 EXCLUSIVE IMAGE ALERT 🚨

Lenny Henry plays 'Harfoot' Sadoc Burrows in The Lord Of The Rings: The #RingsOfPower: 'We're the traditional Tolkien little guy,' he tells Empire. #LOTRROP

Read more: https://t.co/196ws3y4ms pic.twitter.com/xZDJIX5q42

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) June 6, 2022

EXCLUSIVE IMAGE 🔥

The Lord Of The Rings: The #RingsOfPower’s five seasons are fully planned out: ‘We know what our final shot will be,' showrunner JD Payne tells Empire. #LOTRROP

Read more: https://t.co/0wJf3FNnrD pic.twitter.com/pCr011rpbi

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) June 6, 2022

Plus a short thing leading into whatever the big promo dump later in the week will be:

https://www.empireonline.com/tv/news/lord-of-the-rings-power-five-seasons-fully-planned-out-exclusive/