HotD vs. LotR: RoP

[Prometheus]

I'll be honest. As a Tolkien fan for some 40+ years, I was not inclined to ever like "Rings of Power" once I saw that it was going to be a woke mess, but I watched it anyway as I believe trashing it without giving it a look-see would be unfair.

It's shit. Even their attempts at "updating for modern audiences" is laughable. One example: the black female dwarf that was supposed to be all about empowerment is little more than a rolly-polly dwarf mammy who practically offers "Lord Elrond" sweet potato pie for dinner. Hell. If another black dwarf female had run into the room saying, "Lord Elrond! I don't knows nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies," I wouldn't have been surprised.

The entire season simply gave us a bunch of girl power moments, trashed anyone and everyone who had been heroic in Tolkien's books, and spent hours setting up more red herrings than needed to feed Scandinavia.

The acting is bad. I worked with better talent doing summer stock back in the 80's.

The "action" - what there is of it - mostly takes place in darkness so that you can't notice how bad it is unless you're truly looking... which is to say that you didn't get up to go get a snack because you were bored.

"House of the Dragon," on the other hand - and I'm only 3 episodes in - has great actors giving excellent performances in a story that is well-defined with real stakes and characters that you are immediately invested in... sort of like what Tolkien would have given us, were he still alive and and his legacy hadn't been sold to people who hate everything about his work. The action sequences are excellent and there's just enough to keep you glued to the screen so that you don't miss a single swing of a sword, axe, or halberd, or the single gush of flame from the mouths of the various dragons.

I hate that G.R.R. Martin has given up on finishing the last book of the original series in order to work on this project, but his ability as a story-teller shines through. I'm actually going to hate having to go to bed after the next episode because I want to binge the whole series right now.

[ant-mac]

Nov 28, 2022 12:57:02 GMT Prometheus said:

I'll be honest. As a Tolkien fan for some 40+ years, I was not inclined to ever like "Rings of Power" once I saw that it was going to be a woke mess, but I watched it anyway as I believe trashing it without giving it a look-see would be unfair.

It's shit. Even their attempts at "updating for modern audiences" is laughable. One example: the black female dwarf that was supposed to be all about empowerment is little more than a rolly-polly dwarf mammy who practically offers "Lord Elrond" sweet potato pie for dinner. Hell. If another black dwarf female had run into the room saying, "Lord Elrond! I don't knows nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies," I wouldn't have been surprised.

The entire season simply gave us a bunch of girl power moments, trashed anyone and everyone who had been heroic in Tolkien's books, and spent hours setting up more red herrings than needed to feed Scandinavia.

The acting is bad. I worked with better talent doing summer stock back in the 80's.

The "action" - what there is of it - mostly takes place in darkness so that you can't notice how bad it is unless you're truly looking... which is to say that you didn't get up to go get a snack because you were bored.

"House of the Dragon," on the other hand - and I'm only 3 episodes in - has great actors giving excellent performances in a story that is well-defined with real stakes and characters that you are immediately invested in... sort of like what Tolkien would have given us, were he still alive and and his legacy hadn't been sold to people who hate everything about his work. The action sequences are excellent and there's just enough to keep you glued to the screen so that you don't miss a single swing of a sword, axe, or halberd, or the single gush of flame from the mouths of the various dragons.

I hate that G.R.R. Martin has given up on finishing the last book of the original series in order to work on this project, but his ability as a story-teller shines through. I'm actually going to hate having to go to bed after the next episode because I want to binge the whole series right now.

Critical Drinker... is that you?

[Prometheus]

Nov 28, 2022 15:49:47 GMT ant-mac said:

Nov 28, 2022 12:57:02 GMT Prometheus said:

I'll be honest. As a Tolkien fan for some 40+ years, I was not inclined to ever like "Rings of Power" once I saw that it was going to be a woke mess, but I watched it anyway as I believe trashing it without giving it a look-see would be unfair.

It's shit. Even their attempts at "updating for modern audiences" is laughable. One example: the black female dwarf that was supposed to be all about empowerment is little more than a rolly-polly dwarf mammy who practically offers "Lord Elrond" sweet potato pie for dinner. Hell. If another black dwarf female had run into the room saying, "Lord Elrond! I don't knows nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies," I wouldn't have been surprised.

The entire season simply gave us a bunch of girl power moments, trashed anyone and everyone who had been heroic in Tolkien's books, and spent hours setting up more red herrings than needed to feed Scandinavia.

The acting is bad. I worked with better talent doing summer stock back in the 80's.

The "action" - what there is of it - mostly takes place in darkness so that you can't notice how bad it is unless you're truly looking... which is to say that you didn't get up to go get a snack because you were bored.

"House of the Dragon," on the other hand - and I'm only 3 episodes in - has great actors giving excellent performances in a story that is well-defined with real stakes and characters that you are immediately invested in... sort of like what Tolkien would have given us, were he still alive and and his legacy hadn't been sold to people who hate everything about his work. The action sequences are excellent and there's just enough to keep you glued to the screen so that you don't miss a single swing of a sword, axe, or halberd, or the single gush of flame from the mouths of the various dragons.

I hate that G.R.R. Martin has given up on finishing the last book of the original series in order to work on this project, but his ability as a story-teller shines through. I'm actually going to hate having to go to bed after the next episode because I want to binge the whole series right now.

Critical Drinker... is that you?

I wish.