Jump to content

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Amazon Prime

Michael Knight

By Michael Knight
in Movies and TV

 Share

Recommended Posts

Jiggy-Z

Jiggy-Z 3432

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, freyguy said:

This is going to span 3400 years...geez it's going to be a hot mess.

I can't wait to see all the secondary contrived storyline they jam into it.  Should we have a side bingo game for it?

Girls going against their father's wishes, forbidden love interests, dipshit loser that finally saves the day, enemies becoming best friends...

you left out spiritual black guy helps main protagonist somehow. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 1.1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

Amos Moses
Amos Moses

Either way with regard to speculation whether it’s Gandalf or not, I don’t like half of these opinions half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of them half as well as they deserve.

MillerEP
MillerEP

They have Nuts.

AUS-97HORN
AUS-97HORN

old school 1 sentence synopsis are great.  

Posted Images

  • 2 weeks later...
atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89625

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Js1 said:

We are getting a Super Bowl teaser 

After seeing all 20+ teaser posters they released of just hands and torsos and playing "guess who is who", I'm excited as hell.

Also, the costumes/hands/etc. look (mostly) dirty, weathered, used, etc., unlike the off-the-rack clothes of Wheel of Time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
YChang

YChang 3443

Posted
Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

After seeing all 20+ teaser posters they released of just hands and torsos and playing "guess who is who", I'm excited as hell.

Also, the costumes/hands/etc. look (mostly) dirty, weathered, used, etc., unlike the off-the-rack clothes of Wheel of Time.

Hey only the best fast fashion threads for our Wheel of Time heros and heroines. 

Edited by YChang
Link to comment
Share on other sites
atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89625

Posted
Posted (edited)

First look - the article has production photos, but I just posted the ones of the characters-in-context.

At least they didn't de-age Hugo Weaving and Cate Blanchett for Elrond and Galadriel.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/amazon-the-rings-of-power-series-first-look

Spoiler

Galadriel - hot looking elf

lord-of-the-rings-002.jpg

Elrond and Galadriel

lord-of-the-rings-009.jpg

 

Prince Durin IV

lord-of-the-rings-003.jpg

Another dwarf - Disa

lord-of-the-rings-004.jpg

 

 

Young Elrond

lord-of-the-rings-007.jpg

Arondir

lord-of-the-rings-005.jpg

Bronwyn and Arondir

lord-of-the-rings-008.jpg

More Bronwyn

lord-of-the-rings-010.jpg

 

 

Edited by atomheartbevo
  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89625

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

I am gruntled.

Same. 

Very happy with Galadriel's casting.  Decent choice on them trying to have a young Hugo Weaving as well.  Yeah, I know, it's a TV series and not Peter Jackson's movies and they could have went with a different look, but like I said, they could have tried to de-age Hugo and Cate and that would have been bad.

I could give two shits about the rest of the cast, I really wanted an elf I could fap to that captured Blanchett's Galadriel.  And the actress's name is Morfydd which is a Tolkien name stolen by the Welsh.

galadriela-min-730x458.jpg

And the guy playing the dwarf Prince Durin IV, I could have sworn he was in The Hobbit, but nope.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89625

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, htown85 said:

What is the backstory of how the show runners were chosen? Looks like these guys have done Star Trek Beyond and Flash Gordon. Would have expected a little more with this budget.

Those guys have apparently been working for 15-20 years in Hollywood, but a lot of behind-the-scenes type of stuff, and it's odd that they don't have a massive IMDB entry like most of the writers, directors, and executive producers.  The thing is, Bezos was involved in getting it setup, and Amazon Studios is 100% running this thing (New Line was added only for the rights to use stuff from the movies), so I'm guessing they are not dumping $500 million+ on two dudes who got high and pitched a good story.  

It seems really odd, but it feels like the sum of the parts kind of thing - lot of talented people involved at various levels.  Most of the executive producers have extensive histories, including some solid work (Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, etc.).  This guy is one of the main writers and he's done stuff like Stranger Things.  Another was involved with Thor: Ragnarok, etc., and the writing team as a whole seems pretty solid.

They have 8 episodes for the first season, and these are the directors.

J.A. Bayona - he directed The Orphanage and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, plus has a bunch of other non-directing credits to his name

Charlotte Brandstrom - directing 2 episode - has been a director for decades

Wayne Yip -  4 episodes, Preacher, Wheel of Time, Doctor Who, etc.

This is definitely not a Netflix original where the people involved seem to be just a few years out of film school.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45664

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Those guys have apparently been working for 15-20 years in Hollywood, but a lot of behind-the-scenes type of stuff, and it's odd that they don't have a massive IMDB entry like most of the writers, directors, and executive producers.  The thing is, Bezos was involved in getting it setup, and Amazon Studios is 100% running this thing (New Line was added only for the rights to use stuff from the movies), so I'm guessing they are not dumping $500 million+ on two dudes who got high and pitched a good story.  

It seems really odd, but it feels like the sum of the parts kind of thing - lot of talented people involved at various levels.  Most of the executive producers have extensive histories, including some solid work (Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, etc.).  This guy is one of the main writers and he's done stuff like Stranger Things.  Another was involved with Thor: Ragnarok, etc., and the writing team as a whole seems pretty solid.

They have 8 episodes for the first season, and these are the directors.

J.A. Bayona - he directed The Orphanage and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, plus has a bunch of other non-directing credits to his name

Charlotte Brandstrom - directing 2 episode - has been a director for decades

Wayne Yip -  4 episodes, Preacher, Wheel of Time, Doctor Who, etc.

This is definitely not a Netflix original where the people involved seem to be just a few years out of film school.

Also, Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens gave their blessing, along with a bunch of the original trilogy cast.  

From the LOTR wiki:

Quote

Peter Jackson's involvement

At the time of the signing of the deal, Amazon had not contacted Peter Jackson or any of his collaborators,[107] but as early as March 2018 they and Jackson (who had previously spoke of having developed a sense of "mental ownership" over "the Middle-earth that's been put on the screen"[108]) had established contact via his attorney Peter Nelson, with a view for him to act in an advisory position during development and production, possibly as executive producer.[109] Although he initially said he was not involved, [110] Jackson was impressed with Amazon's "very good intentions"[111] and understood that Amazon will "try to have a series and a world where it sort of fits with the films; they want to keep the designs"[25] of his films. He wanted to get involved in the scripts,[112] and word among potential writers for the show was that he was about "to bring the whole project under his dominion."[22] However, he was too busy with Mortal Engines and They Shall Not Grow Old,[113] and hesitated to get involved in a long series, particularly where a third party like the Tolkien Estate had veto right.[26] Amazon and Jackson were still "in the middle of" discussions by mid-June, with Jackson ultimately opting to "help put the creative team together"[111] and possibly advise with regards to the designs and the finished scripts, having "not seen anything" at that point.[113][26][25][114]

Jackson and co-writer/co-producer Philippa Boyens had expressed excitement, agreeing that "fresh eyes on that story is such a good thing."[115] Indeed, Boyens having already said in 2014 that further stories in the franchise "will be for another generation of filmmakers", had said (along with Fran Walsh) that Amazon should "go with all our goodwill",[116] and eventually took a consultant position on New Line's concurrent The War of the Rohirrim, which Jackson and Walsh had also given their blessing to,[117] while they themselves work on the Ultra High-Definition Collector's Edition of their existing films in the franchise, which "completes" their direct involvement with the franchise.[118] Joining Walsh, Boyens and Jackson in wishing success for Amazon's project were cast-members Sir Ian McKellen,[119] Andy Serkis,[120] Viggo Mortensen,[121] Orlando Bloom,[29] Sean Astin,[122] Elijah Wood,[123] John Rhys-Davies[124] and executives Mark Ordesky[125] and Robert Shaye.[126] Actress Morfydd Clark said that affirmation was significant to the cast and crew,[32] and added that "[the challenge of taking part in an original film] is exactly the same [in] stepping into a world that’s already been created and already been masterfully done.”[127]

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89625

Posted
Posted

From the Vanity Fair article.  For those wondering about the show runners, sex, and violence.

And tying into the above, they worked closely with the Tolkien estate to get permission to compress some timelines and what not.

Quote

Just as Tolkien entrusted his quest to Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, Amazon chose two unlikely newcomers. McKay and Payne are high school friends from northern Virginia who have been writing in Hollywood together for 13 years. The Rings of Power is their first credited IMDB listing. They know—it’s astounding to them too. “We’ve worked on so many projects with so many awesome and exciting people that never got made or worked on things that did get made and we didn’t get credit,” says McKay. “We were a little bit of a dark horse. And Amazon talked to absolutely everybody—whoever had any idea for Lord of the Rings.” Adds Payne: “We were passionate about the material and had a take that matched Amazon’s appetites and ambition.” They also apparently had a significant champion in J.J. Abrams, who knew them from their writing on a Star Trek movie and reportedly sang their praises.

Quote

Pitching 50 hours of television to Amazon executives—and ultimately to the Tolkien family as well—was arduous but nothing compared to writing, producing, and bringing the show to life. “We felt like hobbits,” Payne says. “We felt like two very small people in a very big world who had just been entrusted with something that meant so much to so many different people.” 

Quote

A project of this size would never be pulled off alone. Amazon executives, still relatively new to original content, assembled an experienced support team. Game of Thrones co–executive producer Bryan Cogman stepped in as an adviser to help McKay and Payne get the project off the ground, and veteran filmmaker J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) established the tone of the series by directing the first two episodes.

Quote

There was one leak in 2019 that, however innocuous, worried some of those watching from afar. The show’s resident Tolkien scholar—a widely respected academic named Tom Shippey—gave an apparently unsanctioned interview to a German fan site that July, opining on what the show could and could not explore. Not long after that, Shippey was no longer involved with the series. Both he and the showrunners decline to say what exactly happened, but the obvious assumption was made by fans. “It seems like the NDA is basically ‘If you tell anyone, we can put you through a wood chipper,’ ” says Drout, the Tolkien professor. Amazon no longer shares the names of its scholars.

Quote

After news broke that Amazon had hired an intimacy coordinator for its New Zealand set, some fans feared that the production might have lost sight of what makes Tolkien Tolkien. “My worry would be if it becomes a Game of Thrones in the Second Age,” says Dimitra Fimi, a Tolkien scholar and lecturer at the University of Glasgow. “That wouldn’t be what one would associate with Tolkien’s vision. It would also be derivative.”

Quote

So will there be Westerosi levels of violence and sex in Amazon’s Middle-earth? In short, no. McKay says the goal was “to make a show for everyone, for kids who are 11, 12, and 13, even though sometimes they might have to pull the blanket up over their eyes if it’s a little too scary. We talked about the tone in Tolkien’s books. This is material that is sometimes scary—and sometimes very intense, sometimes quite political, sometimes quite sophisticated—but it’s also heartwarming and life-affirming and optimistic. It’s about friendship and it’s about brotherhood and underdogs overcoming great darkness.”

And some spoilers

Spoiler

Another concern: Is the series going to put hobbits in the Second Age? In short (so to speak), yes and no. “One of the very specific things the texts say is that hobbits never did anything historic or noteworthy before the Third Age,” says McKay. “But really, does it feel like Middle-earth if you don’t have hobbits or something like hobbits in it?” The hobbit ancestors in this era are called harfoots. They may not live in The Shire, but they are satisfyingly hobbit-adjacent. McKay and Payne have constructed a pastoral harfoot society that thrives on secrecy and evading detection so that they can play out a kind of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead story in the margins of the bigger quests. Two lovable, curious harfoots, played by Megan Richards and Markella Kavenagh, encounter a mysterious lost man whose origin promises to be one of the show’s most enticing enigmas.

And

harry potter my body is ready GIF

Spoiler

We will finally see the full glory of Khazad-dûm—the cavernous necropolis carved into the Misty Mountains, where, in Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf famously bellowed at the Balrog, “You shall not pass!” The show will explore that kingdom when it was still full of light, food, and music. It will also bring the elven smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) to life, as his skill with metals and magic lead to the forging of the rings. And a canny young elven architect and politician named Elrond (Robert Aramayo) will rise to prominence in the mystical capital of Lindon. Another story line will follow a sailor named Isildur (Maxim Baldry) years before he becomes a warrior and cuts the soul-corrupting ring off Sauron’s hand, then falls victim to its powers himself.

 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
NoctambulantBrobdingnagian

NoctambulantBrobdingnagian 530

Posted
Posted
On 2/10/2022 at 8:46 PM, atomheartbevo said:

Same. 

Very happy with Galadriel's casting.  Decent choice on them trying to have a young Hugo Weaving as well.  Yeah, I know, it's a TV series and not Peter Jackson's movies and they could have went with a different look, but like I said, they could have tried to de-age Hugo and Cate and that would have been bad.

I could give two shits about the rest of the cast, I really wanted an elf I could fap to that captured Blanchett's Galadriel.  And the actress's name is Morfydd which is a Tolkien name stolen by the Welsh.

galadriela-min-730x458.jpg

And the guy playing the dwarf Prince Durin IV, I could have sworn he was in The Hobbit, but nope.

Galadriel was Elrond's mother-in-law. Neither of these looks like my mother-in-law which is nice.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89625

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, NoctambulantBrobdingnagian said:

Galadriel was Elrond's mother-in-law. Neither of these looks like my mother-in-law which is nice.

But if your mother-in-law looked like either one of them, you'd be writing a letter that starts off "Dear Penthouse Letters, I never though this would happen to me...."

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11447

Posted
Posted (edited)

I’m mildly concerned Peter Jackson isn’t involved in any capacity. I know he’s busy, but bring him in as an EP. You can afford it Amazon. 

Amazon also shifted filming from the New Zealand to the UK. The films worked so well because the landscape scenes are rooted in actual locations. 

It’s so early, but it feels like the show has already made some critical mistakes. 
 

Related question : Is The Hobbit trilogy worth a watch? 8-9 hours is quite the commitment. 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45664

Posted
Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Related question : Is The Hobbit trilogy worth a watch? 8-9 hours is quite the commitment. 

Depends on what you are looking for.  Personally, I say yes.  It's entertaining and, while it strays a bit far from the book with extraneous characters and exposition, still worth a watch.  Now, if you want something as true to the book as the original LOTR trilogy, well, maybe not. But overall yes.  It's not on the horrifying level of the Star Wars prequels or anything.

Edited by Biff Tannen
  • Hook 'Em 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dutchrudder

Dutchrudder 11133

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Depends on what you are looking for.  Personally, I say yes.  It's entertaining and, while it strays a bit far from the book with extraneous characters and exposition, still worth a watch.  Now, if you want something as true to the book as the original LOTR trilogy, well, maybe not. But overall yes.  It's not on the horrifying level of the Star Wars prequels or anything.

I agree with this. It's not anywhere near the same level of quality and storytelling that the OT is, but it has some fun parts and good moments. I personally enjoyed a lot of the Smaug scenes, he was very well made CGI and worked well for the story. He was creepy, powerful and scary all at once.  

There were a lot of issues with the characters. The love story was God awful, and it was shoehorned into the movies partway through filming movie 2. It's jilted, off-putting and unbelievable. The writing is off key because they originally intended it to be 2 movies, not 3, but changed that after the first movie was done. Tons of awful decisions by the suits meddling, and that why Guillermo Del Toro quit the Hobbit preproduction. What could have been if he made it....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
alincoln

alincoln 2371

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

It would be ok if you took the time to edit it down to one movie.

There is a fan edit out there that eliminates all of the bullshit.  It is watchable.

It looks like the new series may be one episode if you remove all of the bullshit.  It appears to be "inspired by the works of Tolkien" and not a faithful reproduction.

The guiding principle in Jackson's trilogy was ""We made a promise to ourselves at the beginning of the process that we weren't going to put any of our own politics, our own messages or our own themes into these movies. In a way, we were trying to make these films for him, not for ourselves."

Amazon clearly isn't following this approach.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mileslong

Mileslong 4728

Posted
Posted
This is going to span 3400 years...geez it's going to be a hot mess.
I can't wait to see all the secondary contrived storyline they jam into it.  Should we have a side bingo game for it?
Girls going against their father's wishes, forbidden love interests, dipshit loser that finally saves the day, enemies becoming best friends...

If it spans 3400 years, at the end of the movie will it show flying cars or at least hobbits with cellphones?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
alincoln

alincoln 2371

Posted
Posted

Amazon evidently doesn't have the rights to anything relating to the 2nd age other than the appendices to LOTR. Sounds like we are heading towards Star Wars sequel and last season of GoT territory.  

The lack of rights provides some justification to all of the shit in the trailers that is nowhere to be found in Tolkien's work (i.e., they have almost no source material or characters to work from due to the limited rights they own), but this is unquestionably a story inspired by Tolkien not an adaptation.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
XYZ

XYZ 2154

Posted
Posted
On 2/16/2022 at 11:26 PM, billfromlaketravis said:

Related question : Is The Hobbit trilogy worth a watch? 8-9 hours is quite the commitment. 

The Hobbit movies are terrible. They are “Prometheus” level bad. They are “The Last Jedi” level bad. And fuck Peter Jackson.

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...