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'Lord of the Rings' prequel is Amazon Prime Video's biggest premiere

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So a "critics" review 84% good.

Audience 37%

So now a female Elf that has been a powerful sorceress in all of tolkien's writings is suddenly a sword-wielding warrior!

The dark elves which are dark because they live without the light and have dark hearts are now discriminated against dark skin elves.

I find it interesting that the emphasis is put on the 25 million viewers but no mention of the 37% audience review, basically it has been trashed by the vast majority of viewers.

On critic was honest, he hoped it would be good and said if it was worse than he could have imagined then said House of the dragons is far better so don't waste your time watching rings of power.

1 ( +9 / -8 )

Update, Amazon suspended reviews on their site for Rings of power.

Seems the negative rating was to much so they suspended being able to review calling the reason "review-bombing" by a few unhappy people.

So let me get this straight, people didn't like it so they are the problem not the show.

Ok maked perfect sense in today's society.

2 ( +11 / -9 )

I wouldn’t pay too much notice to Rotten Tomatoes this early in a season.

I’ve watched the first couple of episodes… personally I think it’s ok, but the casting so far, mostly with the elves, I am not sure about. Sets, costumes etc… great work. It seems to me that wanting nothing to do with Peter Jackson may be to its detriment.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Yep its getting poor reviews.

If amazon is not allowing comments(not doubting you, I dont watch amazon) then shame on them!!!

Its getting beyond pathetic how so so many platforms on the net now so openly censor & shutdown feedback they disagree with, the big platforms clearly need to FORCED to end they censoring self serving ways, people need to be able to DEAL with views different than their own & YES even views that offend you!

6 ( +8 / -2 )

It seems to me that wanting nothing to do with Peter Jackson may be to its detriment.

The reason was Jackson said he was not into putting his own beliefs, or modern ideology into LOTR.

This show is openly saying this is a 21st century telling of what the writers think a 21 st century Tolkien story, would be.

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

“ Amazon announced Saturday that its big budget series "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, had marked the biggest premiere in the history of Prime Video -- with 25 million viewers. “

– doesn’t mean it’s good; the Shadow of the Past’s prologue is amazing, even with Galadriel’s issues, it felt like their money was well spent; but overall it was a bit disappointing to me. HOTD will be better, sorry Amazon and TROP, you just can’t do it;

..

speaking of HOTD, I was reading this a few minutes ago and… well, I thought it was funny; .. some fierce competition between these two huh:

“ HBO celebrates The Rings of Power premiere by releasing an entire House of the Dragon episode on YouTube.

House of the Dragon is now available for free on YouTube. Thanks, Amazon!

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is finally out – and HBO wants you to know that Amazon Prime Video's not the only streamer with a new fantasy show available to watch right now. In fact, to celebrate the launch of The Rings of Power, HBO has released the entire first episode of House of the Dragon for free on YouTube. “

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Its getting beyond pathetic how so so many platforms on the net now so openly censor & shutdown feedback they disagree with, the big platforms clearly need to FORCED to end they censoring self serving ways, people need to be able to DEAL with views different than their own & YES even views that offend you!

IMDb has over 50,000 reviews but only 74 Comments and 1 star to 5 star reviews mysteriously have not one comment, comments suddenly appear from 6 star and up

Compare that to House of the Dragon that has comments in every one of the stars from 1 to 10.

So we are to believe our of over 50,000 reviews 18,000 of which are 1 star not a single person left a review on anything below 6 stars.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

In that case I don’t hold much hope for it over the whole season. I’ll still watch it. One season at least. Even the second trilogy, The Hobbit movies, they didn’t do much for me. There were some good things but there was a lot of “why the heck did they put that in there?” as well. Original LOTR movie trilogy I have trouble faulting. So I do hope the series gets better. It really just feels made for TV but considering the amount spent on it I think “ok” is not good enough.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The Lord of the Rings was the best book I read when I was young. Took a two-week vacation and spent every day reading it on a beach.

The original movie was very good and the hobbit. Not sure I will watch this.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

So a "critics" review 84% good.

Audience 37%

Sounds pretty good. Everyone knows what review bombing is, and how people will give something a bad review without even watching it. Many posters in this website did just that.

On critic was honest, he hoped it would be good and said if it was worse than he could have imagined then said House of the dragons is far better so don't waste your time watching rings of power.

“Only people who agree with me are honest. People who said they enjoyed a thing I didn’t enjoy are all liars” - a smart and cool opinion.

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

Sounds pretty good. Everyone knows what review bombing is, and how people will give something a bad review without even watching it. Many posters in this website did just that.

Ok so how come the independent critics ( those not dependent on Amazon or the studios) are also panning it

Entertainment Weekly which for months had exclusive access to the actors and pre release cuts.

Says this:

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Review: Amazon's Prequel is a kind of Catastrophe

> There are ways to do a prequel, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power does them all wrong. It takes six or seven things everyone remembers from the famous movie trilogy, adds a water tank, makes nobody fun, teases mysteries that aren't mysteries, and sends the best character on a pointless detour.

The review gets worse from that point.

Interesting to note the 87% rotten tomatoes critics have zero written reviews.

That's right not a single one of the 87% that say it was good and not a single critic that said it was bad left a review!

Compare that to House of the Dragon which has both written critics and viewer reviews.

“Only people who agree with me are honest. People who said they enjoyed a thing I didn’t enjoy are all liars” - a smart and cool opinion.

On IMDb all reviews below 6 are no existent.

So it seems you are correct only people that agree with Amazon, IMDb etc...are right the rest are trolls and review bombing.

-3 ( +6 / -9 )

Ok so how come the independent critics ( those not dependent on Amazon or the studios) are also panning it

“Everyone who disagrees with me is being paid by Amazon, in addition to being dishonest. I am very sensible.” - a wise and not at all paranoid view.

That's right not a single one of the 87% that say it was good and not a single critic that said it was bad left a review!

From their website:

Why do certain movies only have a few reviews?

There are a variety of reasons why a film or TV show may not have many reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The simplest explanation is there may not be many reviews from Tomatometer-approved critics available for that specific film or TV show in question. Other reasons include:

Some available reviews haven’t been collected or added yet

A film or TV show is from an era either when film criticism was not as robust as itis now

A film or TV show review appeared in a print publication and may not have beenpublished or made available online

So it seems you are correct only people that agree with Amazon, IMDb etc...are right the rest are trolls and review bombing.

That’s not what I said, though. No one has to like the new LotR show (I don’t plan on watching it, or the GoT spin-off, because hey don’t interest me). You’re the one who is saying “anyone who says they did like it is a liar who is being bribed”.

Have you considered that sometimes people can actually just like something you don’t?

What are your thoughts on the show so far, by the way? What were your favorite parts? What did you dislike? What did you think of the performances?

2 ( +8 / -6 )

That’s not what I said, though.

I know! I was pointing out the irony of you originally comment.

It is not possible that out of 50,000 reviews, the only people that have a written review were those that gave 6 star out of 10 or more.

Not a single person that gave 5, 4, 3 , 2 or 1 star decide to leave a review, the just gave a negative number of stars no explanation.

Let me repeat that part not a single written review by anyone giving 5 stars or less, but House of the dragon has plenty of 5 stars or less written reviews.

On rotten tomatoes, not a single professional critic of the 87% positive left a review, not one, so 87% totally anonymous.

But again House of the dragon on rotten tomatoes has actual written critics reviews.

But the best part is on IMDb this show gets a higher critics rating than the LOTR movies, yep better actors better everything but the movie got lower reviews.

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

Actually, I'm wondering the same thing AS. Have you watched it or just gathering information from review sites? I'm just asking because although I've seen a lot of good reviews for HOTD, there are also a lot of bad reviews from people saying it's not worth your time. I haven't watched that yet, but a lot of the reviews I'm seeing from just ordinary people are actually similar to the reviews I'm seeing about Amazon's show. If you've watched it, I'd like your opinion on it.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I’ve watched the first three episodes and I think I understand why its getting some negative reviews. Its basically pretty boring so far. A lot of background set up and expository stuff that has made it difficult for me to get into it much like I have with other series (like Game of Thrones or the Last Kingdom).

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Actually, I'm wondering the same thing AS. Have you watched it or just gathering information from review sites? 

I would put money on him not having watched it. That’s why he’s mad about other people liking it, while making zero critiques of the actual substance of the show.

When I talk about The Last Jedi, I usually talk about the themes, the acting, the story, the cinematography, the music, etc. When people who hate The Last Jedi talk about it, they usually say”it ruined Star Wars”, and leave it there. When pushed, it often devolves into “women can’t do laser sword that’s just biology”.

Again, you don’t have to like TLJ, or LotR, or Game of Dragons. I love TLJ, but there are plenty of reasons you might not. I haven’t seen the new LotR or dragons thing because LotR doesn’t seem like my thing, and GoT got so bad at the end that I have zero faith in the spin-off. But just because I’m not interested and don’t plan on watching them doesn’t mean they’re bad.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

I’ve watched the first three episodes

Interesting.

Only 2 episode have been shown, even the early viewers ( critics) have only been give access to 2 episodes.

Episode 3 will not be released until September 9 th on the east coast of North America and in the UK and September 8th on the west coast North America.

And the equivalent time and day in Japan.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Haaa Nemui

Today 12:50 pm JST

Actually, I'm wondering the same thing AS. Have you watched it or just gathering information from review sites? I'm just asking because although I've seen a lot of good reviews for HOTD, there are also a lot of bad reviews from people saying it's not worth your time. I haven't watched that yet, but a lot of the reviews I'm seeing from just ordinary people are actually similar to the reviews I'm seeing about Amazon's show. If you've watched it, I'd like your opinion on it.

I haven't and don't plan on it nor will I watch House of the Dragon.

I am not going to give these guys any money.

The problem I have is how the censorship of reviews is taking place.

How can house of the Dragon get reviews for all sides good and bad viewers and critics all available.

But Rings of power is suddenly "special" and all negative reviews are non existing, all critics reviews are non existing.

Nothing bad can be published on any review site .

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

AS seems to know a whole lot about the show and the honesty and susceptibility to bribed of people who have seen it and metadata about people who have seen it.

But weirdly has yet to actually comment on his thoughts on what he thought of this show that he definitely watched and gave some thought to. Just very strange. Oh well. I’m sure that his review is coming and will definitely have more substantial critiques than “tolkien wouldnt have liked it” and “no not black people whhhyyyyyy”.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Express sister

Today 01:18 pm JST

I guess you aren't a Tolkien fan .

If you understood the meaning you would write half of what you did

Dark elves were dark in their in soul in there being.

Not there skin colour, so we could have elves of and colour good or bad, no the writers chose to make the "dark elves" into a persecuted group of black skinned elves.

This was not what Tolkien created not what he meant.

This is just a social agenda using a Tolkien as a launch pad.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

I haven't and don't plan on it nor will I watch House of the Dragon.

Called it.

I am not going to give these guys any money.

The problem I have is how the censorship of reviews is taking place.

Censorship you’ve invented in your own mind. The idea that people could like a show is alien to you, and you think anyone who says it’s good is lying and only saying it for money.

You just understand how ludicrous this is.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Censorship you’ve invented in your own mind. The idea that people could like a show is alien to you, and you think anyone who says it’s good is lying and only saying it for money.

> You just understand how ludicrous this is.

Strange even main stream media is asking what it going on.

Did you go look at anything I wrote about?

Good luck, go to IMDb and find a written review under 6 stars,

Same on rotten tomatoes find a written critics review.

Funny how everything else has these things just not this $1 billion catastrophe

-5 ( +5 / -10 )

Dark elves were dark in their in soul in there being.

Not there skin colour, so we could have elves of and colour good or bad, no the writers chose to make the "dark elves" into a persecuted group of black skinned elves.

This was not what Tolkien created not what he meant.

This is just a social agenda using a Tolkien as a launch pad.

lol literally “tolkien wouldnt have liked it” and “no not black people whhhyyyyyy”.

1 ( +9 / -8 )

Interesting.

Only 2 episode have been shown, even the early viewers ( critics) have only been give access to 2 episodes.

You are right. I’ve seen the first two, not three.

The fact that I can’t even correctly remember how many episodes I’ve seen is a testament to how little its been able to engage my interest.

I’ve seen as far as an elf visiting some dwarf that he knew 20 years ago who is mad at him for not having visited for so long, but then his wife insists the elf stay for dinner and they sort of get over it or something. Guess that was in episode 2.

It might get better as it goes along, but so far I’ve been pretty bored by it.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Strange even main stream media is asking what it going on.

The hated and dishonest MSM? Well, since we know they’re liars, they must be lying about this, too.

Did you go look at anything I wrote about?

Yes.

Good luck, go to IMDb and find a written review under 6 stars, 

I found a 5/10 review and a 3/10 review right away. Wait, did YOU even check IMDb? Or did you rely on what others told you?

Same on rotten tomatoes find a written critics review.

I already addressed this.

Funny how everything else has these things just not this $1 billion catastrophe

How is it a catastrophe? You openly admit you haven’t seen it, so you’re not qualified to comment on its quality. Apparently it’s getting good reviews, which is to you evidence that it’s bad because today is Opposite Day, or something, and apparently it’s the most watched Amazon original thing. I don’t really care about any of those, personally, but that’s not evidence of it being “catastrophic”, especially two episodes in.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

You are right. I’ve seen the first two, not three.

> The fact that I can’t even correctly remember how many episodes I’ve seen is a testament to how little its been able to engage my interest.

Wow that really tells us how boring and uninteresting it is.

https://ew.com/tv/tv-reviews/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-amazon/

Before melting your brain by watching the next 7 episodes read the ew review they have a good grasp of what was the failed idea behind this show.

If you decide to keep watching, I hope you survived the brain melting effects.

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

I’ve just watched the first episode. Like many have said, it’s visually lovely but the characters and dialogue seem a bit wooden. I’ll give it an honest chance and watch a few more episodes, though. I am wondering why the diversity includes black people, but I’ve not seen any Indian or north East Asians in it. If you’re going for diversity, you might as well be…..diverse

4 ( +5 / -1 )

lol literally “tolkien wouldnt have liked it” and “no not black people whhhyyyyyy”.

Not what I said, not what anyone has said, The only people saying what you are trying to make up are certain actors and people connected with this show.

The show is bad so let's call anyone says otherwise racist or sexist.

Making one group of elves all white and make one group all black and implying the later are discriminated against is not anything Tolkien said wrote or created.

No one cares if elves in the show were whit, black Asian, etc.. it is the invention that "dark elves" suddenly are mistreated black skinned elves when that was never in any Tolkien works.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

. I am wondering why the diversity includes black people, but I’ve not seen any Indian or north East Asians in it. If you’re going for diversity, you might as well be…..diverse

Simple, it is an American made program and the others you mentioned are not important and would remove the chance to make the black people victims.

Where I am from we have far far more east Asians had the UK far more South Asians.

But putting them into the show would have made focusing on the poor treatment of black characters more difficult.

It is politics.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

Before melting your brain by watching the next 7 episodes read the ew review they have a good grasp of what was the failed idea behind this show.

How would you know? You haven’t seen it, and are adamant that you won’t. The reviewer could say “it’s a bit weird that Frodo pulls and uzi and shoots off all of Gollum’s toes” and you’d have no choice but to believe this is what happened.

Its also worth noting that your favored reviewer (who must be honest, because he agrees with your opinion about a show you haven’t seen) says that he thinks the show could improve past the first two episodes, and that if you’re a big LotR fan, you’ll probably enjoy it.

The show is bad so let's call anyone says otherwise racist or sexist.

You haven’t seen the show and the only complaint you brought up is “wah wah Dark Elves are black people and the show touches on racism in a series which has openly displayed racism between Elves and Dwarves before, and that’s why it’s bad even though I haven’t seen it and I won’t see it”.

Is the Dark Elf thing clumsy? Or is it brilliant? I don’t know, I haven’t seen the show. Neither have you.

Making one group of elves all white and make one group all black and implying the later are discriminated against is not anything Tolkien said wrote or created. 

No one cares if elves in the show were whit, black Asian, etc.. it is the invention that "dark elves" suddenly are mistreated black skinned elves when that was never in any Tolkien works.

AKA literally “tolkien wouldnt have liked it”.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Express sister

Today 02:00 pm JST

You seem far too invested in going after anyone not happy with this catastrophe.

The fact the first thing you tried doing was blaming review bombing is interesting.

Funny how o such problem happened with House of the Dragon but only Rings of power!

You seem to eager to defend.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

Readers, no more bickering please.

Nothing bad can be published on any review site 

I’ve just had a look at metacritic and there’re plenty of bad reviews on there. Both from real critics and the regular public. You might be right about Tolkien’s literature but there has always been debate over aspects of it. I don’t think it’s fair at this point to be too harsh on this new series.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I’ve seen as far as an elf visiting some dwarf that he knew 20 years ago who is mad at him for not having visited for so long, but then his wife insists the elf stay for dinner and they sort of get over it or something. Guess that was in episode 2.

I like the dwarves in it. Durin is one of the highlights. I think Galadriel is good as far as the elves go but casting wasn’t great for the rest. Elrond especially.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Amazon Prime Video's biggest premiere

Sure it is. Just ask them... Doesn't mean it's any good.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

“women can’t do laser sword that’s just biology”.

I highly doubt any one has actually used this flimsy argument.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Just curious... how can anyone worry about "diversity" in a fantasy show about a fantasy world populated by non-human beings? Or does diversity now extend beyond humanity? Perhaps Peter Jackson was racist in not having enough diversity in the Orcs...

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Now why would You Tube remove the “dislike” function on the trailer of this woke wonder of a story?

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

I am waiting with baited breath for the reboot of "Black Panther" with more diversity. Didn't see too many Asians or Hispanics in the original. However, Rings of Power DOES have a Puerto Rican elf, so ....hurrah....?

3 ( +6 / -3 )

“ Just curious... how can anyone worry about "diversity" in a fantasy show about a fantasy world populated by non-human beings? “

If it doesn’t feel natural and it looks weird af, it will hurt the show, and that is one of the main reasons why this show will fail, or at least it won’t be as good as it should be (the best fantasy book series of all time deserved better). People who loved the original trilogy have the right to point out these flaws and criticize the intentions behind such decisions; And the usual crowd will call them racists; welcome to 2022.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

The most bizarre thing about the ridiculous woke thing is the reaction from the anti-woke types. Why do they get so riled-up about it?

It’s a TV show featuring elves.

Elves.

A successful one by the sounds of it but some seem to think it’s woke. This ‘Go woke, go broke’ iron law I heard about may not be altogether true…

Interesting.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

Just curious... how can anyone worry about "diversity" in a fantasy show about a fantasy world populated by non-human beings? Or does diversity now extend beyond humanity? Perhaps Peter Jackson was racist in not having enough diversity in the Orcs...

This strikes me as an argument that could be used pretty interchangeably against both those complaining about a lack of diversity or those complaining about the presence of diversity.

I don’t really care either way. The diverse cast did not bother me in this one, nor did the less diverse cast in the Lord of the Rings.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

I enjoyed it and am a lifelong Tolkien fanatic.

It ISN’T Tolkien, of course. The only Tolkien are the books and essays HE wrote.

It’s a TV show, not a book. You can’t have an adaptation without adapting something.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

(about my previous posts)

— diversity in TROP and HOTD:

*Where** The Rings of Power goes wrong:*

Any given skin colour has a geographical point of origin. Anybody whose family is originally from this point of origin will have a certain limited range of skin colours (such as what one sees from sub-Saharan Africa, the Far East, etc.). So, how does one get a multicultural society with a diversity in skin colours? The answer is simple: travel. For a small number of people with very dark skin to live with a group of people with very light skin, at some point the people with dark skin had to have moved there from far away. And so, if you have an empire founded in an area where people have light skin with worldwide reach and trade, it is entirely reasonable for the people living there to have a wide variety of skin colours. The same goes with a port city — trade means travel, which in turn means that people will come and settle in a new place far away from their original home. This is how real diversity is born.

Instead of establishing that the Easterlings and Harfoots of the first episode have a history of trade with far away places, the show does the exact opposite. The Harfoots may travel, but they are hidden and insular — they all come from the same place, and they are not accepting immigrants. The Easterlings are isolated and begin the series under elven occupation, and are even shunned to a degree for having supported Morgoth during the war. There is therefore no mechanism for people with a diverse array of skin pigmentation to have integrated with either of these ethnic groups.

*How** House of the Dragon got diversity right:*

One of the key characters among the ensemble is Lord Corlys Velaryon, played by Steve Toussaint. Lord Corlys is the only dark skinned member of the Small Council. It is immediately established that Lord Corlys’ family is Valyrian in origin. He is therefore not from Westrosi stock, and the mechanism by which somebody with his skin colour could be present is clear and makes sense in the worldbuilding. Furthermore, the history of his family makes a difference — there are distinct tensions between his Valyrian house and the Targaryens, who are also Valyrians, due to the power imbalance caused by the fact that the Targaryens have dragons and his house doesn’t. Lord Corlys is anything but window dressing. He is one of the most powerful men in the kingdom, and fully active in its politics. He has a long history of accomplishment on his own merits before he ever sat on the Small Council. He is a fully developed character who has agency and acts upon it.

Lord Corlys is integral to the story, and his presence in the story makes sense in terms of the worldbuilding.

This an exemplar of how diversity is done properly. The Rings of Power, on the other hand, will probably go down as the exemplar of what not to do when attempting to create a diverse cast of characters.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Now why would You Tube remove the “dislike” function on the trailer of this woke wonder of a story?

It would be a valid question if they had done this. But since they haven't, it is a question that we need not ask.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

It would be a valid question if they had done this. But since they haven't, it is a question that we need not ask.

Then you must have, or downloaded the app. But for regular folk who only use you tube sparingly, and don’t have a goggle account, then it won’t show.

Next!?

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

The industry actors and Amazon invented the racist and sexist stuff as well as the review Bombed stuff.

Where reviews were not removed ( rotten tomatoes) go read the 1, 2 3 star reviews, few if any day anything about being "woke" or diversity, etc .

They say bad acting, bad writing, unlikeable characters, etc ..

I went it read them, well over 90% point to actual parts of the show and what was wrong or bad.

A troll just wipes the floor with all the male elves most not even pulling out their swords then the only female casually just easily dispatches the troll after it killed most of her men. Oh while the few remaining men just stand around doing nothing to help.

The dialogue described as bumper sticker one liners.

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

Next!?

App or no app, google account or no account, used sparingly or not, the dislike button is still there. Do you mean dislike count?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8UAUAuKNcU

1 ( +4 / -3 )

The dialogue described as bumper sticker one liners.

Is this another one of those things that you claim not to care about but spend most of your day caring deeply about to the point of dominating the comments?

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Here is what the industry and Amazon really don't like and it has nothing to do with race or sex.

https://ew.com/tv/tv-reviews/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-amazon/

There are ways to do a prequel, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power does them all wrong. It takes six or seven things everyone remembers from the famous movie trilogy, adds a water tank, makes nobody fun, teases mysteries that aren't mysteries, and sends the best character on a pointless detour

Read it all it will give an idea what people really don't like about it.

Here are some reviews:

David C. W

Elves that don't feel like elves, Harfoots that speak with 19th century caricature Irish accents, bafflingly dumb decisions like Galadriel deciding to swim across a possibly endless sea, and an openign scene that sought to convince audiences of the magic of the show by...having a preteen bullying sequence straight out of a mediocre 80s film. I went in with an open mind, but after 2 episodes am bored and utterly disconnected from the story. This review has aboslutely nothing to do with the toxic fandom stuff, and everything to do with awful pacing, writing barely worthy of a CW show, laughable characterisation, and an appalling mishandling of some of the most beautiful source material it is possible to work with.

> Petros M

Pretty bad. The pacing is bad and the screenplay amateurish. They tried to imitate the epic nature of the LOTR intro but failed because the script is a boring narration of events. Galadriel is a totally unrelatable, or even a dislikable character. Again, a failure of the screenwriters. Failed to grab my attention (literally fell asleep toward the end of ep.1). My rating is based on the first episode only, did not bother with ep.2. Maybe I'll revisit when I have some time to kill, but probably not

Stefan C

Compared to Lord of the Rings.... Well let's face it you just can't. I was eager to watch this spinoff as I'm a fan of Lord of the Rings but I turned it off after about an hour. I had no interest in the characters and the story line was sloooow. I guess they have to make it slow so they can stretch a whole series out of it. I found it hard to follow too, probably because I kept looking at my phone or going off to make cups of tea because I was getting bored. Nice try guys but you might have to find something else to rinse. Perhaps do another superman movie or something...

Johanna S

Very beautiful scenery, but very generic. Looks like any other fantasy world, with nothing to "drag" you into it, or make it unique. Galadriel seems emotionless, and has no charisma. The dialogue is full of platitudes, it seems like they talk about nothing for an hour. Booooring.

These are typical of the 3 star or lower reviews.

Nothing to do with race or sex everything to do with a bad show.

Before I commented I went and checked to see if what Amazon the actors and industry insiders were claiming was true.

Could barely find any. 90% were like the above.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

Trailer on Amazon

130k likes

1.9million dislikes

This has made my day.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

Do you mean dislike count?

Whatever

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

It’s incredible how uptight people are about this.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

The people who don’t like this are spending more time on it than those who actually watched the show.

Some posters said to ignore it, don’t even read the reviews. Some posters can’t stop and are spamming reviews.

All very odd behaviour.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Writer Neil Gaiman, whose words carry extra weight, is certainly enthusiastic about The Rings of Power. The negativity around the series reminds me of the original Thor movie in which fans were not happy about non-white casting.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

IMDb removed negative reviews. Guess who owns IMDB...

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

A troll just wipes the floor with all the male elves most not even pulling out their swords then the only female casually just easily dispatches the troll after it killed most of her men. Oh while the few remaining men just stand around doing nothing to help.

That ‘woman’ is Galadriel one of the most powerful figures in all of Tolkien’s fiction.

No, he didn’t write about her killing a Troll single-handedly. But he did write about another woman killing a powerful foe single-handedly. If you’ve read Tolkien you’ll know who and that the TV scene isn’t far removed.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Review bombing is petty but Amazon has themselves to blame for making it too easy for anyone to post a review on their products, and combining reviews for different versions of products, etc. Everyone knows most of their reviews are fakes, now when it's their show getting targeted they want to do something about it?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I am with Rainyday, watched the first episode - wife fell asleep, I powered through a boring, yet somehow pretentious at the same time show that had no humor or engagement with the audience. I will not likely watch another episode.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

A troll just wipes the floor with all the male elves most not even pulling out their swords then the only female casually just easily dispatches the troll after it killed most of her men. Oh while the few remaining men just stand around doing nothing to help.

They call it fantasy for a reason. Nobody forced you to watch, but if you did it is at least helpful to know the genre.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

JRR Tolkien never wrote any book on which this series is based and I won’t watch this woke crap!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Shakespeare has been modernised and updated to fit the times. All depends if the performances are worth watching.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Dumbing Down is more like it!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

JRR Tolkien never wrote any book on which this series is based

You’re half right, not a ‘book’.

He wrote the Appendices on which this TV show is based. The Appendices were published in ‘The Return of the King’, a book, which he wrote.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Trailer on Amazon

130k likes 

1.9million dislikes

This has made my day.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Trailer on Amazon

130k likes 

1.9million dislikes

This has made my day.

Translation: Clipity was right. I was wrong.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Writer Neil Gaiman, whose words carry extra weight, is certainly enthusiastic about The Rings of Power.

He faced the same review bombing because the writer (him) had the nerve to gender swap Lucifer, another fictional character, in Sandman, another fantasy story.

There was quite an internet tizzy about it, for about 2 days.

Still, Rings of Power caught a lucky break today. The review bombers are now all making Netflix accounts for Obama’s narrated documentary which they suddenly feel bad about many months after it has already aired.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

1.9million dislikes

Bombarded by Trump people because Trump hates Bezos. I'm watching it (the actual episodes) and it's entertaining enough and my thoughts are focused on enjoying it rather than hating Bezos which is what Trump and his people like to do. I guess (for non-Trump people) if you like GOT/House of the Dragon and the original LOTR/Hobbit movies [to be fair, I thought the Hobbit started getting stupid during part 3], there is a pretty fair chance you will like The Rings of Power. Trump people won't watch it because Bezos is a Trump enemy, simply.  It's like when Hillary people were slamming Ivanka's fashion lineup (such as jokes about being make in China) on Amazon.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

My wife, who has never read LoTR, enjoyed The Rings of Power more than I did and I think that is the common denominator: those who haven't read the novels have no expectations to get in the way of the Amazon production.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Well, I watched the first 2 episodes. Not bad for TV. I've not yet watched the HBO prequel. I'm still ticked off on how they completely bombed on the GOT final episode.

I learned long ago that one cannot compare books and either movies or TV. The writers play to the average viewer. And you can bet that very very few of the latter have ever read a single page that Tolkien has written.

OK. Back to the US Open tennis grand slam. Reality TV at it's best.

Bill

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Here is a simple thing.

So some say it was review bombing.

But I doubt anyone looked to see the comments on the reviews, I did.

Then the actors, writers have been quoted as saying the was " their vision" one even said he was glad to destroy Tolkien cannon.

Well so you liked it, ok fine, then if you and they are fine with what it is they stop using the name Tolkien or calling it a prequel.

It has nothing to do with anything Tolkien wrote and the writers, actors and producers have basically said this isn't Tolkien.

So stop calling it Tolkien stop calling it a prequel.

If you want to use Tolkien and Prequel then you accept that Tolkien fans are going to point out poor cannon poor writing.

What Amazon and the Amazon fans here want is their cake and eat it too.

You want to call it tolkien's lord of the rings prequel without having to follow the facts in lord of the ring.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Tolkien’s own eldest grandson worked on it with the shows creators so it’s Tolkien enough to use the name. Get over it.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

It was review bombing

Yes....proof

Amazon’s Prime Video streaming site, however, where the new show has premiered, currently displays no customer reviews

(News source)

They were posting without even watching it, including lots of Trump people who hate Bezos

Star Trek Voyager had a black Vulcan and no one cared. It's just the new Trump hating trend. Also look at the new House of the Dragon cast (HBO). Any news about that? No? Proof it's just about hatred from the Trump side toward Bezos because Bezos is much smarter than Trump and Trump is bitter.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

nishikat

Today 03:54 pm JST

Go read rotten tomatoes.

Amazon is to be trusted?

Let's see, Amazon claims it was the biggest most watch premiere in it's history.

But way! Amazon doesn't release viewer figures, this was the first time and no comparisons were given.

No numbers nothing!

So the "it is misogyny" didn't work to explain the bad reviews, the "it is racists" didn't work, so now it is Trump supporters doing it!

What next? Putin? Elon Musk? How about Aliens?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Haaa Nemui

Today 03:05 pm JST

Tolkien’s own eldest grandson worked on it with the shows creators so it’s Tolkien enough to use the name. Get over it.

Really:

A failed writer and

Simon Tolkien disagreed with the policy of his grandfather's estate in regard to The Lord of the Rings films. When Christopher Tolkien issued a statement that the "Tolkien estate would be best advised to avoid any specific association with the films", Simon Tolkien broke ranks, offering to cooperate with the filmmakers,

They waited for Christopher's death to start

Christopher Tolkien died January 2020 Production on this abomination was started on February 2020 because they knew he was going to try and stop it if it was to far from his father's works.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

I don't like Elon Musk but he Tweeted the following:

Tolkien is turning in his grave

> Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both, Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice.

And as a shot towards the accusations of review bombing he wrote:

And 90% of my comments are boys

Well I guess he must also be wrong, Right?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Let's see, Amazon claims it was the biggest most watch premiere in it's history.

Trump says he draws the most crowds.

Is Amazon lying and those non watcher reviews were really ones by watchers?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Amazon is to be trusted?

Specifically with what?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Amazon has started delaying user reviews posted to its video-streaming service by up to three days to tackle fake ratings.

(News quote)

Is Amazon lying when saying these are fake reviews? If so, will they present this same lie to their major stock holders'?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

A failed writer and…

Several books published is not a failed writer…. Whether they’re any good or not I can’t say as I haven’t read any of them, just as you haven’t watched any of this series. The rest of your Wiki copy paste means little. He is still Tolkien. That alone is enough to put the Tolkien name to it. Do you feel the same about the Hobbit and the LOTR movies? If no, then why not?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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