Rings of Power -- all opinions and spoilers welcome thread.

[Garthanos]

No. This is where you are failing to understand the differences between novel and film. In a novel, the author can tell us how a tincey wincey arrow can kill a massive monster, and we don't have conflicting information from our eyes telling us how ridiculous that looks. On film, we have to show, not tell, how the dragon is killed.

Books are not films, films are not books, if you slavishly translate from one to the other you end up with something stupid.

D&D translated the arrow as a magical bane ie Dragon slaying concept ... ie one might show a close up of the heirloom ancient arrow burrowing actively into the beast while throbbing with magic perhaps (I think that buffs and visualizes it in a way more consistent with the books that mentioned the dwarves using magic when setting up camp and which has been ignored in screen adaptions) .... The transfer of the knowledge of the vulnerable spot via talking thrush was also supposed to be significant (a sense that superb skill was involved too)

 

[Parmandur]

We don't have a clear picture of the actual reception of RoP because of

1) Coordinated review bombing
2) The fact that Amazon suspended reviews in early September and didn't resume until later. On September 9, Amazon deleted almost all 1-star reviews to "weed out trolls." We are asked to trust their action was objective
3) The fact that IMDB - which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon - stopped registering negative reviews early in September also clouds any real data. They've since resumed.

Rotten Tomatoes is also very polarized. Audience reception is at 39% overall, critics at 85%; my personal sense is somewhere between these numbers.

The distribution pattern has otherwise been very unnatural and unusual - lots of 1s and 5s, very negatives and very positives; very few in the 2-4 range, which suggests to me this has been opened as a front in the culture wars, obscuring any collective assessment of the show on its actual merits.



Sorry. You don't get to do that. Review bombing may have happened, but it's really not that simple.

It might be years until we get a clear picture; I imagine the market will ultimately inform us. I feel there have been some valid criticisms levelled, and I hope Amazon takes them to heart moving forward. I would like the show to succeed.

It's actually quite simple: it's a 5 star show, amd it hasn't hit quite right for some people, while there are trolls posting 1 star reviews. Any 1 star review can be immediately dismissed as a troll.

 

[Parmandur]

I've scanned some of the 1 star reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and most are generally thoughtful and almost none are "culture war-y" (unless whether Rings of Power is sufficiently Tolkienian is a culture war issue, which it is not).

Most of the negative reviews I've seen on various sites--whether large or small--mostly criticize the (poor) quality of the show, secondarily the divergence from Tolkien, and thirdly (and only rarely, if at all) culture war elements.

A cunning troll is still a troll. I'll respect a 3 star reviews somewhat, but anyone posting a 1 star is just out to lunch.

 

[Parmandur]

Not poetic/musical enough?

Literally the best part of the whole Jackson Hobbit trilogy is the scene where they let the Dwarves actually sing Over the Misty Mountains Cold, so, yup.

 

[Parmandur]

Prefer the pacing of Wheel or Time so far... they arguably made it better in that regards to the books

...

No.

 

[Parmandur]

No. This is where you are failing to understand the differences between novel and film. In a novel, the author can tell us how a tincey wincey arrow can kill a massive monster, and we don't have conflicting information from our eyes telling us how ridiculous that looks. On film, we have to show, not tell, how the dragon is killed.

Books are not films, films are not books, if you slavishly translate from one to the other you end up with something stupid.

And yet that element worked fine in the Rankong-Bass cartoon. I was too young to read let alone have read the Hobvit, amd I got it.

 

[Garthanos]

...

No.

They deprived Rand of climactic potency and other problems... but pacing was better than the books in my opinion.

 

[Parmandur]

They deprived Rand of climactic potency and other problems... but pacing was better than the books in my opinion.

The pacing if the Wheel of Time show is...really, really bad. Other than the camera work, CGI and set design most thins about it are pretty bad. 2-3 star show.

Eye of the World the novel, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. It is long and languid, but nothing is without reason. The show cut off important plot beats, and introduced pointless filler.

 

[Maxperson]

No. This is where you are failing to understand the differences between novel and film. In a novel, the author can tell us how a tincey wincey arrow can kill a massive monster, and we don't have conflicting information from our eyes telling us how ridiculous that looks. On film, we have to show, not tell, how the dragon is killed.

Wrong. Bard can say how it's a magical arrow from the King Under the Mountain and we can have special effects do something with the arrow head that parts Smaug's scales like butter as the arrow enters him. Hell, would could, if you wanted, watch the arrow cut through Smaug and pierce his heart. Special effects allow for such explanation through visuals.

The audience would have gotten and accepted that very easily.

Books are not films, films are not books, if you slavishly translate from one to the other you end up with something stupid.

Orrrrr, you use a modicum of imagination and just explain it visually and with a few words like above.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wrong. Bard can say how it's a magical arrow from the King Under the Mountain and we can have special effects do something with the arrow head that parts Smaug's scales like butter as the arrow enters him. Hell, would could, if you wanted, watch the arrow cut through Smaug and pierce his heart. Special effects allow for such explanation through visuals.

How big do you think Smaug's heart is? Here is a replica whale heart:

You it would look believable if an arrow stopped that?