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

[Ryujin]

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?

How about instead of stopping it, it ignited the blood? Far stranger things have made it to film and been accepted.

 

[billd91]

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.

Yeah, I have to go with this one. Movies and books may not be the same thing, but if Rankin and Bass can make Bard's arrow work as an arrow in a cartoon, so can a movie.

 

[Ryujin]

Yeah, I have to go with this one. Movies and books may not be the same thing, but if Rankin and Bass can make Bard's arrow work as an arrow in a cartoon, so can a movie.

Let's just say that the script wasn't the only thing that they needlessly inflated in "The Hobbit" movies.

 

[billd91]

Let's just say that the script wasn't the only thing that they needlessly inflated in "The Hobbit" movies.

That's what SHE said.

 

[Ryujin]

That's what SHE said.

BA-dum(tsh).

 

[OB1]

This is true. As a fantasy series it's pretty decent. @Parmandur said he thought I would give it 3 stars. I'd probably give it 3.5 stars. Likely I'd give it 4 stars out of 5 if it didn't have ridiculousness like an elf jumping off a boat in the middle of the ocean and then having a shipwrecked group of humans "wander by" within minutes, followed by a sea monster at the same time, followed by a chance meeting with a ship soon after. Some things just reaaaaaally stretched believability for me. Those would be fantasy series ratings.

Fair enough. I'm pretty forgiving of coincidence in the first act of a story, it's what tends to get the narrative started. And for me, Galadriel jumping off the boat showed in no uncertain terms just how powerful elves are compared to other races in the story (I thought it was kind of bada** myself), and lent another level of potential resentment (besides the long lives) between them and the other races of middle earth (seen again when Elrond tells Durin that he let him win the stone breaking contest). I can see why the Numenorians are not thrilled about having an elf return to their shores because of what we've seen Galadriel do.

As for the 1 star reviews, the disconnect for me is mixing the language of criticism with how someone feels about a piece of media. Give it a 1 star 'review' if you hate it and say so, but if you try to prop up your argument via vague critical analysis language, you are just muddying the conversation and trying to 'win' people to your side by trying to sound like an expert.

 

[Maxperson]

Fair enough. I'm pretty forgiving of coincidence in the first act of a story, it's what tends to get the narrative started. And for me, Galadriel jumping off the boat showed in no uncertain terms just how powerful elves are compared to other races in the story (I thought it was kind of bada** myself), and lent another level of potential resentment (besides the long lives) between them and the other races of middle earth (seen again when Elrond tells Durin that he let him win the stone breaking contest). I can see why the Numenorians are not thrilled about having an elf return to their shores because of what we've seen Galadriel do.

I didn't care for that part myself, but mostly because I'm very familiar with the books. Normal men in the 1st age were of a like stature to the great Noldor that came from Aman. Beren disarmed Curufin(after Curufin attacked him) and took Angrist, the knife that was so sharp and powerful, it could cut through iron as if it were green wood, away from Curufin and spared his life. Curufin was a son of Feanor and father of Celebrimbor, the guy who is making these here rings of power.

The Numenoreans having the blood of elves and maia in their veins are of a like stature to the men of old and would have been individually very close to Galadriel as warriors and in numbers would have been able to handle her easily. This is why Sauron surrendered when their army landed and headed his way.

 

[Mercurius]

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.

Meaning, their opinion of the show differs greatly from your own.

Oh, and just to be clear: I wouldn't give it 1 stars. I found it entertaining enough, and there's always the "at least its fantasy!" boost, for me to rank it so. Even though I think it widely misses the mark on adapting Tolkien and is poorly constructed, my overall ranking would probably be 2 or 2.5 stars. Similar to Wheel of Time.

 

[Rabulias]

Yeah, I have to go with this one. Movies and books may not be the same thing, but if Rankin and Bass can make Bard's arrow work as an arrow in a cartoon, so can a movie.

Smaug in the animated The Hobbit was not so ginormously large as in Jackson's. Like many things in The Hobbit film trilogy, I think it suffered from "too much too muchness" and that led to what could be done very well in two movies, expanded into three. And in that mode of thinking, a 60-foot long dragon is good, but a 400-foot long one is better! The scale of things strains suspension of disbelief too much. Smaug in the films should have been able to easily kill some (if not all) of the dwarves and Bilbo in the scene where they are running to the furnaces.

There are parts of The Hobbit films I like, especially some dialog that I don't believe was in the book (it has been some years since I read it -- I will need to do so again soon). Notably, in the scene after Gandalf leads the dwarves out of Goblintown, Bilbo's speech about home and how he wants to help the dwarves take back their home. It helps justify Bilbo's commitment to the quest in a very hobbit way.

 

[wicked cool]

Almost all 1 star reviews for anything are out to lunch. I own a comic & game store, and every 1 star review we've ever gotten are purely mental (some really, really strange) or some friend of a "rival" (we don't really have rivals) thinking that they're doing their buddy a favour by bombing the "competition" (we're not very competitive). They're frankly ALL BS. I'm fine with a 3-star review.

Frankly, I think that 5-star reviews are strange too, but it's what the 5-star system expects (for some dumb reason). IMO if the star-system actually worked, 3 would be considered "good". 4 would be "great" and 5 would be "better than I imagined it could be - it surprised and delighted me".

I wouldn't call this show a 5-star show. I can see how it was to you, but it's a solid 3 (pushing up to a 4 by the final episode, to me). With plenty of room for improvement.

Weirdly the trend seems to be for the 5-star system to be more binary to most people. It's either "I liked it - 5 stars!" or "I didn't like it! - 1 star!" (Which defeats the point of the other 3 stars). But it's not like people are very good at understanding their own feelings about something, far or less agreeing on what the system actually means for us.

For me I rate
5-I’m willing to watch this multiple times, tell my friends, possibly be marooned on a desert island with it
4 strong like. Mostly same as above but it’s missing something
3 liked once. Would prefer not to watch for a while . Enjoyed
2 I’m watching this only because other people like this so I tolerate it
1 will at all costs try and avoid. Willing to do other things instead of this. Same with novels and comics and video games

I have seen movies in all these categories.