Rings Of Power

[Cassia]

Oops...just another shallow fantasy show?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Saves me the work of reading the appendices.

[Blackleaf]

The show has some moments, but yeah... It just feels off. I don't feel attached to any of the characters, and their attempts to sound deep or capture the magic of the original trilogy just doesn't work. It feels cliched and hallow. The only time, so far (I'm not caught up), that I've felt invested was when Elrond visited his dwarf friend, Durin. The idea that the passage of time would be of so little concern to an eternally youthful elf that they would accidentally miss a significant portion of another's life was a good idea. But that's about it. The rest is too cliched, annoying, or just not interesting.

Then there's the words of wisdom in the show.

"Do you know why a ship floats and a stone cannot? Because the stone sees only downward. The darkness of the water is vast and irresistible. The ship feels the darkness as well, striving moment by moment to master her and pull her under. But the ship has a secret, for unlike the stone, her gaze is not downward, but up. Fixed upon the light that guides her, whispering of grander things than darkness ever knew."

"But sometimes, the lights shine just as brightly reflected in the water as they do in the sky. It's hard to say which way is up and which way is down. How am I to know which lights to follow?"

And then they have the nerve to have the answer whispered and withheld from the audience until later, as if when it would be revealed, it would be this grand revelation.

"Sometimes we cannot know, until we have touched the darkness."

God. This is some of the dumbest writing I've ever witnessed on screen. Compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, especially, which had some of the best writing.

"It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance."

"Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgement."

Now those are words of wisdom. It's nearly quoted verbatim from the books, but it was that dedication to Tolkien's vision that made the trilogy so great. Even when Gandalf talks about their fictional universe's experience of death and the afterlife, it's told in such a way to inspire curiosity. I can picture in my head what is described, yet it's just vague enough to let the mind wander. And the music that plays, as well as the actors' deliveries, really sells it.

This exchange, I believe, is not quoted from the book, but it is based on how it is described when Frodo takes the ship to the afterlife at the end of the story.

[Cassia]

Exactly....such depth. I remember I read the books and then a little while later the Hobbit cartoon from the 70s showed up. I think my own imagination did better, but it was amusing.

Jackson just simply nailed it. I'll certainly watch the new series when Amazon releases it but not expecting to be blown away unfortunately.