The Rings of Power is getting poor reviews

[Grudge]

I haven't seen this series and don't intend to. But in my newsfeed there is always something negative mentioned about it and some controversy about it being woke. A cursory glance online at the aggregate reviews is also indicating that this series is doing poorly with audiences.

Have any of you seen this series? Impressions?

[jawn galliano]

have not seen, have no intention of doing so

[Methuselah Honeysuckle]

The what now

[Mesarthim]

It’s just a bunch of trolls talking shit.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Visually stunning, good acting, it’s faithful to the source material. Honestly If you’re a Tolkien fan you’ll enjoy it. unless of course you’re some ultra purist then you probably hate everything anyways and will also hate it.

[Mesarthim]

I haven't seen this series and don't intend to. But in my newsfeed there is always something negative mentioned about it and some controversy about it being woke. A cursory glance online at the aggregate reviews is also indicating that this series is doing poorly with audiences.

Have any of you seen this series? Impressions?

Also who the fuck cares if it’s “woke”. What the fuck does that even mean? All I know is that people that use that phrase these days all tend to be shitheads to the maximum extent. so if it’s upsetting them, good.

[zim]

i watched it for a little while but i thought it was really dull and poorly written, i gave up after the 4th episode. amazon was only able to acquire the rights to the appendices of the silmarillion so it's mostly fan fiction

the "woke" stuff is definitely referring to the race swapping / inclusion of black characters. i've got no problem with any of that but it's totally forced diversity if you want to pick it apart. they don't even bother actually including more than one black character in any of the races, there's one black numenorean, one black harfoot, one black elf, and one black dwarf. it certainly feels like amazon was meeting a quota.

just a cash grab from amazon riding the lord of the rings brand

[Noyka]

Its boring good to put you to sleep I guess

[User]

we are four episodes in, have enjoyed some parts more than others. it is just a bit slow, which is cool for building atmosphere, but sometimes it's like unnhhh

mind you the peter jackson movies were like that too

[Paste Human]

the "woke" stuff is definitely referring to the race swapping / inclusion of black characters. i've got no problem with any of that but it's totally forced diversity if you want to pick it apart. they don't even bother actually including more than one black character in any of the races, there's one black numenorean, one black harfoot, one black elf, and one black dwarf. it certainly feels like amazon was meeting a quota.

I haven't seen this since I don't have Prime anymore, but that's pretty much my sentiment on the whole woke phenomenon as well. There's a time and place to discuss inclusiveness, racial harmony, etc., but shoehorning those issues into something like an adventure or fantasy series that people usually watch to get away from social strife is annoying. It's like another version of McCarthyism in cinema.

Nick Mullen had an astute and hilarious take on this type of thing creeping its way into children's shows, comparing old vs. new Sesame Street:

[Corpsepyre]

The right-wing chud online shitters were campaigning against this from the first announcement. There were some lore stragglers too who were upset, but mostly it was the racists who didn't like that they had 3-4 black characters in the show. That's really where it all started.

That said, I've seen it all, and enjoyed most of it, but definitely had my reservations as well as far as pacing and some character choices went. All of the valid criticisms end up being drowned out by the constant online noise though, so I decided to just stay quiet on social media. It's very similar to what happened with The Last of Us Part II.

[Noyka]

My thing is they are fictional characters black ariel doesnt bother me shes a fictional mermaid neither do the mcu switches. People are stupid per usual.

[Corpsepyre]

Yeah, imagine being okay with dragons, werewolves, zombies and what not, but having a few black characters in your fantasy drama?! No!

[zim]

there's a conspiracy part of me that wonders if amazon knew that adding black characters to this would cause outrage and maybe they could use that as a shield from actual criticism of the show

:tinfoil:

[Mesarthim]

honestly I didn't even notice except for the elf Arondir, that is pretty funny that each race had exactly 1 black character though now that you mention it. oh well, is this really all that different from advertisements that show a group of people that have equal representations of gender and black / white/ hispanic / asian persons? cause that's been a thing for as long as I can remember.

[jawn galliano]

there's a conspiracy part of me that wonders if amazon knew that adding black characters to this would cause outrage and maybe they could use that as a shield from actual criticism of the show

:tinfoil:

yes, this is 100% an actual content strategy that a lot of shows use. it's quite odious!

[Corpsepyre]

there's a conspiracy part of me that wonders if amazon knew that adding black characters to this would cause outrage and maybe they could use that as a shield from actual criticism of the show

:tinfoil:

[zim]

[vO)))id]

Love LOTR and Hobbit stories and lore.
Absolutely don't care about this.

[User]

we are up to the last eighth ep, will probs watch it tonight with a beer. ep 6 was good, ep 7 was snooooore

[User]

we finished it

yeah, it was okay. i liked the switcheroo at the end. it's just annoyingly vague and slow. too much reliance on lore, not enough real drama and conflict. some lazy editing really took away from the power, like the stupid wizard people destroying the hobbits' wagons.

ah well

[Paste Human]

we finished it

yeah, it was okay. i liked the switcheroo at the end. it's just annoyingly vague and slow. too much reliance on lore, not enough real drama and conflict. some lazy editing really took away from the power, like the stupid wizard people destroying the hobbits' wagons.

ah well

Without giving too much away about this "switcheroo" at the end, does it by any chance involve a cock ring?

[User]

you can imagine the cock ring, for we do not see under any clothes, piercings go unremarked

[deckard]

fucking shit, enjoyed it at first, then fucking crap and the last episode was ok

[User]

i agree the beginning and the end were the highlights

[jawn galliano]

was it worth a billion dollars

[User]

definitely not, laughable really

[Corpsepyre]

The billion dollars bit covers the entirety of 5 seasons. There's a lot of canonical stuff to come as well, including a two-episode battle back to back in s02. The show definitely dwarfs the competition when it comes to production values, and it'll only go up. I'm just hoping the writing team gets better as well.

[User]

yeah galadriel is a fucking babe, i spent the whole time fapping in my mind to her (fiancee next to me on the couch)

[deckard]

but there are a couple of slow mo shots of her with this weird fucking smile thats really odd