Amazon’s “The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power” TV Show Premiere Is Getting Memed To Hell (30 Posts)
If you have been following entertainment news lately, you’d know that there is a new incarnation of The Lord of the Rings. In fact, the first two episodes are already out on Amazon Prime, with the next two coming very soon.
And whether it was before or after the pilot was out, folks online have been flooding the ether with their reactions, reviews, opinion pieces and the like, all discussing the new Lord of the Rings television series.
The Lord of the Rings as a series has managed to bring the fantasy epic genre to a wider audience, catering to more than just geeks, but really anyone who loves a good story with rich lore and a beautiful atmosphere that leaves you feeling like you’ve done more than just read it or seen it.
Bored Panda has scoured the internet to find the best of the best reactions, memes, and posts about the series, and invites you to check those out, as well as read up on what it’s all about and why it matters.
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Baby Gandalf's teacher when he refuses to pay attention in class- "You shall not pass!"
So, first thing’s first, The Lord of the Rings started off as the Hobbit, a children’s fantasy novel by English author J.R.R. Tolkien back in 1937. This inevitably led to the creation of the sequel, The Lord of the Rings. Without spoiling anything, it’s basically a story about a group of hobbits—halflings who enjoy feasting and comfort—going on adventures—i.e. doing the complete opposite of what they would rather do.
Needless to say, the books became a huge success, with the Lord of the Rings series alone selling over 150 million copies, and becoming one of the best-selling books of all time. Since then, there were various adaptations of the fantasy epic, including radio, audio books, as well as film and television.
Many actually know the franchise from its film adaptations from the early 2000s. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy has won numerous awards, including 11 Oscars and several consecutive Academy Best Picture nominations.
Initially, the idea for a TV series was pitched to Netflix, HBO, and Amazon, with the last one picking it up. After working out all of the legal and creative details, Amazon announced its TV series, titled The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, back in January of 2020.
Two years later, on September 1st, the first season launched with a planned 8-episode rundown. The first two episodes were released at once, while the remaining 6 will come out every week starting September 9th.
But as is with every fandom, most are protective of their beloved franchises. And once the episodes hit the ether—actually, even before that—everyone already had an opinion and reacted accordingly.
In short, reactions and opinions were all over the place.
Not-in-so-short, besides all of The Lord of the Rings fan pressure on Amazon to do a good job, there were those who were set out to hate on it whichever way they can. Whether because it included an all new cast, or because the first impressions were not up to the expectations of the fans, or because it was by Amazon, folks shared their skepticism.
One skeptic was Elon Musk. His reaction to the pilot was that every male thus far looked like a coward, a jerk or both and only Galadriel was brave, smart and nice.
Oh, and there was also that one tiny little fact of how could they release the show on the anniversary of Tolkien’s death?!
My sis asked me about it. I said it is very pretty. When all the battles start, I shut it off. Repetition repetition repetition...
The most emotionally repressed couple. Out of necessity, maybe, but STILL. I anticipate depending on Durin and Disa for my romance fix
Others, on the other hand, praised the show. Most do agree that it wasn’t all that bad. Sure, at first it was a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, it currently stands at 84% and a 6.8/10 on IMDB. Besides, it’s still too early to rate it as a whole because we’re only 2 episodes in, and the picture should become clearer by October 14 when the last episode in the season is scheduled to air.
While many loved Morfydd Clark’s performance as Galadriel, others pointed out the overall cinematography, the locations and the overall quality as being absolutely fantastic, and that it was worth the wait.
Yes, yes they are. Two people who know something catastrophically bad is coming but no-one is taking any notice.
(please read in condescending, loud, accusing voice) BEZOS???!!!!??
The show's budget is pretty significant, coming at $715 million. And that's for the first season alone. Game Revolution estimated that that's the equivalent of 5.1 million Amazon Prime subscriptions costing $139 per year.
In comparison, The Lord of the Rings trilogy clocks in at $1 billion, Marvel TV shows hosted on Disney Plus come in at $25 million per episode, and Game of Thrones—the show that Rings of Power is supposed to be a direct competitor to—cost $15 million per episode in season 8, which had a total of 6 episodes.
Turning in his grave? Tolkien is doing something more useful than Musk.
Guy spreads misinformation and almost destroys America. Destroys the lives of many parents. Isn't it funny the expression he's making?
Lmao I thought it was gonna be sam winchester and his "if theres a lock there has to be a key" face
Note: this post originally had 35 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
So, while we’re all waiting for episode 3, which should air on September 9th, or while we wait for the season finale on October 14th, so as to form the best opinion, why not speculate and share your thoughts in the comment section below!
I vaguely recall this same argument happening when they cast Idris Elba as Heimdall. What's funny is how epic he was as Heimdall. What's sad is how angry people were about it before the movie came out. Also...Elon Musk needs to grow up. He always comes across as an angry 17 year old gamer on Twitter.
Why all the hate? Just because it's not ExActLy like the canon doesn't make it bad
We all know the backlash is a bunch of incel fanboys mad about women and nonwhite people. Again. They f****d up every fantasy fandom from Star Wars to My Little Pony. So, for the millionth time, and with an award winning critical text written by a friend and colleague, yes there were nonwhite people in Medieval England. Insisting that history be whitewashed to be "authentic" only shows how little ACTUAL history they know. And even if it wasn't, it's fantasy, and collapsing racial biases is its point. https://nyupress.org/9781479800650/the-dark-fantastic/
These posts really bum me out. I'm enjoying the show. But I guess you can always trust Twitter warriors to s**t on everything.
My parents really like this series so far. I'm not that interested in watching it (right now), but I think that my parents will probably make me and my siblings go watch it.
Doubt it's as bad as most people say or think it is, however, as with some other adaptations I learned long ago that if you don't want to spoil your enjoyment of a literary work then certainly don't watch television..
I am really enjoying the series so far but my biggest beef is that Galadriel is supposed to be older than all these other elves. I don't really have a problem with the casting choices and their physical appearances, and I suppose Galadriel might look younger because she was born in Valinor and they weren't, but surely there are ways to signify that she has a fair bit of seniority, as it were.
People need to remember that this show is based on what Tolkien wrote in his appendices of LOTR and his piece Concerning Hobbits. And passed through the Tolkien estate. I'm comforted enough by that so that I won't watch the show nitpicking my way through every episode. It's just a striking vision of what another world of Tolkien's might look like based on those parameters. Harfoots are brown according to Tolkien, so he obviously doesn't concern himself with color. But racists may. Also, like the Harfoot characters who eventually evolved into the Hobbits, things can and do change over time. Open your mind and see the beauty and the ugliness of the characters of a thousand years past, and try to appreciate the stunning world this production brings. I believe Tolkien would quite approve.
I've seen the first two episodes. The main character is just flat-out annoying and whiny in my opinion, most of the other characters are generic and 2D. The compositions and *most* of the designs are OK, but it doesn't feel like Tolkien's work, it's more like a Roman-aesthetic Narnia film. The special effects are GREAT, and you can see every penny that went into this thing, but in terms of writing it really falls flat. As well as this, they introduce a load of non-canon characters (which is absolutely fine, just not really necessary) and actually change a bunch of the originals, e.g. Galadriel was meant to be this powerful, graceful, mystical Sorceress Elf lady but they've just made her a generic warrior princess who is WAY too overpowered. The series so far can be enjoyable but not if you're a devoted Tolkien fan and not if you're looking for powerful and propelling storytelling.
I really hate that those makers did not respect Tolkien's visions. Its sad and shameful cause Tolkien made something fantastic.
Why is the relationship between a human and an elf, the ONLY black elf we have ever seen? Why not add more black elves, or make the relationship about species, not race? Why can Galadriel kill a frost troll in seconds, single handedly, but it took the whole party 10 minutes to do it in LOTR?
I vaguely recall this same argument happening when they cast Idris Elba as Heimdall. What's funny is how epic he was as Heimdall. What's sad is how angry people were about it before the movie came out. Also...Elon Musk needs to grow up. He always comes across as an angry 17 year old gamer on Twitter.
Why all the hate? Just because it's not ExActLy like the canon doesn't make it bad
We all know the backlash is a bunch of incel fanboys mad about women and nonwhite people. Again. They f****d up every fantasy fandom from Star Wars to My Little Pony. So, for the millionth time, and with an award winning critical text written by a friend and colleague, yes there were nonwhite people in Medieval England. Insisting that history be whitewashed to be "authentic" only shows how little ACTUAL history they know. And even if it wasn't, it's fantasy, and collapsing racial biases is its point. https://nyupress.org/9781479800650/the-dark-fantastic/
These posts really bum me out. I'm enjoying the show. But I guess you can always trust Twitter warriors to s**t on everything.
My parents really like this series so far. I'm not that interested in watching it (right now), but I think that my parents will probably make me and my siblings go watch it.
Doubt it's as bad as most people say or think it is, however, as with some other adaptations I learned long ago that if you don't want to spoil your enjoyment of a literary work then certainly don't watch television..
I am really enjoying the series so far but my biggest beef is that Galadriel is supposed to be older than all these other elves. I don't really have a problem with the casting choices and their physical appearances, and I suppose Galadriel might look younger because she was born in Valinor and they weren't, but surely there are ways to signify that she has a fair bit of seniority, as it were.
People need to remember that this show is based on what Tolkien wrote in his appendices of LOTR and his piece Concerning Hobbits. And passed through the Tolkien estate. I'm comforted enough by that so that I won't watch the show nitpicking my way through every episode. It's just a striking vision of what another world of Tolkien's might look like based on those parameters. Harfoots are brown according to Tolkien, so he obviously doesn't concern himself with color. But racists may. Also, like the Harfoot characters who eventually evolved into the Hobbits, things can and do change over time. Open your mind and see the beauty and the ugliness of the characters of a thousand years past, and try to appreciate the stunning world this production brings. I believe Tolkien would quite approve.
I've seen the first two episodes. The main character is just flat-out annoying and whiny in my opinion, most of the other characters are generic and 2D. The compositions and *most* of the designs are OK, but it doesn't feel like Tolkien's work, it's more like a Roman-aesthetic Narnia film. The special effects are GREAT, and you can see every penny that went into this thing, but in terms of writing it really falls flat. As well as this, they introduce a load of non-canon characters (which is absolutely fine, just not really necessary) and actually change a bunch of the originals, e.g. Galadriel was meant to be this powerful, graceful, mystical Sorceress Elf lady but they've just made her a generic warrior princess who is WAY too overpowered. The series so far can be enjoyable but not if you're a devoted Tolkien fan and not if you're looking for powerful and propelling storytelling.
I really hate that those makers did not respect Tolkien's visions. Its sad and shameful cause Tolkien made something fantastic.
Why is the relationship between a human and an elf, the ONLY black elf we have ever seen? Why not add more black elves, or make the relationship about species, not race? Why can Galadriel kill a frost troll in seconds, single handedly, but it took the whole party 10 minutes to do it in LOTR?
