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I think Tom is mad that Putin's bridge got blown up. Anonymous2000 Send a noteboard - 09/10/2022 10:19:16 PM

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I am asking specifically who intends on watching (or not watching) each of the following:
  1. Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power
  2. Wheel of Time
  3. House of the Dragon

It would be interesting to know further thoughts on the shows to date (obviously, some here like Cannoli have already provided copious input, but others haven't).

Just for the record, I'll give you my thoughts:

1. Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. I think I can't even hate watch this one anymore. The same effect could have been achieved if Jeff Bezos and the showrunners gathered at the grave of J.R.R. Tolkien, and then filmed in slow motion how each of them shits out a greasy snake-like turd, and then at the end they stand in a circle observing what they've done and clap.

I don't even know where to begin about how terrible this show is. It even outperformed my expectations of how terrible it could be. I expected the interracial in-your-faceness after Wheel of Time, honestly, and the unnecessary "girl power" at every turn. But dear God, the pacing was created by someone seeking to emulate art house cinema from Europe, the cinematography was planned by someone who doesn't know when to cut scenes, the characters are insufferable and they have shredded the canon and left nothing - nothing - that even resembles Tolkien anymore. The only thing that excited me at all was when I thought the Harfoots had all been massacred, and when it turned out that didn't happen, I reverted to sheer disgust. If there is a plot, it's so glacially forwarded that I don't care. And it's shitting all over everything.

2. Wheel of Time. I hate-watched the first season because unlike Tolkien, Jordan wasn't that good of a writer and watching someone massacre his legacy was mildly amusing. However, I did read the books, and even if I feel that the entertainment value dropped significantly after Book 6 and even more precipitously after the author died, I find the changes vomitous. I'm done hate-watching this show too, and although I'm tempted to laugh as the story is butchered further, I don't want to encourage Amazon by clicking on the show and inviting yet another season of dreck.

3. House of the Dragon. I actually initially thought this was the worst of the lot but Rings of Power beat it for overwrought pathos, and on balance it isn't doing the stupid "everyone lives in an interracial world even though they're in premodern societies" thing that the other two shows are doing. There is a bit of puzzlement that more people weren't noticing that Rhaenyra's kids were obviously not even remotely black and had the wrong color hair, but whatever. This show is still weak, though, in my opinion, because none of the characters are sympathetic enough to cheer for. In the original series everyone had someone to cheer for - Tyrion, Daenerys, even Jaime or Cersei - because the characters were vibrant and had interesting personalities. These characters are all just a bit dull and one-sided. Where's the comic relief? Where's the peril that makes us want to see what happens next? As I've said before, feed them all to the dragons and be done with it. But I will probably watch a while longer to see if someone starts to get interesting.


How much of an adaptation, for an existing fan is the concept of recuperation? We are going to recover the past experience, bring it to the present, and make it anew in a different sensory space a different medium?

I feel this is courting disaster if one is hyper-invested like this and now allowing it the freedom to be its own thing. Now courting disaster can pay off, sometimes it really works fabulously (points to the 00s Lord of the Rings) but often it fails (I can not stand the 2nd or 3rd movie.)

=====

I am not watching Rings of Power, nor the Wheel of Time. I am curious about the Wheel of Time show but have not got myself in the headspace where I desire to watch it right now. And since there is going to be more at a later date I will gladly put it off till a later date.

I have no energy what’s so ever to watch this Amazon Lord of the Ring thing.

I am enjoying House of the Dragon, I too was going to put it off. But since I could not sleep a few weeks ago (bad chronic pain condition in a flare up stage) I watched 5 episodes at once. Especially since people were getting big mad about it Read the book / fake history a few years ago, adored it and all its flaws. If I recall Tom you were not a fan?


This message last edited by Anonymous2000 on 09/10/2022 at 11:59:32 PM
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I think Tom is mad that Putin's bridge got blown up. - 09/10/2022 10:19:16 PM 103 Views
I think Tom is mad due to other reasons. *NM* - 09/10/2022 10:30:08 PM 43 Views
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