Amazon's Rings of Power - General Discussion Thread (SPOILERS)

[Iceman]

I do feel this is different to what we’re used to with CBMs with most commentators out there having less knowledge than the average hype member and I would gamble far less comics than me lol.

There isn’t much LotR content either. Whatever they say now, the actual content will come out at some point and their words for the rest of time will be trusted based on how accurate they are now. It’s much easier to brush off for casual CBM sites who don’t profess hardcore knowledge in the first place and a new film/show coming out every couple of months, or general film reviewers with films coming out every few days. With LotR the main films came out before the internet was anywhere near as big. This is the ultimate test of those hardcore fan sites.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[NotNickFury]

There's gonna be a Face/Off 2?

 

[Pennywise]

There's gonna be a Face/Off 2?

Yup, Adam Wingard is to direct it with Travolta and Cage supposedly reprising their roles.

 

[Enriquespy]

2 Face
2 Off

Face Off 3Tokyo Deepfake.

Face 4

 

[Pennywise]

LOTR: The Rings Of Power ‘Doesn’t Try To Compete’ With Peter Jackson’s Trilogy, Or Game Of Thrones – Exclusive Image

The answer is, you don’t try to go hairy-toe-to-hairy-toe with what came before. Not exactly, anyway. “Anyone approaching Lord Of The Rings on screen would be wrong not to think about how wonderfully right Jackson] got so much of it,” McKay tells Empire in our [world-exclusive new cover feature. “But we’re admirers from afar, that’s it. The Rings Of Power doesn’t try to compete with him.” ‘Afar’ is the operative word, since Jackson’s films (and Tolkien’s novel trilogy) depict the Third Age of Middle-earth and The Rings Of Power takes place in the Second Age. That’s some considerable distance between the two towering tales.

In viewers’ minds, though, it’s not just be the previous Lord Of The Rings movies that The Rings Of Power is contending with. The intervening years brought a much darker, bloodier, swearier form of small-screen fantasy to the mainstream in HBO juggernaut Game Of Thrones – a show whose very own prequel spin-off House Of The Dragon arrives later this year, airing concurrently with The Rings Of Power. But if the world of Westeros changed what was possible in serialised swords-and-sorcery storytelling, George RR Martin’s vision of ice, fire, incest and immolations remains worlds away from Tolkien. “You can psych yourself out in keeping up with the Joneses, but one of the mantras on this was ‘go back to the source material’,” McKay explains. “What would Tolkien do?”

Really, it comes down to one thing: there’s nothing quite like The Lord Of The Rings. “Some of these other competing properties – they play one octave really beautifully,” says McKay. “But Tolkien was playing every note on the piano. He had that variety of tones. There’s the whimsy, friendship and humour that Harry Potter is so beloved for – but there’s sophistication, politics, history, mythology and depth, too. So for us, it was about going deeper into what we are, rather than worrying about what other folks are doing.” The road back to Middle-earth awaits. Who’s ready for an unexpected journey?

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

2 Face
2 Off

Face Off 3Tokyo Deepfake.

Face 4

Face and Off

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pennywise]

Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’s Five Seasons Are Fully Planned Out: ‘We Know What Our Final Shot Will Be’ – Exclusive

Telling a whole new story in the Second Age of Middle-earth, Prime Video’s streaming series began with its storytellers – including showrunner JD Payne and Patrick McKay, along with executive producer and director JA Bayona – cooking up a full beginning-to-end story. It’s about the destination as well as the journey, and The Rings Of Power is ready to take us there and back again. “We even know what our final shot of the last episode is going to be,” Payne teases to Empire in our world-exclusive cover story. “The rights that Amazon bought were for a 50-hour show. They knew from the beginning that was the size of the canvas – this was a big story with a clear beginning, middle and end. There are things in the first season that don’t pay off until Season 5.”

Across those five seasons, The Rings Of Power will weave a story of Elves, Dwarves, Harfoots and more set against an epic backdrop of major events from the history of Middle-earth – from the forging of the rings, to the rise of Sauron. If the individual plot threads are new, the outline is straight from the source. “It was like Tolkien put some stars in the sky and let us make out the constellations,” Payne explains. “In his letters [particularly in one to his publisher], Tolkien talked about wanting to leave behind a mythology that ‘left scope for other minds and hands, wielding the tools of paint, music and drama.’ We’re doing what Tolkien wanted. As long as we felt like every invention of ours was true to his essence, we knew we were on the right track.”

Get ready for a show, then, that brings fresh ideas, perspectives, characters and more to our screens in a world we’ve long loved – but all in keeping with what its original creator set out. “The pressure would drive us insane if we didn’t feel like there was a story here that didn’t come from us. It comes from a bigger place,” says McKay. “It came from Tolkien and we’re just the stewards of it. We trust those ideas so deeply, because they’re not ours. We’re custodians, at best.” It’s always been clear in the world of The Lord Of The Rings – if you’re going to climb up a mountain that steep with a burden that heavy, you can still make it with the right Fellowship.

 

[henzINNIT]

pleasebegoodpleasebegoodpleasebegoodpleasebegood

2 Face
2 Off

Face Off 3Tokyo Deepfake.

Face 4

I can't wait for the seventh, where John Travolta's long dead original face drives off into the sunset.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I need a proper trailer. The first one was a good taste, but I'm so curious for something more substantial.

 

[Enriquespy]

Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’s Five Seasons Are Fully Planned Out: ‘We Know What Our Final Shot Will Be’ – Exclusive

Seems like there will be plenty of time skips and jumping.

 

[Iceman]

Looks fine to me.

 

[InCali]

Seems like there will be plenty of time skips and jumping.

Unless they are planning on airing 3441 seasons.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Boom]

He looks like a high school teacher.

 

[Pennywise]

Morfydd Clark On LOTR: The Rings Of Power’s Galadriel: ‘She Still Has A Lot To Learn’ – Exclusive

Where that film was all blood, cockroaches, and shoes filled with drawing pins, The Rings Of Power was an altogether more adventure-filled shoot. “It was like being on a school trip!” Clark tells Empire in our world-exclusive cover feature. “I got to do swimming, riding, climbing…” That sense of outdoorsiness hints at a more active incarnation of Galadriel, one who, according to the actor, “still has a lot to learn” through the course of the show. “I had to find that balance between someone who has got an element of the eternal but hasn’t yet seen it all. Don’t expect the same character that you meet later on.” She is, of course, reverent to Blanchett’s portrayal – aware of the lineage she’s stepping into that is, in a word, legendary. “Galadriel is legendary. Cate Blanchett as Galadriel was legendary. Tolkien himself is legendary!” she enthuses.

As for the world that Galadriel will be adventuring in, Clark promises big things. “ was not aware of how limited my imagination is until I stepped onto the set,” she says, hinting at much Middle-earthian magic to come. “It was like, ‘Oh my God, I have the imagination of a paper bag compared to this!” Get ready for wonders in this world beyond your wandering.

 

[Pennywise]

'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power': Posters and Character Names Arrive for New Cast Members
https://collider.com/lord-of-the-rings-of-power-character-posters-names-prime-video/

 

[Enriquespy]

Whoa, take a look at those nuts.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[InCali]

View attachment 56337

That looks like one of those old Hildebrandt calendar paintings. It has that distant, but alluring quality.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[InCali]

I understand why they wanted to bring hobbits into this, but wish they could have resisted the impulse. I don't want to get too much into the Dwarven women and beard thing and won't let a mistake like that get into my head.....too much. That's not a make or break thing.

 

[Boom]

I'm not opposed to shorter hair on elves but a lot of the hairstyles I'm seeing look very contemporary. They're not vibing with me at all, particular Elrond and Celebrimbor. Gil-galad looks great though.

And yeah, there is plenty of juicy Second Age material for the showrunners to sink their teeth into without shoehorning hobbits in there. They don't play into this part of Middle-earth history at all and this reads as nothing more than forcing a familiarity/nostalgia factor. But it's entirely unnecessary.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Those new photos look fantastic.