AJUMP23
Gold Member
This is what Tolkien wrote them for.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
This is what Tolkien wrote them for.
The Wheel of Time had awful direction in the episodes I watched, had to stop because it was so bad, good to see they are lowering our expectations for season 2.
Last edited:
I don't normally ascribe to the "hire to preemptively defend against criticism using ID pol" theory but it certainly seems to be in play here. What possible reason to announce this otherwise? Are there legions of Haldriel fangirl shippers to appeal to?
What weird nonsense purpose does this serve?
Oh yeah, it alienates men, which seems to be Hollywood's goal these days. Let's hunker down on telling men they're not good enough, and we don't like them.
That'll get em to watch our show!
How about just hiring directors based on skill and prior work and treating sex as the irrelevant non feature it is for work such as this.
Oh yeah, it alienates men, which seems to be Hollywood's goal these days. Let's hunker down on telling men they're not good enough, and we don't like them.
That'll get em to watch our show!
How about just hiring directors based on skill and prior work and treating sex as the irrelevant non feature it is for work such as this.
No kidding. What I want to hear is "We hired "The Raid" stunt team, gave them 50 million bucks and 6 months of prep, to deliver on fight scenes for season 2!"
THAT would get me excited about this show again.
BaneIsPain
Member
Wow, Wheel of Time teams must have some influence in Amazon. (The news Rafe judkins took over God of War series is DOA as well. )
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
More information here
deadline.com
‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Sets All-Female Directing Team, Reveals Episode Count For Season 2
Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri and Louise Hooper are set to direct on the upcoming second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
deadline.com
negator2vc
Member
At this point the only explanation is that they (RoP team + whoever greenlit this crap) are paid by HBO to prop up House of Dragon! 
Last edited:
Sonik
Member
Goddamn, the saying that in Hollywood you fail upwards isn't even a joke anymore, they all really fail upwards now.
Cyberpunkd
Gold Member
It doesn't matter, it could work but the fact they feel the need to highlight it's 'all-female' team gives you enough info what the spin is. Why else do it?
Well, the good news is that they sacked 2/3rds of the directors of this atrocity. The ladies they hired at least have track records, though the one they kept was the director of the sloppiest ep long fight I've EVER seen. She was the one responsible for the "let's fortify this little village instead of that...you know...FORTRESS, the 1, 2, no, THREE (or was it four?) different times someone was about to stab someone but stopped short IN THE SAME EPSIODE, the ranger elf guy getting rag dolled for 5 minutes by brute orc, healer lady catching an arrow to the kne...er collarbone and then being fine in A DAY"...ugh, maybe she made the best of a shit sandwich but to be honest I think she is just the foam on top of the slime at the bottom of the barrel.More information here
‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Sets All-Female Directing Team, Reveals Episode Count For Season 2
Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri and Louise Hooper are set to direct on the upcoming second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Look at the briiiiight side of life!
GreenAlien
Member
Sacked? It's quite possible they simply refused to direct another episode of this clusterfuck. Maybe the "all female" thing wasn't on purpose, they simply did not manage to find a male director beta enough to subject himself to the horror..
Billbofet
Member
Your comment makes me think the next announcement will be the casting of Mindy Kaling. You can't fail upwards any more than that. Well, maybe Amy Schumer.
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
How many seasons of shows have had all-men directing teams without anyone batting an eye or hell, anyone even noticing? A literally endless amount. You really think that was all just based on men being better at directing than women?
The fact that an all-female directing team makes headlines is the real issue.
Last edited:
What, specifically, about a director's gender is relevant for RoP? What does an extra X chromosome bring to the table?
Now if they got a team with specific ACHIEVEMENTS to forecast a certain feel to the show that would be one thing, but just "they are all women now!" is supposed to tell us what, other than to offer up a quiet golf clap? This is a series of ever lowering hurdles with a paradoxically increasing amount of trumpetting. Next will be "all POC female directing team!", then "all 2SLGBTQIA+ team where none identify as binary!!", then "all A.I.!!!". Eventually we will be cheering for "No directors AT ALL, it's all improvised on the spot!!!!"
Point being, this is cheering for their IDENTITY, not their ACCOMPLISHMENTS. We are leaving a meritocracy and nose diving straight into an ID Pol hellscape dominated by the victim pyramid.
The mere fact that 3-4 female directors EXIST and can be corralled into a single project, which seems to be the crux of your point, hasn't been newsworthy since.....the 1930's?
I don't give a shit what sex the director of a movie or show had, I care about the quality of their work.
This nonsense just celebrates their sex, a completely irrelevant quali when it comes to skill.
Imagine if it was the other way around. How stupid that would sound.
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
If it were the other way around, it'd sound stupid because the vast majority of film directors are male, so an all-male directing team doesn't make headlines because it's the accepted norm.
I agree that quality of work/talent is most important, which is why it's such a farce that 99% of directors have historically been male.
Hint: It's not because they're more talented.
Last edited:
Of course not, there are just more boys than girls growing up dreaming about making movies.
Prove me wrong.
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
You're the one making the claim. The burden isn't on me to prove you wrong, it's on you to backup your otherwise baseless claim.
Last edited:
You're the one saying 99% of directors are men. Are you suggesting women are just being actively being chased out of town by the men?
Anyways. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/m...ilm-industry-gender-gap-directors-1235072856/
They're trying to get more women into it, but results are not happening.
So why is that, do you think? If you have a different opinion than me, remember to back up your otherwise baseless claim.
PaddyOCanager
Member
Arguing about active representation in the industry is kind of pointless. I'm more interested in the percentage of female vs male film students and what exactly they are majoring in. I can't seem to find any hard data or studies for this information which seems...............curious. The only thing I could find was a vague MTV article from 2015 about film school enrollments being 50/50.
It's hard to form a position on female representation in the industry if we don't even know how many females are going to school to learn how to make movies.
Yeah, I tried finding something, but no luck. All I can truly speak to is personal experience, which is anecdotal of course.
I've studied in various related creative fields, and it's all been very male dominated. Only exception was first year of college, which was full of girls. But they were mostly there to either become painters or stylists...
Guys just seem far more driven to this whole thing of being in charge of a production and, eh, telling people what to do over and over again, heh
PaddyOCanager
Member
Yeah, unless I see actual data regarding students I'm calling bullshit on the whole gender bias narrative. Lord knows, if there was supporting data it'd be front and center on the Google homepage.
FunkMiller
Gold Member
I have a dream, my friends.
I have a dream that the second season of this shit bombs hard, and Amazon cancel the fucking thing... and give all of the money to Henry Cavill and his Warhammer 40k show.
I have a dream that the second season of this shit bombs hard, and Amazon cancel the fucking thing... and give all of the money to Henry Cavill and his Warhammer 40k show.
Sad thing is just the money they dropped for THE RIGHTS to those 20 pages of backstory probably could have secured the license and funded like 2 good seasons of show of WH40k.I have a dream, my friends.
I have a dream that the second season of this shit bombs hard, and Amazon cancel the fucking thing... and give all of the money to Henry Cavill and his Warhammer 40k show.
TaylorSwiftFan
Member
You do realise that it made headlines because Amazon announced it and put out a PR piece, right?
Trazyn the Infinite
Member
It made headlines because Amazon made it out like it was a massive deal and pushed it as news.
Maybe at least get your facts right before you REEEEEEE next time.
Tams
Gold Member
But then Morfydd Clark wouldn't be able to show off her linguistic prowess that Welsh has given her! I'm pretty sure she's contractually obliged to emphasise any word than can be like that.
AJUMP23
Gold Member
But then Hollywood tells themselves nobody likes fantasy and we don’t get fantasy shows for a while.I have a dream, my friends.
I have a dream that the second season of this shit bombs hard, and Amazon cancel the fucking thing... and give all of the money to Henry Cavill and his Warhammer 40k show.
FunkMiller
Gold Member
Better no fantasy shows, than shit ones though.
8bitpill
Gold Member
Got around to watching this earlier this month.
Once they got rid of Tom Shippey I knew that was the last nail in the coffin for this series.
The writing was contemporary and felt like generic fantasy. It didn't have that Tolkien feel. This is another all inclusive series that is hollow. They took a half attempted fantasy written plot and bought the DLC Tolkien Skin and applied it to said story. Here are just two examples of bad story telling. When they had to literally spell out that the Southlands is now Mordor.
Another is showing the Balrog in Moria. We all knew it was down there, why have to be deliberate with that. Anyone that is a fan of Tolkiens work knows the Balrog is down there and that it was the fall of Moria
This is all lazy writing that is uninspired. This is formulated entertainment.
It had some impressive visuals / eye candy but for 700 million plus, I would hope it's a polished turd.
Amazon is locked into five seasons commitment, I don't see how it's going to get better. If the first season is the foundation to what is going to be built on top, the rest of the series is being built on a poorly poured foundation that is already cracking and filled with holes.
Once they got rid of Tom Shippey I knew that was the last nail in the coffin for this series.
The writing was contemporary and felt like generic fantasy. It didn't have that Tolkien feel. This is another all inclusive series that is hollow. They took a half attempted fantasy written plot and bought the DLC Tolkien Skin and applied it to said story. Here are just two examples of bad story telling. When they had to literally spell out that the Southlands is now Mordor.
Another is showing the Balrog in Moria. We all knew it was down there, why have to be deliberate with that. Anyone that is a fan of Tolkiens work knows the Balrog is down there and that it was the fall of Moria
This is all lazy writing that is uninspired. This is formulated entertainment.
It had some impressive visuals / eye candy but for 700 million plus, I would hope it's a polished turd.
Amazon is locked into five seasons commitment, I don't see how it's going to get better. If the first season is the foundation to what is going to be built on top, the rest of the series is being built on a poorly poured foundation that is already cracking and filled with holes.
Tams
Gold Member
Got around to watching this earlier this month.
Once they got rid of Tom Shippey I knew that was the last nail in the coffin for this series.
The writing was contemporary and felt like generic fantasy. It didn't have that Tolkien feel. This is another all inclusive series that is hollow. They took a half attempted fantasy written plot and bought the DLC Tolkien Skin and applied it to said story. Here are just two examples of bad story telling. When they had to literally spell out that the Southlands is now Mordor.
Another is showing the Balrog in Moria. We all knew it was down there, why have to be deliberate with that. Anyone that is a fan of Tolkiens work knows the Balrog is down there and that it was the fall of Moria
This is all lazy writing that is uninspired. This is formulated entertainment.
It had some impressive visuals / eye candy but for 700 million plus, I would hope it's a polished turd.
Amazon is locked into five seasons commitment, I don't see how it's going to get better. If the first season is the foundation to what is going to be built on top, the rest of the series is being built on a poorly poured foundation that is already cracking and filled with holes.
You are far, far, far too kind to it.
8bitpill
Gold Member
I know.
I wanted to go in depth but I'm sure a lot of the issues with the show has been covered in the spanning 63 pages here that I didn't have time to go through each page and read.
This is a show for a younger generation. Unfortunately they're being spoon fed simple stories and told if you don't like it, you're the problem. The writers and producers of this show, give little to no care for complex story telling and are just looking to cash in on the Tolkien estate.
NecrosaroIII
Ask me about my terrible takes on Star Trek characters
After a few months, I have some time to reflect on different things. I like the show, but there are a few things that bother me.
Galadriel
- I think Morfydd Clark is probably the right casting choice for the character, but the writing is definitely off. I think the writers probably thought back to their Creative Writing 101 days and basically drew diagrams to chart her "arc" and "character development", handling it in the least interesting way possible. Rather than being a warrior in the service of Eregion, she should have been a free agent going around consolidating her own power. She is more interesting as a politician than a warrior, which would be far more in line with her portrayal in the books. And would be far more in line with charting her personality from the second age until the third age. She should have been a person of lordly caliber and wisdom by the time the rings were created, which is why she was entrusted with one. It was also strange how little she cared about her husband dying in the War of the Jewels, but is red hot about her brother dieing. So odd. They should have just retconned her marriage to Cereborn and have her meet him during the show. Not sure what they were trying to do there by having it be a surprise reveal. But worst of all, the thing I hate most is that now she's complicit in Sauron's schemes. What the hell is that? Terrible change.
The Elves dying subplot / the reason for the rings
- They kind of lost me on this one. I know what they were going for, but there had to be a better way. Rather than adding a needless race against time to the story, they should have just focused on the melancholy of the elves. That they understand that while they're arguably at the height of their powers, yet can feel that their time in Middle Earth is already starting to wane and that the time of man will be coming. The creation of the rings should feel far more like a creation of hubris in trying to master the nature of the world, rather than an existential crisis. And in any case, I could work with that, but invoking the Silmarils as essentially an ingredient in the rings is a bad idea. They need to be VERY careful with using the imagery of the Silmarils, as they are super important to the mythology and shouldn't just be used lightly. That bothered me a lot. Thankfully they kind of gave themselves an out by saying it was a legend or something, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The execution of the forging of the elvish rings of power
- For one thing, it was super rushed. This was supposed to be a world-defining moment and it was jam-packed into one episode. There was almost no mystique to it. And it was way too scientific. These are magical artifacts. We don't need Celebrimbor talking about how they need to devise an alloy. It felt like it veered into Midi-chlorian territory. It needed to feel more magical. More spiritual even.
Gil-Galad's portrayal.
- I like the look of Gil-galad, but wasn't a fan of his portrayal. He is supposed to be one of their wisest and greatest kings. His reign as the High King of the Noldor in Exile is the longest, most peaceful (even though he does spend quite a bit of it in War) and at this point in the story the most prosperous. He comes off as a dick. And that needs to be walked back. While it's worth noting that everything he was afraid of is proven to be true, the way he carries himself is utterly unlikeable.
. He shouldn't be an obstacle for the main characters. He should be a larger-than-life hero. One of the greatest people to have ever walked the planet. And I'm just not getting that energy from this guy.
There are plenty of things I did like about the show. Loved the Numenor stuff. And Adar was pretty fucking cool (shame he's being recast. He was the best part of the show). But those are some major misteps that bothered. Overall, I give it a 7/10 for the first season. But I really hope they thing more about what they're writing.
Galadriel
- I think Morfydd Clark is probably the right casting choice for the character, but the writing is definitely off. I think the writers probably thought back to their Creative Writing 101 days and basically drew diagrams to chart her "arc" and "character development", handling it in the least interesting way possible. Rather than being a warrior in the service of Eregion, she should have been a free agent going around consolidating her own power. She is more interesting as a politician than a warrior, which would be far more in line with her portrayal in the books. And would be far more in line with charting her personality from the second age until the third age. She should have been a person of lordly caliber and wisdom by the time the rings were created, which is why she was entrusted with one. It was also strange how little she cared about her husband dying in the War of the Jewels, but is red hot about her brother dieing. So odd. They should have just retconned her marriage to Cereborn and have her meet him during the show. Not sure what they were trying to do there by having it be a surprise reveal. But worst of all, the thing I hate most is that now she's complicit in Sauron's schemes. What the hell is that? Terrible change.
The Elves dying subplot / the reason for the rings
- They kind of lost me on this one. I know what they were going for, but there had to be a better way. Rather than adding a needless race against time to the story, they should have just focused on the melancholy of the elves. That they understand that while they're arguably at the height of their powers, yet can feel that their time in Middle Earth is already starting to wane and that the time of man will be coming. The creation of the rings should feel far more like a creation of hubris in trying to master the nature of the world, rather than an existential crisis. And in any case, I could work with that, but invoking the Silmarils as essentially an ingredient in the rings is a bad idea. They need to be VERY careful with using the imagery of the Silmarils, as they are super important to the mythology and shouldn't just be used lightly. That bothered me a lot. Thankfully they kind of gave themselves an out by saying it was a legend or something, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The execution of the forging of the elvish rings of power
- For one thing, it was super rushed. This was supposed to be a world-defining moment and it was jam-packed into one episode. There was almost no mystique to it. And it was way too scientific. These are magical artifacts. We don't need Celebrimbor talking about how they need to devise an alloy. It felt like it veered into Midi-chlorian territory. It needed to feel more magical. More spiritual even.
Gil-Galad's portrayal.
- I like the look of Gil-galad, but wasn't a fan of his portrayal. He is supposed to be one of their wisest and greatest kings. His reign as the High King of the Noldor in Exile is the longest, most peaceful (even though he does spend quite a bit of it in War) and at this point in the story the most prosperous. He comes off as a dick. And that needs to be walked back. While it's worth noting that everything he was afraid of is proven to be true, the way he carries himself is utterly unlikeable.
When he eventually gets killed towards the end of the show, the audience shouldn't think "Man, fuck that guy. I'm glad he's dead." It should be tragic and the audience should consider it a huge loss.
There are plenty of things I did like about the show. Loved the Numenor stuff. And Adar was pretty fucking cool (shame he's being recast. He was the best part of the show). But those are some major misteps that bothered. Overall, I give it a 7/10 for the first season. But I really hope they thing more about what they're writing.
Ulysses 31
Member
She's willing to leave behind a subordinate rather than take a little pause.
She sits back and watches while a big troll crushers her men.
She also just wonders off with that boy into the forest after the volcano erupted while you could still hear people screaming in the background, the thought of helping them never occurred to her...
Galadriel has a lot of growing and humbling to do in season 2 and beyond.
Last edited:
darrylgorn
Member
Loved season one.
No major gripes other than the deliberately delayed character reveals like Sauron and (potentially) Gandalf.
It's okay to give the audience a bit more instead of using cheap tv drama tricks to manufacture interest.
No major gripes other than the deliberately delayed character reveals like Sauron and (potentially) Gandalf.
It's okay to give the audience a bit more instead of using cheap tv drama tricks to manufacture interest.
Revolutionary
Member
Only 37% of US viewers finished watching Rings of Power
www.indiewire.com
I stopped during the 7th episode because I just couldn't force myself to watch anymore.
Only 37 Percent of U.S. ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Viewers Finished Season 1 — Report
"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," Amazon's Middle-Earth show, was completed by 37 percent of its viewers.
www.indiewire.com
I stopped during the 7th episode because I just couldn't force myself to watch anymore.
Pejo
Member
Thought the bump would be about this:
variety.com
RIP horse.
Fire Breaks Out on U.K. Sets of Amazon’s ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’
A fire broke out on Monday on the U.K. sets of Amazon Studios' 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.'
variety.com
RIP horse.
RAÏSanÏa
Member
I made it to episode 4 or 5 when Doom blew her horn. Show was taking up too much of my imagination and it seemed a good place to pause, might have to finish watching soon...Only 37% of US viewers finished watching Rings of Power
Only 37 Percent of U.S. ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Viewers Finished Season 1 — Report
"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," Amazon's Middle-Earth show, was completed by 37 percent of its viewers.
I stopped during the 7th episode because I just couldn't force myself to watch anymore.
Dr. Claus
Vincit qui se vincit
Its a fucking trash show, that is why. Absolutely insulting.
Lord Panda
The Sea is Always Right
House of the Dragon runs rings around RoP, so hopefully the latter's showrunners are shamed into lifting their game.
Last edited:
