Rings Of Power - At Risk Of Cancellation?

[@markmunroe-hz8rf]

You know what the ironic thing is,? Sauron didn't destroy this Middle Earth. Amazon did.

[@MF.1983]

And loving family friendly orcs!

[@NiranjanNanda]

Amazon was the real Sauron in annatar form 😂😂

[@YELG_7]

Amazon made a self-insert fanfic 😂😂

[@toligen955]

@@NiranjanNanda Jeff Bezos promised us a good show, but we've all been deceived. In the Mount Amazon, he forged a show, so boring and so lame. That I had to fall asleep 7 times to watch only one episode.

[@Adrian-is6qn]

Even Sauron's master couldn't do it Amazon is like primal force of Univers - in the negative sense ofc Dormammu comes to mind xD

[@specialunit0428]

Critical Drinker: "Cast it into the fire! Cancel it!" Amazon: "No..."

[@Saeronor]

Audience: "A bunch of arrows in the back it is then"

[@Hagmire2]

"BEZOS!!!"

[@garanceadrosehn9691]

Amazon: *"My Precious!"*

[@trawlerkent9101]

I was there, 2 Seasons ago, when the strength of woke failed.

[@rovhalt6650]

Critical Drinker: "Cast it into the fire! Cancel it!" Jeff Bezos: *Manic laughter in cowboy hat*

[@chance_ondriezek99]

Have you ever noticed how these networks usually renew shows that nobody likes, while cancelling shows people do like?

[@jeremyblackmouth3323]

If you're looking for logic among such networks, you won't find it.

[@anonymous3637]

I'm just mad we got Concord instead of Days Gone 2

[@Bow-to-the-absurd]

There is probably a message in there somewhere.

[@sirloin8745]

Quantum Leap, The Sarah Connor Chronicles . . .

[@anubusx]

I still hate that Angel was cancelled.

[@Beautiful-ModelBarbara-Hut-s1j]

That sad part about all of this is that studios will see the failure of Rings of Power and think that audiences just aren’t interested in fantasy shows/movies.

[@steveb6718]

Trump - "everything woke turns to shit" Kamala - "we must get more woke" now choose

[@bdleo300]

@@steveb6718 people choose nothing, there is no 'democracy'...

[@emhu2594]

​@@steveb6718 magats make everything about politics in the dumbest way possible.

[@Porkleaker]

@@steveb6718 Annnnnnnd they tried to assassinate him again. Yep, wokeness will even try to kill you.

[@reek4062]

@@markjgobrien They saw how much normies loved PJ's abuse of Tolkien's characters, so they thought by emulating him their product would be loved as well.

[@danielrichwine2268]

Tolkien's work isn't just fantasy, it's literature. To treat it like this is akin to making War and Peace into a saturday morning cartoon.

[@writerpatrick]

Depending on who's making it, War and Peace could work well as a cartoon like the Great Illustrated Classics series.

[@kingleech16]

“New on Cartoon Network: War and Peace, the High School Years!” “Napoleon is such a drag, man!” “Yeah, almost as bad as your mom!” dun dun, tsss

[@dinguloid]

Comparing those two works is an insane take.

[@davorzdralo8000]

​@@dinguloidhuh? In what way?

[@NTJedi]

*Types of Tolkien Fantasy Fans:* Experts: People who read Tolkien books multiple times, watched all Tolkien movies\cartoons, watched Tolkien interviews and often seeking more accuracy. Angry with Amazon. Advanced: People who read the Tolkien books, watched all Tolkien movies\cartoons usually with knowledge in other fantasy areas. Unhappy with Amazon. Basic: People who might have read a few books, watched Tolkien trilogy movies and usually with knowledge in other fantasy areas. Unhappy with Amazon. Shallow: People who never read Tolkien books, watched Tolkien trilogy movies and happy when seeing any type of fantasy monster. Sometimes happy with Amazon. *Experts paid by Amazon: These people promote the Amazon show on their KZbin channels because they are being paid and given gifts from Amazon... which help fool some of the shallow and basic viewers.

[@Jamesfromcourt]

Lord of the Rings is a huge part of my childhood. Amazon completely disrespected Tolkien. I can’t even watch the clips of it. This is all because some professors in UK wanted to modernize Tolkiens work instead of creating their own. Insane.

[@sheerbeauty]

I feel like they are jealous of Tolkien and want to punish the fans for liking it.

[@Jamesfromcourt]

@@sheerbeauty you’re right I can’t think of anything else because there are so many different stories and mythologies from various cultures they could make movies/tv from… why dramatically change the lore and essence of somebody else’s work?? You’re right it’s jealousy.

[@Hanatash]

@@Jamesfromcourt Because they're not talented enough to make something unique and attract an entirely new fanbase, so they're hoping an existing success story + lots of money will result in something good.

[@gundamnit3594]

They hate it because it's an anglo saxon story. Since hating white people is in now they have to destroy it.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Support independent projects. Ignore creepy corporate corruption. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ "Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind's journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul's fate revealed. In time, all points converge; hope's strength, resteeled. But to earn final peace at the universe's endless refrain, we must see all in nothingness... before we start again." 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ --Diamond Dragons (series)

[@Goldenspiderducck]

I absolutely despise that Tolkien’s work is now considered a “brand”. It’s so disgusting to me. I feel so bad for a generation that has been taught to see art and literature as “content” and “brands”. You’ve been robbed of something without even realizing it. You’ve been robbed of your birthright and you’ve been corporatized before you even had a chance to explore who you are and what’s come before you. It really makes me sad.

[@drakenkraken8455]

You can blame the consultant Simon Tolkien. He took a dump on his granpa's grave for some Bezos cash.

[@adamguerrero5293]

Keeping y'all unhappy is part of the psyop

[@takuid]

@@adamguerrero5293 you seem pressed.

[@davexsixtyfour1246]

Calling everything an 'IP' bothers me.

[@davidcoleman757]

Hear, bloody, hear! Well said, friend. A generation robbed of what so enriched my life - it makes my blood boil.

[@markbenand]

I laughed out loud when he described the orcs as family men who want to just settle down in peace. Tolkien specifically crafted the orcs to be a representation of how ugly evil and war can make a human being. He once exclaimed about his time as a soldier how they had all become orcs. Hell, they literally (and tragically) cannot be anything but evil monsters due to the fact that they were twisted and corrupted into how they were by Middle Earth's version of the Devil with his second in command continuing with their creation well into the 3rd age. Fuck me, this isn't just exaggerating or altering the source material. This is completely and utterly missing the point where you're just making shit up whole cloth.

[@captainahab9602]

@@markbenand you got all this from one saying he’d rather not be cannon fodder for some archer on a wall like they always are. Even bugs have self preservation instincts. I’m sure they’d rather not be pincushions in waiting if they could elect to not be

[@Digganob590]

I would clarify that the show seems to be making to orcs just "misunderstood," instead of being irreversibly and traumatically corrupted, to the point where any sense of wholesomeness is twisted and blackened as to be unrecognizable. Tolkien never dared to write as to how orc society and "family life" functioned, because he either thought his ideas were unfitting, or too gruesome to be enjoyable to write, same as his ideas as to their language. Now, mind you, I don't know all the details in the show, I didn't watch it. But I can tell you that Tolkien would not approve of the sight of a faithful orc husband kissing his orc wife, holding their infant orc child with tenderness. The optimistic view of the analog in Tolkien's actual view would probably be something close to a litter of piglets with their mother, whose life is largely reduced to breeding and menial labor, while her mate (or likely, mates) is toiling away at whatever work he's pressed into, only to spend his time not with his children, but in whatever brutal pleasures will make his miserable life more tolerable. I don't say all this to make out orcs as some purely bestial creatures, like trousered, intelligent apes, but rather to emphasize their brokenness. Tolkien's comparisons of himself and others to orcs is hyperbolic, even in his calling Hitler an orc, though the latter is hyperbole in the other direction. The stresses of various times and places can turn ordinary men into brutes and savages, as it certainly did many in the first war, and especially in the second. And in such times, tenderness and virtue, especially in the finer, domestic things, like the family, are a rarity. How much more so, for those pitiable creatures, condemned to lives of pain, appetites of beasts, and consciences of fog? I think Tolkien, of course, showed this the best in his scant writings were we see the orcs closely, in their social contexts. Where even as broken as they are, there remains in them the human loves of revelry, of simple pleasures, of companionship, which are torn easily to shreds by their twisted natures, when conflict has come. The closest their lives can come to health is when they are left far, far alone, to scrounge and toil, and to do as little harm to those around them as possible. They might be redeemable, they are certainly forgivable. But they aren't livable. Like the insane, and the passionate, they cannot be held as fully accountable for their actions, as any healthy person can be. By the grace of God alone can they be saved, and indeed, they go to the Halls of Mandos like any of the other children, sans man. But they certainly would not make good spouses for one another, let alone tender ones. So often, even ordinary men fail in those tasks.

[@markbenand]

@@Digganob590 Problem is do you actually think the people making the rings of power are capable of the careful and thoughtful nuance you have just described? The tragedy is that the dumbasses making the show and trying to "add to Tolkien's work", don't even have half the insight or understanding that you, a fan of the work, not a writer of a book, movie, tv show etc. that deals with Tolkien, but a hunble fan of the work has. That's the issue. Not if the Orcs can have humanizing moments but if these brain-doners are even capable of navigating such complexity.

[@Digganob590]

@@markbenand True enough. It doesn't help that it's doubtable, that any Christians are among the writers, let alone any Catholics. Certainly not any who look any deeper into moral issues than the ubiquitous "be kind" mindset, which is the furthest our post-modern media can get to in the depth of philosophy, which even then is followed inconsistently, with how black and white they make so many characters. That's something, too. There are no grey actions, only grey people. I wish I remember who I'm paraphrasing, probably many. But that fact is important, and it's a fact which is reversed in the current zeitgeist. They'd like to make it out that Boromir was really a hero for having wanted the ring, because of the partial good he could have done with it. And they want to make out the lives of the orcs as being, from their perspective, innocent, being only products of their environment. You'd think they just read Rousseau's work and stopped thinking at that.

[@markbenand]

@@Digganob590 Oh fuck, did they try to frame it as Boromir as a misunderstood hero for trying to possess the ring? This isn't like with Ghost Rider, Blue Devil, or the Demi-fiend from Shin Megami Tensei. The whole "using a dark power for a good" or turning an negative into a positive does not fucking apply to an artifact that contains a large piece of the dark lord's soul and is basically made of evil. The ring is meant to symbolize the phrase "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" along with the corrupting power of evil. Gandalf even said that if he possessed the Ring his desire to help and do good would be twisted into an oppressive "I'm doing this for your won good" mindset where he'd try to be the arbiter of right and wrong. Hmmm. well now that sounds familiar these days.

[@lens_hunter]

My 67-year-old mother has been a huge Lord of the rings fan since she was a teenager. She hates this show. So I can't wait for them to try and blame it on bigots.

[@olafgurke4699]

You mean again? They already tried to blame it on bigots when the first season aired, and again when it flopped.

[@Tunneltoo]

at this point we should wear "bigot" as a title of pride

[@adamguerrero5293]

Keeping y'all unhappy is part of the psyop

[@mawnkey]

@@adamguerrero5293 Correct. A Gramsci would be proud.

[@Midwinter2]

Sorry to have to tell you - but it's better you hear it from me than from Amazon: your mother is a bigot.

[@YouTubalcaine]

I call him Helen Kellebrimbor because he's deaf and blind to everything that's happening around him.

[@luthasunspell8365]

Underrated comment

[@ShmoofWB]

I like it. Well done.

[@adriandj3141]

😂 nice.

[@SeraphsWitness]

So good

[@roberthengst3718]

How did Helen kellebrimbor burn the side of his face? ...he answered the ring. How did he burn the other side of his face?... Annatar called back!! ❤ 🔥

[@SeraphsWitness]

The worst part of Guy-ladriel is the loss of the powerful feminine Galadriel. The thing which made her lovely as a character. She's the archetypal embodiment of the purity of nature, almost an Edenic version of nature, void of chaos. Now she's just another warrior. Still female, but toxically masculine in all the ways they supposedly hate.

[@takuid]

Nothing is lost. Galadriel is still Galadriel in the books. Galadriel is still Galadriel in Peter Jackson's 17 academy award winning epic adaptation. This will be forgotten soon after it finishes.

[@SeraphsWitness]

@@takuid well obviously that's true, I'm just mourning the missed opportunity. It was lost in this show. Not lost in the original

[@mrrodriguezHLP]

If this show was going to be the fanfiction it is, it could've at least been good fanfiction. Galadriel should have been the wise woman we know she is. Elrond should've been the brash young for an elf warrior out for blood, transforming into a thoughtful and responsible leader.

[@takuid]

@@SeraphsWitness I guess we cannot win them all. Probably none in this climate of fiction "adaptations"..

[@racheldawn65]

They did the most vile thing imaginable to her character - they stripped her of all her magic. That's like a literary rape. The people who made this show are absolutely vile and repulsive.

[@tcschenks]

The Tolkien Estate ought to stipulate that even if you don't have the license to use their other books you aren't allowed to contradict them.

[@Kaemonarch]

Sad thing is, that I feel it's actually the other way around... they are *forced* to contradict them, since they don't have the license for them... they can just "speculate" (without hitting bullseye) on the story based on what they have the rights to... Don't quote me, not an expert, mostly guessing here. XD

[@alexg3434]

The Tolkien Estate share the blame for this. They support it, that is the terrible thing.

[@David-Field.Stuff01]

They have been paid enough money to shut up and keep counting the money

[@solotopfeeder6976]

That "But they were all of them deceived, for another wig was made..." comment was pure gold.

[@LifeisGood762]

😂

[@anantc88]

It's so hilarious that it was a "blink and miss" and yet somehow I noticed it ,as I believe 200 other people!! 😅😅😅

[@tapiolautavaara9532]

Random internet commentators are just so vastly better versed in the lore than amazon's hacks.

[@dogwithsunglasses4051]

I mean, the only credit i give the Rings of Power that KZbinr basically get infinite content to make.

[@joshmciver4847]

I don't think you know what "infinite" means...

[@dogwithsunglasses4051]

@@joshmciver4847 And I think you dont know what an exaggeration is

[@RafitoOoO]

Someone's gotta make money out of this mess and it sure as hell ain't Amazon.

[@mosquitopyjamas9048]

That sentence structure doesn't look native to me...where you from stranger? *holds rifle at waist level and cocks head and chews gum waiting for your answer

[@GengarPoKeWK]

@@joshmciver4847you are fun at parties

[@lathanandrews417]

Can’t wait for the spin-off series: “50 Shades of Orc”

[@neophyte_7777]

nah, try "orcish green" lol

[@beowulfsrevenge4369]

"We were orcs once, and young."

[@Bow-to-the-absurd]

'My boy ! The killed my boy!'

[@WMFilms25]

🎼Orc me like you do. Orc, orc, orc me like you do.🎼

[@Adelina-293]

Rivendale after dark.

[@DerSaa]

I am a fan of Lord of the Rings. I have Amazon Prime. I never watched a single episode of Rings of Power.

[@joshrg1703]

Good for you. Maybe you should not be a sheep and make you own opinion of it though. (Spoiler alert though, its bad).

[@hollandkinney1215]

Keep it that way!! This LOTR fan has big regrets of giving it my attention! I’ll never get back that hour of life!

[@DerSaa]

@@joshrg1703 A sheep? 🤣 Be careful of who you call a sheep. You can call me anything but not a sheep. If you would know me, than you would recognize that. You call people a sheep because they do not watch a series. I think you might have some psychological issues.

[@DerSaa]

@@hollandkinney1215 Like with the new Star Wars movies you only have to see the movie poster to tell it is SJW rubbish. I don't let them get the rubbish into my head. They can watch this themselves.

[@georgehowell6486]

I can’t believe you are still physically capable of watching this. Please be mindful of your health, Drinker. And thank you for taking one for the team.

[@aesopstortoise]

The alcohol acts as an anaesthetic.

[@mylittlepanzer47]

i think he took way too many for the team at this point 😔

[@Cyraxslayer666]

Have you noticed he’s sounding more and more sober, it’s because even the alcohol can’t save him.

[@Snootch]

Imagine when people like you grow up and realize you can just ignore things you don't like.

[@Greg-lo1tl]

😂​@@aesopstortoise

[@vincent207]

Turns out being contractually obligated to make five seasons of a show can really come to bite you.

[@buckiemohawk3643]

they need to cancel it. its awful

[@tomernst9963]

especially when you've contracted with a couple of showrunners who'd rather be making sequels to Twilight than stories of Middle Earth

[@Martin_Koepl]

You can break the contract. And yes, there might be a fine, but if the fine is lesser than the money you most likely would loose when you keep on going, the contract is broken.

[@spartanhawk7637]

I’d frankly rather be forced to watch Twilight again than watch this near heretical nonsense. I dunno, is there a word for heresy against the canon of a series? I feel like there should be.

[@RenThraysk]

Whomever they made the contract with should realise this is doing damage to all future LotR projects. Gollum movie due out in 2026, around the time the third season would drop. Normies probably don't even realise they are not be made by the same production companies.

[@cassieudy5718]

The fact that Isildur--the guy who defeats Sauron--is in this show at all totally destroys any coherent timeline. Think about that. It means that Sauron's rise to power, rule, and defeat all happen within a single lifetime. A single lifetime! So much for the world-altering, multi-millennial, multiple generation spanning villain Tolkien intended.

[@guibox3]

Oh, that is just the tip of the iceberg for timeline and chronology butchery. It is bad enough having E&I being in there, but to have Sauron establish himself AFTER the rings of power are forged (when Sauron was well established and known hundreds of years before the rings were forged), having him be incognito in Numenor before the rings were forged (when he was there only when captured near the end of the 2nd Age), as well as having the 3rd Age Balrog and Gandalf (I'm assuming the old man we saw was Gandalf? I haven't even bothered to start watching the 2nd season) showing up is completely ridiculous.

[@reek4062]

I knew most people who hate RoP haven't read the books. Isildur did not defeat Sauron: Elendil and Gil-galad did, both died doing so. Isildur cut off Sauron's finger carrying the Ring.

[@imdivorcedlol]

@@reek4062 Elendil and Gil-Galad are defeated after they brough Sauron to his limits. Isildur then delivers the blow which incapacitates Saurons physical form until the end of the story, henceforth, even though it was a joint effort, Isildur defeats Sauron. You understood what he was saying and you're just being intentionally dense to try and discredit his comment when he was objectively right with a good point.

[@ademideadeboye4195]

@@imdivorcedlollool at him being dense😂

[@e.p.s.9037]

​@@imdivorcedlol"No, you don't understand, _I_ am a real fan, the rest are just inferior beings"

[@TylerLengerich]

4:56 largest understatement in history

[@fm_0523]

1:08 You know Drinker is truly overwhelmed by anger when he accidentally says "Rey Skywalker" instead of the usual "Rey Palpatine".

[@puppusjones6229]

Just shows its just an act. The guy hates women and minorities. Only takes 3 minutes of looking at his "reviews" to see this.

[@thoughtheretic]

Her true last name is Tardd

[@JohnJaneson]

Nah, I think he actually rewrote ep8 and ep9 into an actually awesome script featuring a real Rey Skywalker, daughter of Luke and Mara Jade. And then he recorded this video and did a verbal slip.

[@LittlePhizDorrit]

Amazon desperately wanted their own Game of Thrones. They had Wheel of Time and Tolkien...but unfortunately they forgot why adapting books is so useful: A built in fanbase. A faithful adaptation of these works would have pleased the fanbase, gotten them the views. The fanbase would have praised a faithful adaptation to the moon and spread the word to bring in the normies. But they don't want a fanbase, they want the modern audience. Well...they got what they wanted.

[@Banzai51]

I'm so glad Amazon went for this piece of the lore instead of Beren and Luthien or the Fall of Gondolin. I would have been heartbroken to see someone mess those up so poorly. Hopefully the Tolkien Estate has learned their lesson.

[@guibox3]

@@Banzai51 OMG...can you imagine the Fall of Gondolin as told in The Book of Lost Tales II (MUCH better than what is in The Silmarillion) in the hands of a capable director?? That would be such as epic movie!

[@reek4062]

Most people do not care about a faithful adaptation of Tolkien: the popularity of the New Line films is enough evidence.

[@reek4062]

@@guibox3 I love that one too. I remember Balrogs riding (wingless) dragons and Orcs inside hollow metal worms.

[@user-gm4kv2my4u]

What's annoying is if they wanted to go the culturally diverse fantasy world there are ips easily able to accommodate that. Amazon should of thrown all that money at something like The Elder Scrolls. Sure, its not LoTR, but it is still a huge, lore rich, massively popular ip that would easily pique the interest of Gen X, Millenials, Gen Z, and even Gen Alpha. Its lore would also play very nicely with "modern hollywood sensibilities" like a diverse cosmopolitan setting (Cyrodil) or even a majority PoC setting (Hammerfell). Granted even if you did this show, you'd STILL have to actually write good characters and stories. Mary Sues and girl bosses are shit characters no matter where the setting is. But at least it would be much easier to work with the lore instead of trying to work against it.

[@jorgedecastro4230]

Step A: buy a material with a huge fanbase Step B: dont please the huge fanbase Step C: blame the huge fanbase Result:

[@Lemon_Inspector]

Step 4: ??? Step 5: Lack of profit

[@highrofellos6721]

You forgot Step B+. Tell the fanbase that the show/movie/game isn't made for THEM!

[@sajjadalhachami7574]

You Losing a HUGE money for nothing

[@tombraiderstrums09]

Rinse and repeat at studio after studio

[@reek4062]

The show did please, or rather should have pleased the New Line fanbase.

[@Kronse2601]

Saw a video where Jeff Bezos said that his son told him: "Dad... whatever you do, don't fuck this up" Great Job, Dad!

[@dreskywalker]

The saddest part of all this is imagining if they gave $1B to non-woke, actual professionals who were actual fans to make this show. Oh what could have been…

[@davidkulmaczewski4911]

Can you imagine the "stunt casting" they could have done with that money if they made a story that actually followed the 2nd Age timeline, and so included several thousand years worth of characters? Besides having Cate Blanchett reprising her role as Galadriel (in a cameo only, since she's not really involved), you could cast a new superstar actor as the current Numenorean King for each new season. Every year could have been an event.... 'who will we see this season?'. But no.... we got garbage and money laundering.

[@LtCommanderTato]

@@davidkulmaczewski4911 we are in a decline of society and we will never be back to the good days.

[@ryokhan7056]

@@davidkulmaczewski4911 some years ago I sat down with the Silmarillion and worked out that, if they had a bit of common sense and a good scriptwriter, they could have made around 7-8 movies the size of the LotR (3h-3h and half each) with the major events, and maybe 2 or 3 more from the notes and annals at the end of the LotR (the War of Dwarves and Orcs, for example could have taken a whole movie. But that was before they started this fanfiction-becoming-movies nonsense.

[@nelisezpasce]

​@@LtCommanderTato Not with that attitude. The environment makes people stupid. Reject their slop. Become stronger, wiser, caring. Remain pure and fight corruption from deep inside your enviable soul.

[@LtCommanderTato]

@@nelisezpasce Its not a matter of rejecting. its a very long problem created by the evil side. And the product is multiplying fast since they have more natality rate...

[@Teocyn]

That orc part about being 'loving family men' really caught me off guard lmfao. I can't believe that's actually in the show

[@JohnJaneson]

There was passage saying that orc bred like the children of iluvatar, ie elves and men. But that absolutely does not mean they care about their families or even form a family for that matter.

[@persian_trader]

I heard that Orc now go to vacation and honymoon😂

[@karimamin2]

I hear the orcs are protesting for better wages

[@grzegorzswist]

What is funny is that I would absolutely watch a show centered on ribald and brawny Orks and their struggle against pompous and stuck-up elves.

[@The13thRonin]

Orcs just wanna weave brooo.

[@keith3761]

A billion dollars and we could have gotten Dread: Megacity 1 series with Karl urban and a great cast.

[@viewer3412]

Karl Urban’s decision to keep the helmet on is what makes his “Judge Dread” movie more authentic and faithful than Stallone’s version. I’d seriously watch “Judge Dread” series staring Karl Urban.

[@JoergWeida]

A billion dollars is pocket change for Bezos, so no cancelation.

[@Something-tz2vw]

We could have had more Chronicle of Riddick.

[@alnu8355]

Incorrect, the only 2 seasons they have filmed cost $700 Million (more than enough to film a hypothetical Dredd-Megacity One series). The grand total of the entire series, once filmed, will cost appromixmently 1 billion +. Your point still stands, but the series has not cost a billion so far. So far, season 3 has not been green lit, so there is an even greater chance this series will not cost 1 billion +. For reference, the entire trillogy of LoTR cost 281 million to make in the early 00's (436 Million today adjusted for inflation). Don't add with hyperbole. The series fails on its own without such exaggeration.

[@Firenutz]

F¥ck yeah.

[@datacntrdude]

The business model itself simply doesn't make sense. Do they think that people haven't heard of or signed up for Prime yet, and that a LOTR series is the ONE thing holding them back from dropping $120/yr on 2-day shipping?

[@imnackeredsirnackered948]

Amazon has the money and power to make a God tier show but sadly they put ideologues in charge of making the TV show. 1 billion DOLLARs and they can't make a good show. I know people that do watch it, and they think it's "Ok" a one-billion-dollar show is ok...........My Cousin who likes it said, "Its ok man I don't get why people are complaining" and I told him that they spent 1 billion dollars on one of the biggest fantasy worlds and all they can get from you is "its ok?"

[@solarsailor1534]

That’s the thing. On paper there’s no reason why this show couldn’t have been good, or at least decent. All they had to do was mildly respect the source material like they did with the LOTR or Hobbit trilogies. Tolkien’s writings are legendary, there’s no reason to insert overused modern tropes and sensibilities. The problem is the writers of Rings of Power arrogantly believe they know better and so write their own thing rather than adapting what fans actually wanted.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Ignore corporate shilling. Support independent artists. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ "Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind's journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul's fate revealed. In time, all points converge; hope's strength, resteeled. But to earn final peace at the universe's endless refrain, we must see all in nothingness... before we start again." 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ --Diamond Dragons (series)

[@ChaoticYak1]

I don't even know that it's ideologues responsible for how abysmal the show is. I really think the writers and showrunners are simply incompetent. I don't know that they COULD make a better show than they have.

[@adamguerrero5293]

Keeping y'all unhappy is part of the psyop

[@imnackeredsirnackered948]

@@ChaoticYak1 its probably both. With Galadriel being a Mary Sue, Diverse characters and most characters having very modern personalities it just reeks of liberal writers injecting what and how a character should behave and ignoring how Tolkien wrote those characters

[@chucksenhowzen9740]

4:03 wait wait wait…topless Sydney Sweeney as Galadriel would make Rings of Power the #1 show on Amazon

[@GeneralPotatoSalad]

Honestly, I'd just download the supercut.

[@viewer3412]

“I’d buy that for a dollar!”

[@LuisNunes-ps4sl]

That's a low bar anyway.

[@Andreas_42]

​@@LuisNunes-ps4slYes, but topless Galadriel would rise the bar 😁

[@HisNameIsRobertPaulson01]

@@Andreas_42 That pair would raise a lot of bars.

[@SmokeyNades]

I told you it was tricksy…. I told you it was false..

[@spleancrush]

🤣

[@takuid]

so good :D

[@dammir8324]

Yesss my Love it is.

[@sigmacademy]

Gotta watch out for those sneaky Hobbitses, my PRECIOUS!!! :P

[@bennythemonk]

Hopefully this teaches Amazon a lesson and give complete creative control to Henry Cavill for his warhammer project.

[@brandish4952]

I think he quit that project

[@LibbyCastro-w9i]

Oh no, they have control over that also. A "Woke" Warhammer. Now the will be an oxymoron of a comedy.

[@celtiberian]

That project os already dead. GW is protective when It comes to their IP. They already saw what happened with "female custodes" BS. They will not make the changes Amazon wants to the IP.

[@michaelroberts3898]

When I commented on a Prime Video advert that I saw on social media, I trashed it for ruining Tolkien’s work. The fans that responded, all women, tried to say the man himself wouldn’t care. To which I say: Right, a man who invented languages and wrote a sprawling great mythology for his world wouldn’t care about bad adaptation. He totally wouldn’t mind that a married mother character is now being shipped with the Satan allegory. They want Galadriel to dance with the devil. They think he’s dreamy lol

[@sigmacademy]

It's the "bad boy" fantasy. The thing, though, is "bad boys" ALWAYS leave them to move on to their next "relationship" (because they never lack female attention), but since none of them know anything beyond the fantasy, they don't realize WHAT it is that they fancy.

[@damionkeeling3103]

Tolkien most certainly would have cared which is why he disliked adaptations into other media. He disliked the trend in movies for replacing character development with action which is what happened in Jackson's films. Several action sequences were invented for the films while character development and world building plotlines were left out - Tom Bombadil, Old Man Willow, the Barrow wights, the journey from Weather Top (just from the first film). Aragorn never fought the Black Riders with a sword, he scared them off with two flaming torches and his own energy. Gandalf never fought with Saruman, he surrendered essentially as Saruman possessed the greater power.

[@brownline1463]

Tolkien very much cared about how his work was adapted to film. For example, note the letter he wrote to Forrest J. Ackerman, criticizing a script submitted to him for a film treatment of LOTR. (Letter #210, page 270, in "The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien", edited by Humphrey Carpenter). Tolkien writes, "... I would ask them [the authors of the script] to make an effort of imagination sufficient to understand the irritation (and on occasion the resentment) of an author, who finds, increasingly as he proceeds, his work treated as it would seem carelessly in general, in places recklessly, and with no evident signs of any appreciation of what it is all about ...". Tolkien cared, deeply, about how his work was handled in film. And I believe that he would have *loathed* "The Rings of Power", and would have made his displeasure known to all the world.

[@stormhought]

Bad man:❎ Bad man, attractive:✅

[@item6931]

He also definitely wouldn't care, as a dedicated Catholic, that Tom Bombadil appears gender fluid lol

[@FictionCautious]

The critic is more entertaining and makes more sense than 90% of the movies.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

That's what happens when good writers abound. Kinda like Ryan George (Pitch Meeting). Granted, there are others out there as well with far, far, FAAARRR less resources, coin, clout, computer code, etc. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ "Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind's journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul's fate revealed. In time, all points converge; hope's strength, resteeled. But to earn final peace at the universe's endless refrain, we must see all in nothingness... before we start again." 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ --Diamond Dragons (series)

[@hipdolly8382]

I go straight to youtube on any series / movie release now.

[@MikeHeath-b2z]

It’s a series not a movie ? That says everything I need to know about your opinion.

[@jm7476]

and almost more free revenue for youtube than for amazon itself

[@nathanmays7926]

The craziest part to me is that this is on Amazon Prime. Literally 99.9% of the audience for RoP already had prime, and will continue to have prime, regardless of RoP existing. It generated virtually zero EXTRA revenue for Amazon.

[@dawnfire82]

It smells like a Bezos vanity project, to me.

[@donaldsmith8648]

Shots Fired!!! Generation films.. put you on blast brav 😮

[@Jabberstax]

I honestly can't believe how dumb they've made the elves.

[@goodputin4324]

Why are there black Elves and Asian elves!!!

[@andrewsarchus6036]

I kno. Appalling isn't it.

[@rafikhaizal]

...or diverse...

[@georgepatton6195]

They look they belong in male cologne adds from the 90's. They don't look majestic, they look metrosexual

[@ArnoldJudasRimmer..]

​@@goodputin4324you know why deep down..

[@xuvial1391]

0:41 "What's been YOUR favorite part of the season so far?" - No idea Drinker, me and everyone else are just here to be entertained by your review. Why on earth would we watch the show?

[@cvn6555]

I MST 3000 it. Watch it and pick it apart.

[@ajaysea6774]

The Critical Drinker: what's your favorite part of this season? Me: Your videos!

[@janysmahoney1271]

RIP - RoP; makes Hobbit trilogy look like a Masterpiece

[@47ravenlord]

I'll try to make this as brief as possible, but it's worth the read either way. My 10 year old son has severe ADHD, and is somewhere on the spectrum, he can't watch normal movies or shows, and it has taken YEARS to be able to watch anything at all with him, but we bonded over Lord of the Rings. He watched the EXTENDED versions of the entirety of the Hobbit movies, and then the LOTR movies and friggin loved them....all of those movies clocked in at around 4 hours a piece and he was glued to the screen and loved every minute....it was amazing, miraculous to anyone that has a kid like mine. I was literally so happy to be able to do something with him I had to fight back tears a few times. He asked if there was anything else that we could watch, and I told him about the rings of power series, and he instantly wanted to watch it. We made popcorn, cracked open the special Root Beer I got us from the store earlier that day and we settled in to watch.....he couldn't even make it through half of the first episode and was severely irritated that Lord of the Rings was "broken".....I was so proud of him at that moment and knew I am doing a decent job as a parent even though it isn't an easy road I'm on, lol. P.S. we watched the movies over a few days, we didn't marathon it, lol.

[@ethanreynolds4942]

That "popcorn and special root beer" statement hit me right in the home feels. I got a kiddo that's on the spectrum and for movie nights we always pick out some "fancy soda" from the store. It's kinda our thing. Makes movie night a little more special. Sounds like you got a rad kid and I'm sorry that Amazon really messed up one of your favorite bonding times.

[@cosmicmuffin322]

It sounds you both are doing a wonderful job 🙂

[@cejannuzi]

You both must have the bladder size of a rhino if you watched them in movie theaters.

[@ishpeeedy]

parenting done right !

[@ahmedalrays]

Your son is a smart boy my friend.

[@michaelwoffindin]

A very somber "go away now." The Drinker isn't mad, he's just disappointed.

[@waltercomunello121]

Or tired of that shit.

[@andrewbetances1203]

Haha I went back and listened and you're right. A sadder than normal, go away now

[@HowToChangeName]

He had enough shite but not enough Tatiana

[@AmericanBoy-si9zg]

My favorite part of S2 is not watching it at all.

[@prestigeworldwide5047]

I didn't even watch season 1, had the chance just didn't bother and loved the books and films.

[@adog7787]

I watched three episodes of S1 to give it a shot. By the 3 minute mark of Ep1 I was dying inside at the atrocity. But it makes sense, the RingPop of Power doesn’t have the rights to the full LOTR works. It’s just the names, that’s it. Literally all they have is the appendix. So I chalk the show up to expensive fanfiction.

[@St.Constant7]

It is a lovely enjoyable show, this guy is like Adar and all these dumb comments his army of orcs.

[@Red_Snapper]

More ppl are watches The Critical Drinker then ROP....

[@St.Constant7]

@@Red_Snapper "The first four episodes of Rings of Power Season 2 have reached 40 million viewers globally in 11 days" so not really

[@picivyvortac2641]

The sad part is that there ARE a few cool ideas here. (Hear me out) Adar, as the first orc who leads the orcs, who are currently free from any particular dark forces influence, to create a homeland, is a fascinating idea. As a lorehead, I know that that would make adar the OLDEST elf still living. This is a fascinating idea for an extra-cannon villain that actually CAN add a grey area to the orcs of middle earth. Also The whole first season arc of Slaron not actually wanting to be bad is both cool and, surprisingly, can actually fit into the cannon. After the fall of morgoth, salron surrendered himself to the valar. They offered to forgive him but he would have to return to Valinor and earn his freedom by working to undo his evil. But the shame of that return caused him to flee and in his exile, he returned to his old way. So for a story to show that slight desire to simply be free from his consequences but also not stay evil is interesting. Too bad the show is probably written by ai to impress shareholders. Why else would they hire people with zero credits for the most expensive film project in history?

[@Sinkubus]

4:11 Absolutely unhinged. Carry on.

[@breakneck777]

Yes she accidentally wore that top

[@generalesdeath5836]

I don’t think I’m racist, but if I saw a Mulan movie and half the Chinese army was White, then my suspension of disbelief would be destroyed. You could justify adding distant new nation’s to Tolkien’s world where different ethnicities are exist I suppose if you wanted to, but all of the areas of middle earth we’ve been shown have European architecture, clothing, etc… I don’t remember there being any Pagodas or Egyptian style Pyramids in what we have seen of the world…

[@JohnJaneson]

Even worse, the races are just inserted there verbatim from 2000s real life. Just shoved in there. Which does not make sense within the world itself. The elves do have racial varieties, that is Tolkien canon, but the elven variations are NOT 2000s homo sapiens of asians, blacks, whites, and browns. Instead, they are teleri, eldar, avari, etc. and they do have physical characteristics; if they design it well you're supposed to be able to tell the elven ethnic lineage visually.. But again, NOT 2000s homo sapiens. same with the dwarves.

[@DonaldBlake287]

That sad part about all of this is that studios will see the failure of Rings of Power and think that audiences just aren’t interested in fantasy shows/movies.

[@ironmonkey1512]

Do you expect a huge woke corporation to make a decent fantasy show/movie ever? We need to stop supporting them by not watching their dreck.

[@ironmonkey1512]

@@mablesfatalfable6021 I didn't either, but I said 'we'. Spread the word....

[@carlstanford7607]

Yup

[@aldunlop4622]

I just commented the same thing; they will take all the wrong messages from this, after completely fucking up Rings of Power, The Wheel of Time and The Witcher. All failed for the same reason, and they will think it's simply because nobody watches fantasy.

[@danieloneill9093]

We are not interested in Woke losers making them. You know they actually fired the Tolkien scholar they had employed on their staff, probably because he was horrified by what was being done.

[@johannjohann6523]

One good thing about The Rings of Power. It brought me to this KZbin channel. Well done, and new subscriber. Don't change a thing, I haven't laughed this hard in years. lol. Maybe that's the problem. Amazon advertised The Rings of Power as a drama, when it is clearly a comedy. lol

[@MUCKLEECH]

The real shame is that shows like this will get multiple seasons in today's times, but back in the day something like Firefly only got one season.

[@S1ipperyJim]

I loved firefly but it was an abysmal flop ratings wise, it was 98th in the Nielson ratings when it was cancelled and had very low viewership, ROP is much higher in views and ratings.

[@blshouse]

@@S1ipperyJim Firefly was murdered. With intent. It was broadcast out of order in a bad time slot, moved to a worse time slot, then cancelled. The executives that ordered it were gone by the time it arrived and the executives that inherited it didn't want it, at all.

[@toms7114]

@@blshouse You forgot that during the original airing it skipped weeks frequently because of sporting events playing in that time slot instead. F*ck FOX, it's been over 20 years and I'm still pissed about that.

[@EvilDoresh]

Or _The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance_

[@danielhicks4826]

I'm still waiting for Tulsa King and From to be canceled anytime now, only good modern like cool show and horror show I like and so far one is about to start season 2 and 3 but I just know it's gonna be canceled anytime potentially.

[@acrawley5128]

They did the same racially diverse thing in the Wheel of Time adaptation as well, and that was a fantasy world that WAS diverse, but they needed the main characters to look like a meeting of the UN. It's very jarring and weird and doesn't allow for any sense of scale in the fantasy universe.

[@IrishCarney]

Exactly. Anyone complaining that LOTR is "Eurocentric" or the like can't really say that about WoT which makes clear which nations and groups correspond to our real-world races and ethnicities in appearance. It's so tiresome, dreary, and engagement-ruining that once again they act like a backwater rural village would have modern-day cosmopolitan corporate stock photo demographics. Decades of eager fun speculation of who would be cast, how they'd look - ruined forever

[@pawl23]

​@@IrishCarney what's odd is that there are movies with only ethnic minorities (in the west)

[@procerator]

Well... I enjoyed both seasons of Wheel of Time. I know it is different from the books but it does a decent job at trying to stick to the source material. I was able to handle only 1 episode of Rings of Power though.

[@wingsclippedwolf]

The idea that overtime people will blend together to recreate defining regional features is beyond the myopic small-minded creators living in metropolitan areas. For example, ancient Romans and their Italian descendants living in the same geographical location may not have the same set of defining physical features; but in their time and place, there were/are defining regional characteristics. That is a fact that does not need any value attached to it. In LotR: Gondorians no longer have the defining features of Numenorians, and Numenorians themselves are the dependents of the Edain, but Gondorians still have defining features.

[@ironmonkey1512]

@@IrishCarney Imagine if Shogun was done with a diverse cast? Why is this only ok for European cultures?

[@rexlumontad5644]

Galadriel: "Watch out! There is an imposter among us!" Sauron in a blonde wig: "Galadriel is very sus."

[@drakan5468]

My favourite part is when Sauron stabs Galadriel with Morgoth's crown. I rewinded it a couple of times to savour the scene better.

[@se7ensavage707]

Imagine 'The Last Samurai' had an ethnically diverse cast for village locals and samurai lol

[@1stCallipostle]

The crazy thing with this show is there's enough different locations that you could still have a diverse cast without doing it this way. Just put the different flavors of people into the appropriate region

[@jackMeought-fr8vl]

That would imply that some people have a homeland somewhere, which is against the message.

[@BLD426]

Yeah, can't wait to see the remake of that one.

[@fredbarron8582]

The thing that gets me about the Orcs is that it ruins one of the things that made Morgoth so evil. In simple terms the Orcs originated as elves, captured, tortured and corrupted until they had lost all the good in them and were slaves to evil and darkness. Morgoth had taken all of their goodness away, they were no longer just another misunderstood race, part of the diversity of middle earth, they existed only for war to serve evil with little to no free will of their own, if that wasn't an act of pure evil by Morgoth and later Saruman and Sauron I dont know what is. Tolkien seems to have actually had a very insightful and deep understanding of race and diversity in middle earth but people with a very simple, non nuanced view of diversity simply cannot allow that in their bastardised interpretation of Tolkien's work.

[@EvilDoresh]

Going by Tolkien's experiences in WWI, one could suspect that the orcs are a rather literal allegory for the dehumanizing nature of war

[@captainahab9602]

@@fredbarron8582 even if you’re bred for war you’d probably not be thrilled to be lashed into one that’s unwinnable, even roaches have self preservation instincts

[@fredbarron8582]

@@captainahab9602 Imagine how evil an entity must be to take that instinct for self preservation away then? That's entirely the point Orc's lives and instincts aren't their own, they are compelled to serve evil. They aren't exactly mindless but they have very little free will of their own.

[@mohitrawat5225]

Some funny comments I have found on other videos - 1. Anya Taylor Joy looks more elf than every elf in The Rings of Power. 2. The actress who played Galadriel once described her character as older than moon. Someone commented "older than moon, but still act like spoiled teenager". 3. Peter Jackson hired actual elves to play elves. Amazon hired orcs to play elves and writers of the show. 4. Amazon is orcwashing the elves.

[@fredrikengstrom2107]

That's the thing, these people dont feel like elves. They really just look like actors pretending to be elves. Cate Blanchett truly had a unique facial expression and posture that had you immerse yourself that she was something extraordinary once the costumes were on, a walking demigod. The elves in PJ LOTR had a common theme in their appearance, but the insisting diversity in this show has made the elves just feel bland and daily. And like other reviewers has already pointed out; the show missed a major opportunity with the forced diversity since they could have made a unique Harad / Rhun arc story. I would have loved to see that, see the Haradrims from a different perspective which would change the way I view them in PJ LOTR. Tolkien wrote of Herumor and Fuinur being great leaders of the men in the east but nothing in detail, so there was already plots to be made with these characters at your own will without damaging any of the established lore, an open goal without conflicting interests from fans. It could have expanded a story of tribesmen being oppressed by Numenorian colonialism, and seeking power through the rings to liberate their people, only to fall for the corruptions to become nazguls by the desperation to do good and cause internal strife. This would have challenged the views that the men of the west are always the good guys and the men of the east are always the bad guys as potrayed in PJ LOTR, and given us more presepctive to their side of the story and change the way we watch LOTR, kinda like how we were introduced to Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister in the beginning of GoT.

[@N0bodyn01]

Facts.

[@ZitiPatrol]

@@fredrikengstrom2107 underrated comment.

[@sebastiengarnier6664]

Amazon hired men to (cos)play elves

[@cejannuzi]

Because as far as elves go , she is. LOL.

[@gapper3]

Keep up the good fight, CD, and don't be modest. You are the voice of millions of disappointed fans. In the big scheme of things, some might say that your energy could be better spend elsewhere, but I disagree; I believe that your work is vital to a healthy society.

[@ThePsychoAnon]

Everyone in this show looks like they belong in a Silicon Valley Starbucks line.

[@jalpat2272]

Where do you think they get the extras.

[@sethvicious]

Goddamn that’s accurate

[@joemama69448]

Lmao. I just moved back to the California coast after ten years of military service. I forgot that the people here have a distinct look about them.

[@docsavage8640]

Nah, more like Portland

[@dereklopez9060]

When Gimli sees Rings Of Power. "Oh, No. I couldn't."

[@nathanprime2434]

And when Boromir sees it: “It is NOT a gift”

[@tapiolautavaara9532]

@@nathanprime2434 "One does not just SEE the rings of a Downer."

[@bunnywithakeyboard7628]

If it’s woke, it doesn’t matter how good the original source material was. Not even something made by JRR Tolkien can be good after it gets made woke.

[@norwegianboyee]

Because woke inherently means a good product is sacrificed in favour of pushing the ideological message the end product will never be entertaining. Merely lecturing.

[@Doooooooooooood]

Exactly, it's the antithesis of art, imagination, creativity and story!

[@jcdesantis69]

It would be so easy to give the fans what we want and rake in the money.. I beginning to think they just cant anymore. Very sad.

[@naamadossantossilva4736]

​@@jcdesantis69Or it could be a TLJ type thing,where they know what you want and give you the opposite just to spite you.

[@adamguerrero5293]

Keeping y'all unhappy is part of the psyop

[@fakecubed]

It's not enough for this show to be canceled. The people making it need to go to prison for whatever money laundering and other financial fraud is clearly going on behind the scenes. Because as high as the budget is, I can't see any evidence they spent any of it on the show.

[@docdaytona108]

Never watched one episode, never felt like I missed anything of consequence.

[@jaymea8907]

I watched exactly two episodes. I can say you didn't miss a single thing.

[@MrVernitrax]

Same. Not gonna watch anytime soon

[@Brimfarm]

You did yourself a massive favour 😂

[@waltercomunello121]

Read the Silmarillion, you won't need anything else.

[@MikeHeath-b2z]

Fan of the show here, happy to say we don’t feel like we missed you either.

[@NoQuarterNoMercy1]

The power of one female director. The power of two female directors. The power of maaaannnyyyyyy.

[@InfiniteWatcher]

Sauron flexes his muscles

[@BeastReview.x]

May force help you to watch

[@bagggers9796]

"It was meant to be the next Game of Thrones" Amazon needs to realize GoT got that popular for exactly two reasons. Good writing. Good actors. When you have neither, there's no reason to watch or recommend it, even if it's a popular IP. When you have both, plus a popular IP, _everyone_ is going to recommend it. That's how this has always worked.

[@mrrodriguezHLP]

Don't underestimate HBO and their love of full frontal. They know what wakes the people up mid episode. Rings of Power is the most asexual show I have ever seen. Even the queer coded scenes are not the least bit arousing.

[@bokoblinlogic1619]

@@mrrodriguezHLPthat’s because Tolkien wrote it to lack sexual scenes because it not about that

[@matthewmosier8439]

Somebody else pointed it out. GoT was about nudity. I remember when it was popular

[@benghiskahn3673]

​@@mrrodriguezHLPThats what I was going to say. GoT had boobs and ass. I've been rewatching the early seasons recently and they're really not THAT good. Now, The Sopranos and The Shield... those were TV shows that really stood on their own merits. No buying of pre-existing fan bases, just pure high quality original writing and good acting.

[@williamcorey4700]

​@@benghiskahn3673 you want peak HBO? Deadwood

[@captainmojo25]

Love the continuing trade of blistering, critical, and spot on review fodder between you and DarkHour...a billion dollar "womp womp" sad trombone is pretty wild.

[@MacCrunch]

It's frustrating to see such an iconic franchise mishandled. Let's hope lessons are learned and better projects come our way.

[@jakubvantroba]

Lessons won't be learned probably

[@zarar3199]

Be real, after watching GOT s1-5 , even if they had released lord of rings today, ppl would have absolutely destroyed it (it had tons and tons of changes from source material) and ppl care more about source material nowadays Its either a masterpiece or ppl would drag it down to absolute garbage 6/10 ratings

[@volkerw.]

As long as the woke-brigade and the leftoids are in charge, nothing will change.

[@Dmcq999]

Same with star wars it just blows my mind how they can throw away free money like this

[@HowToChangeName]

Hollywood? Learn? Stop making me laugh

[@JPRM-hk2pg]

Rings of cancer

[@scrappydoo7887]

👌

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Rings of Flour.

[@A5tr0101]

Improve your vocabulary its discusting

[@scrappydoo7887]

@@A5tr0101 improve your use of KZbin. It's disgusting

[@adamguerrero5293]

Keeping y'all unhappy is part of the psyop

[@markgregorygacosta531]

I love that Guyladriel is still portrayed as a small, angry i-want-to-talk-to-your-manager Karen. It gives me uncontrollable laughter.

[@takuid]

She just exudes internalized ever burning Karen rage and seething within her lmao. It comes off the screen even from the little clips of the shitshow I saw through drinker and others lol

[@billdozer908]

I didn’t even bother. I’m sticking with the books.

[@rovhalt6650]

Critical Drinker: "Cast it into the fire! Cancel it!" Jeff Bezos: *Manic laughter in cowboy hat*

[@Crabbattles]

So basically, Amazon wants to challenge Disney for most money wasted on a tv show.

[@TaminTheLayman]

It's all money laundering anyway.

[@kristopherrobson3187]

It just feels like modern Hollywood is rubbing sh!t under our noses, expecting us in the long run to get used to the smell and eventually say ''yeah see, the smell wasnt so bad''

[@thomhagan8297]

And they're always going to be there like land mines left behind.

[@mriconoclast13]

That already happened with the Star Wars prequels.

[@theathlete771]

I stopped watching Hollywood movies at the start of the pandemic, almost five years ago now. Never once I regretted this.

[@onastick2411]

They are doing the work of Marxists, they are run by Marxists, or some sub set of. They are literally trying to change the world to a new Communist and Socialist world, that is the reason for the boss girls, the black actors playing white rolls, the gay and LGBTQCrap++++++ representation when it doesn't make sense. Marxism and Communism. It's never worked, it's not going to work, but captured by ideology, shoved into their inferior brains in Communist indoctrination centres (Education organisations), they can't help themselves. Rubbing sh!t in, is exactly the plan. Shovelling it, and telling us its sugar.

[@PandaEatsPlanetEarth]

That quick Snakes on a Plane reference made me very happy. Thank you.

[@rexlumontad5644]

Rings of Power: "Mind if I borrow your Orcs being totally not evil and wanted to be with their families while committing war crimes?" World of Warcraft: "Of course, you can! Just don't make it too obvious."

[@louisduarte8763]

Put that way, Warcraft was made by people who missed the points of Tolkien-esque fantasy, didn't they? Like Starcraft was made by people who ripped off WH 40K and ignored the over-the-top satire?

[@takuid]

Literally called "People of Hate" by Tolkien, shown to have regular old family lives, cradling babies with compassion...shit is just funny to me.

[@puppusjones6229]

“There must have been orc-women,” Tolkien wrote. “But in stories that seldom, if ever, see the Orcs except as soldiers of armies in the service of the evil lords, we naturally would not learn much about their lives. Not much was known.” You know nothing of Tolkien, stop being a pretender.

[@takuid]

@@puppusjones6229 "Not much was known." - Tolkien an "orc-woman" could have been the same exact thing as an "orc-man" but with a different genital, if that is even how they reproduced. Even wild animals do not cradle their babies like humans do. Most babies are born into this world and immediately start walking, no cradling needed. An orc would hate their own offspring, just as they hated each other. If orcs were capable of showing compassion and empathy to another being, there would not be an explanation for how every single orc we see in Tolkien's writings revel in torturing and killing everything that stand in their way without fail. Not a single orc is shown to do a good deed. Taking "There must have been orc-women,” and running with it and reducing the lives of orcs to "slightly ugly humans" is why you do not understand Tolkien and never will. I read more of Tolkien's books than your entire lifespan.

[@reek4062]

So you haven't read the books?

[@Valehass]

Political messaging before good story telling, results in apathy, disinterest and no audience. Shame there was no precedent for that in media.

[@kingDowahs]

I can’t believe the acolyte has competition for the worst show this year

[@midnightblackroses]

Add in HoTD. S2 is awful.

[@PropiaPersona]

@@midnightblackrosesyeah it wasn't great.

[@kolega427]

HOTD season two is a thousand times better than ROP lol. What are u talking about? But yeah I would rate it a 6,5/10. But Rings of Power I would rate 3,5/10

[@captainahab9602]

@@kingDowahs no one who didn’t shit their pants at donlemonlas casting news and actually watched this would say it’s mid at worst. Creator does desperately want to circlejerk the forced hate into those sweet acolyte views tho

[@dilettanteink]

I’m actually enjoying it now so I hope they don’t cancel. The key to enjoying it is to disassociate it from the LOTR source material and think of it as well produced, if sometimes clumsily scripted, fantasy realm eye-candy.

[@Chimpanzee-That]

The sadness in your "Go Away Now"... I felt that...

[@Kal_El1994]

This is a real tweet I saw the other day of someone’s take on Rings of Power: Quote - “You don’t need to agree, you can hate all the differences and changes made, but The Rings of Power is doing for TV (and arguably for film and media in general), what The Lord of the Rings Trilogy did for Cinema. The scale, the cinematography, the warmth and awe. Revolutionary.” Single handedly the most moronic overblown & objectively false tweet ever.

[@romainf3780]

My wife and I never fight. Unfortunately, she likes this show. Needless to say, I slept on the couch tonight. Some lines need to be drawn, friends.

[@takuid]

omg brah, I hope you are joking....press F to pay respect...

[@mriconoclast13]

Stay strong my brother.

[@viewer3412]

Keep up the good fight!

[@Fred-gu6pk]

Is she well? This could be an early symptom of something serious.

[@lyell555]

Never sleep on the couch in your own house

[@deltharramorghal8130]

I do hope they stop this shameful travesty.

[@fenrisgyra3750]

Rings of Power is a disgrace to Tolkien's legacy. On the other hand, even more so highlighted what a master piece Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy is.

[@gergnotsloh]

Isn't it crazy that it doesn't matter how much money you dump onto something, it can still suck if the culture, creativity and intellect aren't there? Money can't buy it.

[@dawnfire82]

You say crazy, I say obvious.

[@gergnotsloh]

@@dawnfire82 Sarcasm doesn't come across well on the internet.

[@layelaye]

"Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made.” - J.R.R Tolkein

[@gunnar6674]

I think Tolkien never wrote that, but he wrote " The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own."

[@yves9055]

That's a paraphrase from TV tropes or something. The actual quote goes: "The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own."

[@dandiehm8414]

That quote is more accurate of Morgoth from the Silmarillion. It is echoed in Frodo's comments on Sauron (Morgoth's servant)

[@R4G4M3MN0N]

Goo goo gaga

[@layelaye]

@@reek4062 I am aware but I thought this (wrong) version would get my point across better Also I'm Evil

[@markusaltenhofer5517]

Thanks Drinker for this absolute perfect summary !

[@historyscientist]

“I wish it need not have been screened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such series. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that we would have spent watching it.”

[@TheSwordsPathChannel]

Erik Kain (writing for Forbes) isn't access media. He's been firmly against RoP, the Acolyte, The Witcher from the start. And he doesn't rely on access. You two would actually get along.

[@luthasunspell8365]

Eric originally wrote a lot of puff pieces during the start of season 1; he evolved afterward.

[@rpgadventurer32]

Did he call the identity politics and cultural appropriation in all these shows or not? Because if he didn't then he wouldn't be any different than the other shill media.

[@NTJedi]

The show ratings, user reviews and dislikes on official RoP videos show most people are firmly against RoP.

[@1984Phalanx]

Before the show even began I boycotted all Amazon products. That's right, I haven't made a single Amazon purchase since this show was first announced. Instead I've spent my money at local businesses.

[@matthewbooth9265]

I wish I could do that but sadly somethings you just can't get without businesses like amazon. I'd boycott everything produced in China if I could because if Amazon is evil then china is the source of all evil.

[@kolega427]

yes! my man! me too. From now on I will support Wish and Temu

[@kristofferalmquist1712]

I understand, i have the same feeling about Disney....+

[@adrianfilimon2716]

DORORO Drinker i recommend dororo, not your usual thing and it got released in 2019, but it is just 24 great episodes . The time space for it doesn't make sense at times, but honestly it is just irelevant considering how good the story and themes are. I like you drinker and after a bunch of stinkers this year, you deserve to cleanse your eyes with something great. I will post this until you acknowledge my comment

[@spazzmaticus1542]

How did the producers overlook the fact that The Lord of the Rings is about a story about a JOURNEY. It’s literally about 2 hobbits walking barefoot across a continent. It’s literally about the effort of putting one foot in front of the other until the task is complete. If you just fast travel all of your characters, there is no struggle, there is no effort. It’s just beautiful people standing around in a studio. Aragorn is a badass because you feeel that this character had spent decades in the wild as a Ranger. What does that mean? A lot of walking, a lot of tracking, eating mostly wild game, dealing with hunger, bad weather, unclean clothes at times, etc. It’s the mundane struggles that make a character badass.

[@IrishCarney]

Right. LOTR is high fantasy, but grounded in such physical challenges and issues. The Silmarillion did not have hobbits as a grounding element, but still often ended up with epic difficult journeys, such as one of the factions of Elves having to cross a polar strait on foot that was not solidly frozen over but instead was icebergs grinding against each other

[@justforever96]

Your can argue that that is what the Harfeet are for. The books cover the trip to Mordor but not in excruciating detail, and the other peripheral journeys are often glossed over in few paragraphs. Even the main characters, they don't give a real detailed account of the trip from Isengard to Minas Tirith, or even Aragon's journey fun Rohan to the same.

[@jangonett1]

Another interesting thing is the fact that the audience are seeing all of this through the eyes of the hobbits. We are the hobbits in this story. Clueless uneducated to this world. So everything makes sense because just like them we are all being exposed to this. These godlike characters don’t represent anything in the real world and unsurprisingly the hobbits make tons of mistakes just like we would have.

[@IrishCarney]

@@justforever96 OK that's a decent point

[@Nat-696]

"You Either Die a Hero or Live Long Enough to See Yourself Become an Amazon Writer."

[@beanbunn4029]

The day Tolkien became a franchise, a little part of literature shed a tear.

[@JohnJaneson]

Hmm as if some large organization wants to destroy our literature and our movies. Keep an eye out for our music.

[@charlie3655]

Been a Tolkein fan since I first heard The Hobbit on Jackanory . I've been trying to keep watching hoping that it will change, but after the last episode I am now giving up on it. The last episode was so far the books it was ridiculous, they should rename this a show and say it has nothing to do with Tolkien.

[@HeathenSWolf]

The ONLY thing I kinda like from this show - the backgrounds for a lot of scenes. I mean people who worked on backgrounds surely deserve at least some praise. It's just sad that EVERYTHING else is shit that someone ate before shitting it out again.

[@Brimfarm]

Even then it’s all cgi, I’m not impressed by full cgi environments, it’s one of the first things I noticed about RoP, I already missed the beautiful panoramic shots of NZ

[@amatleoda]

I know, I've refuse to watch the show, but I did see an image of that huge statue of Earendil, with a bird form Elwing, in Numenor, it is one of my favorite designs ever from a Tolkein adaption, I wish it was in something infinitely better so I could enjoy it more.

[@crazysilly2914]

it’s good for screensavers. Nothing more...

[@UnbanMeNowOfficial]

It's almost mind-boggling to think about all the potential that was squandered with this adaptation. You'd think with such a massive budget, they could at least get the basics right.

[@Kharmazov]

Honestly this project was doomed from the start considering that all they had were the rights to indexes rather then the Silmarillion.

[@axh2]

​@@Kharmazov I'm not sure about it. Imagine, and I know it is difficult in the current Hollywood but lets be open minded, imagine they would find a COMPETENT writers, who understands basic story telling and RESPECT Lord Of The Rings. They don't even need to respect the Silmarillion, or even LOTR books... If they at least be able to create a decent fan fiction prequel to the Peter Jackson's movies, they would still get a huge audience and warm reception.

[@lldavidll]

​@@axh2 "They don't even need to respect the Silmarillion, or even LOTR books.." you are so wrong. an adaptation should respect its source material, especially if it was from one of the most respected authors of all time.

[@sebastienj.c.218]

@@axh2 What if the problem was somewhere else. What if the films set the tone so well, and the expectations so high, that trying to make a series out of it couldn't do anything but disappoint ? It is already hard to make 2 or 3 movies in a row that will keep the audience statisfied. Peter Jackson made such good movies that it worked, but if one tries doing the same with a series of less quality than the films, and even worse, add the message into it, there is no way one can succeed.

[@axh2]

@@lldavidll You totally misunderstood my point. I said that they don't need to respect it IN ORDER TO GET VIEWS. A lot of people don't even know what Silmarillion is, so they would like a WELL WRITTEN story, even if it had not much to do with the real Silmarillion.

[@soccerpractice0105]

As a young reader, I found The lord of the rings were lessons in the ideals of sacrifice, service and humility. I wanted to be Strider. A strong, brave hero who is capable, skilled and wise while being loyal, compassionate and humble. I don’t feel anger to those who missed the Tolkienesque themes, just sad they don’t feel this is worth creating stories about.

[@scottbullock3045]

That intro... Ugh! "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days Of Our Lives". For fucks sake!!!!😮😢😊😂

[@ErikKain]

Appreciate you posting my articles in this video, Drinker! I'm just a . . . bad example of mainstream access media turning on RoP. I've been beating this drum for quite awhile.

[@spyingbigfoot1181]

I like how a farming show hosted by a middle aged man that used to talk about cars and knows nothing about farming gets more views and costs less

[@ipercalisse579]

Omg I didn't know about it ahahahahahah

[@kevinbirge2130]

Andy Serkis audiobook performances are everything you could want. Brilliant, respectful, and perfectly executed.

[@jaymea8907]

Same with Christopher Lee's RIP

[@fettfan91]

Every time a moment in the second season defies logic, I remember that everyone survived a fucking volcanic eruption in season one. Hard to top something that ridiculous.