All Things TV Series Recommendations/Reviews

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Pompous Elitist said:
You’re probably right but as I recall Jackson’s LOTR trilogy wasn’t entirely true to the books either. Tom Bombadil, etc. The tone and feel of Rings and Power is consistent with Jackson’s iconic Middle Earth movies.
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Oh, I would agree and I think that’s why Christopher Tolkien disliked the movies. In my opinion both the movies and the show did a good job capturing the tone and feel of the books, but obviously cannot be entirely consistent. It’s just the nature of trying to adapt books to movies/tv series.
 
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So apparently, the 1st episode of "House of the Dragon" is being posted on You Tube to watch for free. might check it out for fun, but not planning to subscribe to HBO Max.

On Lord of the Rings, haven't seen it. what I'm hearing and reading is that the first two episodes are a little slow. with a lot of exposition and world-building. but it apparently looks great.
 

First 2 episodes of Rings of Power are pretty good IMO. Not House of the Dragon good but an entertaining show through 2 episodes.

Though I haven’t read the book so idk if the book reader criticisms are valid. I’ll welcome another good show in this genre with open arms though. The Witcher was bad.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
So apparently, the 1st episode of "House of the Dragon" is being posted on You Tube to watch for free. might check it out for fun, but not planning to subscribe to HBO Max.

On Lord of the Rings, haven't seen it. what I'm hearing and reading is that the first two episodes are a little slow. with a lot of exposition and world-building. but it apparently looks great.
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If you haven’t seen GOT I’m not sure HOD will make as much sense but it probably stands on its own alright. This is “adult” fantasy in every sense of the word whereas LOTR is PG.

If you need a reason to do it HBO Max has very high quality content and a ton of it. I’m also going to check out OPEC+ 😂
 


mnsportsgeek said:
First 2 episodes of Rings of Power are pretty good IMO. Not House of the Dragon good but an entertaining show through 2 episodes.

Though I haven’t read the book so idk if the book reader criticisms are valid. I’ll welcome another good show in this genre with open arms though. The Witcher was bad.
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The chronology and lore of first, second, third ages and eg Sauron’s story discussed in Tolkien’s more obscure works are probably best not known prior to watching this IMO. If lore changes for dramatic effect then fine but we’ll see how it progresses. Supposedly five seasons are already approved.

I was blown away by first few shows. I don’t like knowing what’s going to happen…
 

Pompous Elitist said:
If you haven’t seen GOT I’m not sure HOD will make as much sense but it probably stands on its own alright. This is “adult” fantasy in every sense of the word whereas LOTR is PG.

If you need a reason to do it HBO Max has very high quality content and a ton of it. I’m also going to check out OPEC+ 😂
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GoT/HotD are barely fantasy, to me. More like medieval historical fiction. Yes, you need magic for dragons and white walkers to exist, sure.

But nowhere near the amount of magic that is constantly used in LotR.

If you can't tell, I'm not a big fan of magic as a plot device or MacGuffin.
 

Gophers_4life said:
GoT/HotD are barely fantasy, to me. More like medieval historical fiction. Yes, you need magic for dragons and white walkers to exist, sure.

But nowhere near the amount of magic that is constantly used in LotR.

If you can't tell, I'm not a big fan of magic as a plot device or MacGuffin.
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Let your inner 12 year old out….

Did you watch ROP yet?
 




Well, I did watch the "free" episode of HOtD on YouTube.

I liked it. because it's a prequel to GOT, I didn't really need to know that stuff, other than a general idea of the world and some of the main families.

In the end, it just comes down to setting priorities for the budget. there are plenty of shows out there I'd like to watch - but then I'm signing up for HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, Peacock,
Netflix, Showtime........and where does it end?

plus, I'm still paying for my municipal cable TV system. have to draw the line somewhere.

unless I win the Publishers' Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. then I'm going for the 120" TV and all the streaming I can handle.
 






short ornery norwegian said:
Well, I did watch the "free" episode of HOtD on YouTube.

I liked it. because it's a prequel to GOT, I didn't really need to know that stuff, other than a general idea of the world and some of the main families.

In the end, it just comes down to setting priorities for the budget. there are plenty of shows out there I'd like to watch - but then I'm signing up for HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, Peacock,
Netflix, Showtime........and where does it end?

plus, I'm still paying for my municipal cable TV system. have to draw the line somewhere.

unless I win the Publishers' Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. then I'm going for the 120" TV and all the streaming I can handle.
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One solution could be just to sign up for one streaming service a couple months at a time and watch the movies and tv shows you are interested in. Then unsubscribe and move on the the next streaming service. That or share passwords with good friends/family. There are a ridiculous amount of streaming services now.
 



Where in the timeline compared to the movies does Ring of Power take place?
 





mnsportsgeek said:
Same. I've been sitting on the Sopranos and the Wire for a long time.
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I had never watched one minute of The Sopranos until about 9 months ago. Finished it about 6 months ago. It was really good, but I'll still take Breaking Bad over it 10 times out of 10.
 

mnsportsgeek said:
Same. I've been sitting on the Sopranos and the Wire for a long time.
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There is definitely a moment of sadness when completing one of the all-timer series and knowing it is no more. In my case most memorable would be BB, BCS, GOT, Dark (German language version), Seinfeld, or Stranger Things when that happens. One can only endure so many final episodes.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Where in the timeline compared to the movies does Ring of Power take place?
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In lore it is set thousands of years before Lord of the Rings but the timelines have been massaged and altered and there are allegedly upcoming character appearances way out of sequence which is what has set many of the purists off. This is why it’s best to not research Tolkien lore or read the obscure books and have expectations.

Most of the reviews I’ve seen reference lack of allegiance to lore, or “it’s boring” which I disagree with. Maybe a generational thing.

The racism stuff is probably present to some small degree but I’d say it‘s more people just don’t like Amazon, or Bezos, or are looking for a convenient target. I suspect the show will have enormous viewership.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
In lore it is set thousands of years before Lord of the Rings but the timelines have been massaged and altered and there are allegedly upcoming character appearances way out of sequence which is what has set many of the purists off. This is why it’s best to not research Tolkien lore or read the obscure books and have expectations.

Most of the reviews I’ve seen reference lack of allegiance to lore, or “it’s boring” which I disagree with. Maybe a generational thing.

The racism stuff is probably present to some small degree but I’d say it‘s more people just don’t like Amazon, or Bezos, or are looking for a convenient target. I suspect the show will have enormous viewership.
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That's definitely not me so I'm good there. I've never read any of the books.
 

GophersInIowa said:
That's definitely not me so I'm good there. I've never read any of the books.
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They are classics, but super dry. Even as an aficionado of the genre they are far more “boring” than ROP the show IMHO.

That said, I’m pretty easy going. I remember when the new Star Trek movies came out the purists were mad about X or Y or Z. I thought they were great, fun movies. People are weird.




 
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Pompous Elitist said:
They are classics, but super dry. Even as an aficionado of the genre they are far more “boring” than ROP the show IMHO.

That said, I’m pretty easy going. I remember when the new Star Trek movies came out the purists were mad about X or Y or Z. I thought they were great, fun movies. People are weird.




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Well, I'm a guy who owns a first edition of The Silmarillion (and I've actually read it, 3 times!) and I'm looking forward to ROP. I'm sure that, like LOTR movies, there will be things that offend my inner nerd but should still be good.

The Hobbit movies though. I don't entirely blame Jackson but lord, that could have been one great movie or two decent movies. We got three...
 

Frink said:
Well, I'm a guy who owns a first edition of The Silmarillion (and I've actually read it, 3 times!) and I'm looking forward to ROP. I'm sure that, like LOTR movies, there will be things that offend my inner nerd but should still be good.

The Hobbit movies though. I don't entirely blame Jackson but lord, that could have been one great movie or two decent movies. We got three...
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There wasn't enough content for 3 Hobbit movies. Ugh.

I'm enjoying the show so far, but I won't if they change the history and timelines.
 

TruthSeeker said:
There wasn't enough content for 3 Hobbit movies. Ugh.

I'm enjoying the show so far, but I won't if they change the history and timelines.
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Yep. Money spoke, then there was the problem of an unhealthy Jackson having to step in for Guillermo Del Toro and so we got lot's of shitty CGI filler and pointless characters. Sad thing is I thought Martin Freeman was a great choice for Bilbo and I like the guy the got for Thorin as well.
 

Frink said:
Well, I'm a guy who owns a first edition of The Silmarillion (and I've actually read it, 3 times!) and I'm looking forward to ROP. I'm sure that, like LOTR movies, there will be things that offend my inner nerd but should still be good.

The Hobbit movies though. I don't entirely blame Jackson but lord, that could have been one great movie or two decent movies. We got three...
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Yeah,The Hobbit was less than great and also took some liberties with source material IIRC. Probably suffered some in the shadow of LOTR. I also recall some absurd CGI and battle sequences that were laugh out loud over the top and not in a good way. While the LOTR trilogy has high rewatch value the Hobbit has only been seen once, here. It’s hard to make book adaptations even for the best.
 

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