[Omniscient]

So I didn't rush to watch this the first day. Previews it looks really good to me. Big fan of all the movies and watch them all at least once a year. And yes, I did read the books many years ago.

I was looking at Rotten Tomatoes after a couple days of the launch and I see all these negative reviews. RT says the show (after 2 episodes) had a 38% audience rating (now 39%). Told the wife who is also a huge fan and I was willing to skip watching it based on the reviews I had read by viewers.

Wife still wanted to watch it, so yesterday, we did.

WHAT THE FUCK! The show is fine, it's good, why are people hating so badly on this? We don't get it.

Forbes wrote up something about it. Apparently Amazon suspended reviews of the show too.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2...f05235762f

Things cited in the Forbes article seems to include racism where there are black elves and dwarves but ugh...so what? I also didn't read anything like that at RT. Unsure if this is the real reason.

Seems like certain people feel this disrespects Tolkien's work. I disagree. Also Tolkien is dead so I'm fairly sure he's not offended.

If you watched the show, what did you think so far?

EDIT: Also want to mention my first thought about the bad reviews is either HBO or Apple botting the reviews to make sure the show isn't a success. If it wins a ton of awards and fans it could hurt GoT franchise some.

[Wafflemonger]

I'm not sure why no one has posted on this thread yet. I so far very much like the writing. The story has grabbed my attention and I find myself wishing there were more episodes out.

There's been no PC pushed down people's throats outside of literally a skin colour ... which for some things doesn't matter. The only issue I do have is all dwarves should have beards, regardless of male and female. That is ingrained into who they are as a culture/civilization. A dwarf without a beard isn't a dwarf at all.

[Evading]

I'm really enjoying it so far.
Some people have nothing better to do than complain and nitpick.

[Wafflemonger]

I really enjoyed it. - Slow start but that's why they released 2 episodes I guess.

I'd love to have watched it on an 8k monitor with the beautiful scenery. - I expected nothing less with LOTR.

Looking forward to EP.3

Ah! That's one of the things I love the most about it so far is the feeling that some scenes create. Water scenes are (usually) very tense, open world is magical/wonderful. I hope things stay the course and don't get derailed like so many other things do.

I think I read they're planning to do 50 episodes?

[еlixir]

WHAT THE FUCK!  The show is fine, it's good, why are people hating so badly on this?  We don't get it. 

100,000% I don't understand it either. The acting, cinematography, and writing are great! I have small grips, but nothing compared to what people are saying. Who cares if drawf women are supposed to have beards?

I LOVED Spoiler (Click to View)Khazad' Dum and the dynamic between Elrond and Durin. The acting really sealed it for me, especially their conversation at dinner.

[Omniscient]

Who cares if drawf women are supposed to have beards?

Or that she was black? And yes, I noticed she had no beard too. Big whoop, so it wasn't 100% on all aspects.

[еlixir]

Or that she was black?  And yes, I noticed she had no beard too.  Big whoop, so it wasn't 100% on all aspects.

Introducing people of color in this universe was long overdue. It doesn't feel forced in Rings of Power and I think it enriches the world. Shiiittt. I'm pretty sure that 70s animated Aragorn was native American.

[Do You Want To Bet]

didn't know this was a thing will go check it out thanks

[007]

So I’ve watched the first two episodes and the show is genuinely good.

The hate is all coming from Tolkien refusing to add black or LGBTQ characters in the books, and the vast majority of fans have then decided to boycott this series as they’re not sticking to the original books but giving their own twist to it.

I personally don’t mind it all, it does seem they just add a single black person per race like they’re trying to show they’re including black persons rather than just casting who’s best for the job. Although after 20 mins of watching I didn’t even fully notice it anymore.

I think the rotten tomatoes is genuinely racism, people don’t want black actors for LOTR. I’m guessing over the next few months, as more people will watch the series (as it’s not marketed that heavily and most people I’ve spoken to personally didn’t know about the existence of it) the rating will go up as well, as again, the show is great so far.

[Vibe]

Haven’t watched it heard it was good but I did see a lot of people mad about black peoples in it saying the same thing about disrespecting toilken.
Honestly probably gonna be the first lord of rings installmrnt I ever watch, seems crazy to hate a movie solely because black actors are in it

[Aeowulf]

Yeah... the hate is way overblown. It's good. It starts like you would expect. You have to build to something, not get blown over the 1st episode. People are ridiculous.

[Wilmer]

I've watched the first few episodes as well. The writing and acting just felt a little subpar to me especially in comparison to all the classic LotR movies. Just my opinion.