Hard not to see it as a laundering/write off scheme. I'm not an accountant but.. it just seemed strange.. all the emphasis on cost when the cast is all no name, the sets/wardrobe could look pretty cheap, and inconsistent cgi quality.
Honestly they probably don't care about the real figures only the ones they hoped you would believe. Amazon are a bunch of disgusting liars especially the so called super fans or as I refer to them super wankers.
My 74 year old mother in law who has read Tolkien longer than I've been alive made it 10 minutes into Episode 1 and turned it off. Even she says it's not LOTR. Amazon messed with a fandom that spans every age group.
Hey, I'm 73 and an original fan of the books (I bought my my three volume hardbacks in 1965), and I feel the same way. The Amazon show was such shite that I just couldn't take it seriously. Even the lead-up was enough to put me off before it even started.
Same here, I'm 65 and a life-long Tolkien fan. My sons are in their mid-40's and they're both Tolkien fans. Not a one of us made it past the first episode. Amazon made a mockery of Tolkien's work. Will never forgive them for this.
@@stevenlowe3026 65 here ...ive owned many copies of the books over the years but always remember the first time...1967 i found The Hobbit in the children's section of the library but LOTR was in the adult section not being aware it wasn't allowed i tried to take it out and had the great luck of having a librarian who was a fan of Tolkien who allowed me to
I live in England and went to Oxford for the first time this weekend. I took the bus to the cemetery north of town and put flowers on Tolkien's grave today. It was very quiet and peaceful. Thank you for fighting the good fight for us and for him.
I go to Oxford every couple of years for a day out (I only live an hour or so away) and usually pop into the Eagle & Child to raise a pint to Lewis & Tolkien when I do. I never realised the great man was buried there.
I was a huge Tolkien nerd growing up. Read The Hobbit as a kid, LotR in middle school, Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales in high school. I've read each of them multiple times. I even read a bunch of those companion/making of books compiled by Christopher Tolkien. I saw Fellowship in theatres on opening day, and then I saw it in theatres *another 8 times* I have not watched one second of Rings of Power. First of all, they made it clear they did not want people like me watching. Okay then. Second of all, it's not canon, so who cares. Amazon just made some bad, expensive fanfics. Yawn.
Same exact thoughts. Really sucks tho, even tho the 1st and 2nd age aren't perfect for a series' format. They still serve some interesting moments and events. I would love to see a show on Netflix with shortfilms depicting actual canon events in those 2 ages. But obviously without the rights that is gonna remain a fantasy for now.
Same dude, same, saw all 3 in cinema the day they released and read both the hobbit and LotR in my 5th year of school (Tried Silmarillion but that shiz broke my brain at that age). Haven't sat down to watch a second of the RoP show. As soon as I heard Amazon was making this a tv series I knew it was going to become a shame.
The funny thing is, lord of the rings was ALWAYS for everyone. It sold globally and was translated into so many languages. It's timeless. It appealed to a huge swathe of people. All they had to do was produce what was already there not force a fashionable trend into it.
Yea but that would make sense and these companies are not interested in any of that, only virtue signaling to braindead turds that won’t even watch the show anyways because all these pathetic people want is representation. Then they move on to go and destroy another franchise that is ignoring them. Rinse and repeat.
I'm Turkish and me and my older sister have been Lord of the rings fans since we were kids thanks to the original trilogy. I couldn't care less about the race of the characters. The writing I timeless, it doesn't need a modern woke update.
Then again, Tolkien's most quoted phrase triumphs again. Evil cannot create new things, it will take things from the good, and ruin them. Kudos to Amazon for making such a homage to that statement
@@paulelroy6650 Close enough it is. Tolkien's actual "words" are far more apt to the situation. But the essential point is unmarred, even through slaughtered layman verbiage.
Amazon's project is one of the major reasons that paraphrase is all over the place. My (personal, subjective) observation is that the Tolkien fandom picked it up because of _RoP_ and then liberally applied it to their other fandoms.
Not to mention that they said Tolkien's work tends to draw fascists to it, at a time when they were supposed to be marketing the show to Middle Earth fans.
As they lead every major crime statistic and prove every single stereo type true. Let's not focus on our own actions when we can just blame the white male for all our woes. smh
@@Mithrandir694 Uuuuhhm, it does draw fascists to it though. Don't get me wrong, I love LOTR but we don't have to deny reality. I also like Warhammer 40k, but there are absolutely deranged Nazis that also like it. The fact that you are taking this as an attack on yourself is a bit of a self-report.
@@wfb.subtraktor311 it is still a very dumb to say that in marketing. Most fans are not fascists or nazis and saying that insinuates that people criticizing it are those things.
@@faidzeelhisyamhattar2133 no, the show sucking real hard is decided by the fandom. they did not respect the verse. Thus they messed with the wrong people. It isn't a "small factor".
They are. This isn't incompetence, at least not solely or even chiefly. They hate Tolkien and what he stands for and the hate the people who love his work for what it truly is. They like trying to destroy properties like this. It's political/ideological and it is malicious.
Gary missed one thing: Even the focus groups was telling Amazon what the right path was and Sulke ignored that for Creatives who thought they knew better. But at least they gave Nerdrotic great content!!
Tolkien’s family deserve the biggest grilling of them all. Of all parties involved, they’re the worst. Amazon not caring about Tolkien’s works is kind of expected but Tolkien’s family not caring about his works is just abhorrent.
On the contrary, i haven’t read the original books. This series makes me want to dive into the world and understand what all this fuss is about. There is a scene where Elrond, an elf which is known for their integrity and pureness, is faced with a reality where if he holds on to his old ways of communicating, of politeness, his race will be wiped out. He learns to change his communication style, relying on white lies, highly unlikely of an elf, in order to gain Durin’s trust. He also needs to hide certain matters from the high elves because he took an oath with durin and swears that he wouldn’t mention anything about mythril. How is he able to make both parties happy? This could al be a misinterpretation of what the elves are all about which is why i want to dive into the books.
@@arcegajuanjosThe problem I'm having here is, if I remember correctly, that elves and dwarves are supposed to still be enemies because of some actions done by both races in the past (in Silmarillion) and to my understanding Legolas and Gimli were the first ones to overcome this hatred by becoming friends in LOTR. The showrunners just wanted to appeal to the fans by bringing elven-dwarvish friendship to ROP too, as well as they did with the hobbits aka harfoots.
@@TheNiennaTasartir the series shows you that the dwarves and the elves don't like each other. it is only Elrond that has a soft heart for Durin and they become friends. Elrond is also half elf.
I am torn between feeling satisfied that the show flopped as hard as it did and angry that it has to exist in the first place. I think I will stick with the former, knowing that there are fans like me out there. Cheers to being a part of a steadfast fan base! 🍾
i'm kind of happier it flopped, because it proves that Tolkien is the one IP you cannot fuck with and hope to profit All the time and money Amazon spent trying to push it's narrative..... and the neckbeards win in the end
The people who create this crap feed off of anger and outrage; it's the only way to provoke the attitudes they insist are prevalent. Without it, their projection is exposed utterly. Refusing to play into the manipulation can only aid in their implosion, so as mean-spirited it admittedly is to bask in the heat of their self-immolation, they've thoroughly earned it. Everyone point and laugh.
What stand? It just wasn't a good show so most people stopped watching it. They made a show for Twitter complainers who would never watch this kind of show even if it was good. Those people complain for a living, love being victims, and quickly move on without actually supporting the garbage they push others to make.
There was no doubt in my mind it would do it. I am not a fan of LOTR, but I know of how much lore is important, how amazingly detailed it is and how not woke it is. Contrary to Star Wars fans, that still gave the benefit of the doubt to wokewood after TFA, LOTR fans did not waste their times on this. Well done.
@IBZ You clearly don't understand how we, the Tolkien fandom, operate, then. I've reread all five books (including The Silmarillion) every year for four decades.
Amazon underestimated how loyal our fandom is. How dedicated we are to Tolkiens world and how far we’ll go to protect it, even when the Tolkien estate won’t.
Tolkin was taping into what makes Europeans , Europeans . Lotr is part of our European soul , this is why we feel very connected to the themes and archtypes and why it's such a huge hit . Most don't get that this is a assault on who we are as Europeans , this is why we are upset about all this.
Let’s take a medieval fantasy world and turn it into 2020’s woke political statement. You just erase this from memory and hopefully someone will do it right someday.
Their entire diversity marketing strategy was cringeworthy, particularly because some of their claims, like Lemonlas being the "first elf of color," were factually incorrect, as Kristen Wilson had already played an elf 23 years earlier in Dungeons & Dragons.
The actors and studio and writers aren't diverse at all. They all say the same things, think the same way, believe the same things. They're robots. They can't listen or understand or form independent thought. They aren't diverse, and they're barely human.
Thar film I will always remember for "I had just bought a castle in Scotland and needed the money to fund the works needed"??? No wonder even the masters of true and veracity rried to hide it in the shadows of forgotten craps
@@booshmcfadden7638 Exactly. Only other people who dont like or can think can even listen to their garbage. People not thinking is how we ended up where we did as a society.
I remember seeing an article claiming that "The Rings of Power" was a full-blown culture phenomenon. After snickering, I thought, "So now a cultural phenomenon is no longer something that genuinely takes popular cultural by storm. It's now a marketing strategy."
Who's cultural phenomenon though and how is that judged? Because they most certainly weren't listening to the culture the bloody thing originated from and who you'd think they'd want to impress more than anyone. Instead they used the istaphobe card on them for pointing out cultural mistakes. Phenomenon my bare backside!
The cultural phenomenon was a tidal wave of money flooding the coffers of any reviewer and article writer willing to sing the praises of the show and/or call anyone else who didn't praise it some sort of toxic name.
yep same.. since i've boycotted Amazon totally (having cancelled my Prime as well) I've been able to support lots of smaller retailers while refusing to support Bozos and his evil corp
I miss the days when giant soulless corporations only cared about profitability as opposed to political messaging. Maybe losing several billion will remind them that they’re supposed to be making money - not hemorrhaging money.
I have no doubt all this money they lose is being paid back in dividends by the globalists as thanks for being good little pawns. Sure a true economy should work by free market standards, but when they just print money or lend money they don't even have(fractional reserve lending). Voting with dollars ceases to be a thing on the large scale.(Even more so when they actively seek to kill the dollar to replace it with a digital counterpart that they have complete control over). At that point it is more about influence and connections then it is about fiat. If "go woke, go broke" was true then you wouldn't see pretty much every company doing it. No the root of this evil is much deeper, and boycotts won't be enough to change course.
@@TheChurlishBoor Hollywood accounting. The real question is how high up are the pockets into which the cash is flowing.
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the only reason for corps to do political messaging is because they think it will make them money. they don't believe in the ideology they pushh and this is why is feels so wrong even if they are pushing actually good ideas.
The company made over $513B last year, up from $470B last year. Thinking it's going anywhere is kind of a laughable cope. They're clearly just going to write off whatever loses are incurred.
@@KSmithwick1989 yeah but bad pr can ruin stock value. Especially if the facts are clearly stating they failed. Not gonna topple the wall in a day, but they sure felt the warning shake. They invested and didn't make any of the liquidity they hopped for.
Did they truly think they could mess with a fandom that loves Tolkien's work like its their own child? That classic "toxic community" doesnt work in LOTR fandom. Everyone knows that this fandom is one of the most welcoming one. The only thing they had to do was not disrespect Tolkien. The audacity to invade a fandom and demand from them to love the modern changes they made baffles me.
...and it is a diverse fandom! Around the globe, all ages, all skin colours, humans with every chromosome combination. Because it is fantastic world with great stories.
....they honestly thought that since the name was on it you and your kind would slop it up and beg for more. Think how women HAVE to have an Apple phone, and not just any phone but the newest one that just came out. That is their logic.
Bcus the showrunners are spoiled rich brat that shouldnt even be hired in the first place. They are amateurs and the fact they were even chosen to run the most expensive show in history baffles me. Common sense was thrown out the window. With that much budget they could have hired peter jackson to run it. But nah. I'm convinced tha the show was spearheaded by one of the nepo woke kids that identify themselves as a victim to fit in and now tries to act like some self righteous white knight that will make the most expensive show the most woke show in history bcus he or she thinks they are frida kahlo.
Everyone knows that this fandom is one of the most welcoming one. yes :) We are mostly peaceful hobbits as long as the newcomers dont like to destroy the Shire alright? :)
What kind of torques me off is the idea that having a husband robs a woman of her agency. I think having a healthy relationship with your husband is the highest level of agency a woman can have. You're choosing an incredibly important person in your life- the father of your children (should you want any) and the person you're spending years in the same house with. You're continuing to choose to love each other each and every day. How is that not expressing agency?
The funniest thing about this whole situation to me is that Salke cancelled an in production for Amazon, 'Conan The Barbarian' show due to there being too much 'toxic masculinity.' The showrunner for that show was the guy who ended up being the showrunner for House of the Dragon. So she created her own competition. Amazon gets RoP, and HBO gets HotD, all because of Salke. She should be fired for that blunder alone.
@@jonfreeman9682 The Harfoots alone render Rings of Power an irredeemable mess. The show will only get worse- either because Amazon doubles down, or slashes funding.
@@jonfreeman9682 that is some bizarrely naive optimism Not hitting it out of the park every time means one bad episode out of eight. When all eight suck then its just a bad project that deserves to be trashed
The gaslighting got really old years ago. "How can you know it's bad? Did you watch the whole thing 25 times!?" I don't need to eat an entire wheelbarrow full of cow crap to find out if it is, in fact, cow crap. I can see it and smell it. RoP is a wheelbarrow full of cow crap.
I think the business model for Amazon and Disney is make garbage, lose truckloads of money yet somehow still exist as a company. It's worked for Sears.
The banality of evil is fascinating to see in real time. All that money, all those lies, all that power...and this thing ended up being its own worst enemy.
Because they don't care about lore of quality, but only about pushing a certain radical political agenda. The funny thing is that such agenda, being openly hostile towards the main potential target audience for those intellectual properties, regularly leads to bombs and tens or hundred millions dollar losses for those malicious companies.
I remember watching an interview in which it was said that the writers were chosen, despite their lack of work experience, for their extensive knowledge of the lore. Gotta know it to break it i guess...
People just gathered together and had splitted amazon money among'em. No one gives a crap bout that show. Just look at the cast: its a bunch of cheap noones who work for food.
It was rough last year, fighting to reject this abomination. I was almost completely alone within my personal circles in understanding the devastating cultural impact it would have if no one stood against it, but the Fellowship united and stood strong. We have spoken and we don't want this. We won't accept this. We will fight for what we love even as we're spat on, villainized and attempts are made to silence us. Keep going, Fellowship. The battle is long, but there is still good in this world and it's worth fighting for.
Pikilloification, that's the kind of attitude that allowed the Left to win the culture war in the US. It's also the reason why Gary makes these videos. If we "just ignore it" then they win and our culture just becomes more and more leftist. It's easy to think that Hollywood and pop culture doesn't matter, but their influence on American culture and political support is huge.
@@sojoNIN A show based on the appendices of Lord of the Rings could have been good. A show based on the appendices of Lord of the Rings made in our current era by Amazon or Disney couldn't.
They had the budget, they could build huge sets, armor/weapons with insane amount of details etc. and they choose to do T-shirt prints and tons of bad CGI. W T F
@@Zathren Literally not getting a couple of nobodies because they're friends with JJ Abrams to head a 1 billion dollar project would have helped it massively.
I love when Gary goes full scorched earth and reveals all the discrepancies of the media with facts and numbers. Glorious. Never let them forget their manipulation and lies.
@@whitleybayman123 Keep peddling the lies for those shill dollars. (What does shilling pay BTW? I've got some big jobs to do round the house and could do with some extra cash.)
Recently I watched LOTR again. Such joy to be simply entertained with a well crafted story and not be lectured all the time. It’s not me being old and harking back to times past; they just made things without an agenda and focused on good writing and good acting.
@@jonfreeman9682 Maybe you should try to understand the critics instead of ignoring them or you just end up beeing ignorant about everything and entitled to your own opinion.
@@jonfreeman9682 if it was an original and LOTR never existed then you’d be right. But it’s a diluted cash grab and an embarrassment. A massive failure.
However I loved it when Galadriel used the force to destroy the deathstar while yelling "with great power comes great responsibility" - truly an inspiring moment in cinema history.
The best thing to come out of wokewood was the amazing real critics we ended up founding. I have so many to entertain me I don't need wokewood, save for them to keep producing crap movies.😂
MY FIRST POST - Hey Gary, my wife and I are not hard core LOTR fans, just admirers of the genre. But we probably represent 100's of thousands of folks just like us. So we tuned in to LOTR ROP a couple days, maybe a week after release. The first episode was kinda dragging and the one thing I remember saying to her was " I just don't get a Tolkien vibe here" and my wife agreed. we fell asleep because it was late and the next night I asked if she wanted to resume the show and she said no. I agreed and we never watched it again. I think we're a microcosm of many, many households. Amazon just couldn't set the hook. Lame!
I already left a comment, but you get a second one. Thanks for remembering us 3 Robert Jordan fans. I read my first book as a loner geek in middle school and my last book in Afghanistan as a lonely single soldier. I thought when the show was announced I could be less lonely for the first time since the 90's. Oh boy was I wrong. Props to Disparu for being the only guy to cover that raping.
At first I was excited. Then as it got closer I got concerned enough to decide not to watch it and wait for word of mouth. From word of mouth from the 1st episode I was so glad I did. It saved from seeing what they did to it first hand and the anguish that would have brought.
Luthien Tinuviel is Tolkien’s creation who is an OP half Elf/Maia who goes on an adventure and saves her boyfriend 3-4 times, defeats Sauron in a sing off and even challenges Morgoth. They had their woke story on a silver platter man…and it’s arguably Tolkien’s best story despite the fact it wasn’t pushing feminist agenda, it was just interested in being a good story that happened to be a different take on the traditional Fantasy Tale
realistically speaking, they couldn't have done much better than they did. At least lore wise. There's just not enough in the apendices to make a multi season series of, and filling in the gaps with the proper lore would be adapting the Silmarillion, whose rights they don't own. It was basically between being sued for millions for copyright infringment or making up new stories and populating them with mostly new characters, at most going from apendix name drop to apendix name drop. Tragically, they _could_ have had *all* the diversity they could ever want by making up stories about the blue wizards in the east and south and not go against the cannon because even Tolkien barely wrote about them. Thing is, making up entirely new cultures and making them fit seamlessly into a work like Tolkie's would be hard. Modern hacktivists prefer their virtue signalling to be easy and quick (and paid by with someone else's money if possible) so they take the lazy way out and sprinkle _diversity_ into existing fundations.
Honestly I wanted this to be amazing. I ignored all talk and hype, wanting to feel the magic I felt when LOTR first released. I didn’t finish the second episode. Immediately went online to try to find an answer to why I was bored and why this didn’t feel like LOTR. Silver lining, if Amazon haven’t released this footage of the Hindenburg burning, I may never have found FNT. Tolkien fans United and collectively said, “ You shall not pass”. You amazing people.
Wait a second. Are you saying you found critics like Nerdrotic AFTER you tried watching the show and realized it was horrible? That's funny, I've been reliably informed by RoP shills that critics of RoP are nothing but empty-headed buffoons who wouldn't know what to think without people like Nerdrotic telling us. Hmm. It's almost as if RoP shills are full of ----
Same. I don't want properties I love to fail, I want them to be great, I want to love them. When I can't even get midway through a series, I feel sadness and disappointment, not gloating. But it is what it is, and I think these studios are going to have to go broke or almost broke before they accept that they need to give fans what they want, if they want their shows and movies to succeed.
Lol, I do find it amusing you literally didn't even it half the run-time of the first movie before you already pre-judged the entire series. I wonder why though, and why you felt accepted in having an opinion about them online before watching them to make your own judgements.
@@tanepukenga1421 It is what it is man. It's the Sowrunners job to keep us invested, not ours. It's not the first show I've felt the OP's frustration that someone if not everyone seems to have fumbled the ball with a cherished IP or genius core premise and it won't be the last. I didn't jump on the hate train. Just stopped watching, but couldn't help but watch in horrorified amusement for a while as it tore Middle Earth fan bases down the middle as I'm a nerd who's part of a fair few fan pages.
The films are just so charming. I heard of Lord of the Rings but never knew anything about it. Then I got a VHS copy of the first film. I was instantly hooked. I immediately watched the other two in the cinema and bought them on DVD the day they both released. To me it is the best fantasy trilogy in the history of film. You get this warm feeling inside when you watch them. They have everything you need from a film.
Those of us who grew up with the books knew that the films were treated with care, by one who respects the material. Hell, I even loved The Hobbit films, the ones where Legolas randomly is involved and breaks physics. Because they at least respect and expand upon the material in a way that proves they care about it.
Im not a rabid Tolkien fan in comparison to some, but I have immense respect for the professor. Id have to say the Tolkien fandom defeated the beast of amazon and their marketing propaganda because it has the most intelligent fans. So hats off to you guys, I hope we see more blowback with other IP's. But im not holding my breath.
@@bbhjuan3451 I have a million dollars. I invest 100,000k into a product, expecting to get a profit. I actually get like 30,000k revenue, meaning I lost money hand over fist. I pump another 100,000k, to make more of the same product. And I will, again, lose money hand over fist. Eventually, I will have to stop making that product. Don't confuse the fact that I have a million dollars and can burn them, with whether or not I was defeated on the market place. I absolutely am, bleeding that much cash. And by me, I mean Amazon.
Shame is the lowest and strongest negative vibration a human being is capable of. Weaponizing it for the sake of protecting a toxic agenda is unforgiveable.
Tolkin was taping into what makes Europeans , Europeans . Lotr is part of our European soul , this is why we feel very connected to the themes and archtypes and why it's such a huge hit . Most don't get that this is an assault on who we are as Europeans .
Rings of power was so incredibly bad that from the first episode I couldn't believe it. I allowed myself to foolishly be optimistic of it and just couldn't beleive how naive I'd been
Remember also that 37% is probably also a lie. When the last episode debuted, a lot of people reported a bug that required them to restart at least once during viewing (doubling or tripling their actual view count).
At least the Rings of Power encouraged many people to either read the source material (including all the books, audio books and movies) for the first time or revisit it again. For me watching the PJ movies and reading the books is like visiting with an old dear friend. Thanks to Nerdrotic I also discovered the existence of the Chuck Dixon Hobbit graphic book.
My family rewatched the movies and I ordered a beautiful collector's edition of the books from somewhere other than Amazon. I already had a regular printing, but wanted something nicer to display on my bookshelves.
Back when episode one of Rings of Power premiered, I figured I’d give it a shot. During the first few scenes, I was captured by the beautiful scenery & CGI, as it certainly was a treat for the eyes… This of course, would eventually be overshadowed by the awful writing and empty dialogue. I kept waiting for things to get better, to start making sense - I really wanted to give it a chance. Then finally, about 20 minutes in, I ended up taking a big bong rip so I could block it out and continue enjoying the scenery 😵💫
I just have to wonder why writing and story telling in general seems to be laying a massive shit across media as a whole. Surely there are good writers out there. In fact, I bet there’s enough to go around. Why are the bad writers getting these jobs?
@@cardrave the didnt understand Tolkien language, they just made overly flowery dialogue not understanding flowerly writing NEED deep meaning otherwise its just bad poetry like the the is a tempest in me, and the why a boat floats. So everyone saw this and was like….this is Tolkien and deep. No one understood it so thought it was some masterwork Like a bad coverband, who tried to make new nirvana songs with hits like “the spirt of youth”
You're a man of your word. You said if they went after LotR you'd dedicate yourself to bringing them down and you have. Always enjoy your videos and you're just getting better.
The thing that makes me SO worried about these companies ruining beloved IP is that there is a good chance it will also prevent anyone from trying to revive it later on. In 20 years, someone will pitch a Witcher, or LOTR project and the higher-ups will shoot it down because "They tried that 20 years ago and it the fans didn't want it". Because we know how delusional hollywood can be and they will never learn their lesson.
I think there is a huge key point no one is talking about. When the show "aired" it sent everyone with the amazon app a notification about the show and if you clicked it it started to play. Also if you opened the amazon app at all it came with as soon as you opened it with a big ol play button and the closing X was very small and hard to find. I wonder if the views from these went into their view count.
@@headlinerbeats its not about properly measuring their views. its about claiming it was uber successful to get people to watch it to verify, so every single click no matter if it was 5 seconds or 50 minutes, it was counted.
I couldn't finish Rings of Power last year. So happy it's not just me; i kept watching thinking to myself "have I really changed so much that I find this dull and boring? Why does this suck so much now? Why can't I relate to any characters? Don't I enjoy the Lore anymore?"
I was recently voted "Best Person in the World, Ever" by a panel of experts. The vote was organised by this guy right here, with a panel of experts comprising me, myself, and I, while the entire process was overseen by yours truly to ensure that it was fair and accurate.
What a great victory! We must never let them forget it. Every time they try to do something like this, the RoP must be the go to example of how out of touch these people are with reality!!!
Saw a video today about The Rings of Power. Apparently, one of the reasons RoP was so expensive is because Amazon had hired Marketing Research firms to check how popular every decision made for RoP would be for every stage of production. And then the producers ignored everything said Research firms told them and doubled down on all the woke elements of the show.
I love Mauler's and EFAP's deep analytical approach, I love Drinker's brevity, on the point analysises, I love Gundam's sarcastic style, I love Little Platoon's eloquent videos, but you Gary, You are the Gandalf the White of nerdom: well researched, well informed, well presented.
All of us here in Tolkien's true fandom have somewhat been vindicated. After all the name calling and shaming Amazon tried to do to us, it bounced off us and stuck back on them. Some good came out of it though, I found your channel and a few others whose reviews I respect, (probably because they align with mine).
Well us true fans can appreciate a modern interpretation of Tolkien just like Disney offering a modern take on little mermaid. It'll get better next season and critics are being unduly harsh to generate material for click baits. Everyone is so quick to write the show off. It's only the first season. Give it a chance.
@@jonfreeman9682 I respectfully disagree, yet am pleased to hear you speak a different opinion. That is what makes us unique. The world would be a boring place if we were all alike. We obviously have different tastes. My complaints stem from the writing that felt juvenile and the changing of the entire time frame of The Masters works, regardless of anything critics said about it. I could not make it past the premier and will not be tuning in for a second season.
You have to wonder if Amazon is incentivized for tax/bookkeeping purposes to show massive expenses/losses. So they came up w/ the foolproof idea of launching Amazon originals.. it’s the only way I can wrap my head around it!
Salke’s background in marketing explains a lot. Much like Ava DuVernay wasn’t actually a filmmaker - she worked in PR. A decidedly mediocre director but a gifted self-publicist, which seemingly has resulted in an entire industry being terrified of upsetting her.
Hell if Hollywood gave me a chance I would gladly write/direct something and my background is a history teacher. I 100% believe I'd be able to create something that is better than Rings of Power.
@@jonfreeman9682 Of course, we all have to make a living and start somewhere. If someone showed amazing promise and imagination with their first projects it would be understandable how they carved out a successful career so quickly. But in DuVernay's case she is distinctly average, showed no interest in films until her 30s, has made largely forgettable films yet has huge power and influence within the industry. Her background in publicity and promotion surely has something to do with that.
@@cranp4764 Yes that's true. You raise a good point. The first step to greatness is passion for your work. I'm not sure what her background is but there's a lot of freeloaders in management who possess no talent themselves but piggyback on the talent of others. Sometimes they're the worst kinda freeloaders where they mess up projects by constantly interfering with the creative process.
Me looking at the Rings of Power series, scratching my head and wondering why they didn't just make a good quality show that respected Tolkien and his works:
The progressive left cannot do anything that doesn't continue to cram their lunacy down our throats. Profitability means nothing when there is an agenda to be advanced.
@@leadsin99er Ugh just reading that, even knowing you're joking, makes me sad. I don't watch fantasy shows to see THE MODERN ERA I watch it to escape somewhere ELSE! XD can't believe the people making these awful shows think crap like that.
@@CataclysmDM Yeah. I read much more sci-fi than fantasy, but I have similar problems. Most of the modern fantasy and sci-fi I bump into doesn't interest me because it's obvious right from the synopsis that it's some mix of "a movie script in prose form", a thriller, "contemporary urban-setting writing IN THE FUTURE!", and/or using "speculative fiction" to jump on the unimaginative dystopian future bandwagon that I'm well and truly tired of. Learn from the Pixar rule that says that your first X ideas should be throw out as too obvious. Get in the habit of second-guessing every word in every sentence in your outline to find novel interpretations. your novel should be novel! I don't need you to be the next Jules Verne or Larry Niven, but something that embraces that adventuresome tone is preferable. I don't need the next Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, but give me some comedy. You want to be character-focused? I don't need 12 Angry Men, but learn from David Weber's skill at writing stories that feel like the characters are central and they drive the plot, rather than the other way around and then write a synopsis that doesn't say "This is an argumentative essay in narrative form and my characters are a vehicle for that." I should not be able to feel the metaphor and symbolism all the way up in the synopsis. My brother might consider Anne McCaffrey's writing as "her rural setting, transposed into space" and find that deal-breaking, but, for me, it works well enough... unlike many modern authors.
It just amaze me that companies still are opting to go woke risking millions to pander to a 0.5% of the population!! They deserve everything they get!!
.5% make 95% of the noise but these companies can't differentiate the noise from the real people. I can't believe so many companies are going full wokey pokey.
The absolute best part of ROP was the absolute hysterical laughter we all got from Friday Night Tights going to town on it's cash-stuffed, bloated undead corpse.
Tolkien lore will always prevail. The world building of the books is still amazing. I love Jackson's trilogy and watch them with my family once a year but have to recognize how difficult it is to adapt his writings. The BBC did a radio drama based on Lord of the Rings in 1981 and it is still the best adaptation of the books (although it isn't my favorite). It still leaves out tons of content. If one was to adapt the books as close as possible, the pacing would be strange and difficult to decipher. I would still love to see it done in my lifetime.
Tolkien understood that himself and said as much in letters. That it would need to change yo be adapted to certain mediums. I really do think he would have enjoyed Jackson's take. Not that he wouldn't have issues with it, but would still think highly of it.
Just saw the return of the king extended cut at the cinema cause of the 20 year anniversary. Can't even put in words how much modern movies and shows has fallen or degenerated since that masterpiece.
I’m going to that anniversary showing this Thursday. I’m so looking forward to it and dressing up and having an amazing time with something good on screens.
Just finished The Two Towers, which I hadn't seen since back then. Adored it. I got through 1 and 1/2 epis of ROP. Was so boring. Absolutely terrible. Even for free...
@@Peter_Parker69 I remember reading/hearing about Jackson's LOTR and being involved in special effects and editing at the time. From memory, the film was shot in Super 35 then digitised while the CGI was done at 2k resolution. If it was recently shown in 4k, they could have simply up-rezzed it, or (more likely) did some computerised jiggery-pokery inside and between frames to fake a higher resolution. It is very unlikely (almost impossible) they redid all the CGI at 4k and re-edited the whole movie as a true 4k resolution..
I actually have a few ideas on how Amazon could fix the show for its final few seasons: 1) That fat black female dwarf character needs to be louder, angrier and have access to a time machine. 2) Whenever that fat black female dwarf character is not onscreen, all the other characters need to be asking "Where is that fat black female dwarf character?"
lol i agree 100%. look at the witcher! that show should easily go 7+ seasons and a massive hit but its turning into a massive dumpster fire. after season 3 when henry cavill is gone it will die out. because lets be honest the only reason anyone is going to watch it is to support him.
I tried a couple of times to watch. It was unwatchable. Read The Hobbit in 7th grade and loved all of the books. It got me into reading and I am forever grateful for that. I couldn’t follow the story, my wife was asking me questions and I am like “I have no idea”.
Watched the first two episodes with a friend, things didn't seem to flow well with me and it kept transitioning through multiple groups of characters I found to be extremely uninteresting and nothing really felt like anything Tolkien. The 'harfoot' story especially had me bored out of my mind. And I'm upset they ruined the character of Galadriel by turning her into a warrior. She was supposed to find her power in Wisdom, as the wisest among men!
@@christiangarizio7587 Tolkien described her as having the ability to be a warrior and actually fighting valiantly against the Feanorians at Alqualonde. So Tolkien obviously didn't have a problem with her being at, times, a warrior. That being said, "commander of the northern armies" is cringey bullshit and the show was a complete dumpster fire.
This series was absolutely a cultural phenomenon. A cautionary tale that will be passed down amongst producers, for generations to come; Or at least for several months.
We knew it was awful. They knew it was awful. Tolkien is laughing right now, knowing we fought for his ideas and his writing. We can rest for now, until we are called again, to fight for what's right...to defend the lore! Hail Nerdrotic! HAIL THE FELLOWSHIP!
The backlash would not have been as bad if they had been honest about...literally anything. They lied about everything from Tolkien, the books, the actors, the studio, the promos, the fans. All lies.
It’s what happens when corporations are in charge of storytelling. Look at what happened to Marvel (both the comics division and the studio) after Disney bought it. Look at Star Wars. All bought by corporations because they could, and they had no plan on what to do with them once they got them.
There is no life support as we are living truly in a golden age of TV. There's just too many shows so viewers jump all over the place. They shouldn't be looking at completion but viewing hours. All shows lose some fans but with next season it'll get better. Some of the biggest shows wasn't an instant success.
@@jonfreeman9682 Yeah, but when a show is getting dragged thru the mud and their is no good buzz about it, odds of success are extremely slim. Social media plays a big part in the success of anything.
"Claiming every single prime member watched it may have been a **bit** of a stretch." - Amazon "Season two will make up for everything by doubling down. That will teach you haters!" - Also Amazon, probably
*repeatedly kicks man in the balls* This is your fault. *kick* I'm not actually doing this. *kick* You're doing this. *kick* Ok. Maybe I am doing this. I promise I won't do it anymore. *kick* Season 2!
They count 2 minutes as a view. I know it showed up on mine in continue to watch and no one had willingly clicked watch. I saw several people saying the same thing was on theirs. The best people can figure out is they put it on auto play after every movie and show betting on people falling asleep or not noticing it was playing for at least 2 minutes.
This was the largest purposeful write off of all time. There is no way they spent 1B making this show. They spent no money on casting or costuming. And while the CGI looks good sometimes, other times it looks terrible. Can't help but think it was the plan all along. If not, everyone involved needs firing.
It's been revealed that no one trait pays attention at Amazon what they spend money on, and that people are overcharging Amazon because they know it's not going to help thier careers.
So much of that billion was straight up laundered into the pockets of higher ups, and no one can convince me different. There's a solid 500 to 600 million that just didn't go into the show. Because even with full marketing and everything, no way did S1 cost more than 400 million. And they supposedly dropped 1 billion on the season. Yeah, my ass lol. They pocketed the majority of it, 100%.
The problem with RoP and WoT is the writers / showrunners think they can 'improve' on the originals. There's a reason that Tolkein (and Jordan) have stood the test of time - they're masterful storytellers, whereas Payne & McKay and Judkins are talentless hacks who have bastardised their work. The only good thing to come out of either series was that I was forced to go back and re-read the source material to purge my brain of their garbage.
I got started on Tolkien by my year 7 teacher, who for a set time on set days, simply READ THE STORY to us. That was it. She obviously loved it. I was already an avid reader but hadn't read anything like this. She started with The Hobbit and then went on to Lord of The Rings. I still have vivid imagery in my mind from that. I can see the desolation of Smaug. I can see the battle at the Black Gate. All because a person simply shared this wonderful story that they were passionate about - and they kindled a life long passion. Amazon's approach couldn'tbe more different.
It's really impressive that even though I know some fantasy fans (including uber fans of PJ's LOTR) no one in Offline Land has ever mentioned this series to me. Mind you, some of these are people that order from Amazon frequently and thus were getting packages with RoP ads on them. It's like RoP has anti-hype. It's also impressive that with their huge budget they still managed to make the show look so cheap, what with the relatively few extras, bad costumes and few costume changes, woeful action scenes, few actual sets, many dull actors, etc. This vid was enlightening in showing how much Prime's general money mismanagement was to blame for the mismatch between money spent and money reflected onscreen.
Whenever I'm reminded of this Rings of Power stinker, I find solace in the fact that I purchased the extended original LOTR movies in blu ray, and every other year I start and complete the Journey with Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir.
I love medieval fantasy themes, and I can safely say that - unlike the directors of "Rings of Power" - I could make a series of this genre with diverse characters without ideology and without diminishing characters, regardless of who the hell they are. If the director of the recent John Wick pulled it off, then there's hope.
Their “Influencers” brought so much gravitas to the RoP Series. They were just as genuine as the attention to Tolkienian detail we witnessed on screen.
My favorite part was when Amazon lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
It is more like billions...
It cost them $1 billion just for the rights then another $1 billion too create the actual series...
Hard not to see it as a laundering/write off scheme.
I'm not an accountant but.. it just seemed strange.. all the emphasis on cost when the cast is all no name, the sets/wardrobe could look pretty cheap, and inconsistent cgi quality.
@@SuperJutah 250 mil for the rights, and budget is around 1-1.2 bil. Anyways its amazing to see this spectacular flop.
Drop in the bucket for Bezos. But still nice to see.
Honestly they probably don't care about the real figures only the ones they hoped you would believe. Amazon are a bunch of disgusting liars especially the so called super fans or as I refer to them super wankers.
My 74 year old mother in law who has read Tolkien longer than I've been alive made it 10 minutes into Episode 1 and turned it off. Even she says it's not LOTR. Amazon messed with a fandom that spans every age group.
All they had to do was improve on what peter jackson brought to life instead they just alienated everyone
Hey, I'm 73 and an original fan of the books (I bought my my three volume hardbacks in 1965), and I feel the same way. The Amazon show was such shite that I just couldn't take it seriously. Even the lead-up was enough to put me off before it even started.
Same here, I'm 65 and a life-long Tolkien fan. My sons are in their mid-40's and they're both Tolkien fans. Not a one of us made it past the first episode. Amazon made a mockery of Tolkien's work. Will never forgive them for this.
What is done to nearly all the fandoms is so disrespectful it's disgusting
@@stevenlowe3026 65 here ...ive owned many copies of the books over the years but always remember the first time...1967 i found The Hobbit in the children's section of the library but LOTR was in the adult section not being aware it wasn't allowed i tried to take it out and had the great luck of having a librarian who was a fan of Tolkien who allowed me to
I live in England and went to Oxford for the first time this weekend. I took the bus to the cemetery north of town and put flowers on Tolkien's grave today. It was very quiet and peaceful. Thank you for fighting the good fight for us and for him.
Re Magdelene college and their denial of English tradition and history.
what a legend
I go to Oxford every couple of years for a day out (I only live an hour or so away) and usually pop into the Eagle & Child to raise a pint to Lewis & Tolkien when I do. I never realised the great man was buried there.
God bless you!
Legend
I was a huge Tolkien nerd growing up. Read The Hobbit as a kid, LotR in middle school, Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales in high school. I've read each of them multiple times. I even read a bunch of those companion/making of books compiled by Christopher Tolkien. I saw Fellowship in theatres on opening day, and then I saw it in theatres *another 8 times*
I have not watched one second of Rings of Power. First of all, they made it clear they did not want people like me watching. Okay then. Second of all, it's not canon, so who cares. Amazon just made some bad, expensive fanfics. Yawn.
Same exact thoughts. Really sucks tho, even tho the 1st and 2nd age aren't perfect for a series' format. They still serve some interesting moments and events. I would love to see a show on Netflix with shortfilms depicting actual canon events in those 2 ages. But obviously without the rights that is gonna remain a fantasy for now.
Same dude, same, saw all 3 in cinema the day they released and read both the hobbit and LotR in my 5th year of school (Tried Silmarillion but that shiz broke my brain at that age). Haven't sat down to watch a second of the RoP show. As soon as I heard Amazon was making this a tv series I knew it was going to become a shame.
I watched every episode of this crap. But I felt like LotR was in no danger, because nobody can mistake this garbage for Tolkien's world.
Based
@@stephenlaing2152the Lord of the Rings films were very well done …. Are you suggesting otherwise??
The funny thing is, lord of the rings was ALWAYS for everyone. It sold globally and was translated into so many languages. It's timeless. It appealed to a huge swathe of people. All they had to do was produce what was already there not force a fashionable trend into it.
Fashionable trend with people who don't watch these types of shows.
Yea but that would make sense and these companies are not interested in any of that, only virtue signaling to braindead turds that won’t even watch the show anyways because all these pathetic people want is representation. Then they move on to go and destroy another franchise that is ignoring them. Rinse and repeat.
“It’s MA’AM!!!!”
A mostly white story isn't considered timeless for these nutjobs. Basically, racism on their part but they don't understand that yet.
I'm Turkish and me and my older sister have been Lord of the rings fans since we were kids thanks to the original trilogy. I couldn't care less about the race of the characters. The writing I timeless, it doesn't need a modern woke update.
Then again, Tolkien's most quoted phrase triumphs again. Evil cannot create new things, it will take things from the good, and ruin them. Kudos to Amazon for making such a homage to that statement
Indeed. 😎
and once again thats not tolkien quote
At least Sauron and Morgoth twisted pure beautiful things into cool gnarley things like balrogs. Amazon is worse than Morgoth confirmed.
@@paulelroy6650 Close enough it is. Tolkien's actual "words" are far more apt to the situation. But the essential point is unmarred, even through slaughtered layman verbiage.
Amazon's project is one of the major reasons that paraphrase is all over the place. My (personal, subjective) observation is that the Tolkien fandom picked it up because of _RoP_ and then liberally applied it to their other fandoms.
Evil cannot create, it can only corrupt.
Yes, labelling your customers, calling them "patently evil" is the sure-fire way to endear yourself to them. 🤦
Amazon says worse about those of us who work in the warehouses
Not to mention that they said Tolkien's work tends to draw fascists to it, at a time when they were supposed to be marketing the show to Middle Earth fans.
As they lead every major crime statistic and prove every single stereo type true. Let's not focus on our own actions when we can just blame the white male for all our woes. smh
@@Mithrandir694 Uuuuhhm, it does draw fascists to it though. Don't get me wrong, I love LOTR but we don't have to deny reality. I also like Warhammer 40k, but there are absolutely deranged Nazis that also like it. The fact that you are taking this as an attack on yourself is a bit of a self-report.
@@wfb.subtraktor311 it is still a very dumb to say that in marketing. Most fans are not fascists or nazis and saying that insinuates that people criticizing it are those things.
They messed with the wrong fandom. I’m so proud of us
"YOU FUCKED WITH THE WRONG MARINE!!"
The battle may be won, but the war is not over! STAY VIGILANT!
They messed with the wrong people is only a small factor that cause the RoP failure. The main cause is that the show simply suck-real-hard.
Yay, racist people pissed off that black people were dared to be included in something won. And you wonder why there's nazi's in the US.
@@faidzeelhisyamhattar2133 no, the show sucking real hard is decided by the fandom.
they did not respect the verse. Thus they messed with the wrong people. It isn't a "small factor".
I truly believe these people are evil. They knowingly lie and attempt to shame the people that call them out. That is evil.
Agreed! Accusing others of what you yourself are doing is a cornerstone of communism!
No to commie woke idiots and no to globalist elite spushing it
They are. This isn't incompetence, at least not solely or even chiefly. They hate Tolkien and what he stands for and the hate the people who love his work for what it truly is. They like trying to destroy properties like this. It's political/ideological and it is malicious.
The bad people lost this time, and they admit it. That is utterly delicious. It does put a big smile on my face. My day is getting better and better.
Yep.
"Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin good forces have invented or made"
Gary missed one thing: Even the focus groups was telling Amazon what the right path was and Sulke ignored that for Creatives who thought they knew better. But at least they gave Nerdrotic great content!!
Tolkien’s family deserve the biggest grilling of them all. Of all parties involved, they’re the worst. Amazon not caring about Tolkien’s works is kind of expected but Tolkien’s family not caring about his works is just abhorrent.
The apple fell far from the tree.
On the contrary, i haven’t read the original books. This series makes me want to dive into the world and understand what all this fuss is about. There is a scene where Elrond, an elf which is known for their integrity and pureness, is faced with a reality where if he holds on to his old ways of communicating, of politeness, his race will be wiped out. He learns to change his communication style, relying on white lies, highly unlikely of an elf, in order to gain Durin’s trust. He also needs to hide certain matters from the high elves because he took an oath with durin and swears that he wouldn’t mention anything about mythril. How is he able to make both parties happy?
This could al be a misinterpretation of what the elves are all about which is why i want to dive into the books.
@@arcegajuanjosThe problem I'm having here is, if I remember correctly, that elves and dwarves are supposed to still be enemies because of some actions done by both races in the past (in Silmarillion) and to my understanding Legolas and Gimli were the first ones to overcome this hatred by becoming friends in LOTR. The showrunners just wanted to appeal to the fans by bringing elven-dwarvish friendship to ROP too, as well as they did with the hobbits aka harfoots.
@@TheNiennaTasartir the series shows you that the dwarves and the elves don't like each other. it is only Elrond that has a soft heart for Durin and they become friends. Elrond is also half elf.
$250 million changes your outlook, I suspect.
I am torn between feeling satisfied that the show flopped as hard as it did and angry that it has to exist in the first place. I think I will stick with the former, knowing that there are fans like me out there. Cheers to being a part of a steadfast fan base! 🍾
i'm kind of happier it flopped, because it proves that Tolkien is the one IP you cannot fuck with and hope to profit
All the time and money Amazon spent trying to push it's narrative..... and the neckbeards win in the end
Why not BOTH?
I know how you feel mate, I feel that the age of streaming has been the worse thing to happen to "Western media!!"
The people who create this crap feed off of anger and outrage; it's the only way to provoke the attitudes they insist are prevalent. Without it, their projection is exposed utterly. Refusing to play into the manipulation can only aid in their implosion, so as mean-spirited it admittedly is to bask in the heat of their self-immolation, they've thoroughly earned it. Everyone point and laugh.
The trailer was enough for me, i don't even remenber it. pure garbage.
The stand the fandom made for Tolkien was heartwarming. Thanks for helping to lead the vanguard.
What stand? It just wasn't a good show so most people stopped watching it. They made a show for Twitter complainers who would never watch this kind of show even if it was good. Those people complain for a living, love being victims, and quickly move on without actually supporting the garbage they push others to make.
You are welcome ❤
@@iSOBigD Or like myself he is someone who has read Tolkien's masterpiece and doesn't want it bastardised by a woke elite.
@@iSOBigD What the f are you even blabberinga about? Are you on drugs or something? What stand???? Have you been in coma?
@@iSOBigD Most people who are big Tolkien fans never bothered to even watch ep1😂
As I've said before, if one fandom finally had the balls to stand up and say "enough", I'm glad it was the Tolkien one.
U know why? Bc the fandom spans generations.
There was no doubt in my mind it would do it. I am not a fan of LOTR, but I know of how much lore is important, how amazingly detailed it is and how not woke it is. Contrary to Star Wars fans, that still gave the benefit of the doubt to wokewood after TFA, LOTR fans did not waste their times on this.
Well done.
This time they fucked with a fandom that reads.
We've seen this story before. We read it in 3 volumes, and watched it in 3 movies. It's a pity that Amazon chose to play the Dark Lord in this one.
@IBZ You clearly don't understand how we, the Tolkien fandom, operate, then. I've reread all five books (including The Silmarillion) every year for four decades.
Amazon underestimated how loyal our fandom is. How dedicated we are to Tolkiens world and how far we’ll go to protect it, even when the Tolkien estate won’t.
Tolkin was taping into what makes Europeans , Europeans . Lotr is part of our European soul , this is why we feel very connected to the themes and archtypes and why it's such a huge hit . Most don't get that this is a assault on who we are as Europeans , this is why we are upset about all this.
Let’s take a medieval fantasy world and turn it into 2020’s woke political statement. You just erase this from memory and hopefully someone will do it right someday.
Their entire diversity marketing strategy was cringeworthy, particularly because some of their claims, like Lemonlas being the "first elf of color," were factually incorrect, as Kristen Wilson had already played an elf 23 years earlier in Dungeons & Dragons.
The actors and studio and writers aren't diverse at all. They all say the same things, think the same way, believe the same things. They're robots. They can't listen or understand or form independent thought. They aren't diverse, and they're barely human.
Lemonlas lol
Thar film I will always remember for "I had just bought a castle in Scotland and needed the money to fund the works needed"???
No wonder even the masters of true and veracity rried to hide it in the shadows of forgotten craps
@@booshmcfadden7638 Exactly. Only other people who dont like or can think can even listen to their garbage. People not thinking is how we ended up where we did as a society.
I remember that movie and remember the black elf. Jeremy Irons was the nemesis. How arrogant for these guys today to just shove her under the rug.
I remember seeing an article claiming that "The Rings of Power" was a full-blown culture phenomenon. After snickering, I thought, "So now a cultural phenomenon is no longer something that genuinely takes popular cultural by storm. It's now a marketing strategy."
Who's cultural phenomenon though and how is that judged? Because they most certainly weren't listening to the culture the bloody thing originated from and who you'd think they'd want to impress more than anyone. Instead they used the istaphobe card on them for pointing out cultural mistakes. Phenomenon my bare backside!
Always has been
The closest it got to a “cultural phenomenon” was the epic scale of failure lol
Wouldn't have said it better
The cultural phenomenon was a tidal wave of money flooding the coffers of any reviewer and article writer willing to sing the praises of the show and/or call anyone else who didn't praise it some sort of toxic name.
"Grow a spine. Lose your Prime. " was a slogan I took to heart. Since I canceled Prime I've saved a lot of money by cutting out impulse purchases.
yep same.. since i've boycotted Amazon totally (having cancelled my Prime as well) I've been able to support lots of smaller retailers while refusing to support Bozos and his evil corp
So no Prime, Netflix or Disney +?
@@jamessummers5936 that would be to the idea.
@@BeardClipperdyyyayv? AzdBszhnz
@@jamessummers5936Netflix is not so bad. The other two, more so.
Thank you fans for standing up. Tolkiens work is too precious for them to ruin.
A round of applause to the Tolkien fandom who stood their ground and said NO to all this stupidity. That's how it's done!! 👏👏👏👏
I hope this attitude spills over to other areas of interest such as our freedoms which are slowly being taken away.
@@kaizokujimbei143 Exactly!! 💯
-Tolkien fans: * Sit down, brews coffee, reads paper...laughs *
Good job boys, we did it.
without respect, we reject
Sadly, it's too late to save Star Wars. It was one of the first to fall, at least Lord of the Rings fans took notice.
I miss the days when giant soulless corporations only cared about profitability as opposed to political messaging. Maybe losing several billion will remind them that they’re supposed to be making money - not hemorrhaging money.
I have no doubt all this money they lose is being paid back in dividends by the globalists as thanks for being good little pawns. Sure a true economy should work by free market standards, but when they just print money or lend money they don't even have(fractional reserve lending). Voting with dollars ceases to be a thing on the large scale.(Even more so when they actively seek to kill the dollar to replace it with a digital counterpart that they have complete control over). At that point it is more about influence and connections then it is about fiat.
If "go woke, go broke" was true then you wouldn't see pretty much every company doing it. No the root of this evil is much deeper, and boycotts won't be enough to change course.
@@TheChurlishBoor
Hollywood accounting. The real question is how high up are the pockets into which the cash is flowing.
the only reason for corps to do political messaging is because they think it will make them money. they don't believe in the ideology they pushh and this is why is feels so wrong even if they are pushing actually good ideas.
The company made over $513B last year, up from $470B last year. Thinking it's going anywhere is kind of a laughable cope. They're clearly just going to write off whatever loses are incurred.
@@KSmithwick1989 yeah but bad pr can ruin stock value. Especially if the facts are clearly stating they failed. Not gonna topple the wall in a day, but they sure felt the warning shake. They invested and didn't make any of the liquidity they hopped for.
Did they truly think they could mess with a fandom that loves Tolkien's work like its their own child? That classic "toxic community" doesnt work in LOTR fandom. Everyone knows that this fandom is one of the most welcoming one. The only thing they had to do was not disrespect Tolkien. The audacity to invade a fandom and demand from them to love the modern changes they made baffles me.
...and it is a diverse fandom! Around the globe, all ages, all skin colours, humans with every chromosome combination. Because it is fantastic world with great stories.
....they honestly thought that since the name was on it you and your kind would slop it up and beg for more. Think how women HAVE to have an Apple phone, and not just any phone but the newest one that just came out. That is their logic.
Bcus the showrunners are spoiled rich brat that shouldnt even be hired in the first place. They are amateurs and the fact they were even chosen to run the most expensive show in history baffles me. Common sense was thrown out the window. With that much budget they could have hired peter jackson to run it. But nah. I'm convinced tha the show was spearheaded by one of the nepo woke kids that identify themselves as a victim to fit in and now tries to act like some self righteous white knight that will make the most expensive show the most woke show in history bcus he or she thinks they are frida kahlo.
Amazon: “you’re abunch of toxic fans!”
The Fans: “Yes”
Everyone knows that this fandom is one of the most welcoming one.
yes :) We are mostly peaceful hobbits as long as the newcomers dont like to destroy the Shire alright? :)
What kind of torques me off is the idea that having a husband robs a woman of her agency. I think having a healthy relationship with your husband is the highest level of agency a woman can have. You're choosing an incredibly important person in your life- the father of your children (should you want any) and the person you're spending years in the same house with. You're continuing to choose to love each other each and every day. How is that not expressing agency?
The funniest thing about this whole situation to me is that Salke cancelled an in production for Amazon, 'Conan The Barbarian' show due to there being too much 'toxic masculinity.' The showrunner for that show was the guy who ended up being the showrunner for House of the Dragon. So she created her own competition. Amazon gets RoP, and HBO gets HotD, all because of Salke. She should be fired for that blunder alone.
No one hits a home run everytime. Give it a chance. It'll get better next season.
@@jonfreeman9682 it won't, stop lying to yourself
@@jonfreeman9682 The Harfoots alone render Rings of Power an irredeemable mess. The show will only get worse- either because Amazon doubles down, or slashes funding.
@@jonfreeman9682 that is some bizarrely naive optimism
Not hitting it out of the park every time means one bad episode out of eight.
When all eight suck then its just a bad project that deserves to be trashed
@@jonfreeman9682 She's not gonna sleep with you bro
Amazon: Rings of Power was a failure.
Also Amazon: Get ready for season 2.
The gaslighting got really old years ago. "How can you know it's bad? Did you watch the whole thing 25 times!?" I don't need to eat an entire wheelbarrow full of cow crap to find out if it is, in fact, cow crap. I can see it and smell it. RoP is a wheelbarrow full of cow crap.
I'm looking forward to seeing shad and Gary rip this apart
I think the business model for Amazon and Disney is make garbage, lose truckloads of money yet somehow still exist as a company. It's worked for Sears.
To be fair, it "worked" for STD.
The banality of evil is fascinating to see in real time. All that money, all those lies, all that power...and this thing ended up being its own worst enemy.
It’s more absolutely gormless stupidity than “evil”. Complete incompetence at the career these people have chosen.
"The banality of evil is fascinating to see in real time" - whut ...!?
@MarfLoog Banal - So unoriginal, it's not even funny. We've seen the same pattern for years and warned of the consequences. Funny at first...
But people of each colour felt "represented" in the rings of power.
It's not evil, it's greed and extreme confidence.
“”You don’t reverse engineer true creative vision”… except when it comes to Tolkien…”
That part had me dying 😂
I just can't understand why they wouldn't hire writers that cared about the lore.Did they not want to be successful?
It's mind blowing.
This is how history is rewritten. It doesn't happen over night.
Because they don't care about lore of quality, but only about pushing a certain radical political agenda. The funny thing is that such agenda, being openly hostile towards the main potential target audience for those intellectual properties, regularly leads to bombs and tens or hundred millions dollar losses for those malicious companies.
I remember watching an interview in which it was said that the writers were chosen, despite their lack of work experience, for their extensive knowledge of the lore. Gotta know it to break it i guess...
Because they needed writers who would trash it with wokeism. That's why.
People just gathered together and had splitted amazon money among'em. No one gives a crap bout that show. Just look at the cast: its a bunch of cheap noones who work for food.
It was rough last year, fighting to reject this abomination. I was almost completely alone within my personal circles in understanding the devastating cultural impact it would have if no one stood against it, but the Fellowship united and stood strong. We have spoken and we don't want this. We won't accept this. We will fight for what we love even as we're spat on, villainized and attempts are made to silence us.
Keep going, Fellowship. The battle is long, but there is still good in this world and it's worth fighting for.
I bet you got all your jabs and wore your mask without question
Who cares if they made a shit tv show anyway? Why even bother arguing about it? Just ignore it and stick to the books anyway...
@@sn4831 I bet you like doubting every verified data presented to you on principle because it makes you feel smarter or "more free" than anyone else
Wow, racist!
Pikilloification, that's the kind of attitude that allowed the Left to win the culture war in the US. It's also the reason why Gary makes these videos. If we "just ignore it" then they win and our culture just becomes more and more leftist. It's easy to think that Hollywood and pop culture doesn't matter, but their influence on American culture and political support is huge.
What burns the most is knowing how good it COULD have been, but wasn’t.
I personally don't think it could have been. Maybe hollywoke 30 years ago could have made something decent. But not today.
It really couldn't
@@sojoNIN A show based on the appendices of Lord of the Rings could have been good.
A show based on the appendices of Lord of the Rings made in our current era by Amazon or Disney couldn't.
They had the budget, they could build huge sets, armor/weapons with insane amount of details etc. and they choose to do T-shirt prints and tons of bad CGI. W T F
@@Zathren Literally not getting a couple of nobodies because they're friends with JJ Abrams to head a 1 billion dollar project would have helped it massively.
the worst part was the media trying to tell us how great the ratings were and how glowing the reception was....
"As sure as Disney will do something stupid within the next week" killed me 😂😂😂😂
Oh yes. The same series where JD Payne called fans reaction patently evil. Truly, they gas light, project and strike out in pain as they strike you.
Payne is patently stupid
Hahahaha!
I love when Gary goes full scorched earth and reveals all the discrepancies of the media with facts and numbers. Glorious.
Never let them forget their manipulation and lies.
Nevaaar!
Apart from the numbers for prime were great and it was a MASSIVE hit.
@@whitleybayman123 Keep peddling the lies for those shill dollars. (What does shilling pay BTW? I've got some big jobs to do round the house and could do with some extra cash.)
Recently I watched LOTR again. Such joy to be simply entertained with a well crafted story and not be lectured all the time. It’s not me being old and harking back to times past; they just made things without an agenda and focused on good writing and good acting.
Well give rings of power a chance. It gets better on repeat viewing. Ignore the critics.
@@jonfreeman9682 Maybe you should try to understand the critics instead of ignoring them or you just end up beeing ignorant about everything and entitled to your own opinion.
@@jonfreeman9682 It's horrendous, but to each their own.
@@jonfreeman9682 if it was an original and LOTR never existed then you’d be right. But it’s a diluted cash grab and an embarrassment. A massive failure.
@@jonfreeman9682 maybe you should try reading original books to understand what a good story is?
However I loved it when Galadriel used the force to destroy the deathstar while yelling "with great power comes great responsibility" - truly an inspiring moment in cinema history.
Gary's videos are the single best thing to come out of Rings Of Power.
That and Shad's reviews and fight scene autopsy
The best thing to come out of wokewood was the amazing real critics we ended up founding. I have so many to entertain me I don't need wokewood, save for them to keep producing crap movies.😂
And critical drinker, and disparu
And forgot about victor doomcock!! Future ruler of hearth (dvd overlord)
@@alberto5770 HAIL DOOMCOCK!
It just felt wrong ... like director didn't read the book, or did, and hated it.
MY FIRST POST - Hey Gary, my wife and I are not hard core LOTR fans, just admirers of the genre. But we probably represent 100's of thousands of folks just like us. So we tuned in to LOTR ROP a couple days, maybe a week after release. The first episode was kinda dragging and the one thing I remember saying to her was " I just don't get a Tolkien vibe here" and my wife agreed. we fell asleep because it was late and the next night I asked if she wanted to resume the show and she said no. I agreed and we never watched it again. I think we're a microcosm of many, many households. Amazon just couldn't set the hook. Lame!
I already left a comment, but you get a second one. Thanks for remembering us 3 Robert Jordan fans. I read my first book as a loner geek in middle school and my last book in Afghanistan as a lonely single soldier. I thought when the show was announced I could be less lonely for the first time since the 90's. Oh boy was I wrong. Props to Disparu for being the only guy to cover that raping.
At first I was excited. Then as it got closer I got concerned enough to decide not to watch it and wait for word of mouth. From word of mouth from the 1st episode I was so glad I did. It saved from seeing what they did to it first hand and the anguish that would have brought.
It's not surprising, Amazon did a terrible job😂
Also not surprising, Amazon cannot admit to failure. Even when they failed obviously and totally. "Better delusion than honesty."
Can you imagine working on a Tolkien production and never reading the books?! WTF?!
Luthien Tinuviel is Tolkien’s creation who is an OP half Elf/Maia who goes on an adventure and saves her boyfriend 3-4 times, defeats Sauron in a sing off and even challenges Morgoth. They had their woke story on a silver platter man…and it’s arguably Tolkien’s best story despite the fact it wasn’t pushing feminist agenda, it was just interested in being a good story that happened to be a different take on the traditional Fantasy Tale
Lol half elf is racist now
And being maya...coild have been played by a non-white actor. The problem: it was a sing-off. They just wanted a woman in armor with a sword.
And she did it whilst retaining her traditional feminity
realistically speaking, they couldn't have done much better than they did. At least lore wise.
There's just not enough in the apendices to make a multi season series of, and filling in the gaps with the proper lore would be adapting the Silmarillion, whose rights they don't own. It was basically between being sued for millions for copyright infringment or making up new stories and populating them with mostly new characters, at most going from apendix name drop to apendix name drop.
Tragically, they _could_ have had *all* the diversity they could ever want by making up stories about the blue wizards in the east and south and not go against the cannon because even Tolkien barely wrote about them. Thing is, making up entirely new cultures and making them fit seamlessly into a work like Tolkie's would be hard. Modern hacktivists prefer their virtue signalling to be easy and quick (and paid by with someone else's money if possible) so they take the lazy way out and sprinkle _diversity_ into existing fundations.
Screw that noise, they need to stay far away from Beren and Tinuviel.
Honestly I wanted this to be amazing. I ignored all talk and hype, wanting to feel the magic I felt when LOTR first released. I didn’t finish the second episode. Immediately went online to try to find an answer to why I was bored and why this didn’t feel like LOTR. Silver lining, if Amazon haven’t released this footage of the Hindenburg burning, I may never have found FNT. Tolkien fans United and collectively said, “ You shall not pass”. You amazing people.
Itll never be replicated
Wait a second. Are you saying you found critics like Nerdrotic AFTER you tried watching the show and realized it was horrible? That's funny, I've been reliably informed by RoP shills that critics of RoP are nothing but empty-headed buffoons who wouldn't know what to think without people like Nerdrotic telling us.
Hmm. It's almost as if RoP shills are full of ----
Same. I don't want properties I love to fail, I want them to be great, I want to love them. When I can't even get midway through a series, I feel sadness and disappointment, not gloating. But it is what it is, and I think these studios are going to have to go broke or almost broke before they accept that they need to give fans what they want, if they want their shows and movies to succeed.
Lol, I do find it amusing you literally didn't even it half the run-time of the first movie before you already pre-judged the entire series. I wonder why though, and why you felt accepted in having an opinion about them online before watching them to make your own judgements.
@@tanepukenga1421 It is what it is man. It's the Sowrunners job to keep us invested, not ours. It's not the first show I've felt the OP's frustration that someone if not everyone seems to have fumbled the ball with a cherished IP or genius core premise and it won't be the last. I didn't jump on the hate train. Just stopped watching, but couldn't help but watch in horrorified amusement for a while as it tore Middle Earth fan bases down the middle as I'm a nerd who's part of a fair few fan pages.
The films are just so charming. I heard of Lord of the Rings but never knew anything about it. Then I got a VHS copy of the first film. I was instantly hooked. I immediately watched the other two in the cinema and bought them on DVD the day they both released. To me it is the best fantasy trilogy in the history of film. You get this warm feeling inside when you watch them. They have everything you need from a film.
@@EdPrivat This! The soundtrack helps me to sleep from time to time.
nailed it!!
Those of us who grew up with the books knew that the films were treated with care, by one who respects the material. Hell, I even loved The Hobbit films, the ones where Legolas randomly is involved and breaks physics. Because they at least respect and expand upon the material in a way that proves they care about it.
@Ed Privat Right?! First one is the best he´s so cozy and perfect. Even the scene in bree in the tavern The Prancing Pony its so nice i love it
JRR was based and a Trad Chad…
I miss the days when movie/show makers were driven to make entertainment that produced highest possible viewership.
Nerdrotic never disappoints
His video editing is flawless 👌
(Feed the ducks music intensifies)
Ever. HAIL GARY! P.S. Did you know he use to own a comic shop? 😉
@@desmondbrown2813 SAY WHAT?!
Ever. Probably my fave TH-camr.
Im not a rabid Tolkien fan in comparison to some, but I have immense respect for the professor. Id have to say the Tolkien fandom defeated the beast of amazon and their marketing propaganda because it has the most intelligent fans. So hats off to you guys, I hope we see more blowback with other IP's. But im not holding my breath.
Defeatism is how they - the corpos - will beat you. Head up, chin high. You have more power than you think.
@@VG-fk6nk nah nah chin down! You need to duck the punches before you throw back harder 😂
@@jonhawes753 I like that correction, fully agree :)
Defeated? They’re making another seasons so clearly it didn’t tank bad enough to cancel it.
@@bbhjuan3451
I have a million dollars. I invest 100,000k into a product, expecting to get a profit.
I actually get like 30,000k revenue, meaning I lost money hand over fist.
I pump another 100,000k, to make more of the same product. And I will, again, lose money hand over fist.
Eventually, I will have to stop making that product.
Don't confuse the fact that I have a million dollars and can burn them, with whether or not I was defeated on the market place. I absolutely am, bleeding that much cash. And by me, I mean Amazon.
Shame is the lowest and strongest negative vibration a human being is capable of. Weaponizing it for the sake of protecting a toxic agenda is unforgiveable.
Well said!!!❤
Tolkin was taping into what makes Europeans , Europeans . Lotr is part of our European soul , this is why we feel very connected to the themes and archtypes and why it's such a huge hit . Most don't get that this is an assault on who we are as Europeans .
Rings of power was so incredibly bad that from the first episode I couldn't believe it. I allowed myself to foolishly be optimistic of it and just couldn't beleive how naive I'd been
Remember also that 37% is probably also a lie. When the last episode debuted, a lot of people reported a bug that required them to restart at least once during viewing (doubling or tripling their actual view count).
Bingo! Smoke and mirrors
At least the Rings of Power encouraged many people to either read the source material (including all the books, audio books and movies) for the first time or revisit it again. For me watching the PJ movies and reading the books is like visiting with an old dear friend. Thanks to Nerdrotic I also discovered the existence of the Chuck Dixon Hobbit graphic book.
My family rewatched the movies and I ordered a beautiful collector's edition of the books from somewhere other than Amazon. I already had a regular printing, but wanted something nicer to display on my bookshelves.
You make a great point, they purchased this IP because it had a built in audience then proceeded to insult the built in audience.
Back when episode one of Rings of Power premiered, I figured I’d give it a shot. During the first few scenes, I was captured by the beautiful scenery & CGI, as it certainly was a treat for the eyes…
This of course, would eventually be overshadowed by the awful writing and empty dialogue. I kept waiting for things to get better, to start making sense - I really wanted to give it a chance.
Then finally, about 20 minutes in, I ended up taking a big bong rip so I could block it out and continue enjoying the scenery 😵💫
I just have to wonder why writing and story telling in general seems to be laying a massive shit across media as a whole. Surely there are good writers out there. In fact, I bet there’s enough to go around. Why are the bad writers getting these jobs?
@@cardrave the didnt understand Tolkien language, they just made overly flowery dialogue not understanding flowerly writing NEED deep meaning otherwise its just bad poetry like the the is a tempest in me, and the why a boat floats.
So everyone saw this and was like….this is Tolkien and deep. No one understood it so thought it was some masterwork
Like a bad coverband, who tried to make new nirvana songs with hits like “the spirt of youth”
literally same.
You ripped a trouser snake in your mouth
@Rutabaga They don't study classic literature anymore, so they have no idea what themes resonate with human beings.
You're a man of your word. You said if they went after LotR you'd dedicate yourself to bringing them down and you have. Always enjoy your videos and you're just getting better.
The thing that makes me SO worried about these companies ruining beloved IP is that there is a good chance it will also prevent anyone from trying to revive it later on. In 20 years, someone will pitch a Witcher, or LOTR project and the higher-ups will shoot it down because "They tried that 20 years ago and it the fans didn't want it". Because we know how delusional hollywood can be and they will never learn their lesson.
No need to worry. Studios are out of ideas so they keep rehashing the same material again and again. Tolkien will be milked for an eternity.
Hopefully Hollywood kind are a thing of the past in the near future
Stop giving them money. People need to learn to entertain themselves and stop giving these companies the influence they have in society.
At this rate, there won't be a hollywood in 20 years.
We already have Peter Jackson's LoTR trilogy. We have no need for more LoTR projects.
I think there is a huge key point no one is talking about. When the show "aired" it sent everyone with the amazon app a notification about the show and if you clicked it it started to play. Also if you opened the amazon app at all it came with as soon as you opened it with a big ol play button and the closing X was very small and hard to find. I wonder if the views from these went into their view count.
pretty sure a tech company that big is able to properly measure their view counts lol
@@headlinerbeats
Has nothing to do with technology, it has everything to do with managers trying to keep their friggin' jobs.
@@headlinerbeats doesn't mean they won't lie about it
@@headlinerbeats its not about properly measuring their views. its about claiming it was uber successful to get people to watch it to verify, so every single click no matter if it was 5 seconds or 50 minutes, it was counted.
Ugh. I remember that time. So annoying and made me to make sure I'd never watch it.
I couldn't finish Rings of Power last year. So happy it's not just me; i kept watching thinking to myself "have I really changed so much that I find this dull and boring? Why does this suck so much now? Why can't I relate to any characters? Don't I enjoy the Lore anymore?"
“Amazon has the biggest debut ever on Amazon, says Amazon.”
That’s akin to the FBI investigating the FBI for ethics irregularities inside the FBI.
Cops investigated themself and found themself not guilty
I was recently voted "Best Person in the World, Ever" by a panel of experts. The vote was organised by this guy right here, with a panel of experts comprising me, myself, and I, while the entire process was overseen by yours truly to ensure that it was fair and accurate.
Why purchase an IP due to its following and then cast out the following? This is definitely the participation trophy generation of writers.
That seems to be happening a LOT with popular franchises. It gets a reboot that pretty much alienates the fans and panders to Twitter activists
A money laundering scheme I presume because it would make more sense use a big IP as coverup
I'm not even an LoTR fan. I'm just glad to see y'all getting a big fat W out of this. Well done!
Imagine a play where two thirds of the audience walks off. That’s called a flop. A steaming heap.
What a great victory! We must never let them forget it. Every time they try to do something like this, the RoP must be the go to example of how out of touch these people are with reality!!!
Your thumbnails are works of art. Better than any modern art I've seen lately.
LOL
"It turns out, you can't take a billion-dollar company at its word."
Pfizer: "Hold my beer."
Anti vax freak
Saw a video today about The Rings of Power. Apparently, one of the reasons RoP was so expensive is because Amazon had hired Marketing Research firms to check how popular every decision made for RoP would be for every stage of production. And then the producers ignored everything said Research firms told them and doubled down on all the woke elements of the show.
well see how that worked out for bud light , lmao
That sounds ridiculous and just plane stupid.
So probably true.
@@antoniosiguenza576 it worked out well for bud light? They are doing fine like most other "woke" beer companies
@@adamscott7238 buhahahaha 6 billion lost yeahh they are doing well because you woke turds drink beer
The problem with Rings of Power is not that its woke (nobody would care if the series was good), but the fact that that its just not good…
I love Mauler's and EFAP's deep analytical approach, I love Drinker's brevity, on the point analysises, I love Gundam's sarcastic style, I love Little Platoon's eloquent videos, but you Gary, You are the Gandalf the White of nerdom: well researched, well informed, well presented.
Gundam is obnoxious....Justsomeguy did it better with double the brain power.
damn well said good sir! Mauler is always a great pleasure to listen to as well.
This was the best thing coming out of wokewood. So many awesome content makers able to articulate in words our grievances with this BS.
Tryalso disparu, seems to have troubles with speed (either the substance or the recording speed) but is also quite fun and sarcastic.
@@isaacnickel they both kick ass!
Rings of Power wasn't even the worst butchering of a fantasy series Amazon put out last year, Wheel of Time should be considered a war crime.
All of us here in Tolkien's true fandom have somewhat been vindicated. After all the name calling and shaming Amazon tried to do to us, it bounced off us and stuck back on them. Some good came out of it though, I found your channel and a few others whose reviews I respect, (probably because they align with mine).
Well us true fans can appreciate a modern interpretation of Tolkien just like Disney offering a modern take on little mermaid. It'll get better next season and critics are being unduly harsh to generate material for click baits. Everyone is so quick to write the show off. It's only the first season. Give it a chance.
@@jonfreeman9682 how much they pay you to defend this crappy show?
I want in on the easy money
@@jonfreeman9682 Tell me your're an Amazon shill without telling me you're an Amazon shill. 🤣
@@jonfreeman9682 I respectfully disagree, yet am pleased to hear you speak a different opinion. That is what makes us unique. The world would be a boring place if we were all alike. We obviously have different tastes. My complaints stem from the writing that felt juvenile and the changing of the entire time frame of The Masters works, regardless of anything critics said about it. I could not make it past the premier and will not be tuning in for a second season.
You have to wonder if Amazon is incentivized for tax/bookkeeping purposes to show massive expenses/losses. So they came up w/ the foolproof idea of launching Amazon originals.. it’s the only way I can wrap my head around it!
You made my day! I still did enjoy the series though. Ep 6 when sauron was revealed was the best of the 8 ep imo.
Salke’s background in marketing explains a lot. Much like Ava DuVernay wasn’t actually a filmmaker - she worked in PR. A decidedly mediocre director but a gifted self-publicist, which seemingly has resulted in an entire industry being terrified of upsetting her.
Talent can come from anywhere. Doesn't matter what your background is. James Cameron background was truck driving and well... the rest is history.
Hell if Hollywood gave me a chance I would gladly write/direct something and my background is a history teacher. I 100% believe I'd be able to create something that is better than Rings of Power.
@@jonfreeman9682 Of course, we all have to make a living and start somewhere. If someone showed amazing promise and imagination with their first projects it would be understandable how they carved out a successful career so quickly. But in DuVernay's case she is distinctly average, showed no interest in films until her 30s, has made largely forgettable films yet has huge power and influence within the industry. Her background in publicity and promotion surely has something to do with that.
@@vectorbass9679 I believe you!
@@cranp4764 Yes that's true. You raise a good point. The first step to greatness is passion for your work. I'm not sure what her background is but there's a lot of freeloaders in management who possess no talent themselves but piggyback on the talent of others. Sometimes they're the worst kinda freeloaders where they mess up projects by constantly interfering with the creative process.
Me looking at the Rings of Power series, scratching my head and wondering why they didn't just make a good quality show that respected Tolkien and his works:
The progressive left cannot do anything that doesn't continue to cram their lunacy down our throats. Profitability means nothing when there is an agenda to be advanced.
THE MESSAGE
It had to reflect , THE MODERN ERA.
@@leadsin99er Ugh just reading that, even knowing you're joking, makes me sad. I don't watch fantasy shows to see THE MODERN ERA I watch it to escape somewhere ELSE! XD can't believe the people making these awful shows think crap like that.
@@CataclysmDM Yeah. I read much more sci-fi than fantasy, but I have similar problems. Most of the modern fantasy and sci-fi I bump into doesn't interest me because it's obvious right from the synopsis that it's some mix of "a movie script in prose form", a thriller, "contemporary urban-setting writing IN THE FUTURE!", and/or using "speculative fiction" to jump on the unimaginative dystopian future bandwagon that I'm well and truly tired of.
Learn from the Pixar rule that says that your first X ideas should be throw out as too obvious. Get in the habit of second-guessing every word in every sentence in your outline to find novel interpretations. your novel should be novel!
I don't need you to be the next Jules Verne or Larry Niven, but something that embraces that adventuresome tone is preferable. I don't need the next Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, but give me some comedy. You want to be character-focused? I don't need 12 Angry Men, but learn from David Weber's skill at writing stories that feel like the characters are central and they drive the plot, rather than the other way around and then write a synopsis that doesn't say "This is an argumentative essay in narrative form and my characters are a vehicle for that." I should not be able to feel the metaphor and symbolism all the way up in the synopsis.
My brother might consider Anne McCaffrey's writing as "her rural setting, transposed into space" and find that deal-breaking, but, for me, it works well enough... unlike many modern authors.
It just amaze me that companies still are opting to go woke risking millions to pander to a 0.5% of the population!! They deserve everything they get!!
RoP wasnt woke.
Just its marketing division
@@Damianweibler the casting and constantly bringing up the racial makeup of the cast says you’re wrong
@@dandan4092 Yeah, the marketing division. The showrunner has a degree in marketing, the whole show is run by the marketing division
.5% make 95% of the noise but these companies can't differentiate the noise from the real people. I can't believe so many companies are going full wokey pokey.
@@Damianweibler So the show wasn't woke, just the creator and all of the cast? Just admit you were wrong, holy hell. Just take the L.
I love when Galadriel says "there is a tempest in me" it was just excessive flatulence.
Still haven't watched it. After what Disney Star Wars did to my childhood I don't think I'll ever trust these new reboots.
The absolute best part of ROP was the absolute hysterical laughter we all got from Friday Night Tights going to town on it's cash-stuffed, bloated undead corpse.
Shad having a rage induced heart attack at the "fight" scene was mine
Tolkien lore will always prevail. The world building of the books is still amazing. I love Jackson's trilogy and watch them with my family once a year but have to recognize how difficult it is to adapt his writings. The BBC did a radio drama based on Lord of the Rings in 1981 and it is still the best adaptation of the books (although it isn't my favorite). It still leaves out tons of content. If one was to adapt the books as close as possible, the pacing would be strange and difficult to decipher. I would still love to see it done in my lifetime.
Try Eddisons The Worm Ouroboros. theres an audiobook.
Tolkien understood that himself and said as much in letters. That it would need to change yo be adapted to certain mediums. I really do think he would have enjoyed Jackson's take. Not that he wouldn't have issues with it, but would still think highly of it.
Phil Dragash has a theatrical audiobook of LOTR. It's free on the archive. Best version I've listened to, hands down.
Just saw the return of the king extended cut at the cinema cause of the 20 year anniversary.
Can't even put in words how much modern movies and shows has fallen or degenerated since that masterpiece.
Did they add any new scenes?
@@mpcz2753 Same old extended cut, but in 4K (also something they probably remade long ago).
I’m going to that anniversary showing this Thursday. I’m so looking forward to it and dressing up and having an amazing time with something good on screens.
Just finished The Two Towers, which I hadn't seen since back then. Adored it. I got through 1 and 1/2 epis of ROP. Was so boring. Absolutely terrible. Even for free...
@@Peter_Parker69 I remember reading/hearing about Jackson's LOTR and being involved in special effects and editing at the time. From memory, the film was shot in Super 35 then digitised while the CGI was done at 2k resolution. If it was recently shown in 4k, they could have simply up-rezzed it, or (more likely) did some computerised jiggery-pokery inside and between frames to fake a higher resolution. It is very unlikely (almost impossible) they redid all the CGI at 4k and re-edited the whole movie as a true 4k resolution..
I actually have a few ideas on how Amazon could fix the show for its final few seasons:
1) That fat black female dwarf character needs to be louder, angrier and have access to a time machine.
2) Whenever that fat black female dwarf character is not onscreen, all the other characters need to be asking "Where is that fat black female dwarf character?"
Gary's videos are better than anything Amazon has put out.
Amazon intentionally destroying what should've been a sure fire thing? That sounds suspiciously familiar to Disney with another franchise...
What other franchise?
Star Wars
@@blackjak4185 oh, right!
Willow ?
lol i agree 100%. look at the witcher! that show should easily go 7+ seasons and a massive hit but its turning into a massive dumpster fire. after season 3 when henry cavill is gone it will die out. because lets be honest the only reason anyone is going to watch it is to support him.
I tried a couple of times to watch. It was unwatchable. Read The Hobbit in 7th grade and loved all of the books. It got me into reading and I am forever grateful for that. I couldn’t follow the story, my wife was asking me questions and I am like “I have no idea”.
Watched the first two episodes with a friend, things didn't seem to flow well with me and it kept transitioning through multiple groups of characters I found to be extremely uninteresting and nothing really felt like anything Tolkien. The 'harfoot' story especially had me bored out of my mind. And I'm upset they ruined the character of Galadriel by turning her into a warrior. She was supposed to find her power in Wisdom, as the wisest among men!
@@christiangarizio7587 just for empowerment Bs
I really didnt like the character
@@christiangarizio7587
Had to find a strong female character. Ideology before lore.
@@christiangarizio7587 Tolkien described her as having the ability to be a warrior and actually fighting valiantly against the Feanorians at Alqualonde. So Tolkien obviously didn't have a problem with her being at, times, a warrior. That being said, "commander of the northern armies" is cringey bullshit and the show was a complete dumpster fire.
This series was absolutely a cultural phenomenon. A cautionary tale that will be passed down amongst producers, for generations to come; Or at least for several months.
A Conan series made out of love and passion would've been amazing.
We knew it was awful. They knew it was awful. Tolkien is laughing right now, knowing we fought for his ideas and his writing. We can rest for now, until we are called again, to fight for what's right...to defend the lore!
Hail Nerdrotic! HAIL THE FELLOWSHIP!
"They can take our wealth, they can take our lives. But they can never TAKE. OUR. FREEDOM!!"
"forth, and fear no darkness" Arise, riders of Tolkien
The backlash would not have been as bad if they had been honest about...literally anything. They lied about everything from Tolkien, the books, the actors, the studio, the promos, the fans. All lies.
@@booshmcfadden7638 Literally, all they had to do was say this is fan fiction. Not, this is the story that Tolkien would've told.
Hail the Fellowship!
We are living in an age where the art of storytelling is on life support if not already dead.
It’s what happens when corporations are in charge of storytelling. Look at what happened to Marvel (both the comics division and the studio) after Disney bought it. Look at Star Wars. All bought by corporations because they could, and they had no plan on what to do with them once they got them.
Nah you just gotta know where to look. I've been reading a lot of stuff from Korea and China lately.
There is no life support as we are living truly in a golden age of TV. There's just too many shows so viewers jump all over the place. They shouldn't be looking at completion but viewing hours. All shows lose some fans but with next season it'll get better. Some of the biggest shows wasn't an instant success.
@@jonfreeman9682 Yeah, but when a show is getting dragged thru the mud and their is no good buzz about it, odds of success are extremely slim. Social media plays a big part in the success of anything.
Not dead, just in hiding from violent authoritarians -- like it has been many times throughout history.
As my father said: "That's your weapon. Don't give them your money."
"Claiming every single prime member watched it may have been a **bit** of a stretch." - Amazon
"Season two will make up for everything by doubling down. That will teach you haters!" - Also Amazon, probably
Amazon: "Not only did every person with a Prime account watch Season 2, but they made their grandmothers watch it too!!! So...neener."
*repeatedly kicks man in the balls* This is your fault. *kick* I'm not actually doing this. *kick* You're doing this. *kick* Ok. Maybe I am doing this. I promise I won't do it anymore. *kick* Season 2!
They count 2 minutes as a view. I know it showed up on mine in continue to watch and no one had willingly clicked watch. I saw several people saying the same thing was on theirs. The best people can figure out is they put it on auto play after every movie and show betting on people falling asleep or not noticing it was playing for at least 2 minutes.
This was the largest purposeful write off of all time. There is no way they spent 1B making this show. They spent no money on casting or costuming. And while the CGI looks good sometimes, other times it looks terrible. Can't help but think it was the plan all along. If not, everyone involved needs firing.
Either that or it’s really as simple as they were THAT incompetent
Hanlon's Razor: never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.
@@HerculesBallsInc Fair point.
It's been revealed that no one trait pays attention at Amazon what they spend money on, and that people are overcharging Amazon because they know it's not going to help thier careers.
So much of that billion was straight up laundered into the pockets of higher ups, and no one can convince me different. There's a solid 500 to 600 million that just didn't go into the show. Because even with full marketing and everything, no way did S1 cost more than 400 million. And they supposedly dropped 1 billion on the season. Yeah, my ass lol. They pocketed the majority of it, 100%.
The problem with RoP and WoT is the writers / showrunners think they can 'improve' on the originals. There's a reason that Tolkein (and Jordan) have stood the test of time - they're masterful storytellers, whereas Payne & McKay and Judkins are talentless hacks who have bastardised their work. The only good thing to come out of either series was that I was forced to go back and re-read the source material to purge my brain of their garbage.
I got started on Tolkien by my year 7 teacher, who for a set time on set days, simply READ THE STORY to us. That was it. She obviously loved it. I was already an avid reader but hadn't read anything like this. She started with The Hobbit and then went on to Lord of The Rings. I still have vivid imagery in my mind from that. I can see the desolation of Smaug. I can see the battle at the Black Gate. All because a person simply shared this wonderful story that they were passionate about - and they kindled a life long passion. Amazon's approach couldn'tbe more different.
It's really impressive that even though I know some fantasy fans (including uber fans of PJ's LOTR) no one in Offline Land has ever mentioned this series to me. Mind you, some of these are people that order from Amazon frequently and thus were getting packages with RoP ads on them. It's like RoP has anti-hype. It's also impressive that with their huge budget they still managed to make the show look so cheap, what with the relatively few extras, bad costumes and few costume changes, woeful action scenes, few actual sets, many dull actors, etc. This vid was enlightening in showing how much Prime's general money mismanagement was to blame for the mismatch between money spent and money reflected onscreen.
The Stand against Amazon was amazing and no amount of calling people ists or phobes changes that.
When a showrunner goes public saying "We will make Tolkien´s work better", you know crap is gonna come.
And you know they will just say “Fantasy isn’t popular” instead of “We should not of messed with the source material.”
Your speech at the end about how the real fandom is victorious made me smile. We ll never bow before those wicked people!
Whenever I'm reminded of this Rings of Power stinker, I find solace in the fact that I purchased the extended original LOTR movies in blu ray, and every other year I start and complete the Journey with Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir.
I love medieval fantasy themes, and I can safely say that - unlike the directors of "Rings of Power" - I could make a series of this genre with diverse characters without ideology and without diminishing characters, regardless of who the hell they are. If the director of the recent John Wick pulled it off, then there's hope.
Y played medieval larp for years, plenty of diversity and everyone could shine without sulking anyother.
@@alberto5770 un😊😊
Their “Influencers” brought so much gravitas to the RoP Series. They were just as genuine as the attention to Tolkienian detail we witnessed on screen.