The Power of the Rings is Amazon's new big bash at serializing Tolkien.
It comes as another platform launches House of the Dragon so the battle for our fantasy subs is on.
As I have Prime I have seen the first two episodes of Power.
Like anything new about something you've grown up with it's always going to be odd to start with.
In screen terms for me The Power of the Rings is a prequel to Peter Jackson's definitive Lord of the Rings film trilogy from years ago. In that sense it's like A Phantom Menace et al after the glory of the first three Star Wars films. It was never going to be easy.
In literary terms I assume Power is Tolkein's Silmarillion and other older tales prior to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings but I'm only guessing. Despite the Silmarillion being on my bookshelf for 45 years I've never read it. I did try as a teenager but found the style a bit stiff. I regret not going back to it when I was young.
I will wait until I've seen The Power of the Rings in full before I decide what I think. It comes out an episode or two at a time at the moment.
At a cost of purportedly a billion dollars the stakes are high for fantasy like this. I wonder if Peter Jackson is watching?
Are you readers?
Its post Silmarillion - as that was the beginning of creation and the time when evil came into the world and manifested as Melkor and eventually Morgoth. I think this is the period just before Fellowship, when the rings are originally forged, and the point at which Sauron begins to extend his influence across the land. It could be interesting to see the events which brought about the Nazgul, Durin's Bane and the One Ring itself. Its visually impressive, but a little hokey in places and a bit too much like a camp version of Dark Crystal, but the elves and the Dwarfs are well realised. I hope you will actually see Sauron himself properly his time too.
ReplyDeleteInteresting Anon. Yes, the Nazgul's genesis would be exciting to see I agree. As for Sauron, there was a brilliant bit cut out of the Jackson film which showed the Mouth of Sauron I think. Some orc on horseback with a huge mouth. I'm sure I saw it on You Tube. Looked great to me!
DeleteI haven't got around to watching Rings of Power yet, but will do shortly. My Middle English tutor at Oxford was Tolkien's pupil, so as you can imagine he was full of uproarious anecdotes about the old codger's hilarious antics (not). I imagine that despite being cobbled together from appendices and footnotes, Rings of Power will be perfectly good entertainment - but, as with the Star Wars prequels (and the Game of Thrones prequel), is there any point when we know where it's all going to end up...?
ReplyDeleteIt has got better Kittenpurse so I shall be watching episodes 3 and 4 this weekend on Prime. They appear Friday's I think. Tolkien's pupil eh! I once read an early biography by Christopher Humphries I think. Very interesting how Tolkien would meet his learned contemporaries in pubs in Oxford for meetings spoken purely in Anglo Saxon! ha ha. I loved that. I imagine there's a blue plaque or two about JRR in Oxford.
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