[mitchdoogle]

It seems to me like fans of LotR decided before it even came out that they didn't like it and have brigaded platforms with negative reviews. Maybe its not even a conscious effort. Lots of people dislike Amazon. And lots of the fans disliked the whole notion of turning this content into a show. I think that has colored the reaction to the show among the public while critics can usually take a more objective view

[justinpombrio]

I have no strong attachment to LotR. The Rings of Power was just bad: the characters were shallow stereotypes, the acting was poor, the plot wasn't interesting.

I was surprised when watching the first episode, after seeing 83% from critics on RT. It did not match my expectations from prior RT scores. I remember one movie that had a 90-something rating from critics and 30-something rating from viewers, whose name I unfortunately can't remember. It was strange, like a C movie from an alternate universe with different tropes. I can imagine being a reviewer, bored to death of the endless rehashes I have to watch, enjoying it because at least it's different. Rings of Power, not so much.

[justinpombrio]

On the very off chance that anyone knows the name of this strange movie, here are my recollections of it: they come out when you sleep, beats of 4, talking to strangers, robotic face visors, going with the flow vs. machines.

[mcpackieh]

That sounds like the sort of cope the show creators would come up with to shield their egos. It's not the creators fault, it's the audiences' fault for hating new things or something... I disregard these narratives. Blaming the audience is pure cope.

I knew some LOTR superfans who were upset with the first three Peter Jackson movies only being about a thousand hours long and omitting various plots and characters.. but these people were a minority and most loved the new thing. And then when Jackson made the hobbit movies the reception was very different. The audience didn't change, his new movies just weren't up to the same standard they expected. And if the show is getting hate, I think it's fair to assume that's because the show isn't good either. Maybe it would get better reviews if it were original IP and didn't have Jackson's first three LOTR movies casting a shadow on it, but blaming the fans for this isn't right.

[Timon3]

I've seen a couple of critiques on it, and they all seem to be well-founded. How do you differentiate between "decided before it even came out that they didn't like it" and "have real grievances that support their view of the show"?

[svachalek]

I looked for their critic reviews and they only list one. That one saw two episodes and said it's off to "a promising start", mostly talking about the production values which I don't think anyone will argue against. I think I might have given it a positive rating after a couple episodes too. The plot soon veers into too many nonsensical moments to ignore though, like an elf swimming across an ocean.

[bena]

Rings of Power is ok. More flash than substance. And the dialog and writing is genuinely bad in places. In one episode you had two characters pull the "don't kill him, we may need him" trope on each other within a minute of each other over the same character. And nothing had really changed otherwise. They both wanted to kill the guy and both stopped the other from killing him because, I don't know, show.

It's a solid C+. Like Wheel of Time or Foundation. Not horrible. Not great either. Not the best take on the source material, but it's fine I guess.

I don't know, I feel like both the people who say it is great and the people who say it is horrible are both wrong. If you would ask me for an opinion, I would say it is a show that I watched.

[mook]

Existing IP comes with existing baggage seems fair to me. If they did something original people wouldn't have those expectations, but in return also not the existing fame.

[readthenotes1]

The most tolerant person I know said the show sucked.

But, it's doubtful I know anyone well enough to ask their opinion on a fantasy series who hasn't read the Silmarillion.

[redman25]

Subjectively, I liked it. Maybe I'm just simple though.

[DrThunder]

They did a really good job of shitting on their fan base before it came out. Every criticism with met with you're a bigot, or a racist, or a misogynist.

They decided to slap the name on a show that only represented LOTR in name. So, I think they fairly get to receive the backlash of an obvious money grab.