To some extent,
The Rings of Power is a preordained hit for a platform that’s desperate for something to cut through into water cooler-conversation territory. And yet, I’m still not sure how the ridiculous production costs can be justified. Prime Video has become the Manchester United of streaming services, splashing crazy money on a flashy marquee signing, while neglecting the sort of workmanlike building blocks that you need to win week in, week out.
- From the very start of The Rings of Power, it is clear that you’re watching something very different from Peter Jackson’s trilogy. The ingredients are all there: beautiful New Zealand vistas; grand, fanciful battles. The characters we see are familiar archetypes, albeit thankfully more diverse when it comes to race and gender. There are elves, the pointy-eared stoics of Middle Earth, dwarves, and harfoots (proto-hobbits in all but name, thanks to some minor stipulation of Tolkien lore that dated the origin of Frodo’s diminutive species to a later era). But for whatever reason, it feels a world apart from Jackson’s universally adored fantasy trilogy. Maybe it’s the tide change from practical effects to a more CGI-centric aesthetic. Maybe it’s the cast – who are by no means awful, but inevitably fall short of Fellowship of the Ring’s impeccable casting. Maybe it’s the writing, which suffers from a rather scattered, multi-part narrative. (Part of the reason Jackson was able to market such an indulgently nerdy film franchise to a mainstream audience was its clear, straightforward premise.) Whatever the reason, I doubt I’ll be the only normie who struggles to get their head around the fantasy-intensive lore of the new series.
The Rings of Power will have no problem attracting viewers to partake in its series premiere. But whether it will convince them to keep coming back is another matter. And even if they do – what next? Television is fast becoming a feudal battle between giant IPs. Amazon has the Lord of the Rings, Disney has Star Wars and Marvel, Warner Bros has Game of Thrones and DC Comics (as well as Harry Potter, which will no doubt be serialised sooner or later), and Netflix has, well, problems down the line if it doesn’t come up with a few more
Stranger Things-like hits. It’s hard to see this as a good thing; you can only imagine the countless worthwhile TV pitches that were nixed to make room for
The Rings of Power’s Balrog-sized budget. But it’s the way everything seems to be heading. Win or lose, Amazon’s fantasy gamble has probably raised the stakes for good.