I Am A Swede

I will miss her terribly' - tributes to the Queen

Oh my god! Queen Elizabeth II has died, Buckingham Palace announces

That may be, but Amazon doesn't have the rights to use any of that. They only have the right to use The Appendices, and in those it clearly states, in the section "The Tale of Years" under "The Third Age": When maybe a thousand years had passed, and the first shadow had fallen on Greenwood the Great, the Istari or Wizards appeared in Middle-Earth.

That was beautiful and touching.

I don't care about other shows. I'm talking about this show, and the knee-jerk reaction of media and Amazon to use the term misogynist about people who complain about Galadriel. "Oh, they object to the show having a strong female lead. Who cares what they think, they're all just a bunch of misogynists who can't stand seeing strong women on screen" Because the criticism here is not about having a strong, female lead. It's about how that strong, female lead is depicted. I think most people expected Galadriel to have a major part in this show, but they object to the way she's portrayed. That's not misogynistic Of course it's not professional reviewers. I'm talking about ordinary people who are just as outrageous in their praise as undoubtedly some are in their criticism. But it's only the critical ones who are being called names and whose reviews are (at times probably correctly, but not always) deleted. Did I say that I was speaking for the entire fanbase? Even you can hardly deny though that there has been a massive outpouring of criticism towards this show? Or are you going to do what the media seem to do and try to label most, if not all of it, as the ravings of trolls, racists and misogynists? I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Most of the critical reviews I've seen have been far more eloquent than most of the positive ones. They mostly seem to consist of a number of variations on "This is awesome and the bestest tv-show ever, and the people who say otherwise are simply sad trolls" And that's both ordinary people and professional critics. Now, I don't think that you and I are ever going to see things the same way regarding this, so I see no need to keep this discussion going and bore everyone else. Let's just agree to disagree and move on. At least that's what I intend to do.

I used to dream about that, re-introducing the Skilbecks.... But not anymore. Not unless this show is rebooted from top to bottom and 90% of the current cast removed.

What's feminist about turning Galadriel into something she never was by saddling her with traditionally "masculine" characteristics? I don't think you can find a Tolkien-fan who would argue against Galadriel being one of the most important and major characters on this show. She is the most powerful elf left in Middle-Earth after the end of the First Age. But her strength and power does not lie in sword fighting. That is not how Tolkien ever wrote her. And I think it shows a lack of imagination from the writers if they can't make her a strong, feminine heroine unless they put a sword in her hand and turn her into some sort of Xena, warrior princess. That is implicitly stating that those characters traits are more worth than strength of spirit, wisdom and intelligence. Galadriel is the foe that Sauron fears the most, not because she's skilled with a sword, but because she can see through him, she can read his thoughts and mind. That was one of the things that Peter Jackson got right in The Hobbit movies. And if criticizing this show for altering this in favour of turning her into a impulsive, hotheaded swordfighter is misogyny then so be it. And as for mass spamming with negative reviews... I have seen a vast number of reviews which are glorifying this show to such an extent that it makes a former poster here seem subdued in his praise of Jean Passanante and Shelley Altman. Don't tell me that those are made in good faith. But this is not something that anyone seems to be willing to talk about. No, let's all just focus on the reviews that criticize the show and label them incel, misogynists, racists etc. Do those reviews exist? Sadly yes, and that sucks. The worst thing is that their existence has given Amazon the perfect excuse to ignore the genuine criticism that this show has received. "Who cares what they think, they're all just a bunch of misogynistic racists" You say that you don't care about LOTR, and that's fine. But a lot of us do, we care a lot, and we're upset about this show and the way it twists Tolkien's characters and his world into something unrecognizable. They could have created something of their own, but they wanted to use the Tolkien name and take advantage of the fanbase that already existed. A fanbase that is very protective of Tolkien and his world. And now they are offended that we didn't just silently accept the way they treated Tolkien and his creation, so they resort to labeling any criticism the work of right wing trolls. This show will, in all likelihood, still be a success, so Amazon won't care one way or the other. The thing that is sad though is that this show will now attach itself to the Tolkien name, and maybe it will be the first thing with his name on it that some people will experience. And that might lead them to think that this is actually something that he would have written, and that is a tragedy. That doesn't alter the fact that it was an incredibly stupid plot point and it makes Galadriel look even more stupid.

It's so strange how they never even mentioned something about Sandie keeping in touch with Robert. He is her half-brother after all. She's only been mentioned two times or something like that in the last 30+ years.

No, they just delete reviews that are negative. And why is it only "review bombing" when the reviews are negative? It can work both ways. Some of the reviews out there are so over-the-top positive that it's bordering on the ridiculous. I don't think for a moment all of them are legitimate. Is it really that difficult for Hollywood to understand that sometimes people just don't like the product they put out? Tolkien's world is the origin of the fantasy genre as we know it. It has been around for 70 years and counting, and has acquired a large, loyal fanbase. Is it really that surprising that when someone bastardizes the world they know and love they are upset and critical? 🤔

IMDb has 72 star reviews, of which thirty-six (!) are 10/10, fourteen are 9/10, thirteen are 8/10, six are 7/10 and three are 6/10. They use words like "Amazingly mesmerizing", "Stunning", "Spectacular", "Awesome", "Top Notch", "Mind blowing", but not a single review with less than 6 stars is featured. Do you expect me to believe that all of the lower scoring reviews (and I'm absolutely sure there have been some of those) were being made by right wing incels or trolls? Or could the complete lack of negative reviews have anything to do with the fact that Amazon owns IMDb, and that they are censoring the reviews? 🤔 I have no problem with people enjoying this show, that's their prerogative. But I do have a problem with this attempt by the showrunners and Amazon trying to label all those of us who have objections to what they are doing as trolls, racists, misogynists and any other -ist you can think of. Are there some of those among the critics? There probably are, and that sucks, but we're not all that. And it sucks even more that all our valid criticisms are being summarily dismissed like this. We wanted to love this show, and we would have been their biggest supporters if they had done right by Tolkien. But they haven't, and now that we're objecting to what they are doing they simply insult us and call us names.

I think it's safe to say that opinions have been somewhat divided after the premiere. They've been either absolutely glowing, praising the show (and Amazon) to the heavens, or completely scathing. I have found though that a much larger percentage of the negative reviewers actually present reasons for their dislike (terrible writing, stiff acting, unlikeable characters, a dull and slow moving show), and even offer some positive (some beautiful scenery, nice music), while the positive reviews mostly just seem to declare the show amazing, magnificent, breathtaking and an overall marvelous experience. They don't seem to have found a single flaw. Yet, it is the negative reviewers who are labeled trolls and have their reviews deleted. Funny that.... I don't have access to Amazon Prime so I haven't seen it, except for the few glimpses offered in reviews on Youtube, and I agree that some of the scenery does look spectacular. But beautiful scenery can't make up for bad writing, bad acting or bad pacing, and those three are the most common denominators in the reviews I've seen. Since I haven't watched the show I can't weigh in on those points. But I have to say that some of the casting looks awful. Celebrimbor looks like Regis Philbin's younger cousin. None of the elves I've seen look anything like elves. Where's the grace, the poise, the elegance? And the hobbits, sorry, Harfoots...... What I can gather from the reviews and the plot summaries the show pays just as little respect to Tolkien's actual writings as expected, but even without taking that into consideration there are things that defies belief. Do the writers actually realize how far apart Middle-Earth and Valinor are? It's an entire ocean between them, not something like the English Channel. Yet they still have Galadriel jump from her ship just as its about to land in Valinor and start swimming (!) back towards Middle-Earth. That's almost like trying to swim over the Atlantic Ocean! And for the love of everything that's holy, please, please, please don't make Meteor Man be Gandalf! Please!!! 🙏 (The Istari don't land in Middle-Earth until well into the Third Age)

A while ago we got that list of top 10 episodes people felt defined Emmerdale. () Well, in honour of the show's upcoming 50th anniversary I thought I would choose the top 10, not episodes, but storylines, that I feel have been important during the years. I'm sure you all will have your own lists, but this is mine: