Well at least most fans can agree on rings of power was only bad fanfiction and should be ignored as we have the old but superior lord of the rings movies and the books

I loved the part in Rings of Power where Galadriel said “It’s morbin’ time” and then morbed all over Sauron. Truly epic.

"We went back to the books for everything even the colour of the armour": yet when this one dude asked them why Galadriel had a Feanorian star on her armour they could not answer. The only thing you could get from the books is that Galadriel hated Feanor. She'd never have dreamed of wearing his symbol.

This was a combination of the Tolkien being one of the fiercest fandoms, with a lore that has been well established, combined with audiences sick of watching all their favorite franchises go down hill before they knew what was up and now doing their homework ahead of time. Loved being part of the defense. For Tolkien!

_"The lore was dear to thee, I see. Know that it suffered greatly at the hands of its host."_

"the first woman to be a dwarf in Tolkien", I distinctly remember seeing quite a few female dwarfs at the beginning of The Hobbit, I think it was at the beginning of the desolation of Smaug. the beard might have confused them but I think the dress and the boobs would have been a dead giveaway

For Tolkien

I never thought i would fight besides a causal Fan but I'm happy to call you a friend excellent synopsis of this disaster

There's a theory that Rings of Power Galadriel is a self-insert of Jennifer Salke. Honestly, I think there's something in it.

The great lesson of 'modern' story telling is, if you try to appeal to everyone you end up appealing to no one.

Talking of ethos, I encountered a woman on social media (probably worked for Amazon), who legitimately tried to compare the costume designers on Rings of Power spending a couple of days sewing fabric scales onto rubber armour with the costume designers on the PJ movies, who famously said they spent the better part of two years making indivudual rings for the chain mail *by hand*. She seemed to think the former required as much time and effort as the latter, and should get the same amount of recognition.

It almost doesn't feel like an hour and thirteen minutes. Excellent work Jellyfish! There is certainly a pattern when a studio starts attacking fans for their shoddy products. No, the assholes don't deserve the time of the day, but like. Something attracted fans to the franchise. What exactly is there to gain going tossing it aside and changing things? It's also really funny how that one interview was like "Women. Yes. Black Women." as if "I am no Man" isn't one of the film's most iconic moments.

In all fairness to Rings of Power, it has provided my friends countless hours of speculating if and how it could've been worse.

This era of ruin is a serious reason for why I have begun writing my own stories and attempt to create an epic at the scale of such things. For George Lucas, for JRR Tolkien, for Christopher Tolkien, for Robert Jordan, for Sapkowski, for all the kingdoms of myth and story! We must not only hold but retake the land!

Holy crap this is so well done, a clear time-line of the making of this mess. Thank you so much, I wish I'd found this sooner.

My heart sank when I heard Tom Shippey was out of the RoP .

The astro turfing by RoP defenders on all the Tolkien subreddits was unreal. These people were coming out of the woodwork to shame those who had negative opinions about the show and explain convoluted reasons why the Rings of Power wasn't actually lore breaking and why all the changes were actually good. Now it's a year after the show's release and most RoP defenders are mysteriously absent and plenty of people are still expressing their negative opinions of the show on Reddit but with little opposition. It just goes to show that the true fans have stuck around but the gaslighting astro turfers trying desperately to convince everyone RoP was any good have moved on... for now.

While I do think some people blow this out of proportion - after all Rings of Power wasn't that popular and I think or fear will not be significant in the grant scheme of things - I do appreciate the purity of Tolkien's writing. Here is a guy who mostly wrote this for himself, and Christopher Tolkien did. so much to catalogue and preserve his father's writings even in a state that might not be for the average reader, it's remarkable how genuine and pure this universe seems compared to all other recent franchises. Against that the primarily financially motivated creation of this show, it's such a stark contrast, that most Tolkien fans just have had it 😅 I personally could forgive The Hobbit, because ultimately PJ did a good job with the rushed schedule and studio demands he probably had to work with and Martin Freeman, Richard Armitagr and the dwarves and Bard and most of what was actually in the book was just perfect. 😊

The "road so far" bit with supernatural was great

Farout man, this is amazing! This is Mauler or the Little Platoon tier quality. Loving these long form videos you've done so far, keep it up!

My favorite part from Lord of Ring: Ring Power was when Galadriel said "it's Elf time" and elf'd all over Sauron.

Well put together and voiced! Being fisted with a cactus is less painful then those interviews with the ROP members.. Looking forward to seeing more long form content

Chris really was the best son, protecting his father's legacy well. Not a Wheel of Time fan, but Amazon butchered that franchise too. Fantasy has taken a mighty blow.

That montage was pure genius.

Can't hear the dialogue on that section with Simon Tolkien: and honestly, I think that man is a backstabber. He's now denoucning Jackson and saying he hates his work? He expects us to just forget that he previously worked closely with Jackson on the movies and never said anything to suggest he didn't like the movies before. He also expects us to forget his previous statements: where he said that he believed Tolken's work needed to be changed. If he's distancing himself from Jackson, its purely a cynical ploy to make sure he's on board with Amazon.

you know what I have always wanted to know about Middle Earth and Arda as a whole. whats happening with the people in the east and the south and the people in the frodwaith there are thousands of untold stories and untapped lore just waiting there not to mention the darklands and walls of the sun two entirely different continents

Thunderstruck was the song they played when we finished our field test for US infantry basic training. It was at the end of a sorta long ruck march, never felt so pumped up in my life hearing that song in the distance

I got led here by RandomFilmTalks' Discord Server and hey, that was a good summary and a neat video. Well done =)

Good work my dude. Can't believe this has less than 2k views at the time I watched this. You've earned much more than that.

Amazon shill: You're gatekeeping! Tolkien fandom: You shall not pass! Salke really is just terrible as a studio head. Just look into how she spent tens of millions of dollars "contracting" writers and directors for "first pick". Then they just never produced anything at all and she STILL renewed the contract. She spends money hand over fist and is more concerned with status and how she is perceived by the industry than actually producing a product of quality. Buying exclusive rights to an unproven niche film for 150 million dollars is another blunder.

Great video sir ! Happy to have stumbled upon your channel! Obviously put a lot of effort and love into this. Hope you get more recognition in this space in the future. All the best to you in 2024 and beyond.

Mr. W. Jellyfish, this is the second work of yours that I have listened to, and it also meets with my general approval. I quite had to laugh at seeing so many other creators that I follow with pleasure referenced, these included but are not limited to, DDay Cobra/Jeremy of Geeks & Gamers, Ryan of RK Outpost, Gary from Nerdrotic, Critical Drinker, and others whose content I have enjoyed but whose names I have forgotten. Surprisingly, with creativity, the barely referenced Second Age might actually contain enough lore for a faithful creator to craft a work of art. I would recommend Tolkien Untangled's treatment of what a more faithful plan could do. This mess, coming so quickly after Rise of Skywalker, found many of us ready to declare our undying enmity against it, so the battle was already uphill. Those fans that had enjoyed Game of Thrones were also angered, and those connected to Marvel or other Disney properties were wary seeing the same tropes appearing in the MCU starting with Captain Marvel. Amazon just happened to choose the one series that might honestly be called "the Nerd Nexus". I was aware of transpiring events because I have long enjoyed reading and practically read Lord of the Rings and Star Wars jointly, and have long followed with interest the developments surrounding them. I knew of and appreciated the work of Christopher Tolkien since my adolescence when I discovered The Book of Lost Tales, and his death was the largest warning that this project was doomed. I am not a prognosticating practitioner of divination, but an ovbserver of systems and people within them, and his death was a harbinger of disaster. As Ian Malcom of Jurassic Park might say, "They did not take into consideration the inherent instability of a complex system." I have introduced my eight year old sister, I am much more advanced in years than she, to The Chronicles of Narnia, following which I intend to enspell her senses with other quality novels and by ten to have her reading Tolkien and the Star Wars EU, a bargain I made with our mother. My apologies for such a lengthy and incoherently meandering comment. So let me summarize briefly: I loved the content and I subscribed after the first video I watched, this being the second.

Love the channel broski! Happy the algorithm allowed me to stumble upon it finally… More content please

The comment about the round cart wheels being like the round hobbit doors...is one of the most insane, ridiculous things I've ever heard :) and that's saying much haha. I mean the Harfoots, aside from the fact that this clan of early Hobbits is described as one of the three clans (still in Third Age mostly) others being Fallohides and Stoors, the Harfoots were actually per Tolkien lore THE hole builders :). "Before the crossing of the mountains the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller, and shorter, and they were beardless and bootless; their hands and feet were neat and nimble; and they preferred highlands and hillsides. The Stoors were broader, heavier in build; their feet and hands were larger, and they preferred flat lands and riversides. The Fallohides were fairer of skin and also of hair, and they were taller and slimmer than the others; they were lovers of trees and of woodlands. The Harfoots had much to do with Dwarves in ancient times, and long lived in the foothills of the mountains. They moved westward early, and roamed over Eriador as far as Weathertop while the others were still in the Wilderland. They were the most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and far the most numerous. They were the most inclined to settle in one place, and longest preserved their ancestral habit of living in tunnels and holes." Lotr prologue The Harfoots being "browner of skin" also does not denote African ancestry especially since they would be more rather like the mediterranean-like olive skinned or at best middle eastern for sure as they also in-universe came from the EAST, all the hobbit peoples migrated from the East, the Fallohides were the northern branch so paler of skin and fairer of hair (basically what one would expect) and so on and they were the first to build hobbit holes :). " _Hobbit_ was the name usually applied by the Shire-folk to all their kind. Men called them _Halflings_ and the Elves _Periannath._ The origin of the word _hobbit_ was by most forgotten. It seems, however, to have been at first a name given to the Harfoots by the Fallohides and Stoors, and to be a worn-down form of a word preserved more fully in Rohan: _holbytla_ 'hole-builder'." Lotr appendix F So the Harfoots are "more inclined to settle" so no nomadic cart drivers (err not even drivers...they PULL them without the beasts of burden even haha so stupid :)) BUT they also DIG HOLES TO LIVE IN :) and the holes surprise surprise ARE ROUND :). As for the cultural influences the fragment of Tolkien letter says it best: "I have always with me: the sensibility to linguistic pattern which affects me emotionally like colour or music; and the passionate love of growing things; and the deep response to legends (for lack of a better word) that have what I would call the North-western temper and temperature. In any case if you want to write a tale of this sort you must consult your roots, and a man of the North-west of the Old World will set his heart and the action of his tale in an imaginary world of that air, and that situation: with the Shoreless Sea of his innumerable ancestors to the West, and the endless lands (out of which enemies mostly come) to the East. Though, in addition, his heart may remember, even if he has been cut off from all oral tradition, the rumour all along the coasts of the Men out of the Sea." --Letter to W.H. Auden, 7 June 1955

Well made and well said, you deserve more subs, just found the channel yesterday and I look forward to seeing it grow, good luck mate.

“I never thought I’d die fighting side by side with a casual” “What about side by side with a friend?” “Aye, I could do that.”

"There is a tempest in me" will never not make me laugh....

I loved the part in rings of Power where Tom Bombadil deleted the entire series from my memory

It warms my cold dead heart that a fandom can still unite and stand as one against such evil. The kingdom of man is far stronger than Amazon the great estimated.

I can’t believe I only just found this video! Bravo, Mr. Jellyfish Man!

Throughout the whole thing is the unmistakable touch of amateurism.

@1:51 Yes true, but I fear that Bezos is committed to The Desolation of Tolkien, but it seems the fandom is prepared to wage The Battle of the Five Seasons to the bitter end.

The main trouble with nerddom is that we had all these cool worlds and heros but we were so desperate to be accepted that we let in all those people who were rejected based on there personality disorders and now they are the vocal minority and us nerds cant speak up about anything because we let the hyenas in

my god man. Your essays and movie quote commentary is absolutely brilliant.

Having this show up in my feed, I have not yet watched it and will do so with some trepidation. NB, I am an unabashed, unapologetic hard-core Tolkien nerd. The kind who agrees with his son about the movies. The kind who goes so far as to read the entire, bleeding History of Middle-Earth, footnotes and all. All 12,000 pages of it (in my complete 3-volume edition apparently made of tissue paper and which needs to be read with the care of an ancient manuscript 🙄). I enjoyed the first movie, was appalled by the second, thought the third mostly followed that ones vein but was somewhat rescued by the well-done ending. The less said about the execrable Hobbit movies, the better. Corporate Hollywood indeed. To me, Jackson laid the ground work of abomination that Amazon then went to build on. I'll almost certainly never watch the ROP series. Will I need strong drink to watch your video? I'm already hung over from an Aussie Day part. Sorry, do I now have to say "invasion day"? I can't keep up. PS: the irony of showing Hollywood's version of the Battle of Midway, where we see a squadron of B-26, rather than the actual 4, is delicious. PPS: I also once worked for the Evil Empire (Amazon/AWS, not Hollywood!), before I escaped that hell-hole, so I'm really not charitably inclined towards that mob, feel free to consider me biased there as well. PPPS: now watching it, so disappointed to see mega-nerd Colbert being part of the shill panel. He could have been an advisor who knows both Tolkien and been able to navigate Hollywood. The knee-jerk calling fans evil and, of course, racist, is laughable for a work that, as you pointed out several times, is a global phenomenon translated into 38 languages. Just looking at that list shows TRUE diversity, not virtue signalling: among them Arabic, Bengali, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Turkish. Though I would concede a definite dearth of African languages. PPPPS: done now, an amazing piece of work and research. Hat off to you! But for some reason, my brain is in frozen orbit around one fact you mentioned almost in passing: they never even licensed the works that actually provide significant info on the Second Age? Not the Silmarillion, not Unfinished Tales? Why not?! Are these people insane? With the name given to the series, I had foolishly presumed they would have use the last chapter in the S. at the very least, despite massively diverting. Not even having that source material is just beyond ludicrous.

How could I have missed this video? Merci.

Damn you deserve so many more views. I was really entertained here. Thank you!

Bucket list item checked: a LotR video with an Event Horizon clip includeing several Friday Night Tights crew references. That's a tough one to get! Cheers!

Since rings of power has caused more appreciation for the hobbit trilogy, i recommend everyone go find a reedit of the hobbit, theres seceral cuts that remove the unnecessary scenes, a lot of poor cgi, unneeded plot points, etc. And after all the cuts, it does feel like LotR. I always watch a 3 and a half hour cut of the hobbit along with my LotR marathons

I think I've watched like 5 videos on this channel and I literally just now realized that thing around the Jellyfish's tie is a collar. Until now my brain has interpreted the tie as dangling from a toothy, triangular grin, since the collar is located directly on the face in the general location one would expect to find a mouth. I feel dumb.

I was playing a game and the Gandalf deepfake made me do a double take. Actually, had to rewind that one.

I'm actually not allowed to review anything on Amazon anymore because I reviewed Rings of Power after watching the first Episode and didn't give it a good review because....I just couldn't....I just...For someone who likes writing/characterization/storytelling/Tolkien....I just couldn't. Trying to adapt a work from years ago to match with the current age shouldn't happen regardless of how we feel. Taking a look back is important, critical look at works is also important. New work for modern times is important but adapting OLD stories for the new age is lazy and annoying.

Excellent, thank you for your work on this.

Its always interesting how Rings of Power fans say "the series stays faithful to Tolkien's themes and tone". Roughly translated, it actually means "the series isn't fauthful to what Tolkien wrote in any way, shape or form but we don't want to say that because Amazon is paying us, and so we say its faithful to these abstract, ill-defined concepts to try and fool people. When we use the word "faithful" people who have not read the books think it sticks close to the books and they won't check out what Tolkien actually said about his themes, so we're ok"

I could not agree more with your comments about IP's being bought and paid for and not earnt. This is why I am so concerned about the adaption of one of my favourite fandoms, 40K. I just hope Cavill is allowed to keep his manhood intact. But you know, in this kiwi's point of view, it's no longer about the story, it's about what ever political bollocks modern hollywood wants to jam into it. I hate modern media because of that crap!

This is hands down the best synopsis of where it all went wrong What an appalling failure

Only 939 subs? Thank you algorithm, this is top tier!

Expect Amazon to cut their losses after the second season and cancel the show.

Absolutely excellent video!!!!

Not gonna lie, i mostly comment to make you some engagement for the algorithm, but anyway, really nice video mate, already watched it a few times since it released !

Great work, keep it up.

Off topic but related, the biggest problem with the hobbit trilogy, at least for me, is twofold: overuse of cgi, and the bloated story. The book is only 300 pages, not anywhere close to enough to stretch to a trilogy. A lot of stuff was added that didn't need to be there, but the story from the book is still there. Which is lucky, because you can cut almost all of the added fluff and poor cgi out of the film, and have an actual decent movie. There's several recuts of the hobbit that cuts the three films down to a single 3-4 hour movie, and I actually deem that recut good enough to include in my LotR marathons

If Bezos is a Tolkien fan, I'm a ninja turtle

very sound over-view. great work!

How does this only have slightly over 2k views... Its criminal how few views this has.

Liked this, but with tears in my eyes.

Outstanding work, good Sir Jellyfish!

There was noi way this show was going to win awards outside of the turker and rasberry awards.

Liked the Hobbit myself guys. Is it lore trilogy good? No, but for what it is. I like it. It's underrated imo. Hot take I'm sure... But rings of power. Well 🤮

The more and more i watch about how the rings of power qas periecved and fought against by the fans, the more I start to think I was just alone in my fight against the bullshit disney did to starwars. It almost felt like being surrounded, out gunned, and out numbered, but still upholding my lightsaber. I was Ima gun di, and they were the droid army. How and why this happened but the lord of the rings fans wouldn't allow it to happen to their franchise completely baffles me. Me watching this happen felt like being a war veteran entering a brand new war but being put in a logistics position, encouraging those about to go off into battle that the fight is in fact worth it. There were some like myself in the starwars community, but none were so untied againat the drivel. I told anyone in the internet i cane across, "not to let it happen to them, don't let them ruin it for you." And i cheered as i aaw WAVES of people destorying the absolute crap that was the rings of power. But i also felt, and atill feel, sadned by auch unity, i could not find this kind of comradery in my own community, we were divided against ourselves, and so we fell despite out best efforts. And now? Im just tired. Which is where i assumed eveyone else went when it felt as if i was alone and surrounded, they were simply tited of the fight, that had to be it. Now, however, im uncertain. In any case, i emplore fans everywhere to stand up for what you like, stand up for your franchise and it's creative direction. Dont let them corrupt it. Don't let them win. And don't faulter. Once, i was so desperate for good starwars i had convinced myself that rushed and sub par content was good. That kenobi was actually a good series. Dont let desperation feed these monsters. Kenobi had good moments, but they were over shadowed by idiocy, and i was too blind to see it until it was too late.

Amazon: "Tolkien's works are about people coming together"- Tolkien himself in Letter 131 where Tolkien wrote about the Second Age "the theme of his part of the story is fall, corruption and the machine". Of course that is a paraphrase, but its adequate to show that what Tolkien said about the themes and meanings of his work is greatly at odds with what Amazon said.

Great work

You give me hope

hard to believe but there are people out there who still have Amazon Prime lmao

the hobbit movie fans, now is our time

Whadup jellylad. New sub here but I love your videos

*Sniff * Right here :(

I just stumbled on your channel but absolutely agree and I may be a bit of a casual but what Amazon has done no true fan of tolkin or peter Jackson can sit idle for as long as this show runs we shall be the bastion that holds back the filth they spew forth so at last all I can say is FOR TOLKIN!!

Oh wow, this video came out on my birthday last year!

working jellyfish makes such good videos.... if only amazon had learned from him.

Who is the youtuber at 25:39 so i can watch him too?

What was hilarious to me was the trailers and interviews. The only thing that was shown and talked about was the diversity and wokeness... instead of the show, story, character moments and the "passion and dedication" it would've took to make it.

I personally liked the show but yes, it was a shameless cash grab. I disliked how the did Galadriel, made the elves have short hair, how Elrond was just this immature fool, and how they seemed to just try to fit too much into one show. I don’t mind that they used POC, but I hate when they just tried to fill a quota. It is a disservice to Marginalized peoples when you just check a box and they are given half-assed roles, it fails them too.

Tho im late im happy i found you

Lol a labor of love bravo!

For Tolkien!

Atleast Tolkien's world wasn't assrsped like Disney did to Star Wars

Mr. Bezos, your son warned you not to “f” it up. You shoulda listened. $1B down the toilet 🚽.

They put far more effort into being “inclusive” and “representative” than they did not just respecting Tolkiens work, but just making a decent tv show 🤦‍♂️

I made it 4 or 5 episodes of Rings of Power. Then checked out.

LOVE how woman never buy into women owned buisnesses...The exclusionary (By their assumption) versions have attracted male and female's alike, yet female created content rarely attractes either, aside from the Man/Woman/Race haters...

Decent overview, however I would like to add that Christopher Tolkien also hated Jacksons films.

your funny man. that poor producer looks so tired. feel sorry for her she got saddled with some fast talking hacks

Its shame modern media has To Carry a Message based on The World Today rather than Be creative with The source material. In The mess that is TROP There is Good stuff In The Series its a shame that Overalli its wrong. If it Was edited diffrently it would Be less shit but still Bad. They needed The rights To The silmerilian And unfinisded tales. The appendces In the LOTR is Not enough To cover the 2nd Age

Nice video man! At first I saw 3mil subscribes and wondered how I have not come across this amazing channel before. 😅 I have watched couple of these videos and like them a lot. Subscribed! They obviously do not owe me anything, and they can do whatever the fuck they want (within limitations of what they payed for ofc) but man I felt so betrayed, and still do. I remember when I first heard the rumors of something new being made. First thought was huge excitement and half a second later fear and dread. I remembered in what world we live in and how they do things these days. I am still waiting for someone to come out and say it was all a joke fellas . . . I mean it indeed was a joke . . .

True empowerment: "No man can kill me!" *Rips off helmet* "I'm no man!" False empowerment: I'm a tomboy, respect me!!!! According to modern hollywood never existed. I can relate with any man, REGARDLESS of skin color, you know who i can't relate with...women...despite being raised by a single mother with a sister...Father NOWHERE to be found, yet i relate MORe to men than I do to the sex that raised me...hmmm...

Hmm

The reason why the backlash was so unrelenting and unified is actually really simple. It’s a combination of the books being one of the most prolific pieces of literature ever written and the fact the films came out about 20 years prior. I was 8 years old when my father took me and my older brother to see Fellowship. I was hooked instantly. Shortly after that I started reading the books and the rest is history. I am far from a Tolkien purest. But I will absolutely call BS when see it. And for me ROP fails on two levels. Number one it fails as a LOTR adaptation. The only thing in this show that is even close to book-accurate is the Prolog where they talk about the Darkening of Valinor. Everything after that is bad fan fiction. And number two is just bad fantasy as whole. But I take comfort in two things. Number one this will be forgotten while the books and Jackson trilogy will live on. And number two is the right The Silmarillion and the rest of Tolkien’s works have never been sold.

I don't think it was a terrible fantasy show, I think it was just a fantasy show. However it was a garbage fire abortion of a LoTR show

I was able to endure for almost 3 episodes. But for one okay scene there was piles and piles and piles of cringe, stupidity and bad writing.