Quote Originally Posted by TesalionLortus View Post
It's not tastes, it's claiming something is good when it isn't
LOL.

Please explain how to prove a TV show (or art generally) is good.

Talking about proof implies it's an objective determination, like Pythagoras Theorem, with a single correct answer.

I can't believe I need to belabor something so obvious.

Quote Originally Posted by TesalionLortus View Post
One would think people who call themselves Tolkien geeks and fans would get that but these days it's not immediately obvious, apparently.
Go back and read the title of the article I linked. Specifically the last two words.

I strongly suspect there are an order of magnitude more people who approach the series like Calisuri than hard-core types like us. They enjoyed the films and/or the trilogy, but it was a long time ago, and they have thought about Tolkien little, if at all, in recent years. Now there's a flashy series that takes them back to the same world, and contains both familiar and new elements to draw them in.

That is the demographic Amazon *should* aim for. If the show keeps people like that looking forward to their hour of Middle-earth every week, and tuning in, who are *you*, Mr. Elitist Guy, to look down on them? There is vast amount of Tolkien material out there, but the tiny fraction accessible to a casual audience basically consists of no more than four books and their film adaptations.

As for RoP, the writing - both plot and dialog - seems lack-luster to me, so far. We would all be pleasantly surprised if the writers could evoke Tolkien's story-telling artisanship, but that's an awful lot to ask. But it's also not unknown for the writing of a series to improve over time.

We're only two episodes in. Even the wise cannot see all ends.