rmontro

I liked the Spirit Halloween and I Love Lucy sketches, but that was about it. Also Dana Carvey's Biden, but that cold open dragged on too long.

Now that we've seen Tom, I wish they would have goofed him up a bit, or made him a little more eccentric or something. I understand they wanted to tone him down for television, but they ended up losing too much of his personality. Plus his whole mentor role seemed wrong.

I believe they said they left the army behind to battle the underground "beast" if/when the older Durin sets him free. I like Mardania's name as not-Galadriel better, as some of the posters here called her. I thought Elrond was going to pass Galadriel her ring back during the kiss, but he just slipped her a piece of his armor. The actor playing Celebrimbor did a great job, I thought. The writing is still weak though (a problem Tolkien himself didn't have).

That's what I was thinking. I almost wondered if someone was hopeful for another season and brought back Wilford or Milius? But the scene got lost in the shuffle. Unless that undead soldier was "Rat", the guy who was guarding the rocket room, and was quickly dispatched? Or dispatched again I should say, if that was him. As I said before, I can't tell any of the generic soldiers apart.

I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be one of the soldiers that was killed in the last episode. The lady doctor stops to look at him, and makes some sort of remark about science being able to do wondrous things, or whatever she said. I'm pretty sure that's who it was supposed to be, but they never really paid that scene off, did they? What was even the point of it? I guess we were supposed to know the different soldiers by the painting on their masks, but I never picked up on any of them, they were too generic. I guess the bit at the end with the flower blooming far from New Eden means the Earth is actually starting to thaw. That's great, but all that research they did and all that data they collected? And they still had no idea at all what the climate was going to do. Sounds like a weather report, all right. Bye Snowpiercer, you were a thing. Don't rest now, though, Daryl Dixon's show is coming back next week, with Carol.

Next to the last episode, and only a few posts here. This series is whimpering to a close. Anyway. Feels kind of weird with Wilford and evil Phil Coulson (Milius) dead. Nima seems like an odd villain. I was kind of hoping Wilford was Alex's father, even though yeah that would have been too predictable, and wouldn't have really made much sense (since that meant Melanie would have chosen him). I'm curious to see how it all ends. I was hoping the rocket fixes the atmosphere despite what Melanie and Alex are saying about it, but maybe that's implausible. Maybe they'll come up with a last minute fix. Everyone could end up dead. Or maybe they all end up stuck back on the train, which I'd hate to see.

Nope. Apparently the Petries cut him off completely :)

The first half of the episode moved the story along quite nicely, then it stalled. I guess it's okay to put some character stuff in the second half, for those who care about the characters. Unfortunately, there aren't many that I find that interesting, so it was a little dull for me. Two more episodes to go. Layton didn't get much of a welcome, did he? I guess the residents have troubles of their own on their minds.

Well, I thought the first two episodes this season were better than last year, for whatever reason.

This show works better if you don't think too hard and just look at the pretty visuals.

I think the actor is appropriate for Bombadil, I would have dressed him a tad different. And why put him in Rhun? Maybe Goldberry was talking from a nearby stream? Barrow wights too! So we have an entwife. Again, it doesn't seem right with the timeline. I actually wonder if they are showing an entwife before they disappeared, or if they are showing female ents for political reasons, because you know, you can't have all males? I wasn't guessing the ents, I thought maybe they were dealing with trolls or giants.

I had heard that Rings of Power did some major overhauling during their time off, after negative responses to the first season. After watching the first two episodes, I was pretty impressed, it seemed like they had cleaned things up a lot, and they were doing a lot better. Then the third episode seems like a step backwards. The Numenorean plotline just has not been very satisfying at this point, and it's rather dull. Plus of course all the time discrepancies still exist, but not much that can be done about that now.

That brings up two questions: Are the ells eating or keeping the other fish away? And if there are so many eels, why aren't they allowed to eat them? For a protected species, there sure seems to be a lot of them.

I think the US version abandoned the reunion shows long ago. And not to be that guy, but it's Timber, not Tinder. Tinder's a cool and appropriate name too though. His complaints about the deer jerky made my teeth hurt.

This season felt brutal, even though I think food was scarcer in previous ones. Any of the last three would have been deserving. I didn't think William was going to win after he convinced himself he was the winner for the med check, but he looked strong in the end. I don't feel too bad for Timber, since it didn't sound like he wanted the money for himself anyway.

Well, speaking for myself, I've been watching it mainly because I'm a huge Tolkien fan and I've been very curious about how they were going to approach it. Even though at times it's been a bit like watching a trainwreck, and you can't take your eyes off of it. It would have to be pretty bad for me not to watch it, but that day may come depending on how it goes. As for the theatrical release, I don't expect it to make big box office, but I hope they can be profitable so we might see more movies like this in the future.

The one thing that keeps puzzling me about this show is why is the fishing so difficult where they are? You would think New Zealand would have fish in abundance.

Yeah, it has to be. I just think it's a little silly.

It is at that. I'll say this for it, it's a very nice looking show. And if I interpret the previews correctly, they are going to have my favorite character on this season. Interesting that despite its flaws, apparently we both watch it.

I'll say this for Tamika: She lasted about two weeks longer than when I was telling her she was done and she might as well tap. I was glad she didn't kill a goose, but I'm not sure why someone who doesn't want to hunt would go on this show. I was starting to think Suzan was going to win, but I guess it's best not to bet against the introvert. I wonder why women seem to make much better foragers than men do? Women seem generally less interested in meat than men anyway, from my observations. That may have something to do with it. I wonder why they all say "I am officially tapping out"? Is that somehow different than unofficially tapping out? Or "Come get me, I quit"? I suppose they're trying to create a catchphrase like "The tribe has spoken". Congratulations to Krzysztof.

I have a number of problems with the movies, but if I'm being honest, Jackson did about a good a job as anyone could reasonably expect. There are always going to be compromises when you adapt a book as complex as LOTR to film. I doubt if those films could be made today, there would be too many woke demands. You really don't think The War of the Rohirrim looks good at all? I don't really mind the addition of a strong heroine here, we already have the model of Eowyn in that land to follow.

You are right about that grouse snatching, that's very impressive. HIs literal "ice box" was a brilliant stroke as well. Timber's antler bass was really impressive, and didn't sound half bad either. That guy has skills. Dub seems like the most likely to tap next, but you never know with this show.

I never said it was perfect, just better than Rings of Power. Peter Jackson gave Arwen a more active role when she engaged with the ringwraiths too, plus there was the addition of Tauriel in The Hobbit. There were complaints about that too, but those movies are lauded (well, maybe not The Hobbit). I would prefer a more faithful adaptation as well, but this shouldn't be unexpected. This story was not highly detailed by Tolkien as far as I remember, there's bound to be some embellishment.

The more I look at Johnny's costume above (I guess it's been removed?), the more I like it. Some people say it looks like Fortnite, but I think it fits in well with the optimistic retro '60s future other world that they're in, with the bright colors and playful feel. It looks like it would make a great "Major Matt Mason" style action figure, to make a reference going back more years than most people here would remember.

This movie is not based on any Tolkien tale that I am familiar with, it is only set in Middle Earth. So why does this feel more respectful to Tolkien's work than Prime Video's Rings of Power series, which IS based on various Tolkien tales (yet butchers them badly)? Obviously I guess it's because they are not overtly changing the lore. Creating new stories should be just fine, because I believe Tolkien had said he wanted to build a mythology that others could add to.