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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   33194 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

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I think the WoT comparison is spot on. Both shows have people running them who don't in the least care about the source material, and who lash out at anyone who criticizes their work as being a bigot. Both shows are also, by most accounts, not good even on their own merits. Seems like a pretty apt comparison to me.

I'll throw my 2c in the ring with "While it commits a number of the same flaws, RoP is way better than WoT". I'd give RoP a 5 or a 6 / 10 -- it looked very good (except for the armor, which, except for Galadriel's, looked like fake plastic armor you buy for your kids, IMO), and had some nice scenes (Adar, Elrond & Durin). I hard the Harfoots though, and for me the main problem is nothing really had consequences -- we just flowed from one set piece to the next. Also, the diverse casting wasn't too damaging for RoP, in my opinion, except for the Harfoots, where it really makes no sense.

WoT was a 2 or 3 / 10, where a number of "The Message" things really destroyed the whole story (and underlying system of magic and source of tension in the book).

I don't think I'll be watching Season 2 of either, unless the family makes me.

If Amazon is smart, they hurry Season 2 out, as I think otherwise most people will turn their back on RoP.

Nothing RoP did comes anywhere near some of the BS WoT pulled, like making race non-genetic (except for red hair for Plot Reasons), or Rand's journey throughout the whole season essentially boiling down to being sad but accepting and supporting his potential wife's decision to be a Career Woman rather than letting him be a homemaker for her. At least in WoT the white character's black mom is her stepmom.

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