Bahareh Seifikabir

I have watched Peter Jackson's LOTR and the Hobbit movie series. I have also read The Hobbit, and have conducted many hours of research on Tolkien's lore, his biography, Christopher Toilken's dedication to his father's legacy, and what led Toilken to create the work that many like myself have come to love. While I don't see myself as a Tolkien expert by any means, I do love fantasy shows, movies, and books of varying kinds and can offer some thoughts on this show. I will preface my review by first saying that I know that it is a lot easier to sit back and judge something from the outside looking in however, having said that, this show does not have depth, it is glitzy without substance. I think the acting was questionable or perhaps more than the acting, the casting was just a missed opportunity especially for the characters such as Galadriel , Elrond , Celebrimbor, and Isildur for example. Costumes were also questionable, I believe I saw some Roman-type costume in one or two of the earlier episodes although some costumes worn by Galadriel were very beautiful; however, a good variety just lacked the same fine details as seen in the LOTR movies. Writing and Editing were also choppy and just off. For example, Queen Regent and Galadriel keep oddly calling each other elf and regent. Or, how about when a man of Númenor shouted that elves would steal their jobs--another weird piece of writing. Even if you are not a Tolkien fanatic or know much about writing, you would feel a bit perplexed about how the writing does not fit the mystical setting in which the characters live. It just does not make sense. Music and scenery-- some visual scenes were good and others questionable, such as cut and paste of the same extras on one episode that I saw. Not sure why that was necessary but if it were needed, then by all means, use another method of creating the large crowd scene. I hope the show evaluates the criticism to make the 2nd season more watchable,