John Loyd

Only one episode in so far and I'm not turned off by it (as I feared at first I would be with so many bad reviews appearing so quickly) but I'm also not quite impressed just yet... The original LOTR simply set so high a bar I don't think anything will come close to meeting it, BUT I can tell how much effort went into this attempt and will keep watching for now. That said: - Casting: Was decent at least (young Elrond was best casted thus far, but young Galadriel simply got the role based on looking like Cate Blanchet, but maybe she'll surprise us with emotion a little later). There were some who were good, others not so much, but nothing meets the perfect casting of the original. I'll take what I can get. - Visuals: Great. The only issue here, is that greatness was already the standard... had the original LOTR movies NOT already wowed us all I could see this being a much bigger hit. Hitting the target here (especially after all the money spent) is still a great feeling. High bar previous set, high bar now met... moving on. - Story: As others have pointed out, it's a bit slow... but then both the movies (and especially the books) can feel this way in the beginning given the plethora of content available to cover. Temper expectations here... it's a huge mountain to overcome, and if done well over the course of the season (which I think still possible) I'm convinced it'll still be worth the time spent watching, especially if you're a TRUE fan who enjoys any chance available to see a visual representation of a loved (and now classic) Middle-earth mythology. If it introduces even more (younger) people to the world of Tolkien then that's the important thing to keep this great lore alive and well to pass on the experience to others (I myself was only introduced to LOTR through the movies... great time to be alive). Room for improvement yes, but overall done fairly well and I'm looking forward to more.