My son and I are serious LOTR and Hobbit fans, yet I find this exciting so far. Makes me wanna look forward to the next episodes. At first, an LOTR fan will look for the features of the previous LOTR TRILOGY, but viewers need to have an open mind since it's a different production and direction yet it's still an RRTolkien story. We gotta give them a chance, plus it looks like they have really spent serious money on this when you look at the production as a whole.
Characters, races and origins of the LOTR as a whole are being introduced here for the very first time which gives it more excitement, curiousity , enjoyment and
satisfaction. Ofcourse they will make it look fresh and new, which they should, especially for the new viewers and new generation.
Production is actually excellent for a television series viewing. Can't wait for the next episodes!