Malazan Empire: Tavvar - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

Lady Bliss, on 17 March 2023 - 12:18 AM, said:

I don't think they had a clear plan. They got Patrick Stewart back by promising not to redo TNG, but that's apparently the only idea that has actually worked well. I like this seaons's TNG, but darker with more interpersonal conflict (that they weren't allowed to do by Rodenberry). (I also think there may have been a showrunner change, so they completely changed direction.)

I'm really enjoying it as well. Just need to catch up on the newest episode. I think it is my favorite of the SW shows so far.

About the Mithril story, in the show Elrond talks about how that is a myth. The showrunners are not making that the canon creation story of mithril, its just an origin myth that might be plausibly believable to the characters in the world if they were desperate enough to believe it, which it seems Celebrimbor was. (The showrunners have pointed this out in interviews.)

This season may have been a bit too much of a reintroduction to Middle-Earth, but I can understand why they showrunners felt that was necessary. The movies came out 20 years ago (I feel old now...), most people probably needed a reintroduction. I look forward into delving more into this story and seeing where they take it!

Well, my computer doesn't seem to want me to type anything today (this is my third try to write this). I have seen some people write from Tolkien's letters that Sauron repented, then fell back into Evil during the Second Age, which lines up with what the Showrunners are doing. While it seems like Season 2 may have been a better story, it seems they felt this slow intro would be better for casual fans (and its seems to have been, the only story complaints I've seen are from Tolkien fans about it not matching how they think the Second Age went). They could've done some things better (hello Adar asking Arondir to "deliver a message" (that was very bad)), for the most part I found it to be a very good story. At this point I trust them to improve in Season 2.

I have seen several Tolkien nerds arguing about if this matches the story, and it seems that depends on exactly how much of Tolkien's writings they have read. I think some of the things used or referenced in the show come from obscure Tolkien notes and letters, that very few people have read. (I've only read The Hobbit, LOTR, and 2/3s of The Silmarillion, so I don't know the lore enough to be upset, and I don't really care much for changing canon between mediums anymore: tell the best story for that medium!)

Anyway, I am really looking forward to Season 2 after coming into Season 1 with rather low expectations.

I thought the finale was great and am eagerly looking forward to Season 2 (whenever they get around to releasing it)! Lots of setup going on for future seasons, and I think they can do more with each of the characters now that they have set up the story. I really like that they are adding enough flaws to the Good characters, and a few positives to the Bad characters to at least make them more interesting that the standard Middle-Earth Good vs Evil.

They've had to do a lot of compression to the storyline to fit 3000 years of history into a 5 season show, so I do not mind the alterations they have had to make to the book canon for a tv series (300 years on Annatar working with Celebrimbor would be incredibly boring).

There are definitely some things they can improve with writing and characters, but I think they will be able to do it, and I think future seasons could be really good.