Had to look up "Eustace" and see what he looks like as a grownup. I have to say he has a very Elrondish look to him.

I am not a superfan but I've read the trilogy at least five times and the Hobbit at least five as well. I don't recall any falling stars that turn into people in the material the series is based on, which is a few short tales, barely even stories, in the appendices in the back of Return of the King.

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Watched last night, and loved it! If I could describe it in one word, it would be "charming." Kudos to the writers for expanding upon the rather thin material they had to work with -- the script was excellent, and overall did a good job of extrapolating a Paleoithic version of Middle Earth. It was clear they had read and loved all the source material (everything Tolkien) but only stuck to the appendices for the actual plot. This meant the part about the trees, their poisoning, and their light put into the jewels would have been confusing to someone without an overall Tolkien knowledge, as much of that was in the Silmarillion which was not optioned by the creators.

In overall design the show was similar to the Peter Jackson trilogy -- lots of spectacular mountains, spectacular fjords, Autumn trees (wait, I think those were Elven trees with naturally gold leaves and white trunks) and a cathedral-lite, airy look for Elven architecture.

Even the silly parts were charming. There's one scene where some elves are headed to Valinor for their earthly reward, and they're all standing on an elven ship -- STANDING stock-still in formation presumably for all of the many days required to reach the place -- in their armor, which is symbolically removed as they near to show they've renounced their warrior aspects. I mean, it must have sounded great on paper, but to think of them striking that pose for weeks, not eating, sleeping, or going to the bathroom -- was hilarious!

As for the characters, I loved them all 🙂  Warrior Galadriel was an interesting choice, and I liked how the Harfoots structured their society around cooperation and concealment, living alongside the world but not exactly in it. The elves were all gorgeous. The orcs, gross. The humans, unfortunately, were only a few steps above the orcs in the grossness department.

Now on to the meteor and the "giant" -- very obvious, that's a newly born Gandalf! He was one of the five Maia, or Maiar (forget which) created by the gods of Middle Earth to help its races resist Sauron's pull. Being newly formed, doesn't know anything and has to be taught. That's why he had such a high regard for Hobbits in the LOTR -- because they were the ones who discovered him and helped him, so he imprinted on them.

I could say a lot more but I'd go on for pages and pages.

@cobalt-jade Early on, they said there would be no hobbits because it was a previous Age. It seems wrong to have them.

Is it very American, rather than British? What can you tell me about accents?

I actually joined a local Tolkien book club a few months ago. There have been a few in-person meet-ups that I skipped, but we're still doing the book club online (we're starting the Annotated Hobbit next month. I'm very excited). And we did a virtual watch party last night. So there were some wildly differing opinions because everyone had different levels of knowledge.

Overall, I mostly liked it. Decent start to a high fantasy tv show without being as adult as most of the other ones out there (Wheel of Time, The Witcher, etc).

Some of the lore was . . . odd. I need to do a more in-depth read of the appendices rather than skimming them like I did last night. Having rights to LotR and not The Silmarillion definitely made an impact on the Elves' stories, particularly Galadriel. So far I don't really like most of her plotline, but I do like the actress. Not sure why Elrond is buddies with dwarfs at this point? I have a lot of questions like that where my knowledge of the lore is working against me because I have no idea of where they're actually going with the story.

I thought the Harfoots were good. Not sure how they actually fit into the overall story though. So far it feels like they're in the series just because you can't have Middle-Earth without some sort of Hobbits.

The music is excellent, but Bear McReary is one of my favorite composers so that's to be expected.

I think my general feeling right now is that I'm willing to watch more of it. So far everyone in the Tolkien book club feels the same. Although there were things that bugged all of us to varying levels. Then again, there are things that bug me in the movies and I adore those.

Posted by: @cobalt-jade

Now on to the meteor and the "giant" -- very obvious, that's a newly born Gandalf! He was one of the five Maia, or Maiar (forget which) created by the gods of Middle Earth to help its races resist Sauron's pull. Being newly formed, doesn't know anything and has to be taught.

I didn't think this was obvious at all, actually. The eye imagery in that first shot with him in the center of the crater was the obvious part. Now, the general sense of danger in his scenes could be just a fakeout and he really is one of the wizards, and I would like that far better than some of the other speculations I've seen (some theories say the Stranger is Sauron, which doesn't really fit). Also, just double-checked my copy because it's been bugging me:

It's too soon to say just how much they've compressed the timeline, so it's hard to get a read on some of the character motivations at this point. Of course, we've only seen the premiere so far, and that was more about establishing setting and initial conflict rather than the characters.

Posted by: @coracle

Is it very American, rather than British? What can you tell me about accents?

Keeping in mind that I don't have an ear for spotting most accents, the default accent seems to be that typical historical/fantastical British that's in most fantasy shows. It's definitely not American.

Final thought based on my own reaction and the reactions of people I know: the target demographic for this audience is people who liked the movies and maybe read the books, but definitely not people who have read The Sil or various other lore.

Posted by: @coracle

Is it very American, rather than British? What can you tell me about accents?

Accent wise it is very much in keeping with Peter Jackson's interpretation of Middle Earth (as are most of the audio and visual aesthetic choices)

• The elves all have very formal RP type English accents

• The rural villages of Men all have a more Working Class type accent. Either west-country type "Farmer" accents, or more northern "Miner" type accents - I can't really recall or place it either way, other than thst they are aiming for rural England working class sort of vibe 

• The Dwarves seen so far all have Scottish or Welsh accents, whatever Gimli in the LOTR movies was supposed to be 

In terms of the new races not present in the Peter Jackson series:

• The Harfoots all speak with Irish accents, which kind of fits with their rural Traveller/Gypsy type of culture.

The Harfoots are intended to be ancestral Hobbits. The three races of hobbits described by Tolkien are the Harfoots, which are the prototypical subrace; the Stoors, which like to live in marshy areas or on water, are stouter and more dwarflike, and don't mind hanging around with humans; and Fallowhides, which are taller and more "fae" than the others.

Strong "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" vibes this week with Galadriel being rescued from the ocean and taken to the Lone Islands... i mean The Isle of Numenor. The production values here are once again simply exceptional. Watching it makes me exceedingly jealous that the Dawn Treader movie itself couldn't have looked even half as beautiful.

Also on the accents front, i believe this was the first time we heard an Orc speak and they also have the same sort of Cockney-London accent that they did in Peter Jackson's films.

Well, we're halfway through the season and I can officially say that it's better than I expected. However, my expectations for this show were in the gutter, so being better than that is not saying much.

Visuals and music are definitely the strong points. I was hoping the various story threads would come together faster though. And there are too many characters who are Mysterious for the sake of being mysterious.