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Impossible to compare, but every bit as good: the new Lord of the Rings TV series, The Rings of Power, looks set to be another TV mega-hit, earning its place beside Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon as one of this year’s most impressive debuts.
Launching at 9am Perth time this Friday on Prime Video, the eight-part series — which at $US1 billion over five seasons comes in as the most expensive TV production of all time — is the first imagining of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy universe for the small screen, and comes 21 years after the release of Peter Jackson’s acclaimed Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Given its high profile — and even higher budget — it’s understandable audiences will want to compare The Rings of Power, which launches two weeks after the Game of Thrones prequel became the most-watched show of 2022 globally, to its blockbusting predecessor. Bold in scope, visually beautiful and with incredible world-building digital special effects, it has much in common. But trying to compare House of the Dragon with The Rings of Power is like trying to compare apples with oranges.
Or, to use a more Tolkien-appropriate analogy: Orcs with Oarni, Hobbits with Hobgoblins or Men with Mountain Trolls.
Put simply: the shows couldn’t be more different, but are both equally impressive, in their own ways.
The Rings of Power is set several thousand years before the events that transpire in Tolkien’s tales, during Middle Earth’s fabled “Second Age”, a time detailed in appendices written by Tolkien in the LOTR novel, spelt out in the opening prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring and voiced by Cate Blanchett.
It’s a time of relative peace, but in the opening eight minutes of this series we find out that this stability didn’t last for long. Like the first LOTR film, the opening moments of The Rings of Power are voiced by Galadriel, but this time she is played by relative newcomer Morfydd Clark, who gives a sensational performance as the ageless, centuries-crossing ethereal elf.
She’s younger and still as-yet uncrowned in this (when we first meet her she’s but a child), but no less beautiful, and it’s through her eyes that we hear how war with Morgoth has left Middle-earth in ruins over a centuries-long conflict. A legion of elves have gone to war — including Galadriel’s brother, who is tragically killed — journeying to the distant realm of Middle-earth to fight the forces of darkness.
When we pick up, Galadriel is out to avenge her brother’s death, travelling with her regiment of Elf soldiers on a quest to hunt down Morgoth’s fabled devoted soldier Sauron — last spied some time ago now — to the ends of Middle-earth.
It’s a lonesome quest; Galadriel believes he’s still out there, though most believe the threat is long gone.
But she is right to be concerned — we know from the events of Jackson’s films (and Tolkien’s texts) that Sauron is poised to make a big comeback, and it’s this reintroduction of the dark forces to Middle Earth which forms the basis of this story.
Over eight episodes we criss-cross Middle Earth meeting a range of its inhabitants. All will, in various ways, play a part in what transpires over the next few seasons as the rise of Sauron’s influence grows, battles are fought and an all-powerful ring is eventually forged.
It’s spectacularly good fun to revisit the world first introduced to viewers via Jackson’s epic films, and it’s no less impressive when viewed on the small screen. Like Jackson’s movies, this series was filmed in New Zealand, the country’s dramatic landscapes making an ideal, and somewhat familiar, backdrop for Middle-earth.
In the two decades since The Fellowship of the Ring, there have been huge advancements in digital effect, and they’re used to great effect in this, though at times it can be tempting to try to figure out where the real background ends, and the blue screen begins.
In episode one there is a bit of fairly clunky dialogue — particularly in the opening moments, read by the child actors — but before long those sweeping vistas, the incredible music and the all-encompassing world-building going on makes you forget those early hiccups, and you’re well and truly along for the ride.
And while ep one does begin a little awkwardly — something that was always bound to happen when you have a story this grand in scope, with this many new characters to introduce — by episode two you’re hooked, desperate to see where this intriguing story will take you.
Fantasy fans — get ready to watch a LOT of television over the next few weeks. Between House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power, you’re in for the ride of your life.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be available to stream at 9am Friday September 2 on Prime Video.
