The Lord of the Rings prequel is about to begin airing, and has been called the most expensive series in history, with extraordinary visual effects
Reporting by journalist Maggie Ma los Angeles
Lord of the Rings, based on Tolkien's novel, was brought to the big screen in the late 1990s and sparked a worldwide frenzy, followed by the prequel film series The Hobbits, and now another prequel series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is coming online on September 2 at Amazon Prime.
The series is still based on Tolkien's book, which takes place thousands of years before the film versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, when the great villain Sauron first rose up and tried to conquer the world of the journey, but was confronted by multiple races such as humans, elves, and dwarves. In the end, Sauron was temporarily defeated, but he privately persuaded the leaders of Middle-earth to create multiple rings and the ring that could rule all rings. This is the backstory of the Lord of the Rings mentioned in the first episode of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Although the beginning of the series begins in a relatively peaceful era, the elves, humans, and hobbits have begun to slowly perceive that a vicious force is invading Middle-earth, and it is full of dangers.
Although it is once again taking the popular IP to make money, this series does not lose to the film version in terms of production level. Judging from the first two episodes currently being shown to the media and some promotional films, the visual effects and graphics are comparable to the film version, immediately bringing people back to the mysterious Middle-earth world. Especially this time, there are many elven characters, and many of the contents take place in the beautiful elven kingdom, and the elven kingdom covered with golden ginkgo biloba leaves is like a fairyland, which is unforgettable. The characters' costumes, set design and props are still refined, maintaining the style of the previous film version. The most attractive thing about the "Lord of the Rings" series is the mysterious monsters and creatures hidden in Middle-earth, and the show has not disappointed in this regard, almost every episode will have new monsters appearing, hiding crises anytime and anywhere.
The reason why the "Lord of the Rings" series has been praised and become a classic for so many years is also because it celebrates the spirit of different races and backgrounds that can get rid of prejudice and unite against evil. This is because the book was written under the influence of the First World War, the villain Sauron represents the invader who initiated the victory, while the beings of other races represent people from different countries, united to protect their territory. This spirit is still strongly reflected in the prequel series, and people of different ethnic groups can be seen breaking prejudices, accepting each other, fighting side by side, and continuing to spread the importance of tolerance and collaboration to a new generation of audiences. This is also the biggest difference between The Lord of the Rings and other magical works, such as "Game of Thrones", that is, even if it is full of dangers, it still has a bright theme and still praises the beautiful side of human nature. The same is true of the prequel series, unlike "Game of Thrones", which attracts people with brutal and bloody killings and betrayals and fights in human nature, but more interesting adventures and expressions of the truth, goodness and beauty of human nature.
It must be mentioned that the biggest change between this show and the previous films is the diversification of Cass. In Tolkien's original book, it was almost all white, and the protagonists were mostly male. But today's era has given the play a new connotation, the proportion of men and women in the protagonist is half, and it has also created a lot of stoic female heroes, cut elves and dwarves have appeared African actors.
The series features Galadriel, an elven warrior who appeared in the first part of the Lord of the Rings film and starred Cate Blanchett. In the prequel series, Galadriel is still young, starring newcomer Morfydd Clark, although all fair-skinned and blond, but at this time she is a heroic and warlike elf warrior, and is not willing to live a peaceful life, but also hopes to help humans get through the difficulties.
Another character who has appeared in the film version is Elrond, the elf king played by Hugo Weaving, and was also replaced by young actor Robert Aramayo in the prequel series. By this time he was still a young elven prince, not in power, but had forged a deep friendship with the dwarves with his intellect and supported Galadriel's decision to fight alongside humans in Middle-earth.
It is worth mentioning that in the book, Elrond eventually marries Galadriel's daughter, that is, becomes the son-in-law of the latter. But in this play, the younger version of the two looks almost the same age and are friends. Of course, the elves are not old, they can live for thousands of years, and it is really difficult to see the actual age.
In addition to the familiar elves, humans, dwarves, and hobbits are all new characters in the show. The king and queen of the dwarven tribe are straight and spicy, singing and harmonizing, adding a lot of comedic elements to the play; Among the human characters, the human warrior Halbrand, played by Indian actor Nazanin Boniadi, the single mother Bronwyn and Charlie Vickers, has an eye-catching appearance and a heavy role, and may have more important roles later in the series; The Hobbit chose two well-meaning, adventurous female hobbits as the protagonists. Although they are not as difficult as the film version of Frodo, they will also play a subtle role in this big war.
The show's first season cost a staggering $465 million, making it the most expensive TV series ever made, and that's just the cost of one season, with five seasons currently planned. It is worth noting that Cass is mostly newcomers and not-so-big-name actors, but the money is mainly spent on scene design and special effects, and it is still worth the money from the current point of view. But as a streaming series, it is difficult to see the return at the box office, and whether the audience can continue to pay attention to the Middle-earth story as before depends on the feedback after the broadcast.
