jpmatlack

Its like they saw the kind of convoluted backstories that Fantastic Beasts gave to Nagini ("Oh, you think she's just a magic snake? Lol, actually she was once this woman, cool ainnit?) and that Solo gave to the Falcon ("Oh, you thought the Falcon had that fancy navigation computer because that's just the way it is? Lol, actualy it was once this very outspoken Droid of Lando's that got shot and was fused into the ship, cool ainnit?) and decided they could one-up that by giving Mordor a backstory nobody asked for.

Episode 6: not madcap like I thought it would be, but still underwhelming and, ultimately, silly.

It was entertaining.
 
Karol

It's actually kind of impressive how utterly determined you are to dislike this show and its music. McCreary could write the literal Ainulindalë and you'd still find some way to trash it.

I think a lot of those complaints reveal more about the person saying them than the composers themselves. Just like one composer could be described as either "drawing from many sources " or "having no identity ", another composer could be described as either "having a distinct voice " or "being a one-trick pony ".

We watched episode 4 last night
 
Man, this show is a pleasure to watch because of the score - it's so good!  It's so fun to watch a show and hear good, memorable themes pop up that you associate with characters or cultures, it really enhances the viewing.  It's like when you re-watch a movie after getting to know the score, and pick up on what all these themes are associated with, and when.  But this time it's a show, so we get this great album up front to learn all the themes, and then get to hear these themes taken in new directions with each new episode for a couple months.

I'm glad that it was only the first 2 episodes for me that felt like the concert arrangements I knew from the album were slapped directly into the episodes; Episodes 3 and 4 have featured cool variations of the themes that nicely integrate right into their scenes.

I also liked that "Plea for the Rocks" moment in the show.
 
Halfway through, and I'm really loving this score, on album as well as how it works in the show!

I think of it as the kind of prefiguring (ahnen) of a form the leitmotif will later take, which you get either in overtures or even within the body of leitmotivic works: technically, the presentation of the motive associated with the sword in Das Rheingold ("So grüß' ich die Burg / sicher vor Bang' und Grau'n!") is "jumping the gun" in terms of the way that motive will be gradually rolled-out in Die Walküre.

Basically being a pastiche composer. Emulating others instead of developing his own style. Writing thin, clunky scores that go plinkety-plunck with very dry recordings. Action music is too simplistic, emotional themes are all structured the same way, etc.
 
That ‘hack’ feeling they feel is how Bear’s work has been making me feel. I still have yet to hear a distinct voice in anything Bear does. The paragraph where he states that his Middle Earth isn’t just inspired by Shore but by… literally everyone made me laugh out loud. No wonder I think he sounds anonymous. 

If what I hear about this upcoming episode is true, he might have had a good hearty laugh at the episode's expense. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna come friday. I have already packed drinks for the occasion!

I can't read this, it just feels so ... corporate.
And I can't help but cringe when he says he was part of "the fellowship" now over a Zoom call.
 
In a way, this is a poignant metaphor for the lack of human elements in this show.
 
But I'm surprised he got a relatively delicate theme out of watching endless hours of Galadriel in constant bitch-face mode.

The blogs have not increased my appreciation for Bear, this score, or his methods. Quite the opposite actually. I understand now why I don’t like his work: I just don’t like the way he goes about composing. And that’s okay.
 
In a weird way I find it kind of funny, for years I’ve defended Giacchino against his haters who just don’t like his methods of composing. But now I have found a composer where I feel that way and so now, finally, I get it. His work still doesn’t bother me much and I enjoy it but I totally understand someone disagreeing with his methods. It’s fair.
 
In a Ent-sized nutshell, I understand how Thor feels.

Gotcha
 
I still prefer my order to listen to the concert arrangements, because it places that one where it's theme is used within the underscore instead of as a brief title card bit

Fascinating read. I wonder whether he will be able to maintain this exhausting work ethic for the subsequent seasons. From a fan's perspective, this would be a dream come true. 

I mean, you’re willing to sit through these episodes without any hope that the series will get better… clearly a LOT of folks (if the sheer number of YouTube videos declaring this a failure are any indication) are. This isn’t a traditional film/series that has to earn its budget back through repeat ticket sales. Unless it’s so awful that you cancel your Prime membership, RoP doesn’t really have to play by traditional rules. I say bring it on! I hate traditional TV. 
 
I just find it so weird that people are so anxious to announce this as a failure. Maybe it will be. Maybe it’ll change the way folks consume television the way LotR changed film. Why is it SO important that the show fail? Why not just ignore it if it’s really that awful, the way you do every other crap television series?

Am I the only one who just listens to and enjoys this music literally without ever comparing it to Shore's or any one else's music? 

I made it through two episodes. And about 10 minutes into the third one (with the introduction of Numenor), I gave up.
 
I tried, I really did. It's just so...vanilla. There's no character, personality or even vision to this thing. Tolkien or not. Everything looks, feels and sounds like a plastic knock-off. It also feels very TV...meandering plot lines and contrived Hollywood beats that feel like they were designed by an algorithm of mass fantasy interests.
 
From what I've seen, it feels like a colossal waste of $4 billion.
 
House of Dragons has surprisingly ended up being far more interesting. I'll stick to that!

Having reached the 5th episode, I still don't find McCreary's scores for this series to be inferior (musically speaking) to Shore's scores for the movies. Of course, the plot of the series is inferior to the plot of the movies, and the movies' characters were more closely related to Tolkien's poetics than the series' characters; the dialogues in the movies, as far as I know, were taken in a significant part from the books. The authors of the series had to invent most of the dialogues and situations, just to make the whole thing doable - and surely they are not Tolkien. Therefore, inevitably the marriage of Shore's music + the movies (which are still the greatest fantasy movies ever done) has a much powerful and long-lasting impact on the viewer compared to the marriage of McCreary's music + the series. But if I judge the music alone, McCreary's work is definitely deserving of praise.
 
IMHO, of course.      

This. 
 
I’m not a music person, but since absolutely none of the characters have yet grown in Rings of Power and basically nothing has yet happened, it would be weird for the themes to be changing and varying a lot. 

Seriously, the characters and situations in LotR are forced to grow and change and move quickly- that’s the nature of film. But this TV show is clearly going for a more Tolkien-style way of dragging out the action and characters through rich environments, history, and detail. 
 
Wouldn’t it have been cool to have the length of this series for LotR? Imagine all of that lush Shore music… maybe one day someone will edit all of PJs deleted material together to give an experience more like a tv show. 

Wow. Am I the only one who kinda wishes that his longer tracks were broken up into smaller tracks? To me at least, listening to 10 two-minute tracks seems more approachable than one 20-minute track. It’s the same amount of music either way, but I feel like it’s easier to revisit your favorite parts when they’re not buried in one massive track.

It's an analogy for watching this show. 
 

Another great bit like that was the speech about how they sing to the rock, how it all has a history and value... right after spending hours mindlessly smashing random rocks to bits for no reason.

I don’t like TV, so I’m the first to admit I can’t compare this to other shows being produced these days. I have zero interest in Game of Dragon Thrones or any other nonsense like that. I’ve never seen an episode of Big Band Theory and don’t intend to. I just don’t watch them. But I have loved Tolkien for almost 30 years when my parents gave me the books for my 10th birthday. 
 
Unless you’re a particularly fast reader, after four hours buried in Fellowship of the Ring, you’re still in the Old Forest chasing characters, villains, and plots that have nothing to do with anything and never provide any payoff. Long amounts of time with rich details but very little action is to be expected in Middle Earth. It’s what Middle Earth IS! 
 
So far all the complaints I’ve heard against this show (except casting and the Warg design) are complaints that go right back to the source material and Tolkien’s style of story telling. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. But it’s beautifully Tolkien-esque so far.

I don’t like TV, so I’m the first to admit I can’t compare this to other shows being produced these days. I have zero interest in Game of Dragon Thrones or any other nonsense like that. I’ve never seen an episode of Big Band Theory and don’t intend to. I just don’t watch them. But I have loved Tolkien for almost 30 years when my parents gave me the books for my 10th birthday. 
 
Unless you’re a particularly fast reader, after four hours buried in Fellowship of the Ring, you’re still in the Old Forest chasing characters, villains, and plots that have nothing to do with anything and never provide any payoff. Long amounts of time with rich details but very little action is to be expected in Middle Earth. It’s what Middle Earth IS! 
 
So far all the complaints I’ve heard against this show (except casting and the Warg design) are complaints that go right back to the source material and Tolkien’s style of story telling. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. But it’s beautifully Tolkien-esque so far.