BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?

Subject: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Sep 22 - 04:12 PM

Let battle commence!

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Charmion
Date: 14 Sep 22 - 07:10 PM

Neither?

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Sep 22 - 07:29 PM

neither for me, but then I don't have a TV, or even watch programs on-line!

sandra (who was deprived as a child - poor me - we didn't get TV until I was 14, ten years after it arrived in the land of Oz & I never watched it much)

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 Sep 22 - 04:37 AM

Each to their own! I enjoy fantasy films and TV, along with one or two others, so I thought a discussion may be fruitful. I guess if the only comments are from people with no interest in the genre, I was wrong :-(

I have caught up with both now. Overall, House of the Dragon seems better produced but I am enjoying both. Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryon in HOTD is brilliant. Rings of Power seems to be trying to cram to much in but considering the scope of Tolkein's work, that is not surprising. One odd thing about Rings is the regional accents. So far, Elves are posh, Hobbits are Irish, Men are from Yorkshire and Dwarves are Scottish! It is odd seeing Lenny Henry as an Irish Hobbit but he makes it work :-)

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Sep 22 - 12:02 PM

I need to go back to the LOTR and read all of the notes; I've read some, but if the Amazon program is a pre-quel, then it should be taken from those backstories he assembled in the process of writing the novel. I do like to read the book first - or the endnotes - whichever it happens to be. And the Silmarillion also?

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Sep 22 - 01:15 PM

You go Gnome.
GOT author Martin is adding sub plots of mysogeny and some other socially relevant issues to the mix but its still about dragons.
I've tried to make them symbolic of nuclear weapons but its still piloted dragons to me.

The ROP is presented as many sci fi writers do and introduces a large number of seperate stories and try to unite them over time. In the meantime it feels like mish mash.

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 Sep 22 - 03:41 PM

Sounds about right Don.

Yes, Stilly, the Silmarilion, is referenced a lot so far.

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Sep 22 - 07:29 AM

Next Rings of Power today. I hope to see more of Numenor as the effects are quite spectacular :-)

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Sep 22 - 05:25 PM

There was lots more Numenor and the focus is narrowing . Still not sure where the Hobbits fit in but I'm sure it will all become clear soon. HOTD was ahead on points but it is now getiing very close :-D

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Sep 22 - 09:24 PM

Tolkien wrote the Rings between 1930 to 1949. In the run-up to the Second World War, Tolkien was earmarked as a codebreaker. In January 1939, he was asked to serve in the cryptographic department of the Foreign Office in the event of national emergency. He had already survived the battle of Somme in WWI actively serving in combat. It stands to reason that Sauron is symbolic of the ultimate evil of white Nationalism. Numenor is like Sicily to me. I know next to nothing about the rings except for the movies.

Dragons: Martin has 2 black characters now. Is that progress in diversity? OK the horsemen were sort of midle eastern.

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Sep 22 - 02:56 AM

New HOTD today. Nice change from the sycophantic wailing on the BBC. Let's see which pulls ahead later - House of the Dragon, Rings of Power or the House of Windsor :-)

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Sep 22 - 07:26 AM

The Rings has a better director of photography and CGI imo.
Costumes are better too. There are mysterious symbols and villains who are obviously ugly with some (ta da) good looking surprise villains thrown in. Or are they oooo?

Dragons is a fast paced extreme fantasy soap opera. A face slap in the Young and Restless becomes a bloody fatal caved in skull fist fight in Dragons. A crazy uncle, a murdered wife, a murdered King, palace intrigue and guess who is sleeping with who???

Is this what passes for modern X rated Shakespear?

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Sep 22 - 11:13 AM

Last night after turning off the smart bulb over my dining table Alexa offered to make my whole house ready for the Rings of Power. Not sure what she had in mind but I answered "no!"

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Sep 22 - 11:35 AM

I wonder what she would have done!

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: robomatic
Date: 22 Sep 22 - 02:49 PM

Hope not a bad move to mention that Resident Alien is a great offbeat show that is pretty close to what I'd call 'gonzo sci-fi'. There are two seasons out there on the SYFY channel and I read they're going to go for another.

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Sep 22 - 04:16 PM

Resident Alien is great and Alan Tudyk is a wonderful actor. It's not really high fantasy as are the others but thanks for mentioning it anyway Robo :-)

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Sep 22 - 08:55 PM

The fight between the aliens who are working for the total extermination of humans are pitted against pro human aliens.
Those for extermination you could call illegal aliens.

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Sep 22 - 02:11 AM

Couple of things moved forward in yesterday's Rings of Power and it ended on a high but the highlight, for me, was the song by the Hobbit girl. HOTD still ahead on points :-)

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Sep 22 - 04:23 PM

Dave are you the point master?

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Sep 22 - 09:40 PM

There's something about Rings of Power that is never so right and Sauron.

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 28 Sep 22 - 04:28 AM

This weeks House of the Dragon was confusing as it had moved on 10 years and it took me a good while to cotton on!

Unless Rings of Power does something similar this week, it is going to take the lead :-)

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Oct 22 - 06:21 AM

Puff the magic dragon lives on HBO
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Ohgod No
Little Dave the Gnome loved that rascal Puff
And bought the streams and favorite scenes and other fancy stuff
Oh, Puff the magic dragon lived on HBO.
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Ohgod No.

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout on the Narrow Sea's awful gales
Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came
Pirate ships would lower flags when Puff roared out his name
Oh, Puff the magic dragon lived on HBO
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Ohgod no

A dragon lives in reruns, but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant's rings make way for other toys
One gray night it happened, Dave just came no more
And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar
His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell from sores

Puff no longer went to play on the Game of Thrones
Without his lifelong friend, Puff could barely groan
So Puff, that mighty dragon, sadly flew into some stones
Oh, Puff the magic dragon lived on HBO
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Ohgod No
Puff the magic dragon lived on HBO
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Ohgod No

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Oct 22 - 07:11 AM

I like it :-)

Last one of Rings of Power today. I'll probably tally the score tomorrow :-D

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 Oct 22 - 02:50 AM

Well, series finale of Rings of Power watched last night. It is well in the lead and House of the Dragon has a lot of catching up to do. I guessed who the bearded stranger was from the start. Early in the finale I thought I was proved wrong but then it gave a reasonable twist to prove me right after all :-) I was wrong about the big bad guy though. No spoilers here :-)

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Amergin
Date: 18 Oct 22 - 12:40 PM

Rings of Power feels both slow and rushed at the same time. Sometimes, it drags along, and other times things happen and you wonder what the hell?

I'm not really into it much. I'll watch it stoned, but that's about it.

House of dragons is slow, too...and the time jumps are a little disconcerting.

Both of them are a bit Meh.

I much prefer Sandman.

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 Oct 22 - 05:12 PM

Agreed on Sandman, Amergin. Best bit of TV I have seen in many a year. Did you ever watch Neverwhere? Maybe not Sandman quality but classy all the same.

Just watched the penultimate episode of Dragon and I was left confused. I will know better next week. I hope...

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Oct 22 - 04:24 PM

Dragons are a strange hybrid of pterodactyls
and a wingless tyrannosaur with a long tail
but mostly it is a fiery comet
with a tail wearing a bonnet.

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Oct 22 - 11:01 AM

Sorry. I thought I had posted my conclusion but it seems not.

Rings of Power wins by a short length :-)

Subject: RE: BS: House of the Dragon or Rings of Power?
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Nov 22 - 09:37 AM

alien garden gnome kinetic sculpture