Two of the most well known fantasy franchises started new series this year (3 if you count last year's Wheel of Time). I tend to avoid the online discourse for most things now because everyone is obsessed with being angry about race or sex or gender. Everyone just STFU. Nobody cares if some losers are bitching about black people existing in a fantasy world. But also, how about we just not give these folks a platform? Stop reporting on what angry racist idiots say anytime they open their mouth. We know they are terrible. Deplatforming works and the media does the exact opposite. If you ever find yourself using the phrase "forced diversity" unironically, you need to check yourself because you're probably being a trash person. Fantasy is for everyone and I won't hear otherwise from anyone.

Ok, with that foreword out of the way, let's dive into the shows!

I will be honest. I am a bad fantasy book fan. I've never read any Tolkien books. I've only seen the movies. I am a huge fan of those, as I've seen the extended editions well over a dozen times. The Hobbit trilogy was meh. I obviously haven't read any companion material, nor do I know much about the lore outside of the Third Age. I have played LOTRO (great game pls remake). So, my intent is to judge the television series without heavily comparing it to anything else.

One plus for the show is that they have five seasons planned. It means things are more likely to be mapped out and plot points resolved. At the time of writing, we are currently 3 episodes in. It's been mostly a slow start but this is a good thing for a fantasy epic. I'm good with the pacing so far. The visuals are obviously incredible and it does feel great to have more content in Middle Earth. So far I really like the plotline with the Elf in the Orc camp. It's always a good set up for human prisoners to break free from their orc captors. I hope this has a great action filled payoff later on.

Visually the show is incredible. The music is fine but hasn't stood out to me yet. The acting has been fine to good, and the script is hit or miss.

I do love the Hobbits in the show. I loved when they were marching through camp: "Nobody goes off trail! And nobody walks alone!" Although later that episode they were also like "if you can't make the trip on the Middle Earth equivalent of the Oregon Trail you will be left to die" so that's a bit tonally inconsistent. But I love their looks and I know it's a setup for the mysterious meteor man/wizard to have some plot, so I'll forgive it for now.

Overall I am enjoying it, it's not perfect but most things aren't. If you can take it for what it is, it's enjoyable fantasy content.

Episode 4 - did we just see the formation of the last alliance of men and elves? I was wanting for hobbits this episode. Lots of character drama and arguments, not the best but I fully expect season 1 to have lots of build-up with epic payoffs later on. Someone pointed out that the orcs give more reverence to their dead than the Harfoots who are like "if you're left behind, sucks, you die" but yeah. For some reason fantasy shows on Amazon just don't hit the same. The shadow of Bezos must linger over everything like the eye of Sauron I bet.

Well, the season finale aired and I can safely say that this show is garbage lol. Just goes to show that all the money in the world can't make a good show as long as you have a soul-less corporation looming in the background of it. The visuals were nice, the dwarves were good, but there's just so much wrong with it. I don't even care about how it fits in to the lore, but the show needs to make sense in and of itself. Tell me why Halbrand was telling Celebrimbor, the supposed best Elven smith of all time, about the basics of metallurgy?? There's much more BS I could go on about but I just don't have the time nor energy to pick it apart. There's a billion Youtube videos that do it better than I could.

It's impossible to talk House of the Dragon without mentioning Game of Thrones. So let's get that out of the way - the first 4, maybe 5 seasons of Game of Thrones is the best fantasy TV out there. Unfortunately, Doofus&Dumbass (the showrunners) rushed the end and ruined the show because they wanted to go collect a Disney check. The last few seasons were just atrocious because of the story. I know that's partially on George R.R. Martin for not finishing the books, he's likely never going to, but any fan of the show could have written much better plotlines. I don't even hate where we ended, but how we got there just didn't make sense.

However, as with Rings of Power, I think it best to evaluate House of the Dragon on its own merit. And 4 episodes in, I'm mostly enjoying it. It's got all the political intrigue I love, the sets and acting are solid, and Matt Smith is just amazing as Daemon. I didn't love episode 4, I'm no prude but seeing Rhaenyra nude just felt creepy. I literally thought the actress was underage until this episode. Turns out she's 22 but still. There was a good recap of that episode which talks about the inequality and lack of agency women had in the historically inspired setting, you can check that out right here.

I have not read House of the Dragon so I don't know what to expect of the show, but so far I am enjoying it. I'm just happy to have high budget fantasy TV series again.

Episode 5 - the last before the timeskip. I really liked the actress for young Rhaenyra so it's a shame we won't see her anymore.

One more episode to go until the show completes! I've enjoyed this one a lot and did manage to forget about Game of Thrones along the way. The multiple timeskips were a bit jarring but I can see why they were necessary. Really looking forward to seeing where this goes and hoping I can avoid book spoilers for the next 4 years lol.

Here's one where I did read the book. A TV adaptation of a 14 book fantasy epic with 2700ish named characters and crazy magic was always going to be difficult. The show doesn't even come close to the books. I try to forget the books and enjoy it on its own, but there are just so many questionable decisions throughout the show that I don't even know where to begin. I was definitely concerned early on when Perrin had a wife who they immediately fridged.

The acting was fine, no complaints there. The visual effects for the magic were mostly alright, but the sets and costuming often looked cheap. Also, everyone looked too clean. That's a common mistake for fantasy adapted for the screen - I'm completely unconvinced when nobody looks dirty.

I don't have the time in the day to list all the reasons I didn't care for the show, there's plenty of other corners of the internet where you can read about that. I just view these series as the big 3 right now so had to at least mention it.