The Rings of Power

And so a rather lovely week in Ullapool has come to an end. All we need to to is a quick tidy, clean and hoover around the cottage ready for our next visit. Unfortunately Tom and Flora have noticed us packing up and are sitting around, alert and (rightfully) suspicious that we are about to take them on a four hour car journey.

I burst out laughing yesterday when I saw Ewan’s blog title “Better Call Sauron.” This is a very apt and funny reference to Better Call Saul (the recently concluded and excellent prequel to Breaking Bad) and to the newly released, huge budget, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which is also a sort of prequel set thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Amazon, who have bought the television rights to Lord of the Rings, will be hoping that it is very successful because apparently they have invested 1 billion US dollars to make it! I mean a billion dollars! I can’t even imagine that much money. 

When James and I watched the first episode we joked that they had blown the whole budget on elf ears, but it quickly became apparent that this is top quality stuff. The special effects have made it visually stunning, very reminiscent of the film series. The details are lovely too; for example James pointed out a gorgeous ladder made from one piece of carved wood. The actors, who are pleasingly diverse in colour and gender, are not all that well known; probably the only big name is Lennie Henry as a Harfoot (these are proto-hobbits with inexplicable Irish accents.) It remains to be seen whether the acting and above all the plot live up to the high standards expected of it by the audience. James and I both enjoyed the first episode but as Ewan also said in his blog, the jury’s still out. 

Now I come to think about it, we are currently watching another prequel; House of the Dragon, set a couple of hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones. Prequels must be in fashion.