Just finished the first season [8 episodes] last night, and despite all of the negativity on this thread [even from people that confess to have not even watched it! lol] I will certainly give the series a solid
8/10. It would have been even higher if it were not for a couple of episodes that weren't needed and was in my opinion .. just padding out episodes in order to stretch a six-hour show into an 8-hour show... there was also a lack of 'new horrors' [in the form of cgi monsters] ... the exceptionally high budget led me to believe that my senses would be inundated with a raft of new terrifying creatures... but alas they were few and far between.
... But then, after researching this fabled budget a little, I found that it wasn't nearly as high as the popular hype-stations would have us believe! ... In as much as each episode [of roughly 70 mins long] cost in actual fact around $25m ... which is not really that much higher than HBO's HOTD series which racked up about $20m per episode [several million less than the original GOT series ... and even less than the latest series of Stranger Days, which I believe to cost as much as the Rings of Power] ... And then considering that the budget [spent] on the Hobbit trilogy of films was $745m for roughly 9 hours ... close enough to say that figure is almost double the cost of The Rings of Power ... so if like me you thought that was a budget well spent,... plus if you factor in the ten years of inflationary costs, then The Rings Of Power's budget wasn't so mind-bendingly-large after all!
I cannot say that TROP was as good as The Hobbit [or TLOTR trilogies] ... but well worth the watch from the comfort of my sofa on T.V.
As to the "spoilt by wokism" tag! ... Well you all know my feelings on that topic and am pleased to say that 'it was barely detectable and the fact that the main character was a woman [Galadriel] did not spoil the programme whatsoever! [there were plenty of male main-characters as well]... ] and when we come down to the racism that has been tossed at the makers and general detractors of the programme. [and saying that Tolkien would have turned in his grave because of the black actors being cast as the Harfoot tribe, ... well perhaps they have never actually read the books? ... Because in the original books of Tolkien's Hobbit and Rings world ... Tolkien described the Hobbits of Hobbiton were of a darker skin than others in Middle Earth!! ... I wonder what that could mean? lol... does that make Peter Jackson " A Racist" for ignoring this inconvenient little fact and casting 'all white Hobbits'! ... lol No it does not... it was a directors prerogative to make his movie the way he thought best! ... and that includes using the original material as more of a inspiration than as of a bible!
.... Anyway, I see that i'm waffling on again, so suffice to say that i'm really glad that I watched series one and can't wait for the return series next year!
Cheers.