It is October 24th

"You are in the house of Elrond. And it is ten o'clock in the morning, on October the twenty-fourth, if you want to know."

That is what Gandalf says to Frodo when the young Hobbit first wakes up after a long ordeal. Today's the 24th of October, and I always try to either re-watch The Fellowship of the Ring, or something else that has to do with my favorite fantasy saga. But I have already been visiting Middle-Earth a great deal recently, in the form of The Rings of Power, on Amazon Prime. And, sadly, it's been a disappointing trip.

The series is spectacular to look at, with gorgeous visuals, but it oddly lacked the epic, operatic feel of the Peter Jackson films. When the Orcs were set loose on Helm's Deep in The Two Towers, it was an awesome and even frightening scene. When Adar rallies his troops in the forest, it was a very 'meh' moment overall. And while I'm tempted to say that it is just a TV show, with nary the budget of the films--that's simply not true. Amazon spent hundreds of millions of dollars on this series, so it SHOULD have been as epic as the Jackson films. But there are too many moments where it feels just like a cheaply done TV series.

When I heard the series would be taking place in the fabled kingdom of Númenor, I couldn't wait to finally see this majestic island and its mighty people. But even Númenor was a major let down, being depicted as it was in the series as just another bland fantasy kingdom. And Morfydd Clark has considerable charm and is a fine actress, but her Galadriel ultimately comes off as looking very dopey (I mean, is THAT where Sauron has been hiding all along? Really?).

While the first season of The Rings of Power was not good as I was hoping it to be, I'm not giving up on the series, which has been renewed for a second season. Hope springs eternal, as they say. And perhaps hope can still bloom in the lands of Middle-Earth during the second season. We shall see. Happy October 24!