Geeky a Go Go
Geeky a Go Go
Geeking Out in Middle-earth: A Rings of Power Roundtable with Taylor Goodson
Welcome to another exciting episode of the Geeky a Go Go podcast! This time, we're taking you on an epic journey back to Middle-earth to discuss the second season of Amazon Prime's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." Joining AP and Nitro is the fantastic Taylor Goodson, a true Tolkien enthusiast, cosplayer, musician, and composer.
Highlights and Lowlights
Before delving into the depths of Middle-earth, the band of podcasters shared their highlights and lowlights of the week. Nitro recounted a touching memorial for Steve Gebhart, co-founder of RSVLTS shirts, where he witnessed an incredible act of generosity. Taylor celebrated the launch of his music website, TG-Sounds.com, while AP reveled in a productive lunch meeting with Nitro.
Tolkien's Magic
Alright, now the good stuff. Taylor shared his deep appreciation for Tolkien's universe, mainly how it follows a core group of characters through transformative experiences. He emphasized the captivating blend of world-building and character development that makes Middle-earth so special. Nitro also expressed his fondness for Tolkien's work, recalling his early exposure to "The Hobbit" and how the "Lord of the Rings" films provided solace during a challenging time.
Rings of Power: Season One Recap and Season Two Excitement
Nitro provided a quick recap of the first season, highlighting key plot points and character developments. Nitro and Taylor expressed their enthusiasm for the second season, praising its faster pace, escalating events, and fresh perspective on the source material. They acknowledged that the show might not be everyone's cup of tea but encouraged viewers to embrace the creative choices and enjoy the return to the beloved world of Middle-earth.
The episode wrapped up with the Nitro and Taylor sharing their positive ratings for both seasons of "The Rings of Power." Though new to Tolkien's world, AP expressed his curiosity and willingness to explore the films and the show.
Join the Conversation!
Are you a fan of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Rings of Power"? Share your thoughts and opinions with us at mailbag@geekyagogo.com. Remember to follow us on social media @geekyagogo, support us on Patreon at patreon.com/geekyagogo, and subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform (and leave a review while you're there).
Show Links
Taylor Goodson
Follow Taylor on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/taylor_a_goodson
And on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/tayloragoodson
Rings of Power Season 2 Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fsBy45YTQ&ab_channel=PrimeVideo
What’s on your queue this week? Send us a note at mailbag@geekyagogo.com for a chance to have your recommendations shared on the show!
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Hey, hey. Why was Gandalf hunched over and stressed out?
Speaker 2:I can give you a lot of reasons, but let's not go there.
Speaker 1:He was short-staffed. Oh my God, he was short-staffed.
Speaker 2:He was like six feet tall.
Speaker 1:Hey, gandalf, what's your favorite kind of insect? Fly you fools, fly you fools, fly you fools.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:My goal, taylor, my goal is to get Nitro to laugh, and if I get him to laugh, I've succeeded in life.
Speaker 2:If you get him to laugh, does that mean he just stops? Because he should just laugh at the first one, because I'm figuring out the secret.
Speaker 1:Don't tell him. Welcome to the Geeky Go-Go Podcast, a show where we talk about all things geeky Movies, tv shows, tech, comic books, cosplay and more. If it has something to do with being a geek, well, we'll talk about it here. My name is Anthony Pizzuto. Let's get this party started. Joining me today in the go-go is the amazing Chris Nitro and making his first appearance in the go-go, Taylor Goodson. Now, for those of you who don't know Taylor, taylor is the head honcho of the Northeast Remnant of the 501st Legion here in New Jersey. He's an amazing maker who produces some of the most gorgeous armor you've seen, and makes phenomenal tutorials to boot. I'm actually in the throes of your Scout Trooper one right now. On top of that, he's a composer, musician, a lover and a fighter. Taylor, nice to have you with us today. How's it going?
Speaker 2:Great Thanks for having me. What a nice introduction. I'm not sure how much fighting I do, but as you ask, I suppose I don't know.
Speaker 1:We've heard rumors in the forums.
Speaker 2:Oh, I have no doubts.
Speaker 1:So, taylor, we typically kick the show off with our highlights and lowlights of the week, highlights being something that went really well and we were excited about, and, you know, something that could have gone better, if we even have a lowlight. So so, to make it easy on you, I'm actually going to have Chris go first to kind of show you how it's done, okay? So, chris, nitro, nitro, chris, what are your highlights and lowlights for this week?
Speaker 3:They're both kind of the same. Uh, not not low light in the in the sense that it was something bad happened or whatever the case may be, but the reason why the highlight uh occurred is something a little bit sad. Um, so I got to go to the roosevelts, the shirt brand. Um shirt and other things. They make tons of other apparel and accessories and whatnot. Um, they had a a meetup for their. They call them the insiders, all the people that are huge fans of the products and whatnot. Uh, so the roosevelts held an insider meetup, uh, at pier 13 in hoboken. Uh, it's nice down there. I was surprised how really nice it is. I've, you know, I've I've been in jersey city yet, but I haven't been north in hoboken. But uh, it was funny seeing all the out-of-towners saying like, how do I get there? Is it safe? And everyone's like the rent is really damn high in hoboken.
Speaker 2:You'll be fine, okay say you can't afford it, right.
Speaker 3:So they Roosevelt's. They did a celebration of one of their co-founders, steve Gebhardt, who passed away unexpectedly back in May. I think it was right. After all, the May the 4th, stuff going on, so huge shock, young guy. You know bringing people together, you know with this brand and whatnot. So the cool, really cool thing was to, you know, get together with other people who are fans of the shirts. Regular's of our show know that I wear them every once in a while, all the time no, not all the time.
Speaker 1:I'm actually not wearing them. Them. I know the one time you're not wearing one and you're talking about them that's the low light.
Speaker 2:You didn't get any merch. No, we got merch, we did get merch.
Speaker 3:Um, but yeah, the, so, uh, you know, we got together for, for as a, as a memorial, a celebration of steve is what they called it um, so, just a mellow get together. You know, met a lot of people, hung out with some friends. Um, yeah, I mean, oddly enough or funnily enough, there was like we met other legion people there that I never knew were that into the brand as well. So, like that, traveled from all over the country. Um, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't cross paths with anybody that came from another country, but definitely people from all over the us were showing up, um, you know, as far south as houston or something like that. That I know for sure west coast people, you know stuff like that.
Speaker 3:So, um, a lot of people got together, had a really good time there for a few hours. You know, they did some promo giveaways, they hit the extreme highlight and this was amazing to see the company did a run of shirts at a beer fest or something to that effect, and the owner of that company, uh, which is depart departed souls brewing company, had one of the shirts that were that were they were selling at the, at the you know beer thing, and he brought it to the event. He said I'm giving this, I'm donating this to raise money for an auction not an auction, but just like an on the spot auction. So it wasn't like an official thing. But they said all the proceeds of this will go directly to the Memorial Foundation that they're setting up in Steve's name.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's cool.
Speaker 3:And they started. You know these shirts go for 70 bucks ish. You know they have sales things like that, but they're normally around $70. This shirt started off at $300, right.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:Most people were like all right, we're out. Yeah, these two gentlemen went hard. It finished at $6,100. Wow, wow, yeah, diminished at six thousand one hundred dollars. Wow, wow, yeah. So respect to those gentlemen that were just, they were like they were going up by hundreds. They were going up by quarters of thousands, five hundreds they were like, and then eventually got to like I'm seeing you a thousand. It was like really high stakes, like and very good cause.
Speaker 2:Wow, were they mean-spirited about it or really friendly?
Speaker 3:No, they were very friendly. Someone jumped in and was like hey, I'll throw $500 towards yours. Whatever you bid, add $500 to that, I'll help you out. That's amazing. Like I said, everyone got together to celebrate one, the and each other, but most importantly to celebrate Steve May. He rest in peace. Great, great, great event. So that again highlight and kind of low-light reasoning why it happened.
Speaker 2:Did you know, steve personally?
Speaker 3:I did not, but, funnily enough, my wife remembered him. I actually met him in London and one of my first shirts that I ever purchased was in London. Um and and uh, I, I got. I got my one of those shirts through a loophole. Um, it's, it's the. It was a Celebration, europe exclusive, which was the Endor camo shirt.
Speaker 3:And it was a specific day shirt right, and I went to the booth towards the end of the day and I was looking at the shirts and I was like which ones do I like? And I really like that one. And Taylor, I think both of you know I'm the detachment leader for the raid detachment Rebel Legion. So I was like I really liked that end or camo, like I really it's one of the ones that I want. But it was like another day and I had to go back to get it and I was like there's no way I'm going to get back there that day and Steve overheard me talking to my wife about it and he looked at my past and my past said like, like friday, and it was like a saturday exclusive again.
Speaker 3:I don't remember exactly which days it was, but steve goes yeah, here, take it. Oh, he literally went to the back, pulled it out of the back and handed to me and I was like but I'm gonna be. And he didn't want to hear it like he didn't care if I was gonna be back the next day. He was like dude, you want this shirt. I heard you talking to your wife. You should have this shirt. And he literally handed me the shirt and I had again. I didn't know them personally or anything like that, but cat remembered his face and she was like yeah, that was the guy that handed you the shirt oh, that's a great story, wow, yeah, um, you know I have some.
Speaker 1:I have a question for you, for our after party, uh content. So we're gonna take a little derailment here. So for those of you who are interested in hearing this, this little nugget of gold, head on over to patreoncom, slash geeky gogo and join. We start at a dollar per month. I think that gives you access to our paid tier so you can hear about all the after party stuff. So my after party question is these two gentlemen bid up to $6,000, $6,100 for a Roosevelt's shirt.
Speaker 1:What would you, uh and I would, I'm not going to say if money wasn't an issue, because I want there to be a barrier to this as well. So what would you bid on, within whatever universe that you are in love with, or whatever artist that you're in love with, or whatever it is, what would you bid on up to, say, $10,000? Like if something came up on your plate and you're like God, I really want that, I'm just going to keep on bidding on it, bidding on it, bidding on it, and it goes to say $10,000. What's that $10,000 or more thing that you would kind of break the bank for? All right, let's get back to our highlights and lowlights. So, taylor, what are your highlights and lowlights for this week, this past week? Well, there are no lowlights.
Speaker 2:So I don't know, let's see, let's dig around here. I guess I'll do a low light. That comes to mind because it was today. Um, it starts kind of on a highlight but then gets crazy because I we recently finally joined costco. So I'm putting that as a low light, because going there is insane, it's just insane. I granted it's a sunday, so I get it, but it was not my like. Kristen knows, I do not like food shopping and things like that, and just giving a bunch of people giant carts is like. I'm pretty sure Dante wrote about that at some point.
Speaker 1:It's just not something I'm interested in doing it's the sixth level of hell?
Speaker 3:I think so.
Speaker 2:Between five and six.
Speaker 1:It's a food story, I mean, you know, it's.
Speaker 2:It was nice to be able to bulk up and do stuff, but it's just.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was I will be going out like a tuesday at one o'clock, if I can fair, fair, but yeah, so I'll call that a low light. It's kind of a silly low light.
Speaker 2:No, it's a good low we are happy to be members, we're, you know, like we're looking forward to buying paper towels in bulk, I guess and getting free samples of stuff every time you go there.
Speaker 1:Apparently, that's only you know like we're looking forward to buying paper towels in bulk, I guess and getting free samples of stuff every time you go there. See, apparently that's only on Saturdays, oh really.
Speaker 2:That's what I was told. Oh wow, so I'm here, I'm miserable and I can't even get food crack, so what's?
Speaker 1:the point. So do they even like? Do they get like all excited and take your picture? It's like oh, welcome to the costco family. Did?
Speaker 2:you take a picture?
Speaker 1:yeah, oh, wow, okay, gotcha, but I had a problem.
Speaker 2:Apparently I had to. I had to. There was some glitch because I was a costco member ages ago. I guess I forgot. Oh, she's like oh, you have a membership number, so you can't use this one. I'm like okay, like figure it out please I don't know what's going on like I'm literally here because I'm here with my future wife and she wants me to be here. Please make it work.
Speaker 1:This was part of the marriage proposal. You have to join Costco.
Speaker 2:Okay, no, it does make some sense we use a lot of chickpeas and stuff, so just buy them in bulk. Yeah it's fun, but, yeah, low light is having to suffer through the Costco people today. What about your highlights, though? I've been doing a lot of work on my website and I think it's all pretty much done, so I finally have an online shop for some of my music that you can buy. I mean, it's not digital, not for listening, just for if you actually play instruments like no kidding, buy some of my piano works and things now, which is cool.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize how easy it would be because back when I joined my website host way back, it wasn't an option. But I guess over the years they've added a lot of different services, so now the online shop for downloadable goods is pretty easy.
Speaker 3:So I spent a lot of time making that work.
Speaker 1:So I think that looks pretty good.
Speaker 2:What's the URL? Tg-soundscom. You can browse through my works and listen to my YouTube stuff and SoundCloud and lots of good stuff on there if anybody's musically inclined. And then there's a store.
Speaker 3:There's not much on it.
Speaker 2:right now I have to go through and update my catalog to my current templates and things like that.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I call it a highlight.
Speaker 2:It was a cool project to see finished.
Speaker 1:We will put that in the show notes. Tg hyphen soundscom, get your, get your. Uh. Tg merch and music all in one place awesome, no, merch. Yet I'm not shipping anything. Yeah, well, you know. Well, you know, chris makes some a mighty fine embroidered polo, so when chris also starts his shipping business. Nice, nice, all right, and I'll wrap this up. So my highlight this week was, well, I got to have lunch with Nitro, which is always a highlight, oh, sorry, I thought it was low light.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, agreed. The pure highlight of it, though, is that we actually had, for the first time, and, I think, a very long time Nitro like an actual production meeting, like our lunch went for like two and a half hours, and we, like I actually did you send me the link to the Google thing that you just signed up for the Google thing?
Speaker 3:Yes, I did, okay.
Speaker 1:I did All right. Well, I, I guess I need to do that then. But but like, we got a lot of stuff done and figured out for the show, so that was a highlight when you start kind of moving things forward. I really like that. And then the low light yeah, nothing really of note that I want to talk about. It was a lot of travel. I talked about that on the last show.
Speaker 1:Eight planes, lots of time in the air last week. This week I'm only in three planes four planes and a red eye, which is going to be a treat. I've decided to fly. I'm taking the red eye to Newark instead of flying into Harrisburg because I just want to be a glutton for punishment. Yeah, I'm flying from San Francisco to Newark Tuesday into Wednesday and then driving to Lancaster, pennsylvania, so it's going to be a long day, a long day. So I'm going to take some melatonin on the. I actually might upgrade myself to first class too, because they have the lay down beds on that flight, so maybe I'll just get some sleep. It'll be worth the 800 or 900 dollars. I might take that part out, because I'm sounding very elitist right now $900.
Speaker 2:I might take that part out, because I'm sounding very elitist right now we're dropping money on auctions. We're getting first class tickets.
Speaker 1:Wow, my God. We have a guest for the first time and I have to like showboat over here.
Speaker 2:Like here let me get my black credit card out. So anyway, that's Meanwhile I just joined Costco, meanwhile I just joined Costco.
Speaker 1:That's one thing I refuse to do. I'm not going to join Costco. I cannot bring myself, no matter how much Nitro talks about it or my neighbors talk. I'm with you, t, I'm with you. I hate people, the crowds and people with big carts and all that space fighting over big boxes of toilet paper. I'm getting anxious just talking about it. So, yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you on this.
Speaker 1:All right, so let's get into this week's topic, which is the Lord of the Rings, the Rings of Power, season 2. But before we start diving into talking about the series that is currently on Amazon Prime in its second season, I wanted to talk to you. So, taylor, we have a bunch of things that we are going to bring you back for because, like we talked about, you're an armorer, you're a musician, you're a professor, you're all kinds of things. But I recently learned this you are a diehard token fan, or at least Lord of the Rings fan, and so we wanted to bring you on here because it's currently relevant in the world of entertainment. At the moment, I don't I'm not into it. I'm going to be perfectly honest. I am completely out of my swim lane in this entire conversation, uh, but I just wanted some quality time with you.
Speaker 3:Now I feel like I'm one of the cool kids, so I mean you're getting your geek card taken away again in the same episode come on.
Speaker 1:Come on, look, I think, I think, if I Look, I think, if you're not into the Lord of the Rings, I feel like there's sci-fi geek, there's Lord of the Rings geek, there's different flavors of geek, and so you don't have to be a member of each of these little sects of geek, you can have your Pan geekdom.
Speaker 1:Pan. Yeah, I might be, I might. Yeah, I'm just going to leave that one alone, okay. So, anyway, before we dive into talking about the show itself, I'd love to hear from both of you because I know both of you are into the world that Token created for us back in the 1950s 40s. But what so, taylor, since you're our guest, I'll start with you. What do you love about this universe? What got you into it? Why do you were you a fan of the Peter Jackson films, like you know? Talk to us about, like where your love for this, this world, started?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, diehard fan I think is is a tough term to swallow when it comes with tolkien, because it's so vast and so detailed. So, like I'm not a walking encyclopedia when it comes to tolkien, like I need refreshers, I need reminders. There's so much to this world. Um, I've read it all, I know it. But you know I I was in the kitchen earlier and Kristen's like oh, do you remember the name of that one father, the one character's father's father? I'm like yes, but I don't really I can't recall it right now. So there's a lot of detail there.
Speaker 2:So Die Hard fan, I don't know if I deserve that kind of title. I like it a lot, but it's I don't know. I read a whole article recently and I know this is an aside about how fans should be allowed once again to be fans without knowing every single tiny little detail of the thing, and I stand pretty heavily by that. I can be a fan and not remember exactly what shape that leaf was during Chapter 7 or whatever. I don't need that kind of stuff. I think trivia is fun, but I don't think it's a necessity for enjoyment.
Speaker 1:But anyway, that's the whole aside no, I appreciate that, especially as, as someone who gets his geek card revoked by nitro and eric constantly, I appreciate that taylor.
Speaker 2:So, yes, let's run with it well, I mean we could go on a whole side about fandom and welcomeness, but that's the whole thing that I don't want to get into, but tolkien specifically. Yeah, I, I didn't start with the films. I mean, I was young when they came out, but I did read the stuff before the movies came out, so and that was a long while ago.
Speaker 3:I don't remember exactly when I read it.
Speaker 2:I think it was, you know, mid-middle school or something.
Speaker 1:So the films came out in 2000-something, See this is where my trivia knowledge goes to crap 2001,.
Speaker 2:Yeah, was it really yeah, it must have been around then that I was reading them. I could have started reading it because they were coming out or something of that nature. But yeah, I mean, my favorite thing that I've come to realize over the years is that my favorite style of storytelling is when you focus on a key group of characters that go through a whole bunch of different things.
Speaker 2:And that is just one of my favorite kinds of narratives, which is why Dungeons Dragons is super special to me, and Star Wars, of course. Like when you take a single character or a small group and they get to grow and change and have all these experiences.
Speaker 2:I love that, especially in a world so rich as as middle earth, like there's so much to do, but it still really focuses around this particular party and I think that's that's the narrative stuff that draws me in really deeply. People always ask me you know, oh, then you must love game of thrones. Like no, I don't, and that's why. Because it doesn't follow what I consider a very tight-knit group of people. So I lose. It's not that I don't, I don't personally like it. I appreciate that people like it. That's not how I am, but it's not my kind of storytelling. I really like focusing on the hero's journey type stuff. Falcon's writing really draws me like that because you get both. You get the world building aspect that I love as a dm and a dungeon dragons player, but you also get that heart of just that small group and I love it. I think it's a perfect blend of what I like in my fantasy were you a harry potter fan as well.
Speaker 1:I feel like they did something similar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no definitely I mean it. That book came out when I was in fourth or fifth grade, so I mean it was everybody.
Speaker 1:Everybody had to read it. There was no option there prior to kind of discovering Token, like what kind of started your journey on the fantasy train to begin with that, whether it was Token or not, and if it wasn't Token, that led you into Token? No, it was, definitely was.
Speaker 2:It was okay 2001 would have been right in the middle of middle school, so that was very informative years there. So that would have been the catalyst for sure.
Speaker 1:And, as I said, I don't remember if it was a movie or the books or what came where, but yeah, they all kind of spurred from the same spot.
Speaker 3:So let this be a warning to you all. Token is a gateway drug to amazing fantasy worlds.
Speaker 1:That's interesting, so and and so I'm assuming that you weren't into dungeon dragons prior to that as well or were you?
Speaker 2:I mean, dragons was actually not even really at that time there wasn't much. I mean, there was stuff going on with it, but I don't think it wasn't nearly what it is today. Just that that would have been the version. That would have been version three, 3.5 times, which okay, which is you know it was. It was great, as we could talk about tons of dragons versions, all we like, but yeah um, definitely not what it is today, got it, got it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I definitely want to pick your brain on Dungeons and Dragons one of these days, because that's another thing. I swear to God, chris, if you take my geek card on this one, I'm going to explode. But it's another IP that I have, no, nothing about. I know a lot of people who are in it and they have their weekly games and they're, they're, they're, we're not games, they're whatever you call them, um and uh, and they just, they love it, they love it. I have yet to uh to take that drug, uh, so we'll have you back. You're going to be a frequent guest in the go-go, uh. So, nitro, what about you? I mean, I know you're a big fan of the series as well of of tokens, fantasy world, middle earth, like how did you get into it? Where did this start for you?
Speaker 3:For the record, since you said something messed up and we get to take away your card a fourth time. For Christ's sake. 1937 is when the Hobbit came out, so not the 50s.
Speaker 1:I prefaced I think I prefaced this as saying I know nothing about this universe.
Speaker 3:Mr Tolkien wasn't at a sock hop Okay.
Speaker 2:Now that said, 37 was when the first book came out, but I'm pretty sure Lord of the Rings was written over like a decade. Thank you, as I said, my trivia is really bad.
Speaker 3:So I got into I shouldn't say I got into, but I was exposed to, uh, the lord of the rings, um, or I should say the hobbit, specifically, um, in the sixth grade. Was that's 11 years old? Ish, just yeah, just about 11. Uh, so early 90s for me. Um, we read the hobbit, uh, in class and, uh, we watched the animated film the hobbit, 1977 release. Um, and so that was that was the first, you know, journey into the mind of tolkien, uh, again, 11 year old kid from new york. It was just like a new, a cool fantasy book for me. I was like, whatever, this is great.
Speaker 3:Um, didn't really stick around, I didn't really dive into the entire universe, I didn't go look for the other books, um, knowing they existed, and then, um, fast forward to the films, right, and so the films came out. Uh, the first film, the fellowship the ring, came out in december of 2001, like we said, which was um, unfortunately, uh, right after the events of 9-11, and I think it was the, the, the world's way of kind of getting away from reality right On a large, massive scale, that fandom, like people who are fans can just like get together and say, hey, we're going to focus on this. Oddly enough, because I was, you know, a New York City kid and I was going downtown all the time just because you know experience, what happened and whatnot, I ended up watching a lot of the films downtown in Battery Park right and I don't know what drove me to do so at the time, but I think, you know, tribeca film festival is down there and I used to go there all the time for for films, uh, and whatnot.
Speaker 3:And so in 2001, uh, I was in college and you know, just hanging out with all the friends and whatnot, and and I think that's what really kind of like stuck, I had my own fellowship, you know so we were getting together all the time and hanging out, and we just experienced this like terrible evil.
Speaker 3:Um, so it was. Although it was a very good escape, it was also like set in reality too for us, um, and I think that's what got me hooked right just that visceral reminder constantly of what just happened, you know, several months prior.
Speaker 1:Got it? Yeah, no, that that makes perfect sense, and I like how you said that you had your own fellowship going and so it just kind of made sense to kind of fall in love with this universe. So so when the movies came out in the early two 20, 2001s so you hadn't read the books at at that point, right, you're just the hobbit, yeah, uh, taylor for the for the movies that came out in 2001, I mean, did you feel that that peter jackson, I mean, and this was a, this was a big movie like it. It's in it like three or four hours long, just the director's cut or something crazy like that. Like, do you do you feel he did a good job? Yeah, do you feel he did a good job of?
Speaker 2:I can't tell you how I felt at the time, because I would have been. I was a kid, I would have been like. This is the coolest doesn't matter, which is exactly how I felt in 1999 but we're not going to go there unless that's not the subject today, but yeah. I mean, do I think he did a good job? Yeah, they're beautiful. I mean they're well-crafted. They're great. I have opinions, though. We're talking about the Rings of Power. I'm not sure you want to talk about films.
Speaker 1:No, I know. Yeah, we can reserve that for a future episode. But before we dive into the Rings of Power, there's six of them, right? There's the lord of the rings trilogy, then there's the hobbit trilogy. Yeah, correct, okay, um. So out of the six of them, do you have a favorite?
Speaker 2:oh, that's hard okay I don't. It's almost like the same thing as the star wars question, but almost a little. Almost a little harder, I'd say, because they're like a through composed narrative by the same director, like I don't know how. It's really hard, it's really hard to to break. Individualize, yeah, in my opinion, got it I. I really like Fellowship of the Ring or because, um, it's the introduction I love the start.
Speaker 2:I love the world building, and that's the first time we got to hear Howard Short's score. Like we have to hear all the stuff. Love the world building. That's the first time I got to hear Howard Shore's score. We have to hear all the stuff. It spends a lot of time in the Shire to really build it up and I just like that. Now I don't think it's as interesting as the next two but, in similar to the way I rank my Star Wars films, you really can't get to the next part without the first so it's hard for me to rank these things.
Speaker 3:That's fair. So, no, I don't. I don't really see them as I can't pick a favorite because I don't see them that way. Got it, got it. What about you, nitro? It's, it's.
Speaker 3:I'm with taylor on this one, it's. It's one of those things where I've watched them so many times all the way through, whether it's like on his background noise or whatever the case may be. So I'm not actively watching them, but it's almost like the timelines, kind of like blur, because it literally is like one continuous piece, almost. Yeah, it's definitely tough. I think I'm going to agree with Taylor on this one.
Speaker 3:It's like this setup kind of brings you into it, introduces all the characters and makes you quote, unquote fall in love with them. You know, got it, introduces all the characters and makes you quote, unquote fall in love with them. You know, um, got it. And I'm just, I'm trying to think, amongst all the friends, I think, I think the first one is the one that we quote the most. When we're poking fun at each other and we meme and we, you know, like stuff like that we're always referencing the first film. Uh, like you know, I'm going on an adventure, you know, like things like that, like it's just it's always the first film, that kind of like always the freshest do you want to take my Chris's card, because that's Bilbo's line in the Hobbit oh, yeah, yeah, sorry, chris, hand it over how do you like it okay?
Speaker 1:so I get it's hard to individualize those ones. But what about Lord lord of the rings trilogy versus hobbit trilogy? Can you separate those two? And do you have a favorite one of those collective series?
Speaker 2:I'm a stalwart hobbit defender.
Speaker 3:But I'll let chris go, oh, okay so, uh, I of, if I had, if I had to pick the two, I would pick the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think the Hobbit was dragged on way too much because it's one book that was split into three movies, where the other one around was three books into three movies. Did they miss a lot of stuff in the three films? Absolutely, uh, referencing the lord of the rings trilogy, um, but it just it. It felt more genuine as opposed to and I I'm gonna get attacked for this, I know this, but it felt like the Hobbit was done because it's like hey, my Lord of the Rings, money is running out, I need to make more money, so let me just make three more films, as opposed to either one really long film or two longish, like a two-part thing, because it's kind of forced to make one movie into one book, into three films. That's my perspective, taylor. That's my perspective Taylor.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's fair. Yeah, I mean, if I had to pick one or the other.
Speaker 2:I can't, can't, avoid the original one, but I'm I'm not. I don't downplay the Hobbit, I really liked them. Are they perfect? No, are they less than the original? I think so, but I like the tidbits they throw in. I mean, there's a lot of material that's from footnotes and from other expanded things that they put into this movie to make it fit into this larger narrative of the six films. I appreciate that. Now, is it done perfectly? No, is there things that are wrong? Sure, but I don't know. I can take or leave that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:When you're doing a film adaptation of a novel, like I ask anyone, tell me a Spielberg film that follows a narrative of a novel. That's exact, it's not a thing, it's just not. Peter Jackson's trilogy is not a one-to-one and I will shout that from the rooftops. It's not a problem. There's still beautiful narratives. But that ending, in my personal opinion, is a choice. But anyways, yeah. So I don't know. I like the Hobbit. I really love the visuals. I know there's a lot of CGI and people like complaining about that, but seeing a whole host of elven army descend on Erebor, it's just great. There's just some great moments. Seeing all Weta's work and the score. It's just all good stuff. I'm a fan.
Speaker 2:It was a fun return to Middle-earth and I enjoyed it, but it doesn't have to be perfect. I love Star Wars, but it's definitely not perfect.
Speaker 1:That is true, that is very true, and everyone will make us and remind us of that. All right, so I'm going to load up my, my iPad with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and watch it on my flights this week, because clearly I'm I'm missing something. I'm going to keep on screwing this up. Lord of the Rings, power of the Rings, the Rings of Power Every time I say that title, I think of Johnny Cash and the Rings of Fire, that's right so?
Speaker 1:so, nitro, I'm going to hand it to you to kind of recap season one before we dive into talking about where we're at so far in season two.
Speaker 3:Nitro, take it away. All right, folks, I'm going to summarize this the best I can and taylor will grade me, since he's in education. Taylor, please be generous. Uh, I mean, I know you established yourself as, like you know, you're not, you're not the king of facts and you know you know everything, but you do know more than I do and I give you that credit.
Speaker 3:Um, all right, so the first season of rings of power, uh, plunges us back into the Middle Earth thousands of years before Frodo's and the gang's journey in the Lord of the Rings. Galadriel, who we saw in the Lord of the Rings, a fierce, elven warrior, is convinced that Sauron still exists and is on a quest to eradicate the evil lingering from Morgoth's reign. I don't know who Morgoth is, but I keep hearing the name and I think it's a pre-Sauron. So I'm going to stick with that. Her relentless pursuits leads her across treacherous landscapes and into unexpected alliances. Right Meanwhile, the wise Elrond, who we also meet in the original Lord of the Rings, navigates the political intrigues of Lindon. Lindon, how do you say that? Taylor, lindon, you'll grade me at the end.
Speaker 2:Depends on if you're speaking with an Elvish accent or not.
Speaker 3:Okay, I keep thinking it's Linden like Linden, new Jersey, it's not? At least make the o a little long. Uh, while aiding his friends, his friend kella brimbor, in his ambitious endeavors, kella brimbor, a renowned elven smith, uh, harbors a secret desire to forge powerful rings that can preserve the beauty and strength of the elves. Um, and so, at this point in the ages of the lord of the rings, uh, the elves are now, we're gonna say, dying off, but like they're, they're done with their whatever they're supposed to do in the world and they're just kind of journeying on into the next uh thing. They're eden, so to speak.
Speaker 3:Um, in the southlands, the human healer Bronwyn and the sylvan elf Arondir find their peaceful lives disrupted by the resurgence of the orcs, led by Adar, an elf who was captured and tortured by Margoth, and discover dark magic at work. At some point, galadriel seemingly gives up her quest and relents to her fate to journey to Valinor, that Eden that I was just talking about, but literally jumps off the ship and, while swimming in the sea, encounters a mysterious stranger named Halbrand on a piece of driftwood. We also meet the Harfoots, the nomadic ancestors of hobbits. Their simple lives take an extraordinary turn when Nori Brandyfoot discovers a mysterious stranger who literally falls from the sky like a meteorite and crash lands near their camp In true cliffhanger final episode fashion. The climactic finale reveals the true identity of Sauron, the Dark Lord, who has been masquerading as Halbrand all along. He manipulates Celebrimbor into forging the rings of power. The fate of Middle-earth hangs in the balance. Taylor, how badly did I mess up?
Speaker 2:That's pretty good. It reads like the back of the DVD box.
Speaker 3:They haven't been released on DVD yet. They haven't been released on DVD yet I did not copy that.
Speaker 2:Who knows what the content physical media is these days.
Speaker 3:Anything I should have added? No, anything kind of important.
Speaker 2:No, I mean, you can really dive into any morsel of that and talk about history of any of these people Morgoth, celebrimbor, all these sorts of things but no, the story's not particularly complicated when you remove all of that history. There's a lot of history that was written about it, but the story itself is not particularly complicated. Tolkien has really flowery prose that really likes to embellish details and tell you everything you need to know about a scene which I love.
Speaker 1:But when you really boil it down, the story is not very complicated. Hey guys, why did Sauron buy Hot Topic?
Speaker 3:Because he wanted to be more goth.
Speaker 1:he wanted to be more goth. He wanted to be more goth. That does play.
Speaker 2:Sauron does pretty much want to be more goth, thank you, thank you, all right.
Speaker 1:So that was season one, right.
Speaker 3:That was season summarization of season one Yep. And just as a caveat at the, that was season Summarization of season one yep, and just as a caveat.
Speaker 2:At the end there they forged the three elven rings, not all of the rings.
Speaker 3:Very, very important.
Speaker 1:That is important.
Speaker 3:Okay, gotcha, gotcha. I mean just quick thought on season one. Did you like it, Did you not like it? Taylor?
Speaker 2:I mean, it's the same as we talked about the Hobbit. For me, we get to go back to Middle-earth, we get to go live this again. We get to see something new. It's a fresh take. Yeah, I was super excited. I'm watching it. I'm still excited, like we're back. There's some different actors playing different characters and that's refreshing. Different directors, actors playing different characters, and that's refreshing. Different directors, different visions, but, like as a big picture, yeah, we're back. It's fun. I love the visuals, I love the costuming. Um, I love bear mccreary score. I love howard shore's part of that as well. There's just there's good stuff. So, um, yeah, I, I'm, I'm here, I'm here for it I didn't realize bear mccreary did the score for this.
Speaker 1:I love, love the battle scar galactica score. That's good stuff and he also yeah, fun fact.
Speaker 2:So howard shore did the main theme, the main show theme. That's it. Howard man bear mccreary has done the rest of the show. Oh wow, it's cool to get to get. It's a show literally starts with the original and it feels very much in that universe and goes in a different direction from there. Not dissimilar, but you can definitely tell the feeling is different between the Lord of the Rings and Battlestar Galactica. It's cool to hear him do a fantasy, you know a high fantasy sort of situation.
Speaker 1:I think it's really well crafted.
Speaker 2:I'll have to listen to the soundtrack no-transcript and writings that Tolkien did, but it was written by a song, so it's the Silmarillion reads like a textbook of the history of this world and the pillars in it. It's a lot to digest, there's a lot of names, there's a lot of stuff. So there's been a lot of complaints out there that it doesn't follow that narrative. But I would argue that I don't want it to follow the narrative because it reads like a textbook in that this person did this and it led to this and they go back. It's kind of a tough pill to swallow because it's not written in an eloquent nature like the other books of the series, in my opinion. So I don't.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that it's different in that they're making a really they're not, they're making a crafted story out of much bearer bones. In my opinion. Got it, got it. It's hard to do a one-to-one in my opinion, because there's a lot, there's a lot of details in there that would be missed. There'd be a lot of time jumping and filling and filling in of the gaps. So I think they've made some like some pretty good choices into what to fill gaps with, because there are gaps to be filled. Sure, I think they're making some choices that are going to make people appreciate it or they're not going to make them like it, and I think it's fine, but I don't know. I appreciate what they're doing what about you nitro?
Speaker 1:you've you've consumed season one and and where they're at in season two. At this point, what did you think of season one?
Speaker 3:um, like taylor, like this is, this is it's. You hear me say this all the time. It's more of something and all if something is good something.
Speaker 3:So this is more lord of the rings, this is more you know world of token. So I kind of I like it like it's not, it's, it's just brings you back to that world, right, and it reminds me of all the good times I've had and this and anything. And I enjoyed the book the hobbit. I didn't read any of the books, shame on me. Uh, here you have my card, there you go, um, um. But yeah, I mean the, the I'm trying to think of, like all the negative things that were said, or this framework, the. It was set up through the grapevine, I think it said that they were allowed to make the show. However, they were not allowed to touch any of the canon, like lore or whatever and I'm like oh, okay, there's, there's, then this is going to be a whole new thing.
Speaker 3:Fantastic, do they? You know if, if their blueprint and this is the first time I've actually heard the simoleon um explained to me. Uh, I didn't know, it was like a textbook.
Speaker 2:I thought it was like a story I mean, it is a story, but you know it's hard to describe it, doesn't? It doesn't read as like, it's more like a like a compendium.
Speaker 3:It's like there's like these things, these things happened. It's almost like here's a timeline and here's a a genealogy kind of.
Speaker 2:But it kind of bounces around and describes different people. Right, the silver line starts. It says of of a character or a group of people, and then it talks about them and the next chapter is of these people and it talks about them so it's just kind of it's it's, I won't call it nebulous, because that's not the right word, but it's, it's. It's a yeah, it's just not. It's not a clear narrative. I guess that's the best way to prescribe it. I'm not good with words, I mean it sounds like a passed down knowledge.
Speaker 3:You're talking to a village elder and he's he or she is just bringing all this stuff down. This is all the stuff that happened before us and now we're here. These are all the things that happened to us and now we're here, and these are all the people that came from us and now we're here, and these are all the things that happened to us and now we're here, and these are all the people that came from us and now we're here. And then, like you put all these things in a book and it's like, oh, now they're intertwined because they're all of the same world. You know what I mean. So, like this happened to these people at this time and then this happened to these people at this time, and they're and these are younger persons and stuff. So I get what you're saying.
Speaker 2:I get what you're talking about. I guess I kind of relate it to like mythology in that like the Silmarillion is like the mythology and then Lord of the Rings is like the story of this age.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting it's hard to describe.
Speaker 2:Worth reading, though, if anyone's a fan and really wants to dive in. That is the heaviest dive you can do in this situation.
Speaker 1:So the hardcore hardcores go in on the similar, similar really, and it's something I do reread every couple years or so, just because I can't sponge it, it's just too much.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, gotcha, and they took they took that right, they took bits of that and they're like, hey, we're gonna make a show of this, right and um, I'm trying to, just I'm trying to think back through season one of all the things I heard from people like they're whatnot. I'll add a caveat there.
Speaker 2:They didn't take all of simerillion, because the simerillion starts, you know, proto time. This is specific. The show is specifically the second age of middle earth, so that you need foundational stuff. But they've kind of ignored all that. They mention Morgoth by name, I think, only in season two, or not in a lot of places, but they don't really say much about that.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's because they can't, or I don't know what the agreements are. I've heard a lot of rumors but I don't have a source. I don't think any of us have a direct source of what the agreements actually are. So it's hard to hard to judge what they're basing this on. It just says based on the lord of the rings and and additional materials or something at the front of the show. It doesn't actually mention the soul marillion, it just mentions that. But in the lord of the rings itself, with all the footnotes that are there, there's so much content. So it's it's really difficult to follow exactly what they're using as the source, because the whole, in my opinion the whole source is the universe. So I can't parse it out like I can't pick a favorite movie.
Speaker 3:It's just one big chunk of knowledge in my head so yeah, so yeah, and so like it was, it was fun watching it. It was for me, and I remember the big thing was everyone was like who's who? Because now we're calling him the stranger, right, that's the character's name, the guy that fell out of the sky. Everyone's like he's Sauron. No, that can't be Sauron. And so everyone's playing back and forth of taking bets, basically the basic Vegas style of who's going to be Sauron, because everyone's waiting for him to appear, because we know correct me taylor. Do we know that he appears at the second age again? Um, so yeah, that's basically was what was happening in season one from I remember that was the big. And then, when it actually happened, at the end and mount doom just erupts and now, like, now we have like all this stuff and so like, like I said in my introduction, the whole cliffhanger and it's like this is going to be set up for another season. We already know this because they said they signed up for five seasons. Um, so yeah, that was the end of season one.
Speaker 3:To me, it's like I I was happy to go through this. I was like I recognize these characters. They look like hobbits and then we end up saying no, they're harfoots, they're like predecessor to hobbits, so did it? Did it do the thing of getting me back into tolkien's world? Absolutely, I had a great time watching it. I enjoyed it. The cliffhangers at the end were expected and I and I liked the cliffhangers. I was looking forward to starting season two.
Speaker 2:And I'll say, a lot of people will poo-poo on differences between books and movies, especially for these deep fandoms, but I actually like the differences. I think it's fun to find what different writers think of what is narratively important.
Speaker 2:I remember recently I probably remember recently, but a handful of years ago, eight years ago, pre-COVID or something I read the Book Thief, which is a great book, and then I watched the movie, which people don't like very much. But it was just fun to have recently read the book and then to watch the movie and say, hey, okay, they didn't think this plot line was important, they didn't think this is. They emphasized this character more than I did when I read it. I think that's fun to do. Just as a creative myself, it's fun to see someone editing a work.
Speaker 2:Now that might result in a product I don't like, or don't like as much as I did, but I appreciate the artistry of picking and choosing and creating a story from one source that can be basically infinitely long. I mean, it's a book. It can be as long as you need it to be to something that needs to be within around two hours. I think it's a very interesting thing to watch and to discover. I like that. I like, as a consumer, having to see what it transforms into. But that's just me. So people don't like that and I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Well, the age-old adage is, the book is always better than the movie. And it's because of those, those things, those nuances, that don't necessarily get carried over or get changed, whether it's right or wrong, I mean, to your point, it could be, it could be yes, no or indifferent, and there's so many examples of that. I mean, look at any Stephen King movie that he wasn't like. The Shining is the prime example of that movie that he wasn't as like. The shining is the prime example of that.
Speaker 1:Stanley Kubrick, pretty much you know, gave Stephen King the middle finger when he was making the shining and completely redid the entire thing, to the point where Stephen King, at 20 years later, made a made for TV movie version of it that was a little bit more closer to what his original text was. And if you haven't read it, the shining is an amazing novel, not nearly as nerdy as any of tokens works, but it's pretty, pretty good if you like a good, uh, horror movie or a horror movie one of my favorite books of all time is war of the worlds hgl.
Speaker 2:Sit on my stand there. One of my biggest works of music so far is based on that property. But I mean, how many different retellings of the story are there, and are any of them even remotely the same? Barely Right, right. So one's in Chicago, one's in current London, like they're all over the place, but they sell the same bones. Yep, but I think that's fun. I love this story. I love this novel. It's science fiction at its purest.
Speaker 2:There's actually science in it. It's very different than what we consider science fiction today, but I think it's really cool to see where people have taken one of my favorite works and retold it. I mean, look at Sherlock. There's just so many examples of this and I think I don't know. I don't want to speak for groups of fans or tell anybody they're wrong, but I kind of miss the the ability of people to see it from that kind of angle. I don't expect a one-to-one retelling. I don't. I don't think that's the correct expectation, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Right, agreed, season two of the Rings of Power, not the Rings of Fire. How y'all feeling, nitro?
Speaker 3:Again, I'm hooked. I'm here for the ride. I found it very interesting of how Sauron ended up, where he was trapped in his tomb. That was explained to us in season one because, like you know, he was in this icy tomb. Basically he was backstabbed, right, like that's basically how he ended up there and Adar, you know, I guess one of his lieutenants or something, or I forget exactly what it was the relationship there. But, um, they were going to crown him as king and then they literally killed him, right, because obviously he didn't die, uh, but they, they thought they killed him and then he just marched off and said we're gonna go do our own thing. So he ends up being stuck there for however how long it is, and the adar and the orcs, you know, they go and do their thing and, um, it was interesting seeing how he was escaping the entire time. I was thinking gollum's not around yet what are they doing? Like this is a weird cave thing, like what. That's the the kind of feeling that I had.
Speaker 2:It did remind me of what was. There was like a what was the super villain? It was not a super villain, it was a villain in Scooby-Doo that was like the muck man.
Speaker 3:That's what it reminded me of.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I will say just as an aside, chris, like my takeaway is a little different than yours, and I don't know what's right because we're only so many episodes in, but like, did they betray Sauron or did they do exactly what he wanted? I don't know. Like it's hard to it's hard to hard to know for sure. It's definitely portrayed like it's a betrayal. I'm not sure if that's entirely what's happening. He's a schemer, he's this deceiver liar, he's all these sorts of manipulation, things like that's his game.
Speaker 3:So that's yeah, I don't know that's and that's, that's, that's the, that's what I'm getting out of. This season is like how is he playing all these other people to do what he wants? Um, you know, he he's presented himself as a, you know, human, the first whole, almost of the entirety of the first season and and season two, we go into it and he's now an elf all of a sudden, um, and you know they, they had made the three rings for the elves to help them out, to reinvigorate their whatever, their natural spirit or whatever, so they don't have to journey into the Valor. And then it continues from there. Right Now we have to make the rings for the dwarves, right, and so they make the rings for the dwarves. However, they go about it in a weird way and you know he, like you said, taylor, he starts manipulating and saying oh well, these rings were not made the same exact way as the first one. So there's, you know, that's why there's a problem, uh, with that, and he kind of fools keller brimbor to come back to make even more rings, um, which are not completed yet. I don't think they're completed yet, but we get a hint of, um, the one ring right, uh, that there's invisibility involved and whatnot. Um, so yeah, I mean, it's a little bit of a roller coaster, that you know.
Speaker 3:We see how the eruption of Mount Doom, you know, reverberates through the land. It literally destroys the Southlands, you know, it becomes Mordor and Khazad-dûm, the, the cave, the cave cave, uh, underground realm, uh, of the door of one of the groups of dwarves, uh, it gets destroyed, basically, and then they're trying to dig away Like they don't have any crops, they can't take care of themselves, and then, like, the only way to discover how to get out of this mess is literally use a ring that was designed for the dwarves. However, instead of all the dwarves coming together at the same time to distribute the rings, the one king has all the rings, dwarven king has all the rings and he uses them basically against all the other dwarven kingdoms and says you know, if you want to use these rings, you have to, like, pay tribute to me, and so, like that's that's how that plays out yet, but yeah, it's sitting.
Speaker 3:You know we're only, yeah, we're talking through halfway through, uh, the second season, yet so far. But, um, yeah, there's lots of stuff going on, right, and it's all still lord of the rings, and so I, it's to me, it's good, I, I'm enjoying it. Right, there's more stories that I don't know about. Uh, it's funny, having watched lord of the rings, having watched the hobbit, uh, connecting these characters to their what's, what's the opposite of an ancestor no, no, like their offspring predecessors.
Speaker 3:No, they're present. These are their predecessors. We're are their predecessors, or seeing their predecessors. But connecting the predecessors to their offspring is that the right word?
Speaker 2:um their decessors there's a word here, but why are we not getting it?
Speaker 3:um, so, yeah, it's like it's to me, it's really cool. Like I said, I'm enjoying it. So far, um, I don't, I don't. I don't think anything could mess this up for me unless, like, the acting gets extremely bad.
Speaker 2:Yeah I mean, I think if certain quality things dip, I for sure wouldn't be very enthused about it. But I don't know. I I like I know the story of what Sauron does and what he tries to do in Fall of Numenor and all these spoilers, but that's in the book. Like there's a lot here. Like, yes, the story of Numenor is not the same. Like the way the way that Farazan becomes crowned king is a little different, and there's a lot of stuff. There's changes, but these are the narrative changes that I would expect from source material to show.
Speaker 2:That's something that I expect and I understand that people went I'll be like that. It's missing elements that they hold dear and I get that. But like changes are going to happen, so I don't know. I don't want to be aggressive, so I won't, but I like it. Like Chris says, aggressive so I won't, I like it, I just did it. Like chris says, I think it's a fun return to middle earth and if it's not your cup of tea, I think it's fine. No worries, go back to watching the ones you like.
Speaker 1:that's all right, perfectly fine so you're digging, you're digging where they're at at season two so far, and how many episodes? There are eight, eight episodes each season as of today recording, they've released five. We're only talking about the first four, I think Got it Okay, perfect, perfect.
Speaker 2:But once again it's just like the films. For me it's so hard to individualize episodes because it's so written in a way that's through composed.
Speaker 1:It's a music term I shouldn't be using that.
Speaker 2:It's not the right term for shows.
Speaker 1:No, it makes sense though. So I'm looking at the at the tomato meter. Season one was at 83 percent tomato meter off of 491 reviews, so that's certified fresh. Unfortunately, the popcorn meter, based out of twenty five thousand plus ratings, is at 38 percent. So audiences and we see this I feel like we've been seeing this a lot and who knows if review bombing is part of this there's been kind of an influx in review bombing the past couple of years, but they're at 38%. So it's kind of.
Speaker 1:According to Rotten Tomatoes, season one was a bit of a nothing burger. Season two, so far, based off 118 reviews, is at 85% fresh from the critics and 58% on the popcorn meter. That's only off of 5,000 reviews and ratings. So it seems like so far and again the numbers are way there's a variance between these numbers, but so far the audiences and critics are liking this a little bit more than they did on season one. Any any thoughts on why that might be? Are you guys seeing a difference between season one and season two that might attract a like for this series a little bit more than they did previously?
Speaker 2:I don't really have a strong theory in that regard. I mean, I would assume that people who didn't like one wouldn't watch two, so they wouldn't be involved in those metrics, that's what I would assume.
Speaker 2:Now I know for a fact that's not the case, because people love to watch stuff. To hate it because that's just current, you watch. I mean you can see any YouTube video these days like the tagline is negative, that's just, that's what sells, I get it. But I would assume that the numbers would be better because you would have purged those who don't like it, or some degree of them, I guess.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I also think it's really hard to say numbers versus a complete season, versus only a portion of the second season. I don't think it's fair to judge any product before it's all finished.
Speaker 1:But I don't know.
Speaker 2:On the same token, I didn't finish season one of Game of Thrones and it wasn't for me, so yeah. I judge certain things on one another. I guess it's not fair.
Speaker 1:No, get out early if you don't like it.
Speaker 2:Exactly, but I didn't go on the internet and tell everyone that they should stop watching the Game of Thrones.
Speaker 1:How would that have gone? For me, you are an anomaly in the age of mass communications.
Speaker 2:It's really. It's just like the Star Wars fans like to share around it's. Peaceful life, mr Erso. So it's like yeah, just watch what you like and avoid what you don't like Exactly.
Speaker 3:Exactly I like to like and it's funny that this is an Amazon show. Exactly, I like to liken it. It's funny that this is an Amazon show. I like the Amazon reviews that people write that are literally like one star. I never receive my package.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I did see. I noticed in the credits. The last it was finally, you know watching the season two and it says Amazon and MGM Studios Are they combined now? Do you know anything?
Speaker 1:about that. Yeah, Amazon bought MGM last year, I believe.
Speaker 2:I missed that memo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was very much so under the radar. They were doing some partnership stuff a couple years back and then Amazon just ended up buying them outright, um, mostly for their distribution catalog, so sure so, uh. So, nitro, do you want to do disco ball ratings for season one and where we're at in season two season?
Speaker 3:one uh for me. I will give season one a three disco balls. Okay, out of five, season two thus far. I'm making more connections to things from the token that I know from the films and it just seems more faster paced and like things are happening more. There's less setup, um, so I'm enjoying that a little bit more. So I'm. I'm giving season two, season half of two.
Speaker 1:Uh, I'm giving it four disco balls wow, all right, all right, and and taylor, if would you like to bestow upon this and disco balls it's a disco ball rating, so I have to set the scale right now.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of pressure. There's a lot of pressure and we used to get very complicated with it. It was five shiny disco balls or one broken disco ball, but now we just do disco balls. So one is obviously you didn't like it. Five disco balls is we're partying all night long. So what did you think of season one?
Speaker 2:I think I'd give them both a four.
Speaker 1:I mean it's a fun return, it's it's.
Speaker 2:Listen I, if I, if I'm watching it, it's at least a three. I don't like if it's a one or two, I'm just not gonna watch it. I don't have enough time for that yeah that's the reality of this.
Speaker 2:Like I would love to go back and reread things I like, and reread novels and do that, but I really do like to consume new literature. So I just I don't know. I don't have time for things I truly don't like, which is why I keep returning to Game of Thrones. It was the only modern example I could think of where I watched it, truly didn't like it and did not find more time for it. It's just me.
Speaker 1:I don't have time for that. No, I get it, and that's why you should be listening to Geeky A Go-Go and what you're watching, so you can avoid terrible things. All right, folks, chris, I'm going to wrap us up. Are we good? All good, all right. Well, guys, I am way geekier for being in your presence this evening and I cannot wait to rewatch at least the Lord of the Rings the jury's out with me although you guys gave it some pretty good scores, so I might watch the rings of power. Taylor, thank you so much for being here and talking and sharing your insights with us. I hope you had a good time. I hope we didn't scare you away. I hope you come back.
Speaker 1:Oh, you make it sound like you guys are strangers. No, this is great.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:It's always fun to come on here and talk about nerd stuff, geek stuff, I don't know we'll talk about the nerd geek thing too.
Speaker 1:It's an episode, I guess absolutely and, uh, if, if you want people to find you on the interwebs, uh, obviously tg-soundscom for your awesome music, but anywhere else you want people to uh find you, yeah first and last name, taylor goodson, on all platforms will get you there.
Speaker 2:I think it's's Taylor underscore, a underscore Goodson on Instagram. Same thing on Facebook, but you just search those two words, you'll find me. All the links are on my website too, and it's hyphen, not spelled out. It's the little hyphen.
Speaker 1:Single character no, thank you, good clarification. I guess I'm going to try it right now If I go to TG spelled out hyphen sounds.
Speaker 2:Does it go anywhere?
Speaker 1:And is it HTTP colon slash, slash.
Speaker 2:I'll get you there. Go to Google and type in TG. Sounds like everybody else Exactly. Who types in web addresses anymore.
Speaker 1:We'll leave the links in the show notes for you everybody. There you go. Thank you All right, so folks? Are you also a Lord of the Rings fan? Are you neck deep in the rings of power like Nitro and Taylor? Well, let us know at mailbag at geekygogocom, and let us know what you think about the show. That's our show for today. Do you want more Geeky Go-Go? Well, make sure you're following us on a higher level, like on our discord server, or get additional content from today's episode at our members only after party. Well, head on over to patreoncom. Slash geeky go go and support the show. You'll get awesome swag and other perks. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're following the show on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review. Thanks so much for listening and you stay geeky Internet. Bye.
Speaker 2:Take care, bye, okay.
