And it’s a resounding victory for the Targaryens over the Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits. With House of the Dragon receiving both popular and critical acclaim with a Best Televison series nod at this year’s Golden Globe awards, it’s clear HBO has outclassed Amazon and Rings of Power in the battle of fantasy shows.
This was about as humiliating of a defeat for Amazon and Rings of Power as Sauron losing The War of the Ring due to three hobbits sneaking past his entire army and into the most heavily guarded place on Middle Earth.
For about 6-8 months, all any fantasy/television fan heard about was the epic showdown that was going to happen when both Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and HBO’s House of the Dragon released at approximately the same time.
It was only natural that fans and the marketing departments of said studios would play into the George R.R. Martin and Game of Thrones vs. J.R.R Tolkien and Lord of the Rings headlines as these two-fantasy works have been the most popular in the last two decades.
With the Lord of the Rings movies sweeping in billions of dollars and nearly 20 Academy Awards and Game of Thrones being the #1 television show for approximately 10 years and racking in 59 Emmy Awards, it truly was supposed to be a battle of the titans of the fantasy genre for the hearts of both the public and movie critics/award voters.
Yet, to Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s chagrin, the only person coming out of this battle with any credit is HBO and House of the Dragon.
Both Emma D’Arcy and the show itself were nominated, respectively, for the Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series and Best Television Series awards at the upcoming Golden Globes, giving House of the Dragon two nominations to Rings of Powers’ fat goose egg.
(Amazon-Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power-Official Trailer)
Yes, I’ve been very critical of House of the Dragon in the past for (in my opinion) pacing the show in the worst way possible and some questionable character motivations, but I can’t deny that it is the far superior show over Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. I mean, just to even compare these two shows is an insult to House of the Dragon.
That’s how bad Rings of Power is.
I don’t want to rehash my many, many, many criticisms of ROP, but I will say that the acting, writing, set designs, directing, cinematography, general plot, and the ‘fantastical feel’ of House of the Dragon is infinitely better than anything Rings of Power and its current production staff could even dream about.
Comparing House of the Dragon and Rings of Power is like comparing a mansion with a leaky roof in kitchen to Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin. There’s just no comparison as to where you would want to live.
Regardless, I hope this embarrassment for Bezos, as he publicly said he wanted either popular or critical acclaim for this show (which isn’t the case with the show currently rated 39% on Rotten Tomatoes), wakes him up to the fact that Patrick McCay and JD Payne are dreadful writers/showrunners, and he needs seasoned showrunners to resurrect this series.
Otherwise, the series might be looking at an early cancelation.
(HBO-House of the Dragon-Heirs of the Dragon)
As for House of the Dragon, I wish the best of luck to Emma D’Arcy and the show.
Emma D’Arcy was fantastic as the older Rhaenyra Targaryen and took over from the equally sublime Milly Alcock with such ease and grace. Meanwhile the show may have some pacing and character motivation problems, but it is still worthy of being the Best Television Series of 2022.
Images Source: Featured Image: (HBO/Game of Thrones) (House of the Dragon | S1 EP10: Inside the Episode (HBO) – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Amazon) (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube)
In Text Image 2: (HBO) (House of the Dragon-Episode 1: Heirs of the Dragon)
