The power of ring fans

One storm inside and another outside.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
01 September 2022 Thursday 02:53
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The power of ring fans

One storm inside and another outside. That is what the fans of The Lord of the Rings found yesterday afternoon: the rings of power that had obtained one of the few tickets that had been offered to see exclusively – they premiere on Friday morning – the first two chapters of the long-awaited Amazon Prime Video series. A few minutes before the screening –in the original version in English subtitled in Spanish–, at the Filmax Gran Via cinemas, the downpour was raging, but perhaps without the epic on the big screen. In a moment of high intensity, the projection was even abruptly cut off due to some technical problem. The audience held its breath in case the light didn't come back.

There were no presentations or speeches, beyond a brief welcome video from the director of the episodes and producer of the series, Juan Antonio Bayona, who is shooting in the Andes, and the discreet presence in the audience of his twin brother, Carlos.

The public was made up of fans, of course, but there was not a large presence of clothes or costumes for the occasion, beyond a group from the Smial de Lórien, the Barcelona delegation of the Tolkien Society in Spain. Among them were Àurea Eleanor Peucansat (a hobbit name), Natàlia Iorhaelet (a Gondorian name), and Marta. Despite having enjoyed it, they could not avoid pointing out some canon error and, to their liking, the insinuation of an excessive "romantic interest that does not touch". Marta insisted that “it takes more time to digest it”, waiting for what happens in the following episodes, already from home. And it is that most of the attendees with whom we spoke expressed their satisfaction, but at the same time a high expectation is maintained in the rest of the production.

Irene and Oriol had avoided seeing any trailer so as not to have expectations, which were met. “We have grown up with the Lord of the Rings movies and the series is up to the task. I thought it was better than The Hobbit trilogy,” she said. The two explained that they had also liked the racial diversity of the characters. Ariadna and Cristina, who had seen the previews and knew the aesthetics of the series, thought it was fantastic.

David, Fran, Pablo and Dani commented at the exit that they had found it very solemn and trustworthy, with a very good choice of music and actors, and with a beginning as a prologue very integrated directly into the action, in addition to praising the spectacular nature of the series, in this case greatly benefited from the projection in the cinema. In fact, in the introductory video Bayona explained that although it is a series to watch on television, it has been designed for the big screen.

There are moments of everything, and for the first two chapters, Albert and Alejo really liked that it wasn't slow at all, but rather that there is a lot of action from the beginning. However, they were surprised that it focused on some characters that already appeared in the adaptation of the Tolkian trilogy. Alejo, a big fan, was also lucky that his brother gave him the invitation to the event. Fans to power.

Catalan version, here