How Rings of Power Could Fall like Numenor

I want to to like Rings of Power.

I would love to love it.

But I'm extremely skeptical. 

Let me be clear... when I first heard that Peter Jackson was making movies about the Lord of the Rings, I was quite skeptical as well. Even then, I didn't trust Hollywood to do those books justice. I expected something half-assed, remotely related and ultimately rather hokey. 

Instead, I was blown away by the movies. 

This wasn't because the movies showed the books exactly as I imagined them. Frodo, for instance, was much more heroic and attractive than I had envisioned him... and, oh, my gosh, so much better. I loved that the love story of Aragon and Arwen was woven right into the story instead of stuffed into some appendix. Faramir, my favorite character from the book, was treated fairly, and everything else was beautifully brought to life as grandly or more grandly than I had imagined.

Unlike some people who thought the Hobbit prequels were a let down, I enjoyed those very much. Again, I didn't mind the addition of more of a romance and a new female elf, and I didn't mind the extension of the story into a trilogy. I had a few more nit-picks with certain subplots and battle scenes than the first trilogy, but nothing I couldn't forgive.

And, yeah, I would love to have either of those responses to the new series.

But.

First of all, let's be clear. A movie or a television show isn't a human being on trial. It doesn't have the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, or to be presumed good until proven bad. 

A show is asking for my money, my time, and/or my love. The show has to prove itself to me, not the other way around.

Jackson spoke of his love of his source material, his respect for it, and he recruited artists who shared that love and respect. AND IT SHOWED.

So far, the interviews and social media broadcasts of the current crew working on the Rings have not shown that they care about or respect the source material. Rather, there's every indication that they see it only as a vehicle for pushing an agenda or making a quick buck. 

And that attitude has ruined so many other story universes that I used to love but now no longer respect, like Star Wars, Dr Who, Star Trek, Game of Thrones... stories that started out great but fell into inattentive hands and crashed and burned. 

I know that it's impossible to please every fan, viewer or reader of a story. But, honestly, I'm not the hardest person in the world to please. I'm quite forgiving. All I ask is that a story be true to itself, with characters that are both true to themselves and heroic and good.

That's not asking much, yet it's beyond the ability of many creators today, because they are shameless nihilists who parasitize other people's works and inject beloved characters with their own shameless nihilism. I don't want to see that in any show, but I definitely don't want to see that passed off as Lord of the Rings, which stood against the nihilism of its own age like a shining beacon.

So... yeah... I'm skeptical.

But I would love to be proven wrong, to be blown away, and truly love this show.