In this second part of our two-part extravaganza on The Rings of Power the cast jumps back into talking about Middle Earth. In this episode they ask “What’s in a name?” as they wonder why anyone included a Hobbit. The Stranger’s gray identity is mooted. The cast discusses the geometry of rings and why 15 minutes may not be enough time to devote to their creation. They also get into the trauma that creates the orcs and the idea of an “evil race”. Along the way they discuss tropish women who need fathers for their sons, vampire orcs, and the politics of Númenor.
As this is the second part of our two-parter there isn’t a Five-Minute Controversy.
This week Anji, Keith, and Kimi join the cast.
Show Notes:
Feather Summarizes the Silmarillion
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It’s a trip back to Middle-Earth this week as the cast takes an epic-length at the Amazon Prime series, The Rings of Power. In this episode the cast discusses the logic of a series that can only use the appendices of Lord of the Rings as reference. They get into the types of stories that they’re choosing to tell and whether or not there’s a significant loss of context. Along the way they also get into the casting and what they think of the portrayal of the characters. They also opine on the production values and the various controversies that surrounded this series.
The 42cast goes bad this week as we take a look at the darker side of entertainment. In this episode we talk about villains. We discuss what makes a character an interesting villain and exactly what criteria you should use to determine if a villain is the “greatest”. Then, we talk about our favorite villains across all of media and why these we think they have a claim to the title of “greatest”.