The Ship and the Stone: WHY Shogun Sailed and Rings of Power SANK

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022) and Shogun (2024) were two of the most expensive television series ever made. But a lot of money doesn't guarantee success. Why did Shogun get such acclaim from the start while Rings of Power could only keep 45% of its audience by the end of the first season? Dive into the vastly different storytelling techniques of these big-budget productions and see how one word made the difference between them. No amount of money can save bad writing. Make sure to remember that!

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro. Money talks until it doesn't!
01:00 - How successful was Rings of Power, actually?
04:25 - How successful was Shogun, really?
05:17 - The ONE word that explains the difference between Rings of Power and Shogun
07:03 - How Rings of Power's terrible dialogue destroyed its believability
11:32 - How Shogun's dialogue believed in itself
14:06 - Rings of Power's disrespect of its source material
15:48 - Rings of Power's awful pacing
17:46 - Shogun's respect of its source material and my one criticism of the show
19:27 - Rings of Power reduces Galadriel to a mooody teenager that can't be disciplined
23:32 - Other bad characterizations, the elves are pathetic
24:26 - How Rings of Power also makes the Men of Numenor pathetic
28:07 - The AWFUL "Harfoots"
28:36 - How Shogun makes viewers care about its main characters
31:53 - Shogun's great supporting characters
32:25 - Giving Rings of Power's actors the benefit of the doubt
32:43 - Rings of Power was troubled long before its release
36:08 - Shogun used its big budget wisely
36:46 - You can put a fancy wrapper on a shit bar, but you shouldn't be in the business of selling shit bars!
37:03 - Lesson 1. Respect the source material! Don't write fan fiction!
37:50 - Lesson 2. Nothing can save bad writing.
38:39 - Lesson 3. Make your main characters likeable!
39:06 - Outro.

Become a channel member to see these videos early and get your name featured in these videos!    / @writingandfighting  

You can get the same benefits, see the script for this video, and get other premium educational and entertainment content, take a look at my Patreon page!   / writingandfighting  

You can also buy this script individually (in professional print quality) at my Ko-Fi page:
https://ko-fi.com/s/221dc687f6

If you'd like to support my work in a small way, here's my tip jar and store: https://ko-fi.com/writingandfightingshow

Follow me on social media! https://x.com/jmcarpenter_   / neverendingepic  

I write and edit scripts, essay, SEO, and other copy. For inquiries, email me at [email protected] Some of my writing archives: https://vouch.app/@jmcarpenter https://substack.com/@jordancarpenter

Follow me on social media!
https://x.com/jmcarpenter_
  / neverendingepic  

#tolkien #jrrrtolkien #thelordoftherings #ringsofpower #thelordoftheringstheringsofpower #amazon #prime #amazonstudios #sauron #galadriel #middle-earth #middleearth #gandalf #hobbits #harfoots #secondage #numenor #numenoreans #shogun #2024 #hiroyukisanada #FX #hulu #cosmojarvis #annasawai #toranaga #blackthorne #mariko #john #toda #yoshii #samurai #sengoku #period #japan #historical #drama #fictionwriter #fictionwriting #fiction #television #tv #screenwriting #writingtips #writingskills #writing #writingcommunity #writingtechniques #writingtipsandtricks #writingtipsforbeginners #japan #sengokuperiod #jamesclavell #galadriel #guyladriel #mordor