It goes without saying that the new Amazon Lord of the Rings show will surely be better than the CGI-fueled Halo TV-Show from Paramount.
Paramount's Halo TV Show looks pretty darn good. So good, in fact, that it shocked us when the trailer released a little while ago. Meanwhile, Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power looks to blow records out of the water afterits trailer received such magnificent viewership that we could barely see it being a flop, even if it were to come out and be absolutely god-awful. I mean, sure, it probably won't reach the heights of Peter Jackson's original trilogy, but it does look pretty darn solid.
That's the point of this article, too, as we increasingly see a debate emerge online about whether Halo, with its giant super-soldiers, will be able to even compete with the fantasy epic that we've all been waiting for since Game of Thrones went up in smoke back in 2019. Honestly, it's a very interesting question as to whether Halo's TV adaptation or Lord of the Rings stint on the small screen will be the better experience, but I have a pretty strong opinion on the subject and – as the opinionated Aussie that I am – am very much willing to share it.
Lord of the Rings Will Definitely Be Better Than Halo
Here's the deal: Lord of the Rings has established itself as perfect for a live-action piece of cinematography, something that Halo has never managed successfully. Now, that doesn't mean that Halo's new television program will be bad. Indeed, the trailer looks great! This does, however, take us into the realm of the uncanny valley. Tolkien's world clearly can be translated into a film, but a franchise about giant super-soldiers fighting aliens? Well, it's a little hard to sell to the audience.
The Covenant already look kind of awkward in the Halo TV Show's trailer, and the whole thing has clearly been filmed on a green screen. That's not necessarily bad, as if it's done well, CGI can produce some pretty amazing results. It's not exactly common, though, that they succeed in this realm. If Amazon's directors and producers are smart, they will not make the mistake that Jackson made with The Hobbit and will use as many physical effects as possible in Rings of Power.
In a way, this is a liberty that Lord of the Rings can take, but Halo can't. Halo is giant armored dudes fighting giant alien dudes, and the look of the Covenant will be very distracting to a viewer. I can imagine that, if Halo is good, it will get viewed pretty widely by the gaming community. If the uncanny valley runs too deep, though, or if the directors decide to be obnoxiously detailed with the game's lore, it will certainly push non-Halo and non-Video Game fans away from the show in a way that Lord of the Rings will be able to avoid.
Now, the other benefit that Lord of the Rings will have is that it is based on a pretty easy-to-follow lore. The films and the books are all canon, and the team writing and producing Rings of Power will be able to take bits and pieces from things like the Silmarillion and make sure that everything is clearly translated across and everything makes sense in the context of the franchise. Halo, on the other hand, is a whole other beast. Tens of books, tons of games, previous little web-series like Forward Unto Dawn, and a rabid fan-base who'll want everything to be perfect, are all things working directly against the ability of this Halo TV Show to be accessible and, by extension, a good show.
Nothing is lost, and I am certainly not suggesting that the Halo show will be bad. It looks awesome! I just think that Lord of the Rings has way more of a chance at being good, memorable, and successful, than the Halo TV Show does. It's a good choice to let us see Chief's face, too, as it will allow us to build a better relationship with the character. In games, you can establish these characters easier because it is all animation. In a television series, though, the chances are slimmer. We're looking forward to finding out how it all goes. Good luck, and good game!