OPINION: It's hard to believe, but Amazon's biggest ever TV series appears to be an underdog.
On Friday, September 2 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power finally launches on Prime Video - and it feels like this show is the one scrabbling for attention and viewers before it actually kicks off.
That's despite Amazon having already committed to a second season and showrunners saying they have 50 hours of story planned with which to unfurl their Tolkien lore.
It's one of the two most enormously hyped, most expensive fantasy TV shows ever made - and both are being released within a month of each other. Both are prequels, both are modelled off beloved intellectual properties and both are hoping for the same level of fervent adoration and fan dissection as their forebears.
Yet, both have wildly different levels of interest. A Google search for 'House of the Dragon' yields 1.12 billion searches. Search 'Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' and it's only 201 million - still impressive, but only a fifth of what the other series has.
HBO's House of The Dragon had the luxury of being the first off the block, releasing two episodes before those pesky little pre-Hobbitses have even had time to rise from the Shires.
In the US alone, the Game of Thrones prequel has already started a victory lap.
Ratings for the show's premiere fell just shy of 10 million in the US and episode 2 saw them teeter over 10 million, indicating the series has already grabbed the hearts and minds of those enthralled by the goings on of the House Targaryen - and the wider pop culture discussion.
In contrast, it seems Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power may regret not being able get ahead of the rival show's launch.
Every single time I've opened social media recently, I've been bombarded with video ads for The Rings of Power.
Every 30 second spot available appears to have been targeted to my feeds, almost pleading with me to make it a regular viewing habit, along with the 40,000 other series / specials/ documentaries currently gathering virtual dust on my digital watchlist.
Amazon is obviously trying to recoup some of the reported US$1 billion invested into this show.
Yet I can't shake the feeling there's also a worry Rings has lost some of its shine, and to some degree some of Amazon's nerve, with everything being thrown into the show's marketing.
For the local market, perhaps Prime Video is worried New Zealanders are understandably sore after production upped to the UK when it consciously uncoupled from us, trading in our bounteous countryside for a lifetime of CGI artists having to brighten the English skies for season two and beyond.
Maybe it's the fact that Game of Thrones has been a perennial pop culture discussion since launch and Tolkien's time in the sun may have waned - I'm not entirely sure, but Sauron has a right to be worried.
Having seen the first two episodes of the 10 episode debut season, despite its high production values, I can say The Rings of Power does have its work cut out for it.
The show is going to have to work incredibly hard to make you care about the characters outside of the established lore.
Morfyyd Clark does sterling work as Galadriel - and it's her quest for vengeance and to convince others that danger lurks after evil overlord Morguth is seemingly banished which truly anchors the propulsion of Rings of Power.
But placing her repeatedly in danger is counter-productive. I know any peril she faces, she will overcome because that's what has already happened - and Cate Blanchett's ethereal presence backs me up on that.
Similarly, if you head back to House Targaryen, I couldn't tell you if Viserys will survive, if Daemon's going to get his comeuppance or whether there will be a Red Wedding-style massacre to clear the decks - that's the frisson of the narrative that will prove compelling for House of the Dragon.
In Rings of Power, it feels like saddling the established characters with backstory is more to fuel fan discussions than fully invest you in their quests. Along with Galadriel, there's Robert Aramayo's Elrond, who will morph into Hugo Weaving's venerable elf.
So with Rings of Power, it becomes about how you'll invest in the others - the Harfoots with their Hobbit-esque rosy cheeked- looks and outlook on life (and their mock-Irish accents), in a forbidden love between human and elf, and in the corruption of a land that's seemingly united.
Yet it's not quite enough.
The opening episodes mix horror with the supernatural, and thanks to the scope and breadth of the world, there are many questions to be answered. But there's also much pompous dialogue and lyrical prose espoused by characters that feels staged and unnatural.
There's too much of a feeling of setting out the pieces and arranging the Tolkien stall in The Rings of Power's opening salvo and whilst it looks stunning with worlds wondrously realised, the emotion isn't quite there yet to ensure essential Friday viewing.
I hope I'm wrong. As a fan of the original films, I desperately don't want it to fail. But I can't quite escape the feeling that many of us are Bored of the Rings - and that could be a serious problem for Amazon's greatest streaming gamble.
Darren Bevan is Newshub's digital entertainment editor.
