Warg Comparison LOTR & Rings of Power

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[leewolf]

Love how that woman grabs the spear and spins it around like she’s an absolute pro and then just gets mauled straight away.
I swear people spend more time spinning weapons pointlessly in this show than they do actually using them.

[ravenmaiden]

The ROP warg looks like a weird beanie baby drawn by a devianartist. The LOTR wargs look based in reality, with a look similar to hyenas, and feel and look realistic.

[GrimViridian]

Man the LOTR trilogy still holds up astonishingly well as far as animation, all of the creatures look so good. The Balrog tops most new movie monsters easily

[reiangossling]

Something I really liked about the original trilogy is how the creature design was based on prehistoric Cenozoic animals to convey the age and exotic setting of Middle Earth. The wargs are based on cave hyenas or borophagine dogs like Epicyon and the oliphants resemble mastodons or gompotheres. If I remember correctly Frodo trips over a chimpanzee's skull in Shelob's lair to imply that the orcs are akin to extinct hominids. The Hobbit followed this up with the elf king riding on a Megaloceros.

[flaviusstilicho]

I think the problem with the ROP warg is not only that it has big eyes, but also bulging eyes. Large predators tend to have smaller, more protected eyes.

[helicalscanrecords]

Amazing how the LOTR CGI is still better than most modern films, (Including Rings Of Power). I think the Trilogy had such considered approach in everything it did, it never looked or felt contrived.

[grunwald]

0:15 Love how she spins her spear around while charging but then just body slams into it.

[MrTearyOne]

After watching the video a few times, I can say with some confidence that most of the RoP warg's problem is in the eyes. Rule Number 1 of CGI monsters is that you never make big expressive eyes, because human brains will always focus on eyes as the very first detail they take in of any person or animal, so any tiny imperfection in the eyes will automatically trigger Uncanny Valley. In this case, it seems like the eyes are WAY too big relative to the other facial features, and that creates dissonance because humans associate large eyes with cute, cuddly things, not monsters. The huge eyes rob the RoP warg of all it's scariness. And you know why the Two Towers warg didn't suffer this same defect? Because it didn't have eyes - it only had small hair covered black beads. Ironically if you just cover the Rings of Power warg's eyes with your finger, the rest of the monster looks great.

[judytarokita]

Lotr: A giant prehistoric beast out to chew up some Cro-Magnons.
Rop: A laureate in an Ugliest Dog Competition.

[jackslater]

The warg from LOTR genuinely looks like a real animal, so impressive for its time. Then there's the RoP warg. Which looks like a rejected character from the first Shrek movie.

[bradlees]

The Warg designs have changed with every iteration but I always loved the original LOTR trilogy, made them look more like Hyenas

[garrytalaroc]

Godbless Peter Jackson. It's amazing how the Warg from 20 years ago still holds up even to this day. It feels more real and practical than TROP's.

[JoJoBeast]

20 years older and still holds up better than all CGI today, just one of countless reasons peter Jackson's movies are the greatest film in history

[ethancoster]

So we have a manky pitbull vs a buffed hyena.

[johnstuart]

Other than the eyes, my biggest problem with the ROP warg was how it moved.

It feels jerky and spastic to me. Like the animators’ budget got cut and they had to take out a few frames.

The wargs in Jackson’s series had smooth movements and a kind of predatory grace to them. It felt like a feral animal.

Far more convincing and threatening in my opinion.

[aaronalbertson]

1billion dollars and yet the spear being thrown into that hyena monster looked so fake lol

[DeFens]

It's so amazing how something from 20 years ago looks 10 times better than what a billion dollars from the largest company basically ever can do. That warg looks like a mutated chihuahua and it even sounds like it too.

[davidpark]

I'm glad this conversation is happening. CGI creators needs to heed this. Realism is and emotional impact are not the same things.

[Scipio_Mexicanus]

People love the original LOTR movies because CGI was used sparingly. When they did use CGI, it looked incredible because artists could devote more time and resources to realism. That's the problem with the RoP, the Hobbit, and movies today in general - people are shifting away from hiring extras and using costumes to save money (think Hobbit orcs vs Meat's-back-on-the-menu orcs). They're sacrificing cinematic quality for production efficiency, which is completely understandable from a financial pov. Just don't expect the fans to stop complaining.

[lordhelmchen]

Lmao the RoP wargs actually look more cute than menacing with their huge light-reflecting eyes, great job CGI team really understood the concept of a Warg.

Also I liked how that woman picks up the spear and looks ready to kick that Warg's ass and then she does not even hold the spear directly in front of her when the Warg runs at her in a straight line. *The only thing* you have to do to defend against a charging beast while holding a spear is holding it in front of you in the path of the charging beast. You don't even have to move or make a piercing move, just keep it pointed at the beast and let it impale itself unless it backs off or tries do move around the spear. But no, just keep the spear to your side right until the Warg is one meter away and then try to do a slashing attack... with a spear...
Details like these just highlight how bad a show is in my opinion. Want to show the woman get mauled by the Warg even though she has a spear? Let her point the spear at the Warg and then the Warg jumps to the side and gets her anyway. Boom, you made the Warg more menacing by being smart and agile enough to evade the spear and the woman died a death that seems reasonable, even pitiful, instead of ridiculous. But apparently nobody in the whole production team (at least the ones in charge) thought of that and would rather have a stupid spear twirl and charging scene.