Professor Olsen is excellent in his examination of the Lord of the Rings. Top-notch. So why am I not rating this higher? Well, it’s the seemingly pointless satisfaction on his part that the examination of the text of the corpus will take the next thirty years. At least. And he’s thrilled that he’ll be dead before he’s done - it doesn’t make him think of being a bit faster. Moreover, if you’re not someone who lives in US eastern time who either doesn’t have a job or isn’t a night owl, you’ll be behind. Anyone who has to or wants to be in bed before 9 is an afterthought to anything Signum does, since Professor Olsen pointedly is a night owl. The podcast version is also an afterthought, uploaded in bulk weeks behind whatever gets uploaded to Youtube - Signum doesn’t seem to respect those of us who don’t want to watch that. The explorations of relevant parts of Lord of the Rings Online at the end of the broadcasts are interesting, but the podcast is very poorly balanced, and Professor Olsen’s compatriots in this part, either Druid’s Fire or “Vellory” (I have no idea how to spell that) are respectively inaudible or muffled and very hard to understand. Considering how long it takes Signum to upload these, it would seem that more editing is in order. So: great on its subject. Needs a lot of structural work on sound balancing, editing (I agree with those who complain about ums and lip smacking and such; that’s what you get with an unscripted live show, but it could be edited better), and recognition that Professor Olsen will be dead long before he reaches the end of the Return of the King.

This is a podcast for the extreme Tolkien fan or the insomniac! If you are looking for a community of like minded LoTR nerds who enjoy deep dives and literary analysis, word etymology, alliteration, medieval history, rabbit trails, and tangents, you SHALL PASS! Once you’ve binged the near decade worth of broadcasts, you, like the Nine Walkers, are invested in a quest to see it through to Mt Doom, or as far as you may wish to go. This journey is not for the faint of heart, but if you choose to invest, you will find a community of thoughtful, witty, fun, and friendly fans, who will come to feel like family. Perfect for interesting background conversation listening during daily tasks, or falling asleep at night. This is genuine Tolkien fandom at its finest: people who love Tolkien and talking about Tolkien, no matter how many episodes we spend on Weathertop. Thank you, Dr Olsen, and all the participants who make these broadcasts so much fun.

Great podcast but the host always clicking his tongue between sentences and saying ummm every couple sets me on edge so unfortunately I can’t continue to listen after 2 episodes I was ready to break my phone lol keep up the good podcast I’ll try again from time to time to listen as long as I can.

The host is an expert on Tolkien but his constant tongue clicking, mouth noises, and umms are so distracting that I can’t listen.

Having both Misophonia, and a love of LOTR, I am heartbroken that this series is completely unlistenable for me. The consistent barrage of ‘um’s and mouth/lip smacking enraged me to the point that I could not even make it through a whole episode without becoming disgusted and distracted to the point of being unable to comprehend language. My hope is that, one day, the makers of this podcast (or some merciful volunteer) will edit out the constant ‘uh’s and mouth sounds so that it may be enjoyed as the intellectual journey it should be.

Death by misadventure.

Great reading it’s like I’m back to reading the books which I am sad that I finished this so add one star for that. the explanation on parts of the book that I never thought of adds another star. the ums compleat the answering of questions add another star for that. Explaining the map on the game is star number 4. And talking about how Tolkien set the book makes star number 5. But the without enough stars adding secret stars for how you impersonate the voices

Prof. Olsen is breaking down the Lord of the Rings sentence by sentence and digging up gold every single time. The discussions are great, the enrichment is beyond anything else, it’s just fantastic. People criticizing the ums or lipsmacks… idk get a life? It’s a live lecture. You try speaking live and not saying um or doing a tic when you’re thinking. Listen to the content. Reach for meaning, look beyond aesthetics.

I like this series but after hearing the good dr. drone on for two years on the council of Elrond I realize he make ents seem down right hasty. Biggest problem I have is neither he nor I stand any chance of living long enough to finish these books.

I heard Stephen Colbert talk about this podcast in an interview and I thought, “that sounds excellent.” And it is! I love getting to nerd out about one of my favorite books, to think deeply about it and ponder things I’ve never noticed or thought deeply about before. If you like digging into literature you will enjoy this deep dive.

The people that say that the lip smacking and “um”ing is annoying are right, yes, but I think we need to remember that this is a live lecture and that he would need some time to think and prepare what he is going to say. So just be warned that if you are a very annoyable person… maybe don’t listen to this podcast. Great job though Professor Olsen! P.s. I do not find your “um”s annoying. :)

I just started this series a month ago, so I’ve been binge listening to try to catch up. I’m loving looking at the trilogy with this much detail and depth. I’m getting some new ideas about and understanding of the story. Thanks to Dr Olsen for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm.

I heard Stephen Colbert talking about this podcast and being that he is the most excellent LOTR fan, I had to check it out. I stayed for how amazing this show is! I happened to start Marathon training at the same time is started listening, and it has become my companion of pain and suffering during my training and finally my actual run. I get to immerse myself in Middle Earth while really considering super cool facts I would had never thought about myself, so I ignore how far I am running and how tired I may be! Totally accomplishes the goal! I hope to go to the Mythmoot 2022 for sure!

The host knows his Tolkien. No question. He’s a wealth of knowledge. But he also has distracting habits that make this a difficult listen. There are a lot of filler words and sounds, especially “um” and “good, good,” and while we all do that sort of thing from time to time, he does it to a fault.

The instructor’s repetitive lip smacking & “ums” is really distracting

Um um um um um… um! Um? Um, um um.

It’s a very entertaining and enlightening slow stroll through Tolkien’s world. Taking each chapter a few podcast at time and breaking down the elements in the LOTR universe is refreshing and relaxing. Must listen to anyone who loves Tolkien especially given the Professor depth of knowledge in all things Tolkien.

Oh god skip the poems whenever they stop talking about the important stuff (I.e. what the poem SAYS) He’ll spend four hours somehow talking about Rhyme scheme ABAB vs ABBA and how taken and token are similar sounding words It’s literally the isildurs bane poem. It’s like six lines of the most meaningful words in the book, and you’re stuck hearing how an extra syllable in one line is somehow super important. Yeesh.

The analysis and criticism of Prof. Olsen and class has brought this forty plus year Tolkien fan much delight, tears, laughter, but most of all an ever renewing wonder at the depth and breadth of the works of JRRT.

Nothing else like this out there... it’s unique in its depth and scope. Sooooooo many hours of pure analytical bliss.

It’s frustrating that episodes aren’t uploaded regularly. I like the discussions, but instead of a nice weekly two-hour podcast it’s an 8-12 hour jumble of out-of-order podcasts uploaded every month or so.

This is podcast is fantastic. The depth of discussion and close-reading of the text, paired with the wide breadth of knowledge of Professor Olsen, makes this podcast very much worth the binge. An additional perk is the community that has built up around the class. Truly was EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thanks, Professor!