The fantasy show Prime Video should be shouting about is not The Rings of Power — it is a filmed D&D game
If 'The Rings of Power' hasn't quite landed, 'The Legend of Vox Machina' just might deliver where the LotR show fell short.
There are times when Amazon Prime Video seems determined to be the best thing to ever happen to fantasy TV—just look at their monster budgets and the sheer amount of hype. Yet, for every hit they knock out of the park, there’s one that just… flops around awkwardly, failing to live up to its own shadow. The big one, of course, is The Rings of Power. You’d think anything with ‘Lord of the Rings’ stamped on the tin would turn into pure gold, but this one’s left plenty of old-school Tolkien fans scratching their heads—or worse, switching off. But quietly doing a lot more with a lot less is The Legend of Vox Machina, which has pulled off the rare trick of actually making its fantasy world feel like a place you’d want to spend time in.
The Problem With The Rings of Power
Now, don’t get me wrong, The Rings of Power isn’t a disaster by any standard ratings metric—loads of people streamed it and the critics didn’t exactly bay for its blood. But you don’t have to search far to find the fan grumbles. You get changes to Tolkien’s lore and characters that wind up so far off-base, some reckon it’s not really Lord of the Rings at all. Then there’s the writing, which too often takes itself deathly serious, only to trip up with lines that would feel naff even for a school play. For a series that’s supposedly swimming in cash and powered by one of the most loyal fandoms on earth, it’s just not delivering the sauce people wanted.
Viewers are left with this nagging sense: something’s not right here, is it? The setting’s grand enough, but there’s rarely any spark. The dialogue is clumsy. The lore gets muddled to the point that you need a flowchart every episode. It just doesn’t capture the magic that made the original Lord of the Rings trilogy such a fan obsession—and believe me, I say this as someone who still has the battered extended DVDs on the shelf.
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Vox Machina: The Show That Gets It
Which brings me to The Legend of Vox Machina, Prime Video’s other fantasy universe that, quite frankly, puts their Middle-earth effort to shame. No massive pre-launch campaign here, but it’s built its own following and for good reason. It’s based on Critical Role’s first campaign—a bunch of friends actually playing Dungeons & Dragons, whose in-jokes and wild moments have been spun into this gloriously animated series.
The world of Exandria is bright, weird, and genuinely inviting—much more than the gloomy excess of Rings of Power. The cast? Not just actors, but real D&D players from the original campaign, voicing their own chaotic adventurers. That authenticity means the banter and bravado feels earned, not just injected by committee. The show’s not shy with its tone, either. It’s silly when it wants to be, but lands proper emotional blows too—something Rings of Power can only wish for. And best of all, you don’t have to know a thing about D&D to get swept up in it.
The Legend of Vox Machina began as a web series adaptation of Critical Role's first D&D campaign, and now sits at home on Amazon Prime Video with its third season already confirmed.
That, in my view, is where Vox Machina really shines: it makes you feel welcome, even if you’ve never rolled a dice in your life. The characters genuinely belong in their world. It’s got jokes that actually land—and when it leans into melodrama, it knows it’s being ridiculous, like an actual D&D game night with mates.
Cast of The Legend of Vox Machina
- Laura Bailey as Vex'ahlia
- Talon Warburton as Percy
- Ashley Johnson as Pike
- Matthew Mercer as various (plus Dungeon Master duties on Critical Role)
- Marisha Ray as Keyleth
- Liam O'Brien as Vax'ildan
- Sam Riegel as Scanlan
- Travis Willingham as Grog
So, until The Rings of Power Season 3 rocks up and proves it’s learned a thing or two, I’d say there’s a much better fantasy binge waiting with The Legend of Vox Machina. Both run on Prime Video, but only one really wants you along for the adventure.