The first reviews for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power started finding their way online yesterday, and that means the Prime Video series has an all-important Rotten Tomatoes score.
Critics have only seen the first two instalments of the series ahead of its debut on the streaming service tomorrow, but they were impressed enough for the show to debut on the review aggregator with 84%. This score will obviously change in the coming weeks, though it's a percentage that bodes well for The Rings of Power's success.
While the series is a prequel to that original trilogy, it's only connected to Peter Jackson's movies in the sense that both stories are based on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien.
That big screen era of storytelling set in Middle-earth has clearly heavily inspired The Rings of Power, though, something that's evident from the decision to shoot the action in New Zealand (controversially, season 2 will move to the UK for what we can only imagine will be a very different story).
With that in mind, how does this TV series compare to the movies in terms of its critical reception?
Here's a closer look at where it stands compared to both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies:
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - 59%
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 64%
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - 74%
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - 84%
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - 91%
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - 93%
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - 95%
So, right between the two trilogies, making it better than those hit-and-miss prequels, but perhaps not quite as good as Jackson's original visit to Middle-earth. Needless to say, it's going to be very interesting to see what the response is when fans get to watch the franchise's first small-screen outing...
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