Amazon’s long-anticipated The Lord of the Rings prequel series, The Rings of Power, premiered on Sept. 2, and viewers are tuning in.
Ben Rothstein/Prime Video via Amazon Studios
The company announced that more than 25 million viewers around the world watched the series on its first day — a record debut for a Prime Video series.
Still, high viewership doesn’t always mean the best reviews from fans. Though the show has received a positive 83% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes so far, some fans of the series have found the show to be confusing and too far-off from the films and book series.
One such fan critic was Elon Musk, a longtime rival of Bezos’, who took to Twitter to slam the series and inadvertently, Bezos.
Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2022
“Tolkien is turning in his grave,” Musk bluntly wrote. “Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice.”
Over the weekend, Amazon paused reviews for the series after “review bombers” flooded the show with negative reviews, many thought to be trolls trying to bring down the show’s overall rating. Amazon did not specify when Prime Video reviews would be unlocked.
The only reviews still left up of the show are on Rotten Tomatoes, where the premiere of the new series received a 34% audience review score, many taking up grievances with the show’s plot and writing.
“There is ZERO of Tolkien’s vision in this show,” one reviewer said. “Yes there are pretty pictures in some of the show but the acting is Daytime TV quality.”
Watch the official trailer for the show below:
The show was expected to receive early criticism by trolls after social media flooded with jokes and negative comments about Bezos and his involvement when the show was announced earlier this year.
In fact, even Bezos admitted that his own son was skeptical of the show‘s adaptation of the original Lord of the Rings universe.
“After Amazon got involved in this project, my son came up to me one day, he looked me in the eyes, very sincerely, and he said: ‘Dad, please don’t eff this up.’ And he was right,” Bezos told a live audience at the UK premiere of the series.
The Rings of Power will release episodes weekly on Fridays, with a total of 8 episodes in the series.