Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition 6/28/11 | Individual releases 8/28/12

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

Any film that has extensive visual effects will look dated sooner or later, CGI or not.

And as for the cinematography or "vibe" of the films, I don't know what to say if someone says the films are dated in those respects. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, and there's nothing dated about the "vibe". Whereas the visual effects may become more and more dated as the years go on, the storytelling is what will indeed remain "timeless".

[eshaltapour]

Are the digital copies going to be iTunes HD?

[JavaJulien]

Originally Posted by eshaltapour

Are the digital copies going to be iTunes HD?

The newer released version of the set doesn't come with Digital Copies or the physical supplements.

[Falaskan]

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

Any film that has extensive visual effects will look dated sooner or later, CGI or not.

I don't agree, not if the effects look totally real. And this is why so many ppl go ga-ga over spx. If done right, they can be made to look real, and therefore, timeless.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

I don't agree, not if the effects look totally real. And this is why so many ppl go ga-ga over spx. If done right, they can be made to look real, and therefore, timeless.

Yes, but I think you have to take the current level of technology and audience expectation into account — plus, I guess, the growing skill of the artists behind it all. When Two Towers was released, people were pretty gobsmacked by Gollum, and it was hailed as the peak of the art in creating believable digital characters. But you can still see considerable advancement between that Gollum and the latest-generation one.

And audiences are more used to digital creations, and so have had time to learn to observe the gradations in how convincing they are. Put the TT-era Gollum into a new film now, and people would be less convinced.

[The Great Owl]

With regard to what I said earlier about the computer effects looking dated in these movies, I finished watching the Extended Edition of The Two Towers tonight, and was reminded of how much the computer effects advanced from movie to movie with the trilogy. It's funny that the effects in the first film were already dated when the second movie was released, and how the second movie, in turn, was inferior in effects technology to the third film. While making The Two Towers, computer effects teams learned how to program the massive army effects so that individual soldiers proceeded in various directions. Watch the armies spilling through the breached wall at Helm's Deep for an example. The battlefield effects in The Return of the King were even better at the time.

These movies are long! I had forgotten how long the Extended Edition movies are. This is not a complaint, per se, because I consider these to be the definitive versions of the movies, but they sure do take a chunk out of one's week. This is why I only get the urge to revisit the movies every five years or so.
It's fun watching these via Blu-ray right now, though, and remembering good old times.

The Two Towers looks outstanding on Blu-ray, of course.

[The Great Owl]

I'll try my best to voice this observation without going into overtly political subject matter on this site, but, as I revisit these movies for the first time in years, I keep thinking about how the popularity of The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a significant part of America's healing process after the 9/11 attacks. The first film was released only three months after the attacks, and the themes of the story seemed to hit at exactly the right time. It's a reminder of the power of cinema to make people's lives more bearable in tough times.

I think that, from a cinema history perspective, these movies are quite important.

The interesting thing about this is that, because the making of the entire trilogy was well underway well before the 9/11 attacks, the parallels between the themes of these Tolkien adaptations and real world events were largely coincidental. It's a case of the right movies being released at just the right time with respect to their impact on the public consciousness.

[The Great Owl]

"There and Back Again: A Tale of Watching All Three Extended Edition Blu-rays"

Haha.

I just finished watching The Return of the King on Blu-ray. Roughly 12 hours of awesomeness is now behind me, and it was a pleasure seeing these movies in high definition at long last.

I do not have a lot to add to my earlier comments, except to say that I have always loved how The Return of the King takes the best elements from its two predecessors and magnifies the experience in a grandiose way. Overall, The Lord of the Rings trilogy is like the older epics of previous decades, because it was done big and done right.

Having said that, I will add that the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, is my favorite movie of the three. I really enjoy how this first film starts off in a leisurely fashion, proceeds into spectacular action sequences, but then closes out in a low-key muted fashion with Frodo and Sam on the boat to bring things back down to an personal level that connects intimately with the viewer.

[winoni71]

I was watching "The two towers" (UK edition) and I noticed a big glitch in the "Gandalf vs Balrog", a piece of a rock disappears for 3 frames.

Here are the screenshots:







I also checked the same frames on the DVD (Italian PAL) and the glitch is there too:







I did a little search on Google and found nothing about it, is it possible that no one saw that?

You can verify by yourself, start watching from 03:40.

[stvn1974]

Never noticed the missing rock but if you are correct perhaps it was removed and put in front of R2D2 for the Star Wars BD set.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by winoni71

I was watching "The two towers" (UK edition) and I noticed a big glitch in the "Gandalf vs Balrog", a piece of a rock disappears for 3 frames.

You definitely win the gold star for noticing that. A lot of details of this nature pass me by when I'm watching the movie, because I fall for the magician sleight of hand by focusing on the main action in the screen.

I even failed the following Selective Attention Test during my first viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

Did you pass this test? Be honest.

[georgec]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Never noticed the missing rock but if you are correct perhaps it was removed and put in front of R2D2 for the Star Wars BD set.

Post of the decade.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Never noticed the missing rock but if you are correct perhaps it was removed and put in front of R2D2 for the Star Wars BD set.

So that's where those rocks came from and a few seconds later they were teleported back to Middle-Earth which explains why they disappeared in the next shot when R2D2 somehow gets out of them despite the gap being to small for him.

[Linkels90]

http://www.wbshop.com/product/lord+o...cend&refType=4

Can someone please tell me if that price is legit and isn't a scam. The price difference between that and amazon which is $84 is crazy. Plus there is a $10 coupon right now that brings it to $45.78