The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition) (2001-2003)

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by LOTR07

I always watch my EE DVD's back to back to back....

You are The Man! I can't even do that with the TE's.

[Sith4Brains]

Originally Posted by jyeh74

why do they call it "limited" extended editions?

Because it is "Limited" to how many they can sell

[lightyear8]

Originally Posted by Sith4Brains

Because it is "Limited" to how many they can sell

WB updated the package art... it no longer says Limited.

[joenostalgia23]

Originally Posted by BluPat

The packaging is amazing. I just hope WB/NL does NOT use that ugly ass, cheap looking, black and white disc art.

lol they will. That's the standard now. However, just because the art is B/W doesn't mean it has to look bad. Inception's B/W art wasn't too noticeable. But that's pretty much the only exception, all the recent Warner discs look like crap. Let LOTR be the other exception, WB, please!

[lolarocks]

OK I haven't visited this thread before so I didn't see all of the posts so there may already be a full list of the Speciual Features somewhere, but here they are according to Amazon:

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Over 30 minutes of footage incorporated into the theatrical release of the film
Commentary by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens
Commentary by the design team
Commentary by the production/post-production team
Commentary by 10 actors, including Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen
Easter egg: MTV Movie Award Spoof (The Council of Elrod)
Costa Botes Documentary: The Fellowship of the Ring: Behind the Scenes
The Appendices, Part 1: From Book to Vision (on DVD)

o Peter Jackson introduction
o J.R.R. Tolkein: Creator of Middle Earth
o From Book to Script
o Visualizing the Story
o Designing and Building Middle Earth
o Middle Earth atlas interactive

The Appendices, Part 2: From Vision to Reality (on DVD)

o Elijah Wood introduction
o Filming The Fellowship of the Ring
o Visual effects
o Post-production: Putting it all together
o Digital Grading
o Sound and music
o The Road Goes Ever On...

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Extended edition of the film, incorporating 43 minutes of footage incorporated into the film
Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
Commentary track by the design team
Commentary track by the production/post-production team
Commentary track by 16 cast members, including Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Bernard Hill, and Miranda Otto
Easter Egg: MTV Movie Awards clip (Gollum accepting award)
Costas Botes documentary: The Two Towers--Behind the Scenes
The Appendices, Part 3: The Journey Continues

o Peter Jackson introduction
o J.R.R. Tolkein: Origin of Middle Earth
o From Book to Script: Finding a Story
o Designing and Building Middle-Earth
o Gollum
o Middle-Earth Atlas interactive
o New Zealand as Middle Earth (map with video location)

The Appendices, Part 4: The Battle for Middle Earth

o Elijah Wood introduction
o Filming The Two Towers
o Visual effects
o Editorial: Refining the Story
o Music and Sound
o The Battle for Helm's Deep is Over

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Extended edition of the film, with 50 extra minutes incorporated into the film
Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
Commentary track by the design team
Commentary track by the production/post-production team
Costas Botes documentary: The Return of the King: Behind the Scenes
The Appendices, Part 5: The War of the Ring

o Peter Jackson Intro
o J.R.R. Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-earth
o From Book to Script
o Designing and Building Middle-earth
o Home of the Horse Lords
o Middle-earth Atlas: Tracing the Journeys of the Fellowship: interactive map
o New Zealand as Middle-earth: interactive map with on-location footage

The Appendices, Part 6: The Passing of an Age

o Elijah Wood/Sean Astin/Billy Boyd/Dominic Monaghan intro
o Filming The Return of the King
o Visual Effects
o Post Production: Journey's End
o The Passing of an Age
o Cameron Duncan

[Ernest Rister]

I've never seen those Botes docs. How are they?

[nabokovfan87]

Originally Posted by NYorker

Regarding the EE and the TE, The Two Towers at least is a vast improvement over the theatrical edition. The backs story of Boromir and Faramir really adds a lot.
As far as the ROTK, the only way to see Saruman's demise is (unfortunately) in the EE. I always felt he should have been left in. So did Christopher Lee....

Agreed, exactly why they should exists.

[Wyndam]

As much as I'm looking forward to this set, it really makes you realize just how good of a deal the Star Wars set will be.

I'll be waiting for this to drop to around $40 though. I can't justify spending $80 on 3 BD and 9 DVDs of special features I've seen.

[gregmasciola]

Originally Posted by NYorker

Regarding the EE and the TE, The Two Towers at least is a vast improvement over the theatrical edition. The back story of Boromir and Faramir really adds a lot.
As far as the ROTK, the only way to see Saruman's demise is (unfortunately) in the EE. I always felt he should have been left in. So did Christopher Lee....

I couldn't agree more. Boromir and Faramir's story is my favorite subplot of the films. Without it, Faramir hardly seems to have any place in the story; you don't really get to know him at all.
I'll always prefer the extended versions. Not because they're longer, but because of what they add. In some scenes, the theatrical version seems rushed, like when Frodo & Gandalf are talking about Bilbo in the wagon (it feels like an edited-for-TV scene). And personally, the way I see it is if I'm already watching a very long movie, what's another 30 minutes?
I can't wait for these to come out. I just hope some of the DNR from the theatrical release is corrected.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I've never seen those Botes docs. How are they?

They are mostly well done with about an hour and a half of unorganized documentary per movie. It is similar to watching a long home movie, with alot of clowning around. I have seen some of the clips as part of the EE special features.

[GuruAskew]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

See, I disagree on this point. The Extended Cuts are too long (particularly RotK) to watch continuously from beginning to end. I actually LIKE having the movies split on 2 discs, because it creates an intermission point for you to take a break.

It's been reported that even though the EE's will be housed on single discs there will be a "choose your own intermission" feature included on the disc. You can activate this cutting-edge feature by pressing the pause button at any point in any of the 3 movies and have as many intermissions as you'd like.

[yojoeski]

If this was posted earlier, then my apologies but I'm not reading through 15 pages to find it and I did use search and could find nothing relative to my searches. Anyway, I noticed that Amazon has updated their little chart comparing the versions. It now says this set will come as a 15 disc set and the digital copies will be online. The digital copies online thing makes little sense but I don't know much about them since I don't deal with digital copies anyway. If I want something on my iPod I just rip the disc and convert it to MP4 format straight out.

Unless I miss my guess here, I'm thinking this means all 3 movies will be split over 2 discs and the Appendices will be on 2 discs and the Botes docs will be on their own discs. Boo Warner for splitting the first 2 movies when it is wholly unnecessary. ROTK has to be split, it's over 4 hours long but FOTR and TTT have no business being split on this format.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by GuruAskew

It's been reported that even though the EE's will be housed on single discs there will be a "choose your own intermission" feature included on the disc. You can activate this cutting-edge feature by pressing the pause button at any point in any of the 3 movies and have as many intermissions as you'd like.

[gregmasciola]

Originally Posted by GuruAskew

It's been reported that even though the EE's will be housed on single discs there will be a "choose your own intermission" feature included on the disc. You can activate this cutting-edge feature by pressing the pause button at any point in any of the 3 movies and have as many intermissions as you'd like.

What is this "pause button" you speak of?

[whitefinger]

Originally Posted by yojoeski

If this was posted earlier, then my apologies but I'm not reading through 15 pages to find it and I did use search and could find nothing relative to my searches. Anyway, I noticed that Amazon has updated their little chart comparing the versions. It now says this set will come as a 15 disc set and the digital copies will be online. The digital copies online thing makes little sense but I don't know much about them since I don't deal with digital copies anyway. If I want something on my iPod I just rip the disc and convert it to MP4 format straight out.

Unless I miss my guess here, I'm thinking this means all 3 movies will be split over 2 discs and the Appendices will be on 2 discs and the Botes docs will be on their own discs. Boo Warner for splitting the first 2 movies when it is wholly unnecessary. ROTK has to be split, it's over 4 hours long but FOTR and TTT have no business being split on this format.

I saw this over at Amazon today - they even have an updated picture with 15 discs. Although I would have preferred each film on a single Blu-Ray, I can deal with them on two each. However, 9 DVDs of special features is complete overkill. They could have fit on 3 Blu-Rays, or at the very least put the Botes docs somewhere on the many others discs.

[RYJAPE21]

Originally Posted by lightyear8

WB updated the package art... it no longer says Limited.

I bet they did this after the overwhelming response of confused buyers

[Constitution 101]

Originally Posted by LOTR07

I always watch my EE DVD's back to back to back....its easier when the weather is bad....and we've had a few of those days....just head to the basement and forget the world for awhile....can't beat it....

+1 more truth to that than scripture...

[detective392]

Originally Posted by lightyear8

WB updated the package art... it no longer says Limited.

Really happy they changed it as I don't think I will buy it right away but didn't want to loose out either. Does anyone have a picture of the 15 discs? Someone said they posted a new picture with all 15 discs but I can only find the one with the inside of the box and the 3 cases.

[DaViD Boulet]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

QFT. IMO the compression on the theatrical BDs was nothing outstanding, never mind a much longer version loaded with 4 commentaries, LE documentary etc. I have a bad feeling about this.

The Botes documentaries are pretty good though. Nothing (middle) Earth-shattering, but seeing Mirando Otto shout "MOTHER ****ER!!" when she fudges up an action scene is worth every penny. They forgot to bleep it on the DVD.

Oh, one more thing: theatrical versions FTW!

The compression wasn't the limiting factor on the PQ of the BD theatrical releases... it was the level of image quality inherent in the DI's themselves.

[DaViD Boulet]

Originally Posted by threefiftyrocket

apparently in the Digital Bits thread Bill Hunt and Jeff Kleist are reporting that it IS on 1 disc apiece. Honestly, I don't care whether its one disc or two. I'm just excited to finally get to see these three movies in glorious glorious HD

I hope that they are on one disc each... having the EEs of LOTR on just one disc a piece (with full lossless audio) is one of my personal reasons why I wanted blu-ray Disc to win over HD DVD.

With the films each on their own disc, viewers who *want* to watch each film uninterrupted are now free to do so, and viewers who prefer intermission breaks are also free to pause the film as often as they wish.