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

[gregmasciola]

Originally Posted by threefiftyrocket

they are quite amazing... I wouldn't recommend the bonus features that came with the TE's those are mostly crap but these are just so saturated with info its amazing! I recommend HIGHLY even if one is just a casual Tolkien fan...

One of the things they talked about that I found very interesting (and funny) is

[Show spoiler]how the hobit actors had to spend about 3 hours every day getting their fake feet put on. When I watched that, I was like, how often do we even really see their feet?

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

Yea this is the ONLY scene in the movie where I have to turn my head for a moment and look away is the line-

Arwen: [draws her sword] "If you want him, come and claim him!"



However I am glad that there is Baskshi's animated version that I can watch too. Yea I know...it has some serious problems also. But I still love that version too.

that's Rankin/Bass not Bakshi, they actually retained much of the dialogue between Arwen and the Witch King as well as Gandalf confronting the Witch King to much better effect - Jackson amping the action ruined those scene BIG time.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

I've cancelled my pre-order. These are my favorite films of all time, but I just can't do it. I've succumbed to repurchasing alot of movies I already had on dvd (and regretted alot of them) including the Theatrical cuts of LotR. But I just cannot talk myself into paying $80+ not just for 3 films I already own (just to have them upgraded to HD), but also for a series of documentaries that are in the exact same format which I already own them in. It just doesn't make any sense. I consider the dvd transfers to be the ultimate reference for that format, and I am extraordinarily proud to see these editions displayed in my collection. Warner can get my money when PJ puts together an ultimate box set a couple years down the road - but not for something that I pretty much already own.

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by gregmasciola

One of the things they talked about that I found very interesting (and funny) is

[Show spoiler]how the hobit actors had to spend about 3 hours every day getting their fake feet put on. When I watched that, I was like, how often do we even really see their feet?

One of the documentaries on the EE DVD set mentions that Sean Astin actually kept a count of that, and he got to 50 days by the end of filming, in which the actors had their feet done but weren't seen on camera.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

One of the documentaries on the EE DVD set mentions that Sean Astin actually kept a count of that, and he got to 50 days by the end of filming, in which the actors had their feet done but weren't seen on camera.

I remember hearing that. Funny stuff (maybe not so funny at the time ).

[Ernest Rister]

Well, it gives an insight as to Astin's apparently lovable OCD.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

Originally Posted by threefiftyrocket

so I realized recently that as long as I have owned the EE on DVD, I have never watched the special features... I started this weekend and have been pacing myself. I'm in the middle of The Appendices disc 3 and Oh MY all I can say is these truly are AMAZING! Really give you a new appreciation for the films and the books, really takes your appreciation to a completely different level.

What an absolutely wonderful treat you're getting to experience. I remember watching the Appendices for the first time and being absolutely amazed at the amount of material covered. Beyond that, they're just amazingly well put together and absolutely entertaining. I honestly credit these docs with making me the cinema fanatic that I am today (coupled with the films themselves, of course). They are extraordinary.

[Sith]

Originally Posted by threefiftyrocket

so I realized recently that as long as I have owned the EE on DVD, I have never watched the special features... I started this weekend and have been pacing myself. I'm in the middle of The Appendices disc 3 and Oh MY all I can say is these truly are AMAZING! Really give you a new appreciation for the films and the books, really takes your appreciation to a completely different level.

I never watch special features, not that I wouldn't enjoy them. But there is always a new movie/video game/sporting event etc. etc. that keeps me from watching.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by Sith

I never watch special features, not that I wouldn't enjoy them. But there is always a new movie/video game/sporting event etc. etc. that keeps me from watching.

Your missing out on a treat. If you ever get the chance you should definitely check them out. There is about 6 hours worth of material in the appendices of each EE totaling 18 hours for all three. That isn't even counting the four full length commentaries for each film which totals 45 hours all together. And if you count the Costa Botes docs that are coming with this set that is another 3 hours. Making it a grand total of 66 hours of extra material!!! Can you imagine what the Ultimate boxset will have. Peter has already said he has plenty more of special features. It will be EPIC!

[Monolithium]

Originally Posted by Aragorn84

I've cancelled my pre-order. These are my favorite films of all time, but I just can't do it. I've succumbed to repurchasing alot of movies I already had on dvd (and regretted alot of them) including the Theatrical cuts of LotR. But I just cannot talk myself into paying $80+ not just for 3 films I already own (just to have them upgraded to HD), but also for a series of documentaries that are in the exact same format which I already own them in. It just doesn't make any sense. I consider the dvd transfers to be the ultimate reference for that format, and I am extraordinarily proud to see these editions displayed in my collection. Warner can get my money when PJ puts together an ultimate box set a couple years down the road - but not for something that I pretty much already own.

My thoughts exactly.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Monolithium

My thoughts exactly.

If there was an edition that was just the EE's in HD, I'd pick them up in a heartbeat. So the bonus features are ports of DVD supplements. Sadly, in the wake of the Fantasia and Bambi Blu-Rays, I'm getting used to that. Anyhoo, I care about the films. Can't wait.

[gregmasciola]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

One of the documentaries on the EE DVD set mentions that Sean Astin actually kept a count of that, and he got to 50 days by the end of filming, in which the actors had their feet done but weren't seen on camera.

Oh yeah. Another one was when they talked about

[Show spoiler]shooting the scene where Frodo, Bilbo & Gandalf leave Middle Earth how they shot the scene, but after they ate lunch Peter told them they had to shoot it again because it was out of focus. So they did it and then realized afterwards that Sean Astin had taken off one of his shirts during lunch, so they had to do it again . It had to be hard for the actors to produce those tears over and over again. I've always wondered if they could just do a CGI shirt and add it in, but I guess that would actually be more time consuming than just shooting it again.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by gregmasciola

One of the things they talked about that I found very interesting (and funny) is

[Show spoiler]how the hobit actors had to spend about 3 hours every day getting their fake feet put on. When I watched that, I was like, how often do we even really see their feet?

Yeah, I thought it was REALLY funny that Sean

[Show spoiler]counted up every day that they put the feet on and then their feet weren't even shot that day, he said he counted over 50! and gave PJ crap about it all the time lol

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

that's Rankin/Bass not Bakshi, they actually retained much of the dialogue between Arwen and the Witch King as well as Gandalf confronting the Witch King to much better effect - Jackson amping the action ruined those scene BIG time.

No crossing the Ford would have been in Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, except in his Version Arwen was not there, it was Legolas that carried Frodo to Rivendell. (Neither are true to the book however, as in Tolkien's story it was Glorfindel that met the ranger and the hobbits. But Glorfindel was not included in either film version, so they had to adapt)

Rankin/Bass did a version of the Hobbit, and The Return Of The King, basically picking up where Bakshi's LotR left off (with a BUNCH of stuff left out of course, RotK was made for children you have to remember)

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

Gandalf confronting the Witch King ... Jackson amping the action ruined those scene BIG time.

Yes, I can understand Jackson's reasoning of making the movies appealing to the average movie-goer that hasn't read the books. But this moment is "the turn of the tide" in the story, the change in fortune and new beginning where light begins to triumph over darkness. This is symbolized by the shift in wind that blows Sauron's clouds away, the crowing of the cock, and the blowing of the horns and arrival of the Rohirrim. There was never meant to be a physical encounter between Gandalf and the Witch King, but apparently Jackson and Boyens felt a lack of action here, and trivialized the moment. But, as has been pointed out previously, the movie excels when it uses Tolkien's intention and dialog, and suffers where it deviates.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by threefiftyrocket

No crossing the Ford would have been in Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, except in his Version Arwen was not there, it was Legolas that carried Frodo to Rivendell. (Neither are true to the book however, as in Tolkien's story it was Glorfindel that met the ranger and the hobbits. But Glorfindel was not included in either film version, so they had to adapt)

Rankin/Bass did a version of the Hobbit, and The Return Of The King, basically picking up where Bakshi's LotR left off (with a BUNCH of stuff left out of course, RotK was made for children you have to remember)

ugh, I was getting my characters mixed up. I meant the Eowyn not Arwen. In regards to the demise of the Witch King, even the animated version of the 'Return of the King' retained the great dialogue that Jackson did not include:

(abriged as it was featured):

E: "Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!"

WK: "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in turn.

E: "Do what you will, but I will hinder it, if I may."

WK:"Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"

E: "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."

the Rankin/Bass animated version may be flawed, but keeping this scene rather intact was VERY memorable as it was in the book.

also I thought the whole Palantir subplot was also retained for the animated version, where it's very downplayed in Jackson's version. They see the black ships arriving and fear the worse, not realizing that it's in fact Aragon coming to the rescue.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

[Show spoiler]ugh, I was getting my characters mixed up. I meant the Eowyn not Arwen. In regards to the demise of the Witch King, even the animated version of the 'Return of the King' retained the great dialogue that Jackson did not include:

(abriged as it was featured):

E: "Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!"

WK: "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in turn.

E: "Do what you will, but I will hinder it, if I may."

WK:"Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"

E: "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."

the Rankin/Bass animated version may be flawed, but keeping this scene rather intact was VERY memorable as it was in the book.

also I thought the whole Palantir subplot was also retained for the animated version, where it's very downplayed in Jackson's version. They see the black ships arriving and fear the worse, not realizing that it's in fact Aragon coming to the rescue.

Oh YES! That was definitely Rankin/Bass. And for what it is, I do like the Rankin/Bass version. I was really into these cartoons when I was younger. I got the VHS when I was just a little punk, the DVD's when they were available, now I have the BD of Bakshi's LotR... they're fun to pop in occasionally for nostalgia

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

ugh, I was getting my characters mixed up. I meant the Eowyn not Arwen. In regards to the demise of the Witch King, even the animated version of the 'Return of the King' retained the great dialogue that Jackson did not include:

(abriged as it was featured):

E: "Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!"

WK: "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in turn.

E: "Do what you will, but I will hinder it, if I may."

WK:"Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"

E: "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."

the Rankin/Bass animated version may be flawed, but keeping this scene rather intact was VERY memorable as it was in the book.

also I thought the whole Palantir subplot was also retained for the animated version, where it's very downplayed in Jackson's version. They see the black ships arriving and fear the worse, not realizing that it's in fact Aragon coming to the rescue.

Boyens and Walsh make Denethor a cartoon villain, when the whole point is that he looked into the Palantir, Sauron seized his mind, and Denethor saw the Black Ships sailing up from the South, and thought all was lost. He went mad with despair (and Sauron's influence).

In the movie, he's an abusive jackass bad daddy nutjob who can apparently run about 600 yards while on fire. I sometimes wonder if John Rhys-Davies (who initially asked for the role of Denethor) doesn't count his lucky stars he got Gimil after seeing the final product.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

ugh, I was getting my characters mixed up. I meant the Eowyn not Arwen. In regards to the demise of the Witch King, even the animated version of the 'Return of the King' retained the great dialogue that Jackson did not include:

(abriged as it was featured):

E: "Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!"

WK: "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in turn.

E: "Do what you will, but I will hinder it, if I may."

WK:"Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"

E: "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."

the Rankin/Bass animated version may be flawed, but keeping this scene rather intact was VERY memorable as it was in the book.

also I thought the whole Palantir subplot was also retained for the animated version, where it's very downplayed in Jackson's version. They see the black ships arriving and fear the worse, not realizing that it's in fact Aragon coming to the rescue.

Someone should make a "book version" of LOTR, where the best elements of the Bakshi/Rankin-Bass moments are inserted in place of their inferior counterparts in Jackson's version. That would be funny.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Boyens and Walsh make Denethor a cartoon villain, when the whole point is that he looked into the Palantir, Sauron seized his mind, and Denethor saw the Black Ships sailing up from the South, and thought all was lost. He went mad with despair (and Sauron's influence).

In the movie, he's an abusive jackass bad daddy nutjob who can apparently run about 600 yards while on fire.

That reminds me of a joke Richard Pryor told about himself, after he set himself on fire accidentally.