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

[Darkhawk9587]

Originally Posted by MorgolKing

[Show spoiler]The Lord Of The Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition pre-order

Geez, that's a lot of discs. I guess they'll be splitting upe each movie across two blus. Hopefully that means even better PQ and AQ for each (especially TFotR). I'll definitely keep my eye on this for more information, as I'm not entirely sold on getting this right away...yet.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Cinemaddict

The biggest disappointment of all is the number of discs. Why are the movies still split across two discs? Is there any reason they can't be on one disc? "Watchmen: Ultimate Cut" and "Gone with the Wind" were on one disc and both looked excellent. These transfers had better be awesome.

Same with the extras. I would assume that most of the footage in the EE extras was not shot in HD, so I see no reason the extras for each film cannot fit on one disc.

This should be a 9-disc set with the same content.

I HIGHLY doubt the transfers will be any different. To remaster these (if possible) would take A LOT of time, A LOT of work, and A LOT of money. PJ has not had the time to dedicate to this project, since he's been working on The Hobbit stuff

[Cook]

I'm wondering why they didn't put the costa botes doc on one disc. Its only 3 hours. Plus i hope they make them anamorphic this time around. The Costa botes were not anamorphic when they were previously released. Back when i bought them I still had a fullscreen TV so it didn't bother me, but if they are still non anamorphic that is just lazy.

[Geoff D]

Don't mind the split one little bit. Everyone who moans about it should count themselves lucky they didn't have this hobby at the time of laserdisc.

Still, Warners may just have made a rod for their own back. With a theoretical 100GB to share across each film, Warners had better knock these out of the park in terms of picture quality. And WTF is up with the 5.1 audio? Even the theatricals had matrixed 6.1 mixes, so where are the discrete 6.1 EE remixes?

[Cinemaddict]

Lets get one thing straight: The theatrical cuts are the director's cuts. PJ himself called them his preferred version. And on the RotK-EE commentary, he says "I sometimes wonder if I'm taking a step back with these extended cuts."

I enjoy watching the EEs, but they're overrated:
- FotR-EE was an improvement.
- TTT-EE...I liked some of the added scenes, and disliked others.
- RotK-EE sucked; most of the added scenes were dreadful. Ruined the best film in the trilogy.

People talk about the theatrical cuts like they're junk. Even if you like the EEs more....come on, the TCs are still very strong films. Thank you PJ for not trying to wipe the TCs off the face of the earth like George Lucas.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by Cinemaddict

The biggest disappointment of all is the number of discs. Why are the movies still split across two discs? Is there any reason they can't be on one disc? "Watchmen: Ultimate Cut" and "Gone with the Wind" were on one disc and both looked excellent. These transfers had better be awesome.

Same with the extras. I would assume that most of the footage in the EE extras was not shot in HD, so I see no reason the extras for each film cannot fit on one disc.

This should be a 9-disc set with the same content.

Because to put them on a single disc for each film would probably force them to sacrifice picture/audio quality. Remember that they have to include all of the commentary tracks as well. To include each EXTENDED film in glorious HD video + a number of various audio tracks (languages, surround variations, etc) + commentaries would take up a hell of a lot of room. And, those commentaries can't be put on a seperate disc since you don't want to listen to a commentary without the film playing at the same time. And, those commentaries are AWESOME, so you can't leave them out of the release. Now, with all of that in mind, the only way to fit everything onto one disc is to compromise the video/audio presentation quality through higher compression ratios... which forces the presentation to suffer.

2 discs per film is very acceptable in my opinion.

As for the extras? Sure, THOSE should definitely be reduced into a more practical storage situation. Fewer discs for extra features would be appreciated. However, looking at the photos, those cases look like they are quite compact as is. Therefore, I don't really care since it won't be taking up more room on my shelf whether the set has 15 discs or 9 discs respectively.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Cinemaddict

Lets get one thing straight: The theatrical cuts are the director's cuts. PJ himself called them his preferred version. And on the RotK-EE commentary, he says "I sometimes wonder if I'm taking a step back with these extended cuts."

I enjoy watching the EEs, but they're overrated:
- FotR-EE was an improvement.
- TTT-EE...I liked some of the added scenes, and disliked others.
- RotK-EE sucked; most of the added scenes were dreadful. Ruined the best film in the trilogy.

People talk about the theatrical cuts like they're junk. Even if you like the EEs more....come on, the TCs are still very strong films. Thank you PJ for not trying to wipe the TCs off the face of the earth like George Lucas.

+1

PJ has stated not once but NUMEROUS times that the theatricals are his Directors Cuts and preferred version. The EE's are for fans who basically want more. And everyone has to remember, it WAS the theatricals that won 17 academy awards... granted the EE's probably would have won also, but TC are very very good films. I enjoy both versions and WISH that GL would include both versions of his films for fans to enjoy. Ridley did it with Blade Runner, hell there are FIVE versions of that available. Spielberg did it with Close Encounters, 3 there! Two for the LotR and people complain about them... I don't understand... no they are not available via seamless branching but by what I understand that didn't work "SEAMLESSLY" on the DVD's, there were some issues b/c of mixing/editing differences between the two versions. EE don't just have more scenes, they were cut differently...

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

Because to put them on a single disc for each film would probably force them to sacrifice picture/audio quality. Remember that they have to include all of the commentary tracks as well. To include each EXTENDED film in glorious HD video + a number of various audio tracks (languages, surround variations, etc) + commentaries would take up a hell of a lot of room. And, those commentaries can't be put on a seperate disc since you don't want to listen to a commentary without the film playing at the same time. And, those commentaries are AWESOME, so you can't leave them out of the release. Now, with all of that in mind, the only way to fit everything onto one disc is to compromise the video/audio presentation quality through higher compression ratios... which forces the presentation to suffer.

2 discs per film is very acceptable in my opinion.

As for the extras? Sure, THOSE should definitely be reduced into a more practical storage situation. Fewer discs for extra features would be appreciated. However, looking at the photos, those cases look like they are quite compact as is. Therefore, I don't really care since it won't be taking up more room on my shelf whether the set has 15 discs or 9 discs respectively.

Let me start off by saying, I don't care whether they are 1 disc or 2... either way, I'm happy with Glorious HD... but I don't believe that they HAVE to be on 2 to not sacrifice quality... Gone With the Wind is 4 hrs, 1 disc. It looks Gorgeous. RotK TC is 3 hrs 20 mins... looks Gorgeous, and it only took up 37 Gb of space...

[Darkhawk9587]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

Because to put them on a single disc for each film would probably force them to sacrifice picture/audio quality. Remember that they have to include all of the commentary tracks as well. To include each EXTENDED film in glorious HD video + a number of various audio tracks (languages, surround variations, etc) + commentaries would take up a hell of a lot of room. And, those commentaries can't be put on a seperate disc since you don't want to listen to a commentary without the film playing at the same time. And, those commentaries are AWESOME, so you can't leave them out of the release. Now, with all of that in mind, the only way to fit everything onto one disc is to compromise the video/audio presentation quality through higher compression ratios... which forces the presentation to suffer.

2 discs per film is very acceptable in my opinion.

As for the extras? Sure, THOSE should definitely be reduced into a more practical storage situation. Fewer discs for extra features would be appreciated. However, looking at the photos, those cases look like they are quite compact as is. Therefore, I don't really care since it won't be taking up more room on my shelf whether the set has 15 discs or 9 discs respectively.

Very true. My copy of The National Parks: America's Best Idea holds six discs and is quite compact; so I think these will be too.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Cinemaddict

Lets get one thing straight: The theatrical cuts are the director's cuts. PJ himself called them his preferred version. And on the RotK-EE commentary, he says "I sometimes wonder if I'm taking a step back with these extended cuts."

I enjoy watching the EEs, but they're overrated:
- FotR-EE was an improvement.
- TTT-EE...I liked some of the added scenes, and disliked others.
- RotK-EE sucked; most of the added scenes were dreadful. Ruined the best film in the trilogy.

People talk about the theatrical cuts like they're junk. Even if you like the EEs more....come on, the TCs are still very strong films. Thank you PJ for not trying to wipe the TCs off the face of the earth like George Lucas.

Bingo! I like the theatricals so much because they're still films, and not some corpulent expansion which throws things like pacing out of the window. There is some terrific material in the EEs but there's also a load of junk too, notably in ROTK as you say.

I'm just glad that we have the choice.

[Jumpman]

Most of the junk in the EE's takes place in Towers and King.

Fellowship Extended should've been the theatrical cut. Again, it's near perfect.

And enough with the Lucas bashing...

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by threefiftyrocket

+1

PJ has stated not once but NUMEROUS times that the theatricals are his Directors Cuts and preferred version. The EE's are for fans who basically want more. And everyone has to remember, it WAS the theatricals that won 17 academy awards... granted the EE's probably would have won also, but TC are very very good films. I enjoy both versions and WISH that GL would include both versions of his films for fans to enjoy. Ridley did it with Blade Runner, hell there are FIVE versions of that available. Spielberg did it with Close Encounters, 3 there! Two for the LotR and people complain about them... I don't understand... no they are not available via seamless branching but by what I understand that didn't work "SEAMLESSLY" on the DVD's, there were some issues b/c of mixing/editing differences between the two versions. EE don't
just have more scenes, they were cut differently...

I will point blank say that I dont believe in ANY way that the theatrical cut of Return of the King was his true cut. The scenes with Saruman had no business being cut and their disappearance hurt the film. I think that was a cut he made because he had to trim the run time down. Thats just my opinion.


I am hoping the 15 disc set is accurate considering Amazon that is charging $83. I also hope these transfers are struck from new HD masters, but sadly I expect that is too much to ask since we all know that new post-Hobbit uber editions are coming. As to what they will contain beyond what is already on the 4 disc sets is beyond me.


I have to say that its making me just shake my head in disgust to see the whining coming from people who are complaining about actually having to get off of their lazy pathetic ass to change a damn disc.

Its attitudes like that allows for shows like The Biggest Loser to exist.

I am VERY hopeful that these films get split over two discs to maximize the video quality. If that means having to get off my butt for a minute to change discs.

SO. BE. IT.

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Don't mind the split one little bit. Everyone who moans about it should count themselves lucky they didn't have this hobby at the time of laserdisc.

Still, Warners may just have made a rod for their own back. With a theoretical 100GB to share across each film, Warners had better knock these out of the park in terms of picture quality. And WTF is up with the 5.1 audio? Even the theatricals had matrixed 6.1 mixes, so where are the discrete 6.1 EE remixes?

OK where Are you seeing this 5.1 MIX I overlooked and saw nothing so am I missing something here. Especially when the EE were 6.1 on the DVD...

[nathan_393]

Some of the insults in this thread or just general comebacks are pretty awesome.

Thumbs up to everybody on here making my day.

I won't lie though, I think Two Towers benefits the most from the EE treatment - there's a lot more depth in the backstory sequences that really aid the story.

ROTK is, without a doubt, the worst. I'll probably still watch the EE more because I'm a bit of a completist, but the TC is much stronger.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by nathan_393

Some of the insults in this thread or just general comebacks are pretty awesome.

Thumbs up to everybody on here making my day.

I won't lie though, I think Two Towers benefits the most from the EE treatment - there's a lot more depth in the backstory sequences that really aid the story.

ROTK is, without a doubt, the worst. I'll probably still watch the EE more because I'm a bit of a completist, but the TC is much stronger.

Fully agree about TTT. I think alot of the problems with its TC is that it was a very stressful film to do post production on. The documentaries for the film show that Jackson and the editor were about to rip their hair out. It was a hard story to format and get right. The EE allowed it to breath.

[Constitution 101]

I usually prefer the extended editions of most films. The simple fact is this: when you really connect w/ a movie, you just want more. End of story. Sure, the real film aficionado's tend to crap on them(albeit justifiable), but so what. If they released a version w/ more deleted scenes, I admit I'd triple-dip on those w/o hesitation. If that makes me an unsophisticated oaf, so be it. Tolkien's works are so phenomenal I'll take as much as I can get on blu w/ no regrets.

[frogmort]

Does anyone think that PJ will pull a GL and make anything different, other than the already added "60 years later" beginning to the FOTR?

[nametag]

Originally Posted by Constitution 101

when you really connect w/ a movie, you just want more. End of story.

But someone can also connect with a movie because they think it's perfect the way it is, to add more for the sake of it can change your opinion of characters, ruin pacing, have all sorts of different responses. I'm not saying that's necessarily true here, just pointing out that it's a bit sweeping to say whether extended/alternate editions are completely good or bad either way.

What IS bad is pulling a George Lucas and trying to replace an older version with a newer one. At least here we'll have both options. Although if the EEs don't have the originals included via seemless branching it will be annoying that the transfers'll probably be inferior for the TEs

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I have to say that its making me just shake my head in disgust to see the whining coming from people who are complaining about actually having to get off of their lazy pathetic ass to change a damn disc.

[Show spoiler]

And I remember way back in the day when you would have to get up and walk over to the TV to change channels, with PLIERS no less.

[AlexG]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I will point blank say that I dont believe in ANY way that the theatrical cut of Return of the King was his true cut. The scenes with Saruman had no business being cut and their disappearance hurt the film. I think that was a cut he made because he had to trim the run time down. Thats just my opinion.


I am hoping the 15 disc set is accurate considering Amazon that is charging $83. I also hope these transfers are struck from new HD masters, but sadly I expect that is too much to ask since we all know that new post-Hobbit uber editions are coming. As to what they will contain beyond what is already on the 4 disc sets is beyond me.


I have to say that its making me just shake my head in disgust to see the whining coming from people who are complaining about actually having to get off of their lazy pathetic ass to change a damn disc.

Its attitudes like that allows for shows like The Biggest Loser to exist.

I am VERY hopeful that these films get split over two discs to maximize the video quality. If that means having to get off my butt for a minute to change discs.

SO. BE. IT.

I agree 100%...The individual movies each spread over 2 Disc's with improved PQ and AQ will be a guarantee purchase even though i own the theatrical set....