The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition - November 4, 2014

[JackKnightStarman]

Received my 3D statue version about 11:00 this morning. Packaging is similar to last year, but the actual statue looked like someone was in a rush packing it in the sales box. It looked very disheveled. Wish I took a picture. It literally looked like it had been packed in the last 72 hours.

[matt1982]

I requested two days off for this (and it's my birthday tomorrow). I'll be watching the movie tonight when my wife gets home. I spent all afternoon watching the special features and am not even finished with the first disc. So far I like the featurettes on this movie more than AUJ. More humor.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Originally Posted by jaredofmo

Got mine! Listening to the audio commentary now. I might be doing a Extended Edition rewatch party with friends, so I'll save watching it without until then.

Would you mind checking the menus to see if there is Portuguese audio and subtitles? Thanks!

[Darkhawk9587]

Anyone have any experience with the following:

I purchased both Extended Editions of the film on Blu-ray tonight from my local Walmart. When leaving, I pitched the receipt (now wishing I didn't). Upon getting home and unwrapping An Unexpected Journey, I noticed I'm missing the disc containing Appendices 7. After calling my local Walmart, they said come in and talk to Customer Service.

As this would be the first time dealing with them, anyone have any problems with their experience exchanging movies? Or, has anything like this happened to anyone else (not having all the discs)?

Thanks.

[oceanicflight_815]

Hey Hutt,

How long until your booklet will be complete? I have a viewing party planned for Saturday night and I'd love to have it in hand for reference to the new material.

[Gamma_Winstead]

Listening to the commentary on the EE of AUJ now. So far it's been pretty good! How's the commentary on desolation?

[format916]

Originally Posted by Darkhawk9587

As this would be the first time dealing with them, anyone have any problems with their experience exchanging movies? Or, has anything like this happened to anyone else (not having all the discs)?

Thanks.

wal mart is not that bad from my experiences. sometimes they seem dumb, but remain calm..usually theyll tell you to just get the same movie.

[jaredofmo]

Peter Jackson talks a lot about how they filmed the scenes. Like, "This is on location here, this is on location somewhere else, this is a set, this was in our parking lot, this shot is digital." There's a scene where the Master of Lake Town is eating and he relishes how gross it looks and comments that his movie is great for kids, it shows them what to do if they're attacked by orcs.

Phillipa Boyens leads conversations about weaving the story of the book into what you see in the film, which I really love. And I am now aware I got a lot of my fiction writing style from listening to the LOTR audio commentaries...

Edgar_in_Indy, there is a Portugese track and subtitles.

[bubbafett73]

Wow I got really lucky today. I got them to price match the key edition at best buy to the 19.96 Wal-Mart price. I then had a 5 dollar best buy loyalty credit, so I only paid around 17 bucks for the 30 dollar key edition. Yeah!!!!.

[jaredofmo]

Originally Posted by Darkhawk9587

As this would be the first time dealing with them, anyone have any problems with their experience exchanging movies? Or, has anything like this happened to anyone else (not having all the discs)?

If you can remember the date and time you came in, they should be able to look up the transaction without the receipt. Just do it soon.

Aside from buying a used set of DVDs that turned out to be just a case, I've never had a time when a disc was missing from my set (with the exception of eBay purchases that are selling partial sets). I've heard of it, though.

[Gamma_Winstead]

Originally Posted by jaredofmo

Peter Jackson talks a lot about how they filmed the scenes. Like, "This is on location here, this is on location somewhere else, this is a set, this was in our parking lot, this shot is digital." There's a scene where the Master of Lake Town is eating and he relishes how gross it looks and comments that his movie is great for kids, it shows them what to do if they're attacked by orcs.

Phillipa Boyens leads conversations about weaving the story of the book into what you see in the film, which I really love. And I am now aware I got a lot of my fiction writing style from listening to the LOTR audio commentaries...

Edgar_in_Indy, it's only English and French audio. Subtitles are English, French and Spanish only. Sorry.

There were so many commentaries on the LotR sets. I never watched them. Which tracks should I go ahead and start with?

[jaredofmo]

Originally Posted by Gamma_Winstead

There were so many commentaries on the LotR sets. I never watched them. Which tracks should I go ahead and start with?

I literally haven't watched them in years, but it depends on what grabs your fancy. The cast talks primarily about filming, while the writers talk about adapting, while the others get more technical.

[Gamma_Winstead]

Originally Posted by jaredofmo

I literally haven't watched them in years, but it depends on what grabs your fancy. The cast talks primarily about filming, while the writers talk about adapting, while the others get more technical.

Woof! So much to dig into. These are easily the most packed sets I own. Which I love. Years after watching the films, I still have hours of features to watch and see. Lovely sets. I wish I had sets like this for every film in my collection.

[MechaGodzilla]

So I finally watched the EE this past Saturday, and all I can say is... wow. What a massive improvement on the theatrical cut. Beorn, Mirkwood and especially Dol Guldur all benefit hugely from the reinserted footage. The Dol Guldur subplot is so much better, seriously, it was awesome seeing Thrain. Now the film feels complete, and much more in line with the other five.

Bring on BotFA!

[rexcrk]

I watched about half of it today (had an unexpected visit from friends - maybe I'll watch the rest later, or if not then definitely tomorrow) and I LOVED all the new footage! I stopped watching right when Radagast and Gandalf got to Dol Guldur so I'm really looking forward to seeing Thrain!

I'm really disappointed about the Amazon statue though. I feel like this is something they should've had worked out from the beginning between them and WETA. Like, WETA should've told Amazon, "this is how many statues we're going to make, so don't let orders exceed this amount" (I'm assuming of course that that is what the issue is). I wonder if Amazon would be willing to give a discount on the 3D with statue. I'd hate for this movie to be the one I owned that didn't have a WETA statue to go with it.

I'm also very disappointed that this and An Unexpected Journey didn't come with booklets. Thank goodness for members like TheHutt who go out of their way to make their own awesome versions. I also wish that the menus were in the same style as the LotR movies AND that they had the four commentary tracks.

Of course, that's all just extreme nitpicking. The most important things of course are the movies themselves, followed very closely by the amazing supplemental material included in these extended editions.

Also: what's the best way to go about printing out these fan-made booklets? I definitely want to do it, but I need to make sure I do it the right way lol.

[poke smot]

Super psyched for this.

[Packerfan75]

I kind of have a love/hate thing going here. I caved and bought the EE today, especially considering it's 25min longer and the extras but I hate double dips.
I love LOTR (doubled with theatrical and EE also), the Hobbit and want as much time in Middle Earth as possible but the intentional delay to get us to double dip makes me feel like I'm falling for an obvious milking job.
I don't normally do this as most movies first release is good enough so I'm not used to it. It just sours the experience for me some. I know we're getting much more content with the EE but not getting the option at first release and knowing why is what bothers me.
Anyone else get bothered by the intentional delay to get you twice?

[BLUgrass]

Just popped it in. So stoked

[rexcrk]

Originally Posted by Packerfan75

I kind of have a love/hate thing going here. I caved and bought the EE today, especially considering it's 25min longer and the extras but I hate double dips.
I love LOTR (doubled with theatrical and EE also), the Hobbit and want as much time in Middle Earth as possible but the intentional delay to get us to double dip makes me feel like I'm falling for an obvious milking job.
I don't normally do this as most movies first release is good enough so I'm not used to it. It just sours the experience for me some. I know we're getting much more content with the EE but not getting the option at first release and knowing why is what bothers me.
Anyone else get bothered by the intentional delay to get you twice?

Well.. you don't HAVE to buy the theatrical cut. I only did because I'm a completionist and I knew I'd watch it a bunch of times too before the extended edition came out.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

I've never felt the slightest bit of guilt about buying both the Theatrical and Extended Editions of the Middle-earth films. Not. One. Bit.

That said, if that's not your thing - you have the option. You have been informed. The choice is yours.