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The Lord of the Rings: Special Extended Edition Trilogy (12 Discs) (Widescreen)
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CDN$ 89.95 |
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CDN$ 59.99 |
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| Editorial Reviews: | | |  | | The extended editions of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings present the greatest trilogy in film history in the most ambitious sets in DVD history. In bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's nearly unfilmable work to the screen, Jackson benefited from extraordinary special effects, evocative New Zealand locales, and an exceptionally well-chosen cast, but most of all from his own adaptation with co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, preserving Tolkien's vision and often his very words, but also making logical changes to accommodate the medium of film. While purists complained about these changes and about characters and scenes left out of the films, the almost two additional hours of material in the extended editions (about 11 hours total) help appease them by delving more deeply into Tolkien's music, the characters, and loose ends that enrich the story, such as an explanation of the Faramir-Denethor relationship, and the appearance of the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor. In addition, the extended editions offer more bridge material between the films, further confirming that the trilogy is really one long film presented in three pieces (which is why it's the greatest trilogy ever--there's no weak link). The scene of Galadriel's gifts to the Fellowship added to the first film proves significant over the course of the story, while the new Faramir scene at the end of the second film helps set up the third and the new Saruman scene at the beginning of the third film helps conclude the plot of the second. To top it all off, the extended editions offer four discs per film: two for the longer movie, plus four commentary tracks and stupendous DTS 6.1 ES sound; and two for the bonus material, which covers just about everything from script creation to special effects. The argument was that fans would need both versions because the bonus material is completely different, but the features on the theatrical releases are so vastly inferior that the only reason a fan would need them would be if they wanted to watch the shorter versions they saw in theaters (the last of which, The Return of the King, merely won 12 Oscars). The LOTR extended editions without exception have set the DVD standard by providing a richer film experience that pulls the three films together and further embraces Tolkien's world, a reference-quality home theater experience, and generous, intelligent, and engrossing bonus features. --David Horiuchi | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
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| Make this special extended edition trilogy,your own "precious"! | |
| | This is another of my retro reviews on products that have been out for awhile but I have never written on.I am happy to be writing this one as, so far as DVD box sets go, there are very few past and present that can come up to the standards set by this special platinum series extended edition of the Lord of The Rings Trilogy of movies.
The discs themselves sit in trays in a fold out folder,that extend two folds per side.Each movie has four discs to each pack.The first two discs are for the movies themselves and the second two are for the special features.There are hours upon hours of special features in these packs,many of which are new.You learn everything from the smallest detail from the production of the movie,to the special effects to interviews with cast and crew.Just a phenomenol range of information.
The first film "Fellowship of the Ring" contains 30 extra minutes of footage to extend it to a running time of roughly 208 minutes.The second film"The Two Towers" contains 43 minutes of extra footage which extends its' running time to about 223 minutes.And the third film"Return of the King" has an extra 50 minutes worth of footage which extends its' run to about 250 minutes.
It is easy at first glance to think that the extra time/footage is just culled from deleted scenes and/or other extraneous footage left out in the original theatrical versions.Director Jacksons' approach,so we are told,was to reconstruct the films as if there was no original version and without time constraints.The end result are these wonderful films.It might also be tempting to think that extra footage will equal extra boring.Surprisingly but happily I must say such is not the case and in fact had there been more footage I would have been glad of it.It is a credit to director Jackson and crew that reassembled these new versions that they never strayed from Tolkiens' books and/or their own original thrusts from the first pictures,but instead expanded and fleshed out many back stories,characters,plots and sub plots that take these films to a whole new level.The extra footage and the fleshing out they give us along with the ingenious re-editing here and there of scenes is a plus and NEVER a minus throughout all of the new versions.Along with the new footage comes a new orchestral score and both are integrated seamlessly throughout.
In conclusion I cannot recommend this set enough to all lovers of Tolkien,fantasy and for all of the fans of these films.Each extended film takes itself and the entire series to an entirely new level of creativity from Peter Jackson and his crew and to a higher and better level of understanding for us,the audience.Therefore the impact of each film is just that much greater and more rewarding.A magnificient achievement off screen and off and a credit and standard for good filmmaking everywhere.
| | | Even tough, i do prefer the books, these movies on DVD are very excellent and for someone who does not want to read the books, it is the best way to enter in the world of Tolkien.
| | The best there is. Will be hard to top. | |
| | As much as I love Star Wars, this is definitely the best trilogy ever made.
Do I really need to say everything you probably read or heard somewhere already? Yes, all three films are equally great. They were all shot together after all.
Fellowship of the Ring is about as strong an opening chapter as
you could ask for. Two Towers makes you forget it's just a middle chapter
because it's just as brilliant and... Return of the King sets a new standard for the finale of an epic trilogy.
As if owning the best trilogy ever made wasn't enough, these extended editions are superior to the original theatrical versions. They make the films feel more complete. Oh yeah and all those extras are so detailed you'll want to check out everything though you probably will never find the time to do so. Basically, this set may look expensive but it's worth every
dollar.
By the way, if you love the movies, I highly recommend the books. They're
absolutely wonderful as well and I'm not a big reader.
| | You get what you're expecting! | |
| | I liked the theatrical release. LOTR is a hugely long book, with masses of backstory. It would be impossible to get it all into three films and wouldn't necessarily have been a good idea anyway. You have to adapt things to the medium of film, you have time constraints, and, let's be honest, the books got pretty slow moving and flowery at parts, when Tolkien seemed more interested in the Silmarillion than the story he was actually writing.
Like many LOTR purists, I didn't like some of the changes made, but it was the changes (Arwen supposed to be leaving for the Grey Havens; Faramir's taking Frodo to Osgiliath; Denethor's inexplicable refusal to call for reinforcements from Gondor and Rohan; Aragorn and Gandalf objecting to Theoden holing up in Helm's Deep, when it was clearly the militarily correct thing to do and riding out to meet a superior force in the open field might sound heroic but would have been suicide...) that altered the characters without advancing the plot, that I didn't like, rather then the exclusion of overly long, and arguably unnecessary, portions of the text.
The extended edition does include some new pieces that help the story (longer sections in Lothlorien and the role of Galadriel, most noticeably) but I was disappointed to find out that a great deal of the extended time really just drew out the existing storylines (including in some cases expanding upon the aforementioned changes, so actually takes the extended addition further /away/ from the book) in an attempt to increase their emotional impact (which was often quite unnecessary, and threatened to take things OTT)
I was also very disappointed that, despite 4 DVD's per movie, they don't include the original theatrical release as a viewing option. (And just when Spielberg finally caved in on Greedo.) So if you do want to compare the theatrical to the extended release, you'll have to buy the theatrical release as well. I don't really feel there was any justification for that - if you're going to have an ultimate box set edition, you ought to have the original theatrical release on it, and that's the main reason I'm only giving 4 stars.
Complaints and whining aside, however, it's still a damn good adaptation of a classic story, with everything that made the theatrical release so good. Cinematography, special effects, soundtrack, acting, Jackson did an excellent job of a monumental task.
It isn't the greatest movie ever made, or even the greatest trilogy, unless you already think LOTR is the greatest book ever written. But it's still good. This edition is really for the LOTR junkies, though. If you came out of seeing the Return of the King at the movies, thinking "Wow, that was fantastic, but you know it would have been better if it had lasted about an hour longer so they could pile the drama up even higher..." then you really need to get this! If you enjoyed the book and films without being obsessive, you might prefer the theatrical release!
| | A great set of movies, probably the best of all time, but... | |
| | | These movies are simply amazing. Great SFX, great script, great everything. But, the only two problems are: 1. These films are way too long! Sure, the three hours goes by fast with all the great stunts, SFX, camera angles, etc. There are almost no problems with the actual film. The video quality and audio quality are simply stunning. The sound is crystal clear and the video has no grain or anything like it did in the theatres. As far as the length, though... When you walk into the theatre, especially when you don't know how long the film is, you expect maybe one and a half, two hours. Well, when you have to sit through a butt wrenching three hours it just gets tired after a while! Some of the things in these films (And I know that it's good to stay true to the book, but you sure can get a lot more done there,) wouldn't have an effect on the film later i.e. when Frodo is stabbed in LOTR #1. 2. This set has 12 discs. 12 discs. I am not kidding. Who in the right mind would be able to watch 12 discs? I have a friend who has owned this set for almost a year and hasn't even watched half of them! It would probably take almost a month straight to watch everything; after all it takes 12 hours just to watch all the films! I'm not saying this set isn't worth the cash they are asking, I'm just saying 12 discs is a bit over the top. I'll give this set four stars; just make sure you're going to watch all the discs.
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