Lord of the Rings: Return of the King EE

[Lilaena De'Ville]

It took us over four hours to watch the entire movie, but -

IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT.

The extended edition is brilliant. I adore it. It brings in more Faramir scenes, and some Faramir/Eowyn scenes as well. It pulls together Aragorn's recruiting of the Dead and the scene where they jump out of the boat on the shores of Osgiliath, leaving the watcher satisfied. Also - Saurman's death!

If you haven't gotten it already, you must watch this movie.

But yes, its over four hours long, and the ending didn't get any shorter.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

I asked for it for either my B-day or X-mas, so hopefully I'll get it.

One of my buds has it, and we'll be watching all EEs of the three on monday.

Yes, we are crazy.

[JMK]

We're having a LOTR: EE movie marathon here after the holidays.
I guess that's makes us crazy too.

[Callomas Savoc]

Waiting for them to package all 3 EE's into one set before I pay a dime for LotR.

[Figrin D'an]

I picked this up on Tuesday, but didn't get around to watching the movie itself until Friday night (spent the other evenings watching the bonus material).

I have to give the EE of ROTK the same basic grade I gave to the EE for TTT. The added scenes are great little tidbits for Tolkien geeks or those simply hungry for more material, but I can see why said scenes were left out of the theatrical cut. The flow of the film wasn't as consistent in the EE... the parlay with Saruman was good footage, but it dragged on for too long. The added scenes in the Paths of the Dead... again, it's nice footage, but it slowed the entire sequence down, and to be honest, it kind of gutted the arrival at Minas Tirith from a dramatic standpoint. (Although watching "Pirate" PJ getting shot by Legolas was pretty damn funny). Houses of Healing was about right... wasn't too long, yet still got in some of Faramir's more important lines from the book. Frodo and Sam marching with the orc army was a nice little addition. The Mouth of Sauron... good, but it doesn't have the impact on the viewer as it does for the reader of the book. That's mainly because of the chronology issue, but still... one can see why it was left out originally.


The EE's are great for someone like me, who likes the little things that have been placed back into the story, but from a purely cinematic standpoint, the EE of FOTR is a level above the other two.

I plan on watching the EEs back-to-back-to-back at some point over the holidays.

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by Callomas Savoc
Waiting for them to package all 3 EE's into one set before I pay a dime for LotR.

Already is. You can find them all over the place.

And, for those who have already bought the EEs, you can send away for the box case to put them in for free. You just have to pay $3.00 for shipping.

[Eluna Thals]

I was aware the three EE's were all out, but you mean they are selling all three of them bundled into one 12-disc set?

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by Eluna Thals
I was aware the three EE's were all out, but you mean they are selling all three of them bundled into one 12-disc set?

Yup. I've seen them in several stores, as well as on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000654ZK0/qid=1103428607/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-3035855-0656148?v=glance&s=dvd) and Buy.com, etc.

[Eluna Thals]

Well then I guess I'll finally put some money down on the trilogy.

[Darth Viscera]

Originally posted by Figrin D'an
And, for those who have already bought the EEs, you can send away for the box case to put them in for free. You just have to pay $3.00 for shipping.

Is this offer included as a mail-in certificate or something when you buy ROTK:EE? How does one go about this?

[JMK]

There's a booklet of coupons/special offers in the EE. You simply fill out the form, write a check for $3 and you're all set.

[Master Yoghurt]

Just saw the 4 hour extended cut. Amazing, absolutely amazing. I have not started on the extras yet, but there is more enough to keep me busy for a while.. :D

My favorite part? "Saruman, your staff is broken!" Even though the whole way they concluded the story of Saruman deviates dramatically from the book, I still wish that particular scene could have been included in the theatrical cut. Its just wrong leaving that part of the story out, and it would have significally added to movie while not taking too much extra running time There were also various edits and extended scenes which made the movie flow better from the perspective of Tolkien geeks. Overall though, its not hard to see why most of these scenes were left out in the theatrical cut.

As far as I can see, the extended scenes in FOTR and TTT really added to the experience to a greater degree than what is the case in ROTK. Thats not a criticism of the extended scenes, just a testimony how near perfection ROTK was when it hit the silver screen.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Well, my husband isn't a Tolkien geek, and he thought the EE added a lot to the movie. (in a good way)

Still haven't dived into the extras. ^_^; Hard to believe that Merry is now Lost... it's hard to imagine it's the same guy.

[Jedieb]

I've loved the extras in all the EE's. They're the best supplementals I've ever seen in big sets. My favorite set has been TTT, with FOTR right behind it. I thought the new and extended scenes were a treat and I doubt I'll ever watch the theaterical release again.

I never minded the drawn out ending. There are several loose ends that needed to be tied up and there's only so much that you can cut out. I thought that cutting the Scouring of the Shire and shifting Saruman's death to earlier in ROTK helped speed up the ending. This last EE is a fitting end to what I have to grudingly admit is the best trilogy of recent tiimes.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The only part of the ending I didn't like was the part where Frodo wakes up in bed and then everyone comes into the room... *shudder* I thought Gimli was going to get in on some jumping on the bed action himself, ^_^;

The rest of it was good - with them coming back to the Shire, etc etc and the sailing to the Grey Havens.

I watched a bit of the Miniatures behind the scenes and the armor making, designing ... It never ceases to amaze me the lengths to which everyone involved in these movies went. The Miniatures people shot for over 1000 days!! Most movies shoot in 30 days.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Well, unfortunately, we didn't get to watch all three of them. But we did watch RotK:EE and I loved it. The ending still dragged, and we made fun of it. And I'm glad that I finally got to see what happened to Sloth! er... Orc leader dude. I sorta wondered what happened with him. Plus, the Witch King confronting Gandalf - what a tease. Good stuff, though.

All in all, it was a well spent 4+ hours.

[Jedieb]

The Miniatures people shot for over 1000 days!! Most movies shoot in 30 days.
I saw that bit today. I thought it was funny that Jackson called them during their wrap party and told them he needed a few more shots. I'm looking forward to what I hear is a teary eyed farewell by cast and crew. I guess it's on Disc 2.

[Sarr Koon]

I JUST bought it and watching it later tonight with my sis. gonna be saweet!

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I watched all of the Apendices, just finished today. It's absolutely amazing that RotK ever got finished at all. And yet, it did, the final cut made and put together mere DAYS before the premiere.

*whew*

[Gav Mortis]

Of the appendices, it's that scene of Elijah's last shooting in which Peter Jackson doesn't want to stop filming that I find most impressive. It just goes to show how much they loved what they had been doing for so long and simply didn't want to let go of it. Really moving stuff.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Yeah I got teary eyed at several parts.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I finally watched it the other day. I liked many of the additions Saurman's death was neat and fit with the beginning. I didn't like the editing of the House of Healing with Pippen finding Merry. I think they should had the latter first because the way it is it looks like Pippen was searching that battlefield for hours looking for poor Merry :p I also like how they showed falamir more in it overall I loved even though it is long heh.

[Lady Vader]

Joe and I watched it to herald in the new year, all while eating pizza and drinking champaign. And I LOVED IT!

Lesse... I believe midnight struck at the exact moment when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli jumped out of the Corsaire boats, followed by the Army of the Dead.. Yeah, I'd say that's a perfect way of bringing in the new year. :D

We're making plans to watch all three EEs on a Tuesday (yet to be decided which Tuesday) to comemorate the Trilogy Tuesday we attended last year.

[Kieran Devaneaux]

I got the ROTK:EE box set with the collectable; we have the collectable items from FOTR and ROTK....didn't get the one from Two Towers, though. What was it?

[JMK]

TTT's collectible was a statue of Gollum, I think.