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One DVD To Rule Them All
Obiwan Kenobi writes "In a gala event last night New Line Cinema revealed their Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring DVD Plans. This includes a 2-disc version on August 6th (in both Pan & Scan and Widescreen, click here for box art), and a special 4-hour, R-rated cut of the film debuting in a 4-disc set on November 12th. While the August release includes some nifty features, it's the four disc version, with the longer cut and three audio commentaries, that really gets the drool flowing."
Now that's what I'm talkin about!
So, do we hate the MPAA this week?
Four hours.
I'll say it again, in italics: four hours.
I liked LotR, but am I the only person who would smuggle a cyanide tablet in a hollow tooth just in case I really had to watch that much?
When will it be available in Hong Kong for US $2.50?
I'm trying very hard not to think of either Hobbits or Sir Ian naked. DOH!
Or are movies going from the big screen to DVD faster and faster? I swear that some of the movies seem to hit DVD before they've hardly left the theater!
:-(
In this case the added commentary tracks are going to be great. Nearly every movie I've seen with these has been interesting. Wild Things and the movie with the kid seeing dead people (argh what was the title) had truly insightful commentaries I thought. I'll be interested to see what the commentaries for this one will have.
Looking forward to it and am glad to see it coming out so quickly. Nowadays heading to the theater just isn't high on my list - too expensive too. DVD I can watch anytime I want, unfortunatly it supports the damned MPAA
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Was having trouble getting to the site, so:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring will be released in no less than four versions this year. On 8/6, separate widescreen and pan & scan versions will be released, each a two-disc set with identical extra features. Disc one includes the film presented in English Dolby Digital Surround EX and Dolby 2.0 surround (sorry, no DTS). Disc two is where all the goodies are at, and retail will be $29.95 for either the pan & scan or widescreen editions. The extras to be found on disc 2 include:
3 in-depth documentaries that reveal the secrets behind the production of this epic adventure, including "Welcome to Middle-earth" in-store special as shown by Houghton Mifflin, "The Quest for the Ring" as debuted on the FBC Network, and "A Passage to Middle-earth" as premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel
15 featurettes originally created for lordoftherings.net, which explore the locales and cultures of Middle-earth and include interviews with cast members Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler and others.
Exclusive 10-minute behind-the-scenes preview of the next The Lord of the Rings theatrical release, "The Two Towers"
Enya "May It Be" music video
An inside look at the special extended DVD edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Preview of Electronic Arts' video game "The Two Towers"
Original theatrical trailers and TV spots
Exclusive online content only available to DVD-ROM users via a special website set to go live on street date
Then, on 11/12, New Line will release a mega four-disc set, with a new extended cut of the film created by Peter Jackson himself, and featuring over 30 minutes of additional footage. This cut of the film will be Rated R due to some extended violence, and no retail price has yet been set for this release. The now nearly four-hour film will be spread over the first two discs and presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen (alas, no sound format information is yet available.) Unfortunately, all the supplements for the 4-disc set are still in production, so final details were not revealed. However, the disc is planned to include 3 audio commentaries and another four hours of bonus material. It is also not yet known if all the features on the "standard" two-disc set edition will also be included here.
Last but not least, New Line is also planning on release a special limited edition gift set of the 4-disc set, with two bookend statuettes by sculptor Sideshow Weta, the National Geographic "Beyond The Movie" DVD, and several collectible Decipher game cards. There were also rumors floating around that after all three films are done and released, a fifth mega-box set of all three with possible additional material may be released, which would be sometime in 2004.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Exactly how much of the extra footage is "closeup of ring" or "closeup of Frodo in awe".
Somebody walking out of the movie suggested that a good drinking game would be to take a shot every time there was a closeup of the ring. We decided that any viewer, Boris Yeltsin included, would be dead before a single RingWraith had ever appeared.
heh. better make that 12 hour marathons, once all three come out. i have a feeling that the R rated footage is probably still high quality, but by "high quality", i mean the same quality as the rock troll, as this is just extra footage that got edited out in mid-production b/c they realised it was too gory. still, a 7 hr star wars marathon was long, with eps 1-6 out by the end of 2006 (hopefully), and LOTR done by 03, you could spend an entire weekend watching pure geek vids! (and some Dr. Who to keep yourself entertained in the late night/early morning)
moox. for a new generation.
They are probably going to minimize the compression ratio for the ultimate in sound and picture quality. Just like the Superbit series.
I mean you can only look at frodo being shocked for so long.........
Am I the only one disappointed by the sound getting no better than DD 5.1? I'm all about DTS. And widescreen. I'm still trying to convince some of my friends that you GAIN by watching the widescreen. They always complain that the black bars destroy their viewing experience. Ahh well, a home theater nerd I am. :)
The theatrical DVD relase should really contain BOTH the pan/scan and widescreen.
..
I guess we are starting to see the limitations of current DVD technology (ie not enough space for both versions when its a long movie).
Back in the day they didn't figure into the equation that interactive features would become so popular / take up so much space. So when the movie is long you run out of room.
Now would be a good time to release HD-DVD
as a ex-employee of a movie store, i've learend that you shouldn't buy a DVD that's going to be in a series right away, sure it'll be great to be able to watch it and have it so soon, but after the box set comes out you'll punch yourself for buying all of them aready and not getting that cool looking box. So then your going to wonder if you should spend the extra however-many dollars to buy the box set jsut for that cool box, and after you do your gonna wonder if it was worth it jsut for the box, cus sure, the box is cool, but now you have 2 complete sets of the DVDs. on te plus side, you can lend out the old DVDs to friends but on the down side, your not gonna want to open the box set and see all the cool new stuff they have included with the box set cuz the new box look is just so spiffy, but then, on the other hand... you REALLY wanna see the cool new fetures, so you end up with a no longer spiffy looking new box set and a..... um... i forgot where i was going with this... anyways, just wait for the box set to come out cuz box sets are always better than getting the DVD's one by one. you get 2 things, a better deal and more stuff.
This message was brought to you by the death of 30 brain cells.
MIRROR!! (Box cover art)
l owship_w.jpg
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~mohanc/lordoftherings_fel
Just think Liv Tyler...We all know she got one good thing from her dad. Open up Liv...
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
LOTR as it was on screen was great, but, still overall a kids/everyone movie. Moving it to R rated, DVD only release will make this the grown up picture that we will all know and love!! THANK YOU PETER!!
You put the disk in your player but being The One Disk it makes your player disappear. You then end up poking blindly at the front panel for the play button(or eject button...which ever comes first) or finding the long lost remote.
Read the subject. Why, oh why, must all "epic" movies fall prey to the Celine Dion/Enyas of the world?
I buy DVDs for movies, not incessant caterwauling. Yeah, I know, I don't have to watch that part of the DVD, but, well, I'll feel dirty just knowing that the music video is on there...
On a side note, I hear that Lucasfilms has contracted John Tesh and Yanni for suitably "epic" songs for Episode 3. *grin*
I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
One DVD to rule them all
One DVD to find them
One DVD to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
So, naturally, I'll wait for that one..
Oh no, not again.
Firstly, forget the 'dual layer, double sided' discs - every piece of research has shown that most people would rather have two single sided disc than one double sided one. Nice disc artwork rather than tiny, hard to read writing to check where side one is, the selling point of a two-disc set and the fact that plenty of people have multi-disc changers but no-one has a player that reads both sides are the main reasons.
Secondly, no offense to you personally but I trust the likes of David Prior and Charlie De Lauzirika to choose the optimum bitrate and encoding settings for the absolute best in picture quality than I do anyone on Slashdot. Most people here seem to think that MP4 is watchable. I've seen the original and Superbit releases of Fifth Element, and I can see the improvement. Mind you, I think that someone seriously dropped the ball at Lucasfilm over the Pile-O-Cack Episode 1 transfer, so you can tell I'm a picky git.
On an unrelated note, I only need to know one thing: is the Theatrical Cut going in the four disc set as well, or is there value in buying both (not that I won't probably get both anyway).
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
I've been explaining to folks in other threads that this movie was probably aimed at about 4 hours, and most of the "why couldn't they have this" complaints should wait until we know what got cut last minute.
I guess now, I'll get a chance to see.
There's still a lot like Tom Bombadil, the trolls, etc that I understand P.J. having removed. Some great big gobs of the book have to be cut, even if you make it a FIVE hour movie, and everything that he kept is, IMHO, either essential to the story or essential to getting the movie audience to understand the feel/background of the books. Even the expanded love intrest bit was a way to sneak in some info about the elves.
I hear tell that the 3 DVD Indy set (as well as the Back to the Future DVD set) is to be released this summer.
Pleaseohpleaseohplease....
I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
Of course, for Star Wars, all I saw was people crying about what a money-grabbing jerk Lucas was for releasing two versions. Now everyone seems happy that the same thing is being done for FotR.
What trolls are you talking about? The ones turned to stone?
1. They were in the film.
2. The non-stone trolls were in "The Hobbit", not FotR.
Granted, the fight scenes are there to sell the movie. If you've read the books, you'd realize Tolkien skipped the ork battle, instead he described it as a second hand accounting from Pippin/Merry.
Anything is possible given time and money.
There's your reason to go see it again.
FOUR. All your arguements are enough to make me tilt my head back a little, and think, okay, a two disc set. That's cool. Superbit on disc 1, and extras on 2. Neat.
;p
FOUR! Unless you're changing the disc every 30 minutes, bitrate don't have nuthin' to do with nuthin'.
Everyone who replied to me can pant and drool over bitrate all they want, but don't tell me some New Line exec didn't think, "Hey, two disc sets are popular. Think of how they'll jizz over FOUR!" =)
Similar? Doubtful. I don't think that the screener DVD was 16:9 "enhanced" -- and you can bet that a New Line release is going to be formatted for widescreen TVs. It will probably have a new digital master as well, the screener probably was made without regard to possible digital artifacts (since it was made for reviewing the movie as a film, not as a commercial DVD).
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
What DVDs do you have that do this? Some have both on the disc, but to the best of my knowledge no one has ever implemented this feature. Its there, but I don't think its practical to use. The closest I know of was a film that was matted using the subtitle feature so you went from full frame to 16x9.
The only thing that I can think that you might be seeing is if you have your DVD player set to 16x9 mode, then anamorphic DVDs will fill you 4x3 TV, however everything will be stretched out.
Thats fair enough I suppose - it may well be that they took one look at the news about the 4-disc set of Pearl Harbor that Prior is prepping for Buena Vista and decided that they weren't going to be beaten.
I do know that with the film eating up most of the first two discs (and minimal menus on the second so you can get back into the film asap) the decision to squeeze all the extras onto discs three and four was taken, which seems reasonable to me. Apparently there are well past 6 hours of extras to get on those two discs, so they don't fit on one - he has already stated that he is dropping things to avoid it being FIVE!!!
If you've heard about the legendary four hour documentary Jackson did for The Frightners, then him providing the DVD team with enough stuff to fill these discs seems reasonable.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
i'd just like to thank everyone involved with the LOTR project. Not only did you turn out a quality adaptation of fellowship, but you're doing a *DAMN* good job of keeping the fans interested.
:)
you can count on my hard earned cash when these dvds are released
You know that sooner or later, someone in the adult entertainment industry is going to come out with a spoof called "Lord of the Cock Rings".
Personally, I think Ron Jeremy would make a kickass Sauron. He was so darn evil in Orgasmo.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
So, go read the Very Secret Diaries. Great stuff.
"Gandalf told me to help poor unconscious Mr. Frodo get out of dirty clothes. So took clothes off him and gave him a bath. And another one. Then gave him another bath. Gandalf came and told me six baths was quite enough, Samwise Gamgee. Poncy old git probably hasn't taken a bath since the Second Age."
GROGGS: alive and well and living in
No, that's a long movie if it's dull, stupid, insipid or beyond comprehension (e.g. Cable Guy)
If you sit through 4 hours of gripping epic tale and mayhem and suddenly notice the sun, which was high in the sky is now gone and the stars are out, it's a great movie.
My only concern is when movies span discs. Unless I have a player that switches between them seemlessly, the illusion will be broken and I'll notice I'm watching a movie on a TV, the sun is a bit lower, my chair is uncomfortable, I've got the munchiest, etc.
And if you're still of the mind that it's long, just wait until all 3 films are out and you're juggling DVD discs (unless there's one BlueRay to bind them.)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
...I suspect there will be nine DVDs...
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I know there's people out there that still don't quite understand that you can't fit a rectangle shape into a (roughly) square shape without leaving some space at the top and bottom... but sheesh. They spend all that money on making a movie with very dramatic scenery and giagantic battle scenes only to chop off the sides to appease some segment of the Wal-Mart shopping public who just wants the movie "to fit their whole screen".
Obviously I'm quite happy that there will be a version that preserves the original aspect ratio (as well there should be), but I just don't get the need to butcher the artform and release a pan and scan version at all. It's time for said Wal-Mart shoppers to get with the program.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
- Sundays attitude will be decided via a random number generator. Numbers 1-3 will mean we hate them, numbers 4-6 will mean we like them and numbers 7-9 mean we're flexible: if they put out a good movie, like The Matrix, we like them. If they put out a bad movie, like anything with Leonardo DiCraplio, we hate them.
Milhouse:- Wait...What about 0?
Bart:- Yeah, what about 0?
Martin:--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Did I miss that? When I saw LOTR:FOTR in the theater, the fights went by awfully fast...so fast I'll have to skip frame to frame on my DVD player to see what's actually happening.
What is your Slash Rating?
TV aspect ratio is 1.33:1. This is also the "academy" ratio that movies used before studios went to wider frame. Some people were upset that Gone with the Wind was released in a "full-frame" only edition -- not realising that the movie was filmed that way (as were all movies of the era).
Widescreen TV aspect ratio is 1.77:1. This is narrower than both of the common movie aspect ratios, however, which are 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. Movies in 1.85:1 are often filmed full-frame or Super35, so usually you can just open up the matte a little bit without introducing complications and thus the movie fills the entire screen. If not, you could just zoom in a bit and the amount of information lost in the sides is miniscule (especially compared to what you get from cropping to 4:3).
2.35:1 movies will still retain black bars at the top and bottom -- they're just smaller than the ones you'd get on a 4:3 screen.
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
Gah. nowadays it feels like i'm working solely to support my DVD habit.
/. bemoaning all the money that the MPAA forces them spend to buy their products. Oh the injustice of it all.
Just since January we have (released or announced):
- Star Trek TNG season 1 (*drool*)
- AbFab, the entire season (ok so this one isnt recent but damn i can't resist the gin-soaked duo)
- Harry Potter - the Sorcerer's stone
- Monsters Inc
And now LotR. What's a lowly programmer to do?
Thank god for birthdays and christmas.
Seriously though, isn't this all a bit of overkill? Do we REALLY need to have THREE seperate versions of a single movie released?
Sure the extra footage is neat, and yes there's probably call for the individual movie and a box set version once all three are released, but do we need the extra release in November?
Things are getting out of hand when they're packaging extra DVD releases just to fit in all the junk that ended up on the cutting room floor. there's a reason it was cut: it was extraneous and unnecessary.
ok i'll probably be crucified for that.. but really.. enough is enough. Give us one version so we don't feel like we have to choose between the rent and DVDs.
The only reason I can see for going this route is to make more money for the already overly commercialized and money-grabbing movie industry. Any die-hard LotR fan (and there's a lot of them) is just GOING to have to have the first version as soon as it comes out. Then, three months later, bang here comes the second release of the same movie with new and improved pretty widgets. And all those same die-hard fans are going to rush out to have the latest shiny new version, complete with extra cutting-room floor bits.
We won't go into the hypocrisy implied by those same people coming back to
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo - H. G. Wells
If you have to read the books to enjoy/understand the movie then the movie, as a movie, isn't very good.
The DVD's sound great, and I will definitely be getting one on the release date.
The only thing that would be better is a full HDTV 1920x1080i version of this beauty. A few months ago, JVC announced their "D-Theater", HDTV on a digital VHS tape. LOTR would be the ultimate movie to show off this technology & all your HDTV equipment.
The kind of malevolent scum who purchase movies in Pan and Scan format should be shot.
Actually, no. They should be forced to wear blinkers for the rest of their lives. The IDIOTS who decide to release movies in Pan and Scan movies should be shot. There should be NO OTHER OPTION than to purchase a movie in the proper format.
What the hell is the POINT of taking a movie with mile after mile of gorgeous scenery, and cutting all the scenery out? What! Why! What kind of FUCKWIT would buy that?
Put the little cracker assholes in blinkers. They don't want to see the rest of the world except that bit right in front of them. And kill anyone who decides to release a Pan and Scan version.
Directors should get it in their contract that not under any circumstances is their movie going to be made available in a pan and scan format.
"Information wants to be paid"
"This tv has been modified. It has been formatted to fit your movie." PAN & SCAN should be a CRIME!
I was actually talking about the re-releases of Episodes 4, 5 and 6.
I'm of two minds about them. The additions which were more than 3 seconds I could do without, i.e. the Jabba-Han scene. It wasn't too bad, but I didn't really feel it added much. (I have a mental block preventing me from addressing the Greedo-fires-first issue.) The extra sub-3-second bits they added to the dog fight scenes I felt flowed well and added to the visual tension, although you could tell they were different from the original dog fight scenes. I don't remember the difference breaking the continuity from scene to scene or disrupting the immersion. Then again, I don't own the rereleases, so I've only seen those extra scenes once.
Don Negro
Perl 6 will give you the big knob. -- Larry Wall
Personally, I'm someone that can go either way.
If a movie I want to see isn't on your widescreen format then I will watch it anyways.
I think the solution would be to produce more wide screen televisions. As we move to digital broadcasts the question needs to be asked: Why are our televisions shaped so 20th century?
Get your Unix fortune now!
Except all the DVDs I've ever seen are almost always in widescreen only, with no option to shift to pan and scan. Am I missing something? Is there SUPPOSED to be a way to shift a DVD that lists itself as "widescreen version" into a pan & scan? This is kinda what I'm trying to say: there's no reason you couldn't have letterbox, pan and scan, true widescreen, and purple elephant mode on the same DVD, with the same image stream, as it's all digital, and it's just an image conversion.
I already spent 3 hours of my life watching it in the theatre. (2.5 hours of it I'm trying to get back)
Now I'm supposed to watch a 4 hour version?
I think I'll just wait for Shrek 2 in 2004 and watch it twice!
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
I can't remember the specific title. I think it was some B movie. There was a story on it at the Digital Bits one time because it was the first time anyone did P&S on the fly. Well technically that's matting, not P&S, but similar end result. Of course, with that method you lose resolution.
Subtitle are really just graphic overlays. You can do a lot with those. Ghostbusters uses that to overlay the people doing the commentary so it looks like MST3K.
The LOTR phenomenom is not new.
Every since Tolkien starting selling LOTR people have been obsessed with it and it has its own culture.
Its wierd, its not a geek thing, it a purely Tolkien thing.
You can run into LOTR fanantics in every career type, from House Wife to doctor to airplane mechanic.
ITs just wierd.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I'll bet you hate it when people play songs out of order, too.
I'm probably in a minority of one on Slashdot for thinking this, but what, exactly, is wrong with Celine Dion? I think she has a great singing voice and I like many of her songs. I'd rather listen to "To Love You More" for the hundredth time than listen to anything on "The Mountain"'s playlist more than once. ("The Mountain" is KMTT 103.7 Seattle, and bills itself as the "Seattle alternative" to top-40 stations like "Star" 101.5.)
hyacinthus.
Good, because I just hate sitting around watching elves recite the formations of verb tenses.
Meghan
Ask me about LOOM(TM).
What trolls? The fellowship encounters nothing but the cave troll, and that was included in the movie.
Youe references to "wal-mart shoppers" betray a belief that "the great unwashed" with their pathetic small televisions don't "deserve" to watch this DVD. Speaking as somebody with a moderately sized television, pan & scan does alter the original cinematography, but the increased image size makes up for it in everything but close-up shots. At any rate, I don't see why a single DVD shouldn't offer both, except that maybe they think if I get a bigger TV, I'll buy their DVD again... yeah right!
Freedom: "I won't!"
"without anyone even mentioning they were there"
But they DO. Bilbo relates the story of the trolls turning to stone at the beginning of the movie to the Hobbit children.
I thought this was a wonderful way to introduce us to some of Bilbo's earlier adventures, at the beginning of the movie, instead of distracting the audience in the middle. Discussing it again when they were AT the trolls just would've been redundant.
I can't believe you claim that the film wasn't even attempting to adapt the book. It was a masterful adaptation. Everyone said it couldn't be done, and look, Best Picture nomination. (Not to mention, the dozen others) What does adapt mean to you?
I read FotR just before the movie came out, and watching the movie felt like reading the book. There is no higher compliment I can pay it.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
Right. So now that the elitists are getting what they've asked for, they're now going to petition to get rid of the choice between their preferred format and the format that others prefer? Honestly, does the mere existence of a pan-and-scan version cause you mental anguish?
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Here's the list of new scenes in the longer cut of the movie:
-A new addition to the opening sequence in which Bilbo provides background on Hobbits and their history in voice-over as he writes his memoirs.
-A new introduction to Samwise Gamgee, seen in his capacity as a gardener.
-A scene taking place at the Green Dragon Inn, which introduces us to the camaraderie of the Hobbits (we see them singing together) and sets up the geopolitics of the story.
-The Hobbits witnessing the departure of the Elves from Middle Earth on the way to Bree.
-Aragorn watching over the sleeping Hobbits, singing the ballad of Beren and Luthien to himself in the night.
-Aragorn at his mother's grave, in which we learn that he was raised by Elves and that Sauron has long hunted him.
-Two new moments during the departure from Rivendale, one in which we see Arwen's emotional reaction to Aragorn's leaving, and another in which Elrond sees the Fellowship off.
-A scene with the Fellowship in the mines of Moria, in which we learn how the Dwarves themselves unleashed the fire-demon that eventually destroyed them.
-A scene at Lothlorien, where Galadriel bestows upon each of the Fellowship a gift which will play an important role later in the Trilogy.
-And finally, more footage of the battle at Amon Hen. This is not particularly bloody footage, but its addition will likely result in this cut of the film receiving an R-rating.
It seems like the added scenes will add much needed depth to the movie.
I know for a fact that I wont be able to avoid watching Attack of the Clones, even as I know that Ill be making MPAA/Lucas richer while watching a movie that will surely dissapoint me.
I CANT HELP IT... I AM A JUNKIE!!!
No sig for the moment.
I'm looking forward to the director's cut of the merged three movies in 2004. I suspect adding parts from the cutting room floor and revising the three movie scene order will make a smash movie. I'll probably need a lot of Hobbiton weed and Bree beer to watch to it all!
We've got a guaranteed 2 years, at least, of LOTR. Perhaps it should be made into a topic, so those of us who don't care about LOTR can safely ignore it.
Thanks.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
I mean anybody there. Particularly after its made clear that the trolls are a well-known story in the Shire it's totally unrealistic that, faced with an actual legend in the "flesh" no one would say anything about it.
I can't believe you claim that the film wasn't even attempting to adapt the book. It was a masterful adaptation.
Masterful?!?!!! The characters were little more than gutted fish. The Nazgul were pathetic, highly inflamable clowns, Frodo is never allowed to act independantly or show why Gandalf had faith in him - he just gets rescued or runs to Aragon for permission, the Balrog was wrong (although spectacular, but BALROGS DONT HAVE WINGS, otherwise why would the breaking of the bridge matter?), also the Balrog actually rescues them (leading into the farcical scene of balancing the huge rock tower - "Lean, lean!" for god's sake!), the Council of Elrond was just plain silly with particularly Gimli acting like an idiot, Aragon's character seems to have been introduced from another book. Loth Lorian and the continuity errors... Oh, I give up!
If you can watch that laughable fight between Gandalf and Sauruman and still call this pile of shite "Masterful" then it's obvious nothing I can say will change your mind.
Not only was it never a real attempt at an adaption (that is a film of story in the book, with the changes and compressions needed when you've "only" got a minute to film each page) I really don't believe Jackson ever read it, he might have skimmed over every page but I can't believe he actually read it.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
I don't know about rather, but Weis & Hickman's Chronicles and Legends series would make an excellent film. I don't know that it could follow something like LOTR, though. Perhaps a made-for-tv (or HBO or whatever) movie?
El riesgo vive siempre!
Yeah. Buffy's a hell of a lot better than most of the Star Wars franchise, and Brazil leaves it in the dust.
I thought this for some time, too, until I noticed that some pan&scan movies actually contain picture that's not present in the widescreen. This isn't always true, but some common films do it. I believe it is referred to as "soft matting" and the picture is filmed at 1.33:1 and cropped for the theatre, while the video version uses the whole image. Some examples: Spaceballs, Silence of the Lambs, Total Recall, Edward Scissorhands.
m at s.shtml
Another combination that produces this is filming on Super-35. This film has a ratio of 1.6:1, rather than the 2.35:1 we're used to. So it is cropped vertically for theatre and horizontally for 1.33:1 video. Examples include: Abyss, Terminator 2, True Lies, Apollo 13, Titanic.
Sometimes this results in you seeing things you weren't supposed to. In Terminator 2 at 1.33:1 (full-screen on a normal TV) you can see the pay phone is already broken, or John Cleese's shorts in the Fish Called Wanda 2 "nude" scene.
http://www.britannia.org/film/support/screenfor
See this page for details:
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~leopold/Ld/FilmToVideo/
Now, you're probably saying to yourself "but we could still use one master stream and crop it differently for the two formats." And you're right, assuming the format supported that. But you still wouldn't want to-- since we're stuck at 720x480, we want the film->DVD transfer to use as much of the available space as possible. So we have an anamorphic widescreen that fills the data area, and we have a separate pan&scan that fills the data area. If we didn't do this, both formats would contain less image data-- something that is already in short supply at NTSC and PAL resolutions.
A cue track and the ability to switch aspect ratios on the fly would be brilliant additions to the next standard, though!!
how come the iPod with all of 5 stories has a logo
starwars has a logo
but LOTR has no LOGO? we got 2 more films.. a Dozen award shows...at LEAST 4 DVD releases (collectors, box set ect..) 6 Reviews (movies, diffrent DVD releases) ect.. ect..
and an addinfinitum amount of hype and rumor postings.
dont you think LOTR should get a logo guys?
The More Knowledge you have the Luckier you Get- J.R. Ewing
All three were filmed at the same time; that doesn't mean they were finished at the same time. Postproduction is still happenning on The Two Towers, and will continue for some time.
Nice Frock!!!!!
Please remember that Hugo Weaving also played one of the drag queens in "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".
See my journal, I write things there
Since this wasn't in the theatrical release, I'm wondering how the presence of these items -- which do play an important (read, live-saving) role later in the book -- is going to be explained.
Is the audience expected to believe that the phial of Galadriel in Frodo's jacket just sort of appeared there? Or will the theatrical release of the next two films have an extra voice-over from Frodo, "Oh, hey, check out this shiny thing lying underneath a rock! I'll just keep this, who knows, maybe it'll be useful."
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Any actor who can do something seriously different like this film is ok by me - at least they don't take themselves too seriously.
See my journal, I write things there
Uh-oh. Will we have to watch the stupid studio logo and "FBI warning" before we get to see the second half?
__
Do ya feel happy-go-lucky, punk?
"You're terminated!"
(sounds of a pan flute)
Assuming you are a patient person, there is a way to have your cake and eat it too -
Buy DVDs second-hand
You get the discs and the MPAA doesn't see one cent of revenue. Plus, you'll have the added bonus of supporting the First Sale Doctrine, which the media and software companies are silently trying to do away with!
We want some answers and all that we get
Some kind of shit about a terrorist threat
- Ministry
Then you don't know very far.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I just noticed the Elvish writing on Frodo's cloak on the DVD box cover. Anyone want to provide a translation?
Why do all of these karma-whores seem to think that hating a company equates to not buying their stuff? Last summer, when California was in the middle of their energy crisis (I'm a Bay-area res myself), did anybody stop using all electricity to spite PG&E and the energy providers? No. Did they still hate the companies? Possibly.
My point is that there is a HUGE difference between these random 'boycotts' of the MPAA, and actually pushing for change (which, IMO, won't be accomplished by these fickle boycotts). In my eyes, it's perfectly OK to use something you dislike, while still working to change it.
---- I'll take you in a Hunt deathmatch any day.
I've seen the original and Superbit releases of Fifth Element, and I can see the improvement.
Really? So is Chris Tucker any less annoying in the Superbit version?
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
Why hasn't a less ignorant dumbfuck Slashdotter said it's "underrated"?
ok then your [sic] infringing on my copyright! Could you as [sic] me next time before STEALING my comments for your own?
Personally, I enjoyed the section on Bombadil. Even as creative as Tolkien is, his world sometimes appears to be a bit cramped. (How is that the Shire was so unheard of when everything was within a few weeks by foot?) The section on Bombadil expands his conception of Middle Earth in both space and time.
:
There is an wonderfully written writeup on Bombadil over here. I quote
"Likewise, Tom Bombadil was originally a Dutch doll also belonging to Michael Tolkien. John, his brother, put the doll down a lavatory. Bombadil was rescued and Tolkien wrote The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, originally published in Oxford Magazine in 1934. Tolkien later offered to his publishers the idea that Bombadil's story could be expanded into a sequel to The Hobbit, but they didn't bite, so Tom appeared anyway in The Lord of the Rings. Tom makes his debut in the form found in this collection.
The author's method reminds me of the ways in which painful losses are explained in many other cultures. Examples include some Native American mythologies explaining the disappearance of American bison, and German legends about the disappearance of magical creatures from the world. Tolkien's explanation also seems similar to stories told about the rise of iron and technology and the passing away of old traditions, or of the disappearance of the unicorn (it missed the ark), and the rise of the dichotomy that rends myth from objective "reality." One can see the theme at work in the poem "The Last Ship," present in this collection, and in Tolkien's later writing -- elves sailing out of Middle Earth forever, making way for the age of men.
Bombadil's Adventures, however, is a heroic comedy in part about his capacity to escape disappearance -- to endure. One kind of disappearance is that of loneliness, where one fades from the view of others, becomes "mythical," alien, other -- larger than life and yet too small to see, casting no shadow. It is the solitude of being attached to other worlds, worlds where story is more than pastime, worlds where real objects have more than one kind of life and significance, and the loneliness of being unable to weave the other worlds and this one seamlessly together, to make everyone understand."
Bob
Science, like Nature, must also be tamed, with a view turned towards its preservation.
Probably due to the third cut, which was probably cut due to violence/gore (for those who *still* dunno, Peter Jackson's more well known movies Bad Taste, Dead Alive, and Meet the Feebles, were all big time gore fests)... It usually takes just one punch in the face to move a film from a PG-13 rating to R...
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
I don't think that's fair. Peter Jackson, aside from being a completely down-to-earth and nice guy who's not in this for money or fame, is the director of the films.
New line is who are putting out the DVDs and they are who call the shots on how they are released.
Perhaps the 4 hour cut was Peter's idea, but only because New Line wouldn't have wanted to place a higher rating (or make it that long) on the cinema release, Peter probably said OK, but I want to do it as a DVD.
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Perhaps they felt that 4 hours was about the limit to keep the interest of enough non-die-hard fans that the extended release would still be profitable. Or maybe they just don't have enough time in the schedule to add that much back in and still get the next 2 movies out on time... Could there be another super long special edition when all three movies are complete? Doubtful, but who knows...
Say hello to zMac.
It could get even worse. If the house included an electronic digital computer, perhaps even with a connection to a telecommunications network, you'de really have a hell of a geektrap.
And as a backup safety plan, put some RPG books and dice near all the exits.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
"laughable fight between Gandalf and Sauruman"
p jack_qanda.html:
Agreed. That was pretty lame.
"Council of Elrond was just plain silly"
I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it "silly", but yeah, they hacked it down pretty good.
"BALROGS DONT HAVE WINGS"
Actually, in the book it says "His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings."
That's EXACTLY what it looked like in the movie. It was left up to the interpretation of the viewer as to whether they were actually wings, or just some smoky shadowy nether thingy. Perfection. (And even if they were wings.. doesn't mean it could fly.. see penguins)
"I really don't believe Jackson ever read it"
You're really shafting him on effort now, I think. He wrote the screenplay with two other people, and you don't think he even read the book?
From http://www.lordoftherings.net/film/filmmakers/fi_
"Every time we come to write a scene, or at the stage where we're revising scenes all the time, we always turn to the book"
There's a lot of other commentary on that page which gives a lot of insight into his understanding of Tolkien's works. He's read em.
"Gimli acting like an idiot"
Yeah, I didn't think Ryhs-Davies' performance did the book version justice. Gimli is much more eloquent and well spoken in the book, while in the movie he was a stereotypical D&D-ish dawrf... dour, taciturn, perpetually grumbling.
"Aragon's character seems to have been introduced from another book."
Kind of agree... but I think it was done on purpose to create more of a journey to his true royal presence. Wait for the next two films.
"The Nazgul were pathetic, highly inflamable clowns"
I dunno.. I thought they were pretty scary. And as for "pathetic"... well, they were actually beaten pretty easily in the books too.
"Loth Lorian and the continuity errors"
Yes... Lothlorien was the worst part of the movie.. they really hacked it up. Apparently there is more footage coming though, so I have my fingers crossed.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
Talk about mistitled; by the time they're done, there are going to be about 50 LOTR DVDs, special edition this, boxed set that, wide screen the other thing, etc. Which one is the One DVD to rule them all?
A friend of a friend picked up a bootleg copy in NYC last week and its already made it to the other side of the the world. This is an NTSC DVD that looks like it was made from an analog signal. Its substandard even for a pirate copy quality and had an anoying subtitle saying "new line..." "call the mpaa at 1-800-..."
We hate the MPAA . . . Ewww look shiney object!
HDTV is an analogue signal that carries one of several higher resolutions. Anamorphic DVDs are not HDTV, and have nothing to do with it, but rather carry a NTSC signal for widescreen NTSC televisions, which have been around for a long time, but are just starting to get popular.
And yes, I am a big proponent of anamorphic DVDs - they are the Good Way to master DVDs. Pan and scan and hard letterboxing is the path to the dark side. But it in no way is an HDTV signal, and should not be confused with one (just like the so called "digital TVs" and "widescreen TVs" are in no way fully HDTV compatable).
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
With Pearl Harbor, at least, the warnings and animated menu intro on the second disc were basically there because they forgot to take them out; we made David aware of the problem and he is doing what he can to ensure that we can get back into the film as fast as possible by putting the FBI warning at the end and cutting the menu animation. If it weren't for DVD standards about never defaulting a disc to DTS (some decoders can pass that digital noise straight to the analogue section if they don't recognise it, unlike DD), the menus would go completely.
Having said all that, I don't know who is the DVD Producer for Fellowship, so I can't say what will happen there. As its has both DTS and commentaries planned (as with PH above), there will be some sort of menu to get through however.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Yes, in a way it does actually. It means that the studio and director copped out. They were willing to sacrifice the artistic integrity of the movie in order to get a few more sales.
Movies are now starting to show up on DVD in Pan and Scan ONLY, and that's REALLY bothersome. Luckily this one was not the case. Here the studio could have taken the opportunity to educate the public on the reasons for preserving OAR (Original Aspect Ratio) on what will surely be a HUGE selling DVD, but instead they took the low road.
Instead of selling a pan and scan version, they could have put in a very short demonstration on the disc that showed the difference between pan 'n scan and OAR.
I've yet to meet someone who, once properly shown what is lost when the sides are chopped off, didn't understand and accept OAR (and yes, that sometimes means "not filling the whole screen").
There's excellent examples of the damage pan and scan does here and here.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Peter Jackson directed the very funny but very gory "Braindead", and the very funny but quite disgusting "Meet The Feebles". Expect lots of blood and entrails - however I don't think we'll see Sam chopping up goblins with a lawn mover.
"Dead Alive" was originally titled "Braindead" and is called that in all english speaking countries outside the USA. Perhaps a nine letter word was too long for a Hollywood Exec. I hope some bastard didn't dub it to give everyone texan accents, or flip the print to put the cars on the other side of the road.
I believe that Ogle allows for screenshots, though I won't swear to it. Ogle does have menu support, which I really like.
The only thing I've seen is the SVCD bootleg, so I guess whomever made the rip just modified the image resolution to be 4:3 letterbox rather than widescreen 16:9.
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!