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Extra Scenes in TTT Extended Edition DVD
gdr writes "USA Today have an article about the extra scenes that will be in The Two Towers Extended Edition. More ent scenes so it'll be worth watching for the special effects alone. Sadly it looks like there will be no extra gollum scenes. I can't say I'm as excited about this one as the FotR EE."
the first box set with added sceans was great....and the cut sceans actualy made tyhe story clearer. I hear that there is an extra 40 min in TTT.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
I wish that they would mark all the extra scenes... perhaps with an icon in the corner, at least for the letterbox-on-4:3 version. There's all that wasted space, and you don't know what you got for your ~$30!
☠
It's just a few extra scenes, and you probably wouldn't recognize them if the movie was played linearly. If you want a more detailed version with no scenes cut, RTFB.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Extra scenes are just a promotion item. Most of the time, they are completely worthless and obviously don't contribute to the movie. Every now and then, however, they do add some insight. But, it most definately is not a reason to buy a special edition DVD. -- Pr0n... FREE! Click Here!
I wonder how many people are holding off on buying the dvds until all three movies are out? I know I'd like to own the dvds but I'm waiting for the super box set of the extended versions of the entire trilogy to come out. same with the matrix trilogy. wonder if this waiting is affecting their sales figures.
Thoughts on stocks, markets and trading
So first I buy the dvd of the fellowship, then I buy the extended version
And THEN when all 3 are released, I buy the trilogy... and then the special extended version of that!
Man these guys got it good. Maybe I should smarten up and just wait.
Maybe you're just starting to feel the burn of getting fleeced over and over...
Anyone find that extra scene where they teach you how to exercise your Fair Use rights by making a backup copy? I keep looking but I can't find it.
The ent scenes might have been great in the book, but they were just as entertaining as having my fingernails removed in the movie. It took 10 minutes for a sentence to be spoken, I think it completely ruined the pace of the movie. I exclude the last ent scene from this, of course.
-bm
Anyone know this acronym?
no comment
I am very much looking forward to getting the extended edition of the TT on DVD. After the masterful job done in the extended edition of FotR, I can hardly watch the shorter version.
Of course, I'll have a problem when I get to the RotK extended edition. I only have a 5 disc DVD changer and so I'll have to get up from the couch after 12 hours to switch to the final disk!
42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
It is soooo hard to wait for the trillogy to come out in a single box set special edition. I want each one! Must... wait...
One box set to rule them all, one box set to bind them.
...And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." - Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)
Not that I won't be subjected to another 3 months (more, really, considering RotK is coming in Dec) of my girlfriend saying, "Isn't he dreamy?...I love Legolas!...He's so handsome, won't you learn Elvish, honey?"
Really, there wasn't a whole lot missing from the book that I missed in TTT. There was a lot from FotR, but I understood that they had to leave things like Tom Bombadil out for purposes of keeping the length of the movie reasonable.
I am looking forward to seeing more about how Jackson dealt with the strife in Faramir's family, and why he took the path that he did in the movies compared to the books.
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
Ok, so I'm a book zealot..
The FOTR wasn't bad, it was acceptable for us zealots, but honestly, the storyline departures of the TT was so horendous...
WHO CARES...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
For the Ultimate Dragon Tiger Super Edition!
blatant PVP online quote. www.pvponline.com
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
25
... And I was looking so forward to seeing more scenes of Jar Jar Gollum. I've been following his carreer ever since he first starred in Star Wars: Phantom Menace. He has made a point of stealing any movie he appears in. If they don't add more scenes of Jar Jar, Me's a thinking I'm gonna die.
with all the extra scenes added, maybe now it won't end in the middle of the book!!! I for one wanted to see Frodo get smacked around by the spider lady
Now the extended edition does appear to introduce some interesting new stuff, but I wonder if yet more flashbacks concerning Boromir and Faramir is just compounding the error. Enough with the flashbacks!
I felt that TTT was cut more harshly than FOTR was ... things didn't flow as smoothly, things were more jarring.
:).
I'm hoping that some of that extra 43 minutes is invested into smoothing out some of those rough edges and making it flow just a little better.
But who am I kidding? I'll buy it anyway, and I'll buy the regular cut, and I'll buy both editions of ROTK, and if (when) they come out with some uber-box-set with all three movies, a copy of the books, a lifesize inflatable Balrog, and new commentary by Christopher Tolkien (heh, yeah right!) I'll buy that too.
At least they're telling us up front about the different editions, so buyers can make the right choices.
Let's just hope PJ doesn't release digitally altered (kindler, gentler) versions of the movies in twenty years
Not representing or approved by my company or anybody else.
I thought the Ents were wonderful, more of them will make it worthwhile as far as I'm concerned.
Apparently, the author was surprised to learn that in the Jackson version of LotR, Aragorn is 87 years old. As anyone who has read the books knows, Aragorn is Dunedan (sp?), a race of men who once lived for 500+ years, but in the days of LotR, live a relatively short 180-200 years.
I doubt there'll be any good excuse for the monstrous character assassination they committed on Faramir, though.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
No, they had to leave him out for purposes of keeping patrons from self mutilation.
. . . what the fuck an "ent" is, it's apparently the name of those big-ass trees.
So are you MPAA-boycotters out there gonna stick to your guns and not buy ANY of these DVDs? Or are you going to set your principles aside and buy these movies.
I'm betting on the latter.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
i for one would have to disagree with this opinion, i've seen enough of Gollum and am bordering on thinking of him as a more refined (albeit less nauseating) Jar Jar. There were/are several facets of TTT which bothered me, but despite the obviously flawed story-line deviations i would have to say the top two on my list are: 1) the character degredation of Farimir, and 2) the inability of TTT to portray Ents as being very ancient and very wise beyond the comprehension of the fast-paced lives of the more mortal (i know 'mortal' is a qualitative measurement, but you know what i mean by 'more mortal') races.
Perhaps some of the cut scenes will allay some of these grumblings and restore to the Ents what i have always seen as their greatest virtue.
-tid242
With a few exceptions, secrecy is deeply incompatible with democracy and with science. --Carl Sagan
Not that I won't be subjected to another 3 months (more, really, considering RotK is coming in Dec) of my girlfriend saying, "Isn't he dreamy?...I love Legolas!...He's so handsome, won't you learn Elvish, honey?"
I feel your pain.
When I went to see TTT on the first midnight showing, most of the people in the audience were in their twenties. One of the previews was for "Pirates of the Carribean", and when Orlando Bloom's name came up there were distinct shrieks. When Legolas jumped onto the moving horse, I swear I could feel the estrogen surge. I thought girls were going to start flinging panties at the screen. One woman posted online that when she saw this scene for the first time, "I think I got pregnant."
On the bright side, if you're not entirely joking, it's now officially studly to have learned Elvish, although the thought of bespectacled Tolkein geeks trying to pick up girls by quoting Legolas is more than a little disturbing.
Sorry about that one folks!
With the recent advent of everyone turning anything in print into a movie (LotR, Spiderman, The Hulk, Daredevil, etc...) in order to appeal to a more illiterate society, and to advertise more products. I have decided to turn FreeBSD Unleashed (2nd Edition) into a feature film. It will feature bullet-time animation, and Beastie travelling through 3-dimensional telnet and ssh sessions to successfully configure his beowulf community.
I will be sure not to use any phrases such as Unix, Linux, SCO, or FSF so that I am not sued.
Then, I will release a DVD edition, then an extended edition with an interview with some programmers on how to configure you first box.
All trademarks are owned by their respective copyright holders, please don't sue me.
FreeBSD Unleashed: The Movie patent pending.
Ents - Grade: F - completely unbelievable and dragged the story Gollum - Grade: B+ - pretty believable and well integrated most of the time .....the rest - Grade: A - very good and seamless
Me too!
Seriously though, I'll enjoy being able to show my forthcoming children (first due in the Fall) the different edits of the movie, how they all fit together, contrasts between them, etc. Kinda like how I'm annoyed they refuse to release the original version of Star Wars as we saw it as children, its all repackaged Ewoks-with-walkie-talkies fluff.
i saw both version of the fellowship of the ring. and with the exception of the different "round table" scene i was glad they cut out all those scenes. they were pointless and the added nothing but tolkeins bad poetry to a brilliant version of the movie. after reading the books and seeing the movie i wish i had just watched the movie. less garbage in movie.
My opinion after seeing it in the theater was that we were short-changed on the Ents. They play a very important role in the book (aren't they actually the ones that win Helm's deep? Sneak in at night and rip the orc armies to bits?)
While it's not heavy on details it mentions the Ent's draught and Merry and Pippin getting taller, which I thought would have been worth putting in the movie. Glad to see it will be there now.
I think I'm actually looking more forward to the TTT Special Edition than I was FotR because I've seen how much extra goodness was added to FotR.
From reading the article (I know, how dare I) it sounds like the added scenes will help those who haven't read the books. I know when my wife saw the extended FotR, things "clicked" a little better...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
It would not be difficult to load a seperate table of contents which would allow one to watch the theatrical version and extended cut off the same set of dvds.
I cant think of a technical reason why this isn't possible, unless there are different versions of the same scene instead of different length cuts of the same scene.
A 5th disc with the original cut wouldnt be hard to add either. I wonder if a superbit version will ever come out?
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
The original race of men in Toklein's universe live for centuries like the Biblical patriarchs. Their lifespans declined as the original high civilization declined. Also the line of kings has immortal Elvish ancestors, which confers additional longevity.
Aragon's 87 years pales compared to his betrothed Arwen's many centuries. She is practically cradle-robbing. And her father, Agent Smith, no I mean Elrond, is an immortal Elf and many thousands of years old. Because Elrond and Arwen have some human blood, they can choose to become human, age, and die.
Even though I knew it was "Fellowship ...", for some reason, Fall of the Republic was the first title that came to mind.
-- he's not heavy, he's my sysadmin!
you've clearly never compared the extended FOTR to the theatrical release version. the extended edition was a vastly superior film and also helps explain why in TT gollum keeps whimpering about the rope.
btw: am i the only one who had to put the captions on to understand what galadriel is saying during her temptation scene?
ed
There are plenty of people who say (over and over again) that the MPAA is bad, but when movies like this come out, they have no problem with bending over for the industry with each regular, special, and extra-special version of a movie they put out. That's called hypocricy, and the fact that my post was modbombed in mere seconds only demonstrates (to me at least) that it touched a nerve on the very hypocrites I was addressing.
It's no surprise to me that they are armed with mod points to squash all dissenting opinion, or posts that correctly identify them.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
The original TT is 179 minutes, just a hair under 3 hours. That makes the extended edition 43 minutes longer at 222 minutes.
In those 43 minutes you could
Or look at new ent scenes, watch merry and pippin grow inches from ent draught, get more info about the theoden family and boramir's father and brother, etc, etc.
Me?
DIE BOROMIR, DIE!!! "My K...-rewind- THAP! "ARRRGH" THAP! THAP!
-Adam
And no, balancing a diet of MPAA with Indie doesn't count, and neither does buying them used. Boycott means you don't buy any, period.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
You know you want it. Why torture yourself? There's so much extra in each one, it's so very much worth it.
you FOOL, It was 42!! That is the only true number between 1 and 50.
Ok ok, so I understand that some of you haven't read the books and believe that the additional scenes in FotR were trivial. But come on, leaving out the reforging of Aragorn's sword by the elves? Tolkein's poetry? Crack open the book for one minute and see how many poems you come across. This man invented (documented) 10,000 years of history, constructed a couple languages from scratch, and wrote countless songs and poems to complete the world of Lord of the Rings and Jackson all but throws it away. The extended edition of Lord of the Rings did exactly what I wanted it to, it completed the parts of the movie that I thought were missing from the book. It will be a harder challenge for TTT:EE to do the same, but I look forward to the "small" details being put back in so that the people who have read and enjoyed the books can see it in action.
you're only EXPLICITLY TOLD in the movie; "I am no tree, I am an ent." and then they say it like 8 more times throughout the movie.
i would argue that there are fundamental differences in pacing b/n a film and a book.
in a book, the author has the luxury of assuming he has your undivided attention and that he or she can describe certain things in extended, loving detail (e.g., the infamous whitenes of the whale chapter in moby dick).
in addition, most books take longer (for some, a lot longer) to experience than a movie. i'm a very fast reader and can usually knock off a 500 or so page book (fiction) in an evening. by contrast, my wife generally stretches the same book out over several evenings.
contrast this with a movie. most movies are around 2 hours long or so. this puts a huge burden upon the director, to convey the basic concepts of the film in a very efficient manner. while a picture may be worth a thousand words, some authors take a thousand words just to clear their throats (e.g., stephen king).
as a result, the pacing of works in these 2 very different media by definition *has* to be different.
a friend of mine once observed that at best, a film adaptation of a book is an abridgement. i don't know if that's his own observation or one he appropriated from another source, but the wisdom of that statement is abundantly clear every time i watch a good adaptation.
JMHO.
ed
My wife is more into Aragorn. To her, Legolas == silly skateboard punk type while Aragorn == rugged ranger type.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
Elrond and Elros are called the Half-elven, but strictly that isn't quite true. It's all rather messy and incestuous. Beren (a legendary human hero) married Luthien (daughter of an elven-king and a Maia - a minor deity like Sauron but not evil), had many adventures, died, came back to life as ordinary humans, and then died again of natural causes; their son, Dior, an elf, married Nimloth, another elf, and their daughter was Elwing.
Meanwhile, Belegund, Beren's cousin, had a daughter Rian, who married Huor, another hero; Tuor, Huor's son, went into the heroic family business; he ended up in the hidden elven-city of Gondolin and married the princess, Idril. Their son was Earendil.
Earendil married Elwing, and their sons were Elrond and Elros. Now, all this was terribly confusing, because nobody was entirely certain what species they were. So the Valar (the major gods) said that Earendil, Elwing, Elrond and Elros would each get to choose their species. Earendil and Elwing both chose to be elves, and went on to start new careers as the planets Venus and Mercury respectively. Elrond also chose to be an elf, and became the great elf-lord we know so well from Rivendell. Elros chose to be human, and was the first King of Numenor, and is an ancestor of Aragorn - which was the point of this long digression.
Aragorn's long life, then, comes from his being, in a small part, Elvish, and in an even smaller part, divine - and also from the general favour of the gods on his people. However, Elrond frowns on his plan to bring up again the whole problem of the Half-Elves. Elros' children were all human, and Elrond's children were all elves, but what happens if Elros' descendant Aragorn marries Elrond's descendant Arwen? I don't think the exact policy of the Valar was ever made explicitly, but the most likely outcome is that if Elrond sails West and Arwen stays behind and marries a human, she will become mortal as well, and will die with him in Middle-earth.
On his deathbed, Aragorn suggested that Arwen might still have the choice to follow her father Elrond to the West, and live forever there - she says that the only reason she cannot is that there are no ships to take her back, and she is stranded. But we know that Legolas sailed with Gimli into the West after the death of Aragorn, so there was at least one sailing available.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
that brings to mind the fact that this entire darned thing is elrond's fault. why he didn't just kill the king and dump the stupid ring into mount doom after sauron's apparent destruction eludes me.
darned pointy-eared twit.
ed
i hear you on that.
it seems to me that there may be a good chunk of people that separate the MPAA and RIAA into two different ideological entities. while it is true that both are pursuing lawsuits and a boycott of one inevitably calls for the boycott of the other, the subject matter they deal with is inherently different. the RIAA either puts out a good song bundled with crap music or force feeds us a lack of viable options, and the only way to change that is by not buying any their prdoucts forcing them to change business strategy. the MPAA on the other hand provides many options, pays their artists well, and creates a more diverse set of art than the RIAA does.
all i'm saying is that maybe the ill feelings towards the MPAA aren't as bad as you implied. just MHO.
The big revelation is that Aragorn is old?? Well DUH. He is decended from the Numenoreans and has elvish blood. Elrond is like his super great uncle. I wish these movies had never been made. All of a sudden Im being forced into "Tolkien Conversations" with people who have never read the book. Back in the day when I talked LOTR the other person at least new the _real_ non-holywoodized version.
Ok ok. I KNOW Im ranting in a crazy fashion. I appologize. It is just that I am a Tolkien fanatic. Imagine (linux geeks) if all of a sudden everyone was using lindows and talking about how great linux was and if you tried to tell them about debian, suse or whatever distro you liek they were like "hunh? thats not linux."
Im goign to go drink something very strong and try to regain my composure. Thank you for reading this rant.
In Soviet Russia you dant have to put up with these crappy jokes
Considering the LotR:FotR enhanced DVD had the risque Jack Black MTV skit as an easter egg, I wonder if they'll incorporate the Gollum MTV acceptance speech in this set.
Anyone have difinitive word? Does Weta even know yet?
Kevin Fox
<pedant mode>
Arwen actually says there are no ships that will sail her home, surely because she's chosen to live as a mortal and has no business sailing to the undying lands in the west.
</pedant mode>
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Bilbo dancing with Gollum? Gandalf visiting the gay bar? There has to be some outtakes from these movies that could've been added to the special edition DVDs. Wait, don't tell me there's going to be another edition released?
"(Sorry if that was a spoiler)."
Nah, a spoiler is like "Sauron is Frodo's real father".
Join me, and together we can rule Middle Earth as father and son!
graspee
One thing I would like to see, and something that dissapointed me at the cinema is that battle of helmsdeep. They way I remeber it basically gandalf turns up with a load of people, next scene they have one. Surely 30 second worth of Gandalf kicking arse wouldn't be to much to ask..
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
I'm sorry, but the scenes when Merry & Pippin are riding on the top of Treebeard, the special effects are awful. I hope there's not more of that, because it was simply shockingly bad.
The ents weren't too badly done overall though, but I wouldn't say the effects of the ents alone would be worth paying out for the extended edition. I haven't read the books (*ducks*), and I've read they're more important in the books though, so I suppose it could add a bit to the story if we get interesting scenes rather than extraneous special effects.
I think PJ should change the end of ROTK. I know I'm going to get hell for that (and YES I read the fucking books - Silmarillion included). I think he should make Gollum jump in rather than fall in. Just my 2cp...
"minor deity like Sauron but not evil"
I'd say minor deity doesn't quite fit the bill. Gandalf, Radagast and Saruman were also Maiar. They're all more the equivalent of angels, if you want to throw other mythologies at it.
Anyhow, enough pedantism. I'd like to point out that I believe the parent post is the most intelligent post ever attached to a Tolkien discussion on Slashdot.
Crazy, I tell you.
"I speak no confort to you, for there is no confort for such pain within the circles of the world. The uttermost choice is before you: to repent and go to the Havens and bear away into the West the memory of our days together that shall there be evergreen but never more than memory; or else to abide the Doom of Men."
"Nay, dear lord," she said, "that choice is long over. There is now no ship that would bear me hence, and I must indeed abide the Doom of Men, whether I will or I nill: the loss and the silence."
I think this can be read either way. It may be that her choice is not truly made until this moment; we are told that 'the light of her eyes was quenched; and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star' - or it may be that her choice was made when Elrond sailed away without her, or a variety of other possibilities.
Arwen would probably be able to sail to the West if she decided to do so - Gimli made it, as did Frodo and Bilbo. Whether Aragorn was right and she still had the chance of immortality, or whether even in the West she would die, is something we'll probably never know...
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
That's no way to treat your mother!
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
Or do, it's pretty entertaining either way.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
is it 42?
I didn't like the closeup scenes of the ents. The other shots were ok but the closeups looked like something from the muppet show. horrible imo.
At this pace of "extras" (only designed to suck even more money out of us - of course), this is more starting to look like a trollogy. ;-)
One woman posted online that when she saw this scene for the first time, "I think I got pregnant."
Or as the saying goes: "Not a dry seat in the house."ditto
But Elros didn't go back, and neither did LÃthien. It seems the West has a "guests allowed" policy, but no ex-firstborn. Perhaps once someone decides to accept the gift of men, they can't give it back again or go to the West. Still, that's just my interpretation.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Is that private screening room the recreation of Bag End in a New Zealand hillside that he talked about in the FOTR EE director's commentary?
- adam
Well my two toweers work ok, and they do so for more than 40 minuts
And of course, Boromir and Faramir are also Dunedain, although not as pure-bred as Aragorn. That's what bothered me most when I read LOTR again this year -- in Middle-Earth your abilities depend so clearly on your genetic purity.
Fulton McKay
Not that I won't be subjected to another 3 months (more, really, considering RotK is coming in Dec) of my girlfriend saying, "Isn't he dreamy?...I love Legolas!...He's so handsome, won't you learn Elvish, honey?"
Tolkien geeks have girlfriends? How is that possible?
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
My wife has not read the book, and she also suffers from the "isn't he lovely?" syndrome.
I constantly tease her telling her that Legolas will be disfigured in the RoTK trying to save Frodo. Je je je. It always gets her.
My other OS is the MCP!
I don't see contracts that limit the actors from doing stuff on broadway, etc. I don't see actors needing to pay back the industry for "using their sets". I don't see the industry owning all the distribution, all the movie theaters, etc.
When an independent film gets recognition, I don't see the industry snapping up the director or actors into signing their life away with a million-year, 0-dollar contract.
I also see their product as being somewhat diverse and affordable: Movie theators, DVD rentals. DVD purchase. (which I might add is the same price as a CD)
That all said, I guess that sums up their business model, which is much better than the music industry. As far as being political bullies, I will agree that their activity towards DECSS, and legislation isn't very cool. And it could go even more sour if and when they are in the same boat as the RIAA faces (which won't happen until bandwidth is faster, and DVD-R burners get cheaper). History shows they're aren't very cool either...with the blacklist back in the McCarthian days. ANyway, my knowledge isn't up to snuff as some of the things I've researched about the music biz.
The thought of all great movies getting dumbed down to the level of Peoria, IL, always made me cry. Now there can be two levels of mass entertainment: one for the sheep and one for us. I'm looking forward to seeing the extended TTT DVD. Faramir was a great character, and they didn't do him justice in the cinematic release.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
I'm just studly(?) enough to know how to say "Beer, please" in Elvish, but that doesn't mean that the images you conjured didn't just ruin my breakfast :)
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
TTT:EE? Sounds like some new computer acronymn. Telnet Terminal (Traditional): Entering Executable... On the other hand, it also looks like somebody just held down too long on the keyboard... ...But what do I know?...
Online Starcraft RPG? At
Dietary fiber is like asynchronous IO-- Non-blocking!
The only way to be completely faithful to the books would be to make the movies 48 hours long each. Plus there are some things you can do in text that simply do not work in movies, like explaining large amounts of world history.
Agreed 100%. I went to the midnight showing with my GF (who also lusts after Legolas btw) and I almost fell asleep during the Helm's Deep battle. The first 2 minutes were cool, but after about 5 it's like "Seen that. Move on."
For me, the story is the pull of the books and the movies, not some super-duper, whiz-bang, computer animated battle. Yawn. I will undoubtedly fast forward through that scene in the DVD (or go make some popcorn).
AND is outdoorsie. Did I ever luck out!
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
So instead of spending $7+/person +snacks for an overall lowsy movie experience, I just wait, and rent/buy the movie.
Seriously, TTT rules the big screen. The resolution is so much better than what NTSC can provide - it's really a better experience, and worth $7 (if I get pop-corn I have to get soda, then I have to pee before the show is over).
Granted, Legally Blonde 2 can wait for NTSC.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Between Viggo and Hugh Jackman in X-men, I think if I could have adamantium Narsil shards come out my wrist, I'd be set for life :) Or perhaps the scruffy hair/beard that sticks up (though half the head will need to be shaved for the Vin Disiel look as well)
I just wished they would have ended TTT with Shelob - it would have made for a much more dramatic ending.
But for some reason PJ feels the need to hammer in that men can't handle the ring.
I am also waiting to see how Denethor is handled...hopefully his madness will be done well in RotK.
.. then you'll understand my comment.
I don't think extended / directors-cut editions of movies are bad, in fact for the most-part I like them, but I don't agree with _only_ releasing alternative cuts of movies and not the original.
I have never read LOTR (yeah, yeah, sue me), so I can speak about the movies with little prejedice. TTT was OK, but not as good as the FoTR. It dind't flow as well. From talking to a couple of friends who are into LoTR, I gained some insight on the "real deal" behind the movie. I thought the Ents were cool, and I know other people (non-LoTR people too) thought they were downright stupid. From what I have gathered, they are very important and worthy characters in the books. In the movie I thought they came off cartoonish, and it felt like they were just thrown into the story. After being "educated" by my friend one night over a few beers, I now know that there is so much more to them than the movie portrayed.
And thanks for the Gollum/Jar Jar comparison. I don't know what the whole hubub about Gollum is. Interesting character - nothing more. Maybe there is more in the book, but I don't see why everyone is Gollum-crazy. I actually thought his character got kind of annoying in the movie after a while. No way he should have been recognized at the Academy Awards, like a bunch of people were up in arms about. I guess I just see the movies through non-fanboi eyes.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
So instead of spending $7+/person +snacks for an overall lowsy movie experience, I just wait, and rent/buy the movie (but not until it's down to $10/movie or less)...
I actually like going to the movies. It's a night away from home with the wife, it's a lot better than my TV set as far as sound, etc. Besides, it's not $7/person everywhere. And we bring our own snacks. (The theater people really don't care - and if they throw a stink tell them that you have a special diet and that you can't eat what they sell).
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" P. J. O'Rourke
It's just a movie ;-)
But seriously I'm a rabid fan of the books and am still able to enjoy the movies for what they are. I find that if you treat them as different subjects and don't force yourself into comparing one to the other, you will get more enjoyment out of both.
- "Scientia non habet inimicum nisp ignorantem"
Tolkien geeks have girlfriends? How is that possible?
It gets worse, this Tolkien geek has a wife.
Of course, the fact that she's a Tolkien geek too helped. FotR was the first movie we saw in the theater after we got engaged.
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" P. J. O'Rourke
precisely what i was thinking.
ed
Because immediately it's out, the cinematic release drops to under 10 UKP so I can afford it. I'm sorry, but given how much stuff is missing from the films compared to the books, another 30 minutes of random scenes won't help much.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
That didn't bother me so much as Faramir holding on to Frodo and taking him back to Minas Tirith (or some outpost there-abouts, whatever). That was completely wrong and a major plot deviation
That was Osgiliath, and it wasn't a plot deviation. Go read the books again, twit, and pay attention this time.
They had to add a lot of screen time in the movie with women. In the book all female characters except Galadriel were footnotes, and that won't work when half of the movie going audience is female. Granted they might have paced it a little better, but they needed those extra scenes to make money. And on thier own they were good scenes.
Please, why can't people on slashdot realize that not everyone in the world has read the books? Is putting a tiny bit of spoiler space really that hard?
I just can't get away from this. It's completely awful. First there was learning about gandalf before seeing the 2nd movie, and now learning about aragorn, gimli, and legolas's fates in (i'm assuming) the 3rd book/movie. What the hell people!!
The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence was false.
I think you overlooked Islidur. He was more "pure" then Aragorn (he was before - not so many otheres before him...), but not a 1/10 as good...
"Earendil married Elwing, and their sons were Elrond and Elros. Now, all this was terribly confusing, because nobody was entirely certain what species they were. So the Valar (the major gods) said that Earendil, Elwing, Elrond and Elros would each get to choose their species." I'm no expert on the Tolkein mythology but the "this was terribly confusing" is all very confusing -- why exactly was it so important for the species distinctions to be made, to the extent that mixed race individuals had to choose? Was there no real miscegenation, and why were half-elves a problem that had to be resolved instead of a just a mix-breed with attributes and traits of each parent species? Drawing a racial analogy here would make it rather creepy.
Actually, Return of the King won't be coming until May 2004.
It all balances out, though. I get embarrassed by believing the One Ring post, but I discover I get to see RotK five months earlier than I had previously thought!
Well, studly to bespectacled pulp fantasy reading Tolkein geek chicks anyway. Probably hasn't reached the status of general studlyness though.
Does anyone happen to know what the extra scenes are in the special edition?
So much for being the wisest. The only redeeming feature about TTT is Gollum.
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
The way I read it, it was more about that elusive quality of imortality that had to be decided. From what I read it seemed that Elros remained an Elf, its just that he chose to become mortal and live with the humans; similar to how Arwen becomes mortal by staying behind after her father leaves (which was part of the deal with the Valar, once he decides to leave, his children must leave or become mortal), she is still an Elf and has Elf features and traits, but she is now mortal and will eventually die.
So it seems to me that Tolkien wasn't trying to have the Valar enforce some sort of racial purity rules, but more of working out the imortality sticking point. Of course I could have read that wrong, but thats who I interpreted what he wrote.
Can I Play With Madness?
>>Ok ok, so I understand that some of you haven't read the books and believe that the additional scenes in FotR were trivial.
I take the opposite opinion... I hadn't read the books as of my viewing of the Fellowship extended version, and many of the extra scenes I felt did wonders to the understandability or the story.
...SPELLING TOLKIEN INCORRECTLY!!!
It's TOLKIEN.. T O L K I E N.. I before E.. GET IT RIGHT ALREADY!
k, I'm done.
I loved the extra scenes from FotR, because they added parts of the book that have been removed to make the movie shorter.
Unfortunately for Two Towers, the movie version is so different that the book, extra scenes won't do anything to fix all the story changes already made. Those story changes are one of the main reasons I did not like TT much.
But now that Aragorn is 87 instead of 37, well, I understand! After all, man learns and develops so incredibly well in childhood and young adulthood, so if that period of his life was drawn out, then I can see where he gets it.
From the ashes of disaster, grow the roses of success!
.sig comes along. Doh!
My daughter and I watched CCBB a couple of nights ago. Just when I'd stopped that song from occupying a slot in my brain's process table, your
FreeSpeech.org
If you read the Silmarillion, you'll find that the creator, Iluvatar, created two races, Elves, the firstborn, and Men. The elves were very powerful beings (even before going to the undying lands), but they were immortal. Men were given the gift of mortality.
The Silmarillion makes it clear that this is a major and very fundamental disctinction between the two races and plays a large part in the final destiny of each. It also makes it clear that mortality is A Big Thing. A great gift, and it is only the fear and ignorance of man that have turned it into a thing of terror. It is said that even the elves will come to envy the Gift of Men as the ages wear on.
Therefore, when elves and men marry and have offspring, it becomes essential to see which inheritance they will receive: The inheritance of the elves, or the gift of men and the inheritance reserved for them?
The Valar gave the half-elves the choice as to which inheritence they would receive.
Those who chose mortality were, nonetheless, granted a longer life than normal men.
And to the person who made comments on racial purity. The Numenoreans were beings of power, not so much because of their ancestors, but because of their proximity to the Valar, and their faithfulness to the Valar.
The line of Numenor dwindled not because of time passing, but because of their disobedience to the Valar, their pride, and their eventual assault on the undying lands.
Tolkien was a devout Catholic, and he works many Catholic Christian themes into his LOTR books, esp. the Silmarillion backstory.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
the newspaper for people who can't read!
Same thing with my wife. She digs Aragorn (and for that matter Viggo's Lucifer from the Prophecy). She refers to Legolas as "Fagolas" heheh
Peter Jackson has been saying this for at least the past three years, in interview after interview.
There is no Scouring of the Shire. The movie ends with the Grey Havens.
"Sufferin' succotash."
When Elves die, they go to the Halls of Mandos, on Arda (earth), where they wait for the end of the world. Elves truly are immortal, in that even if you slay them, they still exist in some form on Arda until the end.
It is different for the race of Men. When Men die, they do not go to the Halls of Mandos... I don't remember exactly what happens to them, but I think that nobody else on Arda did either. It was just said that they would have some part to play "in the end".
So I think that this was the reason that they had to choose, because Mandos wanted to be sure what would happen when they die.
By the way, Dwarves were never really meant to exist. One of the Valar, Aule (deity who made things of metal and stone), in slight defiance of Eru (The Creator) made the Dwarves that would enjoy the things that he did. I think that it is said that they "return to the stone" or something like that when they die.
Don't Bogart the fish sticks
masterful job done on FotR Extended??! They didn't cut out that unfortunately memorable line of Mortensen's (since he was completely out of character, I couldn't possibly think of him as Aragorn) wherein he declaimed "Let's go hunt some Orc!" at the riverside. That, if nothing else, prevented me from purchasing FotR Extended.
You will note that my superb DivX rip, coming soon to a newsgroup near you, does _not_ contain such Americanisms as "Let's go hunt some Orc." Thank you very much.
Ahh hahahah!
LMAO
An extended version of my life, so I can find the time to watch all of this stuff? Are you listening Jackson????
- In the book all female characters except Galadriel were footnotes...
I would hardly call Eowyn a footnote, given that she's one of the most pivotal characters in the books.Or it could be that you just have a thing for pointy ears... ;)
Doing my level best to piss off the religious right wing...
O joy. Another hour of helms deep hacking and slashing to add to the 3 hours of helms deep hacking and slashing already there.
That strikes me as incredibly stupid, for several reasons.
1) The line is 'Let's hunt some Orc', and it is not out of character when you consider that it's one of the few times he is opening up and talking to characters that he feels at ease with. With the elves, he must be proper; with Boromir, he is slightly distrustful. With Frodo, he feels overbearing responsibility. Now at last he is with two good friends who need some cheering up and some motivation, and he can speak plainly to them. OK, the wording is hardly Tolkein-esque, but then again, Tolkein's was never good at writing plain, friendly dialogue.
2) Please explain how this line is an Americanism when the screenplay was written, storyboarded, filmed, produced, edited, and audio-mastered in New Zealand.
Arwen was being literal. Once she made her choice, it was game over as far as going into the West was concerned. She kept up her immortaility until Aragorn's death then later passed on, succumbing to the Doom of Men (death.) That's somewhere in the appenxices of LOTR, but I'm at work and can't just jump to get it.
Such is love: bittersweet.
If anything, I hope they cut some of Gimli's "comedy relief" scenes. Particularly the one with him standing on top of the wall at Helm's Deep -- it did nothing but spoil the build-up of tension to the battle.
This page pretty much explains it all.
Both the LOTR movies are the most retarded pieces of crap ever
... you insensitive clod!
Litigious bastards
I feel like i'm reading an expert on theology :P Sorry man, really impressive you know that, but its true ^_^;
You're an idiot.
Sorry, but it's true. You contribute absolutely nothing to the human race, and should be shredded and fed to cattle as a protein supplement. At least then the resultant milk, beef, methane, and combustible offal would be of some value.
Arwen is 3/4 then, but still has the choice to decide. So do her brothers. Does one of her brothers get killed at Helm's Deep in the movie?
A & A's children are only 1/4 Elven (plus the smidgen from Aragon's side). They dont have a choice.
The original humanoid races were "the music of Eru", inherently goody-goody, and immortal. There is some suggestion if they were killed in war or accident they could reincarnate in Middle Earth, or their spirits dwelt in Valinor, the home of the god-like beings who ran the show.
Men, and other similar races like the hobbits, were both good and evil. They could choose either. However, they died and their spirits left Middle Earth to where God only knows. Death was considered potentially a benefit by immortals who grew weary with time.
It's always good to see more of Sean Bean. He helped contribute to Fellowships many themes in brotherhood and friendship. More footage of a movie that should probably even be longer is a good thing. It can't arrive soon enough.
My observation is that Legolas appeals to younger women, Aragorn to older. It's interesting to watch the swooning change with age...
What, you didn't notice the testosterone surge as well? Heterosexist! :-)
The theater I saw it in (in Texas) was at least 10% gay, including my buddies from the gay rugby team... anytime Legolas or Aragorn was on screen, the testosterone surged...
- Spryguy
There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
Yikes, that reminds me of Deuteronomy.
Did I just get transported back to my Catholic High School religion class?
I forget...are we at war with Eurasia or East Asia?
The less of Tolkien's awful poetry, the better!
Tolkien himself was a pretty firm Catholic, and though he denied having written any message or allegory into his world, it's clear enough that his religion and worldview influenced his creation.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
As I understand the business of the ships that take the elves into the west (to Valinor), an elven ship bearing elves that sailed into the west would sail on the Straight Road to Valinor (as they would have before the drowning of Numenor), whereas a ship bearing mortals would follow the curvature of the earth and so never come to Valinor. (As described in the Silmarillion at the very end of the Akallabeth)
The important words are There is now no ship that would bear me hence. I think that what Arwen means by this is that having chosen a mortal life, and being mortal herself, were she to sail on any ship going into the west then it would follow the mortal path and never reach Valinor.
The only mortals ever permitted to pass into the West on elvish ships (by special favour of the Valar) were the ringbearers (Bilbo, Frodo, Samwise)
Of course this begs the question of where Legolas and Gimli ended up (given that dwarves, while being far more long-lived than men, are still essentially mortal)
"Other DVD additions to the middle tale that heighten the drama and lighten the mood" nomoredwarfjokesnomoredwarfjokesnomoredwarfjokesno moredwarfjokesnomoredwarfjokes....
Umm, if statistics are to be believed, about 10% of people are gay. Or did you mean openly gay? That could be different (except in the bay area).
There are plenty of things you can complain about in the movies, but that has to be one of the least significant. You give nit-pickers a bad name.
Well, many normal could be equally enchanted with elvish gracing Arwen's lips.
I was worried that they weren't going to do another disk for TTT with extra features and movie scenes. I loved the first one cause it makes the story much more clear and gives the movie more kick. I really hope they do the same for the Return of the King. I love LOTR and TTT was very good, so I prefer to wait for the extended version of the DVD because it gives us more of the characters and more of the story. TTT is also a great book if I may add. Well, until ROTK comes out, all praise TTT. See you in the theater, or at FYE to get the extend version.
To all who had witness let me give this upon you in one of my favorite terms "PH34R MY M4D SKILLZ!!!"
I recall reading somewhere that in the movie Saruman dies, so there's no way the Scouring of the Shire chapter could happen unless his death scene was removed from the extended DVD.
Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
I am sure that they will make a lot of money with thier sales by offering this.
Viggo Mortensen == Yankee loser. The line fit so poorly into the movie that it was obviously an ad-lib that slipped past editorial screening.
nitpicking the nitpicker gives nitpicked nitpickers nitpicking nitpicks a bad name :P
When Elves die, they go to the Halls of Mandos, on Arda (earth), where they wait for the end of the world
Almost right. What actually happens is they wait in Mandos for a variable period, then reincarnate, though not by being born as baby elves, (too confusing as to who your parents are), but by taking on copies of their old bodies. One example is Glorfindel, he is killed in the fall of Gondolin, but you see him again in LotR. LotR the book that is, in the film he doesn't appear.
As for the Dwarves, they had their own stories, which as far as I can remember had them staying in their own section of Mandos.