ROTK:EE Trailer Released

artemis67 writes "A six-minute trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Extended Edition, has been released, and it's quite good. We get to see some snippets of the final confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman, as well as some other intriguing scenes that will add a lot of depth to the final movie. The Extended Edition will add an additional 50 minutes to the film, bring the total for the Extended trilogy to 11 hours and 20 minutes."

Comments

Re:Realtime

[__aahlyu4518]

12 hours is about the amount of time to read the original 6 books (in 3 well-known volumes)
Ah.. speedreader are we?

Sharkey and the Shire?

[Paul Crowley]

Does anyone know if the EE covers all the stuff with "Mr Sharkey" (have I remembered correctly?) and the Shire? Did they even film that stuff?

Re:Sharkey and the Shire?

[C0deM0nkey]

Bravo!

I will probably be flamed into oblivion for saying this but I've never understood why some fans get so wound up over Tom Bombadil. I am currently more than half way through the 12-volume History of Middle-Earth (HOME) (I've completed volumes 1-4, 6, 7 and am more than half-way through volume 5. Volumes 6-8 deal with Lord of the Rings) and Bombadil did not factor into any of Tolkien's pre-LOTR Middle-Earth writings. Yes, there were a few poems and such that were written but these were outside the mythology and early history of Middle-Earth.

Tom Bombadil always struck me as little-more than a deus ex machina and I've never particularly cared for him.

From what I have read, Tolkien struggled to find a story to write (he was under pressure from his publisher to produce a Hobbit sequel) and did not have a strong grasp of what the tale would be until Elrond's Council (which, I believe, explains why the story got very focused after that point). The material prior to the Council, in my opinion, reflects this struggle to find a story. Do not mistake me, the Old Forest and the Barrow-Wights were cool [book] scenes that did turn out to serve a purpose later but, as Jackson has demonstrated, they could easily be written out (e.g. replace Barrow-Wight (Numenorean/Dunedain?) blades with Noldoli daggers given by Galadriel, remove Old Forest and explain that trees could be more than just silent stalks of wood in Fangorn, etc.)

If you are an aspiring fantasy author, like critical analysis or constructed languages or if you would simply enjoy reading about the evolution of Middle-Earth, I would highly recommend the HOME books. They are not for the non-Middle-Earth geek; I've tried getting other people to read them and so far I've failed - I think you really have to have an interest in Middle-Earth (as a literary creation) in order to tolerate reading and re-reading the same stories over and over as they are emended from draft to draft. I've read and re-read versions of the Silmarillion (the Quenta, the Silmarillion, the Quenta-Silmarillion, *must...keep...sanity*) so many times with so many minor changes that it is difficult, at times, to keep the canon straight from the evolving story.

Re:Extended Versions

[Gudlyf]

Although, I believe I read an interview with Peter Jackson somewhere where he says that even these extended releases don't have everything he'd like in them, and that when they release the full extended edition boxed set, he suspects there will be even more footage.

If that is true, then people will be really pissed off.

RoTK with the good bits restored (finally!)

[mihalis]

I just don't understand how Peter Jackson thought the following were optional :-

• Gandalf/Saruman rematch at Orthanc
• Aragorn reveals himself in Palantir of Orthanc
• Gandalf confronts Witch-King at Minas Tirith
• Voice of Sauron at the Black Gate

Luckily they are ALL in the EE! I can't wait

Re:RoTK with the good bits restored (finally!)

[mihalis]

Here's how these good bits could have made it into RoTK cinematic release easily :

Put Shelob back into the Two Towers where she belongs. By the end of that book, Sam is lying senseless outside the orc stronghold and Frodo has been taken by the enemy. That would have been a fine ending for the film.

Find the time for this, in turn, by drastically shortening the Helms Deep stuff. It's dull.

You can dump the Aragorn falls off a cliff guff too.

See, easy-peasy!

Disclaimer : IHNDMOEHM (I have not directed my own 11 hour movie)