LotR Extended Edition DVDs

[lucidity]

Hi all! I just got, as a belated Christmas gift to myself, the three extended edtions of the LotR movies. Does anyone else have them? If so, what are your favorite parts?

I ended up watching most of the extended edition of The Return of the King last night. If you haven't seen it you need to. If you're an Aragorn fan, or a Faramir fan, it is pure heaven. So many of the scenes that are now my favorites had been cut for the theatrical release.

Aragorn is really growing on me! (I had been kind of indifferent to his character as I read the books.) In the scene where he, Legolas and Gimli take the Paths of the Dead there was quite a bit cut. At the end, you aren't yet sure of the ghosts are going to help or not. The trio step out of the pass and are on the edge of a cliff where they see the numerous corsair ships. Aragorn broke my heart! He drops to his knees and sways, Legolas clutching him for support. He looks so lost and defeated and he just took my breath away. That part was phenomenal.

There was an odd part where Faramir and Denethor speak when he first arrives back from Osgiliath. At one point Denethor sees a hallucination of Boromir behind Faramir. I didn't think that scene worked very well...It looked quite fake. Anyway, the man who played Denethor got loads of his own scenes cut as well.

Another of my favorite scenes is right before the Houses of Healing. Eomer finds his sister on the battlefield and just falls apart. It was touching.

I suppose I should stop going on about it, huh. Ooh, one more. There is a great scene with Pippin and Faramir. Faramir comes upon Pippin while he is rehearsing his vow. They talk a bit and it's wonderful. Another scene I would've liked to have seen by the masses.

[Rosie]

lucidity said:

Hi all! I just got, as a belated CHristmas gift to myself, the three extended edtions of the LotR movies. Does anyone else have them? If so, what are your favorite parts?

I ended up watching most of the extended edition of The Return of the King last night. If you haven't seen it you need to. If you're an Aragorn fan, or a Faramir fan, it is pure heaven. So many of the scenes that are now my favorites had been cut for the theatrical release.

Aragorn is really growing on me! (I had been kind of indifferent to his character as I read the books.) In the scene where he, Legolas and Gimli take the Paths of the Dead there was quite a bit cut. At the end, you aren't yet sure of the ghosts are going to help or not. The trio step out of the pass and are on the edge of a cliff where they see the numerous corsair ships. Aragorn broke my heart! He drops to his knees and sways, Legolas clutching him for support. He looks so lost and defeated and he just took my breath away. That part was phenomenal.

There was an odd part where Faramir and Denethor speak when he first arrives back from Osgiliath. At one point Denethor sees a hallucination of Boromir behind Faramir. I didn't think that scene worked very well...It looked quite fake. Anyway, the man who played Denethor got loads of his own scenes cut as well.

Another of my favorite scenes is right before the Houses of Healing. Eomer finds his sister on the battlefield and just falls apart. It was touching.

I suppose I should stop going on about it, huh. Ooh, one more. There is a great scene with Pippin and Faramir. Faramir comes upon Pippin while he is rehearsing his vow. They talk a bit and it's wonderful. Another scene I would've liked to have seen by the masses.

I loved all the EEs.

Of course, the highlight of TTT was the Sons of the Steward scene - wonderful.

In ROTK, I hated the additions to Paths of the Dead. I thought it was unnecessary. I loathed the avalance of skulls, and also anyone seeing ROTK for the first time would miss that lovely moment when the ghosts swarmed off the ship. OK, I know it was kind of obvious that it was going to happen, but actually seeing them agree to Aragorn's request really spoiled that moment for me.

The Houses of Healing scenes were lovely, but way too short.

On another board, we've been doing a group watch, the plan being to discuss the trilogy scene by scene.

Does anyone want to do that here?

[lucidity]

I'd like that! What does TORC mean anyway? I keep seeing that and my thoughts go back to Peter Tork of the Monkees. Yeah, I'm an old codger. *sigh*

[Rosie]

lucidity said:

I'd like that! What does TORC mean anyway? I keep seeing that and my thoughts go back to Peter Tork of the Monkees. Yeah, I'm an old codger. *sigh*

TORC is another forum - The One Ring Council. Most of us here met on it, and generally inhabit the David Wenham/Faramir thread.

forums.theonering.com/viewtopic.php?p=3315126#3315126

It's a really large message board where you can discuss the books, the movies, have role play, fan fic, etc. etc.

[Lily]

admin said:

I loved all the EEs.

Of course, the highlight of TTT was the Sons of the Steward scene - wonderful.

In ROTK, I hated the additions to Paths of the Dead. I thought it was unnecessary. I loathed the avalance of skulls, and also anyone seeing ROTK for the first time would miss that lovely moment when the ghosts swarmed off the ship. OK, I know it was kind of obvious that it was going to happen, but actually seeing them agree to Aragorn's request really spoiled that moment for me.

The Houses of Healing scenes were lovely, but way too short.

On another board, we've been doing a group watch, the plan being to discuss the trilogy scene by scene.

Does anyone want to do that here?

I second every word, Rosie said and my favourite extended scene in ROTK is the scene between Pippin and Faramir.

I´d love to do a trilogy group watch. It has been started on another board where I am, but right in the middle of FOTR it stops for some weeks now.

[eggowaffles]

I've seen all the EEs, but I only own TTT... I bought it for $18 at a used CD store while at a university workshop, using money my parents had given me to stay alive (I lived on vending machine food for three days and had to repair my broken shoes with duct tape, but it was worth it, dammit!)

Sometimes when I'm bored I pull it out on impulse and watch the "Sons of the Steward" scene two or three times in a row... ;D

lucidity said:

Aragorn is really growing on me! (I had been kind of indifferent to his character as I read the books.)

Have you watched the FotR EE yet? That one made me despise Aragorn so thoroughly I hardly knew what to do with myself. (But that may just be because I'm a Boromir groupie...)

admin said:

In ROTK, I hated the additions to Paths of the Dead. I thought it was unnecessary. I loathed the avalance of skulls

Glad to see I'm not the only one!

On another board, we've been doing a group watch, the plan being to discuss the trilogy scene by scene.
Does anyone want to do that here?

Yes, let's!

[Raksha]

The ROTK extended edition is, in total, in my opinion, inferior to the TE...

The Pippin/Faramir scene, that I had anticipated with hope, disappointed me. It established that at least as a boy, Faramir had disliked schoolwork. While this doesn't rule out the possibility of movie-Faramir's having intelligence, but it's a slap in the face to book-Faramir's being 'a lover of lore', someone who admires learning and thinks it's an important part of the culture he's fighting to save. Just another instance of PJ stripping Tolkien's character of everything that made him exceptional and interesting - movieFaramir has apparently never been scholarly or interested in 'lore', he's never dreamed of the wave that drowned Numenor, he's not a particularly good military commander or leader, he's not tough enough to launch a verbal zinger of his own in the battle of words that Denethor initiates and carries out, he's not perceptive enough to read the hearts of hobbits, men, or be the first of his family to hail the Returned King.

The only Faramir edition worth noting is the lovely 45 seconds of Faramir/Eowyn, more if you count their first sight of each other in the HoH (even if he's miraculously mobile for someone who was nearly dead less than a day ago, two arrow wounds, high fever, etc.). Faramir's scene with Denethor where Denny imagined seeing Boromir was weird. On the one hand, Faramir showed some welcome gumption with Daddy. On the other hand, Faramir seemed so scared of a pathetic old man that he stepped away from him when the old coot was falling down, and it took a few seconds before Faramir got up the courage to try to help his father up off of the floor - which indicates to me that movie-Faramir had suffered physical abuse from his father in the past, otherwise there's no way he should have shied away from him and then been nervous about helping him up...Also, why Faramir didn't immediately seize power as Steward's Heir, and put Denethor in a comfy room with a muscular matron and no sharp objects, since Denethor was clearly losing his marbles and the Enemy was coming, is a mystery to me.

An even bigger mystery of the EE is why PJ wasted over a minute on the ridiculous skull avalanche when he could have instead had Aragorn heal Faramir, and/or a few more seconds of Faramir/Eowyn sparkage. >:!

But the worst scenes in the ROTK EE, that broke my Tolkien-reader heart, were (1)Gandalf facing the Witch-King only to fall off, cower on the pavement, and watch as Pippin runs up to attack the WiKi. ARRRRGGGGHHH! (2) Aragorn murdering the Mouth of Sauron, who, though smarmy and Evil, was an unarmed messenger, the kind you don't kill if you're an honorable soldier or king worthy of the name. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I do occasionally watch the ROTK EE; but I often have to mentally sever its connection with Tolkien's LOTR in order to put up with it.

I mean no disrespect towards the acting talents of David Wenham, who did an admirable job with the script he was given, or John Noble, who looked the part of Denethor but whose talents (and beautiful voice) were wasted by making Denny either a raving madman or pathetic madman from the start of the movie (when, in the book, his madness deepened, and became apparent, only after he left his duty to kill himself and Faramir).



RAKSHA

[lucidity]

Heya Eggos, what's the deal with the FotR EE that made you hate Aragorn? I haven't watched it yet, since there's no Faramir or Eomer in it, LOL! Now you've got me curious. I assume Aragorn was rather nasty to Boromir?

Raksha, it's true that the Faramir of the movies is not the same person at all from the books, but I still like him.

In RotK I was disappointed by the healing scenes since I enjoyed them so much from the book. I realize much had to be changed to fit the time frame and characters had to be cut, but still...

[laerien]

Hi everybody! I'm here again, with a cup of tea in my hands, preparing for a LOOONG message! ;D

First of all, on DVD, I have only the TTT and RotK. But I have a copied VHS of FotR EE. #whistles innocently# Unfortunately, I watched that one too many times, so the picture is very bad.

I entirely agree with those who hate the skull avalanche. Though I watched some parts of the movie countless times, I've seen that scene only twice. (Once in English, and once in Hungarian) And that was more than enough. It is pathetic. It reminds me of Indiana Jones.
BUT!! I can always skip that part. For me, it doesn't even exists. AND!!!As lucidity said, the scene after that... Now that is among my favourite little moments. That face, the single tear, the utter despair.... It simply took my breath away...
Of course, after seeing the King of the Dead agreeing, and calming down, I almost burst out laughing... They come out of the cave, and they can see the Anduin? (Btw, I truly missed the Dúnedains, and the Great Ride.)
I agree that it spoiled the 'surprise' at Pelennor Fields, but really, those who buy this DVD wouldn't be surprised there anyway. ;D




Denethor is simply wrong. They didn't want to deal with him, or I don't know, but every single scene with him is wrong. Maybe PJ didn't like him, or didn't understand him.


Raksha, you are absolutely right! I was fortunate, because I was prepared to all of those things... Gandalf falling down there, and hearing those words.... Yes, it looks nice, it fits into the athmosphere (everyone despairs etc), but the plot IS NOT that!

As for the HoH... The scene is wonderful. When I first watched it, I forgot to drew breath, I think I could have looked like Eomer... ;D But, then I expected more... I know why they did it like this, but it's confusing that first we watch Eowyn "heal", I mean they do emphasized in a way that time passed, just when we go back to the battlefield at night (therefore only one day passed), this feeling vanishes. Also, I would have loved to see Faramir waking up. GRRRR!!! From all the RotK, that was among the top 3. I even saw a picture about it. Btw, has anyone heard about a DVD, which will be about the left out scenes? Somewhere, I heard that there might be a DVD like that, because there are many scenes, which didn't fit into even the EE. I know they just want more money, but I might buy it, if it's worth.

The Sons of the Steward scene was wonderful, I agree. (though that wasn't entirely canon, also ;D). And I'm not even a Boromir fan. #sorry#

Have you watched the FotR EE yet? That one made me despise Aragorn so thoroughly I hardly knew what to do with myself.

Why? I don't underst... Awww, maybe you mean the scene when A &B are arguing?
I admit here, (and I hope you won't lynch me) that I loved Aragorn even more in the FotR EE... ;D For example when Frodo explains why Strider cannot be the Enemy's servant!!!



And how would this group trilogy watch work???

[eggowaffles]

lucidity said:

Heya Eggos, what's the deal with the FotR EE that made you hate Aragorn? I haven't watched it yet, since there's no Faramir or Eomer in it, LOL! Now you've got me curious. I assume Aragorn was rather nasty to Boromir?

Well, actually, everyone's kind of jerky to Boromir in the FotR EE, (I mean, bloody hell, no wonder he went nutso! Being ostracized and mistrusted by everyone around me and then having some random Elf break into my brain would push me over the edge, too!) but Aragorn is particularly so. There's a bit before the Shards of Narsil where Boromir is making somewhat bashful overtures at friendship and Aragorn is being very aloof... and then there's an argument while they're on the Anduin where Aragorn acts like a complete ass... but you'll have to watch and see for yourself. Of course, all these sentiments of mine are completely biased, because most Aragorn fans tend to see it the other way round...

Raksha, it's true that the Faramir of the movies is not the same person at all from the books, but I still like him.

Same here. In some ways I almost prefer movie-Faramir, simply because he's more... I dunno, human? Book-Faramir can be so cool and level-headed that it's almost unbelievable... and every time I read the books, he sounds more like Denethor!

laerien said:

As lucidity said, the scene after that... Now that is among my favourite little moments. That face, the single tear, the utter despair.... It simply took my breath away...
Of course, after seeing the King of the Dead agreeing, and calming down, I almost burst out laughing... They come out of the cave, and they can see the Anduin?

I actually like Aragorn's little moment, too (and that's saying a lot, coming from me), but I always snigger when the King of the Dead suddenly walks through a random wall and says, "Yeah, just joshing you!" ;D Kind of dissipates the mood a bit...

[lucidity]

I started FotR today and my son (6) loves Hobbits so I couldn't simply skip them and get to the Men and Elves. *sigh* I hope to see more of it later.

I had forgotten how much I adore Boromir as well, but the fact that he dies (and so spectacularly) is so sad...Ah well. (Sean Bean is quite delicious.)

I also forgot to mention the Mouth of Sauron part as being...freaky. I suppose it was cool visually, but I thought of him more as a man, not a...whatever he was in the movie. Plus, it was a shock to see his head go flying! Yikes! I didn't see that one coming at all. I know the Mouth of Sauron's fate was never really decided in the books (and I had thought of having him appear in my new fic) but I may change it to someone else. I suppose it doesn't really matter, though.

Should we start with movie two (TTT), since most people seem to have a copy of it, or is that too sacrilegious? How would we go about discussing it, scene by scene?

[lindahoyland]

Yes, I'd love to discuss the EE's here. I have all three(FOTR and TT courtesy of ebay ,ROTK as result of doing surveys for coupons !)
It's hard to remember without looking but favourite parts were Aragorn singing in FOTR,Faramir's thoughts on the dead warrior in TT,and Aragorn's despair when he thinks he has failed in ROTK.
I agree very much with Raksha,chopping off MOS's headwas an outrage and I am still fuming that there is no scene of ARagorn healing Faramir included.I'm 100% with those who love Aragorn's despair too.

[eggowaffles]

lucidity said:

(Sean Bean is quite delicious.)

You can say that again! ;D

When do you guys want to start watching the films? We could start with TTT, since most of us have that one—but we could conceivably start with FotR, and those of us who only own the TE could simply skip the discussions that don't apply to them, or discuss the EE scenes from memory.

The other boards where I've had film discussions usually make a topic for each film and then a separate thread for each scene.... does that sound okay to everyone, or should we do something else?

[laerien]

Would someone enlighten me a bit about this group watch?

[Lily]

On the board where I have seen that, there was only one thread. They waited two days or three until no new post was added, changed the header of the thread and moved on to the next scene.

If this sounds too complicated, we can start a new thread for each scene as well. And we can start with a new scene every week or every other week? Suggestions?

Laerin, you watch the scene and write your opinion about the scene - what you liked or disliked. The first poster can also sum the scene up, if she wants to (apologies, if there is a man on here ).

Well, and it´s fine with me to start with TTT. Opinions?

[lucidity]

I'm fine with starting with TTT. I think it would be less complicated to have a separate thread for each scene, unless that would get to be too ponderous. That way if someone was away for a while and came back they could comment easily on each scene, assuming that they wanted to!

I'd say a week is a good amount of time for each scene.

When would y'all like to start?

[eggowaffles]

Er... you guys do realize that, going at a rate of a scene a week, it'll be more than a year before we finish TTT? ;D

[lucidity]

Okay, maybe we could do five scenes in one shot? The scenes are not necessarily that long.

[eggowaffles]

That sounds a bit better.

We could start this weekend, or on Friday, if that's okay with everybody. Could one of the mods maybe make a section for it under the Cinema category?

[Rosie]

I don't think it need take a year for us to get to TTT - if we put threads up for so many scenes at a time, people can watch at their leisure. Some will finish before others but I don't think that will matter.