LOTR:TTT Extended

[Gurm]

So we started watching it last night. Only got about half an hour in, though. It was late.

So far, every change serves to make it follow the book MORE closely.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!



































My personal favorite touch SO FAR is the introduction of the "two different bands of orcs", and the bickering between them. Also the harsh orc-drink that they force Merry to drink to keep him alive.

Oh, and the fact that elvish rope unties itself. That was cool too.

- Gurm

[Ajax]

I didn't know it was out yet.

[Jammrock]

Someone's been wearing his eye patch and saying, "ARGH MATEY," because TTT EE does come out until next week.

Jammrock

[Chris B]

Usually the suppliers (movie companies or whatever) will ship the movies early to make sure they reach the stores in time for the release.

And some stores don't pay attention to official release dates. They will start selling the movies as soon as they get them. I remember when the Star Wars episode 1 disk was released. I bought that more than a week before the official release date.

Online stores is the same story. If you pre-order a movie, some will send it as soon as they have it.... official release date or not.

[Gurm]

Ayuh.

[GT98]

Originally posted by Chris B
Usually the suppliers (movie companies or whatever) will ship the movies early to make sure they reach the stores in time for the release.

And some stores don't pay attention to official release dates. They will start selling the movies as soon as they get them. I remember when the Star Wars episode 1 disk was released. I bought that more than a week before the official release date.

Online stores is the same story. If you pre-order a movie, some will send it as soon as they have it.... official release date or not.

Well my Anut works for one of the large Warehouse Stores that we have here and they put out one of the movies out early and someone came and they got FINED for doing that. Now needless to say they dont put movies out early

[Gurm]

Yeah some stores get away with it though.

Or sometimes they let a few copies out to friends and employees and suchnot.

The local Hollywood Video was playing "The Hulk" on their in-store TV's a full 10 days before its "release date" on video. Oops.

- Gurm

- Gurm

[DukeP]

Originally posted by Jammrock
Someone's been wearing his eye patch and saying, "ARGH MATEY," because TTT EE does come out until next week.

Jammrock

ROFL!!

~~DukeP~~

[Gurm]

That'd be YAARRRR MATEY!

Please, have some respect. Pirates have Real Ultimate Power(tm), not those wussy ninjas.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Ok, so we finished it.

BEST INCLUSIONS...

- Huorns eating orcs, and the look of satisfaction/distaste on Aragorn's face as he sees them get consumed.
- Merry and Pippin finding food and pipeweed at Isengard (yes, the entire Isengard sequence was shot, and the first half of it appears in this extended edition - the second half will be at the beginning of the third extended edition).
- More screen time for Sean Bean.
- Ent scene rearranged subtly to make it seem less like they were "tricked" by the Hobbits, and more like they were trying to get the Hobbits out of harm's way.
- Eowyn coming to the realization that Aragorn is, in fact 87 years old.

Worst Inclusions:

- Denethor (ass... hole... ass... hole)
- The forced use of the word "Dunedain", more times than necessary.

Subtle yet really cool additions:

- Orc goofiness (the delineation between groups of orcs, etc.)
- More "point keeping" in the contest between Legolas and Gimli

A _lot_ was added.

Some was cut. I'd say the extra material adds up to WELL over the 38 extra minutes (yes, 38 minutes), since there are scenes which are completely rearranged and hence missing material that was in the theatrical release.

Have I spewed enough yet? Everyone gets extra screen time, even Arwen (only about 10 extra seconds for her, thankfully).

Overall, this makes the movie MUCH MUCH MUCH more like the book, and much less weird. Some things were still needless, like Aragorn's entire "tumble down the river" sequence. And I still disagree with making it Theoden's idea to hide in Helm's Deep. But overall the movie was so drastically improved.

[Ajax]

Did they improve Faromir's (sp?) character? I didn't feel like the film got him right at all.

[Gurm]

Yes, but in a mostly subtle way. They introduced the whole "he's the unfavored son" concept, and a lot of his brooding and plodding became "an attempt to win father's approval".

And right away he becomes more human by delivering the "I wonder if he really was evil or just fighting for a cause he was tricked into believing, if he wouldn't rather be at home with his family in peace" speech, which was SORELY lacking from the theatrical cut.

No mention of his vision though, the official reason for Boromir's visit to Rivendell was that Denethor thought the ring might be there. Phhhhhffffft.

There were a lot of SUBTLE differences in this film.

Entire scenes took on new meaning simply by virtue of being a bit longer, and that was the magic of this extended edition actually. Faramir seems like less of an ****ole (although his men beat the snot out of poor Gollum), and the Ents seem to have decided all along to attack Isengard, despite telling the Hobbits that they wouldn't. They "trick" Treebeard into going to see the destruction of the forest, and the Huorns are already moving to Helm's Deep... Treebeard says "they have business with orcs, tonight my business is with Isengard". And the Ents are RIGHT THERE busting out of the Forest, instead of the protracted pause in the theatrical version - and mind you, Treebeard has been walking for hours to get to that edge of the forest, so they HAD to be ready to attack all along. You just get the idea that in this version they were looking to get the Hobbits out of harm's way more than anything.

It was good.

- Gurm

[BuddMan]

I'm glad they shifted the movie to reflect the book more closely. To tell you the truth, I was pretty disappointed in the TT when I saw it in theaters, and because of that I've only seen it once. I'm glad they are releasing extended versions of the movies because now I hear that in Return of the King, they are completely taking Saruman out of the movie....and that's a big plot point, because:

1. He loses his staff and power

2. He drops the seeing stone (forgot its name at the moment) which actually starts Sauron's whole invasion. Gandalf gives Aragon the stone and Aragon reveals himself to Sauron as the king who has returned, so in haste Sauron deploys his plan prematurely. I wonder how they will explain all of this in the movie, and will they mention the seeing stone at all (heck, they did in the first movie)?

Anyway, I'm hoping that Jackson hasn't changed too much of the third movie from the book and am glad for the extended versions. The one for Fellowship of the Rings was excellent. Can't wait to get my hands on the TT one.

[leech]

Just got my TT extended one, but haven't had time to watch it all the way through yet (24 is on in an hour, have to watch that ) But I did browse through some of the scenes, mainly the Huorns and watching the Hobbits get stoned <i>So</i> glad they put that in!

The Palantir (the seeing stone) is quite an important part, so you'd think they would at least have put it in the third movie by itself. Since they use that one (not the one that Denethor had been using...) Guess we'll all have to wait and see...

Leech

[KvHagedorn]

I liked the extra stuff they included, especially Faramir's flashback. Him warning the hobbits of the dark and evil creature sort of took something away from the original ending though. There were several places where I thought the editing got a bit choppy. When Gandalf and company first come to Edoras was one.. the Huorns was another. Editing a film like this, it is very difficult to retain the dramatic edge while including new material though, and they really didn't do that bad a job. I own both versions of both films, though.. I don't believe in the concept of more always being better in every context. On balance, I loved them both though.