Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition)

Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : box set , DVD review

By: The Dweeb

December 2002

DVD Features

Video: 2.35:1 Audio: Dolby Digital Surround, DTS ES 6.1, DD-EX 5.1

Discs 1-2: Special Extended Edition of the Film: Four Audio Commentaries by Director and Writers, the Design Team, the Production Team and the Cast (Featuring more than 30 participants including Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and Academy Award® winners Richard Taylor, Andrew Lesnie, Howard Shore, Jim Rygiel, Randy Cook, and cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monahagan, Orland Bloom, Christopher Lee and Sean Bean.

Disc 3: The Appendices Part One – From Book To Vision: Six documentaries covering JR.R. Tolkien, the process of adapting a book into a screenplay and planning the film, designing and building Middle-earth, as well as a visit to Weta Workshop with an up close look at the costumes, weapons, armor, creatures and miniatures created for the film. An interactive map of Middle-earth tracing the journey of the Fellowship Galleries of art and accompanying slide shows with commentaries by the artists (includes an archive of nearly 2000 images Storyboards and previsualization sequences with film comparisons

Disc 4: From Vision To Reality: 11 Original documentaries covering the cast, principal photography a day in the life of a hobbit, visual effects, post production, editing, music and sound and the release of the film Galleries of Behind-the-Scenes Photographs

Theatrical release:12/19/2001
DVD released on 11/12/2002 by New Line Home Entertainment
Running time of 208 minutes
Starring: Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood
Director: Peter Jackson

Plot: With the help of a courageous fellowship of friends and allies, Frodo embarks on a perilous mission to destroy the legendary One Ring. Hunting Frodo are servants of the Dark Lord, Sauron, the Ring’s evil creator. If Sauron reclaims the Ring, Middle-earth is doomed.

Well, I’m not going to repeat myself from the other review, I’m still trying to pick up my jaw off the floor. I will sum up this DVD in two words, simply incredible. This has got to be one of the best DVD’s ever produced! No, I’m dead serious , and not because I’m a fanboy either. I would easily say this is the DVD of 2002, unless something else comes out that completely blows me away. Fat chance of that happening.

Watching the extended version is like watching a completely different film, totally new. I love it, the new scenes are completely integrated like they were never cut out before and they don’t interrupt the flow of the story at all. They add to the story and characters, we get even more character depth, and some lighter moments as well. Peter Jackson expands on the introduction of hobbit life, which would give the first time viewer a more solid grasp of this complex film. Also included are some important scenes which will play a vital role in the next film, The Two Towers. I don’t know why Jackson originally cut out the Galadrial gift scene, each of those objects play significant roles later on.

Once again from a technical standpoint the sound and picture are outstanding. I thought the sound mix was much better this time. I remember in the theatre and on the 2 Disc DVD that the dialogue could be hard to hear sometimes. Nice that they went back and fixed that. The sound was so good, my wife had to yell at me a few times to turn it down, and it was already turned way down!

But the main impetus for getting this DVD is the extras. Holy crap, five hours worth! You could watch the film almost twice in the amount of time it would take to get through this mountain of material. I spent several days just watching all the neat stuff. There are also a few hidden cookies to hunt for, and its all beautifully organized on the disc. There is so much to see that they provide a fold out map of the DVD’s. OK, now I’m going to wipe the drool off the carpet now, and maybe give the film another spin.