Lord of the Rings - BluRay EXTENDED version to release today

[Odie]

Everyone,

Just a heads-up. LOTR, the extended versions are being released as a pack today. Amazon has the suggested price at $119 for all three. Don't know what Best Buy or other retail outlets will be.

I preordered my copy at $69.00 and it's still listed at that price today.

While enjoying the theatrical releases, after I saw the extended versions, I never went back. So much LOTR-goodness added to each movie with about 2 hours of extra footage per movie.

As a side note, a while back I picked up THE DUMMIES GUIDE TO MIDDLE EARTH after watching the extended cuts on regular DVD. I wanted to know a little background into the LOTR's universe. After reading the book, I rewatched the trilogy and was pleasantly surprised at the number of little details that were included in the movies; kind of like Easter eggs (unannounced and you have to look for them).

 

[AndyG43]

.......and was pleasantly surprised at the number of little details that were included in the movies; kind of like Easter eggs (unannounced and you have to look for them).

I first read the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings when I was 10, and have reread it (roughly) every 2 years since - it's my 50th birthday in September, so do the maths! What I loved about these films (in their original theatrical, and later extended DVD, releases) was the loving care & attention that had gone into them. Peter Jackson was obviously a 'fanboi' and it showed; his vision matched my vision almost exactly, Helms Deep WAS Helms Deep, the Rohirrim had that correct Norse/Saxon feel to them ...... I don't think he put a foot wrong on the whole; if something was cut it because it needed to be (Tom Bombadil didn't really drive the plot for example). The one jarring omission, for me, was the whole "hands of a king are the hands of a healer" episode in RotK without which the latter half of the film doesn't quite flow as it should; the extended DVD workds properly, as it should do. Maybe this is the point I should make the jump to Bluray, to enjoy these films even more.

Mind you - Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins? Really not sure about that one!!!