The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Editions)

Product Information

Editor’s Note: This review is now complete. A similar review of The Hobbit Trilogy in 4K Ultra HD is also now available here on The Digital Bits.] The Return of the King' - The trilogy end cap does not feature a new transfer, but it may be the best looking overall disc in the trilogy, even if the sheer detail levels aren't as amazing as 'Fellowship' and its new appearance. What's on display here is the most film-like appearance of the trilogy, even if it has a few minor troubles. The bottom line is, if you're a fan of Lord of the Rings – or cinema in general – and care at all about video and audio quality, this is a must-own collection. It's that essential.

The fleshing out of the opening sequences, before Frodo is ever in the same room as the ring, they're excellently crafted. We see, in better detail, what truly happened to the one ring to cause it to be lost for centuries. Better yet, now we have reason to care for Bilbo Baggins, and we see what the ring does to him much more clearly. We understand his relationship to Gandalf better, and his relationship to Frodo is much more detailed. The Shire and its inhabitants are more detailed and relatable, as we see more of their carefree existence. Aragorn is given more time to connect to viewers, both before and after his real identity is disclosed, his past more clearly outlined. Galadriel is still mishandled and a loose end, but a future payoff and a once deleted scene in the next film get set up. The beauty is that while there are a number of smaller extensions, everything fits coherently, and the narrative structure of the film remains intact, with no odd moments feeling out of place, thrown in for the sake of. The experience becomes richer, and the journey suddenly is more invested for the viewer. The changes to 'The Return of the King' may be cool, but at times, they lessen the payoff, as numerous scenes are spoiled, confrontations extended to the point they have gone on too long, and the pace of the film unnecessarily stalled. The great benefits to fleshing out the first part of the film do not work the same wonders here, as the film becomes a bit redundant. With the help of a courageous Fellowship of friends and allies, Frodo embarks on a perilous mission to destroy the legendary One Ring. Gandalf’s Fall Into Darkness. The color range improvement is clearly evident when Gandalf battles the Balrog and the two fall into darkness. Not only is the imagery deep with color, it’s also sharp, making almost every frame a work of art. The visual effects of Balrog hold up wonderfully even after 20 years.It’s not a story of heroes or superheroes,” he says. “It’s a story of regular people who set out to save their world.” also available in the 31-disc Middle Earth Ultimate Collector's Edition, which combines the LotR and Due to the extensive nature of the Trilogy we’ll be updating this review with further moments from the two sequels.) The Movie trilogy) on the format as a complete set that includes the theatrical and extended cuts of each film. This surprise holiday With all the great new additions, there has to be a negative somewhere in the mix, and that belongs to Treebeard and the rest of his Ern brethren. These living trees from Fangorn Forest are quite terribly depicted, executed in a fashion worthy of execution. These towering treefolk at first are large enough to stomp an orc without effort, with a single stride, yet later are only fractions of the trees around them, as the scale of the hobbits around them grow as the film progresses. Soon enough, these treefolk wage war against the man that has been pulverizing their ranks for some time, and reek serious vengeance upon their industrial counterparts, with actions very befitting of nature dominating over manmade creation. They are bad analogies, to say the least, and are annoying to boot.

The Fellowship of the Ring' - When 'The Lord of the Rings' debuted on Blu-ray last year, with the versions that hit theaters, the video qualities created quite the controversy, with 'The Fellowship of the Ring' being the most...well, disastrous. Riddled with DNR, the film looked like no film at all, really. The latter two films in the series had their problems, sure, but nowhere near the scale of 'Fellowship.' So, when Warner Bros. and New Line announced that the Extended Editions, the fan favorite cuts of the trilogy, would arrive on Blu-ray in 2011, the only film mentioned as receiving a remastering for the upcoming release was, naturally, the one that created the big stink. The expanded color range on the 4k Blu-ray presentation of LOTR is incredible, with luminance levels unparalleled in scenes like the opening of the Trilogy at the battle of Mordor where the One Ring glows amidst a dark army of Sauron’s forces. But here’s the thing: I’ve been reviewing Blu-ray and DVD quality professionally now for twenty-three years on The Digital Bits, and 4K Ultra HD quality for the last four of those years. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 4K remaster that made quite this much of a difference over a previous Blu-ray release before.Fellowship' does more than just set the entire series into motion, despite the fact that it doesn't have a true conclusion. This isn't some boring three hour trek interspersed with action set pieces, many characters are fleshed out in this chapter, and others in the ones to come. New characters will come into play, along with countless, diverse new settings. In that sense, 'The Lord of the Rings' isn't all that different than 'Star Wars,' save for the fact that each new habitat is on the same planet, rather than one per each varied area. Head on over to The Digital Bits where they have a long, deep review of this new set worth reading. Remember, the new 4K looks stunning but requires a new 4K disc player + 4K TV. Can an equivalent set be assembled piece by piece? Let’s shop: The obvious selling point of this release is the high def debut for the fan favorite cuts of the film trilogy. On DVD, these editions were released after the Theatrical Edition DVD release of each respective film, timed to coincide with the next film to bow in theaters (while the final Extended Edition release was then released in the same time period as it would have if there were a fourth film). The films now run an epic 228 minutes, 235 minutes, and 263 minutes, with an intermission of sorts caused by the need to change discs. These breaks are located at the formation of the Fellowship, the capture of Sam and Frodo, and the appearance of the wolf's head battering ram.

films in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. These new discs are sourced from the same recent masters as 2020's 4K trilogy set and are The upgraded audio isn’t as much of a jump as it is in video, as previous Blu-ray editions already featured incredible DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 surround sound. But the Dolby Atmos capabilities expand the potential to distribute sound overhead and behind (with the right speaker system) and add other audio channel to the surround sound format. Elijah Wood is spectacular, again, as the pint-sized bling bearer, as his descent into madness and paranoia is very believable, as is his sheer exhaustion. Despite being the lead role in the series, it is so easy to overlook how very powerful this young actor's portrayal is. Beyond Wood, there are some solid performances, particularly from David Wenham, and the underrated John Noble (recognizable most these days from his great character in ' Fringe'). All 3 Extended Versions on newly remastered Blu-ray Discs. This 15-disc set included the original 9 special-features DVDs with over 26 hours of spellbinding behind-the-moviemaking material, including the Costa Botes documentaries. Oh, how I wanted to give this set my first ever five star overall score, the mark of perfection or an incredibly close near miss, a set that eclipses its competition so thoroughly that it makes even great releases look shameful. At the end of the day, I just couldn't give this set that highest of honors. The Extended Editions of 'The Lord of the Rings' are just what the fanboy in all of us desires: the films we enjoy or love, but much, much more of them. The changes in the films are mostly improvements, even with the added runtime turning an already difficult marathon into a real endurance test.The new faces in 'The Two Towers' are hardly memorable, but it's the performances behind them that leave an impression. Wenham pales in comparison to Bean, his fictional brother (from another mother), though to be fair, his character is given little to do or grow from. Miranda Otto is a pleasure as Eowyn, the strongest female character in the trilogy, as she feels like a new focal point, easily the most important new character, more so than her brother, the banished Eomer (Karl Urban). Hill is great as a man who nearly gives up on life, only to fight anew with revitalized heart and soul, while his tempter, the slimy Wormtongue (played by Brad Dourif) crafts the kind of slithering, calculating villain that is oft referred to, but rarely seen. Of course, the entire kingdom of Rohan deserves what they got, considering they let a man named Wormtongue near their king, but that's another story. The highlight of the newcomers is Serkis as Gollum, seen briefly in the previous film, but finally given a role here. The work Serkis did is amazing, both with his vocal talents playing the character most representative of the duality of man in the series (obviously), and his body movements, through which the character was computer generated. Frodo Baggins, despite being the obvious focal point of the story, isn't all that fleshed out, and he certainly isn't as prominent or in the middle of danger to the same degree he finds himself with each concurrent entry in the saga. He's still so innocent and naive here, a child, with the size and prominence to match. Besides Sauron, Saruman, and Gandalf, the only character to get real attention is Aragorn, the hidden/obscured/irrelevant king. Mortenson deserves all the praise lavished upon him (and funnily enough, he does get the most praise, more so than Wood), as he provides a career re-defining performance as the mysterious, courageous ranger. For more about The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy and the The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray release, see the The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray Review published by Randy Miller III on November 17, 2021 where this Blu-ray release scored 4.0 out of 5.