THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
(Special Extended Edition)
The
arrival of the Special Extended Edition of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE
FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING on DVD almost makes me question the necessity
for New Line Home Entertainment's first issuance of the film. The addition
of approximately thirty minutes of footage back into the body THE LORD
OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING makes this incredible motion
picture so much better, that I'll never watch the theatrical cut again.
Still, the theatrical cut is what was released in the theaters and that
version of the film really should be represented on DVD.
Let
me point out that this Special Extended Edition doesn't change to the plot
of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING in any way,
but instead, gives director Peter Jackson a chance to provide fans with a
richer tapestry that will intensify their enjoyment of the story. I have
to admit I was totally mesmerized by the original theatrical cut of the
movie, yet at the end of the film's three hour running time, I wanted more…
The Special Extended Edition of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP
OF THE RING delivers what I wanted by giving fans a version of the
movie that further fleshes out the characters and adds more detail to
J.R.R. Tolkien's classic story.
Based
upon the first book of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy trilogy, THE LORD
OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING tells to story of an
all-powerful ring that was forged by the Dark Lord Sauron, which would
enable him to rule all of Middle Earth. Just at the moment Sauron should
triumph over all those that oppose him in an epic battle, the Dark Lord is
defeated when the ring of power is severed from his finger. After the
passage of more than two millennia, the ring of power is found by the
least likely of creatures- a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm). After
endowing the hobbit with an unusually long life, the ring is passed to
Bilbo’s nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood), when the elder Baggins decides to
leave his home in the Shire for the last time.
Frodo
quickly learns the deadly nature of his inheritance from the great Wizard
Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), who informs him that the Dark Lord Sauron
has returned and that his minions will be seeking the bearer of the ring.
Because Frodo is one of the few creatures immune to the evil influence of
the ring of power, he is forced to undertake a quest to return it the
fires of Mount Doom- the place the ring was forged and the only place it
can be destroyed. Frodo’s quest brings together a fellowship from the
races of the races of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves and Men, all of whom swear
to protect the ring bearer, as he makes the perilous journey to destroy
the ring and prevent it from returning to the Dark Lord’s control. The
superb cast of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
also features Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Liv Tyler, Sean Bean, Cate
Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd and
Dominic Monaghan. Additional comments on the movie itself can be found in
the theatrical cut DVD review
of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING.
New
Line Home Entertainment has made the Special Extended Edition of THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING available on DVD in
2.35:1 wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement
for 16:9 displays. At approximately three and a half hours in length, the
Special Extended Edition has been spread across two discs, which maintains
the highest possible quality for both picture and sound, while leaving
additional room for multiple audio commentaries. Like the preceding
transfer of the theatrical cut, this DVD sports a fantastic looking
picture. All of the newly added scenes, including their special effect
work are seamlessly integrated into the body of the film, without so much
as a hint that they were not originally part of the theatrical version of
the movie.
The
image on the DVD is truly stunning and pretty much pushes the limits of
what NTSC is capable of reproducing. I can only imagine how good THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING will look when it
appears in some future HD-DVD format. As of right now, everything appears
incredibly sharp and exceedingly well defined. Colors tend to be
wonderfully vibrant, while providing highly appealing looking flesh tones.
Some of the colors are pushed towards an otherworldly realm, but it is all
quite beautiful. Even the most intense hues in the film are rendered
without any signs of noise or smearing. Blacks appear rich and velvety,
whites are clean and contrast is excellent. Additionally, shadow detail is
as good as it gets. Both halves of the movie are authored on dual layered
discs, which perfectly conceals all traces of digital compression
artifacts.
The
Special Extended Edition of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF
THE RING comes with Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and DTS 6.1 ES soundtracks.
It should come as no surprise that the gorgeous visual quality of this DVD
is perfectly matched by the stunning nature of its digital soundtracks. To
say the mix is aggressive is an understatement. All of the discrete
channels are fully utilized. Active sound effects effortlessly pan between
channels, while creating fully integrated sonic environments, as well as
intense sonic whirlwinds that place viewers in the middle of film’s
action maelstroms. I probably don’t have to point this out, but surround
junkies are going to love this soundtrack.
Of
course, even quieter scenes are impressively mixed with subtlety and
nuance that many viewers may not even notice while wrapped up in the
brilliant storytelling. Dialogue fully intelligible and the actors’
voices are reproduced with a fine, natural timbre. The bass channel is
absolutely thunderous and ground shaking- so those with their subwoofers
set on the high side may want to scale them back, as to not do any damage
to breakables. As for the new scenes in this version of the movie, there
are no sonic variances from the rest of the film to indicate their
addition. The differences between the Dolby Digital and DTS formats are
discernable, but not overly pronounced. DTS has a richer, warmer sound and
a better special quality than the standard bearer. However, those whose
systems are incapable of DTS playback will find themselves completely
blown away by the Dolby Digital soundtrack. An English Dolby Surround
soundtrack is also encoded onto the DVD, as are English subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as an astounding array of brand new
supplemental features, which have been spread across all four discs of
this impressive DVD set. Discs one and two serve up four running separate
audio commentary tracks. Each and every one of the four audio commentaries
has tremendous amount of information to impart, and while it is all great
stuff, it is too much to take in during a short period of time. I expect
that the average viewer will need listen to the commentaries over a series
of weeks, or months, and not in days as reviewers have. Most viewers will
either want to start the cast or director's comments and then move on from
there.
Here
is a rundown of the participants on the four commentary tracks. TheDirector And Writers commentary track features Peter
Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. The Design Team
commentary track features production designer Grant Major, costume
designer Ngila Dickson, creative supervisor Richard Taylor, conceptual
designers Alan Lee and John Howe, supervising art director Dan Hennah, art
department manager Chris Hennah, and workshop manager Tania Rodger. The
Production/Post-Production Team commentary track features producer
Barrie Osborn, executive producer Mark Ordesky, director of photography
Andrew Lesnie, editor John Gilbert, co-producer Rick Porras, composer
Howard Shore, visual effects supervisor Jim Rygiel, supervising sound
editors Ethan van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins, animation designer Randy Cook,
visual effects art director Christian Rivers, visual effects
cinematographer Brian Vant Hul, and miniatures director of photography
Alex Funke. The Cast commentary track features Elijah Wood,
Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic
Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee and Sean Bean. To alleviate
confusion during the commentary tracks, subtitles pop up on screen to
indicate the speaker.
Moving
on to discs three and four, which are called The Appendices;
we find about six hours of documentary and other supplementary material.
Since any extensive description of the materials contained on discs three
and four are bound to bore readers of this review, I will keep my comments
as brief as possible. However, let me state right up front that this is
just the most fantastic set of supplements ever produced for a DVD
release. Therefore the folks at New Line Home Entertainment should be
proud of this supreme achievement.
Disc
Three is entitled The Appendices Part One: From Book To Vision.
On this disc one will find six subsections, which can be viewed
individually or all together. J.R.R. Tolkien - Creator Of
Middle-Earth looks at the life and work of the author of this epic
fantasy trilogy. From Book to Script looks at the
difficulties of translating such a mammoth piece of literature into a
screenplay and the elements that needed to be altered for cinematic
purposes. Visualizing The Story looks at the pre-production
conceptualization phase and how the filmmakers got a handle on how they
would create this world on the screen. Designing And Building
Middle-Earth is broken up into four sub-programs which delve into
the actual production design of the movie and takes a detailed look at the
artwork, models, sets and costumes, which would serve as the foundation
for bringing Tolkien's world to life. Middle-Earth Atlas is
an interactive map that allows one to follow the paths taken by Frodo and
Gandalf as they make their way across the landscape of Middle-Earth. New
Zealand As Middle Earth allows one to look at the actual locations
in New Zealand where THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
was filmed.
Disc
Four is entitled The Appendices Part Two: From Vision to Reality.
Like disc three, one will find the material divided into six subsections,
which can be viewed individually or all together. Filming The
Fellowship Of The Ring is divided into four areas, which covers
the bond formed by the cast of the movie, the process of becoming a
hobbit, difficulties in filming the movie that also required extensive
second unit work, and finally a nice section of production photos. Visual
Effects looks at everything from getting the sizes of the
characters right, to the miniature models created for the film, to the
digital effects produced by Weta Digital. Post Production: Putting
It All Together looks at the overwhelming amount of footed
presented to the film's editor, who faced the Herculean task of cutting it
down to its usable components then assembling the theatrical cut of the
movie. This section also offers an interactive demonstration of how just
one sequence was assembled from so much raw footage. Digital Grading
shows how much of the movie was scanned into the computer, so that the
image can be finessed to create the otherworldly look of Middle-Earth, as
well as to enhancing the overall look of the principal photography. Sound
And Music offers two sections on sound design from creation of
sound effects to Howard Shore marvelous musical score. The Road Goes
Ever On features a look at the film's theatrical premieres, as
well as including Elijah Wood's home movie footage. As for the DVD-ROM
section, web links are provided for on-line content.
THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
is a monumental achievement in motion picture making and the Special
Extended Edition DVD is an even greater achievement in the realm of home
entertainment releases. Not only does New Line's Special Extended Edition
of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING offer an even
more impressive cut of the movie, the video and audio quality of the DVD
represents the pinnacle of the format's capabilities. In addition to that,
the four-disc set offers the most astounding array of supplemental
features that I have the pleasure to view. There is absolutely no doubt in
my mind that this is a MUST OWN DVD!
The
Special Extended Edition of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF
THE RING is available in two versions- a standard release for $39.98
and a Collector's Gift Set for $79.98.
The
arrival of the Special Extended Edition of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE
FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING on DVD almost makes me question the necessity
for New Line Home Entertainment's first issuance of the film. The addition
of approximately thirty minutes of footage back into the body THE LORD
OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING makes this incredible motion
picture so much better, that I'll never watch the theatrical cut again.
Still, the theatrical cut is what was released in the theaters and that
version of the film really should be represented on DVD.
Let
me point out that this Special Extended Edition doesn't change to the plot
of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING in any way,
but instead, gives director Peter Jackson a chance to provide fans with a
richer tapestry that will intensify their enjoyment of the story. I have
to admit I was totally mesmerized by the original theatrical cut of the
movie, yet at the end of the film's three hour running time, I wanted more…
The Special Extended Edition of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP
OF THE RING delivers what I wanted by giving fans a version of the
movie that further fleshes out the characters and adds more detail to
J.R.R. Tolkien's classic story.
Based
upon the first book of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy trilogy, THE LORD
OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING tells to story of an
all-powerful ring that was forged by the Dark Lord Sauron, which would
enable him to rule all of Middle Earth. Just at the moment Sauron should
triumph over all those that oppose him in an epic battle, the Dark Lord is
defeated when the ring of power is severed from his finger. After the
passage of more than two millennia, the ring of power is found by the
least likely of creatures- a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm). After
endowing the hobbit with an unusually long life, the ring is passed to
Bilbo’s nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood), when the elder Baggins decides to
leave his home in the Shire for the last time.
Frodo
quickly learns the deadly nature of his inheritance from the great Wizard
Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), who informs him that the Dark Lord Sauron
has returned and that his minions will be seeking the bearer of the ring.
Because Frodo is one of the few creatures immune to the evil influence of
the ring of power, he is forced to undertake a quest to return it the
fires of Mount Doom- the place the ring was forged and the only place it
can be destroyed. Frodo’s quest brings together a fellowship from the
races of the races of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves and Men, all of whom swear
to protect the ring bearer, as he makes the perilous journey to destroy
the ring and prevent it from returning to the Dark Lord’s control. The
superb cast of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
also features Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Liv Tyler, Sean Bean, Cate
Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd and
Dominic Monaghan. Additional comments on the movie itself can be found in
the 
New
Line Home Entertainment has made the Special Extended Edition of THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING available on DVD in
2.35:1 wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement
for 16:9 displays. At approximately three and a half hours in length, the
Special Extended Edition has been spread across two discs, which maintains
the highest possible quality for both picture and sound, while leaving
additional room for multiple audio commentaries. Like the preceding
transfer of the theatrical cut, this DVD sports a fantastic looking
picture. All of the newly added scenes, including their special effect
work are seamlessly integrated into the body of the film, without so much
as a hint that they were not originally part of the theatrical version of
the movie.
The
image on the DVD is truly stunning and pretty much pushes the limits of
what NTSC is capable of reproducing. I can only imagine how good THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING will look when it
appears in some future HD-DVD format. As of right now, everything appears
incredibly sharp and exceedingly well defined. Colors tend to be
wonderfully vibrant, while providing highly appealing looking flesh tones.
Some of the colors are pushed towards an otherworldly realm, but it is all
quite beautiful. Even the most intense hues in the film are rendered
without any signs of noise or smearing. Blacks appear rich and velvety,
whites are clean and contrast is excellent. Additionally, shadow detail is
as good as it gets. Both halves of the movie are authored on dual layered
discs, which perfectly conceals all traces of digital compression
artifacts.
The
Special Extended Edition of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF
THE RING comes with Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and DTS 6.1 ES soundtracks.
It should come as no surprise that the gorgeous visual quality of this DVD
is perfectly matched by the stunning nature of its digital soundtracks. To
say the mix is aggressive is an understatement. All of the discrete
channels are fully utilized. Active sound effects effortlessly pan between
channels, while creating fully integrated sonic environments, as well as
intense sonic whirlwinds that place viewers in the middle of film’s
action maelstroms. I probably don’t have to point this out, but surround
junkies are going to love this soundtrack.
Of
course, even quieter scenes are impressively mixed with subtlety and
nuance that many viewers may not even notice while wrapped up in the
brilliant storytelling. Dialogue fully intelligible and the actors’
voices are reproduced with a fine, natural timbre. The bass channel is
absolutely thunderous and ground shaking- so those with their subwoofers
set on the high side may want to scale them back, as to not do any damage
to breakables. As for the new scenes in this version of the movie, there
are no sonic variances from the rest of the film to indicate their
addition. The differences between the Dolby Digital and DTS formats are
discernable, but not overly pronounced. DTS has a richer, warmer sound and
a better special quality than the standard bearer. However, those whose
systems are incapable of DTS playback will find themselves completely
blown away by the Dolby Digital soundtrack. An English Dolby Surround
soundtrack is also encoded onto the DVD, as are English subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as an astounding array of brand new
supplemental features, which have been spread across all four discs of
this impressive DVD set. Discs one and two serve up four running separate
audio commentary tracks. Each and every one of the four audio commentaries
has tremendous amount of information to impart, and while it is all great
stuff, it is too much to take in during a short period of time. I expect
that the average viewer will need listen to the commentaries over a series
of weeks, or months, and not in days as reviewers have. Most viewers will
either want to start the cast or director's comments and then move on from
there.
Here
is a rundown of the participants on the four commentary tracks. The
Director And Writers commentary track features Peter
Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. The Design Team
commentary track features production designer Grant Major, costume
designer Ngila Dickson, creative supervisor Richard Taylor, conceptual
designers Alan Lee and John Howe, supervising art director Dan Hennah, art
department manager Chris Hennah, and workshop manager Tania Rodger. The
Production/Post-Production Team commentary track features producer
Barrie Osborn, executive producer Mark Ordesky, director of photography
Andrew Lesnie, editor John Gilbert, co-producer Rick Porras, composer
Howard Shore, visual effects supervisor Jim Rygiel, supervising sound
editors Ethan van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins, animation designer Randy Cook,
visual effects art director Christian Rivers, visual effects
cinematographer Brian Vant Hul, and miniatures director of photography
Alex Funke. The Cast commentary track features Elijah Wood,
Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic
Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee and Sean Bean. To alleviate
confusion during the commentary tracks, subtitles pop up on screen to
indicate the speaker.
Moving
on to discs three and four, which are called The Appendices;
we find about six hours of documentary and other supplementary material.
Since any extensive description of the materials contained on discs three
and four are bound to bore readers of this review, I will keep my comments
as brief as possible. However, let me state right up front that this is
just the most fantastic set of supplements ever produced for a DVD
release. Therefore the folks at New Line Home Entertainment should be
proud of this supreme achievement.
Disc
Three is entitled The Appendices Part One: From Book To Vision.
On this disc one will find six subsections, which can be viewed
individually or all together. J.R.R. Tolkien - Creator Of
Middle-Earth looks at the life and work of the author of this epic
fantasy trilogy. From Book to Script looks at the
difficulties of translating such a mammoth piece of literature into a
screenplay and the elements that needed to be altered for cinematic
purposes. Visualizing The Story looks at the pre-production
conceptualization phase and how the filmmakers got a handle on how they
would create this world on the screen. Designing And Building
Middle-Earth is broken up into four sub-programs which delve into
the actual production design of the movie and takes a detailed look at the
artwork, models, sets and costumes, which would serve as the foundation
for bringing Tolkien's world to life. Middle-Earth Atlas is
an interactive map that allows one to follow the paths taken by Frodo and
Gandalf as they make their way across the landscape of Middle-Earth. New
Zealand As Middle Earth allows one to look at the actual locations
in New Zealand where THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
was filmed.
Disc
Four is entitled The Appendices Part Two: From Vision to Reality.
Like disc three, one will find the material divided into six subsections,
which can be viewed individually or all together. Filming The
Fellowship Of The Ring is divided into four areas, which covers
the bond formed by the cast of the movie, the process of becoming a
hobbit, difficulties in filming the movie that also required extensive
second unit work, and finally a nice section of production photos. Visual
Effects looks at everything from getting the sizes of the
characters right, to the miniature models created for the film, to the
digital effects produced by Weta Digital. Post Production: Putting
It All Together looks at the overwhelming amount of footed
presented to the film's editor, who faced the Herculean task of cutting it
down to its usable components then assembling the theatrical cut of the
movie. This section also offers an interactive demonstration of how just
one sequence was assembled from so much raw footage. Digital Grading
shows how much of the movie was scanned into the computer, so that the
image can be finessed to create the otherworldly look of Middle-Earth, as
well as to enhancing the overall look of the principal photography. Sound
And Music offers two sections on sound design from creation of
sound effects to Howard Shore marvelous musical score. The Road Goes
Ever On features a look at the film's theatrical premieres, as
well as including Elijah Wood's home movie footage. As for the DVD-ROM
section, web links are provided for on-line content.
THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
is a monumental achievement in motion picture making and the Special
Extended Edition DVD is an even greater achievement in the realm of home
entertainment releases. Not only does New Line's Special Extended Edition
of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING offer an even
more impressive cut of the movie, the video and audio quality of the DVD
represents the pinnacle of the format's capabilities. In addition to that,
the four-disc set offers the most astounding array of supplemental
features that I have the pleasure to view. There is absolutely no doubt in
my mind that this is a MUST OWN DVD!
The
Special Extended Edition of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF
THE RING is available in two versions- a standard release for $39.98
and a Collector's Gift Set for $79.98.
