Product Description
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Special Features:
DISCS 1 & 2: SPECIAL EXTENDED EDITION OF THE FILM
Anamorphic Widescreen
Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound
DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound
Stereo Surround Sound
English Subtitles
Four feature-length commentaries by the director and writers,
the cast, the production and design teams; with more than 30
participants including: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa
Bouens, Richard Taylor, Andrew Lensie, Howard Shore, Jim Rygiel
and Randy Cook and the Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv
Tyler, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davis, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan,
Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee and Sean Bean.
DISC 3: THE APPENDICES PART ONEFROM BOOK TO VISION
Six documentaries covering J.R.R Tolkien, the process of
adapting the 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, armour,
creatures and miniatures created for the film. An interactive
of Middle-earth tracing the journey of the Fellowship
Galleries of art and accompanying slide shows with commentaries
by the artists (including an archive of nearly 2,000 images)
Storyboards and previsualization sequences with film comparisons
English Subtitles
DISC 4: THE APPENDICES PART TWOFROM VISION TO REALITY
11 original documentaries covering the cast, principle
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
English Subtitles
From .co.uk
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In every aspect, the extended edition of Peter Jackson's epic
fantasy The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is
superior to the theatrical version (
/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005RDP8/${0} ). No-one who cares at all
about the film should ever need to watch the original again.
Well, maybe the impatient and the squeamish will still prefer it,
because this extended edition makes a long film 30 minutes longer
and there's a wee bit more violence. But the changes--sometimes
whole scenes, sometimes merely a few seconds--make for a richer
film. There's more of the spirit of JRR Tolkien, embodied in more
songs and a longer opening focusing on Hobbiton. There's more
character development, and more background into what is to come
in the two subsequent films, such as Galadriel's gifts to the
Fellowship and Aragorn's burden of lineage. Some additions make
more sense to the plot while others are merely worth seeing, such
as the wood elves leaving Middle-earth or the view of Caras
Galadhon (but sorry, there's still no Tom Bombadil).
On the DVDs: The Fellowship of the Ring--Extended Version comes
in two distinct packages: choose either the four-disc set (
/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000066DY0/${0} ) itself, handsomely presented
in a hardback book-style fold-out, or the huge and more expensive
Collector's Box Set ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000066DY1/${0} ), which
has the same four-disc set accompanied by two chunky "polystone"
sculpted Argonath bookends, both of which are solid enough to
support either your DVD or Tolkien book collection. The discs
themselves have extremely useful chapter menus that indicate
which scenes are new or extended. The only drawback is that the
film is now spread over two discs, with a somewhat abrupt break
following the council at Rivendell, due to the storage capacity
required for the longer running time, the added DTS ES 6.1 audio,
and the commentary tracks. But that's a minor inconvenience. Of
the four commentaries those with the greatest general appeal are
the one by Jackson with cowriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens,
and the one by 10 cast members; but the more technically
orientated commentaries by the creative and production staff are
also worth hearing.
The bonus features (encompassing two complete DVDs) are far
superior to the largely promotional materials included on the
theatrical release, delving into such matters as script
development, casting, and visual effects. This extended edition
DVD set is the Fellowship to rule them all. --David Horiuchi