The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition) [Blu-ray] [2001]

Description

One of the most magical, intensely spectacular epic adventures in film history comes alive with these extended editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy on Blu-ray boasting unsurpassed high definition picture and sound. Sound + Vision magazine ranked the 2010 release in their top five Blu-rays of the Year noting that it was one of only two releases to earn five stars for sound and calling it “breathtaking.” Now see and hear the extended trilogy at home the way it was meant to be seen, on Blu-ray Hi-Def. Based on the length of each extended edition feature film and in order to present each film in the highest possible picture quality, each film is presented on two Blu-ray discs.Special Features:The set boasts more than 26 hours of additional content, highlighted by the rare behind-the-scenes documentaries created by Costa Botes, the filmmaker given unprecedented access to the set of each production by Peter Jackson. Costa Botes was able to capture raw and riveting behind-the-scenes film footage. His unique approach to storytelling--allowing the footage to speak for itself--results in an intimate and candid backstage pass to the challenges, preparations and camaraderie that went into shooting the timeless trilogy. The feature-length documentaries, with more than four and a half hours of footage, focus on a number of complexities and circumstances that tested the filmmakers, cast and crew during the shoot, as well as a look at some of the comical antics and personal moments on the set. The Costa Botes documentaries accompany acclaimed special features by Michael Pellerin from the original extended cut releases to make this the most comprehensive The Lord of the Rings compilation ever. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - The Extended Edition includes a new transfer of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which wasremastered from the original 2k digital files, and it all comes in multi-disc elite packaging inside a premium rigid slipcase. Review: A fantastic movie series, now in stunning high resolution detail - Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite movie series of all time, and this BluRay version is absolutely gorgeous. First a couple of technical comments about the BluRay version (I have the Extended DVD version of LOTR as well): 1. Each movie is split into two BluRay discs for a simple reason - this allows for a lower degree of compression so that the native resolution and visual quality of the movies can be better maintained. The resolution is especially important if your system has the software to tweak the sharpness and color settings and your screen has a higher resolution than the native 1080p of the BluRay (I watch all my movies on my desktop computer with 30inch 1900 x 1200 native resolution monitor). The result is an outstanding degree of sharpness (without graininess) throughout the movie - better than I can get for my "Avatar" BluRay. I can see every hair and skin cell, it seems, in the close-up shots! 2. Regarding the comments from others about the "green" tint in this BluRay - it must be your BluRay player. I have not had any problems, but then, the video quality of my computer system can be adjusted at three levels - the monitor, the Nvidia graphics card, and the video playing software. 3. Despite the sharp increase in resolution, there are surprisingly few CGI or other glitches visible. Almost certainly, somebody went through this movie with a fine tooth comb to clean up the high resolution details. I only noticed a few minor glitches still - Isildur's scene at the beginning where he puts on the ring and vanishes still looks like it was shot in front of a green screen (there's a subtle mismatch between his lighting and coloring and that of the background), the Army of the Dead move a bit too CGI whenever they ride out in a horde, and at the end, where the pirate ships have an unnatural looking interface with the water. Now for some thoughts about LOTR and this movie series: It has long been apparent that Tolkien based LOTR on the history and mythology of Great Britain and Europe. And so it finally dawned on me one day that Numenor spelled backwards is "Ronemun" a near-anagram for "Roman", and the Numenoreans must indeed have been the Romans who invaded Middle Earth/Great Britain. The serial invasions of Britain by various European peoples and the themes of constant warfare, and of existing people being displaced by new peoples are integral to both LOTR and the history of Great Britain. History is written by the victors and the losers are invariably demonized in those accounts. And so today the Romans are remembered in much the same light as the noble Numenoreans of LOTR and their enemies remembered as savages. It is worth noting that despite their frequent portrayal as the Founders of Modern Western European Civilization, the Romans slaughtered and enslaved millions in their conquests and displaced vast numbers of peoples. It is thus possible to see that buried beneath the themes of good vs. evil in LOTR is the deeper story of human evolution through eternal warfare. Were the Wildmen of Dunland truly evil? Or were they just fighting to regain their lands taken from them by the Numenoreans and Rohirrim? The true story of Queen Boudica and the Iceni versus the Romans comes to mind here. Were the Orcs and Goblins and Uruk-hai truly deformed, evil monsters? Or were they just coexistent species of near-humans, fighting for their right to exist in Middle Earth? We know now that the line that became modern humans evolved alongside many other side branches of near-humans in what surely must have been a Darwinian death struggle. Are the myths of such monsters merely a racial memory from human pre-history? As I watch this wonderful movie series once again, I do see things in a different light. I had just finished HBO's "Game of Thrones" series, which also featured Sean Bean, in a another role as a sword wielding nobleman. Both stories are set in similar fantasy worlds based on Medieval-era Europe, but their story themes are quite different. LOTR has a simple linear plotline detailing the triumph of good over evil. You know the good guys will remain good guys, the bad guys are utterly evil, and then there are those few in between who struggle with being on one side or the other. The good guys win in LOTR, those in between who fail to overcome the temptations of evil are destroyed, evil is destroyed, and everybody who is good goes on to live happily ever after, although not all stay in Middle-Earth. Having created such powerful forces of evil in his tale, to accomplish that happy ending, Tolkien had to resort to several deus ex machina plot devices to save the overwhelmed good guys - the charge of Eomer's Riders straight into the long pikes of the Uruk-hai to save Helm's Deep (not likely to be successful in the real world), the Great Eagles to save Gandalf and Frodo/Sam, and the Army of the Dead to save Gondor. "Game of Thrones" is very different, none more so than the character of Sean Bean, who plays a thoroughly decent, honest, and good man, and yet comes to an untimely end. Who is good and evil in this tale cannot be so easily sorted out, as everyone has a different agenda, and it is just a mass free-for-all struggle for power and survival. The few who appear to be truly good in this tale get crushed in the struggle. History and life are indeed more like "Game of Thrones" than LOTR. But in my heart, I still love LOTR more than something like "Game of Thrones", which although fascinating to watch, makes me squirm. LOTR remains closer to an idealized fantasy myth world. There are some things I wish for, though. I wish Saruman could have had a chance to tell his tale, of why he chose the path of science and industrialization (which after all is what produced technology like this BluRay movie), why he chose to ally himself with these species of near-humans and breed the Uruk-Hai. I wish the Wildmen and the Easterlings had a chance to tell their tale, for surely they had reasons to ally themselves with Saruman and Sauron. There are hints of this back story in the Appendices and other works of Tolkien, but only hints. There is another tale to be told there, I'm sure. Review: As it was meant to be! Blu-ray just $10 more than DVD - Get it! - This review is for the Blu-ray extended edition of LOTR. Get it, get it, get it!!! I could stop there, but I'll flesh out this recommendation a bit. First, there seems to be some debate between getting the Blu-ray edition or the DVD edition. In terms of the quality of picture, if you have a good Blu-ray player that upscales DVDs well, the picture image is pretty comparable. Unfortunately, not all B/R players are created equal, and some don't upscale as well as others. If you can relate to this: "The desirability of my player's upscaling capabilities rate right up there with rat phlegm!" then you should definitely consider getting the B/R edition rather than settling for poorly upscaled DVDs. My player, however, does a great job at upscaling, and with that in mind, I have to give a slight nod to the B/R disks. It's close, but B/R edges out DVD by a rat's whisker ("Man, this guy's obsessed with rats!"). One could argue the difference is all in my mind, but I see the B/R edition picture as slightly cleaner and more vibrant than the upscaled DVD. The great news is, if a huge price difference existed between B/R and DVD editions, I would have to lean towards sparing the almighty dollar and going with a wildly less expensive DVD version. But the prices are so comparable now ($69 for B/R, $59 for DVD,) that unless you really don't have $10 extra bucks to spare, I strongly suggest you invest in the B/R edition. In my opinion, the modest improvement between B/R and good, upscaled DVDs is worth the few extra dollars. Regarding the issue with "greenish hue" and overall "darkness" of picture quality, particularly on the Two Towers disks, when I made my purchase, desertcart had a note on the product page saying it was temporarily suspending its own sales of the B/R set due to complaints about these issues. I purchased from a 3rd party seller, and I'm esctatic to report that the images on all B/R disks are pristine and just as they should be. It looks like desertcart simply had a defective stock of product. I notice their disclaimer message has been removed. Presumably, this means they replaced the faulty stock with good product, so I would not hesitate to order through desertcart on that account. If you're still leery of the desertcart connection and think they may have moved your cheese ("Is he about to start talking about rats again?") the 3rd party seller I purchased through was Super Fast DVDs (Roger J. Farney). Fulfillment was done by desertcart, so Prime still applied. It was about $6 more for the B/R package, but I considered that well worth it to avoid desertcart's (then) bad batch problems. I can verify from my experience that Farney's stock of product had no technical glitches. He has a lifetime rating of 97% satisfaction, and more recently has been hitting in the 98% to 99% range. You really can't go wrong there if you're at all still concerned about the problems desertcart had. Probably other sellers have good product as well, but I chose Farney based on his satisfaction ratings, and on the fact that I got the Prime free 2 day shipping. This saved me a couple of bucks and largely offset the extra $6 he charges for the B/R edition over desertcart's price. As for the extended scenes, what can I say? They are magnificent. The theatrical release was excellent, and remained very true to Tolkien's original work. The extended material, while sometimes deviating from a strictly literal recitation of the novels, nevertheless remains true not only to the spirit of Tolkien's vision, but is internally consistent with the rest of the movies. The added material helps the story flow better than ever. It makes an already enjoyable movie experience even more enjoyable. Get this Blu-ray edition, grab your Main Squeeze, park it on the sofa with popcorn and some drinks, and prepare for a truly magical experience! May the Force be with you! (Oooops! Sorry, wrong movie...)