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

The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy – Extended Edition on Blu-ray is an outstanding boxset that delivers the films exactly as they deserve to be experienced—longer, richer, and presented with excellent picture and sound quality. This set includes the extended versions of all three films, each spread across two Blu-ray discs to preserve high quality, plus multiple bonus discs packed with some of the most in-depth behind-the-scenes material you’ll find in any film collection. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) – The extended cut adds warmth and depth to the early chapters, giving more space to Hobbiton, Bree, and the journey through the Mines of Moria. Character arcs feel more complete, and the pacing benefits from the added world-building. The Blu-ray transfer brings out the lush colours, the sweeping landscapes, and Howard Shore’s incredible score with clarity. The Two Towers (2002) – This film gains some of the most valuable additions in extended form. Rohan’s storyline, Faramir’s motivation, and Gollum’s inner conflict are all strengthened. The battle sequences—especially Helm’s Deep—look and sound fantastic in HD, and the extra scenes make the emotional stakes even stronger. The Return of the King (2003) – The extended edition here is essential, adding crucial character moments, expanded battles, and a more satisfying sense of closure. The Siege of Minas Tirith and the Battle of Pelennor Fields feel even more epic, and the sound design on Blu-ray adds weight and immersion to the film’s biggest moments. This is the most complete version of the story, and it shows. As a boxset, this collection is exceptional. The packaging is attractive and sturdy, and the organisation of discs is clear and easy to navigate. The inclusion of the extensive “Appendices” documentaries provides hours of behind-the-scenes insights, covering everything from special effects to costume design, cast interviews and production diaries. It’s easily one of the most comprehensive bonus-feature collections available for any franchise. Overall, this trilogy set offers the best way to experience Peter Jackson’s masterpiece. The extended cuts add real narrative value, the Blu-ray presentation is strong across all films, and the bonus content elevates the set from a simple movie collection to a full, immersive exploration of Middle-earth. A must-have for fans and an excellent upgrade for anyone looking to enjoy the trilogy in its most complete form.

Lord of the Rings are the three of the best movies ever made. The epic scale is incomparible and the sheer beauty of these films is so unique and awe inspiring that they should be considered as the highest standard, the ten out of ten, the top dog of epic films. Peter Jackson introduces the world of Middle Earth to us in breathtaking and magnificent style, his eye for scenery and set pieces is amazing and he captures Tolkeins world in a raw, realistic and very believable way. All three of the films included in this extended edition boxset are amazing, and they get even better as they go along. Jackson who also wrote the script with fran walsh and philippa boyens has made Middle Earth accesible to millions of people, the books are considered classi and deservedly so but are hard for some people to get into and enjoy, here though the films allow us to be a part of Tolkeins legendary world and be thoroughly entertained. WETA workshop delivers truly stunning and very realistic special effects, the creatures and architecture are so detailed that looking at them you would not be able to pick them out from the real sets. As well as having awesome special effects the sets and scenery are breathtaking, filmed entirely in New Zealand allows for a majestic and sweeping view of Middle Earth that makes it all the more believable and epic. From Helm's Deep, the shire and Minas Tirith it's obvious that a lot of attention has been paid to making these films as epic and amazing as is possible. The cast is just as brilliant as everything else, Elijah Wood and Sean Astin as Frodo and Sam, Viggo Mortensen as Aragon, Ian Mckellen as Gandalf, Liv Tyler as Arwin, Cristopher Lee as Saruman, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, John Rhys Davis as Gimly and all the rest of the cast are perfectly suited for their roles. Its impossible not to be entertained by these films, each one of them delivers us into an astoundingly realistic and beautiful world where it is very easy to get lost in. Fellowship of the ring, Two towers and return of the king each are deserved of the countless awards they have won. This extended edition boxset of every movie is must have for any fan, the fact that over fourty minutes have been added to every film makes it a completely new experience - the additional footage is amazing and if you are considering buying this product i would strongly advise you to do so - it is also available at a very reasonable price as you get hours upon hours upon hours of extras. Jackson should be very proud of what he has achieved here, in creating these films he has changed the course of cinematic history, the present of cinematic history and the future of cinematic history.

Don't be intimidated by the hundreds of negative reviews. They seem to be mostly for a different edition, so pay attention carefully before you order, as the editions reviewed here are a mixed lot, and this edition unjustifiably suffers from the resulting average rating. It seems that if a rating for this edition only was calculated, it would be much closer to 5-stars than the current 3.5. ****** 14/2/2012 UPDATE - Beginning *********************************************************** I can now see that Amazon has wisely split the reviews and instead of the more than 1200 reviews for all versions - the reviews are now solely for the extended edition, so the opening paragraph is no more relevant. Well done Amazon! The previous mix-up really gave a distorted picture. ***** 14/2/2012 UPDATE - END ****************************************************************** The set contains 12 DVD's divided to three high quality boxes, designed to give it a look of a leather bound cover, all protected by an outer firm cardboard cover. Each of the movies is more than 3 hours long, and considering the very high quality of picture and audio, they had to divide it to two DVD's, with the other two DVD's dedicated to appendices containing many superb extras. It's obvious that Peter Jackson and all those involved with the production of this extended version box set made their utmost efforts to produce a polished, rich and gratifying product. Each of the 3 boxes has an inner sleeve that contains a nice booklet, that gives all the details you need about the special extended edition and the appendices, followed by two detailed stylish foldout diagrams that map the entire extras' menus. A list of all the scenes is given along with a notation which is extended and which is new, thus I could easily sum it up: Fellowship of the Ring: 200 minutes in 48 scenes, with 30 min. of 20 extended and 7 new scenes (6 + Fan Club Credits) The Two Towers: 214 min. in 68 scenes, with 42 min. of 19 extended and 16 new scenes (15 + FCC) The Return of the King: 240 min. in 78 scenes, with 48 min. of 24 extended and 15 new scenes (14 + FCC) 4(!) different feature length prolific non-stop commentary tracks on each of the 3 films by: Director & Writers Design Team Production/Post Production Team The Cast While the commentaries are not subtitled, they are crystal clear ,easy to follow and highly interesting. This is a massively loaded set that will keep you busy for a long period of time... Money well spent!

Unfortunately, the German box set of the extended blu-ray is much more expensive, since it seams to have been produced for just around 9 months. Since I usually prefer to watch the original version anyway, there was no reason to not order the UK-Version. The product is of good quality and the HD version really is to be recommended. Great job on the remastering, much better sound than on the German version (although they did a great job there with the extended DVD, the dubbing actors do a marvelous job in this movie! - but Warner botched it on the blu-ray). I was a bit afraid that one might be able to recognise little flaws in mask and costumes more easily with HD resolution. But no worries! It looks really great. The box is quite nice and well done with a magnetic lock. The blue plastic blu-ray cassettes could have been replaced by something of higher quality. Their functionality is quite ok, with deviders that are attachable to one side of the cassette to hold them in place. Nevertheless I prefer the well done carton foldouts of the DVD extended version (but nothing compares to the quality of the Box-set and carton of the Extended Collectors DVD Edition. Not to mention the age restriction stickers that seam to be obligatory in the UK to spoil the appearance of every movie-box. These is done much nicer in the US and German version. But still the blue plastic cassettes are acceptable regarding that this product is to be used frequently, so the access is easier than with the fold-out carton cassettes and is more robust against wear. Looks great on the book shelf or mantle piece. The booklets inside sometimes get a little buckled as they might not properly fit into the space underneath their brackets, getting in the way of the hinges of the devider. Careful refolding might help here. Warner could have done a better job here. All in all, a very good product well worth buying. The often mentioned colour shifts with the Shire looking more green, Lothlorien more blueish at night, Moria colourless and at times even black and white and such is actually wanted and was part of the remastering for the extended versions to increase the emotional experience and better reflect how the director depicted it (see making-off on the appendices and behind the scenes DVDs; highly recommended!). The HD quality is beautiful, even with my not so great HD computer monitor. Although they didn't make use of all the possibilities that a blu-ray could give like e.g. you get in Avatar (cinema and multiple director cut versions with beautiful subtitles etc.). I very likely will buy the extended version again when it comes out in UHDV and whatever successor to Blu-Ray they come up with. ;)

I will presume that most people have seen these movies by now so this review is for the quality of the Blu-ray box set itself. Picture and Audio There was a lot of controversy around the picture quality of the theatrical release of the Blu-Ray lord of the Rings and so I was nervous about buying this box set. But as a fan of both the Lord of the Rings and High Definition movies then I couldn't put it off any longer. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see some of my favourite movies in their ultra-crisp glory upon my television. The picture quality simply doesn't live up to the modern standards of something filmed in IMAX or a more up to date camera system but the improvement over the DVD versions is instantly noticeable and vast. The picture quality really is excellent and does not at all stand in the way of the stunning visual effects or the great movies themselves. The worry over video quality was apparently over the colour cast of the movie. There have been complaints of a blue cast to the overall picture quality of the theatrical releases. Either that was fixed for these editions or it really isn't all that noticeable because to me the blu-rays were great and lived up to the epic quality of their content. As for the audio, when played through my 5.1 surround sound I noticed no problem what soever with the audio of these movies. Box Set Having owned the extended edition DVD's this box set is a little bit of a let down. There isn't the same tactile feel to this box set but other than that there is nothing wrong with it. They still do look good upon the shelf and they come with the full range of movies and extras so there is nothing really to complain about. Overall Verdict Overall this is an excellent box set that does the movies justice and therefore can take pride of place in my Blu-Ray collection. For those who have seen and loved the movies they are a must get, for those who haven't even seen the theatrical releases then these movies can seem a little long, I do however, think they are far superior to the theatrical versions.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that everyone reading this already knows a good deal about the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so I won't discuss the quality of the movies in detail. Needless to say that there really is no competition between the theatrical and extended editions so far as the experience is concerned. The Extended Editions feel much more whole and complete and generally far more satisfying than the abridged theatrical version. Equal love and attention is put into the special features, which are immensely detailed and entertaining. The main topic of debate over this release has been the quality of the video, the use of 2 discs per film, and the use of DVDs for special features as opposed to blu-ray discs. VIDEO & AUDIO: Fellowship - The discontent with the theatrical blu-ray for Fellowship is no secret, leading to the new transfer for this boxset. There have been videos showing the high green levels in the transfer, which has led many to write off buying this release. The bad news is that certain scenes do indeed look a little too green - weathertop and subsequent scene when Arwen arrives; Mines of Moria and a few others. There is also a higher level of orange than I remember in other scenes (i.e. Rivendell). The good news is that these are brief little bumps in the road for an otherwise brilliant video. The film finally looks high-definition with beautiful clarity and detail but without looking over digitised. It looks natural and impressive. Two Towers & Return of the King - There is no major improvement in these films but one thing I did feel when watching the theatrical blu-rays was that the picture, though impressive, was flat somehow... although that may be my imagination. If it wasn't my imagination, then the issue has been addressed as the video seems to have more depth and warmth. Audio - The unquestionable champion of this set is the audio quality. I had enormous expectations for Howard Shore's soundtrack, which has left me in tears on numerous occasions, and was not left disappointed (or dry eyed). The audio is incredibly detailed and dynamic. You can literally hear the brush of the leaves and trickle of water, along with the perfect soundtrack and crystal clear dialogue. Multi-layered sound effects are used appropriately and never overstated - they will highly reward any good surround system. Every aspect of the audio track is a great success, especially the dialogue, which I had always found difficult to understand in particular scenes but could understand perfectly here. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute spent with each of these terrific soundtracks. 2 DISCS PER FILM: This issue never really bothered me, although I've always disliked the way in which the split was handled. It's not too bad for Fellowship, with disc 1 ending on the founding of the Fellowship of the Ring - a perfect mid-point. However, both Two Towers and Return of the King cut-offs are sudden and inappropriate, killing the mood and tension slightly. Unfortunately, this hasn't been fixed for this release, which is a shame but not lethal. SPECIAL FEATURES DVDS: Again, this is not something which really bothers me. Whilst it would be nice to have a complete set of blu-ray discs and enjoy the special features in high-definition, there is nothing which really suffers from being on a DVD. Considering the time and money that would have to be put into the transfers, I think it is best that they have been left on DVDs. WHY FOUR STARS??: Considering I have had nothing but praise for this set, you might wonder why I have only given it four stars. The reason is simple - the US release of this boxset was virtually identical, except that it also included digital copies of the films whereas ours does not. However, both sets are a similar price, or ours is a good £15-20 more expensive if you compare Amazon's prices. While this may have been acceptable before digital copies really came over to the UK, it is now commonplace for the more premium Blu-Ray releases to include digital copies of the film and, for the price tag, we should have been given the same treatment as our American counterparts. CONCLUSION: General opinion is that this boxset is still holding back a little and the full deal will be released in the next couple of years to support the release of The Hobbit movies. I obviously cannot predict whether or not that will happen but feel that, for now at least, this boxset is the best we are going to get and it is certainly 100% better than the theatrical blu-ray set. If you loved the extended editions, or haven't had the chance to see them yet, then this set shows them in all their audio-visual glory and should not be dismissed as a half-effort (lack of digital copies aside).

The Blu-Ray boxed trilogy is a must own for anyone who enjoyed the trilogy in the cinema. There's an immediately obvious, in fact dazzling, improvement in video quality when compared to the special edition DVD (which used the maximum bitrate for that format). The audio is perceptibly - but only just - better than the special edition DVD which already had superb audio choices. On these Blu-Rays there's just the one audio track offered - DTS-HD Master 6.1, but that's quite enough if all you want is to enjoy the films, rather than critically assess them. One of the extras on the features disc for the Fellowship Of The Ring Blu-Ray is of Peter Jackson promoting the Special Edition DVDs. He states that he doesn't like the expression "Director's Cut" because that implies that the cinematic release was not the director's preferred option, and the theatrical releases of LOTR were definitely his preferred choice. He says that he loves "special edition" DVDs and he had them in mind throughout filming. The theatrical release edits are gripping, exciting and ultimately rewarding - fully justifying every award nomination and win. The extended versions on the Special Edition DVDs are well worth owning and viewing, especially because they add supplementary information which satisfyingly complements the theatrical versions. They are beautifully packaged and produced and they contain so much detail as extra features that you'd practically need a simultaneous extra life to have a hope of getting through them all. A significant feature is the choice of multiple commentary tracks. They look very good too - just noticeably not as good as the Blu-Rays. There are some extra features on the Theatrical Version Blu-Rays which are not on the Special Edition DVDs however the main reason you would want them, even if you own the DVDs, is the absolutely perfect video quality which does full credit to the special effects and majestic scenery which made the trilogy such a breathtaking joy in the cinema. Add to that a master audio quality soundtrack and you are left with no doubt that Blu-Ray lives up to all the promises and earns its place as the ultimate consumer format. At the low price which Amazon is asking for both the Blu-Ray theatrical and Special Edition DVD versions of the trilogy you'd be well advised to buy both and enjoy the big advantages which each has to offer. I am not waiting anxiously for the Blu-Ray Special Editions - they'll just be the icing on an already very big and very tasty cake.

Seriousely, three of the best films ever made, and the best special features you will find anywhere, or at least as far as I know. The only thing missing from these DVDs are the outtakes, but pretty much everything else you could want to see on the making of the LOTR trilogy or the background to the books. Extra scenes are included in the films, and are worth a look, The Two Towers and Return of the King seem better paced than the theatrical versions, they take more time to go over the little things that every fan of the book will be pleased to see back in the films. The Fellowship also has some good new scenes, but prsonally I prefer the theatrical one, and the extended version takes a little while longer to get going, still worth the money though. These will give you something to watch for a while if nothing else, the special features can be watched in two parts, but it can be a bit hard going after a while, theres hours on each disc. The appendacies DVDs go behind the scenes, have hours of interviews, cover most stages of production, the history of the books and Tolkein, and none of it is presented in a boring and formulaic way that, lets face it, you find on must special feature discs. It is obviouse with everything on these DVDs that they have been crafted with so much care and passion for the subject material, as with the films. At no point does it feel like these DVDs have been made for extra profit, but because everyone in the project really has something to share with the audience. There is something for everyone (except people that dont enjoy the Lord of The Rings.) These are must have DVDs!