The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Special Extended Edition 12-DVD Box Set

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 & WritersDesign TeamProduction/Post Production TeamThe CastWhile 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.;)