The Lord Of The Rings: Limited Edition 2-Disc DVD Sets Review

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Title: The Lord Of The Rings: Limited Edition 2-Disc Sets

Films: The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers, The Return Of The King

Region: One

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensten, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, David Wendham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, and John Noble

Writers: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair and Peter Jackson

Based On The Books By: J.R.R. Tolkien

Director: Peter Jackson

Theatrical Version Feature Lengths: 178 minutes/179 minutes/200 minutes

Extended Version Feature Lengths: 208 minutes/225 minutes/250 minutes

Extras: Behind The Scenes Documentaries Created By Filmmaker Costa Botes (Personally Selected By Peter Jackson)

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Closed Captions and English and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Two-Disc Digipack Cases

Theatrical Version Chapter Stops: 40/53/60

Extended Version Chapter Stops: 48/68/78

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Releases: 2001/2002/2003/DVD Release: 2006

Theatrical Distributor: New Line Cinema

Home Video Distributor: New Line Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

The movie trilogy of the decade and instant classics that will be past down from one generation to the next just as the books that inspired it, The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers, and The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King standout as one of the best fantasy film series ever produced for the big screen. Though there are interesting websites out there that will note the various differences between the action in the books and the films, I think Peter Jackson adapted the books into movies that are more than close to the spirit of the novels and in terms of cinema, they actually improve upon them instead of just translating them to the screen verbatim. If anything I find the cinematic trilogy makes one want to read the books and the books make one want to see the movies.

Already released in both theatrical cuts and extended cuts as well as Limited Collector’s Sets that featured reproductions of elements from the film along with an exclusive bonus disc, until now if you wanted both cuts of the film you had to buy them separately. However rather than simply inserting new material not seen in the theatrical releases, the extended editions are very different dramatic presentations. So different at times that a fan of the trilogy would have to have both releases as well as the exclusive content within the bonus features in order to have almost everything. There were also still those three exclusive discs in the Limited Collector’s Sets that were not included within the other versions. Now we have another set of three limited edition 2-Disc DVD sets and if we count the widescreen releases of the theatrical versions, extended versions, those exclusive bonus discs found only in the collector’s sets and now the 6 limited discs released by New Line Home Entertainment, a hardcore fan would have to have a total of 27 DVDs in order to have everything available directly related to the film on DVD from New Line and that is not including the various tie-in releases that came out on DVD before, during, and after their release from other home video distributors.

However whether you are a huge fan or simply a casual viewer that liked the films, there might have been factors that prevented you from buying either the theatrical and extended editions or both. For example, I have the extended versions in my library, but not the theatrical cuts and my older brother has the theatrical versions in his library, but not the extended versions. For a limited time New Line Home Entertainment has released the three films in two-disc sets that features both the theatrical and extended versions of the films on one disc through the use of seamless branching and on the second disc of each set is a never-before-seen documentary about the making of each film respectively created by Costa Botes, who was commissioned by Peter Jackson to document the making of the films. So now my brother and I have both versions of the films in our libraries. The discs themselves come housed in the traditionally color coded digipack packaging of green, red, and blue for the three films as has been the case with the original releases and each features beautiful artwork on the cover by artists who conceptualized the images seen in the films. Their work can also be seen in the three “Art Of” books published by Houghton Mifflin and available at retailers on and offline. When put on a bookshelf next to the extended edition four-disc sets released a few years back, these new limited editions look like paperback versions next to their hardcover counterparts. On the top of the front packaging for each film is a little artistic representation of the One Ring, the Eye of Sauron, and the Crown of the King respectively. The same holds true for the disc surface artwork for the second DVD in each pack.

Since I do not have the theatrical versions outside of these limited two-disc sets, I cannot offer a first hand perspective regarding the comparison of the picture quality for each, but according to what I read before the films were released on DVD, the theatrical versions would actually look better on this release since the entire film is not being compressed to fit on one dual layered disc. Here both versions share one double-sided DVD, which means that you do have to take the DVD out of the player and flip it to see the second half, but the results are breathtaking. The image quality is gorgeous with an anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) presentation for each film coupled with the same excellent English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Soundtracks found on the respective original releases. English Dolby Surround Sound and English Closed Captions for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as English and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the discs as options. The interactive menu style for both the theatrical and extended versions of the films are similar to the manner in which the original DVD releases were set up and feature animated transitions and music from the films. The extended versions also feature full motion scene selections too.

The documentaries on the second disc are not polished like the ones shown in the past. These are raw and at times almost feel like someone with a high-resolution camcorder was recording the production from the sidelines rather than professional documentary filmmakers. The results yield a bit of a reality check for the viewer because the glossy or glamorous world of moviemaking is rolled away to show that making movies is hard work. Anyone who has ever worked on the set of anything for one day regardless if it was a feature film, TV show, commercial, or music video will tell you it is not how Entertainment Tonight might make it seem or that sort of magical image one is given when they go on some vacation studio tour and whatnot. Footage that stuck out in my mind in particular for The Fellowship Of The Ring (85:00) had a woman instructing others that the extras should not be allowed on the set unless specifically called for and they are not supposed to watch or engage the stars of the films while they are working unless it is specifically called for by the Director. Now doesn’t that just burst the fantasy of how cool it might have been to be an Orc or a Soldier of Gondor in a scene featuring one of the actors from the film? My advice to anyone who ever works on anything related to the Entertainment Industry is be thankful and be professional because that is how it goes.

In The Two Towers documentary (1:46:16), we see some rather silly fooling about for the camera with Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, Brad Dourif discussing the thatch roof of the Edoras set and we watch, as busts of Gollum to be scanned into a computer are prepared. For The Return Of The King (1:52:00), we see behind the scenes footage of the Corsairs of Umbar, footage of the Orc commander Gothmog’s demise and Bruce Spence discussing his character, The Mouth of Sauron. There is also a funny wig with pink curlers gag featuring Sir Ian McKellen.

All of these documentaries are feature length and are presented in a letterboxed aspect ratio with optional English and Spanish Language Subtitles. The Lord Of The Rings: Limited Edition 2-Disc Sets are available individually or collectively now at retailers on and offline courtesy of New Line Home Entertainment.

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