# Of the 3 extended edition films,which one is your favorite and why?



## KL70 (Aug 15, 2012)

Of the 3 extended edition only LOTR films on blu-ray, which is your favorite film and please say why.


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## Starbrow (Aug 15, 2012)

My favorite is the Fellowship of the Rings. I love how the Shire and Lothlorien are depicted in the films. For me the characters are the least cringe-inducing in this part. I don't like how Gimli was made into such a clown and I hate how they changed Faramir's character in the other films.


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## Maiden_of Harad (Jul 25, 2013)

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Starbrow said:


> My favorite is the Fellowship of the Rings. I love how the Shire and Lothlorien are depicted in the films.



Me too! The pace of FOTR is wonderful too; lingering, almost languid at times, while at other moments I held my breath in fear. This film is one of the most beautiful, in scenery, costuming, and acting that I've seen. Plus, I think it's the one that sticks closest to the book (at least that's how it looked to me, who only read LOTR straight through once).
In all each of these elements came together to make a truely enjoyable film.
Now if only they had Glorfindel instead of Arwen at the fords...
...And yes, I read the book well before seeing the movie, and I reread my favorite parts over and over again


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## Sulimo (Oct 10, 2013)

Though I dislike Aragorn and Arawen's characters in the film I do think it is by far the best of the films. The others do not even compare.


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## Olorgando (Sep 9, 2019)

I'll go with "Fellowship", too. The EEs generally added stuff for the nerds, but I guess it has to do with "Fellowship" straying least far away from the book. PJ had to reckon with several millions, if not tens of millions of readers of the book screaming with rage if he had taken too many liberties. And with principal photography having been finished even before the first film hit the cinemas, there would have been potential for serious financial disaster with such a reaction - at least it might have put a very serious dent in potential box office receipts.


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## Halasían (Sep 9, 2019)

Fellowship by far. Less reliant on CGI and though my stomach churns every time I see Arwen sneak up and catch Aragorn at unawares, it is still the best. The only other thing I wish to mention is in Return of the King, I love it when Peter JAckson gets skewered by Legolas's arrow.


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## Olorgando (Sep 9, 2019)

Halasían said:


> … The only other thing I wish to mention is in Return of the King, I love it when Peter JAckson gets skewered by Legolas's arrow.


Do they show the EEs in cinemas occasionally? Memory is sketchy … but in a cinema full of nerds, that scene would probably be followed by a roar of
"All right! Go Gimli!" 😆


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## Erestor Arcamen (Sep 10, 2019)

Olorgando said:


> Do they show the EEs in cinemas occasionally? Memory is sketchy … but in a cinema full of nerds, that scene would probably be followed by a roar of
> "All right! Go Gimli!" 😆



I recall them slowing the EE's at least once in my local Cinemark. It's been a while though.


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## Halasían (Sep 11, 2019)

I dont think I saw the EE ROTK in a cinema. I did see FotR & TT EE at the theater on the lead up to the midnight showing on release of ROTK.

One of the more memorable moments of watching ROTK in a theater.. I saw it twice at one... was when a guy stood up as Frodo got his finger bit off by Gollum and started singing in perfect key 'Frodo of the Nine Fingers' song from the Rankin Bass cartoon.


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## Gothmog (Sep 11, 2019)

Well, favorite would be going too far. But my least hated is Fellowship. Despite the theatrical release being so bad that I almost walked out half-way through, the extra in the EE did make it watchable.

The worst by far is Two Towers. I recall all the furor over the name before it's release with many saying that it should be changed because of the Twin Towers and thinking what a load of invented outrage. Then I saw it in the cinema and thought it should have been re-named and all references to Lord of the Rings removed from the posters as there was almost no reference to the book within the film!


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Sep 11, 2019)

Barliman told me that while he was in line for TT, he saw a guy wearing a T shirt reading "Remember the Real Glorfindel!".

Halasian, you should have gotten up a rousing chorus of this:


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## Sir Eowyn (Apr 18, 2020)

If we're talking Extended Editions specifically... I mean, not only is Fellowship obviously by far my favourite, but it's the only one whose pacing isn't absolutely destroyed by the extended. Don't get me wrong, things drag a LITTLE, that extra half hour... but you don't get things like the ending of Two Towers, where they have three light scenes that you don't need at all right after the climax.


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## Olorgando (Apr 18, 2020)

Sir Eowyn said:


> If we're talking Extended Editions specifically... I mean, not only is Fellowship obviously by far my favourite, but it's the only one whose pacing isn't absolutely destroyed by the extended. Don't get me wrong, things drag a LITTLE, that extra half hour... but you don't get things like the ending of Two Towers, where they have three light scenes that you don't need at all right after the climax.


That's why these are the EEs, and not the ones originally shown in the cinema. Thumbing the nose at the Hollywood cookie cutter, at least a bit. 
As per Wikipedia;
"Jackson came up with the idea of an extended cut for Laserdisk and DVD formats while in preproduction. He could insert some of the violence that he thought he'd have to trim to get a PG-13 rating for the theatre, and he could tailor the pacing to the demands of the small-screen, which he said were "completely different." He observed that the extended cuts will be "ultimately seen as the more definitive versions of the films.""
Certainly for book nerds like me. I can't say much about the differing needs of the large vs. the small screen, except the most obvious difference being that "pause" button on the DVD player's remote control. Or rewind, and slow-motion, for that matter. These would probably be the favorite features for the discontinuity / blooper hunters. There's a still of Gandalf from some Battle scene, somewhere here on TTF, where Ian McKellen's sleeve has slipped up a bit, revealing his digital wristwatch - overlaid with Gandalf's words to Frodo from the beginning of "Fellowship" the film: "A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins." 🤣


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## Alice (Apr 19, 2020)

Mm, I think it can be "The Two Towers", though I've never seen it with original dub. I need to fix it


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## Sir Eowyn (Apr 19, 2020)

Olorgando said:


> That's why these are the EEs, and not the ones originally shown in the cinema. Thumbing the nose at the Hollywood cookie cutter, at least a bit.
> As per Wikipedia;
> "Jackson came up with the idea of an extended cut for Laserdisk and DVD formats while in preproduction. He could insert some of the violence that he thought he'd have to trim to get a PG-13 rating for the theatre, and he could tailor the pacing to the demands of the small-screen, which he said were "completely different." He observed that the extended cuts will be "ultimately seen as the more definitive versions of the films.""
> Certainly for book nerds like me. I can't say much about the differing needs of the large vs. the small screen, except the most obvious difference being that "pause" button on the DVD player's remote control. Or rewind, and slow-motion, for that matter. These would probably be the favorite features for the discontinuity / blooper hunters. There's a still of Gandalf from some Battle scene, somewhere here on TTF, where Ian McKellen's sleeve has slipped up a bit, revealing his digital wristwatch - overlaid with Gandalf's words to Frodo from the beginning of "Fellowship" the film: "A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins." 🤣





Olorgando said:


> That's why these are the EEs, and not the ones originally shown in the cinema. Thumbing the nose at the Hollywood cookie cutter, at least a bit.
> As per Wikipedia;
> "Jackson came up with the idea of an extended cut for Laserdisk and DVD formats while in preproduction. He could insert some of the violence that he thought he'd have to trim to get a PG-13 rating for the theatre, and he could tailor the pacing to the demands of the small-screen, which he said were "completely different." He observed that the extended cuts will be "ultimately seen as the more definitive versions of the films.""
> Certainly for book nerds like me. I can't say much about the differing needs of the large vs. the small screen, except the most obvious difference being that "pause" button on the DVD player's remote control. Or rewind, and slow-motion, for that matter. These would probably be the favorite features for the discontinuity / blooper hunters. There's a still of Gandalf from some Battle scene, somewhere here on TTF, where Ian McKellen's sleeve has slipped up a bit, revealing his digital wristwatch - overlaid with Gandalf's words to Frodo from the beginning of "Fellowship" the film: "A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins." 🤣



Big screen or small, I don't think the difference is all that profound. I'm glad the other cuts exist, and I'm glad that I've seen them, but tried watching the Two Towers one the other day and found it so draggy I turned it off, restarted it with theatrical... like a breath of fresh air. The missing scenes were either all-out bad (the Eowyn stew scene) or redundant (Gandalf explaining the plot as he and Aragorn stand in front of the mist). Then there's the Entwash, even though they don't grow any taller, beyond that scene. I don't think ideas of pacing are cookie cutter... films, however long, however you pause sometimes and hold your breath, need momentum of one kind or another. Having a three-scene denouement (in Two Towers) that gives us nothing new... it was wise just to cut from "Release them" to "Sauron's wrath will be terrible..." 

I have no use for any of the Extendeds except for the first one, because I feel the extended dialogue when they meet with Galadriel ("In all lands love is now mingled with grief," she says, when she looks into Boromir's eyes; it's so much better than what they otherwise have, really makes that moment, when he breaks down). That and the fighting at Amon Hen, when we get to see Boromir standing for longer, before the arrows come to him. And naturally, Lurtz licking the dagger he pulls out of his thigh. That's excellent.


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## Olorgando (Apr 20, 2020)

It's quite sufficient to quote me once _(some might consider even that excessive)_ - or are you implying I stutter?  (I don't) _(the "Edit" button can take care of that)_

I probably haven't watched any of my LoTR DVDs since the that EE marathon I mentioned elsewhere. As you mention TTT and Éowyn, one scene I find highly implausible is when she asks Aragorn about something uncle Théoden had apparently told (why?), that Aragorn had been going about with Théoden's father (and her grandfather) Thengel. Aragorn then states that he is 87 (he turned 88 in 3019 when the action of TTT took place, but perhaps this just gives us a hint that his birthday wasn't early in the year). Éowyn then has this flash of recognition that Aragorn must be "one of the Dúnedain" ...

*Éowyn?!?!?*

I would think that no one in Rohan knew of the term at all. The Rohirrim had settled in Rohan (formerly Calenardhon) for over 500 years by then, but even in Eorl the Young's time Gondor had existed for over 2500 years. Éowyn was (or turned) all of 24 in 3019, and she had been seriously occupied with caring for her failing Uncle Théoden for some years by then. Unlikely.

And while I watched LoTR in the cinema in 2002, 2003 and 2004, then bought the cinematic DVDs, and then the EEs, for TH the cinema part did not take place. My wife and I watched the cinematic DVD on our TV, and I then watched the EEs on my tower computer (with a 26-inch monitor). And invariably, I went through the "many hours" of the additional material - called "appendices" - before watching the (often only slightly) longer films. The additional footage for "Party" could, as far as I am concerned, have been dumped in the dustbin, in major contrast to the additional footage of "Fellowship". "Desolation" and "Battle" were only marginally better. So perhaps my memory is skewed by the later films, but I did find the "appendices" of all six to be highly interesting.


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## Sir Eowyn (Apr 20, 2020)

Ah yes, sorry for the double quote... don't know what happened. 

Aragorn was born on March 1st, so yes, he would be 88 by then. But this is all a bit muddled by the fact that the gap that exists in the book between 3001 and 3018 has been trimmed out. So obviously Bilbo ain't 131, for example, when they make the Grey Havens...

Yes, the appendices are fascinating... a good filmmaking bible too, for a budding young one.


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## Shadow (Mar 21, 2021)

The extended editions are the only versions I watch. Same goes for The Hobbit. I can’t go back to the Theatrical editions. If there’s more content I want to see it all, for better or worse.


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