The Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition

There are three main differences with this version than the original. There is about 45 minutes of additional footage added in, a new DTS ES 6.1 and Dolby Digital EX 6.1 soundtrack, and about 18 hours of bonus material including what equates to a six hour documentary.

Many times when a movie adds extra footage they have a tendency to stick out. This is not the case with this cut of Fellowship. Each scene, some small some large, add to the overall film. Some go a long way to define one's character like Strider's hopeless love sonnet, others fill in some missing details such as the gifts given to the fellowship by Galadriel. The new footage is often more important to the overall film than some of the original footage. I speak in particular to Aragorn's song early on in the movie when compared to the gratuitous action scene on the The Bridge of Khazad-dum. In time they will be no different than any other scene in the movie and each of them adds great value to the overall picture.

The DTS ES soundtrack is very well done, offering a powerful presence without overdoing itself. Along with the excellent 2.35 to 1 16x9 transfer, it is a reference quality home theater demo DVD. My only possible complaint is the need to switch DVDs halfway through, but this is a small price to pay for such an excellent film.

There is enough bonus material on the DVD to write a thesis. Peter Jackson personally went over the extras on the DVD with usability in mind, allowing a viewer to view all features at once. This lets you sit back and watch six hours worth of extremely detailed and interesting documentary information. Using my home theater PC I was able to view the entire background feature and one of four commentary tracks. Extreme detail is paid to background of the script, the special effects, the use of storyboards, the actors, and the excellent work of the Weta shop. It is so detailed that it may even hurt your ability to watch the film without looking at all the detail. It is quite obvious that the makers of this movie love the original story.

Like every nerd last year, there was no doubt in my mind that Fellowship of the Ring was the real winner for our nerdly dollar over that of the emotionally weak Star Wars Episode 2. This cut of Lord of the Rings was designed with our nerdness in mind. It has everything we could want from a collectors edition. Until a high definition version of the film is released, this will be our reference movie of choice. This is one of the best DVDs ever made in return.