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by Kevin Gaussoin, Editor-in-Chief

Peter Jackson began his adaptation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in 1997, an epic quest to bring to life in film what is probably literature’s most epic quest. The three films, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) garnered critical acclaim far beyond what fantasy geeks could have ever hoped and raised the bar for filmmaking to a level still not surpassed these years later.

We at ComicsOnline usually give you a synopsis after our intro, but this is The Lord of the Rings. Either you know it very well and need no synopsis or you are very new to this whole thing and need no spoilers. Suffice it to say, what we are talking about here is THE film adaptation of THE most important fantasy novels that have ever been written to date. Buy both the books and the films at your earliest opportunity. You’re welcome.

What does bear mentioning is a list of the stars:

Frodo Baggins – Elijah Wood (Happy Feet, Wilfred, The Hobbit)
Samwise ‘Sam’ Gamgee – Sean Astin (The Goonies, Toy Soldiers, Rudy)
Meriadoc ‘Merry’ Brandybuck – Dominic Monaghan (Lost, Chuck, Flash Forward)
Peregrin ‘Pippin’ Took – Billy Boyd (Master and Commander)
Bilbo Baggins – Ian Holm (Alien, Henry V, THe Fifth Element)
Gandalf the Grey – Ian McKellen (X-Men, Stardust, The Hobbit)
Saruman – Christopher Lee (Horror of Dracula, Star Wars ep 1 & 2, The Hobbit)
Aragorn – Viggo Mortensen (GI Jane, A History of Violence, The Road)
Boromir – Sean Bean (Golden Eye, Troy, Game of Thrones)
Gimli – John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Gargoyles, Sliders)
Arwen – Liv Tyler (Empire Records, Armageddon, The Incredible Hulk)
Elrond – Hugo Weaving (The Matrix Trilogy, The Transformers Trilogy, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Galadriel – Cate Blanchett (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Legolas Greenleaf – Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy, Troy, The Hobbit)

So what we have left here in this very meta-review are a few minor things: Why you should get this edition of the films rather than any of the others, how the audio and video turned out in this version, what Special Features are to be found in this edition, and what we think of this edition as a whole.

Since Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films first started coming out on DVD, there have been some very nice special editions, most obviously those individual editions that cames with the statues. But starting in 2004, we started seeing combined editions of the trilogy; first the Original Theatrical Edition on 3 DVDs, then the Platinum Series Special Extended Edition on 12 DVDs, then a 6-DVD re-release of both the theatrical and extended editions in one package that was all but bare of extras. In 2010 The Lord of the Rings was finally brought to Blu-ray, but only in the Theatrical Edition with 3 Blu-rays, 3 DVDs full of extras, and 3 Digital Copies. So now, finally, we have what is at least today the ultimate edition: The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition. This time the films are all on 2 Blu-ray discs each and the extras are all on the remaining 9 DVDs, with Digital Copies not provided on discs, but instead as download codes that must be redeemed by June 26, 2012. This new edition spans an impressive total of 15 discs.

He said he was going to see what was in The Hatch, Mister Frodo.

Audio

The Lord of the Rings The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition features DTS-HD 6.1 Master Audio. I suppose they could have made it 7.1 or 7.2, but really you’re going to be blown away by the beauty of the soundtrack, the clarity of the dialogue, and you’ll be drawn in by the accuracy and believability of every sound effect.

Video

This is an incredibly sharp transfer presented in 1080p. We’ve heard that there’s something of a color shift in this version that accents greens, but frankly we can’t be bothered to worry about that. It looks so amazing that you’re going to be completely caught up in the story, so why dwell on that?

The Lord of the Rings The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition has some of the most amazing miniatures work we’re ever likely to see, and the CGI is at the top of anything produced to date.

Oooooh, shiny!

Special Features

This set is the biggest ever, and the packaging is a nice gilded cardboard case with a magnetic clasp that hides 3 separate cases of discs, each with a main feature on Blu-ray and loads of extras on DVDs. At first glance I thought I might be disappointed at the extras being on DVDs, but really I wasn’t as concerned with the visuals as I was with the stories they were telling. This is not to discount the fantastic behind-the-scenes video and still-imagery, but in many cases I would have loved these extras just as much presented as an audio podcast. As a personal note, I cleaned out boxes for hours in my basement listening to and watching these special features. Keep in mind that these extras cover not just the movies, but also the books, so when you’ve completed all 26+ hours of them, you’ve pretty much had a class on Middle Earth. Below is the list of Special Features. All are worth watching, so you may as well start at the beginning.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

    Commentary by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens
    Commentary by the design team
    Commentary by the production/post-production team
    Commentary by 10 actors, including Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen
    Easter egg: MTV Movie Award Spoof (The Council of Elrod)
    Costa Botes Documentary: The Fellowship of the Ring: Behind the Scenes
    The Appendices, Part 1: From Book to Vision (on DVD)
        Peter Jackson introduction
        J.R.R. Tolkein: Creator of Middle Earth
        From Book to Script
        Visualizing the Story
        Designing and Building Middle Earth
        Middle Earth atlas interactive
    The Appendices, Part 2: From Vision to Reality (on DVD)
        Elijah Wood introduction
        Filming The Fellowship of the Ring
        Visual effects
        Post-production: Putting it all together
        Digital Grading
        Sound and music
        The Road Goes Ever On…

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

    Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
    Commentary track by the design team
    Commentary track by the production/post-production team
    Commentary track by 16 cast members, including Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Bernard Hill, and Miranda Otto
    Easter Egg: MTV Movie Awards clip (Gollum accepting award)
    Costas Botes documentary: The Two Towers — Behind the Scenes
    The Appendices, Part 3: The Journey Continues
        Peter Jackson introduction
        J.R.R. Tolkein: Origin of Middle Earth
        From Book to Script: Finding a Story
        Designing and Building Middle-Earth
        Gollum
        Middle-Earth Atlas interactive
        New Zealand as Middle Earth (map with video location)
    The Appendices, Part 4: The Battle for Middle Earth
        Elijah Wood introduction
        Filming The Two Towers
        Visual effects
        Editorial: Refining the Story
        Music and Sound
        The Battle for Helm’s Deep is Over

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

    Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
    Commentary track by the design team
    Commentary track by the production/post-production team
    Costas Botes documentary: The Return of the King: Behind the Scenes
    The Appendices, Part 5: The War of the Ring
        Peter Jackson Intro
        J.R.R. Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-earth
        From Book to Script
        Designing and Building Middle-earth
        Home of the Horse Lords
        Middle-earth Atlas: Tracing the Journeys of the Fellowship: interactive map
        New Zealand as Middle-earth: interactive map with on-location footage
    The Appendices, Part 6: The Passing of an Age
        Elijah Wood/Sean Astin/Billy Boyd/Dominic Monaghan intro
        Filming The Return of the King
        Visual Effects
        Post Production: Journey’s End
        The Passing of an Age
        Cameron Duncan

Overall

The Lord of the Rings The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition is the best version of the best epic movie series. Clearly any of you reading this will want to pick this up right away, or at the very least immediately add it to your Amazon wish list. Just click the product image below to get that ball rolling.

We really should do another one of these.

ComicsOnline gives The Lord of the Rings The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition on Blu-ray 5 out of 5 Hobbits.

Get your copy from Amazon now!

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