I might get these.  I really love the films, and I'm interested in Costa Botes' documentary by the preview that was released.  The sets look fantastic, so I may have to go for it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamless_branching

nice covers already got the Extended Versions But I'm just wondering wat ever hapen to the longer version of Return of the king didnt jackson said he shot like more stuff at the end I thought he said he had like 12 endings at first

God almighty, will someone spare us from this bloated, totally over-rated, horribly tedious trilogy?

Words cannot express how much I HATE Lord Of The Rings.

I love the art work but I already have the theatrical as well as extended cuts of all three movies. no thanks.

I know it shows all 3 in a box set but does anyone know for sure all three can be bought as a box set? Thanks

I saw it mentioned on the HTF, that with todays advanced techniques in DVD authoring, that they could get the extended version (which by default includes the Theatrical version) onto a DVD 9 looking as good as if not better than the EEs.  If true, then we also get a picture on the disc.
Myself, I never watch the docos, and they take up too much space (really-ive too many DVDs-and the cool art. The EEs where the only edition Ive ever bought, and I got them all for <$15 each via coupons, sales, etc.
I dont think Jackson or New Line would allow anything LESS in PQ for these.
But if they are 18s,  then so be it.

LOL! THEY DIDN'T BOTHER TO HAVE A BOXSET WITH ALL THE THREE OF THEM!!! F**K NEW LINE!

Artwork added for a Trilogy set...

Fettastic wrote:
As someone else pointed out, PJ does this CONSTANTLY in order to milk fanboys over and over and over again. Yet he comes off smelling like a rose. It's complete hypocrisy on the fans part.

At the risk of repeating this again: PJ owns NO distribution rights to LotR.  He had nothing to do with this release.  It's entirely a New Line decision/product.

And where do you get "constantly" from?  The only other versions of LotR were the original theatricals and the EEs -- which were both announced at the same time each year, so that consumers could choose which they want to buy.  That is not, in my mind, a double-dip -- it's the right thing to do, to provide choices ahead of time.  

I may not get these myself, but what's the harm here?  Maybe those who never bought the two disc versions will want them.  Whatever.  I want to see the documentaries and will rent them for that.  It's not like you have to buy them or they're adding something to the films themselves that makes them a must-have -- for those who have them already, the big interest is in the documentaries, so what's the point of complaining about it being available for people who want to buy or rent?  I understand the irritation with double dipping in general, but I just don't get the outrage in this particular case.

He's not getting any royalties:

Link

The first disc of each set--where each film is located--will be a DVD-18 disc, meaning double-sided and dual-layer on each side.

as if they couldn't fit enough extra scenes, documentaries and other bonus material in TWELVE DISCS.

This could be good for me. Some fool might trade in his Extended editions for these, so I get to pick up his Extended editions. I'm only missing 2 and 3.

Highres artwork added...

Only way to top the original masterpiece boxed set extended is to make them into HD. There they go hoaring again.  I'm sure they will sell millions.

No DTS-ES? No point!!!!!!!

Dustin wrote: Mal, y'know I'll still be writing for DVD Active when that happens and I'll be sure the first DVD screeners end up here.

Actually, incase anyone doesn't pick up on my sarcasm in my previous post and assumes me to be an arrogant jackass (which I am), I don't aim for any kind of fame, or even to direct.  I just want to be somewhere behind the camera, doing what I enjoy.
Ah behind the camera? So more like Paul W.S. Anderson or Uwe Boll?

Edit - better watch what I say in case he decides to snub us.

Mal, y'know I'll still be writing for DVD Active when that happens and I'll be sure the first DVD screeners end up here.

Actually, incase anyone doesn't pick up on my sarcasm in my previous post and assumes me to be an arrogant jackass (which I am), I don't aim for any kind of fame, or even to direct.  I just want to be somewhere behind the camera, doing what I enjoy.

Actually cruize, I'm on the same path.  

Currently a film student with internships on two feature films, here's proof: http://imdb.com/name/nm1903505/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0...

Lucas is quite a bit older than I am and consequently had a head start on his filmography, I just haven't hit the age nor gained the experience and knowledge neccesary to make my gigantic epic trilogy, but keep watching that page... and you'll see them soon enough.    After I've made it, I'll be sure to come back here and further criticize Lucas.

So your logic says that you must've done something in order to critique it?  My, that's a flawed way of thinking.

Nothing will EVER get me off the Lucas hate bandwagon.  I'm the fricking driver.

(1) He made the prequel trilogy.
(2) He made the special editions
(3) He's releasing the OT on DVD with non-anamorphic transfers.

I doubt he's capable of redeeming himself enough to get me to turn this bandwagon around.

I like how with these, you get both theatrical and extended, something the normal EEs don't have.

Takeshi, I think you read my post, but to clarify the obvious reason: the docs wouldn't sell very well.  The original theatircal two-disc sets were miserable so I'm glad we have these to house both versions.

At least when New Line re-releases their films, they add new material to the DVDs, such as seamless branching versions and new documentaries.  Lucas frickin takes extras AWAY when he re-releases the trilogy.  I think these sets are justified.

And what's this talk about this being LOWER than what's currently offered?  Maybe lower than the four-disc edition, but what about for theatrical cut?  This blows the two-disc c**p releases out of the water.

Dustin wrote: Here's your reason why they're including the movies and not just releasing the documentary: because it's an idiotic business decision.  There's already SEVERAL documentaries on LOTR on DVD, including the National Geographic docus and the Howard Shore one.  Those aren't exactly selling like hotcakes.

These releases cater to the crowd ( ME) who haven't yet picked up the four-disc releases, and want nice supplements, along with theatrical and extended.  I loved the series, but after watching a four hour film, I don't much care about supplements.  I'm usually ready to move my attention to another aspect of life by then.

I'm looking forward to these.

As for the Star Wars thing, didn't someone on these boards mention that it was a legal reason behind Lucas calling the OT bonus features on the new discs?  Something about his ex-wife?

If you really wanted to buy the EE, they are being sold used online for roughly the price of dirt. You would be much better off getting those. The video and audio quality will be far superior to what New Line is offering next, not to mention much better suppliments.

Let's call a spade a spade, New Line (and Jackson, it's not like he isn't getting royalties off the wazoo for this) just want more money. They are reselling us something that's actually at a LOWER value than what is currently available (something Lucas has never done)with an added documentary to make the collectors rebuy it. It's no more complicated than that.

Adrian wrote: Dustin wrote: Actually...


This isn't as sinful a double-dip as you think, the bonus documentaries are supposedly incredible, comprised only of on-set footage edited together.  Because Costa didn't clear his footage with New Line before he shot it, it's been held up legally from being released.

It's been screened at film festivals, however, to great praises.  I look forward to it.

(If someone already said this, horrah!  Didn't read all three pages of talkback.)

Why can't they just release that on a separate disc?  I mean I would buy the documentaries if they were offered separately, but I have no use for the extended versions crammed down to a single disc.

Exactamundo. And for the record, I think it's BS Lucas is making us rebuy the b*****dized versions along with the unaltered ones.

Um...I was being sarcastic guys...

The artwork is cool.  I might get one or two of these to check out the documentaries on disc two (plus I don't own Fellowship Of The Ring (either version) on DVD and yet I have the EEs of the other two).

Ray Waterway wrote: GUY wrote: Nice artwork... agreed YET this is the 3rd release of this movie. I really thing Perter Jackson and the studio is trying to recoup on the losses of King Kong.  It is dissapointing that people who really enjoy this film in front of the camera and behind are being JACKson'd around like this. pure capitolism... If I decide to get this I will probably put my 3 disc on on ebay

New Line released this trilogy.  Universal released "King Kong".  Don't see what one has to do with the other, except for the involvement of Peter Jackson and his team.

(ahem) BINGO!

Oh, come on! Why would they re-release this when there was the extended cut already? Why would they include this in the extended cut?

nelsn004 wrote:     Are these the HdDvd versions?
No, and more than likely you won't see LOTR on either of the new formats for another year, and especially not on Blu Ray until the dual-layer mess has been sorted out and they're actually able to make them.

WHY ALL you GUYS ALMOST CRY AND COMPLAIN THAT IT IS NOT FAIR..THAT THIS IS BULLS**T ..THAT "companies wanting to make money is shocking!!"......??????????? DO you HAVE TO BUY THIS ?????????? IF you DON'T LIKE IT, OR IF you HAVE PREVIOUS EDITIONS- you JUST SIMPLY SKIP IT.....STOP ACTING LIKE 9 YERAS OLD GIRLS

jeff brown wrote: Why does everyone try to say this is a triple dip.  The extented editions were ANNOUNCED at the very beginning, they didn't just pull them out after the theatrical editions did well.  They admitted that the movies had to be cut in length and that they would be releasing it as an extended edition before the theatrical release hit the theater.  They gave fair warning, people just chose to ignore it.

In fairness, I waited for the EEs to be released, didn't buy the first discs on any of them.

EXACTLY!! so techinically these new ones are suject to the double-dip. I have over 20 DVD discs related to LOTR, I will probably get these cuz I'm a sucker, but I wanna hear more about this documentary before I say yes for sure cuz as far as I am concerned the theatrical editions are dead to me. Bring on the 6 hour cuts of each film!!!

Extended edition on one disc???What about the image and sound quality?especially for the Return of the King extended edition I wonder how will it fit onto one disc...Anyway got my 4 disc set extended cut and i'm very happy with it, especially that there is no need to watch the theatrical version when you got the complete story...Some of you may disagree but that's my opinion, no need to double dip except for the die hard fans who own the extended and want to have the theatrical version in a nice box.

Meh.....I'll wait for the soon to be released HD versions..They are sure to have features that will entice people into buying them..I am sure N.L. is keeping something up their sleeve for that!

I know, companies wanting to make money is shocking!!

Fettastic wrote: Now let me get this straight: Lucas puts the Star Wars films out on DVD once and he's a money grubbing b*****d. Peter Jackson Puts the LOTR films out on DVD 3 times and he's a saint?

When the next release of Star Wars comes out, it'll be the 3rd time that I know of it's hit DVD.

I loved these films as well. I even bought all three theatrical editions & all three extended editions. I especially like the disc switch on the Extendeds because I may not have enough time to watch both parts at one time. I doubt I'll be getting these new ones though.

Gabe Powers wrote: Peter Jackson does not hold any distribution rights to these films. Comparing him and Lucas is entirely moot. This is a New Line move.

I think that's certainly the most important thing at issue here.

and also, wtf, why is triple-releasing the SAME item better?

I`m so sick of the Lord of the Rings. I watched each film in the series so many times that I doubt I`ll be able to again. I can`t see these selling very well sicne almost everyone that has a DVD player owns either the original Theatrical cut dvds or the extended editions.

Quote: (via seamless branching),

Is that when if you're watching the longer cut, the DVD player pauses for a moment, and then seperately plays the new scene?

Screw these. Just buy the 4 Disc CE's.

Fettastic wrote: Cheddar J. Cheese wrote: Fettastic wrote: Now let me get this straight: Lucas puts the Star Wars films out on DVD once and he's a money grubbing b*****d. Peter Jackson Puts the LOTR films out on DVD 3 times and he's a saint?

-Original 4 disc trilogy set (September 2004)
-"Limited Edition" trilogy set (September 2005)
-"Bonus Limited Edition"s for twice the price of the box set for all 3 (Fall 2006)
-30th Anniversary editions... (2007)

Once eh?

Those are all identical. So yeah, once so far. PJ will have released LOTR 6 times if you include the gift set, the theatrical box set and the extended box set if you're so intent on including identical releases.

Exactly, they're all identical... At least the LOTR DVDs offer something new everytime, albeit this time much much inferior.

Peter Jackson does not hold any distribution rights to these films. Comparing him and Lucas is entirely moot. This is a New Line move.

The movie disc must be double sided. I don't see any other way of fitting 4.5 hours of good quality video on 1 disc.

Could this double dipping also be an attempt to gather cash in order to finance the desperately needed telling of THE HOBBIT?  

This is a waste of time and money! Everyone who has the extended versions doesn't really need these. Ah well, money is everything these days.

Already own the 12 disc set, so I`m skipping these :D

Adrian wrote: You'd have to worry about the compression on these films as the director's cut of each is spread over two discs currently.
I hear without the commentaries and DTS (which this loses) it would fit on 1 DVD-9 fairly easily but agreed seeing as it loses the commentaries and DTS + lots of the extras from discs 3-4 I sure won't bother.

I hate it when a new release comes and it's not definitive and especially when it's actually worse (Borne Identity: SE anyone).

Cool news for me...since i'm not a huge fan-but like this movie...and since I didn't buy 2 or 4 disk sets so far (i want it in Extended Editions..but the 4 Disk sets are way to expensive for me) it's a perfect solution for me...but I just wonder-how would the fit the whole Extendet movie on 1 disk along with the theatrical version????????????

The picture quality will suffer my friend...

Adrian wrote: Xian Tianhan wrote: Gah! Is there really any need for these? Like Cheddar J. Cheese said before, it's no wonder illegal movie downloading is becoming more and more popular when pointless re-releases like this are brought out.

What?  That's a pretty silly statement.  No one is forcing current owners of DVDs to buy new editions.  People don't download movies because studios offer multiple editions of one movie.  They either do it because they are cheap or because the movie doesn't exist in a legal format.

What I meant was, the studios are blaming piracy for the loss in DVD sales, saying that people are downloading the movie instead of just not buying it due to poor quality of the movie or if it's a double (in this case triple) dip that everyone who would want it already has. In this case, "Well, people didn't buy these limited editions because they pirated them." When really, we already have better versions. It's their way of "covering their asses".

Sorry if this adds to the confusion...

Those Lord Of The Rings boxes, I was in Blockbuster Video about a year ago and they had all 3 of em used. Mint. Somebody traded them in, I had a giftcard for $20 and some guy comes in and buys all 3 of them in a 3 for $20 sale while I am browsing. Except I didn't freakin know it at the time they were 3 for $20. Damn! Damn! Damn! Just thought I'd vent that out here. If I knew there was a sale I would have grabbed all 3 immediately.

What New Line should have done here was to re-edit all three films in correct Tolkien chronological order, if at all possible.  Because Jackson and crew actually used bits and pieces of TTT and ROTK in each others film.  I'd also re-edit the beginning Smeagol part of ROTK to the beginning of FOTR just after the Prologue battle with Sauron, well, that is, when the Ring falls off the king into the river.

Cool artwork - but why would I need anything other than the already incredibly comprehensive 4 disc extended editions? This is a sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad case of double-dipping. These three films really comprise one unmatched masterpiece of a twelve hour long film - if New Line were to release them that way, newly edited as one long movie spread over two or three discs -than I would almost certainly pick it up. And I'm with many of the rest of you - why would anybody wish to watch the theatrical versions in leiu of the completed films? I know that there are dissenters from this point of view, but as far as I'm concerned the theatrical versions are nothing but really long trailers for the extended editions.

I love these movies with all my heart, but as I only wish to rewatch the EEs as it is, I won't be buying these editions. Limited huh? No surprise for the 5th anniversary of FotR (has it really been that long?), but again I'm not intending to pick it up. Maybe that documentary will show up elsewhere.

Unless they come up with more than 30 minutes of movie footage per movie that is an addition to 4 disc Extended versions that I already own, you won't find me pandering to the double-dip master plan of any studio's marketing geniuses.  Although the cover art is cool is does lack the elegance and subtlety of the Extended sets as well.  Also, just how much documentary do you really need on one subject?  Doesn't it sort of take away the mystique after a bit?

http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&am...

Pointless.  They oughtta wait to release 'em on HD or Blu-Ray (whichever the Time-Warner camp is in).  Then, you could easily fit the two cuts on one disc, and toss all the extra material on a second.  That would be worth buying, but not here.  We've got the definitive collection on DVD already.  There's nothing left to squeeze out for a double-dip.  The compression is indeed going to be bad if they're sticking the full 3.5 hour extended cut on one dual-layered single-sided disc (ROTK is almost 4 hours long).  Talking about pushing the limits of disc capacity!

-NJM

I've been reading about the Costa documentary for a long time now, but I expected that New Line would hold off on releasing it (along with the deleted scenes) until Blu-Ray was released. Weird.

The pointless camp keeps growing. I have the S.E. of these films, and to this day, hold them as the very definition of a Special Edition DVD set.

I wouldn't mind watching the new documentary, but that isn't going to get me to repurchase these again; Pointless.

Gah! Is there really any need for these? Like Cheddar J. Cheese said before, it's no wonder illegal movie downloading is becoming more and more popular when pointless re-releases like this are brought out.

I mean, I could understand if they were releasing them as some kind of box set bargain. Say, all three films for $40/£30. Because then that would appeal to the people who don't want to shell out the money for the twelve-disc box set.

New 300 minute Doc...Damnit..I already have the Theatrical and Extended DVDs... What to do????

ummm... these seem pretty useless, but then at the same time kinda handy because they include both versions of each film for newcomers to the series. I already own the regular standard 2-disc DVDs and thats enough for me.

I agree, very nice artwork, but it lacks the elegance of the Extended DVDs, which most of us have anyways. You know I wonder if this is how studios base their DVD sales. I mean, aside from the new releases, do they really expect these to fly off the shelves when there are is arguably already a much, much better edition already available and that fans of the films already have? And then they claim that people don't buy DVDs and they're downloading them illegally...

My rants/ponderings for the day.

I have the extended editions so I don't need these, but this is probably good for the die hard fans (who I suspect have the extended and regular editions already).  Worth it for people who don't have these but want both editions.  Otherwise- eh.

I really have to watch these again, maybe I'll get them.

Wow. I think anyone that wants the LotR DVDs, already has them all. So unecessary.