***Official LOTR: The Two Towers DVD Discussion Thread*** -- All Posts Here; NO EXCEPTIONS (1 Viewer)

[Dannie]

has neone found the rotk trailer yet on this set i dont see it newhere on the 4discs

 

[Michael Elliott]

I got a few e-mails today asking about the review but sadly I haven't received the screeners yet. When the set does arrive I'll do my best to get it up on the same day.

Now, I really wouldn't mind some feedback on what you want reviewed. I had never seen either film until last weekend, so I'm certainly not an expert on either film and I certainly don't know every scene. The bottom line is that I'm rather new to these films so I'm certainly not a die-hard fan, which is the type of fan this set is being released for.

So, for the fans, how would you like the review? I thought about skipping the "movie" review all together and going for the extras since I'm guessing that is the big draw to this set. I've got the original disc so I can compare the V/A as well.

Again, this collection isn't being released for "me" so tell me how you'd like it reviewed. Since everyone buying this knows the movie, should I skip that portion of the review? Talk about the new scenes and the extras?

 

[Lars_J]

Michael,
I'd be very interested in hearing what your perspective on the relative merits of the theaterical and extended cuts are, as someone who is not a dedicated fan. After all, we'll all be able to read tons of reviews from dedicated fans on every Tolkein fan-site.

In other words, does the new cut improve the movie from your perspective, and if so, in what ways? Not just a run-down on new scenes, but how the new cut is overall. Does the plot/characters make more sense?, etc...

And if you have seen both FOTR and FOTR:SE, a quick word or two on how you compare those movies would be helpful, as that may give us a starting point for how to read your review.

Oh, and all the technical details on the release, but I guess that would be obvious on these forums...

 

[Craig S]

has neone found the rotk trailer yet on this set i dont see it newhere on the 4discs

I would be surprised if the RotK trailer was on this set. The TTT trailer on last year's EE set wasn't one of the "official" theatrical trailers, it was the "gift to fans" footage that PJ & New Line tacked onto the end of FotR in the last few weeks of its theatrical run. There was no such footage tacked onto TTT.

The official trailers for FotR & TTT were collected on the 2-disc DVD releases for each film; I'd imagine we'll see the RotK trailer on next year's 2-disc RotK DVD.

 

[Tom Oh]

5 disc set for me. I should have it this weekend in HK. Yes, the FOTR bookends were like the stone hedge in Spinal Tap As Gollum would say, "My precious". 5th disc sounds great.

 

[Joe Fisher]

The Digital Bits has there review up. Two Towers Review

Enjoy

 

[Mark Zimmer]

This page cannot be displayed.


Either they had to yank it for some reason or the crush of Tolkien fans has overwhelmed the server. My money's on the latter.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

It's working again now.

 

[SarahG]

Essentially I want to praise the gift set. We all know what to expect of the four-disc case itself, but wait until you see the Gollum bonus disc. I pulled it out of the gift set and was absolutely astounded by the fifth disc's presentation as it is leaps and bounds over what I was expecting.

Aside from liking the extra DVD, which is one of the main reasons I think I want to get the Gift Set. What did you think of the statue?

 

[Dave H]

Dan,

How does the video/audio transfer compare to the theatrical version? Digital Bits says the video improvement is quite noticable.

 

[Simon Young]

Well, I just received my 4-disc set this morning (the R1 US version)! The extended cut is great - a bigger improvement over the theatrical version than the FOTR:EE was, but then again that movie wasn't in as much need of improvement, if you ask me. So, what of the good?

The new opening is much better, and really gives a greater sense of the miserable journey that Frodo and Sam have to take; all of Gollum's new stuff is amazing, especially his early scenes in Emyn Muil where we first see his schizoid personality-split; Gandalf now has more screen time, and his entrance scene now plays much, much better; the plight of Rohan is fleshed out, so that we understand Eomer's frustration; Merry and Pippin now feel like primary characters that are relevant to the plot, and more is made of their growing importance to the coming conflict; the battle of Helm's Deep is ever-so-slightly more violent, and the end of the battle now makes more sense; Faramir now seems like a conflicted, three-dimensional character thanks to the moving flashback and farewell to Frodo, Sam and Gollum (plus his little soliloquy when we first meet him); Treebeard is a more interesting character, thanks to his poetry and several beautifully animated full-body shots of him wandering in the forest; Aragorn and Eowyn's additional scenes make her love for him ring a little more true. Additionally, several things that always irked me have been fixed: the reverse-motion shot of Arwen looking up at Aragorn has been removed and replaced with a longer intro to their farewell; there is now a satisfactory explanation of where the orcs that are camped with the Uruk-Hai have come from. Also, the new music cues are seamless and appropriate, with the exception of one near the end that seemed a little too jovial. The new visual effects are stunning, and often surpass the work done in the theatrical version. No existing effects have been improved, meaning that there are still some shoddy composites and slightly odd close-ups against blue-screen. No biggie.

Now for the bad - for there has to be some. The pace of the first half may have been improved, but the second half feels a little too bloated now, especially seeing as Galadriel's 'recap' no longer marks the half-way point. Theodred's funeral adds nothing, and ends rather abruptly. The arrival of the Huorns at Helm's Deep is a little anti-climactic. And a couple of things that needed fixing were not fixed: Pippin's amazing disappearing and reappearing bonds, Galadriel's telepathic explanation (which used footage from Fellowship). Footage seen in the trailers (of Arwen demanding information from her father, and Eowyn protecting the Glittering Caves from Uruk-Hai) does not make an appearance here. However, it is perhaps a little much to expect a perfect movie, when what we have been given is a substantial improvement on a damn good one.

The picture quality is slightly improved over the theatrical version. Compression is cleaner, with less loss of fine detail. The picture still appears to lack the extreme detail of some other new releases (such as The Matrix Reloaded), which implies that slight filtering has been applied to reduce the need for higher bitrates. No need here, as the disc space is adequate and the bitrate therefore high. Perhaps the occasionally soft look is to do with the Super-35mm format, or the digital grading techniques. Whatever, it still looks fine and recreates the theatrical look of the film well enough. There is some minimal edge-enhancement, particularly noticeable on the burned-in subtitles. The sound is a huge improvement over the theatrical DVD - having only listened to the DTS track, I'm only referring to that one. The mix is definitely different, and better in every way. Bass is less bloated and 'cooked'...the theatrical version's biggest fault IMHO. Dialogue is clear and crisp thoughout, and the score is well integrated at all times. I wished sometimes that the effects could be a little quieter and the music a little more prominent, but otherwise there is little to complain about here. The commentaries, from what I've heard, are well-recorded with no background hiss or distortion.

The menus and packaging are of an exceptionally high standard - anyone who owns the FOTR:EE knows exactly what to expect. The hidden clip of Gollum from the MTV Movie Awards is superb, and great quality to boot. No other Easter Eggs, I'm afraid, but with discs this good who cares?

Right, I'm off to watch the documentaries!!

 

[Dan Brecher]

How does the video/audio transfer compare to the theatrical version?

I've yet to really give time to doing any sort of decent comparison. If I can over the weekend, I will. Disc one holds a little under one hour and fifty minutes of film material on there, and disc two about two hours and ten including the fan credits and yes the compression is noticeably superior on this version. I would like to see if the R1 extended edition suffers from image filtering as the R1 theatrical cut DVD did mind you.

It's always tough to compare with things like this, as I am always of the firm belief that comparisons done on somewhat on a whim or from memory can see a reviewer looking harder at the most recent incarnation and notice image qualities that were in fact in the original. This is perhaps even more true of comparing the Dolby and DTS tracks where people may listen harder to the one they would assume to be superior.

I've only dipped in and out listening to the DTS really, I couldn't really give much of a damn about it being on there so I'm not really the person to ask about Dolby vs DTS issues on this disc really as I wouldn't have an opinion most people would want to hear.

Dan

 

[Robert Anthony]

[edit: asked question about gollum bleep, missed the answer already given on page before. Sorry]

 

[Tom Oh]

I just picked up 5 disc set along with X2

Since I haven't watched the DVD yet, I'll comment on packaging only since others have commented on the actual DVDs themselves. Packaging-wise this set is absolutely wonderful. Gollum figure is much better than the Bookends offered in FOTR (which reminded me of Spinal Tap). Gollum figure is sizable and beautifully crafted with attention to detail. The bonus disc, Gollum, is absolutely beautifully packaged. 45 page booklet, Creating Golum, is also very high quality. I just watched the Gollum DVD and it is a nice 23 min piece on making of LOTR sculptures including the Gollum. You will have even better appreciation of the Gollum piece in the box, and it will make you want to collect more.

Everything in the 5 disc box set is high class. This is the most beautiful and complete packaging yet for a special set. If you are set on getting the 4-disc only, make sure you take a good look at the 5-disc set. You will most likely change your mind. Both the 5th disc and figuine were much better than I expected.


My only gripe is that I had to destroy the box to remove the Gollum figurine.

 

[Chris Farmer]

The images of the EE packaging looked like they were identical to Fellowship except for color and the words (IE, the old, tattered book was tattered in exactly the same places, making it look like an obvious reuse of the same images there), can anyone who has it comment on if this is the case in the retail packaging?

A petty detail I know, but with everything else of such high quality, no detail is to small, no observation to anal.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Is the Saruman footage recycled from FOTR still in there? That always struck me as very sloppy.

 

[Simon Young]

Yep. Nothing's been taken out - just added.

 

[Steve_Tk]

This thread was too long for me to read all the way through. One thing I loved in the books was the orcs fleeing into the 'new forest that appeared' and not coming out the other side at the end of the battle. Did this make it in?

 

[Dan Brecher]

One thing I loved in the books was the orcs fleeing into the 'new forest that appeared' and not coming out the other side at the end of the battle. Did this make it in?

The Huorns are in. Yes.

Dan

 

[KimK]

I got my Gift Box friday and I'm absolutely loving every bit of it. The new cut of the movie greatly improves upon the theatrical cut in my opinion. There is more humor in it and the characters are a little more fleshed out. The Gollum statue is very nice, but I don't think you will be able to get it out of the box without tearing the thing apart. I wasn't anyway...