Two versions of LOTR, buy both keep both? (1 Viewer)

[nick/kal]

buying both, keeping both.
resoning is that i want to have all of the extras, and I like having a copy of the theatrical release just in case . . . . of . . . . .uh . . . . .something . . . .
fine, i guess it's just 'cause i'm an obsessive completist. there. happy now??

 

[Richard Kim]

...

 

[Lou Sytsma]

You lost me Richard. You're quoting my statements about Lothlorien and only talking about the Shire scenes.

 

[Richard Kim]

Sorry, my bad. I misread your statement about the Lothlorien scenes.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

I bought the big boxed gift set of Fellowship for the cool mini statues and the full cut of the National Geographic documentary (I didn't have the doc before). Those were worth the extra bucks IMHO. Never got the theatrical cut.

However, this time around I don't find the Gollum statue all that compelling for the added price between The Two Towers gift box and the four disc pack (which should go for around $20 bucks for the first week like last time), so I'm just getting the four disc director's cut pack instead. I don't plan on picking up the theatrical cut this time either.

I'll see how it goes with The Return of the King Director's Cut release when the time comes.

Dan

 

[Philip Verdieck]

I know that's true for a lot of people, but not for me. In a lot of ways I feel the first half of the film, up to Rivendell, works better in the theatrical version. In my opinion, the Hobbiton scenes really drag in the EE.

Well that certainly keeps the EE true to the book

 

[ChrisA]

I'm waiting until the 'real' (director's/extended)version. I would never own both versions:

The EXTENDED version is the director's version, the clearly more involving version, just as it was in the "Fellowship of the Ring". Why watch it any other way? The EXTENDED version is the intended version and is so much better that I wish I would have never seen the theatrical version in the first place. If I only had the willpower to skip it in the theaters, which I usually do, I would have waited until the extended cut was released on DVD to see it in the first place, when it has the most IMPACT. My theater is much more powerful and involving than a commercial theater, but I simply lacked the will-power. I am not lacking the will power to wait 2-3 months to get the REAL version.

It irks me to have an inferior copy just for the sake to have it. Redundancy, especially an inferior version, is a real irritation, and a waste of money. I just can't find a reason to buy the 'theatrical' cut, and I wouldn't to show a lesser version to anyone on my theater. If they have 3 hours to watch a movie, they can deal with an extra 30-40 minutes and actually see a richer, more involving movie. Everything that was cut out was something that added substance to the movie. The theatrical versions only exist because of the need to 'CONFORM' to commercialization.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I found the changes made to Boromir's final stand and death to significantly enhance the emotion of that scene. Loved it. Boromir's character was greatly improved from his additions in the EE

I've never tried the tactic of changing between Theatrical and Extended DVD's in midstream. Boromir's death (I guess that's no longer a spoiler) in the Extended was about as emotionally intense as anything I'd want to experience in a movie, much more so than in the Theatrical. But I think that's because of the added information from earlier scenes between him and Aragorn that enables you to understand why Boromir thinks he must try to get the Ring from Frodo.

Boromir in the Theatrical edition fulfills a plot requirement by precipitating the breaking of the Fellowship. Boromir in the Extended edition is a tragic figure. How could he not try to get the Ring after being stonewalled by Aragorn and being told by Galadriel that his city will fall? Even from a plot perspective his role is different IMO. In the Extended Edition his death puts Aragorn on the path to becoming the King which was not at all clear in the Theatrical version.

Roger Ebert says that we "more readily cry at movies not because of sadness, but because of goodness and courage".