*** Official 'Fellowship of the Ring' DVD member review & discussion thread (1 Viewer)

Greetings,
I do not own a copy, but I know that many of you now do. Some have recieved them early and was wondering if we could use this as the "talk about" thread.
I am still looking for it though. I have tried my local places that are street date dumb and no luck so far.
:frowning:

I know..theres just an an abundance of them. I though we could just have one that you know...is just for appreciation and not just for a particular portion. i.e. (sound and maybe a combonation review thread.

Glad to see a official thread of sorts.
I just got this disc tonight and am watching it for a second time. I am just in awe at the quality of this disc. The picture is amazing, as well it should be coming from Warner Video Division. The Dolby EX mix though is ungodly. The battle in Moria and with the Balrog is my demo material. The sound of the Balrog approaching shakes the very ground, literally!
The special features are great and very plentiful for the bare bones version. The docs are good if a little bit fluff. The preview for the 4 disc set is great though. Shows many scenes that are being added, such as the gift giving. Also shows some of the supplements being made for the disc.
The Two Towers preview is mostly fluff, but good fluff. Shows some behind the scenes stuff, like the motion capture for Gollum and the computer program MASSIVE used for the big battles. Shows some footage from the previous trailers and a fair ammount of new footage too. Also has some interviews with the cast about the sequel and a breakdown of the new characters being added.
I know some people are waiting for the 4-5 disc set, but with a set this beautiful, the wait will be easier.

How exactly does one get hold of this disc so early? Anybdoy who has one, PM me if you don't want to publicly reveal your "sources."

Me too!

Me three???

I'll have mine in less than two weeks!!!
My wife hasn't seen the movie yet and she's anxious to get the DVD as well....

off the subject a little, will the 5-disc be limited? I'd like to get it but I wonder if I'll have the money to buy it right away.

So.... are the bloopers corrected or not?

I borrowed one of the preview DVDs from way long ago that they send out to theaters, so I've gotten to watch LOTR on DVD a few times at home on the 50", and if this for-sale set is similar to that, it's hard to complain about the visual quality. And even if it wasn't that great, everyone's going to buy it anyway.
The Balrog fight is good, but the walking through the snowy mountains and cross-country is simply beautiful to look at. When Boromir picks up the ring on the chain in the snow, wow that's a great-looking shot.
The current Blockbuster rent-10-get-LOTR-free deal is good, but since I've watched the DVD four times in the past months, I'll wait for the final edition in November or whenever. Everyone knows the final one is going to have the extra footage.

My personal copy is in my very hands this morning. Had a play with a friends copy yesterday, I am off to spend a few hours with mine. I'll get back to you.
I have designated this thread the pre-release review & discussion thread. I am bemused and dissapointed with New Line's lack of interest in sending promotional copies out to websites early for review. People WANT to know what the release is like, people love this movie. To those with the disc early, please, offer your thoughts here in this thread.
In keeping with New Line's review fears somewhat, I'd request none of us take and post screen caps from the Two Towers preview. I'm happy to discuss it though.
I'd also stress that NO ONE publish the name of any suplier (anywhere in the world) breaking streetdate on this release. Any such post or blatant hint to a supplier breaking date, will be deleted.
Dan

You're killing me over here. Roadshow who are distributing this DVD in Oz are keeping close watch on stores getting this out early, so the chances of me acquiring an early copy are very slim.

Yup my copy is sitting in my hands right now. I'm off to check it out quickly, the screening is later

Quick review, I've gotta go out for a few hours in a bit.

The film looks GREAT from the quick sampling I did of it. Top notch transfer and sound.

The two towers preview is presented by Peter Jackson while driving his car. They talk about creating Gollum, Helm's Deep miniatures, Building Rohan for real. Its pretty decent. There are some cool shots of:
White Gandalf on Shadowfax
Theoden and more

The extended DVD we all know the scenes on that don't we?
Some stuff I didnt know about include
Isildur putting on the ring during what looks like the last alliance battle.
Gollum floating down stream on a log after the fellowship

I've not had a chance to watch anything else (Dan will fill you in I'm sure) but I'll give you running times:
The Houghton Miflin thing is about 16 mins long
Fox "Quest for the Ring" is about 21 mins
The Sci-fi special is 40+ mins
LOTR.net are 2-5 mins each and there are 15 of them
The extended DVD preview is 3:30
The TT preview is 10 mins
Then there's TV Spots and Theatrical trailers

Sorry, thats all I can tell you for now.

Thanks guys - keep the posts flowing for us poor sots who won't get it until street date.

is this a spoiler

www.theonering.net


for revealing the streetdates

:b

Well, my R1 copy turned up this morning in sunny England. Just gave it a quick spin, and here are my impressions:

- Picture quality is fantastic. Not perfect, but close. Excellent detail, particularly in the shadows. Colours are far more vivid than on the screener I saw, with Lorien looking slightly greener and the Shire displaying a rich, warm glow. A more satisfying visual experience than in theatres, I'd say. I didn't notice any edge enhancement, although I'm only viewing on a 28" widescreen CRT display. However, I did notice it on Star Wars, and by comparison, Fellowship blows it out of the water. Grain is consistent and fine, retaining a film-like look. NTSC pulldown artifacts bothered me slightly on occasion, due to the contrasty nature of certain scenes (Moria, with it's long tracking shots, and Hobbiton particularly). However, those with progressive scan displays have no need to worry.

- The sound was fine. Excellent attention to detail, as I had expected. Placement of dialogue and effects was excellent. I only have a 5.1 setup, so I couldn't test the rear centre channel. Howard Shore's score in particular sounded awesome (where's that expanded score?). For such a long movie, I noticed no compression of the soundtrack. This bodes extremely well for the DTS-ES track, which, spread over two discs and remixed, should be up there with the very best. One small note of worry: on several occasions, dialogue seemed out of synch. I tried stopping and starting, and switched between the stereo and 5.1 tracks, but got the same result. The sound appeared to be one or two frames behind the picture. Noticed this particularly in Moria (when Gandalf and Frodo are talking to one another). Possibly to do with the fact a lot of the dialogue was looped in post-production, although I didn't notice this in theatres (I saw the movie about 5 times on the silver screen). Most of the movie was fine, though. I wonder if they'll correct this for the extended release, or if it's limited to a small batch only? I have a Panasonic A-360, and I've not had any problems with it before.

- Extras: Haven't had a chance to watch the documentaries yet (I've already seen the FOX one, which is fine if a bit lacking in detail). The 15 featurettes are the exact same ones from the official website. They look as though they were sourced from analogue rather than digital, but the content is OK. A bit redundant once you've seen the movie, to be honest. The two teaser trailers and full length trailer are present and correct, although they don't look as nice as the versions hidden on Rush Hour 2. Anamorphic and 5.1, so I can't grumble! Haven't watched the TV spots. The preview of the extended version is great! Lots more than I'd been expecting, with glimpses of the new opening, the extended prologue battle, Sam and Frodo glimpsing the Elves as they leave the Shire, the gift-giving scene, Gollum on a log, and much more that I'm sure you've all read about. The 10 minute Two Towers preview is great. It's a mixture of behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the film, all in 5.1 and set to Howard Shore's music. We get to see most of the stuff from the recent teaser trailer, plus a couple of minutes new stuff. Of most interest to me was motion capture session with Andy Serkis as Gollum, and a couple of shots of Serkis on location with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, acting through Gollum's movements. Fascinating stuff! Finally, we have a preview of EA's Two Towers game (which I've just read will be coming to GameCube, as well as PS2 and GameBoy Advance). It looks OK, but there's really no sense of what it'll be like to play.

- The packaging is sweet (although I ripped the sleeve slightly when removing the security stickers - arghhhh!). Simple, elegant design (front & back) in a deep, moss green double-amaray case. Inside, you get a lightweight fold-out insert, with chapter names and a smattering of pictures. Also, for US customers only, a coupon offering a rebate when buying the extended version.

Any questions?

Simon there was a rebate inside?? How much was it?? I was planning on waiting for the extended edition but if the rebate is good enough and since I'm starting to drool over this one, I might get this one and the extended.

The out of sync thing could be interresting to hear about since I have a Sony 530 which has exhibited sync issues in the past. Anyone else??

Simon - what about the LFE effects? Are they well integrated or does it seem bloated to you at all?