Extra Scenes in TTT Extended Edition DVD 443
gdr writes "USA Today have an article about the extra scenes that will be in The Two Towers Extended Edition. More ent scenes so it'll be worth watching for the special effects alone. Sadly it looks like there will be no extra gollum scenes. I can't say I'm as excited about this one as the FotR EE."
Re: FotR EE? (Score:5, Informative)
It was actually a nice addition to the movie, although I thought that the original was outstanding as is.
Article author never read Tolkein (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Way too many! (Score:5, Informative)
- The short theatrical cut of the film
- One disc of shorter extras
The second release of the film gets you:- The extended cut of the film
- Two discs of completely different, longer extras
So, getting both sets (about $40 worth, IIRC) gets you all the extras (3 discs worth) and both cuts of the film. New Line announced this release strategy last year and have stuck to it, so folks shouldn't feel too surprised by it.Re:Good! (Score:5, Informative)
Extended scenes are essential to a complete story (Score:5, Informative)
book pacing vs. film pacing (Score:2, Informative)
in a book, the author has the luxury of assuming he has your undivided attention and that he or she can describe certain things in extended, loving detail (e.g., the infamous whitenes of the whale chapter in moby dick).
in addition, most books take longer (for some, a lot longer) to experience than a movie. i'm a very fast reader and can usually knock off a 500 or so page book (fiction) in an evening. by contrast, my wife generally stretches the same book out over several evenings.
contrast this with a movie. most movies are around 2 hours long or so. this puts a huge burden upon the director, to convey the basic concepts of the film in a very efficient manner. while a picture may be worth a thousand words, some authors take a thousand words just to clear their throats (e.g., stephen king).
as a result, the pacing of works in these 2 very different media by definition *has* to be different.
a friend of mine once observed that at best, a film adaptation of a book is an abridgement. i don't know if that's his own observation or one he appropriated from another source, but the wisdom of that statement is abundantly clear every time i watch a good adaptation.
JMHO.
ed
Re:Aragorn is 87 years old? (Score:5, Informative)
Elrond and Elros are called the Half-elven, but strictly that isn't quite true. It's all rather messy and incestuous. Beren (a legendary human hero) married Luthien (daughter of an elven-king and a Maia - a minor deity like Sauron but not evil), had many adventures, died, came back to life as ordinary humans, and then died again of natural causes; their son, Dior, an elf, married Nimloth, another elf, and their daughter was Elwing.
Meanwhile, Belegund, Beren's cousin, had a daughter Rian, who married Huor, another hero; Tuor, Huor's son, went into the heroic family business; he ended up in the hidden elven-city of Gondolin and married the princess, Idril. Their son was Earendil.
Earendil married Elwing, and their sons were Elrond and Elros. Now, all this was terribly confusing, because nobody was entirely certain what species they were. So the Valar (the major gods) said that Earendil, Elwing, Elrond and Elros would each get to choose their species. Earendil and Elwing both chose to be elves, and went on to start new careers as the planets Venus and Mercury respectively. Elrond also chose to be an elf, and became the great elf-lord we know so well from Rivendell. Elros chose to be human, and was the first King of Numenor, and is an ancestor of Aragorn - which was the point of this long digression.
Aragorn's long life, then, comes from his being, in a small part, Elvish, and in an even smaller part, divine - and also from the general favour of the gods on his people. However, Elrond frowns on his plan to bring up again the whole problem of the Half-Elves. Elros' children were all human, and Elrond's children were all elves, but what happens if Elros' descendant Aragorn marries Elrond's descendant Arwen? I don't think the exact policy of the Valar was ever made explicitly, but the most likely outcome is that if Elrond sails West and Arwen stays behind and marries a human, she will become mortal as well, and will die with him in Middle-earth.
On his deathbed, Aragorn suggested that Arwen might still have the choice to follow her father Elrond to the West, and live forever there - she says that the only reason she cannot is that there are no ships to take her back, and she is stranded. But we know that Legolas sailed with Gimli into the West after the death of Aragorn, so there was at least one sailing available.
Re:waiting to buy? (Score:3, Informative)
Unless of course your grand scheme is taking place in a third world nation, where the per capita GDP of Sierra Leone, for example, is $150. Granted, in purchasing power that's almost $500, but even still I would bet that $20 is a lot of money to pay. (source [lyd.com])
I would say it's a safe bet that since you're posting to this forum, you're making slightly more than $150 a year however
Re:waiting to buy? (Score:3, Informative)
for several reasons - one person said "in the grand scheme of things, $20 isn't very much to pay. that's what it'll cost to get the original and then the extended later" - on the other hand, why buy them *now*? a) that's $20 I could be spending on something else I'd rather have (instead of buying the same thing twice) and b) I've heard rumors that the "final" release of a box set is going to have even MORE extra added than all three of the extended editions are going to have by themselves.
Re:Aragorn is 87 years old? (Score:5, Informative)
"I speak no confort to you, for there is no confort for such pain within the circles of the world. The uttermost choice is before you: to repent and go to the Havens and bear away into the West the memory of our days together that shall there be evergreen but never more than memory; or else to abide the Doom of Men."
"Nay, dear lord," she said, "that choice is long over. There is now no ship that would bear me hence, and I must indeed abide the Doom of Men, whether I will or I nill: the loss and the silence."
I think this can be read either way. It may be that her choice is not truly made until this moment; we are told that 'the light of her eyes was quenched; and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star' - or it may be that her choice was made when Elrond sailed away without her, or a variety of other possibilities.
Arwen would probably be able to sail to the West if she decided to do so - Gimli made it, as did Frodo and Bilbo. Whether Aragorn was right and she still had the chance of immortality, or whether even in the West she would die, is something we'll probably never know...
Re:Just as excited (but I'm hopeless) (Score:4, Informative)
But yeah, the Ent thing would be nice too.
Re:Obligitory AOLer comment (Score:3, Informative)
It's hard to believe, but those annoying, out of place, obviously-merchandise-driven Ewok scenes were actually in the original theatrical release!
It's true. If you can find a copy of the original you can see for yourself.
Re:Good! (Score:3, Informative)
Gandalf, Erkenbrand, and a small force of Rohirrim turned up more or less as in the film. Erkenbrand was merged with Eomer in the movie, a change I found fairly reasonable. They did so at about the same time that Theoden and Aragorn led the charge out of Helm's Deep. This caused the Orcs to panic and flee into the forest of Huorns.
Now, watching the end of TTT, we don't actually see the Orcs flee Helm's Deep - we only see Gandalf and the Rohirrim engaging them. The Orcs certainly haven't panicked yet; they form an orderly line of pikes to hold off the horsemen. The last we see of the battle is Gandalf the White kicking a great deal of arse. Presumably the Orcs will realise they're up against something awful (you have a Maia who's just killed the Balrog of Moria, wielding the ancient sword of Turgon of Gondolin - not something you really want to try fighting) and break - at which point the Huorns come into play. They didn't actually engage the army, they just exterminated the ones that tried to run.
The battle of Helm's Deep was reasonably faithful to the book - apart from the party of Elves. That was completely uncalled-for.
Watch more Southpark (Score:3, Informative)
I don't think extended / directors-cut editions of movies are bad, in fact for the most-part I like them, but I don't agree with _only_ releasing alternative cuts of movies and not the original.
Re:Aragorn is 87 years old? (Score:2, Informative)
The Silmarillion makes it clear that this is a major and very fundamental disctinction between the two races and plays a large part in the final destiny of each. It also makes it clear that mortality is A Big Thing. A great gift, and it is only the fear and ignorance of man that have turned it into a thing of terror. It is said that even the elves will come to envy the Gift of Men as the ages wear on.
Therefore, when elves and men marry and have offspring, it becomes essential to see which inheritance they will receive: The inheritance of the elves, or the gift of men and the inheritance reserved for them?
The Valar gave the half-elves the choice as to which inheritence they would receive.
Those who chose mortality were, nonetheless, granted a longer life than normal men.
And to the person who made comments on racial purity. The Numenoreans were beings of power, not so much because of their ancestors, but because of their proximity to the Valar, and their faithfulness to the Valar.
The line of Numenor dwindled not because of time passing, but because of their disobedience to the Valar, their pride, and their eventual assault on the undying lands.
Tolkien was a devout Catholic, and he works many Catholic Christian themes into his LOTR books, esp. the Silmarillion backstory.
Re:Aragorn is 87 years old? (Score:3, Informative)
When Elves die, they go to the Halls of Mandos, on Arda (earth), where they wait for the end of the world. Elves truly are immortal, in that even if you slay them, they still exist in some form on Arda until the end.
It is different for the race of Men. When Men die, they do not go to the Halls of Mandos... I don't remember exactly what happens to them, but I think that nobody else on Arda did either. It was just said that they would have some part to play "in the end".
So I think that this was the reason that they had to choose, because Mandos wanted to be sure what would happen when they die.
By the way, Dwarves were never really meant to exist. One of the Valar, Aule (deity who made things of metal and stone), in slight defiance of Eru (The Creator) made the Dwarves that would enjoy the things that he did. I think that it is said that they "return to the stone" or something like that when they die.
Re:More scenes? (Score:3, Informative)
As it would not be practical to include this appendix in its entirety in the films, a little more backstory is needed. (Granted, they changed it a bit from what happened in the novel, which may or may not have been advisable, but hey.)
Re:Just as excited (but I'm hopeless) (Score:3, Informative)
As was suggested [slashdot.org] here, may be the Purist Edit [everything2.com] can help ease your pain.