Product Description

This critically acclaimed epic trilogy follows the quest undertaken by the hobbit, Frodo Baggins, and his fellowship of companions to save Middle-earth by destroying the One Ring and defeating the evil forces of the Dark Lord Sauron. All three titles in their extended editions are packaged together: "The Lord Of The Rings Motion Picture Trilogy Special Extended DVD Edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #548 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-12-10
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Formats: PAL, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 12
• Running time: 654 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The extended editions of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings present the greatest trilogy in film history in the most ambitious sets in DVD history. In bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's nearly unfilmable work to the screen, Jackson benefited from extraordinary special effects, evocative New Zealand locales, and an exceptionally well-chosen cast, but most of all from his own adaptation with co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, preserving Tolkien's vision and often his very words, but also making logical changes to accommodate the medium of film. While purists complained about these changes and about characters and scenes left out of the films, the almost two additional hours of material in the extended editions (about 11 hours total) help appease them by delving more deeply into Tolkien's music, the characters, and loose ends that enrich the story, such as an explanation of the Faramir-Denethor relationship, and the appearance of the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor. In addition, the extended editions offer more bridge material between the films, further confirming that the trilogy is really one long film presented in three pieces (which is why it's the greatest trilogy ever--there's no weak link). The scene of Galadriel's gifts to the Fellowship added to the first film proves significant over the course of the story, while the new Faramir scene at the end of the second film helps set up the third and the new Saruman scene at the beginning of the third film helps conclude the plot of the second.

To top it all off, the extended editions offer four discs per film: two for the longer movie, plus four commentary tracks and stupendous DTS 6.1 ES sound; and two for the bonus material, which covers just about everything from script creation to special effects. The argument was that fans would need both versions because the bonus material is completely different, but the features on the theatrical releases are so vastly inferior that the only reason a fan would need them would be if they wanted to watch the shorter versions they saw in theaters (the last of which, The Return of the King, merely won 12 Oscars). The LOTR extended editions without exception have set the DVD standard by providing a richer film experience that pulls the three films together and further embraces Tolkien's world, a reference-quality home theater experience, and generous, intelligent, and engrossing bonus features. --David Horiuchi

Synopsis
Peter Jackson's suitably massive interpretation of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. All three huge, action-packed movies in one box. See individual titles from Entertainment in Video for greater detail.

Customer Reviews

Presumptuous mediocrity
Peter Jackson's self-described "adaptation" of The Lord of the Rings is basically an example of fan-fiction, the genre in which professed fans of a particular writer carry on the story after the end of the book: for example, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett's life together after they got married. Why I describe Jackson's effort as "presumptuous" is because he decided it was OK to rewrite the original work itself, to "fix it up" in accordance with his own tasteless "aesthetic". It's "mediocre" simply because, as film critic John Marriott said of George Lucas, the trouble with Peter Jackson is that "he can't write and he can't direct". His alterations are neither minor nor necessary: they grotesquely distort the arc of the story and render most of the leading characters unrecognisable. That's fine if the alternative is valid but it is far from that. Like Jolene, Jackson "took" LOTR "just because he could".

Le coffret ideal
Ce coffret regroupant les trois films en version longue est tout simplement parfait! Non seulement il présente les films et des heures de bonus, dont certains vraiment intéressants, mais l'esthétisme du coffret et des menus des DVD en font de plus un objet superbe.
Chaque film est présenté dans un coffret dont le cartonnage imite l'aspect d'un vieux cuir,usé mais précieux, chacun de couleur différente.
A l'intérieur, les illustrations d'Alan Lee, d'une grande finesse, sont reproduites en léger filigrane, sur les disques eux mêmes et le cartonnage, reprenant les thématiques et scènes essentielles de chaque film.
Le livret accompagnant chaque film est très succint, il s'agit juste d'un développement du menu des bonus, très riches en effet.
Là encore,tout est réalisé avec une grande subtilité des couleurs et des caractères.
On ne peut rien demander de plus à ce coffret; il a tout : il est complet du point de vu contenu et fidèle à l'esprit de l'oeuvre de Tolkien dans son esthétisme. Une vraie réussite !
Enfin, pour un public anglophone (comme moi),qui a lu l'oeuvre dans sa langue originale, l'avantage d'acheter ce coffret sur amazon UK est que tout, les films bien sur, mais aussi les titres et les menus sont écrits en anglais.

get it even if you have the films on DVD
im not even going to start talking about the film as i would not be able to do it justice.
i bought this product even though i owned the initail DVD's because i love LOTR and was extremly impresed with the special features as i think how a film is made is just as important as the film its self. this product also prompted me to buy Peter jackson's biography as i just couldn't get enough LOTR!
Marvalous!!!!!!!!