December 13, 2002

Extended DVD Impressions
Danny

Wow, I spent over 8 hours watching special features, and the movie yesterday, and never once felt bored! I personally loved all the added footage, and was elated to see some of my favorite lines from the book that were now in the film, ie: Gandalf's line about smashing the doors of moria with Pippin's head as it was in the book, Gandalf's mentioning Frodo's Mithril armor and its value, Gimli's talk about his gift and that he will hence forth call nothing else fair etc.

The only part that I think didn't work as well as part of the film, although I enjoyed seeing it, was the part in the MidgeWater Marshes before weathertop. The brief segment where they are in the marshes and one of the Hobbits asks what they eat when they can't get Hobbit? It just felt like a strange interruption to the flow of the movie for some reason. I did enjoy Aragorn speaking about Luthien.

The best changes were with Lothlorien. The visuals made it very clear that Galadriel was not evil. I enjoyed the extended dialogue when they meet her, and especially enjoyed the gift giving sequence. To me seeing Galadriel smile and laugh when they were doing the gifts, and seeing her words of comfort to Gimli did a lot. It provided the balance to her scary moment by the mirror. I feel that PJs extended Galadriel was much much better, and came through much more like Galadriel from the books.

The special features are incredible. Being an artist, and a Tolkien illustrator, I absolutely love the concept art galleries. I also love seeing how much detail went into the thousands of props that probably never saw camera time in the final cuts. That kind of detail is not seen, but it is felt when you watch the film.

So my final verdict on the extended dvd is an enthusiastic 10 stars. Oh, I think 4 is the most you are allowed to give. Oh well, I still say 10.