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Hullo
Folks,
I was rather excited when I got home yesterday and found a package waiting for me from the great folks at New Line Cinema. (Thanks, Jeff!) Contained therein was my own personal copy (sealed, of course) of the widescreen edition DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, along with a Press Release, DVD Fact Sheet, and a Box Office Records & Awards Honor Roll, all on beautiful Lord of the Rings parchment paper! :o)
I hurriedly ripped off the plastic so that I could check out all the goodies and get it into my player as quickly as possible. It came with the standard three-fold scene selection insert, and a mail-in rebate coupon that I will for sure use when I order my SEDVD Collector's Set...hehe.
As I've seen with a few of the other folks that have published thier reviews, I, too, was a little disappointed that other than a little sticker on the outside of the plastic, there is no mention on the case, or even in the special features, of the crowning achievement that The Return of the King accomplished at the Oscars this year, which leads me to believe that the layout and design of it may have been completed prior to the sweep in December. All that aside though...to finally have it in my greedy hands makes this Tolkien fan quite a happy man!
Of course, I had to wait until my little Entings were in bed asleep...then, it was time to dim the lights, fire up the surround sound, and enjoy what I experienced in the theatre in the comfort of my living room, and that is an award-winning epic that has truly become Peter Jackson's crowning achievement.
Now, I've already published my review of RotK, and if you'd like to see that, you can read it here, so I'll limit my review to the quality of the DVD and to the Special Features Disk. Other than being in the theatre with my beloved, amongst a cheering throng of Tolkien fans, the only thing better would have to be sitting on my couch and hearing the screech of the Nazgul echoing around the living room as the Lord of the Nazgul leads his army out of Mordor. The DVD itself is everything you would expect one to be: stunning picture, wonderful sound, and beautiful animated menus! The only problem that I had was that I couldn't find an Easter Egg anywhere!! *pout pout* However, with no new movies coming out, I could see why there was no hidden trailer this time, but a sneak peak at the SEDVD, or maybe an outtakes segment would have been nice.
The specs on the DVD's are as follows:
Disc One: The Film
- Theatrical Edition
201 mins, PG-13, letterboxed widescreen (2.35:1), 16x9 enhanced, dual keep
case packaging, single-sided, RSDL dual-layered (layer switch at 94:12, in
chapter 28), booklet, DVD credits, animated film-themed menus with sound and
music, scene access (60 chapters), languages: English (DD 5.1 EX & 2.0
Surround), subtitles: English and Spanish, Closed Captioned, and contains
a link to exclusive on-line content and a link to official Lord
of the Rings website.
Disc Two - Special
Features
3 documentaries: The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision (23 mins - 4x3,
DD 2.0), A Filmmaker's Journey: Making The Return of the King (29 mins - 4x3,
DD 2.0) and National Geographic Special - The Lord of the Rings: The Return
of the King (46 mins - 4x3, DD 2.0), 6 featurettes created for the official
website (2-5 mins each - 16x9, DD 2.0), 2 theatrical trailers (16x9, DD 5.1),
13 TV spots (4x3, DD 2.0), The Lord of the Rings trilogy "supertrailer"
(7 mins, 16x9, DD 5.1), The Battle for Middle-earth Continues EA video games
preview (3 mins - 4x3, DD 5.1), DVD-ROM features (weblinks to exclusive online
content), animated film-themed menus with sound and music.
The material on the Special Features disk was quite similar to the previous DVD releases, and was not as in-depth as I had hoped for. I did enjoy the The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision and A Filmmaker's Journey: Making The Return of the King, as I caught glimpses of scenes that I'm hoping will be on the SEDVD (Merry offering his service to King Theoden, for example). Unfortunately, there's a great deal of duplication between them, with many of the same interview quotes and behind-the-scenes clips, and I was quite disappointed that the video of Annie Lennox performing "Into the West" at the Oscars wasn't included. :o(
I'll say again that there
was no mention of the success at the Oscars, or any of the cast interviews
that took place before, during, and after, which leads me to believe that
the DVD was completed prior to the Oscars, and hopefully this is just another
reason for us to look forward to the SEDVD when it comes out...just in time
for the holidays!
We have, however, compiled a list of awards that all three movies were
nominated for (and won) and you can see it here on our Awards
Page. Many thanks to our Fanfic Editor, Eledhwen, for keeping this up-to-date!
I'd like to summarize my thoughts by reiterrating what I said in my theatrical review, which is that I feel the The Return of the King, in conjunction with The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, is one of, if not the most, significant cinematic achievements of this generation and will last well into the next!
The Return of the King is a jaw-dropping, heart-wrenching movie that kept me on the edge of my couch, just like in the theatre, and I am grateful that Peter Jackson, along with his cast and crew, has been able to accomplish this in my lifetime. If you didn't get the chance to see it in the theatre, or even if you did, I would strongly recommend that you get yourself to the store and get yours straight away, or you can click through the DVD links on this page and order it through Amazon as they ship on the 25th. This DVD, along with The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, are simply a must-have for any Tolkien fan or movie buff's collection.
I now anxiously await all the hype, expectations, spoiler images and all the wonderful discussions that will occur within the War of the Ring Community, and elsewhere, in preparation for the release of the Extended Edition!!
In Fellowship,
Webmaster - War of the Ring.net
Got a comment? Post a message below. If you have a question, or want to discuss this in more detail, head over to our Community Forum.
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