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What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and why?

Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

Return of the King by a landslide, but I loved the original ROTK beyond the first two films to begin with, so getting a whopper of another hour and change of integrated material is heavenly for me.

Many have said ROTK-E in particular is just too damn long, but hell, the films are all split into two discs, anyway. If that's such an issue, just set aside six nights and watch them as though they were six movies. Suddenly it's not so bad, and if you don't find the material itself exceptional enough to justify such fractions, then I'm not sure the films are for you! :P

If I had to pick a least favorite extension, it would probably be The Two Towers, btw. But that's not an insult to the film. I just feel like, of the three, it was overall the most complete in its original form. I'll never watch the theatrical version again, mind you, but yeah.
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

I generally don't like o think of them as separate films, but yes, definitely RotK. Its the one I found myself the most emotionally involved in. And by that I mean I squalled like a baby through most of the final 30 minutes.
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

I prefer the Theatrical versions personally. I'm a big deleted scenes junkie but I felt the films were the right length to begin with.
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

ROTK:EE by a mile. The theatrical cut took out my three favorite scenes from the book! Gandalf confronting the Witch King... the Mouth of Sauron... and a third one I forget at the moment. Does Eowyn still fight the Witch King in the theatrical cut?
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

^ Yes.

The extended FOTR is the only one I'd ever like to watch again, and though I have a vague impression that it's superior to the theatrical, I'm not yet certain. The extended TTT and ROTK contain nothing essential, and clobber their stories' momentum.

Granted, Gandalf vs. the Witch King was cool, but that one scene hardly justifies the other forty or so minutes of filler.
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

I don't think I ever saw the theatrical versions, but my favourite LOTR movie is Fellowship. It's more charming, somehow. ROTK has a great emotional denouement though, which I suspect the EE must prolong over the theatrical version.
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

The TTT EE has Eowyn's funeral dirge for Theodred.

It also happens to be the only place where Aragorn's advanced age comes up.

ROTK EE has more than just Gandalf & Witch-King. We also get a resolution for Saruman & Wormtongue, even though it's been moved from the Shire to Orthanc. And I can't see ever going back to a version of the film without "The Houses of Healing".
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

I'd say TTT benefitted the most from the additional material, but FOTR is still my favorite of the three, EE or no.

The extra additions to ROTK are a mixed bag. There's some good stuff like Saruman, Houses of Healing, etc. but then there's some not so good stuff, like Gimli's "comic relief" in the Paths of the Dead, the skull avalanche, spoiling Aragorn n' pals attacking the corsairs...
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

Well, that secret's been out of the bag since about 1955, so I'm not too bothered by it.

And more films should have skull avalanches.
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

ROTK, for the rounding off of the Saruman/Wormtongue story. Of the theatrical versions, ROTK is my favourite anyway, and oddly enough my favourite of the books is FOTR
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

I only saw the theatrical releases in the theaters. Since then it's been EE all the way so I wouldn't have the foggiest clue what is included in them that wasn't in the original releases. That said, FotR is the strongest stand alone movie.
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

I can't fathom someone considering the Saruman resolution "filler".
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

Oh yeah! ROTK:EE has the death of Saruman... and GROND (that's the demonic battering ram right?)
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

Isn't there more of it in the EE though? I haven't seen the theatricals since in theater...
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

Good question... maybe the chanting? I'm looking at the chapter list, and the chapter ( from disc 2 ) titled "Grond - The Hammer of the Underworld" is not marked as being an extended scene. However, the last chapter of disc 1 is marked as being extended.

So... maybe?
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

I do remember that Disc One ends with the Orc army chanting "GROND! GROND! GROND!"
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

I can't fathom someone considering the Saruman resolution "filler".
Well, if we define "filler" as "that which does not significantly affect the main characters or core plot... than it's filler.

Besides, having a main baddie die is a terrible way to start off the third act of a trilogy, particularly after the two successes of Helm's Deep holding and Saruman's Uruk-Hai being neutralized - it delates tension like an axe to a water balloon.

I understand why Jackson didn't film the Scouring, but he absolutely made the right call in not including the replacement scene in the theatrical.
 
Re: What's your favorite extended edition Lord of the Rings film and w

I think the Scouring would have been really bad for the films' pacing in any version, honestly, so even an EE-lover like myself can appreciate that. I see how you would feel as you do about the tension, but I still find it entirely too important to miss, plus it doesn't hurt that I rather like the scene in general.
 
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