Page 1 of LOTR Ruined!!!!!

Why? How? A fantastic film ruined by crass and thoughtless presentation! Who remembers the old `flipper` discs? Who liked them?!? LOTR is now split across 2 discs!!! After Elrond`s Council, you have to CHANGE THE DISC to see the end of the film!!!

Please, New Line, provide us with a single disc version and let us return to you the split discs!!

Sorry John but you`re completely and utterly wrong - it isn`t
ruined - in fact it`s massively improved.

To answer your question "why" is simple:
there`s no currently available technology (that I knoe of) that
can fit a 3 1/2 hour movie with 4 extra sound tracks in high
quality on a single disc. When that technology is invented
I hope they`ll release LOTR:SE on that format. Until then
I`m happy with 2 discs.

If you`re so desparate for one disc buy the regular edition.
I for one am glad they produced the option of a longer
version and glad they didn`t compress it to hell to fit on a
single disc.

Anyway, can you really sit through 3 1/2 hours without a
single toilet break or getting a drink? I welcomed the chance
to stretch my legs for 5 minutes.

Some people are never pleased!

I accept the reason that you (and the official site) give as for why they have split it.. And I am willing to stand corrected if my following argument is wrong...

Why not have Disc 1 - Extended Film (in full), DTS 6.1 Sound, No commentary.

Disc 2 - Extended Film (in full), Dolby 5.1 Sound and commentaries (I don`t think you would notice not having DTS if you were watching it with commentaries).

I did buy the regular edition, knowing full well that the extended version was coming out. And yes, if a film is THAT good, you can sit through 3 1/2 hours!!!

Doesn`t work I`m afraid.

By far the largest part of the capacity of the disc
is taken up by the picture. Cramming 3.5 hours
of picture onto one disc would inevitably mean a
substantial loss of quality irrespective of the soundtracks.

Instead we have the picture encoded at a very high
bitrate giving us superb quality.

Give me that any day.

If you knew it was coming out I`m surprised you didn`t know it was split over two discs... As for being ruined, I`ll reserve judgement until after I`ve watched my copy, but it didn`t hurt Godfather II in any way. With especially long films such as this, even sticking three and a half hours on one disc with a single soundtrack could have a detrimental effect on the quality. I for one don`t have a problem with this as long as it`s a natural break in the action. You could even argue that seeing this is a specially created cut, made for the DVD format, that Jackson intended there to be a break in the proceedings. I`m not saying I`d put up with this on every single release going, but I can handle it once in a while.

Agree. Not spoiled.

Ste

I for one was MASSIVELY against the two disc idea, but now that I have seen it, I`m not really that bothered. I would still prefer it were on one disc, but because that would mean loss in picture quality, I`m happy the way it is. But AOTC is still the better DVD (and film).

Even though I`m a massive Star Wars fan, I can`t agree with that. Clones was an improvement of Menace, but it`s not as good as FOTR. The scale of the film, coupled with the stunning effects and better all-round acting ability of the cast, outshine Clones by a fair margin.

That said, I`m not the biggest Tolkien fan in the world; I found much of the film dragged, but as a spectacle it`s an excellent bit of cinema. I`m really looking forward to the next two instalments, and this could be the closest thing my generation has to a "Star Wars" series of films. I can`t really see anthing coming along to top the ambition or excecution of this project. Certainly not The Matrix and its sequels.

As for the better DVD, I haven`t seen the FOTR set as of yet, so I can`t say. Star Wars is great, but I have to look through the nostalgia to try and remain objective. The presentation of Clones will probably edge it, but it all hangs on just how much additional material (of worth) they have crammed on those two discs.

Well, Chris, I should be clearer that technically AOTC is the better DVD. I`m sure this extended edition of FOTR has a more thorough look into the filmmaking procedure, and as a film student this will be bloody brilliant. I wasn`t actually going to buy this 4 disc set because I already have the 2 disc set, but what the heck, I just bought it.

I happen to honestly believe that AOTC is better than FOTR. True, the LOTR trilogy was a much more ambitious project than these Star Wars prequels as Lucas was using his own money, making them one at a time and had a built in "movie" fan base. I really admire Peter Jackson for what he risked. But I thought FOTR was the hands down best film of 2001. But its not as good as AOTC. AOTC is such a deep film. Yes, the dialogue is at times ropey, but thats only one part of the film. George Lucas is one of the best story tellers in the film business. He may not be able to write dialogue, but he can come up with brilliant story lines. AOTC is such a deep and complex film. A lot of critics said they couldn`t understand the plot, which proves they weren`t really watching the movie. Hayden Christensen was a brilliant choice as Anakin, even if some scenes show his inexperience as an actor. In Episode 3, he will prove to everyone why he was chosen to play Anakin. While I like Natalie Portman for her looks (she is beautiful) and she HAS proved herself to be a good actress, she doesn`t seem all that interested in doing Star Wars. But she did come into her own in some of the later scenes between her and Anakin. Ewan McGregor is simply brilliant as Obi Wan. Lucas could throw any piece of crap dialogue at him and he would still make it sound brilliant.

But AOTC is still my favourite movie of the year (and I consider this a very good year for film), and there is only one future release that shows any signs of competition, The Two Towers. But it will have to be some way better than Fellowship if it is to persuade me to put it at my No.1 spot on my top 10.

well..having sat in on two recording sessions for The Two Towers soundtrack, at least the music`s good....and rather well played too :-). About time we had more music-only tracks on DVDs...saves one the bollocks dialogue we have to put up with.