Am I the only one disappointed that the LOTR Extended DVD collection is a throwback to Laserdiscs? Looking at all 4 of the DVDs, they are all singal layer. To me, that says they needed to justify the extended version by DVD count, and not actual content. I understand that dual layer DVDs hold slightly less then 2 singal layers, but the amount of difference dosen't seem to be that big.

I appreciate the new content, but feel like they are milking the fans to death with things like this:

Are any of the bonus features on the August DVD repeated on the November DVD?

No. Each DVD release includes a unique set of bonus features. The November DVD contains two discs full of all- new features made especially for this release. There is over 30 hours of content on this DVD release, including 17 original documentaries and featurettes, 2 interactive maps, 4 commentaries, and galleries filled with thousands of conceptual sketches.

Oh well. At least I opted out of buying book ends and a 5th DVD for $35 more.

That's strange, there was definitely a layer change when I watched the movie. Hugo, Roger and John spent about 5 minutes discussing it.

Rob

Yup. My wife noticed the layer change for the first time while watching it last night.

Edit:So that means that it's there on both Region 1 and Region 2 (or whatever the UK DVD region is).

Edit edit: Plus, regardless of that, I was well impressed with the added footage. It's still a movie that ought to be seen on the big screen (even DVDs don't do it justice), but the new stuff was good. So I was ``appointed'' with even just that.

I appreciate the new content, but feel like they are milking the fans to death

I've only recently started buying DVDs, and yes, I always feel like I'm looking right down the muzzle of the industry's money-making machine. They do seem to make a conscious effort to trick you into buying a version you don't want (non-widescreen, non-anamorphic, non-director's-cut) in order that they can sell you the version you do want six months later.

OTOH, I wasn't even slightly disappointed with the extended Lord Of The Rings: I thought it was brilliant. Mind you, I didn't pay the extra £15 for some naff bookends, and I didn't buy the original DVD (because Slashdot etc were saying even then that the extended one would be out later). One poor guy here at Empeg bought the original DVD when it came out, and didn't get round to watching it before we watched the extended one on Tuesday.

Peter

I've watched most of the two appendix discs over the last couple evenings and must say that I'm thrilled with all the extra content. They go into more depth than any other DVD set I've seen about the process of making the film. I haven't even gotten around to watching the added footage in the movie yet, but I can't imagine being disappointed.

I'm having a hard time figuring out where your disappointment lies....because there are alot of discs? There's a lot of content. Like 7 hours on the two appendix discs besides the movie in several languages and several commentaries.

Please elaborate more on what exactly is disappointing.

BTW...I agree that this should have been the only DVD release...they shouldn't have bothered with the first one. I think that was a New Line decision and not a directors decision.

Hmm, maybe they have a new manufacturing process that makes dual layer discs not appear different then single layer discs. I held the disks up to the light, and the new set looked silver, where as the older one looked to have a tinge of gold.


Putting the disc into my G4 Cube shows 6.8gb of space, enough to be a dual layer disc. Odd.

This comic says it all:

http://www.pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=20021112

Funnily enough....
On Sir Ian McKellens' website, he does indeed mention an abbolutely final version of the DVD.
Here is the quote from his web site www.mckellen.com
One of my favourite moments in The Fellowship of the Ring was Gandalf's conjuring tricks for the hobbit kids at Bilbo's birthday party. What tricks? You will have to wait I expect until the outtakes resurface in the absolutely final DVD version.

One thing to note about the 4 disc set, the sound track is now in DTS 6.1 as well as 5.1. That is what blew Pearl Harbor onto 2 9G disks as well. Don't forget all that commentary as well.
My copy has just arrived and I will be watching it this weekend.

Tom, did you actually look at the "extra features" on the first release of the movie? If so, you'd realize that it really only had a single "behind the scenes" video. Sure, they may have said there were 4 or 5, but the exact same clips/interviews/points were used in each one. By the last one, I was bored to tears.

By the looks of the new set, it is far more unique. Lets face it, this is the biggest DVD release ever. Even if you think that they shouldn't have had to spread it across 4 discs, there are more features on this set than on anything else I've seen.

Besides, how the hell are they "milking the fans to death"? You can get this 4 disc, feature-filled, totally awesome movie for $25 at Target. Considering how often new releases of movies come out, to be able to buy this set for so cheap is amazing.

I got the Die Hard DVD set for Christmas one year. It had been out for a couple years, but I asked for it for Christmas because it was like $55 to $70. Then, about 2 months later, they came out with the special edition of it. In the same price range. That pissed me off. That's much worse than this release.


*edit*
For a real summary of what you'll find on the new release, check out this review.

"I appreciate the new content, but feel like they are milking the fans to death"

Which is the reason I'm waiting until all three movies are out on DVD before I buy any of them. I figure I'll wait and get the "super-duper platinum all-inclusive" version (or some such thing) and only spend my money once. I'm also doing the same for Star Wars, though if the three originals were out on DVD I'd buy them as a set.

...and if you are lucky, maybe ALL THE STUFF will fit on one single blu-ray DVD at that time...!

...wel, ok, but at least the three movies...