It's that time of year again. Lord of the Rings is once again the center of attention, but unfortunately, there isn't a new one coming to your local theatre. No, it's the Extended Edition DVD of Return of the King. As with the regular version, this film is a monumental achievment in film-making. The new scenes add even more to already deep characters, and add some very cool action sequences as well. I'll try to break them down, and add my thoughts on the extra commentaries.
The first scene that really stands out is The Voice of Saruman. At long last, we get to see the final confrontation with Saruman, which was denied to us in the theatrical version. It's an extremely cool scene, especially with an actor like Christopher Lee, and does great justice to his character and fans of the book. At one point, Sam and Frodo come across an ancient Gondorian ruin at the Cross-roads, nice little nod to the fans. My favorite scene one the first DVD is easily The Wizard's Pupil, in which Faramir actually has it out with his father, Denethor. This just further demonstrates Denethor's dementia, and Faramir's strength and love.
The biggest scene of the second half is easily the meeting of the Witch King and Gandalf. I had been looking forward to this scene immensely, but when I realized it would disrupt the scene that flowed into the Ride of the Rohirrim, I was a little worried. But, have no fear, for now, it is even better. Just like the book, they exchange harsh words, and as the sun can be seen, the horns of Rohan begin to blow. It is... absolutely perfect. One of the best scenes has Eomer discovering the body of Eowyn on the field of battle, and following scene in which Aragorn heals her. This is straight from the book, called The Houses of Healing. This just so happens to be where Faramir and Eowyn meet in a later scene, creating one of the more beautiful scenes in the movie.
There is also a scene in which Aragorn confronts Sauron in the Palantir, also straight from the book. I was actually very surprised to see Frodo and Sam forced to march along with the Orcs, one of my favorite parts of the book. The last big scene is the Mouth of Sauron, a great character from the books. His scene isn't as dramatic here, but still very welcome. In the book, we have no idea how Frodo is. He could very well be dead. But in the movie, we constantly see him so we know he isn't dead. Everything is here that should have been, though I would have loved to have seen an appendices after Sam's line, narrated by Galadriel. Seeing what happened to all the characters would have been a nice touch, but I respect Peter Jackson's decision to keep the story to it's own, rather than expand into Tolkien's rather large realm of post-LotR.
As for the extra stuff, it has a ton of commentaries, most of which are relatively humorous, and the rest are just interesting. My favorites would have to include the conceptual design of Aragorn dueling Sauron at the Black Gates, and even the scenes they shot of it. I also enjoyed the featurette on the horses used in the films, it's awesome to see all the hard work that actually went into those scenes. As the Rohirrim charge, a man falls right off, and 150 other horsemen have to avoid trampling him- and they do. Plus, it's great to see real people get all pumped up with Bernard Hill screaming his death speech over this huge plain.
If you're a LotR fan, you will not hesitate to go out and buy the Extended Edition. If you're hardcore, like me, you'll buy the 5-Disc, and get a replica of Minas Tirith, which is basically a keepsake box. You also recieve the 5th DVD, Howard Shore's symphony. Normally, a DVD about a symphony would not interest me, but this is Howard Shore, the man who created some of the most beautiful scores in the history of cinema. A must buy for any real Lord of the Rings fan.